Ragdoll Cat Forums

I have a 7.5 month old blue point male named Buddy. (His name used to be Oliver for those of you that saw my post a few months back!) I have been contemplating whether or not to get another kitten.

Reasons why I'm thinking about it:
- I'm in graduate school, and I worry that when my thesis project gets more stressful Buddy will get lonely. I also may be going out of the country for a week or two this coming summer, so I think that having another kitty in the house would be good for him.
- Buddy is SO loud. He talks all the time and wakes me up every morning at seven AM sharp by meowing in my ear. I've heard that getting another cat may tone down loud cats as they have someone else to talk to.
- I feel like it would be good for him to have another cat to hang out with, play with, and help him clean those hard to reach places.
- Buddy is such a great cat -- who wouldn't want another ragdoll???

Reasons why I'm thinking about NOT getting another cat:
- I live in a 630 sq ft condo -- I worry that there just isn't a lot of space for another cat.
- Buddy is a mama's boy. I worry that another kitty would completely alter the dynamics between us and he would either be mad at me or more content to be with the other cat than me.
- My family keeps telling me that two cats = two times the trouble. I've actually heard the opposite though, and Buddy isn't really a lot of trouble to begin with!

If I decided to get another kitten, I would want to do so before Buddy turned one in March. I've heard that if you don't introduce kittens early enough, the older cat may lose its "kitty social skills" and they may not get along as well. The breeder that I got Buddy from has a litter of three (from Buddy's mom and a different dad) that would be ready to go at the end of December. I thought it might be good to buy from the same breeder as they would have been raised on the same food and the new kitten would have a somewhat familiar smell. However, I am also in contact with three other breeders.

Any advice for me?

I say go for it. I have a loud kitten who is now 9 months and I simply love it. We also got his half brother which is a tad more quiet. Zeke sleeps with me and he too come about 6-7 Am decides it is time I was awake and begins to knead my arm and purr even louder. One thing I can say is 2 is not twice the trouble but twice the fun.
You have to make this decision and whatever you do know it will be the right one.
P.S. We have 4 cats and it is nice when we go away they do have each other and the neighbors come and play with them every day.

Good Luck

I think it's much LESS trouble when you have two cats. Mine would be SO lonely without each other. I work 8 hours a day Monday-Friday and I would feel terrible if I was leaving just one cat alone all that time. They entertain each other and nap together all day. My older cat Leo is 7 and adjusted to the new kitten just fine although I've heard of other not-so-good cases. It would probably be more wise to get a new kitten while your first one is still young.

I think it is a little more work having two but not too bad!... cleaning the litter box more often, making sure they both have food, etc.

I can't imagine only having one, I say go for it!

Go for it. Twice the fun without twice the work.

You have come to the wrong place to ask for an unbiased answer to that question!!! Of course two is better. The space you have isn't that small, and could accommodate two ragdolls with no problems. Two is not twice the trouble either in my opinion -- I think two is just more fun.

No one has mentioned if they will have the same connection with their human after a new kitten is introduced...

sweetkatie16 Wrote:No one has mentioned if they will have the same connection with their human after a new kitten is introduced...

There is another thread that addressed this very issue recently. The consensus seemed to be that initially the new kitten may pull the attention of the resident cat away from the human, only because it's a new "toy" but as time passes, the resident cat usually goes back to the human.

If you can afford a second Raggie, then go for it.