What is better, one cat or two cats?

I have this wonderful kitten but I think she's lonely when I'm at work and she seemed to cry a lot for attention a few days ago. Now she's getting better. She is young, a bit less than 4 months old.

So last Sunday I went to Petco which is why I recomend you not to go to petco on sunday unless you either want another cat or can look at kittens without the urge to take one home. Needless to say I saw a kitten there I fell in love with. But since his foster parent hasn't called me yet, I am still contemplating whether or not I should take another kitten.

I don't think I need to explain why should I but here are the reasons why not:
1. She did seem to mellow down a bit lately. She's happy when I am home playing with her, but she also seems to learn how to be independent and play by herself when I'm busy.
2. When I'm watching TV, she sometimes jumps on a couch and chills out with me. Don't want to break this bond with another cat around.
3. She doesn't seem to have bad habbits like scratching my nice couch, she prefers scratching post. She does her business in the litter box and is very good at it. I want it to stay that way.
4. With more cats there will be more responsibilities and I think I'm comfortable with what I have already.
5. The more cats you have in the house, the more cat hair, smells, litter box cleaning etc. I used to have 2 cats before and their hair was everywhere. Whith one cat now, it's in decent moderate amount and doesn't bother me too much.

Regarding the cat hair issue:
At 4 months old, your baby hasn't yet lost her baby fur and begun shedding

Two cats would, in fact be happier, unless you have the rare "I want to be an only cat" personality going on.
Shedding as well, can be controlled quite efficiently with a good diet and daily grooming.
I have six cats in the house, the largest amount of shed fur, however, is from my dog.
As to the smell:
Again, I have 6 cats, you cannot tell that just from walking into my condo.
Fecal smell is again regulated by diet, but overall smell is a cleanliness issue.
If the second cat is also a kitten, they most likely haven't developed any bad habits to share and the new cat usually takes it's cues from the resident cat.
Mine are no less loveable and cuddly than they were to begin with, including my 11 year old, who was an only cat until she was 3.

It really boils down to what you want. Your cat can live a perfectly happy, normal life as an only cat, just provide her with lots of stimuli for when you can't be there.

At least 2 cats. The cost of their care gos up with each additional cat.
Only have the number of kitties that you can afford to care for.

I started with one cat, but he was bored, so adopted another. Then I was given a cat someone didn't want. Then I adopted a cat for *that* cat to play with. Then I was given 2 older cats... for a total of 6!

I guess it depends on how many you have room for (vertical & horizontal space considered) and how much you can afford -- if and when vet bills pop up.

And, how you feel about cat fur. Home wouldn't be Home for me unless I arrived to see several kitties meowing for me and furballs all over the place from them playing all day!

I said one..... iwth one you have no cat fights, no sectioning off the house, no worrying if they both have eaten or pooped or whatever.... it is just alot eaiser with one cat

I started with one cat, then Quki showed up and that made two. #3 was Buzz whome we captured at 4 weeks old. A year later I found Emmie and Missy at an adoption event, that made 5. Last but not least, thanks to Sashacat and MaryAnne, Ashly made 6. Other than a trip to the vet at least once a month having several cats is wonderfull. I also have 4 dogs hence the many trips to the vet.

Thank you for your responces guys, I looked through some of the photos of cats, they are wonderful. Cats are indeed amazing animals.

Well I live in a one bedroom apartment. It's spacious but I wouldn't consider more than two cats for sure. One other concern I forgot to mention. I did have two cats a few years ago and they had different eating habbits. When I feed them, the male cat would eat everything off the plate right away no matter how much food was there. I had to control it because if he ate too much, he'd throw up. The female cat liked to postpone the pleasure of eating a bit at a time. However since Shankey ate everything, he ate his and her food, sometimes even when she was there and didn't mind. That resulted in Pandah constantly asking for more food, eating a little bit of it at a time, while Shankey ate the rest. So I had one skinny cat and one fat cat. I ended up supervising them while they eat and even sometimes put Shankey to another room to allow my other cat time to finish her food.

What I'm noticing about my curent cat is, up untill a few days ago she would eat all the wet food right away as soon as I put it there. Recently she got into a new habbit of sniffing it a bit, covering it up with dry food and leaving it for the day. But when I come back from work, it's all gone. That's fine with me and I am glad I don't have to worry about her not getting enough food. I used to be so frustrated with my other cat not eating fast enough, but if she was alone, there would be no trouble.

