# How many cats are too many???



## Gemmie (Jul 20, 2009)

Hi all,

When i moved in with my other half he already had a female cat (Minnie) whom he got from a rescue centre. A year later we visited a rescue cat and got a kitten called Max- he is now 2 yrs old and Minnie is about 5. When we got Max Minnnie was not happy at all. She had never been around other cats, and spent a lot of time groaning, moaning and hissing and isolating herself and hiding. She eventually got used to having him around and now tolerates him but will still hiss at him if he gets too close. 

This week my friend who works at an RSPCA centre asked if I could take in a 10 week old male kitten who had been dumped there on his own. As I'm a teacher and off for the summer I managed to persuade my other half and thought it wld be a good idea as Max loves playing with other cats (he often gets in scraps where he approaches cats down our road to play with them) plus I knew I'd be home a lot during the days now for a few months. 

Now I'm worried if i should have done this! The kitten is lovely and quite well behaved. Our male cat Max is not too fussed with the new arrival, he ignores him unless he gets too close and he'll give him a little swipe or hiss. However, I have noticed that he has spent a bit more time outside since we got the kitten which I feel bad about. Minnie has reacted how she did when we got Max. Moaning, groaning hissing, sitting in the garden quite a bit and generally not looking too happy with it all. I'm worried if I've been mean taking the kitten in as now my other cats do seem to be spending more time outside away from us. I have the kitten shut away in our spare room most of the time, and bring him downstairs for short periods of times. Minnie fell asleep in the longue yesterday with the kitten around so I thought we might be getting somewhere. But then she just disappears for quite a while again. 

My other half thinks 3 cats might be too many and doesn't know whether we should keep the kitten after the summer holidays. I just wondered if anyone could offer me any advice. Will my other cats be likely to settle down, is it cruel on them and is 3 too many????

Thanks in advance and sorry for the long post! 

A worried cat lover!


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## spid (Nov 4, 2008)

I have 3 and getting a 4th - after the initial settling in period they all get on okay - give them time. Have you read the sticky about introductions?


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## Gemmie (Jul 20, 2009)

Thank you! I've read lots of info about introductions but they all seem to say different things work for different cats! I suppose time will tell-it has only been 5 days so far! Fingers crossed!


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## Misi (Jul 13, 2009)

They'll settle down. You can't take the kitten back, think of the trauma! (For you ) 25 cats is perhaps too many, but not 3...


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## Gemmie (Jul 20, 2009)

Thanks I really hope they will as Ive got very attached to the kitten now! We were just fostering him for over the summer but if the other cats are ok with him we will keep him. If not my other half may want him to go to a new home at the end of August


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## Misi (Jul 13, 2009)

Gemmie said:


> Thanks I really hope they will as Ive got very attached to the kitten now! We were just fostering him for over the summer but if the other cats are ok with him we will keep him. If not my other half may want him to go to a new home at the end of August


Is there any chance your other half could go to a new home at the end of August?  Sorry, just joking. Couldn't resist. My bad  (He has to leave Minnie behind, though).


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## Wings (Jul 22, 2011)

My other halfs mum has 6 and was fostering a 7th. Three isnt too many though it depends perhaps on the size of your place and what you personally consider as too much.

We have been considering a third but not sure if our place is too small. If it were not for that then I wouldnt think twice!

They will settle down though


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## catz4m8z (Aug 27, 2008)

Give them a couple of months and with proper introductions they should settle down.
i dont think there is a definitive cat population density number though! Sometimes 2 can be too many if they decide they hate each other and sometimes you can have 20 who all get on great.


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## Doolally (Oct 12, 2010)

catz4m8z said:


> Sometimes 2 can be too many if they decide they hate each other and sometimes you can have 20 who all get on great.


Totally agreed.

Sounds like you may end up with a one cat, one cat, one cat household, rather than a 3 cat household (or 2 cat and one cat), where the cats all live alongside each other but don't really interact. This is fine as long as all the cats are able to cope with this, and that each cat has it's own core territory away from the other cats, so own beds, toilets, feeding stations, so they can all eat/sleep/pee in peace if needs be.

Give it the summer and see what your other cats say about the small person matter then


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## ever expanding (May 9, 2011)

Hi i have 3 cats who all get on great and two tinies who are great with them all except my oldest whom is quite happy too give them a wide bearth we had some hissing and swiping but they soon settled down, good luck hope they all become the best of friends just takes a little time.


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## MacGowan Managery (Feb 20, 2011)

Hi I have 11 cats (sucker for hard luck cases) from 6 weeks old - 5 years old. They have all arrived at different times. The same is of my next door neighbour she also has 11 verying in age. All my & her cats are indoor cats so have no choice but to get used to each other.

I would advise you to keep the older 2 cats in till they get used to the kitten, give it time there will be some hissing and spitting from the older ones and sulking from them but keep intervening every time they have a go at each other is going to make it worse. I find the best thing to do is leave them 2 it and eventually they will either learn to be good friends or tolerate each other. All they are doing when they have ago or each other is establishing whose boss a bit like dogs. I also find when fussing the cats fuss them in the order you got them so the oldest ones don't feel left our or replaced, the same goes for feeding and giving them treats give the oldest 1 first and youngest last. Give it time they will sort themselves out eventually, don't let the new kitten go just because he is upsetting the other 2 cats as there are so many cats that need rehoming and rescuing so it is getting harder and harder to re-home cats and your friend who works for animal rescue would not have asked you to take in the kitten if she thought 3 cats was too many.


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