When would you get a companion cat?

[Roseberrry]

I have 2 cats, one is 17 the other 6. Old cat is getting on now and I was wondering what to do when he dies. I know my younger cat will miss the companionship, would you get a kitten now or wait till a while after older cat goes?

I think a 17 year old cat probably wouldn't appreciate a kitten round the place - mine is 7 and I know he'd hate it and probably move out. But you know your cats characters!

We had 2 brothers from the same litter, one got run over which was awful, but it wasn't till he was gone that we realised how mercilessly he had been bullying his brother and the other cat came out of his shell - completely different character.

Maybe wait and see how the other cat copes with being on his own. - which will hopefully be a while yet! And remember there's no guarantee that cats will get on, it sounds like your two have, which is lovely....but....

The older one would be fine I think, not much fazes him. I don't know if the younger one would like it though, he's not keen on change.
Maybe you're right and its best to wait. I just don't want to get it wrong and leave him lonely

He's only 17. You might have a goodly length of time with him yet.

I hope so! I'm dreading it to be honest. What age do cats live to?

They can get to over 20. Our old girl was 19. She did have a few health issues before that though.

My sister had a cat who died when she was 23! She also had her two kittens who lived until they were 18 and 19 so the mum cat outlived her kitties! The oldest cat I have had is 19.5 years. I am quite certain my current two cats will live to well over 50

I started vaguely thinking about the future when my own old boy reached 17. That was four years ago so I'll deal with things when they come now.

I don't know why but I had it in my head they live to 15-16 I thought he was super cat! He's in pretty good health apart from being old so hopefully we have years to go yet.

You just don't know - particularly these days with better nutrition and better healthcare. We thought my own old boy wouldn't make it much past 14 the way things were going. OK, he has severe arthritis now but he has meds to help with that and he's generally a happy lad.

PS - when I was a child, though, a cat of even only 8 or 9 would have been regarded as 'getting on'. A cat of 15/16 would, in those days, have been elderly indeed.

My last two cats both made it to 22.