Adopt 1 or 2 kittens?

[meow1989]

Hi all!

We sadly lost our boy cat on the road in Oct 2021. He was such a loved pet and it was devastating for all of us (me, dh and our the 3 year old - now 4.5). We knew we would want another but didn't want to rush.

We have a girl cat who is 10 and is very lap cat and friendly with us but can be a bit skittish generally - she always got on with the male cat though. She's become quite accustomed to being the centre of attention!

We feel ready to offer a home to another cat now and have decided a kitten is a good idea to not upset girlcat too much, plus it will be good for them to be used to ds noise and general low level chaos! Ds loves girlcat and is gentle.

We've been offered to meet some kittens at a local rescue and the dilemma (assuming all is ok with checks etc) is whether we get one or two - there's a girl and a boy available . Initially I thought 2 so they could occupy eachother and not terrorise girlcat too much, then I wondered if it would feel that she was outnumbered... Which does the Mumsnet hivemind feel feel would be gentler on her in your experiences?

Definitely 2 our local rescue only lets people adopt 2.

They play together, give each other company. So loving.

Definitely two. Kittens do so much better in pairs.

As your other cat is quite old to add. I would go with 2. Need 2 litter trays though.

Mm I would usually say 2. But.. We were left with 1 of a pair. Got 1 teeny tiny dkitten. Dcat was 8. Omg they bonded unexpectedly...
If we had gotten 2 I doubt dcat would have gotten a second glance...

Wow that's an early unanimous verdict! Thanks all.

My plan is to keep the kittens in my office initially (with food and litter trays and toys) then very gradually introduce to other rooms to hopefully transition girlcat slowly.

Have people generally found boy girl kitten mixes ok as they age?

How exciting!

Agree, definitely 2. We took on one as we had a 18 month old cat and thought they'd play together. But the kitten was too energetic even for him. Kitten needed another kitten for kitteny madness.

We got a second kitten.

We got two in the summer. They still play now although they fight aswell! We got one cuddly one and one less so, both gorgeous 🥰

Aw @Eastereggsboxedupready how lovely! I'm not sure I'm expecting girlcat to snuggle with newbies, think that might be a miracle!!

Yes, in my experience 2 is better.
I have one older cat aged 8 and 3 kittens under one, two siblings, a boy and girl and an older male kitten. The 3 younger ones have bonded really well, the older one will eat and sleep in same room but enjoys his own space, he has a nice nature and is very tolerant of them.

Two, they will entertain each other (mostly) instead of driving your older cat up the wall.

We have boy-girl of similar ages but not related. The girl bosses the boy around despite him being twice her size. He just lets her get on with it and is very polite - despite outside him being the neighbourhood thug and girlcat being a wimp who barely steps off the patio.

It works much better than our previous all girl pairs where one was always bullying the other.

Boy girl mixes should be fine - just make sure you get them neutered ASAP as females can get pregnant at four months.

The only thing better than one cat is two!

Get two unless someone is available to be at home with them almost all the time, spayed/neutered as early as possible, and don't let them outside please. And introduce them really, really slowly to your older girl. Treats each side of a closed door to start, don't let them even see each other. Swap bedding - give your girl a blanket to sleep on that you then give to the kitten, and vice versa, it mingles their scent so minimalizes territorial behaviour.

Well, we've passed all the checks and took D's to meet them today... They'll be coming home in 2 weeks time! My home is going to be utter bloody chaos 😂