Whether to get a new kitten

[tattygrl]

Hello cat people

My dilemma is whether to add a new kitten to our household. We have one 10 year old male, neutered cat. He is exceptionally content and happy. Very friendly and people-oriented, loves our company and is generally perfectly settled in his ways and lifestyle.

I worry that adding a kitten could risk our existing cat's contentment.

On the one hand, he is very friendly with other cats whenever he has met them out and about (he used to go outdoors but doesn't any more due to a house move). This leads me to believe he wouldn't necessarily be combative or aggressive, or upset by the presence of another cat. He always seemed to enjoy interacting with the neighbourhood cats in the garden, or if any ever sneaked into our house.

However, this is very different from him sharing his home and his doting humans on a permanent basis. He is so content that I fear upsetting that.

I think there's potential for it to be a lovely outcome, that he'd have a feline friend to play with (he loves playing!), and to hang out with when we're not home. I just would be heart-broken if it went wrong and his perfect little life got ruined!

What would you do?

We got a kitten last year when our oldest was eight and honestly, it's been the making of him. He's much more energetic and active, and they bonded really quickly. We lost his "sister" about a month beforehand and he was so miserable without her, even though we have a four year old too.

That being said, having the four year old did mean the kitten was totally reliant on the older boy for company and attention, and I do think if we hadn't had the four year old, we'd have got two kittens instead.

So, I would say "go for it" but definitely consider getting two instead of one.

Thank you so much for this reply! Sorry it's taken me so long to respond. Life got hectic.

That's very encouraging to hear, and interesting perspective on getting 2! I do lean towards believing that our existing cat could respond similarly, because he does love playing and has a lot of energy and spark at ten years old.

I'll update here with pics if we end up going for it!