2 sisters or a mom & sister. Does it matter?

[afp89898]

Hi, I was looking into adoption two 1-2 year old cats but I wanted to know if anybody on this forum has that combo and could describe their behavior...

I had 1 cat pass away young

and want to have 1 cat again but I think having 2 would make both cats more comfortable because we have 6 family members constantly leaving in and out all day (we close the doors very good as a habit.)

Plus, I just would hate to lose my cat again and have no kitty all over again and think getting 2 girls would be the best route since my last was a girl.

I just want to know what i'd be getting myself into if I got 2 sisters or a mother and daughter (would I have to stay home more or would they take care of themselves? would they get int trouble together alot? etc.)

please share and I thank you.

 

[GoldyCat]

It really depends on the personalities of the cats. My cats keep switching around who is buddied up with whom.

Shareena and Miss Patchwillow are sisters, but I got them at different times. It took them about two days for them to decide they could be best friends.

Iris and Cali are sisters, and I also have their mother. Goldy and Cali (mother & daughter) buddy up most of the time. Iris is everybody's friend, but seems to be especially close to Shareena, who is not related to her.

Merlin is the only boy, not related to any of the others. He thinks he's everybody's best friend. The ladies mostly tolerate him. They'll play with him until they get tired, then either swat him or walk away. Shareena tries to mother him whenever she can pin him down long enough to give him a bath.

Your best bet would be to go to a shelter and see how the cats interact with each other. You might end up with two totally unrelated cats who have been together all their lives and don't want to be separated.

I'm sorry you lost your first kitty. Good luck in your search for the new one(s).

 

[catkiki]

My 2 girls are sisters and are the best of buds. Not so much now since they are older, but when they were babies, they were always together.

 

[darlili]

A lot of times your vet's practice or a shelter will have what's called a 'bonded pair' available for adoption - sometimes it is littermates, sometimes it's just two cats who became buddies, sometimes it's a mom and child. I started with one cat, and then adopted a second to keep #1 company - they're friends now, but looking back I would have made it easier on myself and just gotten a 'bonded pair'. It does sort of depend on the personality - one thing about getting a slightly older cat, is that their personalities are a bit more formed than those of kittens - so you get a bit better idea of what the cat is like. That said, a lot of cats blossom once they're in their forever home and realize it - a shelter, even the nicest, is stressful for them.

If you can afford it, I do like the idea of getting two - it does seem like they keep each other company when I'm gone, and they do play with each other, even when I'm home. That's not to say there's not the odd spat now and again; but most of the time they're friendly.

If you do decide to go with a female, I'd get two females at the same time - generally speaking girls tend to be a bit more territorial, and if you get one girl first, you might think of getting a boy later, as the boys don't seem as 'this is my house you intruder!' as the girls are. But, lots of people have had luck introducing a girl later, so it's not a hard and fast rule.

I thought I was going to get another girl, after my first one - but ended up with a boy - turns out he's my lap kitty, while my girl is a little more independent and hates being picked up.

One thing - especially now that it's kitten season - a lot of shelters will discount the fee for adopting a bonded pair, especially of a slightly older cat (like a year or two old). It doesn't hurt to check.

 

[taryn]

Attitude and Nuts are brother and sister(vet told me Attitude was 'definitely male' at her first appointment. So I thought I'd have 2 boys. I thought she was a girl but the vet assured me at her first appointment she was definitely a male.) I call them partners in crime. They play together and chase each other around and Nuts will decide a scratching post is his and chase her off. They play fight and enjoy each other. Other than that they ignore each other(except occasionally deciding they both want the same bowl of food even though both are the same and are side by side), they might sleep together on our same bed(on separate ends) or side by side in their beds but never together.

Maude(unrelated to either) didn't want anything to do with them really so having 2 of them meant Maude wasn't going to be constantly pestered by a kitten. She would tolerate Attitude by letting her sleep against her but didn't like Nuts. The rest of Attitude and Nuts' relatives live outside.

Outside I have mom(Biter), her 3 kids- 2 boys(Runt and Goldie Jr), 1 girl(Half-tail), grandma(Mama), and Blue, who just showed up one day and decided to stick around. They mostly live their own lives but sometimes Mama pounces on or chases them(usually Biter.)

I would honestly look for a pair that have lived together their whole life and don't want to be separated, even if they have no blood ties.

Taryn

 

[afp89898]

Thanks for your opinions thus far. I think getting 2 would be great too. I have seen some best friend cats being adoptable and also bonded cats for adoption too so I guess I can pick whatever I feel is best.

I think we have a visit with the cats before we adopt them to interact with them and I will have to go off of that for the cats behavior.

