I dont know what to do????????

The vetinary nurse i know who's surgery is only a few minutes from where i work e-mailed yesterday to say they had been handed in a young cat and it's kittens.
The kittens are too young to leave their mum just yet, and she's asked if i would like one to keep Rosie company.

I just don't know what to do? . The problem i have is:

A. Rosie is so affectionate with me, so will a kitten take that away from me?(I'm sounding selfish)

B.What's the chance of them getting on?. People say as Rosie is still young herself she would probably mother the kitten as if her own?.

I love her personality and would hate to lose it, but is it a chance i take?!

A. Rosie is so affectionate with me, so will a kitten take that away from me?(I'm sounding selfish)

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Just think you'd get two lots of kitty snuggles!!!

B.What's the chance of them getting on?. People say as Rosie is still young herself she would probably mother the kitten as if her own?.

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I can't answer that one but I guess that if you introduce them right there wouldn't be a major problem.

You've been thinking about getting another cat for ages....... this must be fate

Oh god Rhian i know, my heads buzzing at the moment thinking "should/should'nt i"

Originally posted by rosiemac
The vetinary nurse i know who's surgery is only a few minutes from where i work e-mailed yesterday to say they had been handed in a young cat and it's kittens.
The kittens are too young to leave their mum just yet, and she's asked if i would like one to keep Rosie company.

I just don't know what to do?

. The problem i have is:

A. Rosie is so affectionate with me, so will a kitten take that away from me?(I'm sounding selfish)

B.What's the chance of them getting on?. People say as Rosie is still young herself she would probably mother the kitten as if her own?.

I love her personality and would hate to lose it, but is it a chance i take?!

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I doubt that Rosie's personality would change - Peedoodle's didn't when I introduced Kahu.

There is an article in this site that explains how to introduce a cat to the resident cat - it worked for me. ALso, people will help you in the behaviour forum.
And when they become friends, they will keep each other company when you are not around.

I say, if you are ready, go for it.

2 cats = twice the fun!

My cats love to play, and it's hilarious to watch them. They are both still affectionate and will sleep on my lap, especially if I'm trying to do work. I doubt adding another cat would change Rosie's personality. How old is she?

I think you should go for it! I have many cats as you can see, and they all have at least one other cat that they are in "love" with. We have a 14 year old named Gizmo, she has hated every single cat we have ever had....until we brought home Doku, there were hisses, but now Gizmo will sleep with her and give her kisses!

I am sure Rosie will learn to love the new baby, just make sure and give Rosie the loving first, before you give it to the baby! Good luck making your decision!

I think you should get another kitten!

I'm not an expert at all but I have done this. I doubt she'll change much. If she does change at all, which I doubt, (my Sparta became a little more reserved but she wasn't very affectionate anyway) I'm pretty sure she will revert back to her old self. I am definitely seeing the old, pre-Ares Sparta now and it's great!

And the second question... well I'm not an expert, but my guess would be that the younger a cat is when a second cat comes in, the better. Although I think it only really matters if you have a senior. If you have a senior cat who's not very active, I think they would rather not have a kitten come in. But Rosie's only a year and a bit or something like that right? So she should be fine. Be prepared for playfights!

Keep us posted! Good luck with the decision.

Trish

If introduced correctly, there won't be any fighting between them, they'll both enjoy having the company, and Rosie should be her snuggly self.

Here's the article Kellye mentioned:

"I'd Like You to Meet... Introducing Cats"

There's also a great thread in Caring for Strays and Ferals forum, and though it's about socializing a feral cat and the thread is really long, it has fabulous suggestions and answers a lot of questions about bringing a new cat into the home and introducing a new cat to your existing pet. So while it won't all be applicable, there's so much info about cat behavior contained in it that I think it'd really help you feel comfortable if you make the decision to adopt one of these kitties in need Here's that thread: The Story of Lucky

Our Spooky, who is (now) very affectionate, cuddles with the other kitties and cleans them and generally acts very motherly - when we've brought young kitties in to foster, she does not assume the role of mother. She does not like having them here at first, and we go through several weeks of adjustment. We don't have the space to separate cats and do it "correctly," and it's been on average 3 - 6 weeks before she'll stop batting at them and "turn around" and accept them into the family. But it has never impacted the way she behaves towards us, and there are things you can do to ensure that doesn't happen.

If you bring in a second cat/kitten, whenever you come in, make sure to give Rosie the attention first. Always give Rosie the attention first then the new kitty. Give Rosie lots of treats - and give them to her first. Make sure you spend "alone time" with Rosie every day - with little kitty shut out of the bedroom, or shut in the bathroom for a little while, so you can just snuggle or play (depending upon both of your moods) with only Rosie. Little things like this will ensure she feels secure and she shouldn't get jealous.

