Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

To adopt another cat or not?

1 reply

ThanksForAllTheFish · 16/08/2017 17:48

Current situation: My boy is 2 and very affectionate, 90% indoor cat by his own choosing but likes the odd half hour stint in the garden. He and neighbour cat tolerate each other but aren't really buddies. They don't fight but often have staring contests.

I have been thinking on and off for a while that I should get another cat to keep him company when we are out. We live in a flat so can't have a cat flap, when we go out he has to stay in as there no way would he be happy to stay out for periods of time longer than an hour - and if he was ever left out in the rain I think he would disown us.

A Facebook pet re-homing page I follow has just put an ad up for a cat looking for a home. He is 8, can live with other cats, is fine with children (so long as it's a quieter home) - no issues with that as we only have one DD who is almost 8 and quite calm and sensible, she's not one to chase/ pull/ torment the cat. Cat has no health issues and had been neutered / vaccinations up to date. He looks lovely and sweet and I'm very tempted.

My concerns are -

  1. My cat would be very upset about sharing his home with another cat.
  2. New cat would need outdoor access and our current no cat flap situation wouldn't work for him
  3. His age. 8 isn't young but it's not really old either.
  4. Why are they rehoming him? Are there behavioural issues? Nothing mentioned in the ad which is more worrying - usually they mention 'through no fault of his own' or similar but this has nothing.

My own cat is not a biter or a scratcher. He's never wrecked furniture, peed outside the litter box etc. I know we are lucky and he is such a great natured cat.

I think I will call them tomorrow and ask some more questions. I would love to take him but trying to keep my sensible head on just now.

OP posts:
NancyDonahue · 16/08/2017 18:35

It doesn't sound like your current cat is lonely. Most cats are happy living alone once they've been alone for a while. I think you need to decide if you want the other cat for you. I can understand how tempting it is - I follow my local rescue page and see cats daily that break my heart, but I resist as I just don't know how current cat would react and my first loyalty is to him. The last thing you want is to end up with a situation where you may have to rehome the new cat again.

Ask lots of questions and go and visit the new cat. You'll get a good idea of his personality if you spend some time with him.

If you decide to go for it you will need to totally separate them for a while, as they gradually get used to each other, so you will need the space to do that. There are all sorts of tricks such as feliway and swapping blankets.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page