Considering a 4th kitty...

frequentflier

frequentflier

happy to be living
We have 3 house cats. Luther is a PAWS cat; probably 6 years old. We cannot hold him or pick him up. When he comes to let me pet him, he always faces out so that he can escape. We call him our skiddy kitty. He does love to play and be brushed but we have a heck of a time trying to clip his nails! It is nearly impossible to get 2 hands on him.
Lola was a semi feral kitty that was on our property when we moved here. It took many months of patience and feeding her daily to get ahold of her. She had been in heat and we got her to the vet in time to "de-kitten" her and get her fixed. Then she came to live indoors. She is content to be a house cat but is still skiddy. She gets picked on a lot by the "boys". We had to teach her how to play and once in awhile we catch her batting something around or chasing her tail but most of the time she is very reserved.
Zuma is a big orangie and quite active. We adopted him after meeting him at Sol Vet when PAWS had their Xmas with Santa photos in 2007. He really likes to play and we often call him "Bully Boy" because he is pretty persistant with the other 2 when they don't want to play and he does! Lola doesn't play well with others so she screams and runs and of course, he chases her and it sounds as though she is getting murdered! He and Luther play sometimes but you can tell when Luther has had enough.
Zuma is the alpha cat and rules the house. Him and Sophie (our chi mix) play sometimes but it doesn't seem like enough for him.
We thought getting a kitten may give him someone to play with; that he wouldn't have to bully to get them to play. We have a 2 story house with a huge basement apartment so there is plenty of room to accomodate 4 cats and 2 dogs.
We are still in the *thinking about it* stage...and maybe it is not a good idea.
Experienced Cat People- your thoughts?
 
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luckystar

Guest
I'm not as experienced as some, but what were your thoughts when you brought a third animal into the house? Have you always had a lot of space and pets?

Personally, I wouldn't go over my current two with the time and space I have at the moment. In your case though, I think your idea could be reasonable. Do Lola and Luther keep to themselves for the most part, and are they happy to be by themselves or with you? Does Zuma go after the others when he gets riled up or just when he's bored? If he goes after the others when he's riled up, he may continue to do the same thing when a kitten gets him excited. I have a book at home that I meant to pick back up on cat behavior, maybe there's something to be done about Zuma going after the others. Good luck, see if you can find some reading too. Couldn't hurt.

"The Cat Bible"

and

"How to Get Your Cat to do What You Want" (or something like that)

are both really good materials for getting further insight into situations you're not sure of or unfamiliar with in many senses. Health and behavior mostly.
 
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frequentflier

frequentflier

happy to be living
luckystar said:
I'm not as experienced as some, but what were your thoughts when you brought a third animal into the house? Have you always had a lot of space and pets?

Personally, I wouldn't go over my current two with the time and space I have at the moment. In your case though, I think your idea could be reasonable. Do Lola and Luther keep to themselves for the most part, and are they happy to be by themselves or with you? Does Zuma go after the others when he gets riled up or just when he's bored? If he goes after the others when he's riled up, he may continue to do the same thing when a kitten gets him excited. I have a book at home that I meant to pick back up on cat behavior, maybe there's something to be done about Zuma going after the others. Good luck, see if you can find some reading too. Couldn't hurt.

"The Cat Bible"

and

"How to Get Your Cat to do What You Want" (or something like that)

are both really good materials for getting further insight into situations you're not sure of or unfamiliar with in many senses. Health and behavior mostly.
Click to expand...

Actually, before Zuma, we had a 3rd kitty named Dijon Fris-kay that died from FIP. He got along well and even snuggled with Lola and Luther. They may have both known he was sick.
After 6 months, the period of time we were told to wait to make sure they weren't infected, we got Zuma and he is hell on wheels! He has done everything none of my other cats ever did. Broke 2 lamps, gets on the counters, scratches the couch, bites. We spray him with water but he LIKES water so it is not as much of a deterrant as it would be to some cats. But he can also be sweet and lovey dovey!
We have plenty of space, cat trees and litter boxes and do have room for one more. I'm scared of making a mistake, though.
 
