Cat owners, I need your advice.

**Vorago** · #1 01-21-2011, 09:51 AM

Here's the story:

My gf rents a house with 3 other girls, and last december they got a cat. A young male, 5 months or so, not castrated yet, full of energy.

As it turns out, one of the housemates is allergic to cats, and the cat seems to trigger her asthma attacks (she's also allergic to dust, smoke, has hay fever, anything airborne). The doctors have told her that the cat has to go or she has to to the hospital.

My gf, who never had a cat before, is obviously pretty upset about this.

My parents also have a cat, a 10 year old female, sterilized. She's kinda fat, grumpy, not very social (she hides herself when strangers come to visit and never sits on your lap).

Would it be a good idea to have my parents adopt the young male cat (if they agree of course)? They haven't grown up together, so I can image big fights, and the risk of one cat running away.

I don't think it's a good idea but my cat experience is kinda limited.

Thoughts?

EricF · #2 01-21-2011, 10:03 AM

To start with, getting the young boy kitty neutered is definitely a good idea.

I would guess that the cats will figure out how to co-exist. Old kitty might like a friend. On the other hand, she might not. If she doesn't, young kitty will learn to keep his distance pretty quickly.

bassteban · #3 01-21-2011, 10:04 AM

IME(dozens of cats over the years)putting the two cats together will result in HUGE conflict- it may pass, it may not, but I'd bet a bass that it will not start nicely.

Randall · #4 01-21-2011, 10:05 AM

First off get the cat neutered. Male cats with jingle balls like to spray/mark their territory and if let outside will wonder for days/weeks to get some "action".

If both kitties travel well you might want to introduce them together in a "neutral" space so the male cat will not be territorial. Otherwise bring them together for a short visit to see how they react. My aunt ended up over time with 6 kitties for a while and only one of them turned out to be a bad nasty cat who would attack the other ones.

I know my male cat would not tolerate any dog cat etc in "his" house. Other cats love to be in a clan

Selta · #5 01-21-2011, 10:08 AM

Just make sure to introduce them to one another in a better manner than just toss the new comer down in the face of the old one

. If you google, there's lots of suggestions on doing this.
I recently (about 18 months ago) got myself a new female kitten. I already had a 5 year old male. Basically I kept the new kitten in the bathroom for a couple of days, and let them sniff each other under the door (all the while spending copious amounts of time in the bathroom with her). After 2 days of doing that, I opened the door and let her wonder out. She spent a long time sniffing around, with the older male following her. At first there was some scuffling - this will always happen. Once they establish their natural order, they can become good friends, as my two have.
Here they are:

The tux is Sable, he's the male, and the other one is Savannah.

Jim Nazium · #6 01-21-2011, 10:13 AM

^ good advice in the above post. And cute kittehs.

Steve · #7 01-21-2011, 10:23 AM

Heap a bunch of stress on my parents just so I can be a hero to my GF and protect the nookie?

Nope

**Vorago** · #8 01-21-2011, 10:26 AM

**Vorago** · #9 01-21-2011, 10:34 AM

Update: my gf's grandparents have adopted teh kitteh, they live out of town, with a huge garden, trees, chickens to annoy, mice & birds to catch, all the good stuff

Bob Lee (QSC) · #10 01-21-2011, 10:35 AM

IME, cats usually learn to coexist when they realize the other guy isn't going away. Sometimes they even become buddies.

MatticusMania · #11 01-21-2011, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve

Heap a bunch of stress on my parents just so I can be a hero to my GF and protect the nookie?

Nope

I fail to see how bringing a kitten to his parents would be 'heaping a bunch of stress' on them.

machine gewehr · #12 01-21-2011, 12:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ray Salamon

The tux is Sable, he's the male, and the other one is Savannah.

Did Sable play with glue and got his ear glued before this pic was taken?

Selta · #13 01-21-2011, 12:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by machine gewehr

Did Sable play with glue and got his ear glued before this pic was taken?

No... when he was young he got sick, well, a few times. At one point his ear was blown up like a balloon. They did surgery on him, and ever since then he has had his "flop ear". It's permanently like that.

machine gewehr · #14 01-21-2011, 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ray Salamon

No... when he was young he got sick, well, a few times. At one point his ear was blown up like a balloon. They did surgery on him, and ever since then he has had his "flop ear". It's permanently like that.

Ohh sorry about that,poor fella.Still,he got the looks.

Selta · #15 01-21-2011, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by machine gewehr

Ohh sorry about that,poor fella.Still,he got the looks.

Yeah. Luckily, the damage is all cosmetic. He still has amazing cat hearing, and it doesn't bother him. Savannah even grabs him by the head and cleans it out for him. It's hella cute, really. They obviously care for and love each other, enjoy each other's company and everything. They sleep/play/eat together.

tastybasslines · #16 01-21-2011, 12:25 PM

yeah, we have only one cat, but we know several people with 2, and they get along pretty well...even if they don't, the above poster was right, the natural order will be established and they will leave each other alone..

MatticusMania · #17 01-21-2011, 12:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tastybasslines

yeah, we have only one cat, but we know several people with 2, and they get along pretty well...even if they don't, the above poster was right, the natural order will be established and they will leave each other alone..

+1

When my roommate moved in he brought along his cat. Our cat Bunny was not too fond of this. Over time they grew to accept each other, and are now on friendly terms.

coreyfyfe · #18 01-21-2011, 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob Lee (QSC)

IME, cats usually learn to coexist when they realize the other guy isn't going away. Sometimes they even become buddies.

This is pretty much the case. Our two don't love each other, but they really only fight when they both want attention or when they fat one is eating the fluffy one's food, and even then it's usually just a batting session, a few hisses and the both run and hide.

Typically, if they don't start a huge blood bath on first meet, they'll at least co-exist. If it turns into a giant fur-flinging extravaganza at first introduction, then it's usually doomed.

Diogenes · #19 01-21-2011, 03:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Randall

... First off get the cat neutered...

+1
However it's not guaranteed that he still won't spray. That's something they learn to do by hook or by crook especially since cats can be very territorial. A couple of my females learned to pee backwards to mark their territory so they look like the neighborhood males.

Normally cats can at least learn to tolerate each other if they don't bond. One of my females who is very stand-off-ish to anything and anyone else but me has learned to live with other cats and people. The rules are simple... stay out of her space.

One Bad Monkey · #20 01-21-2011, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob Lee (QSC)

IME, cats usually learn to coexist when they realize the other guy isn't going away. Sometimes they even become buddies.

Not always. Cats either like each other off the bat (despite the "getting to know you" phase) or they never will.

We had an older cat and got a younger cat when my gf and I moved in together. They seemed to get along until we moved into our new house.

After a long process resulting in me taking the younger cat to animal control (once a cat attacks someone else they're considered a risk and no "no kill" shelter will take them...trust me, I tried), we found out that because the younger cat was new to the original apartment, he had figured the older one was the boss.

When we moved to the new house, they were both on the same level at which point he terrorized the older one for two years, finally ending in getting rid of him.

Glad in your case it worked out. But, they're not like dogs; if they don't like another cat, they never will.