Choosing a second cat to get along with your resident cat?

How do you go about choosing a second cat to get along with your resident cat? Perhaps the first question is why you want to do it? I think you need to explore that and make sure that you are doing the right thing. You may want to introduce a new cat because you feel guilty that your resident cat is left alone too often. Maybe there is a different solution to that problem such as working from home more often! That's the current trend and employers are having difficulty getting employees back to work in the office! Introducing a new cat is problematic as they say.

Utopia. If you achieve this you've hit the jackpot. Image in the public domain.

But if you are fixed on having two cats, how do you choose a cat which gets along with the other? And I am drawn to that question because in the newspaper today there is an interesting article which kind of answers the question. The title to the article in The Times today is, "For animal magnetism, opposites don't attract".

Similarities work best

Tanya Horowitz of the University of Colorado Boulder researched 80,000 British couples and they found that they got along better when they were similar in their characteristics, personalities and backgrounds. In short, similar individuals couple up.

"The characteristics most likely to be shared included political and religious attitudes, education levels and certain measures of IQ".

Cats - energy levels

That's talking about people and this article is about cats so there will be different ways of matching up but the underlying conclusion is that a similar character is best.

And this takes me nicely to Jackson Galaxy, the well-known American cat behaviourist. He has a section in his book Total Cat Mojo entitled "Choosing That New Cat".

He opens the section by saying, "In my opinion, the main criteria to factor in to matchmaking is to match cats by energy level. Even the cat's history should have less of an impact on your decision. I'd say that the first thing to do before even going to the shelter is to think about what personality type best complements your cat's".

He has decided that cats should be matched on their energy levels. In other words, it should be at a similar level which reinforces what I stated above regarding the Colorado study.

And he goes on to state that, "If you have a shy cat, you don't want that Dennis the Menace because he'll fray her nerves by trying to engage constantly.".

And finally, he concludes with this, "In general, you should try to complement rather than bring home a carbon copy."

I think that his words support what the scientists say about people being complimentary in a stable relationship. A similarity is going to be more successful than opposites. The old adage of opposites attract is incorrect.

Jackson doesn't think that the gender of the cat is particularly relevant in terms of matchmaking. One reason for this is that domestic cats are spayed and neutered. They are neutered individuals. This takes away some of their gender differences.

On the energy level topic, Jackson Galaxy says that it is not a good idea to introduce a kitten to a 12-year-old female cat in the expectation that the female adult cat will mother the kitten. He believes that the energy differences are too big.

Finally, it might be useful to quickly touch on what is often referred to as "expectation management". This is a reference to what the human caregiver expects of the relationship between her two cats when they first encounter each other. It would be a very rare situation where they both get along really well instantly and snuggle up to each other. However, it does happen and it's wonderful to see. And sometimes it happens between dogs and cats. There is this instant connection; it's chemistry on a feline and canine level.

But normally you will do well if a new cat and the resident cats tolerate each other initially and then learn to get along and even become friendly with each other. To enhance that prospect, it might be useful to follow Jackson's advice and think about similarities but not carbon copies.

Can you predict an adult cat's personality from their behaviour as a kitten?

This is a question that is sometimes asked. I think you have to apply a bit of common sense. There would seem to be two distinct personality types (a) confident and outgoing and (b) timid, shy and retiring.

2 main character types for cats. Image: MikeB

Cat adopts person

Sometimes people tell us their stories when adopting a cat from a shelter. They say that the cat adopted them. The same applies to dogs.

When a rescue cat at a shelter comes to the potential adopter in any one of many ways, it indicates that they are a little bit more confident than another cat who stays at the back of their cage. The one that holds back is the more reticent retiring one.

You can tell the difference between two different types of cat in terms of confidence levels. This character trait will be with them all their lives. And that's quite important because the degree of confidence compared to the degree of timidity is quite an important factor in how the other aspects of the cat's character develop.

