Really need advice about a Companion for my Cat.

We got Mackerel a month ago, and she seems to have adjusted very well. We play with her several times every day, and she seems happy... most of the time. Occasionally, though- maybe three times every day, she'll wander around the house crying, and it's not really clear why she's doing it. This happens especially in the mornings, when neither my boyfriend and I are awake.

I've been studying since we got Mackerel- basically the combination of my SO and my work schedules meant that someone was home with Mackerel all the time except for about an hour and a half in the evening. On Monday I start working full time, and Duncan will hopefully start doing the same soon. This means that she'd be alone for eight or nine hours every day, and I'm worried that she might not cope well with that.

My SO and I are renting our unit form my parents, and though they gave us permission to get Mackerel, they've said that we can only have the one cat. I'm willing to go to them and tell them that I'm worried about Mackerel being left on her own without a companion, but I'd rather not do it if I'm not sure. XD

So I was wondering what the general consensus on the site was. Is it better for cats to have companions if they're going to be alone for that amount of time?

I've always found that two cats are easier then one. I had no other cats when I brought Mo and Cinnie home from the shelter. I had no real problelm with them at all. They play off of each other. Never had a problem with any kind of destruction of furniture or carpets, because they had no real time alone and therefore, wasn't looking around for something to get into. I'm not saying that from time to time they won't get into trouble but its less likely to happen with two. I also feel that one cat does (depending on personality) get lonely by themselves. Good luck.

Is Mackerel spayed? If not, she might be in heat.

I only intended to have one kitten, but about six weeks after I got Shareena her sister was going to be sent to a shelter. So. . . . I ended up with two kitties. Having a companion made Shareena much less dependent on me, which is good because I work 12-hour shifts.

Sorry, I don't have any suggestions for approaching your parents since I don't know them.

Even having TWO other cats in the house doesn't stop my ReeRee from meowing alot. Mack is just probably looking for attention. Even with another cat in the house they still like human interaction.

I think leaving Mack alone for a while is okay. My sister worked from home for a while and I would always ask her what the cats were up to. She always had the same answer....sleeping. Than when I came home it was Mommy time!! Woohoo! I would feed them and play with them. Than it was sleepy time again. Cats sleep ALOT. So don't be too worried about leaving Mack alone for a while. She may be put off by a change in ROUTINE more than the long duration of abscense. She'll get used to it eventually.

Thanks for the advice everyone. Yes, Mackerel's spayed- the shelter in Perth wont adopt out any cats without having them speutered. I know that even with a companion cat she'd still want attention from humans, and I'm the type of person to always fuss over my pets anyway, so it's not like I'd ignore her if we had another cat to keep her occupied. XD

I just worry about her being left on her own. :-( She does sleep a lot, but she also seems to get lonely when she's left to her own devices... She'll scratch on bedroom doors if, for instance, I'm in my room studying or whatever.

I actually really do want to get a second cat. But with my parents against the idea, I just dismissed the thought... but if Mack's welfare is at stake I'm quite willing to bring up the issue and see what happens. :-S It's not like they can evict me. XD

You can ALWAYS wear down family! My sister/roomate didn't want even one...well 2 yrs later we had 3....heehee.

BTW: She loves them all!

I would not worry too much about a companion for Mackerel if it is going to cause problems with your parents. I've had two cats who were "only children," and both were fine alone when I worked full time (I'm retired now).

Don't judge by how the cat acts when you're home--because cats will naturally seek attention from humans who are present, but that doesn't mean they won't be fine on their own.

When I worked, I always got up early enough to have at least 40 min. of rigorous play with my girl. She used to love to chase her "mice" down the steps to the second floor when I threw it up. She could do that for 30-40 minutes at a time. When I got home, I used to try to play with her again (my guilt at being gone all day), but she just wanted to "chill" at that time of day!

I always left toys around that she could play with on her own during the day. She loved the tiny, furry mice, and balls, and I'd find her toys in various places throughout the house that indicated she'd played with them at times while I was gone.

And remember--there's sleep! They tend to sleep a lot during the day because their natural time to be awake is at night. When I was home on a holiday, I was always amazed at how much of the day she spent asleep, and that kept me from being concerned about "loneliness."

My current cat is very, very social, so it's good that I'm home all day because he wants a lot of interaction. However, when I asked my vet if I was depriving him by not having another cat, he said that my boy seems to be entirely "human bonded," and even with another cat would demand a lot of human interaction.

I'm a big believer that two cats are better than one. I think it's important for them to have a being of their own species to interact with. Our two love each other, and they love us. We don't see less of them because they are two, they usually end up in whatever room we're in. If we're in two separate rooms, they'll either both be with one of us, or Swanie will be with me and Cindy will be with DH. Two are not any harder to take care of than one.

We've always had only one pet at a time. There was a little overlap between PurrPuss and Zane, but Zane was so hateful to PurrPuss that we don't trust him with another cat. He hates, hates, hates other cats. Whenever he sees one out the window he's all "Gimme my Uzi, gimme my K-bar, gimme my machete---let me at him!"

Originally Posted by Zane's Pal

We've always had only one pet at a time. There was a little overlap between PurrPuss and Zane, but Zane was so hateful to PurrPuss that we don't trust him with another cat. He hates, hates, hates other cats. Whenever he sees one out the window he's all "Gimme my Uzi, gimme my K-bar, gimme my machete---let me at him!"

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Lol. Oh dear. XD

I think that what we might do is leave it until my SO starts work as well. Then we can gauge and see if she's unhappy or not. If so then I'll raise the subject with my parents and hopefully help them to see that it's the welfare of the cat that I'm more interested in. ;-)

Of course you have to take your parents rules into consideration, but I also believe that it is nice to have a buddy. Especially if Mackeral is young enough, introducing another kitty for her to play with would be great. It is so cute when they groom each other and sleep together, and the big plus is you would be saving another kitty from a shelter, and I think everyone would agree that is a good thing to do. Good luck!!

First let me say I don't for one second regret adding Harley into our home but to be honest, I think Jack would be happier without him.

We are six months in and the dream of finding them sleeping together and cleaning each other still really hasnt come true. Jack cleans Harley but only prior to attacking him...if only Harley could figure this out.

Leslie

When we adopted Mackerel the shelter lady said that her previous owners had brought her in because she didn't get on very well with their other cats. The refuge worker was saying that they didn't give her enough time to acclimatise, that sometimes it takes months for cats to settle, and even more time for them to begin to show affection to each other.

Jack sounds like a very sneaky cat, lol.