 

[piikki]

Originally Posted by afp89898

Thanks for your opinions thus far. I think getting 2 would be great too. I have seen some best friend cats being adoptable and also bonded cats for adoption too so I guess I can pick whatever I feel is best.

I think we have a visit with the cats before we adopt them to interact with them and I will have to go off of that for the cats behavior.

Please do take a hard look at bonded pairs, known biological ties or not. I feel so bad for so many cats that are dumped together and end up separated. This is partly because we have a pair of brothers that got lucky, they were in a cage in shelter and there was absolutely no push to get them adopted together.

I see every day how much they love each other, so much so I sometimes feel their step brother gets left out a bit even though they include him too, just never quite in such a level that they play and snuggle and groom with each other.

On the other hand, I had always though mothers and babies did not form such a great pairings as soon as babies grew up. That stemmed from observing grandma's cats as a kid but those were farm cats. Since then I have learnt otherwise and seen mamas and babies live their whole lives together happily.

I think it's a great benefit to go to a shelter that let's bonded pairs live in same room/cage, and be able to observe them a bit. Saves a lot of trouble when adopting more than one. Good luck, make some kitties and yourself happy!

 

[mews2much]

I have 3 half sisters and half brother and sister.
I had Meekos son but he died at age 5.
I also had Cocos daughter but she died at age 5.
Meeko was not close with her son at all.
In fact her fav was Stormy Cocos girl that died at age 5
She also is very close with Coco and Cleo.
I have 1 male who is Cleos half brother.
Wrinkles hates him because he is so rough.
All my girls get along.
Meeko is not crazy about Sasha her half sister though but you do find them together sometimes.
It is nice of you to want to get 2 cats that have been together.
Coco was very close to her daughter.
Meeko became very upset when Stormy died.
I had to take her to the vet.

 

[Willowy]

In my experience, sisters and mother/daughter pairs can get snippy with each other at some point. They can be best buddies until a certain age and then just start fighting with each other. Brother/sister and mother/son pairs tend to do best. No girl issues

.

But no matter which genders you choose, getting a bonded pair of adult cats is a great idea!

 

[afp89898]

I have always been scared to get a boy out of fear of having him spray. I don't ever have to worry about spraying with girls but if having a brother-sister combo is going to result with better behavior from both cats for the rest of their lives in my house than I will have to consider looking at a boy.

Also, since I only have owned 1 kitty I was wondering how much more work having 2 cats would be compared to just the 1 I had before. Will it require a lot more work? I know it's double the responsibility...

 

[mews2much]

My sphynx Cleo and Polar Bare are brother and sister but he is very rough with her and she gets mad.
Not all males spray it depends on the cat.
My last male was altered young and he sprayed.
He was the son of my Meeko but she did not like him very well.
She prefers Coco and her half sister Stormy that died.
For me I have better luck with girls.
It is not much more work with 2 cats.
Sasha is best friends with Oreo her sister.

 

[violentdayzie]

Heya, thought I'd share my two cat story with you:

I introduced Little Cat (male) to Moneypenny, who had been the sole queen of the household for years. She was 4, and he was 8 months. When I adopted her, she had been in the shelter with her 7 month old kitten, and all of the notes on them said how much they loved each other, and I'd wanted to get the both of them. Someone adopted her kitten not an hour before I got there with the carrier. Too slow! Took her anyway. When I started being away from home for most of the day, I wanted to get her a friend, and that's where Little Cat came from. Since she had done so well with other cats at the shelter and had been so strongly bonded to her kitten, I had expected her to just love all over him. It didn't work out that way. They hated each other for about a month, and integrating them took a bit of trickery - keeping them separate in a one bedroom apartment was a pain. Now they have a truce and mostly ignore each other. No loving kitty cuddle puddles here, except for when they both have to be on my lap at the same time. Then they seem to come to a compromise. :-) As far as 'work' goes, there is no difference between one cat and two, other than having three litterboxes to maintain (you should always have one more box than the number of cats in the house.) They don't generally fight over food like dogs do. Mine eat out of the same dish without any trouble.

Anyway, short version: Get a bonded pair. Much more adorableness will ensue that way. If you do decide to get unbonded kitties, you shouldn't have to worry about integration issues too much since it will be new territory for BOTH parties.

The male spraying thing: I've had three male cats in my life, and not a single one of them has sprayed. They were all neutered as babies. Males have been more affectionate, in my experience, than females. Don't be afraid of boys. :-D

 

[pami]

I have a Mom cat and all of her babies

Easy (Mom) and daughter (Laura) love each other so much. Actually all of her babies love her a lot and want to be around her a lot. She grooms them and sleeps and cuddles with all of them, but her and Laura definitely have a bond. Laura is 7 and her Mom is about 8.

