One kitten or two???

[goldpendant]

Many of you will have seen my other thread, but hoping to get honest quick consensus on whether one or two kittens would suit our family best:

Us; me, DH, two kids (4 and 6).
House; big, hard floors on ground floor.
Garden; small ish but secured

DH and I work ft but both at home one day a week. Kids have an after school nanny who is used to cats.

We have a cleaner once a week.

I'm quite house proud. We've dark carpets which take a beating anyway and I've a dyson cordless to keep on top of ALL the fluff and bits that already show up after 5 mins!

Happy in theory to get two kitten (boys), but only if it benefits both the kitten and us. Are two honestly happier and less likely to tear the house to pieces than one left alone?

Honest opinions please, simply answer 1 or 2!

Thanks very much, need to decide today!

For what it's worth we have just been going through the same dilemma and after much thought, based both on the kitten needs and ours we are getting one. Once I'd finally made the decision I realised that I was quite relieved. We are first time cat owners and I think it would have been too much for us, let alone extra cat litter trays, insurance etc. Fingers crossed it's the right decision.

There is a lot to be said for the social skills and boundaries they teach each other. I've seen a lot of adult cats being surrendered to a cat rescue because they were nipping at or scratching humans, and very, very often they were bought as single kittens and grew up without other cats around to teach them boundaries.

Not all will grow up to be "problem cats" of course, but it's much more common when they were solo kittens compared to kittens/cats brought up in a multicat environment.

Get two, they will keep each other company and will terrorize each other and not you. We had a single kitten the second time and she was a nightmare. Our boys played together all the time. Although they weren't as close as adult cats, I would still go for two every time.