Developing character

For instance, a confident cat is more likely to come forward, interact and to explore and to have new experiences and therefore become more rounded and more able to deal with strange and novel things.

In contrast, the timid cat will enjoy less experiences and even might hide when anything new happens. Both cat types have their advantages in my opinion. 

But the point here is that you can tell how a kitten will develop on these broad-brush aspects of character namely confidence and timidity.

Confident cats are more popular

Most people like confident cats because they interact more. But the advantages of a timid cat are often not discussed. One benefit is that because they are more retiring and content to be less active, they are more likely to enjoy the benefits of being full-time inside the home.

They are less likely to want to go out and explore. They are, therefore, less likely to come to harm. And if they are indoor/outdoor cats they are less likely to wander away far and wide if they lack confidence. Getting lost is less of an issue.

Timid is better

I think a domestic cat which is slightly timid is perhaps a better domestic cat companion than a confident one.

The trend nowadays is to keep cats indoors full-time particularly if you live in an urban environment. You don't want to live with a very boisterous active cat under those circumstances.

Bengal cat

Example, the Bengal cat is known to be pretty active, confident and lively. Some people keep them in apartments full-time. I don't think that can work.

In fact, when I lived in an apartment block a friend of mine in a nearby block was the caregiver of an F3 Bengal cat, Daniel. This cat was climbing up the walls to get out.

And when the owner took Daniel out into the gardens for a walk it was impossible to contain him. If he was off the lead he was gone. The point is that apartment living for the confident boisterous outgoing cat might be too challenging.

But apartment living for a timid retiring cat who likes to hide is a good place to be. There is the advantage.

That argument goes against the general consensus that confident cats are better cats.

Young cats killed on roads

And let's remind ourselves that the cats most likely to be killed on the roads are young, immature and confident male cats. They are the ones who like exploring and taking risks.

What I'd choose

I'd argue that the better cat to live with is a slightly retiring, slightly timid, female. That's what I would choose if I was going to adopt a cat right now. Or even better than that you might adopt a disabled cat like a blind cat because you can then keep them indoors full-time without feeling guilty as you've got to keep them indoors.

Character nuances

As to the finer nuances in character, to go back to the original argument, I think you have to wait to when they become adult to find out what they are. Which, by the way, is one reason for adopting an adult cat over a kitten despite the fact that kittens are the most popular type of cat to adopt from a shelter.

If you adopt an adult cat, you know what you're getting, particularly older ones. When you adopt a kitten, you are adopting a cat companion which you don't know that well.

Hector

There is an interesting story on social media about a woman who adopted a male cat called Hector. When he was a kitten, he was sweet and funny but when he grew up "he became a cat that no one could touch, except me. He was easily overstimulated and would attack one's hand while he was being petted."

So, her male cat went from sweet and funny to too difficult to handle. You don't quite know what you're going to get when you adopt a kitten because you will not be able to really predict their adult character except for the broad-brush aspects as mentioned

Being sensible before adopting a cat companion (infographic)

In the army, there is an old adage, "Time spent in reconnaissance is never wasted". In a roundabout way, it is applicable to this article. You would amend the adage to, "Time spent in preparation before adopting a cat is never wasted". It's about learning about cat behaviour and the basic health issues that you can encounter which impinges upon the expenses of looking after a cat companion. Budgeting is very important.

Diving in to adopt a cat companion without preparation is unwise. Perhaps that is common sense to most readers but it is not common sense to all people. For example, during the Covid-19 pandemic, there were some self-indulgent (as I would describe them) adoptions of cats and dogs in order to keep their owner company during long periods of lockdown. I don't agree with that unless these people were thinking about adopting a cat or dog for a long time and had made the necessary preparations.

There is a lot to think about before taking on the responsibility of looking after a cat or dog for their lifetime. It is a great commitment. Cats and dogs alter your lifestyle. Depending upon your connection with your cat and how strong the bond is, cats can prevent you from going on holiday for the entire time of their life. Because taking them to a boarding cattery is problematic and allowing a friend to look after your cat while you are away is also problematic.