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luckystar

Guest
frequentflier said:
Actually, before Zuma, we had a 3rd kitty named Dijon Fris-kay that died from FIP. He got along well and even snuggled with Lola and Luther. They may have both known he was sick.
After 6 months, the period of time we were told to wait to make sure they weren't infected, we got Zuma and he is hell on wheels! He has done everything none of my other cats ever did. Broke 2 lamps, gets on the counters, scratches the couch, bites. We spray him with water but he LIKES water so it is not as much of a deterrant as it would be to some cats. But he can also be sweet and lovey dovey!
We have plenty of space, cat trees and litter boxes and do have room for one more. I'm scared of making a mistake, though.
Click to expand...

Have you considered fostering a kitten to see how they react to the addition? If it works out you could always complete an adoption. On the other hand, kittens always get adopted and you wouldn't be stuck if it doesn't work out.
 
frequentflier

frequentflier

happy to be living
luckystar said:
Have you considered fostering a kitten to see how they react to the addition? If it works out you could always complete an adoption. On the other hand, kittens always get adopted and you wouldn't be stuck if it doesn't work out.
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Had not even considered that- thanks :huggy:
 
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luckystar

Guest
Of course! And you'll be helping out a local organization at the same time :)
 
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luckystar

Guest
OH, RoseRed just gave four kittens to a foster. You may want to contact SMAWL about Squirrelly, Petra, Piper, and Bootsie. They're all a few months old and just now ready to be adopted out. Probably as little as you can find them! SMAWL.org

I think Jen (from their board) may have them currently. She's a wonderful woman, knows her stuff, and is very easy to work with. They use All Kinds Veterinary Hospital, so if you do adopt one you can get their medical records from there, who are also VERY wonderful folks.
 
RoseRed

RoseRed

American Beauty
PREMO Member
luckystar said:
OH, RoseRed just gave four kittens to a foster. You may want to contact SMAWL about Squirrelly, Petra, Piper, and Bootsie. They're all a few months old and just now ready to be adopted out. Probably as little as you can find them! SMAWL.org

I think Jen (from their board) may have them currently. She's a wonderful woman, knows her stuff, and is very easy to work with. They use All Kinds Veterinary Hospital, so if you do adopt one you can get their medical records from there, who are also VERY wonderful folks.
Click to expand...

Bootsie, Piper and Petra are on the website. Squirrely hasn't been on it yet.
 
W

Wenchy

Guest
Sure! Get a fourth. They learn to live with each other and you have the space.

I have one cat and he is a loner. He's a complete lovebug and doesn't mind other cats. He never played with them...just with humans. Watching him play now with the dog is funny. They like to torment each other but the love is there to see. The other day the dog left the yard and the cat let me know about it. They watch out for each other.

I would have numerous cats and dogs, but it's not my choice and I promised not to. They are our babies and a huge responsibility.

Get another kitty or two! One from Rose and one from Catt!
 
pooh-bear

pooh-bear

New Member
I wanted to encourage fostering a new cat. I have 3 cats. The newest one, I adopted from PetSmart. He gets along fine with my dog and my other male cat. However, he attacks my female cat. I have to keep the poor thing locked in my room while the other animals are free to roam the entire house.

We fittingly named this cat LOCO, since he goes crazy when he sees my female kitty. He hurt her really bad once and lacerated her tail. I kept her on medication but it still got infected and the vet thought we were going to have to cut her tail off. Just my own experience but thought I would share.
 
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frequentflier

frequentflier

happy to be living
Kathryn4 said:
Hi,

My daughter has 5 kittens that are ready to live their Mama. If you would like
please email me and will give you her number.

Kathy
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Hi,
We still have not decided what to do.
If you daughter is interested, I hope she will take advantage of the free and low cost spay and neuter programs out there for Mama kitty and the 5 youn 'uns. It would certainly be a plus for adoption.
There is grant money available through PAWS, SMAWL and all the SPOT thrift shop's profits go to free spay and neuter. There are also many low cost programs as well.
 
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