Expert: Ali - 4/13/2009

Question
I have a 4 and a half month old female kitten. Would it be wise to get a second kitten at this stage?

Answer
Louise,

The wisdom of adding another kitten to a household that already has a kitten in residence is really about how much mischief you are prepared to deal with daily and how much patience you will have with two bundles of energy running around and getting into things. Two kittens will get into twice the mischief as a single kitten will and if you have expensive lamps, sentimental knick knacks or photo frames it's possible that during kitten playtime things might get broken while one kitten is chasing the other throughout the house. Adding a second kitten will certainly help to entertain the first kitten provided that they are properly introduced to each other - you can either check my previous answers on new cat introductions (the rules may be a bit different for two kittens depending on their personalities) or I can send off that information in a follow up. If you plan on adopting a second shelter kitten into your family it's best to try and find a kitten of a similar age/size to avoid any excessively rough play that the bigger, stronger kitten comes out on top from - you may even find that getting a male kitten balances things out some, although be sure to spay/neuter everyone before they go into season to avoid any surprise litters.

Your house should be kitten proofed so covering electrical wires so that they can't be chewed, making sure that scratch posts and pads are in place to prevent furniture shredding, you may want to use a great product called Sticky Paws if you have a favorite piece of furniture you definitely don't want damaged by inquisitive kitten claws, it's double sided medical grade tape and cats don't like having anything sticky on their paws so it acts as a deterrent. You can usually find this in pet supply stores and some vet clinics. Making sure that your kittens are entertained and busy will help keep them out of too much mischief so toys are good - you may want to try those meant for independent play such as stuffed mice, foam balls, catnip pillows and toys made of rabbit fur. I recommend that pet parents consider what all of the toys they purchase that are intended for independent play will sound like at 3 am. Some toys are quite noisy and cats are often really good at keeping loud toys away from you when you come out half awake and somewhat annoyed to take them away. Toys made from hard plastic or those that have bells or make sounds can be quite annoying when you're trying to sleep so if you do want your kittens to play with these types of toys occasionally it might be best to allow the kittens to play with them during the daytime only. There is also a good selection of toys meant for interactive play these include kitty teases, kitten mittens, ribbons or strings. Ribbons, strings and other similar items should never be unsupervised toys because cats tend to swallow string, thread, ribbons and other similar items which sometimes need to be removed surgically which can get expensive. A spray bottle or a can of compressed air (like those used to clean keyboards & electronic equipment) are effective and humane disciplinary tools, just be sure to avoid spraying compressed air directly at your kittens because these cans often contain chemicals that may be harmful if ingested or sprayed directly on the cat. Cats tend to find cans of compressed air quite offensive because it creates a hissing sound and usually stops them in their tracks. The reason that squirting the cats with water works is because they put a lot of work into maintaining their coats, if they get wet they have to spend quite a bit of time drying off and smoothing their coat back into place.

There are plenty of good medical and behavioral reasons to spay/neuter cats. Uterine, ovarian and testicular cancers are prevented by spaying or neutering cats. The earlier in life a cat is spayed or neutered the lower their risks are of developing prostate or breast cancers. Unspayed female cats are also at risk of developing a potentially life threatening uterine infection called pyometra which causes the womb to fill with pus - if the uterus ruptures and spreads infection throughout the abdomen the cat's chances of survival aren't good. The only treatment for pyometra is to spay the cat immediately, however once the infection is there the surgery is going to cost more because it's more complicated and takes longer to perform so prevention is the safest and most humane option. Many cats are euthanized each year simply because they have developed a behavioral problem, in North American cats euthanasia secondary to behavioral issues is the leading cause of death. Cats that have been spayed or neutered are less likely to develop behavioral problems such as using urine or feces to mark their territory indoors and outside, fighting with other cats (treating abscesses and fight injuries can get expensive), wandering away from home to find other cats to mate with, howling to advertise their availability to mate, caterwauling to determine which tom gets to mate with a specific queen and the chances of a cat developing aggressive or dominant behavior towards human beings is significantly reduced.