There's just no way to know if she'll be motherly and take little kitty under her wing, so to speak, or if she'll be wary of the new invasion into her space.

But bewteen the article and the thread about Lucky, there's lots of info about how to introduce them so Rosie doesn't feel threatened. And just so long as you let her know in lots of little ways that she's still your special girl and has got top billing on your lap, bed or at playtime, things should work out just fine if you decide to bring another furr baby home.

BTW - even though Spook never likes new intros, she always ends up pals with them. She and Flowerbelle share a cat bed regularly now. I'll go post some pics in the furr-pics lounge.

I introduced Max (who was four months old) when my Simon was about a year and a half old. I did it all wrong and they are the best of buddies! If you do it right, by following the steps outlined in the other threads, I'm sure you'd have no problem. It would be a new kitty to keep Rosie company while you were out.

Simon's personality did not change at all. He was and still is my loverboy! He and Max play together, groom each other, sleep together, and I feel better that they have each other while I'm at work.

Go for it! How wonderful to have another kitty! I would have a houseful except my husband would kill me!!

Thanks everyone for your advice. She e-mailed me again to say i could have one for a week to see how they get on, but i know i would'nt let her go once she came home with me!LOL.

I am seriously thinking about it though as it would be a playmate for Rosie when i'm at work.

I've even picked a name as well! POPPY!

If you have picked out a name....bring that baby home, as you obviously want to. And I have to agree with everyone, Rosie will probably come around after a week or so, thats how it seems to work around here, within a month, everybody is friendly.

Oh i know. I've e-mailed her this morning asking if there are any queens amongst the litter as i would prefer another one.

One part of me has her in my head all curled up beside Rosie and the pair of them playing happily with each other, but the other has Rosie hiding up in her room in a huff and feeling abandoned.

But i know through advice from everyone on the site i would'nt be alone on this.

Watch this space!!!

Even if it doesn't go smoothly at first you know that there are people on this site with a wealth of knowledge to help you out.

It sounds as if your mind is made up , btw Poppy is a great name!

Well it's 99% certain that i'm going to get another!. She's the only queen amongst the litter, and Emma(vet nurse) said it's fate!!!. So i'm just waiting for confirmation of her, so watch this space!!!!.

A couple of other things though?. I've read all the posts 'several' times and the site Laurie gave me which have helped a lot. But with me being at work all day, Rosie has to be shut in the spare room because my alarm system is very sensitive.

The room is big enough for her to run around in with all her toys, Litter tray and food etc... so:

A. Would it be cruel to keep two kitties in the room?

B. When i'm at work, when is it safe to leave them together?

C. Do i need two litter trays?.

D. I would have to feed her kitten food, so how can i stop her eating Rosies when i'm not there?

Oh god i've droaned on, but i need to make sure i'm doing the right thing?!.

First of all, congrats! This is really exciting! I totally understand your being nervous, but I am SURE Rosie, no matter what her initial reaction, will end up loving having a pal to "pal around" with.

To address your questions:

1) It is not cruel to keep two cats in one room together during the day as long as there is some room for them to romp around, plenty of things to keep their interest, and cozy places to nap. If there's a window, do you have or have you considered getting a Kitty Perch for the windowsill? Or a small cat condo that's just tall enough so they have a place to sit and look out? Gary and I live in an RV that's 40 ft by 8 ft - and we have five cats. But we took out the "dining room" to put in cat trees/condos, and we have the place filled with tubes (to run and play in and create different levels), we've emptied out overhead cabinets to create vertical space for them, and they have lots of toys that we rotate on a regular basis (every couple of days) - because they do get bored of some of the same toys if they're out all the time.

2) I would not leave them together initially until they're used to each other, and you've seen them interacting together and you're comfortable that there won't be (much) fighting. It's usually easier to introduce a kitten into a home than an older cat. There shouldn't be a problem with "who's alpha." Kittens can be annoying, however, we've found that the older kitties are pretty tolerant! Shelly even sits and purposefully waves his tail around (at times) for Flowerbelle to play with.

Just make sure you don't confuse play with fighting. It may look like they're going at each other, batting paws, "biting," etc - but unless tails are puffed and/or ears are flat back, it's "mock" fighting or play, and that's just fine and quite normal. Poppy might puff her tail (Flowerbelle does all the time), but unless Rosie does, I really wouldn't worry too much. It's really the ears flat back that's more of a concern.

