Thread: Help! Which to choose Cat or Kitten!

I can't give any advise on cats though my parents adopted a Westhighland terrier from a friend of mine who needed him rehomed, and the adult terrier x in the house has refused to accept him (even after 2 years!).

I was always told that a kitten is accepted more easily when you have other (adult) cats and a kitten will also get used to a new environment more quickly than an adult cat.
But on the other hand... adult cats also deserve a chance to get a new home. The reason why I wouldn't be able to put an adult cat in my group, is because Willow (one of our grown up males) would never tolerate that. He doesn't mind kittens too much though (lucky for me!).

Have you any idea how your two other cats would react to another cat? If you have any doubts I would go for the kitten. They are much more likely to accept a kitten. A lot of animals - even the boys have mothering instincts towards a baby animal which is why they seem to accept them. One of the Maine Coon breeders I approached when I was looking offered me a kitten and a full grown cat that she was look for a home for. I told her I wasn't sure about my dogs taking to an adult cat as easily as they would a kitten so I declined. Although it's nice that people are willing to take on and give homes to older animals - if your not 100% sure it will work out it's kinder to say no - otherwise if things don't work out the poor cat has to get re-homed yet again which must be very unsettling for it.

It's a tough call I know. My oldest boy has accepeted other cats but isn't keen on other Toms and my little cat (although he is 10 years old!) is shy and likes to keep out of the way. we have recently lost our Queen who was certainly the queen bee in our house and both the boys are missing her like crazy as we are! My mum has lots of cats and I thought of borrowing one to see how mine would react! The last thing I want is for my moggies or a new cat to be upset, despite how desperate I am to have another!

We recently got a 2nd male as a playmate for our male, who had outgrown the female he had been playing with. Considered getting a rescue male, and could find some like 1 yr old MCs (mix) within driving distance. Talked with a number of cat people though, and all said it was much less likely we would have problems introducing a kitten into our group of three. Since that group was getting along so well, we decided not to risk problems, so got another MC male kitten. Went perfectly; the big male immediately loved the new kitten and vice versa, and the two girls avoided him for the first couple of months but are fine now.

I'm sure it depends a great deal on the cats, but that is hard to predict (especially how the new cat will behave). We know that one of our females is a dominant type, so she is likely to be a problem with a new large cat. When we brought her home as a kitten, she hissed and growled at our large male. Not only were we astonished, but you could see he was too! He did not attempt to hurt her though (and he would attack all other cats outside).

When introducing new cats we have generally kept them separated for a few days, so they begin to smell each other and catch sight of each other before actually meeting. That was just impossible with the last kitten, however. I think we were able to keep him isolated for less than a day because he was so rambunctious.

Thank you all so much for your advice. Sounds like a kitten may be the best bet!