Would a 2nd cat be a good idea?

[Homeiswherethedogsare]

We have a lovely BSH cat, sweet and affectionate and we are all madly in love. She is indoors only and almost 1 year old. We are at home 3-4 days a week but need to work/on calls a lot and sometimes I worry she might get a bit bored or lonely.
We have been considering a second cat but I don’t know if it would be a bad idea. Main concerns are:

• that she is happy and settled and if we bring a new cat home we could essentially ruin her life (if they son’t get along)
• that we have a small space and can only have 1 littee box, will this be an issue?
• when we go away we drop her off at a friend’s house but if it’s two of them it would be tricker and we might need a cat sitter instead. Are these even easy to find? Fear it might become a major pain every time we go away and also that they could get lonely if we get a cat sitter visiting once a day whereas now they stay with the family

wouls you suggest a second cat in our situation?

Cats don't implicitly need another cat past kittenhood, our cat hates other cats but loves us. And you are right, there is no guarantee they will get on, especially when sharing a small space with no outside outlet. Just step up the enrichment, which anyone owning an indoor cat should be doing plenty of anyway.

I tried twice to introduce another cat to my Persian. Although she lived very happily with the cat I already had when she was adopted. She didn’t get on with both new cats. I think if they’d left her alone, it would have been fine. But they both wanted to play with her. She doesn’t play with anything. I realised my cats were completely fine in the day, during Covid as I was completely ignored!

I try really hard to enrich Penelope but she is having none of it. 🤣

I wouldn't. Cats introduced later in life generally don't become friends, they just learn to tolerate each other. Most cats are okay in multi-cat households but would be happier as onlies.

Just carve out 10 minutes a few times a day to play with her.

We got a second cat for ‘company’ for our first cat and she loathed him, to the point she would barely come in the house when he was there and spent most of her time at the neighbour’s house. We had to rehome the second cat as it distressed her so much. Unless you are able to do a trial run with no obligation to adopt the new cat, I would steer clear.

That said, we did the same with our first cat a long time ago and he got on very well with the second one we adopted and they loved each other. There’s just no way to know which way way it will go and much depends on your cat’s temperament. How does she react to seeing other cats outdoors (if she goes out or can see others outside)?

My daughter and her husband went to get another cat to keep their first one happy........they came back with two!!

Depends on the cats. We foster failed a cat because our older boy cat was instantly in love with her and we couldn’t let her go! They spend their days washing one another, snuggling up in the same bed and when he goes out (she is an indoor cat because of vision issues) she just pines for him 🥺

We did this and the honest answer is that it’s a gamble that may not pay off. It’s worked for us because the rescue did a phenomenal job of finding us a cat with a really relaxed temperment. It’s made us realise that DCat1 would definitely be happy as an only and it’s basically only worked because DCat2 is very very cat savvy and happy to not be the “top cat”.

We have 2 of absolutely everything because they definitely both get anxious over resources- so food, water, toys, everything comes in pairs and there are 3 litter trays. 1 of anything causes competition.

You also need to have somewhere for DCat2 to live whilst doing slow supervised introductions- for us this was over a month before both cats were sharing the main house together without strict supervision.

Thanks all. I didn’t realise it’s so common that they might not get along as most people I know have 2 cats instead of 1 and not all of them are from the same litter.
She has a very calm behaviour and gets along with a family member’s dog when they get to spend time together, appreciate another cat living in her territory might be different though

Multi-cat households are very common and, on the whole, the cats aren't suffering or miserable. But most would be even happier as an only cat. And for some it is a disaster and one or more of the cats will be unhappy and anxious.

Only you can decide if the risk is worth it.

My Tom cat who I took in from a feral litter , doesn’t really like to play with anyone or thing but somehow he has bonded with our dog. They sleep together and occasionally play when the cat is feeling like it. It’s so funny as I would never have put them both down as being pals ! Ever ! But here we are . They eat out of the same bowl even though I feed them seperate, the cat has balls of steel imo lol

It really is a 50/50 chance as to whether or not they'll get along. You don't know until you try it, so it depends on whether or not you're in a position to take the risk.

we had two from the same litter and when they grew up they loathed each other. When we were down to one against our better judgement we got a kitten, and they loathe each other. Never again.

As no one else has mentioned your question about the litter tray, yes this would be a problem. The rule is to have one litter tray per cat PLUS one extra. So if you have one cat you have two, if you have two cats you have three litter trays, etc…

I wouldn’t risk it op. Cats don’t need others for company and the stress when they don’t get on causes illness and £££££ in vets fees just for stress induced cystitis and other things.
Get your cat some cat nip toys she’ll be more than happy.
Some of the most placid laid back cats can turn savage if another cat is brought into the household.

We've debated getting another but ours is 11 and has always been the only cat so think it would be cruel to her.
If we adopt again we'd get a bonded pair who already love each other 😍

@WetBandits, we have exactly the same scenario here and you have not seen true love until you have seen how much little boy foster fail loves our big boy (also a foster fail because no one wanted the little feral black kitten who grew to be a stunning huge panther who is the best natured, softy ever).

Little boy (half bengal) spent 3 months living behind kitchen cabinets after being crated. When he then ventured out and was just terrified to the extent the vets said they had never seen a cat so stressed when we finally caught him for neuter. His 3 sibs were tamed and adopted quite easily and I really thought he would have to be a farm cat. Him letting us pick him up 12 months down the line was amazing (although he did poop himself for a while- bow he just farts)! He is still a timid wee boy, but he has the biggest heart and I adore him so much. Every cuddle and snuggle means so much. He melts my wizened heart.