Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To get another cat?

55 replies

frostedviolets · 13/10/2019 08:55

Existing cat is a bit of a bellend.

Nice gentle temperament but quite active and somewhat destructive.

She is an adult cat, about 3 I think so not a kitten and forever running about, pinging the kids toys, jumping on/off stuff, crawling along the bottom of the sofa etc.
Claws the stairs, the bookcase, the bed, the sofa...
I don't really have the time to play with her.

If I was to get another cat, what are the chances of the destructiveness stopping and the two just playing with each other instead?

She is a nice cat but the clawing makes me want to throttle her!

I like the idea of her having a little friend to play with but the thought of two cats scratching up my house makes me feel a bit sick.

She is quite a social cat and friendly with pretty much all the neighbourhood cats.

So, wibu to get another cat (kitten)?

OP posts:
Original poster
frostedviolets · 13/10/2019 09:56

Teach your kids to shut her out of the room if they're playing with cat-attractive toys

No she fishes them out from under the sofa and pings them all across the wooden floor, makes a hell of a noise!
Small legos and the like.
I don't mind her playing with them.

OP posts:
Bluejeantreefrog · 13/10/2019 10:08

If you get another cat preferably a male what's easy going and used to other cats you might get lucky. Introduce them slowly. I find a Male and female get on better together than 2 females. We have a male and female both rescues from being kittens get on great. But then we rescued a young female and they hate her. Tolerate her but are constantly on the lookout for her as she wants to play with them but they see it as a threat. Shes lovely but mostly we wish we hadn't got her but she would be dead if we hadn't. A year on they can be in same room together but will never be friends like my original two are.

Meltedicicle · 13/10/2019 10:08

Oh also, does yours like catnip? We bought a catnip spray, put that on her scratching post and it held her attention for a bit!

Paisley19 · 13/10/2019 10:16

She's scratching coz she needs to sharpen her claws. Do you have a scratching post for her to use? Amazon have a great one. I think it's called 'CA&T Ultimate Cat Scratching Tower'. Works an absolute treat in our house and is as the title suggests, indestructible. We have 4 cats. 2 play together nicely and keep each other entertained. The others not so much. Just depends on their personalities.

Whatafackinliberty · 13/10/2019 10:16

People like you shouldn’t have animals at all.

You’d be better of rehoming your cat.

fifipop185 · 13/10/2019 10:23

No advice OP, just sympathies as my cat is a bellend too. He is one of three brothers and the other two ignore his antics. He woke me this morning by pushing my bedside lamp on to my face...

MitziK · 13/10/2019 10:30

All cats are bellends, one way or another.

They actually calm down quite a lot at around 6 or 7, but are still utter knobs from time to time - DTwatCat#2 is about 15 and, although the majority of her life is spent snoring somewhere, she still zooms up and down the stairs, round the corner, hurls herself on the doormat, back round the corner, up the stairs, into the bedroom, under the bed, back out, claws the rug, onto the landing, claws the carpet, back into the bedroom, back under the bed and then promptly falls asleep under there for another 3 hours. And then comes out when I go to bed for constant fusses and attention until I go to sleep.

DTwatCat #1 (he gets the #1 designation because he's the biggest bellend of them all) is younger, he's 7 and is a lot more sedate 90% of the time, but he chooses to fill his days with stalking mice under the shed, so he has entertainment, mental challenge (albeit he's pretty mentally challenged on the whole anyway), exercise and then, once the back door closes at sundown, settles down, other than around 10pm when he knows the other cats in the area start wandering round his garden wall, so needs a bit of attention to distract away from the invaders. He then takes himself off to bed at 11 and doesn't emerge until the alarm goes off and I get up (when he harasses me in the toilet for five minutes before expecting to be let out to resume Mouseageddon).

If you're out all day, yours needs attention - even if you are tired, ten minutes of playing will be enough for her to get her ready to settle down again - another cat can't provide that, as they might not be alert at the same time and they do need their humans to show some interest.

Original poster
frostedviolets · 13/10/2019 10:30

You’d be better of rehoming your cat

Yes that definately sounds the kindest thing to do Hmm

No more cuddles in bed with the children, no more bites of human food, no more playing with the dog or her cat friends outside, no more pinging legos around the house or scratching whatever she pleases, no, let's just shove her in a cage with minimal human interaction and no more outdoor time.

She'll be SO much happier.

She's not abused or neglected ffs.

OP posts:
Original poster
frostedviolets · 13/10/2019 10:35

If you're out all day, yours needs attention

I'm in all day, the cat tends to be outside most of the day, or if she's inside she's sleeping.
She waits until the children are in bed and I'm looking forward to recovering from the day to come alive...

OP posts:
MitziK · 13/10/2019 11:31

Sorry, I thought that you'd be that tired because of working, commuting, pickups from minders and then getting kids sorted with tea, homework, baths, stories and bedtimes.

She's waiting until she has a chance to get you on your own - she's choosing to come out then because she wants some of your time.

It's only ten minutes. Another kitten would also want some of your time - probably more, what with being a baby.

Original poster
frostedviolets · 14/10/2019 13:05

Little update for anyone still following.

Bought some toys today, some balls, few wand type things.
I'm not convinced it's going to make difference but I'll have a little play with her later tonight anyway.

Have spoken at length with DH, second cat is not off the cards just yet.