That is just one illustration of how companion animals can profoundly impact a person's lifestyle. There has to be a change in one's habits and routines to suit the new member of the family.

There are many other issues such as financing. Looking after a cat or dog is more expensive than some people believe. There needs to be some fat in the family budget to accommodate the expenses. There's the question of insurance. Should I or shouldn't I take it out?

Should I adopt a purebred or rescue cat? The latter is certainly better for many reasons, the most important of which is that you are saving a life rather than preventing the saving of a life if you adopt the former!

RELATED: Out-of-cage time for cats and dogs at animal shelters.

The Infographic covers some basic points. This is a cross post from my main website because it's an important topic. It is the kind of topic that needs to be remembered and recycled because it is quite easy to become a little bit careless when adopting a cat.

If you just fancy adopting a companion animal because you're bored with your life, that is not a good starting point for obvious reasons. I know I am being strict and perhaps a little too organised but these are important points.

The last important point is that before adopting a cat or dog the person needs to know about feline and canine behaviour to enable them to better interact with their companion animal and in doing so to provide the kind of environment where they thrive and feel confident.

Abandoned INBRED cats due to Covid and cost-of-living crisis

NEWS AND OPINION: This story tells us how market forces due to the Covid pandemic and now the cost-of-living crisis has shaped what goes on in animal rescue and before that in animal breeding and purchase. Adopting kittens and puppies should never be impacted by market forces.

The story about this form of animal abuse comes from the St Francis Animal Welfare Re-homing shelter in the UK. It is located at Sunnyside Cottage, Mortimer's Lane, Fair Oak, Eastleigh in Hampshire. I know this is a well-reported issue, but it needs to be stressed. Covid has highlighted a poor attitude by many UK citizens to pet ownership.

Boxes of cats and kittens dumped outside the shelter. Image: the shelter.

They say that in the summer of 2022 seven "very neglected and inbred" cats arrived from a kitten mill breeder. These cats had numerous health issues according to the rescue. And cats and kittens have been dumped anonymously outside the shelter as you can see in the photograph supplied by the shelter.

Boxes of cats were found outside the shelter. Three of the cats passed away. Two were kept by the shelter but they had severe heart murmurs.

Surge in demand during Covid leading to kitten mills

The information here then is that during Covid-19 there was a surge in demand for kittens and puppies because people were stuck at home on furlough doing nothing.

This surge in demand resulted in a surge in backstreet breeders in the UK producing kittens or the importation from Eastern Europe of puppies from puppy mills. And now, post-Covid, we have the cost-of-living crisis due to high inflation which in turn is mainly due to Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

Surge in abandonment of kittens and puppies post-Covid and due to high inflation

The cost-of-living crisis has resulted in people giving up their cats and dogs because they can't afford to keep them.

And so, there is a surge in abandoned cats and dogs some of whom find their way to the St Francis Animal Welfare shelter. And they, as you can see, report on inbred kittens which clearly indicates very poor breeding practices with mothers mating with offspring for example and this happening numerous times in uncontrolled breeding or forced breeding with no concern for health.

The manager at the shelter, Helen Shaw, said that they've seen "some of the worst cases of inbreeding". And they've got 40 cats waiting to come into the rescue which is four times the normal number.

Helen rightly says that the Covid-19 pandemic is a major factor in the breeding of the kittens. And the abandonment of kittens and cats is due to the cost-of-living crisis.

Both the adoption and the abandonment are due to impulsive purchasing and impulsive throwing away of sentient creatures due to market forces created by these big events.

Bad breeders and equally bad customers

It's all down to unscrupulous breeders taking advantage of market forces and silly customers buying unhealthy kittens and cats during the Covid lockdowns then deciding to give them up when they return to work, and they can't find the time to look after them. And/or the cost-of-living crisis means they have to give them up because they can't afford to look after them. One of the first things to go is the impulsively purchased cat not the smartphone contract costing £50 per month.