My two get along brilliantly, and i would love more, but Rosie changed with me when i brought Sophie home and it's took over a year to get her back to her loving self with me, so on the advice of my vet i won't be getting another because i don't want her upset again

I was going to call her Phoebe as well

I would prefer many, but unfortunately my current kitty doesn't agree. He wants to be an only kitty. While he will get used to another cat, play with them and all, he is not the same cat. He won't play with me, wants only to sleep and eat, refuses to even play with his favorite toy which was irresistable before. He won't come to me for kitty love sessions where he wants massaged and told how handsome he is. His personality changed with another cat around. After several months, I couldn't stand it any longer and found a home with a sister for the second kitty. Within hours, my baby was back to his old self, meowing for me to get the wand with the straw at the end, jumping on my lap for a kitty massage. As much as I'd like a house full of cats, I want my kitty happy more.

Definitely at least 2 cats for me. They are very good company for each other especially when I am out through the day. I got them within a week of each other as kittens so they have bonded really well together and don't fight or have any disagreements! They both love their fuss and fuss each other. I think one would be lost without the other and infact if one gets locked in room the other cries for her.

Rachel

I believe 2 is the minimum, but I would prefer a whole lot more. ATM, 2 is more than enough, but I dream of a day when people down the street refer to me as "that crazy cat lady"

I absolutely love having two cats and think that, at least for my student-working-full-summers-and-part-time-in-the-fall income, it is the most ideal situation. I can afford vet care, premium food and treats and toys for both of them and they seem happier with the other one around, but I would personally have trouble with more than two. Having one was quite a handful...I had to be home as much as possible and was often dealing with a needy kitty.

I ticked more as i have two resident cats plus i foster (4 in the house at the mo, might be getting another foster in the next week). My male cat is an odd cat, he doesnt really make friends with other cats, so i sometimes wonder if he would be happy being an only cat, but he spends so little time in my house that unfortunately i cant cope with him as an only cat. He was bullied by the cat i got the week before him, and when she went to the bridge, he changed personality, so i wasnt going to get another cat, and it just seemed to happen!! she was really suited to him, she made him play. He has just tolerated every other cat, apart from one foster. One of the current fosters met him tonight and spat and growled at him, and he just sat looking at him!!

Definitely at least two!

One more thing to consider re: adding another cat is that if your kitten grows up as an only cat, she may never accept another cat. It's really better for a cat to be socialized with cats and not just with humans.

I think two is best - adopted at the same time.

Problem is, I have only room for one, and I've lived with solitarie cats off and for years.
I have found also plenty of multi-cat homes where the cats tolerate each other only, and there is no real love for one another.

I gave a needy single cat a home, and a permanently injured one at that.
It is the best I could do, and I hope it is enough for her.

She does ignore me a lot, even though I'm gone long days. I figure this is a good sign in the sense that she isnt too needy of others.

im not sher cuz it dapends on the breed relly . See i have a bangal and thar an indapandint cat

My boyfriend and I adopted one bengal initially. While we tried to play with Rishi and keep him occupied as much as possible, we could definitely tell he was lonely while we were gone, and often we'd find the house in shambles when we returned. Rishi was definitely bored and looking for new things to do, despite buying him a multitude of cat toys and a kitty tree.

We still have the messes to return to with the adoption of Rishi's brother Frankie from the same litter, but the two dote on each other and groom each other and are never far from each other (after the initial fighting at the beginning, lol). I'd never go back to having just one after seeing how happy both cats are together. When one is away for even a couple of minutes, the other starts crying loudly (and ya know how loud Bengals can be!), so we don't keep them separated for longer than that!

for two kitties instead of one! (However, I also understand that there are definitely some cats out there that just aren't into sharing their humans/space with other cats, and there's nothing wrong with that either).

I can't necessarily decide how many is the best amount to have, but Ollie needs to be an only cat due to his FIV+ status ... my family tends to spoil, and I mean spoil, our animals so theyre constantly the center of attention and believe that they run things ... my dog, Cuddles, would get so jealous if we got another dog - loves to have play dates with dog friends, but definitely wouldn't live with another... when I worked at the shelter, the sweetest little pit/dalmation mix "adopted" me and would be at my side every day at work, I talked to my mom about actually adopting her so we brought my dog over so the two could meet... my dog got very jealous while I held the pup and held a grudge against me for a few days ... I think Oliver would be the same way if I tried to bring in another cat - if I was going to get more than one of an animal, I'd probably get them around the same age and at the same time... Ollie's definitely the king of this castle and even pushes my boyfriend out of bed - I don't think another cat would go over well in his book! haha

I vote two, because Sierra and Serenity are my family, and we're just purrfect!

I voted for 2 cats and I have 3. One cat is fine if you're a neat freak but I always worry that they're bored. Baylee and Max get along well and I think they're happy together. Jordan threw everything out of whack again and there's a lot more scooping, a lot more food, more cats that need individual attention...