Thinking about adopting a second cat...advice requested

[suzbaby]

I adopted Bo, a 9 year old, male, tabby cat about 9 months ago. Right now he's an "only child" but I have been thinking seriously about adopting a companion for Bo. I even went to the local humane society today and met some of the cats looking for new homes.
Here's my worry, what if Bo and the new cat do not get along? Bo doesn't have front claws (he came to me that way) and if I adopt another kitty WITH claws and the two of them get in a tussle, Bo might get hurt.
Any suggestions for how to introduce a new cat into the household?
My husband and I work all day, so the kitties will largely be alone together and I won't be able to supervise the transition very much (aside from the weekends).
Thanks for your advice in advance!

Oh, and here's a picture of Bo:

[blondie58]

1. I think that is a great idea!

but you want to be careful about introducing them to each other. Here is a website that has some excellent articles on cats and their behavior.

http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?action=library&act=show&item=cattocatintroductions

Good luck to you and let us know what you decide. It is so cute to see a pair of cats. They oftentimes sleep together, flinging a paw over the other and they groom each other.

[suzbaby]

2. Thanks for the link!

I'll check it out. :)

[roody]

3. He looks like he'd love another cat.

Today I spent an hour in a cat room at the County Animal Shelter. Maybe you could take him with you to a place like that and let him choose his companion. At first you could leave them in their own rooms, couldn't you?

[suzbaby]

4. Travel is VERY stressful for Bo.

A 20 minute drive to the vet's office has him literally panting from anxiety. I don't think I could take him to the humane society. But I think you're right about putting them in their own rooms at first. Slow introduction is probably the way to go. :hi:

[roody]

7. You could always return the new cat and get a different one.

There is no cat shortage.

[spooky3]

8. also, you don't want your beautiful current kitty to be afraid you are

taking him to the shelter because you intend to leave him there.

I don't think most kitties are really totally "themselves" at shelters, but you can also ask the volunteers about their personalities and backgrounds (were they in a household with another kitty before? how do they get along with other kitties at the shelter?) to try to get an idea about the likely "fit."

[AZBlue]

10. You'd want to check it out before you take him anywhere.

I've been considering getting a 2nd kitty too and I took my Maggie with me once - I had to leave her outside with the shelter staff, they won't let you "test" cats together the way they will with dogs.

Definitely different rooms is the way to go for a while - plus using a towl or bedding in both rooms and switch them at one point so they can really adjust to each others scent.

[ginnyinWI]

5. you never know if things will work out until you try.

Maybe you could adopt another one on a trial basis? Some shelters might do that. The problem is, sometimes cats will hate each other at first and become friends after several months go by. But if they hit it off immediately, you'd know you have the right one.

I think your best bet would be to get a relatively young cat as the second cat--one who would not fight a turf war with #1. Some say same sex cats work out best, especially when they are females.

[spooky3]

6. I recently did something very similar.

Here is my advice, for what it is worth:

1) Explain to the shelter that you would like to adopt, but you cannot commit to adopting unless your current cat is happy with the arrangement. They will appreciate your concern for your current cat as well as the new one. Please see my thread about Tommy. The shelter agreed to let me "foster to adopt", which was their term for a conditional adoption, depending on how the kitties got along, and they readily agreed to take him back if after a few weeks or months it became clear it wasn't working.
2) Declawed cats are, sadly, pretty widely available. Check Petfinder.com (search for declawed cats). I would really strongly encourage that you adopt one that also is declawed if you can, because you really would feel terrible if the older one were hurt by the younger one.
3) It may be better to get a cat that is closer in age to your current kitty (e.g., 5 years) rather than very young (e.g., 1 year).
4) Set up a room just for the newcomer, complete with a favorite food, water, litter box, toys. Let him or her settle in completely, and allow your current kitty and the newcomer to sniff each other under the door, without opening the door until it is crystal clear that both kitties really want to meet each other. In our case it took a matter of hours, but my older kitty has fostered before and he really likes other kitties. This is not true with most pets. It can take weeks for the initial introduction to work, and more for there to be a complete adjustment.
5) If you can schedule bringing the newcomer home when you have a 3 day weekend or other time when you can be there a lot, I think this greatly helps. My newcomer tends to be very aggressively playful with my older kitty because he loves him, and it is still a concern, because not only does the older kitty have no front claws, he also has no teeth, due to stomatitis. So I have had to gently train Tommy to back off when the older guy is telling him very clearly to leave him alone. Tommy never had another kitty companion in his prior homes so it is taking him a long time to "get it." In your case, your current kitty can give him a good bite if he/she still has teeth and the newcomer will learn more quickly.

I hope everything works out!

[suzbaby]

9. Thanks for all the advice spooky3!

And of course, I greatly appreciate all of the input everyone has offered. Thanks everyone!

[demnan]

11. You might find that getting a cat of the same gender

and age increases the chance that they will get along together. Other than that, I'm afraid its a crap shoot. Look for a cat that is social and friendly. That would be your best bet.

And don't get a Siamese or Oriental type, as they are more aggressive and demanding. (I know, I have one, but that's how I found out and had many years of two cats not getting along).

Another tabby type, orange or grey would probably fit in best in your household.

[bicentennial_baby]

14. Ha! Wish I'd seen this first!

Except the aggression is being directed at me *and* the other cat. Someone might think I've been in a bar fight, from the looks of my scratches/gouges. Oh well, I adore her, when she's not being a psychotic bitch. :D

Demanding is an understatement. :rofl:

:hi:

[japple]

12. If you do get another cat, consider one that has been at

an animal shelter for a long time, esp. if they've been an occupant of a cat room and allowed to intermingle. You'll probably find one that has learned how to get along with a variety of cats.

Or you might be lucky, like me, and a new cat will find you. When that happened, I put the newbie in a room by herself (with food and water) and put an old window screen in the doorway so the two cats could see/smell each other, but weren't able to fight. That way, the new cat has a refuge and the old cat can get used to the smell of another cat. It only took a few days before they tolerated each. It took another few weeks before they began to play and hang out together.

[badgerpup]

13. A buddy will help keep Bo from getting lonely...

...and two cats are less likely to get into trouble (read: damage stuff because they're bored out of their furry little skulls) than one usually is.

I like to have mixed sexes (both of them fixed, of course!), because males and females seem to divvy up territory differently from each other...there appears to be (at chez badgerpup, at any rate) very little squabbling over whose turn it is to sit on the one available human.

Two litterboxes is a good idea if you've got room...and two or more kitty beds placed strategically about the house. Some of the kitty beds here are communal property- whoever's there first gets dibs, and others are very definitely property of one or another of the cats.