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Thomasina

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Four Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Get A Kitten For Your Adult Cat

By 15 commentsCategory: Kittens With Adult Cats, Should I Get A Kitten
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Should you get a kitten as a playmate for your adult cat? Ummm… I really wouldn’t recommend it!

Should you get a kitten as a playmate for your adult cat?

Do kittens make good playmates for adult cats?

Should I get a kitten as a playmate for my adult cat Thomasina? He’s eight years old and is becoming so lazy. Do you think he’d like having a kitten to play with?
Mike’s Mom

Hi Mike’s Mom…
Yikes!! No, please don’t get a kitten as a playmate for your adult cat. Most of us hate kittens! 

Take it from me. Kittens can be very annoying and even frightening to adult cats.


Four Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Get A Kitten For Your Adult Cat

 

Here are four reasons why I think you shouldn’t get a kitten as a playmate for your adult cat.
  1. We’re beyond the age where we want to wrestle and play chase, especially with someone we don’t know.
  2. We don’t like being pounced on every time we move. We’re not toys, and we’re definitely not large mice!
  3. All that youthful energy really wears us out. There’s nothing more exhausting and stressful than watching a teeny, tiny animal racing around the house all day long. 
  4. It’s a myth that adult cats like to “mother” kittens. For most of us, that maternal (or paternal) instinct is long gone.


Getting A Buddy For Your Adult Cat

If you think Mike would like to have a friend, think about adopting a cat who’s about the same age and has the same activity level. If he’s a couch potato like my friend Sizzle, he’s not going to enjoy living with a cat who’s in constant motion.



 
Another male would probably be the best choice. 

Our human wrote this article about introducing cats. If you adopt, I hope you read it. It’s pretty good, considering she’s not a cat! 


If You Get A Kitten, Please Get Two!

Just one more bit of advice: If you get a kitten, Mike will be a lot happier if you get two. Kittens need to grow up with other kittens to be healthy, happy and well socialized. And if you have two kittens, they’ll pester each other instead of annoying you and Mike.
Can you play with Mike with a wand or fishing pole toy a few times a day? He’d love that, and he’d get some exercise. Cats need exercise for both our physical and mental health. 

 

Speaking of exercise, I’ve been dictating this for much too long. I need to go for a quick walk outside, just to see what’s going on. Oh… our human said she’ll go with me. We love walking together! That would be something else fun for you and Mike to do. 

 

15 comments

  3. Ruby's Rescued Life - Reply

    I absolutely agree with you and will share and pin your post. I volunteered as an adoptions counselor and SO MANY people would come in looking for a kitten for their senior cat. Adopting kittens in pairs is key.

  4. Thomasina - Reply

    Our human runs a rescue, and she says one of the sad things is the number of single kittens who are returned to shelters because they're "too playful." Thank you for sharing my post!

  7. Kamira G - Reply

    I've heard of that advice of getting a pair of kittens instead of one. I know from my own personal experience that introducing a younger cat to an older one did not end well. I ended up having to return the younger new cat to the previous owner. I felt awful but when my oldest cat peed on herself out of fear and was hiding out of intimidation on a daily basis I knew my plans were a fail. Sometime what we think will be a good idea turns out poorly.

  8. Missy Zane - Reply

    So many people make that mistake. Thank you for returning the new cat. Most people are determined to "make it work," no matter how miserable the original cat is. Breaks my heart…

  10. Dash Kitten - Reply

    Ours coped OK oddly enough. We fostered kittens and there were about half a dozen. After some bemused looks the kittens were just ignored! It was us and our big feet that were a much bigger threat 🙂

  11. Jana Rade - Reply

    It is a long-held belief that a puppy will make an old dog live longer. But I think it's important to carefully match personalities and activity level so the housemate would keep the old dog fresh but not to point of exhaustion, injury or stress.

  12. Beth - Reply

    This seems like great advice. Just like a senior citizen doesn't want to play with a toddler all day long, senior pets shouldn't have to interact with kittens or puppies for a long time. However, I can think of some situations where a kitten or puppy has been added to a family with a senior pet and it worked out really well. There has to be a lot of monitoring and time when they are separated.

  13. FiveSibesMom - Reply

    I so agree with your post, and I believe the same goes for getting a puppy for a senior dog. We added a Husky puuppy to our family when my rescue GSD/Akita was a senior, and I then added a second puppy to keep the first one company, and to give my older gal a break! She was happy to spend her quiet days lying in the sunbeams while my two puppies did all kinds of fun, rambunctious puppy play!

  14. Cathy Armato - Reply

    This is wonderful advice. Kittens are so full of energy it can be overwhelming for much older cats.
    Love & biscuits,
    Dogs Luv Us and We Luv Them

  15. Sweet Purrfections - Reply

    I remember thinking about bringing home a kitten with my previous cat and decided against it. I did, however, get two kittens when it was time to bring home more fur children and I've never regretted it.

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