A question for cat owners...

[metalmare]

Hi everyone,

Wondering if anyone can advise.

I am considering, and only considering, bringing another cat into the household.

I already have two cats, who have lived here for almost four years and knew each other before that. They are both neutered tom cats (neutered late in life). One is a bengal (of sorts!) the other is a bengal x persian. They are generally very content together, although they do have their tiffs, which can sometimes sound quite nasty, but have never resulted in any injuries. This is usually when one comes on to the other...!

If, and it is an if, I were to introduce another cat, I would be looking at another bengal (a proper one) or a siamese type - an exotic shorthair of some breed. Would it increase the chances of them hitting it off if I got another male? Or is a queen better? And would it help having a kitten / younger cat? How successful does it tend to be, introducing a third cat to an established pair?

Thanks.

 

[Britestar]

I have a few cats and each new one has been introduced without to much fuss. There is usually some spitting and flinging of paws, then the 'old' cats go off and sulk for a few days.

I have introduced older cats as well as kittens. The kitties are normally locked in a crate at night for their own safety, until relationships have improved.

Funnily, when I have had babies in to hand rear, none of the older cats care one bit, even when they start running around.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

When our old female siamese sadly died, it left us with a middle aged male burmese and the younger male Egyptian Mau who are best buddies. We got a lovely male moggy kitten and the burmese loved him straight away. He washed the kitten, bought him mice and tried to teach him how to be a proper cat. The Mau was pretty scared of the kitten and it took him about three months to get over it (he's very special ), but now he loves playing with the not-so-small-kitten and the three of them go around together causing trouble.

Breed wise, I love oriental cats (old style siamese are wonderful) and I really, really love Maus now I've got one. I definitely want another in a different colour one day. Even though we were looking at pedigree cats when we were kitten shopping, we saw the ad for Percy (a splodgy moggy) and knew that we wanted to view him. That's how it goes sometimes.

 

[Moggy in Manolos]

We have 4 cats now, we recently took on an 18 month old female bengal whose owners could not cope with her, and I can totally see why, haha, she is a nightmare! We had 3 males before, two are 11.5yrs, and one is 12.5yrs and they have been very good accepting the new little monster, they are still settling but really are all fine on the whole. Our Persian is great as he is scared of nothing and does not care if she goes up to his face and hisses! Which she does often, he just blanks her, brilliant, just what we need with the little madam. I think as long as you get the right sort of cat then its fine. I would say you need to get a confident cat as joining a new household is daunting. It is hard to say if male or female would be best, how exciting though,please do post pics if you do get another

 

[metalmare]

Hi all...

Thank you for the encouraging advice

I thought it must be doable as I know many multi-cat households, I was just a little anxious about the established relationship.

MoggyinManolos... what does your bengal do? Although I have a bengal, he is not registered and I don't think is a very pure / good example of the breed, so apart from being moody and having red biro on his card at the vets saying 'mind your fingers' I don't find him too troublesome. What could I be in for if I got a purer bengal?

 

[joelb]

I have 4 house cats and have never had a problem introducing newbies to the established group. I keep the new one confined to a bedroom for 24 hours and let them all sniff under the door etc, usually have a few growls and spats when they meet but they settle very quickly. As you have boys I would stick to another fella and definitely go for a kitten. Pick your breeder carefully and make sure they socialise them well then you will find your kitten will settle incredibly quickly and not be phased by any initial spats. Be wary of breeders who don’t allow visitors or rear in external pens, they don’t always produce the most social and rounded of kittens as I found with my first venture into pedigrees.

 

[cptrayes]

I have fairly big problems introducing new cats to my half Bengal boy. I currently have a brother and sister and he is worse with the female than the male, and was terrible with a previous female, but that may be because both were nortie torties.

I have also had a female who refused to be touched by us and also gave up washing herself for four months, yet had no problem at all with the introduction after that one.

It obviously depends very much on the cats.

I will just warn you that if it does go wrong, it's very, very stressful for up to six months.

 

[metalmare]

Brilliant advice, thank you everyone.

Lots to think about!

 

[WelshD]

I added a kitten to a long established moggy cat and was surprised at the ease of mixing them, I've introduced cats before with no problems too and use the 'not too widely' recommended method of letting them get on with it from day 1 and not interfering

The kitten we introduced a couple of years back is a Peterbald, she is a spoilt, nosey madam of a noisy diva but she is endless entertainment, if you have a lock on your bedroom door and bathroom door I would highly recommend them as a breed!