Looking for a 2nd companion cat, does gender matter?

Greetings!

I was just curious about your own experiences with having two or more cats- and whether you think that male neutered cats tend to get along better with other neutered males- or females w/ females etc...

I've heard so many different opinions- and I know that when it gets right down to it, each cat has such a unique personality that only experience will tell.

Here's my story:
I have one neutered male (Louie)- around 3 yrs old- who is FIV+. He seems to like other cats from what we observed briefly at the shelter he was from (and would have adopted a buddy right then and there for him, if the other FIV + kitties had liked other cats!) Louie is a loving and HIGH energy cat, who we believe would greatly benefit from a furry companion while we are at work etc...He's not aggressive, but loves to pounce on us! We had a female foster kitty for a while who he tried hard to bond with, but who wanted nothing to do with him. I think she was overwhelmed by his energy!

We are now looking at a female FIV+ kitty who is just a little under a year. She is sweet, pretty darn fearless, and very very playful too. It's sad, because she's been passed over so many times by potential adopters because of her FIV status. I am seriously considering adopting her- but am nervous about whether or not she'll be overwhelmed by Louie. The shelter says that she's not even nervous when the dogs pass by- in fact, she has tried to bat at the nose of one of the vet's pitbulls a few times!

Perhaps I'm just nervous because the foster female kitty was afraid of him...Has anyone had a similar situation that turned out well (the cats hitting it off?)

a younger female sounds perfect as would be less competition with him being an older male.

but it does depend a LOT on the cats personality. So theres not really a right answer to this.

Bless you for considering taking in another FIV+ kitty. Like you and Nicky said, it's all in the personality. It's really hard to judge whether they'd get along or not without bringing them together. I wish you luck; I hope they'll be best of friends!!

It doesn't matter too much, but my boys do get along better with each other than the girls. Good luck!

It sounds like she is a pretty good match for your family. It seems that older established females are probably the hardest to acclimate to a new cat. I've only ever introduced young kitties to older (but less than 3 year old) males.

I did have an experience where my (dumb) roomate was trying to introduce her female cat (who was probably between 1-5 and unspayed) to the two resident neutered males, who were about 1 and 7. She didn't seem to like them and ended up with a slashed paw and a vet visit. The cat later went to her friend, and about a month later ended up giving birth to a single litter of one, so we came to figure that she was a bit more on the offence due to the fact she was pregnant.

Sounds to me like she just might be the right 2nd kitty to join your household. With both cats being FIV + it won't mattr. I say go for the little female

Thank you all for your feedback
My boyfriend and I are both going back to the vet's office where she's been staying on Saturday (so that he can meet her too!)

I'm thinking there's a very good possibility that we might be adopting her, but I'll keep you guys posted...

I know that Louie tried so hard to befriend our female foster kitty- and didn't show any signs of aggression/territorial behavior with her- which I thought was pretty unique. I'm hoping he'll behave similarly with this little kitty. It should be very interesting to see how she reacts to him!

By the way- with the foster kitty I noticed that one of the first things that Louie did was take her by the scruff of the neck with his mouth - not growling or biting hard...but I was wondering- was that to show dominance? Or a playful gesture? He would try to pounce on her (like he does to us when he's in play mode) but when she would growl/hiss at him, he'd back off and just lie next to her...sometimes rolling over near her or playing near her.

I think it has to do with dominance, definitely. My resident cats seem to like to grab the newcomers, shove them down and force them to be groomed on the head! Even today this goes on. What I did with the most recent intro, the kitten was let the cats be with eachother for short periods at first,and when it seemed play was getting too rough or if there was a lot of growling, I would separate them. Rocky loved them almost right away, but Zakk was not to pleased. However he would show up at the door where the kittens were, come in, check them out, and then ask to leave. After a while things were "cool" and we felt okay letting them have the run of the house.