Thinking of getting a second cat. Good idea or should we stay a single cat household?

[Skullyton]

I'm torn. I ADORE cats, love them, i'd be a happy crazy cat lady given the chance, however i was resigned to being confined to my pfc who was given me in the darkest of days just after my dad died and pretty much pulled me through my grief with her kittenish love and silly antics and purrs.

Dh has never liked cats, but slowly over the last 14mo i've watched him fall for skullycat as much as i have, he gets jealous that she wont go to him for fuss, and he always takes time to stand and love on her when she lets him.

Skullycat is now 18mo, and DH (omg) has started making noises about adding a second cat to the house, possibly a rescue this time.

But... i dont know how skullycat will react to a new addition, she doesn't really get on with the neighbours cats. She is mainly an indoor cat with limited access to the garden, and our house isn't huge. I'm going to struggle to place a second litter tray really, and dh already complains about SC's habit of scratching the carpet.

I'm also concerned that as she is the sole animal in the house, she's used to having me pretty much to herself as she is very much my cat and ignores everyone else..that being said, she's not a lapcat either, she's a 'near-by' cat who always sits where she can see me rather than on me.. i get a cuddle a couple of times a day, but then she's off again.

oooh, i dont know what to dooooo. There is a gorgeous little black and white kitten come up on the local cat rescue page, i'd have him in a heart beat, but i dont want to upset SC either.

Get him! I was always a one cat household until 2 weeks ago too. Then I saw an old boy (well 7, nearly 8) on our local rescue website. Cue a visit to see him, a home check and 3 days later he was safely installed in our house. PestoCat1 is gradually getting used to the idea that he is no longer the only cat in the house & PestoCat2 has settled in very happily.

I don't think you will regret taking on another cat, particularly if yours is a rescue cat too, needing a loving home

Good luck!

A very settled PestoCat2

PestoCat1 - bothered?

i wont regret it, i know i won't. i'd have a house of them, its more the practicality of space, lol.

But then i think about the teeny apartments i see on my cat from hell, and my little terrace is practically palatial compared to those places with 2 or more cats in them!

You could always go & visit the cat rescue 'for a chat' and see what they think. Mine insisted on a home visit first, to check whether the house was suitable and presumably whether there would be enough too for each cat to avoid each other have their own space.

I can empathise with your dithering, OP.

We had one cat who really didn't like other cats. She tolerated the cat who was in situ when we got her, but when that cat died we decided not to get another one on the basis that she was too old (at about 14) to have to put with us introducing another cat.

She lived to 21, so we were a one cat household for 7 years, and it wasn't until some time after she died when we started contemplating other cats that I really realised that the DC had never known anything other than an elderly, smelly and somewhat grumpy cat. Their delight in young cats was fascinating.

Each time (we got brother and sister teenage rescues, lost boycat after 9 months when he got run over [sob], and got another rescue cat after that) I was convinced that we had done the wrong thing because it took a long time (6 weeks+) for them to settle, but taking the long view it definitely was the right thing. Your PFC is still young - I would say this would be a good time to introduce another kitten.