Getting a new cat, how many is too many?

[Aph413]

Today I viewed and placed a deposit on a cat. She will become my third cat and I've been considering this for a while before making my decision. Except now its done and I'll be collecting my new addition in a few weeks I'm suddenly panicking I've made an awful mistake.
I'm so worried about doing the new kitten thing again.
I have the time, space and money to care for this animal properly I just don't know why I'm suddenly anxious about it all.
It doesn't help that people make constant jokes about me having enough animals for a zoo ( 2 budgies, a parakeet, and a rabbit)

Not sure the reasoning for this post. Just need to get it out there and be told this isn't the worst thing in the world. Or maybe it is!

OP you're going to have some serious making up to do with your lazy older cats. It'll keep 'em young at heart

@gamerwidow that's one of my biggest fears actually. I think my oldest cat will be fine with it but I worry about the younger one. I have a room so I can keep the kitten seperate from the other 2 for introductions. I'm just hopeful they'll accept her, they were both fine when I fostered a stray but at the same time he wasn't a permanent addition.

I think I'm over thinking the whole thing

We have three. We had two for ages and found the adjustment quite easy at first. The third came to us as a stray, she'd been knocked down in the road outside my house and after getting her checked over by a vet (she was very lucky) and a dedicated poster campaign to find the owner it became apparent no one was coming forward so she stayed with us. Clearly her brush with a car bumper had subdued her a bit as once she found her feet she turned out to be a right bossy little madam and declared herself top cat with immediate effect. Things did settle down though and we love her very much, the power hungry monster that she is . I should imagine introducing a kitten into an existing dynamic will be easier. Obviously we will need photos. Lots of photos.

Here is our sweet number three..

I adore cats, but I wouldn't have more than two at the same time even though I have plenty of space for them.

We are currently a one cat family & I won't get another for a long while. I've seen DCat grow in confidence and be so much more vocal & affectionate since our older cat died last year, and I wouldn't want to change things & stress DCat.

Dead Your cats gorgeous. I’m sure the others don’t mind being her subordinates.

@DeadButDelicious What a beauty - she has a proper Paddington hard stare.

Shamelessly place marking so I can hear how the introductions go. I'm afraid I'm not much help, we did introductions last year but it was one 1 year old Cat being introduced to our existing 2 year old. Thankfully all went swimmingly and now they are good friends.

This probably isn’t what you want to hear but for me 3 was too many. 2 was fine but as soon as we got a third it became a chore and caused more mess and cost that I was happy with. I loved all 3 but did regret getting the third one. I told myself “what’s one more?” But the third cat really took the enjoyment out of cat owning for me. If you have any doubts you should probably reconsider.

Here are my current overlords. Tabby gentleman is at least 11. We aren't sure, he seemed to come with the house. He was the neighbourhood stray so we postered the place up to see where he came from and once we realised he was here to stay we got him chopped and chipped.
Tuxedo girl is only 3 and as said previously came from an unexpected litter.
They are both lovely lap cats, my older gent is getting a less agile than he used to be and is becoming a real home body.
As the evening wears on the panic is calming down. The initial oh god what have I done is thankfully wearing off and I'm starting to get excited about the newcomer.
Hopefully I still feel this way when she arrives

Thank you Fluffy and screaming she is a benevolent dictator I will give her that. If I could just get her to stop bringing frogs home that would be great! The older two are rubbish hunters, so she tries to educate them. Bless her.

These are my older two, the tortie is coming up on 13 and the ginger and white is 11. They are very close, follow each other everywhere. We have no idea how old the grey one is, the vet put her at around 9 months when we took her in and that was a good 6 years ago now so she's probably around 7. Ish.

Currently got 4. I've always acquired new cats in groups so now have two pairs of siblings. I suspect 6 would be too many for me but 4 works well.

do your cats and rabbit get on? i've got a free roaming house rabbit and just got a kitten, need advice on bonding then!

@newkittyowner my bunny is free roaming outdoors and came to me from friends who moved into a flat. I haven't had to bond them because the bunny has always been able to fend for himself and actually tries to attack any cat that gets too close for his liking.
I made sure he has plenty of spaces to hide that the cat's can't get to which include the 2 tier hutch entrance being quite small so he can get in there and upstairs away from predators.
The cats were only interested the first day I had him and thankfully now just ignore him.
I'm sorry I don't have any experience in bonding them.

If you are unable to care properly for a pet then you have too many. (I am thinking of hoarders.) But if it's just a question of adding a third and you have the capacity to do so, go for it!

We will expect photos, though.

We had 6 at one time, all very civilised I must say!!
Ddog was a bit miffed as she had zero chance of a spot near the fire.

We had three for a few years, it was perfect.

@TerfsUp
Definitely have the capacity for a third. I've calmed down a great deal as far as my anxiety was when I first posted.
Here's a picture for all interested. Eyes are now open

What a cutie!

Hopefully intergrating them will go smoothly. I mean girl cat is just a great big soppy thing.