So, bottom-line, I'd give it a few days or few weeks even, if necessary. But you'll have time in the evenings and hopefully on the weekend. The best would be if you bring Poppy home on a Friday night if you don't have weekend commitments. That gives you some time to make intros. And if Rosie's OK with it, no need to separate them for an extended period of time. We did it all wrong when we brought Shelly inside. Lazlo and Shelly, we thought, were going to kill each other. They were the same age, however, which really is quite different. But we left for several hours to take Gary's mom to the airport - and we came home to find them curled up to sleep together. Never had a problem after that. Shelly established he was alpha, Lazlo sulked a bit for a few days, but once the order was established and Lazlo accepted it, everything was just fine and went back to normal around here.

You can leave kitty in the bathroom with a small litterpan, snuggly bed and toys. That's where all of our kitties "live" initially when we're not around until we're sure the bigger kids are OK with them and we're comfortable leaving them alone together while we're out.

3) Yes, you need two litter pans. It is likely that they both will use both pans, but ideally there is one litter pan per cat in multicat homes.

4) For feeding the kitty - how large is Rosie? What we did (until Flowerbelle got too big), was take a large opaque plastic storage box (the kind that's easy to find at Walmart) and cut a small hole in one corner of it. The hole was large enough for kitty to get into, but not large enough for anybody else to get into. We put kitty's food in there. They learn quickly! But the storage box has to be large enough that Rosie can't reach the bowl if she reaches her leg in there to fish around. That way kitty feels safe. Depending upon Rosie's size, that should work for a few months. After that, Poppy will have access to Rosie's food during the day, or Rosie will have access to Poppy's food during the day (whichever way you decide to go. If Rosie's round, I'd leave her food out. If she's thin, I'd consider leaving Poppy's food out) - not much to do about that. But you can take Poppy into the bathroom to feed her her food separately when you get home and through the evening and before bed. That was our solution. Others might have better suggestions. Flowerbelle likes her food better, so we free feed all the cats, but when Flowerbelle wants her food, she meows at the bathroom door.

Just remember, give Rosie lots of extra attention and plenty of alone time (I mean alone with you )! It's probably best to leave Poppy in the bathroom while you're at work for at least the first few days. Rosie will know there's another cat, they'll be getting used to each others smells, especially if you rub each one of them with a towel every morning before heading out and leaving those towels under the food bowl of each. They'll come to associate the other cat smell with something good, and that will help ease the transition. But you'll see how it goes - trust your judgment! You know Rosie really well, so you'll have a good guide to follow.

Susan, I'm so excited for you . . . the prospect of another kitty is such a great thing to look forward to!!!

Don't worry too much, I've done it twice, once with my 2 persians - when they were both quite small, but the second time with my big old bruiser ex-stray and 2 indoor delicate and over-fussed persians, and although there were some initial stand-offs (to be expected) everthing had settled down within a week.

I would suggest maybe doing the intros over Easter when you're around for a few days so you can keep an eye on things to reassure both the kitties and yourself!!!

Good luck, and I'm SOOOO jealous that you're getting a baby kitty!

Well it's official, she's mine!!.
But first thanks everyone for all your help and advice, but stay close to hand in case i need you all again!

At first i thought i'd lost her to someone else as Emma had'nt been in touch over the weekend. But when i opened my mail at work there was one from her appologising as they had been busy at the surgery.

Jasmine(Mummy cat)and kittens are now being being looked after by Emmas sister. Their only 2 weeks old so i have another 5 weeks to get prepared.

I looked at Rosie playing on the stairs and tried to picture her with another playmate.

So 5 weeks and counting for little Poppy!



LAURIE: They will have a window to look out of, plus there's a huge tree right outside it where Rosie site for ages watching the birds, and the window cleaner said she always tries to catch his cleaning blade when he's doing the windows

Awesome that you are getting a new baby Poppy and Rosie will be the best of buddies in no time.

When I first got Oscar, The Sammycat well let's just say that he was not a happy camper at all Wtihin a couple of weeks they became the very best of buddies and are now inseperable.

On occassions there are a few battles with my boys but all in all they get along very well together and really miss each other when one has to go to the vet.

CONGRATS! on the new baby. Yeah Rosie is getting a playmate

Cathi, im excited and nervous at the same time!.
It's little things Rosie does. Practically every morning when the makeup is going on, Rosie sits beside me and makes those chattering noises to me to get my attention, and when i look at her she slowly blinks her eyes, and i swear down it makes her look as if she's smiling at me!. As long as i don't lose those little things i'll be happy.

I've never even seen Poppy yet!. All i know is she's black and white with a black smudge on her nose like Rosie.