Kitten dilemma

[Marrow]

We have been to see some beautiful 4 week old kittens today. DH has been keen on getting two kittens but I was quite happy to get just one.

The mother is still just a kitten herself really. She is being fostered by the Cats Protection League and they think she is about 12 months' old. She was incredibly friendly and came running up to us and was happy to be held and for us to be looking at her kittens.

My dilemma is do we get one or two. If we get two do we get two kittens or the mother and one kitten?

I am slightly allergic to cats so I'm concerned whether two cats would mean I would be affected worse than with just one cat (which is manageable) I also wonder if having two kittens would mean that they are less friendly towards us as they have each other.

If we get the mother and a kitten would they have a good bond? I thought it would be nice for the mother to stay with one of her kittens but the foster carer suggested that the mother may not be interested in the kitten and be irritated by it in a few months' time.

We have only ever had one cat at a time so I'm unsure what the best combination would be. I have to call the lady back tonight to tell her which one we wish to reserve as she has more people viewing them tomorrow.

Has anyone any advice or experience of having two at one time?

Having two cats is great it doesn't make them any less friendly towards people IME. I really think it depends on the cat and I don't think you can really tell what their temprement will be like as kittens. Infact the one I had on its own as a chid was pretty grumpy and the two I've got now are really affectionate. Haven't got any advice on wether to get a kitten and the mum or two kittens apart from that the kittens will easily get homed and the mum cat my strugle so you would be doing a good deed to take her IMO.

my cat had 3 kittens and we kept one for her AND us. the kitten and the mother are fine independantly but fight with eachother. my friend has the other 2 kittens and they cuddle and are very fond of eachother even now after almost a year if that helps

One more thing, I am also quite allergic to cats. But after about six months to a year I am not affected by cats that live with me any more IYSWIM. Any other cats I am still allergic.

I would get 2 kittens - over the years we have had various combinations and while mum and kitten will work the mum might do better to get spayed and re-housed on her own.

Regarding the slightly allergic there is a lotion called petalcleanse here. My husband said he could tell when we had forgotten to use it with our last cat!

Thank you for your thoughts. I think we are going to go with two boy kittens. You have confirmed what the fosterer said about having the mother and a kitten together and my mum has also had a mother and daughter that didn't get on.

Now we just need to come up with names for them!

Mother and child pairs can get on - my grandmother's cats Cat and Kitten were such a pair (such imaginative names) and my friend's cat has pretty much moved back in with his mother, who lives next door! But two kittens are so much fun ... ours (ten months now, so adolescent really) have spent today curled up in the conservatory together so I'm looking forward to an evening's hilarity as they burn off all the energy they've saved up during the day. They've lovely; we've got to see so much behaviour that we wouldn't have if we'd only had one, they love each other (most of the time - they had a 48 hour falling out when they did nothing but hiss at each other) but also spend time apart and are happy to see us at the end of the school/work day.

I used to breed and now have Granny, Mum and son/grandson living here. Granny and Mum hate eachother, Mum and son hate each other and son and Granny get on really well.
Once weaned cats retain no bond with their relatives, be that siblings or parents and it's luck as to whether their personalities will meld or clash. We've had pairs in the past that have been loving litter mates then enemies once they got over 6 months and became adult, territorial animals.

They sound like fun DontCallMeBaby!

Trafficcone - were they unneutered males that became enemies?

Sam100 - have just been reading about Petalcleanse in the info from Cat's Protection League. It also seems to have some really good reviews so think I will get a bottle to try.

I can't help on mother and child cats, but we have 2 sister kittens who get on really well.
Quite often they'll play fight that gets a bit out of hand but before you know it they're fast asleep on top of each other.
We have also had a brother/sister combination and that worked too. I would definitely recommend getting 2 though.
As for personality, each cat is totally different, there is no telling...From the 2 we have now, the 1 I thought would be very cuddly, isn't.. and the 1 I thought would be very nervy, is really affectionate and confident..
I'm obviously crap at reading the cat signals

If you get two kittens they stay "kitteny" longer, and are twice as much fun to watch playing together. No guarantee they'll get on better - I've had all combinations and you never can tell.

We have a mother and son combination - long story, but she was a useless parent and we had to hand rear the only remaining kitty (she had two litters, totalling 15, and only this one survived.....).

Having been very po faced and rather grumpy mummy cat has a new lease of life. She was spayed, and he has just been neutered and they play together a lot of the time now. Silent wrestling round the kitchen table legs, leaping all over the furniture and racing across the garden and up and down trees. It's so nice to see her happy again, and they're great fun to watch.

So I think it goes to show that there is no hard and fast "rule", it just depends on the characters involved.

Previously we have had 2 together who have loathed the sight of each other (siblings), and stalked around hissing and spitting - for 7 years!