 

[piikki]

Originally Posted by afp89898

I have always been scared to get a boy out of fear of having him spray. I don't ever have to worry about spraying with girls but if having a brother-sister combo is going to result with better behavior from both cats for the rest of their lives in my house than I will have to consider looking at a boy.

Also, since I only have owned 1 kitty I was wondering how much more work having 2 cats would be compared to just the 1 I had before. Will it require a lot more work? I know it's double the responsibility...

I was always a girl-kitty person too. I thought boys would be more trouble and worried about the spray thing. Then I accidentally got first boys when I was looking for girls at the shelter. Now I have experience with four boys, none of them have ever sprayed, not once. (I have been very lucky with my cats, none of my girls ever had piddle related issues either). I have to say, I am so sold. I am bit biased the other way now. These boys are such mushbags. No divas, just teddybears.

I have nothing against girls but I admit I would now be worried bringing a girl into this mix. They always say girl/boy combos work well. I wonder though about several males and one new girl. I would worry whether it would affect the boys certain ways. Maybe they would try to impress on the girl, and start acting out, heh. Starting with one M/F sounds like a great way to do it though.

Having previously been one-cat owner, then starting with two at a time - I do not think it was much extra work. Mainly some extra scooping was something I noticed and extra vet bills. Otherwise really not. Someways less because boys entertain each others, and there is less worry when they are home alone/petsitted. They were great comfort for each others upon arrival too, in new place, since they were so bonded.

 

[momofmany]

My personal opinion is that 2 cats are actually easier to take care of than 1. They keep each other entertained and are not as dependent on you to play with them. There is more litter to scoop, and if (heaven forbid) both of them get sick or have special dietary needs, that can be more work.

I have a brother/sister pair and have brother pairs in the past. It seems that the bond between litter mates is stronger than the bond between unrelated cats. I have 8 males and 3 females, so this may happen because I have so many cats.

 

[Winchester]

We have six cats: Whisper, Bootser, BooBoo, Ms. Pepe, Amber Louise, and Mollipop.

Whisper and Bootser (both 16) are sisters and they get along very well. Whisper is also the mother of BooBoo (14 year old male) and Ms. Pepe (14-year old female), which makes Boo and Pepe brother and sister. They all get along wonderfully, except there are a few times where Boo and Pepe might get into a sibling squabble or two. But the whole clan acts like one big family.

Our Rainbow Banshee (who was no relation to them and who died at 14) and BooBoo were very, very close....and when Banshee died, Boo grieved (there's just no other word for it) for about six weeks. We were actually worried about Boo for awhile, but he eventually came around. Banshee was pretty close with all of the cats (except for Amber) and we have lots of pictures of the Clumping Five. You can't tell where one cat stops and another one begins!

Amber (who is 7) is happy to be on her own. She will lie in bed with the rest of the cats, but she won't clump with them. And Mollipop (at two months old) is still just a little baby and while I think she would like to clump with some of the other cats, they won't have much to do with yet. Except for Whisper who has finally given in and will nap with Molli at times.

While I have read posts about related cats who don't get along, we're lucky that we've never, ever had that issue with our clan.

That being said, though, I love the idea of visiting a shelter to see if there are any bonded pairs there, even if they're not related. It's a great idea, since you're already thinking about getting two kitties anyway....and bless you for wanting two cats!

BTW, we've had six males total; the rest were all females. We did have a problem with Hydrox spraying...it was something he started as a kitten and we never could stop him. But Peanut Butter, Spike, Pita, and Da Pumpkin-Boy all were wonderful males who never did spray or even go outside of their litterboxes. And BooBoo, too, has never, ever sprayed. *knock on wood*

 

[killerapple]

My parents have 2 sister cats. The funny story is that when my grandparents went to pick out a kitten for us, they went to get just 1 - but couldn't leave without taking a 2nd.

It really worked out well - the kittens really really kept themselves entertained and taught each other that biting hurts, etc.

They are SUCH well-behaved cats too but that may have nothing to do with that. They were big cuddle bugs when they were younger - sleeping in a big kitty pile. As they've gotten older (14 now) they tend to have their own territories in the house that they hang out in and kinda ignore each other now actually. So that is sad how there's no more big kitty piles of them together, but they get along fine. They're just independent now.

I have a mother and son combo right now. They were separated for about 8 months before they were re-united. (Momma Patches was an outside feral that I took inside eventually.) That combo seems to be working fine as well.

 

[afp89898]

Thanks for all the info/experiences. I am definitely open to any possibility of 'bonded' Cats I come across from now on.