OP posts:
Beamur · 14/10/2019 13:11

The right 2nd cat might work. You have already heard that you might end up with 2 bellends Grin
Variety of toys and scratchers might help. Even moving existing ones to new places makes them interesting again. Don't have lots of toys out at once, have a few and keep swapping them
Absolute winner toy for one of my cats is a bit of garden wire wrapped up into a spring, it bounces about and moves erratically which she finds interesting.

Original poster
frostedviolets · 14/10/2019 13:19

Yes that is what I'm hoping (if we get another)

I bet it'll be totally my luck that if we get another cat I'm going to end up with two naughty ones... 😂

She's had so many scratchers.
She had two massive activity centre ones, plus smaller ones, she does use them a bit but she's not that bothered!
My bookcase is her favourite 😡

Oh she will play with absolutely anything, I often see her jumping about outside after leaves, she'll take the dogs toys, kids legos, anything really.
She's just a really active cat!

OP posts:
thecatsthecats · 14/10/2019 13:24

My cats don't play together. They fight a bit if they feel I'm not giving either of them attention.

Also the bigger cat will take his toy tray and dump it on the floor to get the one he wants.

If this were BlackJack, I'd be saying stick don't twist!

slipperywhensparticus · 14/10/2019 17:13

Saturdays activity consisted of one shoe box many cat toys dreamies tape and a knife I turned it into an activity cube for the cats with paw sized holes and a bit of catnip my kitchen is covered in cardboard now 🤷‍♀️ I had three happy cats for awhile

Beamur · 14/10/2019 17:15

I love that idea!

MontStMichel · 14/10/2019 17:26

We have brother and sister cats, who we got from a cat rescue charity, on the condition we took both, as they were "bonded siblings".

Once they were grown up, they tolerate each other - the male cat decides to wash out the ears of his smaller sister nearly every day, she gets fed up with it and they end up fighting! He also tries to steal her food all the time, so we have to feed them in separate rooms, otherwise he wolfs his own down in 30 seconds and then goes to push her away from her's, so he can eat it!

Even though we have a cat playground with scratching posts, and they have easy access to gardens whenever they want in the daytime, they still both scratch the sofas whenever they come in the room! Its like part of their routine! We just accept it, as part and parcel of having cats.

IMO, sharpening claws happens regardless of who or what they have to play with, because its a different instinct?

randomchap · 14/10/2019 17:45

To help with the scratching try the corrugated cardboard scratch pads. Since getting some of these the cats only scratch the pads and have left everything else alone. Shame that they leave little bits of cardboard everywhere but it just mean you empty the hoover more often.

Original poster
frostedviolets · 14/10/2019 17:47

I'll get one tomorrow, do they move around though?!
How do you secure them, they must be awfully light?

OP posts:
crimsonlake · 14/10/2019 17:53

My elderly cat died leaving me with one older cat. He seemed to miss him so much and what with thinking he was lonely I introduced a kitten in to the mix. I had forgotten what a bundle of terror they can be. Short burst of play followed by many naps I thought, well believe you me this kitten does not do naps. She spends the entire day terrorizing the other one. Considering what she puts him through he is very patient, she must be going on 8 months now and showing no signs of slowing down, just getting bigger and bigger.
She has brought a lot of joy, but I do not think it has been fair on the other cat and at the end of the day I would not do it again.

randomchap · 14/10/2019 18:26

The cardboard things just lay on the floor. You can also put cat nip in them to get the cats interested the first time they see them. Just place them in out of the way places. My cats have their own near their food bowls.

This is the one we have.

www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/scratching_posts/cardboard_cat_furniture/101907

NaviSprite · 14/10/2019 18:30

Corrugated scratchers are great, generally my cats stand on them when they go at them so they keep them in place easily.

We bought a pack of catnip and sprinkled it into the corrugated side so it encouraged the cats to dig at it more and it really has helped our furniture!

Also, for our hyper young male cat we got some of the calming spot on as we’ve noticed he can get rather anxious at times and that’s when his destructive tendencies increase.

We do have four cats, our eldest angry female calmed down a lot when we got the youngest as she was able to mother him and they still have a really loving relationship with each other. But it’s never a guarantee that another cat will calm an older cat down.

Is your cat an indoor cat or does she go outdoors at all? Sorry if I’ve missed that in the thread!

catlady3 · 15/10/2019 10:30

Reckon she does need scratching posts, sounds like she doesn't currently have one. There's this guy on youtube, I can't remember the name, it's not "cat whisperer"!! Anyway, he had a bit of advice that I thought was good, that whenever you say "no" to a cat, you have to have a way of saying "yes". Don't want her scratching sofa, get her something else to scratch (and maybe make sofa unattractive). Don't want her playing with kids toys, get her a cat toy she likes better. Zooplus do a big bag of mice and balls that mine absolutely adore, maybe those are an option? Or "Petmate Fat Cat Crazies" on amazon, one of mine is absolutely addicted.

Original poster
frostedviolets · 15/10/2019 10:35

Reckon she does need scratching posts, sounds like she doesn't currently have one

She has had them in the past but she doesn't really use them much
I haven't been out yet but I am go going to pick up a corrugated one this afternoon.

OP posts:
Original poster
frostedviolets · 17/10/2019 08:44

It's been a few days, time for an update...

OP posts: