Leia and....kitten?? Need advice

[dandysmom]

I haven't been a 1 cat family since the 70's, when Misty insisted she was going to live with me, despite what Sultan, my Aby said! It feels odd to just have Leia, but she seems to be VERY pleased at being the only cat...she & Patches were never friends...she has been sleeping in Patches chair & has been on my lap several times in the last few days, & she is NOT a lap cat. Anyhow, I would sort of like to get a kitten; think Leia might adjust to a little male...but...I am getting a little long in the tooth to cope with a frisky little one! What I would really prefer is to get an older rescue cat from the shelter, but I have a distinct feeling that Leia would have trouble adjusting to this... she goes really mad when the neighbors cat walks in our yard...puffs up & does the "wailing match" thing. So, do you think I should just let things be, or maybe try to add a member to the family...I don't want to be selfish if it's going to upset Leia terribly ...I think the longer I let her be an only cat the harder it would be to introduce a new member of the family...I would really appreciate your input on this!! Thanks.

[CJK]

I think if you could get a cat liea gets along with she would love the company. BUt if you got one she didnt get along....
I'm not sure but maybe a rescue would let you take ehr along to meet prospective new family members? see how they get along with each other af ew times before decdiing for sure???
sorry,cant be of anymore help!

[Donna]

Could you find a cat from the rescue but on the understanding you could take him back if it was too upsetting?

[Fran]

Not sure what to advise DM.....good luck with whatever you do decide to do and keep us updated

[dinahsmum]

It's a dilemma isn't it DM? Took us ages way back last autumn to decide to 'go for it', but at that time the decision was to go for 2 kittens, who could be friends if the (then) 2 oldies ganged up against them.
Lost Tizzie since then (and we haven't been a 1 cat family since 1974 either) and we have seen changes in Mini too. I suppose it's just a natural behavioural thing - group dynamics and all that.
Well - we're taking the (maybe) easy route and getting 2 kittens. Is that a go-er for you? I understand if you say no - issues of skittish kitties wrecking the house, issues of human mortality etc. We've decided that's the best way to go for the felines involved. I did swither over just getting one new baby (a pedigree BSH) but thought that might upset Mini more than one. I envisage 2 kitties amusing each other a lot of the time, whereas one baby by itself would be given a lot of human attention, particularly when newly brought in.
Only you can anticipate how Leia might react. Even then, you might anticipate wrongly. If you think a young adult rescue is the right way, could you find a sympathetic and thoughtful shelter or organisation who could 'match', and provide an assurance that they would take it back if all else fails?
I think there are measures you could take, in terms of spreading scent, maybe a DAP diffuser, Rescue Remedy, separate rooms for a while. Smudgley or one of the other re-homers will hopefully be able to give you more advice.

Good luck!

[pollysmum]

I think all cats are a law unto themselves,we always used to have 3 cats we had a rather lovely ginger tom called Boscombe,who would tolerate anything ,we lost him at 13 when he was attacked by a rottie at the same time we had a beautiful white tabby April who got on well with boscombe,April was with us till she died of a stroke aged 20 ,we also had polly but polly got on well with boscombe ,but would hiss and spit at april i suppose it might have been a sex thing both being queens but even now old as she is polly will not tolerate any other cat in our garden even the kitten who lives next door

[Snoof]

It's a difficult decision, but I think that whatever you decide, you risk being wrong. There's just no manual for this. We had to make the same decision with our Ninja - knowing he loves other cats (and doesn't seem to mind at all if we smell like other cats - good for me because if I see a cat I just have to check if they want to be loved up ) helps, but... It's just always a shot in the dark.

Our rescue will be told that we don't know Ninja will definitely take to the kittens and that, if they don't get along, we might need to bring them back. I've discussed it with them before, and they understand the situation (I think it helps that we got Ninja from them).

However, if you don't want a kitten, can you maybe look for a year-old cat? They're less malleable and may not bend to Leia's will as willingly, but they're still fairly young yet not hyperactively kittenesque to the extent tiny kittens are.