4 cats - am I doing the right thing?

[catandgirlmum]

I currently have 2 female cats (7 years old) both are very homely, don't leave the garden, aren't aggressive to neighbourhood cats and quite timid. I have agreed to adopting 2 kittens (boy and girl) the boy kitten is extremely nervous so will need a lot of attention to bring him out of his shell. We live in a 5 bedroom house so have the room and also have money to look after them all. But there's apart of me now that's started to worry I am doing the right thing! Is 4 cats too many? And will my 2 cats hate the new dynamic? I know that's hard to know yet, any experiences welcome! I also have 2 children (2 and 5 years old both girls and not bothered about our 2 cats so don't harass them or anything like I know some kids do).

Four cats is fine. A fine upstanding denizen of the Litter Tray, Mr Grumpypersonwithcats has four.

Thank you @Florissante
And to confirm OP I also have two sets of siblings 7 years apart (now aged 5 and 12) who were introduced when the younger pair were 9 week old kittens.
Intros do take a bit of time, and the incumbents may feel their noses have been put out of joint for a few weeks, but four cats are absolutely fine.
Unless you want any room in bed 🤣

Four black cats?! Adorable ❤️

@Grumpyoldpersonwithcats they're lovely!

I have four cats and it's fine although I wouldn't have any more. (I would but I shouldn't!)

I have a pair of older sisters and then two younger ones who are the same age but not siblings. They all get on ok, not exactly friends but not all out war either.

Feeding time is funny as it does suddenly feel like a lot of cats, I tripped over one last night so there was food everywhere.

They're all quite mad in different ways so it does make WAH more interesting.

Almost - three black boys, one grey girl.
@CornedBeef451 - Gorgeous cats 😁. Ours all rub along quite happily, although Sybil only really likes her brother.

Aww - I'm loving all of these photos, keep them coming!
@Grumpyoldpersonwithcats we will have an almost identical set of siblings in age then so that's every reassuring to know.
I'm not expecting them all to be best friends because even my two sisters tolerate each other now, I just really don't want it to be war or make any of them stressed and depressed. I know I am worrying before anything has even happened yet though.
I grew up with 4 cats and none were related so I don't know why I'm getting so anxious - probably because I'm the adult now that will have to deal with the fallout if it all goes wrong!

We currently have 13, oldest is nearly 20, youngest about 4, so four cats would be a doddle for me 😄

Getting two kittens will make it easier on the older ones as the kittens will play with each other. (Ours used to scale our legs chasing each other, west jeans!)
my younger cats get on better with my tensing older cat than they do each other!
we did introductions really slowly. Kittens started off in their own room and we did a lot of scent swapping. I think adult cats tolerate kittens better than new adult cats as well! It’ll be fun!

Grumpy actually has 4.5 cats - 3 black, 1 grey and NDN'd tabby! 😉

I have four too, first were a pair of boy/girl siblings they are almost 5 now. They bump along ok. DCat1 (boy) is a lover not a fighter and quickly makes friends with anything that we bring home. Any new kitten he’s been curled up with within hours he’s got such a loving nature. DCat2 (girl) is more reserved. DCat3 (boy) is 4 so the other two were only young when he came along so he became part of the gang immediately. He has some spats with DCat2. DCat4 is 2 and he loves DCat 1 & 3 but bullies DCat2 a bit. I don’t know why she doesn’t beat the boys up she’s a tortie too. DCats1 &3 love to sleep cuddled up together too.

Wow! My 4 doesn't sound so bad now. Do they all get along ok?

Thank everyone for the responses, you are all making me feel a lot more confident about the whole thing. @sweetkitty that's lovely that yours get on so well (apart from the tortie) I'd be over the moon if my girls took to the new arrivals so well.
I will keep them separated for a few weeks until they are settled in and then maybe take the kittens out of the room they are staying in and let my two cats explore the room to get used to their scent? And just gradually introduce them.

Ah, yes. The fat stripey terrorist!

Yes, on the whole. We use Feliway plug ins, and rescue remedy in their water bowl if anyone gets a bit too stressy but they’re generally ok

I have a black male cat whom we all adore. I’d so love, love, love another black cat but I don’t think my boy would be at all happy which makes me sad 🐈‍⬛

I have 3 girls. They're not all friends.
I have been adopted by a fourth boy cat and the girls will not let him cross the threshold.
In my experience introducing new cats to existing females is more challenging. And not entirely successful.

We have 5.5 cats . The .5 is a neighbours cat, who comes from a single cat family. The younger two are best buddies, the others go through phrases of who they get on with and who they ignore.
They all have their own favourite spot and there's not much conflict, but the oldest female will let the rest know that she's boss.

Update - we have adopted the two kittens! They have settled in well so far I think. The little boy isn't good with being handled or stroked though so I'm working on him. He's 12 weeks and I think he's had very little human interaction so I'm really hoping it's not too late to turn it around for him! His sister loves a fuss and purrs away but he is just extremely uncomfortable with being touched at all. He's eating, playing and sleeping though and comes up close so that's a good sign I guess. One big negative is that he has yowled most of the night the past two nights he's been here - is this normal? Will it end? I'm so tired and never had this before with other kittens I've adopted!

Photo for you all! Both watching me whilst I was working in their room earlier!

They're adorable. The boykitten is probably missing his mum, hence the yowls.

@catandgirlmum oh my goodness, they're adorable!

Congratulations!

The boy cat will probably settle down soon, he'll just be a bit sad and unnerved being somewhere new.

One of mine really didn't like being handled as a kitten and I regret not working on it more as she is now almost impossible to put flea treatment on. Although she also quite mad in many ways so it might just be her personality.

Very sweet kittens 😁.
The important question though is have your two incumbent cats twigged what is going on yet?
It might take time but we'll need a photo of the four together at some point.

Yes they both definitely know they have company as the little boy has been so vocal they can hear him! But so far don't seem too concerned which I'm taking as a good sign. I'm a little worried as to how the boy kitten will react to them though as yday my LG brought one of her cat teddy's into the room and he went wild! Was hissing and growling at it so I quickly removed the teddy but thought it wasn't a very good sign of things to come if he was reacting that way to a teddy! They have a feliway plug in in their room and I think I'm going to buy one for our cats as well as extra precaution!

I have four cats and they are a great little team, 3 black and one white. They sleep together and groom one another, they are absolutely adorable .

That's so sweet! I hope mine are as happy together! Although the two sisters don't even seem to like each other all that much anymore so I doubt that will change now! Did you get them all at the same time?