Only Cat is a Lonely Cat? Siamese

I lost my beautiful siamese last summer to kidney disease. She was 17, so she was part of most of my adult life. I really miss her

Lately I have been looking at getting another cat. Siamese of course! Traditional applehead.
I always had the feeling that my last cat might be lonely. I don't know if she was.

I do work from home, so I am around a lot of the day. Occasionally I travel for business or to see my fiance. The other person in the house is my 16 year old son. Point being, a single cat won't lack human attention.

Are cats generally happier with a companion cat? I was considering getting litter mates, two girls.

I can only tell you that I've only always had one cat until our daughter moved back home and brought Mika with her. Bijou and Mika would curl up together and sleep during the day. At night Mika slept with our daughter and Bijou always sleeps with me.

They chased each other, hid in the cat tree and jumped out at each other and I think genuinely enjoyed each others company.

Our daughter has moved to her new place now and Bijou is lonely. He "talks" more and seems to need much more attention from us. He has always been an affectionate, needy kitty, but he's even moreso now with Mika gone.

I didn't find the food and litter expense that much greater with 2 kitties but the vet bills are pretty much double since they both get annual check-ups and vaccinations. Our kitties are healthy to this point in their lives and except for Bijou getting bitten and needing surgery, the vet bills have been relatively low.

If you can afford two kitties, I would recommend going for 2. It truly is double the pleasure. I also don't find that they were not as affectionate with us because they had each other. They are both very affectionate with us.

I agree - unless you find a kitty that they already know prefers to be an only child, if you can afford it and would like to, I'd consider litter mates or a bonded pair. I started with a girl. Decided she might be lonely, as I work fairly long hours. Adopted a boy about 3 months later...after the initial intro, they do play together, chase each other, groom each other, and they'll both sleep with me, when there's nothing more fun going on at home. Seriously, I believe they're both very attached to me, but they do have fun with each other as well.

I second both of the posts above... I brought Bugsy to make Lucky company due to my then travel schedule... It was the best thing I did... They are always playing, grooming chasing each other - they have a lot of fun together, and I can not think of having either of them alone anymore...
I think there is fun that they have with us, and fun with their kitty counterpart... We offer different things, for different needs, but there isn't substitution for the interaction they have with other kitties...
Can they be happy on their own? Sure they can, but I think in general they are happier with other kitties around...

I'm very sorry to hear of the loss of your cat; that must have been rough to lose your friend of 17 years.

I agree with the other posters. My Siamese love to be around the people of the house, but they also very much enjoy each other's company (I have two brothers). I'm really glad we decided to take two!

Originally Posted by Mikesrose

I lost my beautiful siamese last summer to kidney disease. She was 17, so she was part of most of my adult life. I really miss her

Lately I have been looking at getting another cat. Siamese of course! Traditional applehead.
I always had the feeling that my last cat might be lonely. I don't know if she was.

I do work from home, so I am around a lot of the day. Occasionally I travel for business or to see my fiance. The other person in the house is my 16 year old son. Point being, a single cat won't lack human attention.

Are cats generally happier with a companion cat? I was considering getting litter mates, two girls.

Click to expand...

I think it depends on how you feel.

I do have 2 cats, but it always wasn't so. We got Mistoflees and Tigger at about the same time. When Mistoflees was 4- Tigger got hit by a car. Mistoflees was an "only" cat for about 4 years. I just didn't want another animal.

Well, my mother-in-law found a mama cat who'd had kittens. And she said "you want a cat?" Of course the kids said yes. And that's how we got Sneaky Pie. Mistoflees was NOT amused the first day she was here. She thought he was "mama" and she tried to nurse off of him

Over the years they've become kind of friends. Sneaky will hide and jump out on him. Poor thing- he's 17 years old and just does NOT want to play anymore.

I think it would be harder for Sneaky to be an "only" at this point. We've almost lost him a couple of times, and Sneaky just acts different when he's not around. We may have to get another cat (or a dog!) when Mistoflees finally crosses the Rainbow Bridge.

I think it totally depends. Most cats can exist on their own just fine, but personally I like to provide them with a companion, I also can't be without a siamese. They are different though, most simases are pretty happy to be an only kitty, especially if they aren't already 'bonded'. I adopted cello my siamese with his 'bonded' sister kismet the DSH. Well they despise eachother, but co-exist since they've been together their whole lives. Both my cats had extended sicknesses where they were in the ICU for a long time and they other was much happier at home being an only kitty, now they are co-exisiting again, poor babies!

Originally Posted by motoko9

I'm very sorry to hear of the loss of your cat; that must have been rough to lose your friend of 17 years.

I agree with the other posters. My Siamese love to be around the people of the house, but they also very much enjoy each other's company (I have two brothers). I'm really glad we decided to take two!

Click to expand...

Same sentiments. I am so glad I took two brothers to start with. First of all it was such a great thing for them as they would have gotten separated and they LOVE each others (another pair kept together), it's such a joy to observe them together, I don't feel as guilty when I leave them home alone, and I genuinely think they benefit from cat company even though they get huge amount of human company and enjoy it.