We got our 2 lovely cats f in 2015 - brother & sister, both doing well. But for the past 2 years, boy cat has preferred staying at my neighbour’s as it turned out he prefers being the only cat of the house. Everything is fine, my neighbour loves him and he still comes a couple of times a day here to see if there are any treats. Every time he comes, his sister Is really happy, runs to him for ‘cat greetings’ but he hates it and just leaves. Or swats her away and leaves. She is really lovely but I think really lonely now (she grew more needy with us). Long story short, I would like her to get a companion cat, a kitten she can ‘raise’. She mostly stays home. She, as most cats, is pretty territorial in the garden, but not to the point of huge fights so I am hoping she’ll accept and enjoy a companion.Not that it matters, but attaching a picture of her anyway.
She is about 5 or 6 now. Has mothering instincts (carrying toys by the ‘neck’ from room to room) and I think she’d love a ‘child’. My husband and I would love it too of course, we miss having 2 cats full time!
Anyway I was wondering if anyone has a kitten we could foster. I know it’s hard to gauge My girl cat’s reaction and kittens’ personality so there is a risk it all turns out terribly in which case we’d have to bring the kitten back (I really hope it won’t come to that, I’d find it really hard, but if I misjudged the situation and my cat is miserable and hurts the little one, we’d have to).
I am a somewhat experienced cat owner and have a good grasp on how to handle the introduction process.
I am hoping for a male kitten (Based on the fact she loves her brother and hates females stray cats from the garden more than the toms), just weaned (the younger the better so my cat can really ‘mother’ / protect him). So no more than a couple of months old. Ideally sweet natured but that’s hard to see with kittens... maybe a ‘runt’? We don’t care about breed or colouring or ‘imperfection’.
We will of course get him microchipped/ neutered around 4 or 5 months old.
We mostly work from home at the moment so can keep an eye on things. We have a garden but the cat flap is activated by microchip so it will be easy to keep him in at first until we activate his microchip With the cat flap.
I am pretty sure it would work out but it’s important that can we bring the kitten back if instead of 1 lonely needy cat we got 2 miserable ones. That said, I just can’t picture myself to ever give back a cat...
I contacted a few shelters but it’s difficult during Covid so decided to post this here in case there are ‘surprise’ kittens in someone’s garden!
Thanks!