Up until recently, we had three cats: two five-year-olds (girl and boy) and one three-year-old (boy). Sadly, our little Russian Blue girl Meep lost her eight-month battle with lymphoma earlier this month.
Naturally we weren’t ready for more cats this soon, but we both love Russian Blues and I know that the breeders tend to have long waiting lists, so I went poking around to see if any of the local breeders could add us to their lists in anticipation of maybe getting a kitten or two around November or so. It turns out that one right here in town has 11 kittens (2 litters that came 1 week apart to 2 moms) who will be ready to go in late October, so we’ll be adding two more little Russian Blue girls to our household then.
Today while we were at the vet’s (sadly to pick up our little Meep’s ashes) we saw that they had a couple of kittens that one of the vet techs had hand-raised and that they were looking for homes for (their mom had gotten hit by a car and the vet tech had taken the 6 of them in the litter to raise, with 4 already finding homes). The boy already had a tentative home, but the girl was the sweetest little tabby thing you ever saw. I picked her up and she immediately snuggled into my arms, purred, and licked my nose. I decided right then that 5 cats couldn’t be much more trouble than 4. Right? The spouse is a little more skeptical but he too is charmed by this little tabby girl, and both of us do want to rescue a kitten who needs help (we’re not feeling guilty about the purebreds–as I said, we love Russians–but this little girl needs a break and we’re already attached to her).
So, my question: if we’ve already grown accustomed to taking care of 3 cats, will 2 more (3 kittens about the same age) be significantly harder to handle? We both love cats and are quite willing to take on the responsibility of raising three kittens, but we want to know if there are any surprises we should prepare for.
BTW, our other two cats are two sweet Singapura boys who love kittens and don’t know the meaning of the word “territorial,” so we’re not expecting any problems in that regard (at least not from the boys).
A few years ago we doubled our cat population by bringing in three kittens who were found abandoned in a friend’s garage. The only major changes that this made to the household were a slight increase in the amount of hissyfits between cats, the need for extra litter pans, and, of course, a higher catfood bill. No big deal, and I am so glad we brought those charming, lively little critters into our lives.
Once they are adjusted to each other, there’s not much of a difference. I have 8 cats in a converted double garage “cat suite” that also contains my office (where I am typing now, so any typos are the fault of “the paw of terror”, not the typist). I would get one more litter box than you think you really need, and make sure they are cleaned on a regular basis (as if you don’t already -duh- wasn’t meaning to sound otherwise!) When you add the two new kitties there may be a little more “kitty rodeo”, as one of five cats is more likely to find a partner for a good game of chase than one of two. I’m sure you’ve already considered and accepted the financial aspects.
Thank you for taking a rescue kitten. As a former vet tech and rescue worker who has bottle raised over a hundred kittens, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. It is difficult to bottle raise a kitten and not keep it (one reason I have so many) yet it is simply impossible to keep them all. When I saw someone bond with one of my kittens it was a great relief for me.
My sympathy for the loss of Meep. It speaks highly of her that she was such a loveable baby that you want another Russian.
Pictures are expected soon. You know the rules, right? Kitten threads **must **contain pictures.
Oh, yeah. In the last year our idea of what an “expensive vet bill” is has changed drastically. It used to be that our older Singapura’s once-every-two-years ultrasound was expensive (at about $280). After eight months of chemotherapy…raising three kittens will be well within the means. And we plan to get them all pet insurance, something I found myself wishing many times we’d done with Meep before she needed us. It probably would have saved us about $5,000.
I didn’t want to bond with her, to be totally honest, but as soon as I picked her up and she began purring, I was lost. I am an absolute sucker for kittens. I can resist when I know I can’t have more (like when we didn’t want to stress Meep out by adding any more cats to the household) but if the possibility is there, I’m hopeless. The spouse, in the space of about 15 minutes, went from, “No, we can’t have another cat,” to “Please don’t make me be the bad guy here,” to “Well, maybe if she’s still here next Wednesday we can think about it,” to “Okay, tell them to hold her and we’ll pick her up on Wednesday.” His only concern is that 5 might aggravate his (well under control after years of injection treatments) cat allergy, but I think we can solve that problem by just upping the vacuuming schedule to more than…oh…once every couple of weeks.
Meep was our baby. We loved her dearly and we were devastated when she finally left us. I worry sometimes that we’re being callous by looking for kittens again this soon, but cancer (and the onco made no secret of the fact that this was terminal–the only variable was how long it would take) means that you can get a lot of your mourning worked through over a long period of time. We still cry when we think of her, but we don’t think she’d mind our loving some new kittens (though just the tiniest fraction less than we loved her).
We won’t get to see her again until next week, but I’ll see about posting a couple of pics of the Russian kittens (we don’t know which two we’ll be getting yet, but they’re all adorable!)
Rest in peace, Meep. I have a Russian Blue-mix rescue cat named Katya, and I always enjoyed hearing about Meep.
I firmly believe that, in cat heaven, they serve your cat whatever kind of cat food and people food that your cat liked best. I know that’s important to Russian Blues…
Even if you loved her an infinite amount, so it comes out to be the same…
I love Russian Blues! I think gray cats in general are very special, with really distinctive personalities… and they are so beautiful. But so is almost every cat. Please post pictures.
You have my sympathiws on losing Meep (I just love that name !) While I can’t add antyhing insightful about 5 cats vs. 3 , I just have 2 , and they are really my first inside cats, I will say that I have always had multiple dogs, and the joy they bring by far outweighs the extra work.
I feel in my heart that Meep wouldbe thrilled that you are opening your hearts to new kitties. Who knows? Maybe she sent that little foundling into your path for a reason? (((hugs))) to you and your kitties.
I have 11 cats (5 of them a year or younger, three are from the same litter), and I find vacuuming every day is a must. But it’s so worth it. I love my kitty buddies.
Heeheehee. Now I know what Mr. Spock is…I’ve always thought he was a part Siamese (whose Siamese mother mated with a lynx or something - damn cat weighs 28 pounds) - he’s a Heater Cat!
Our cat household exploded when we lost CJ many years ago to cardiomyopathy. When we married, I had two cats, and hubby had two. We decided we needed an “our” cat (because we’re crazy) but when we went to get one we ended up with two. Then CJ died after a long long struggle and we had some room in our hearts so we decided to find another cat who needed us. Or six.
11 cats for us was too many. My sister fell in love with Terence the Terrible, so he went to her. Then our beloved Tuffy lost his struggle with diabetes and kidney failure, so we’re down to 9. In reality, that’s still too many cats for our spaces, though you couldn’t get any one of them away from us.
Thanks, everybody! I’m really enjoying reading about everybody’s kitty experiences.
Hal Briston, Merlin is beautiful!
jsgoddess, I’m sorry to hear about CJ and Tuffy. Even though it happened years ago I’m sure it still hurts.
And now, to follow the rule for kitten threads, here are some pictures of the Russian babies. We don’t know yet if any of these will end up being ours, but they’re all cute!