The point of this discussion is that people should not be driven by market forces when adopting cats. They should not make impulsive decisions about the adoption of a cat or dog. This is a considered decision to adopt a companion animal for the life of a companion animal. There are no other considerations. This should not be an impulsive, self-indulgent decision. 

It is a long-term decision and financial provision should be made. People need to research the cost and ensure that they have the money and will do going forward. If not don't adopt.

Rescues pick up the pieces

As usual, it is the rescue centres dotted around the country which pick up the pieces. They are the ones cleaning up the mess caused by the problems created by ill informed, ill-educated frankly silly people who just think they can adopt an animal like they can buy a new television.

It is no wonder that we have animal welfare issues in this country and other countries. The attitude towards sentient creatures is simply not good enough.

My thanks to the Southern Daily Echo.

Greek stray cat's charm and loving personality compels British holiday couple to bring him home

Couple say a kitten "adopted them" after they found him meowing outside their hotel room in Greece. I say this sweet, Greek, stray, bicolour cat used his smarts and charm to compel the couple to adopt him 👍😎. That purr can be so persuasive.

---

Toni Czogalik, 23, and her boyfriend were on holiday on the Greek island of Rhodes in October 2022. There was a thunderstorm outside. And there was a small, six-month-old black-and-white kitten outside their hotel room as well and he was meowing to be let in. He was soaked through.

It's probably pretty clear that the thunderstorm frighten the cat and he was looking for some comfort and used his charm and persistence to adopt this British holidaying couple. 

Toni said:

"One night on holiday there was a thunderstorm, and the kitten came to hotel door crying and soaking wet. We looked after him for the night and ever since then he kept coming back to our room and wouldn’t leave us alone. "

They named him Nermal and decided to adopt him. The video explains the difficulties of doing this and also the persistence and intelligence of Toni in achieving her goal. 

She had to go to a veterinarian to get Nermal micro-chipped and vaccinated. They bought a cat carrier from a local pet shop and an ID bag and some treats for the journey to the UK. 

Nermal was then flown from Rhodes to Athens and then he travelled by boat to Italy from where he was driven to the UK to be reunited with Toni. 

He arrived on November 8 and settled in well as you can see from the video. Toni explains the hurdles she encountered but she was aware of them:

"It was really difficult, the first few days I messaged every single charity in Greece that dealt with cats. We first took him to the vet to find out if he was healthy and microchipped. He wasn’t microchipped, so they said he was definitely a stray. The vet then gave him a microchip, rabies vaccination and a health passport, where I then began the process to have him flown over." 

The rescue cost £800 and it took four days in all. I'm not sure who drove him from Italy to the UK. It might have been her boyfriend. Perhaps they hired a car which must've added to the cost substantially. 

Toni and Nermal. Image: Toni and boyfriend.

Toni says that she loves looking after Nermal and she thanks all those who helped her to bring him back to the UK. She said: 

"We fell in love with him as he is the friendliest and most loving little kitten I have ever met. He is so cuddly; he wants to jump on and cuddle you all the time. We are so excited to spoil him and give him the best life in the UK. He is loving life; he is so spoiled. The volunteers were amazing - without them, we wouldn’t have been able to do it." 

It's the kind of task which is a bit daunting but when you fall in love with a stray cat there's nothing else you can do but take him home.

"Cat breeds I will never own" by an animal clinic worker

An animal clinic worker, Kaylnn, decided to tell us that there are four "cat breeds" that she would never own, and she has decided that she has the authority to tell us this. But her "advice" is hopelessly inaccurate and there are some glaring errors. It is all bollocks. She implies that in handling them at her clinic these cats have been very difficult.

"Cat breeds I will never own" by an animal clinic worker. It is all pure bollocks

She has produced a TikTok video which, I'm sorry to say, is hopeless as well. For example, she says that domestic longhaired cats are very badly behaved. "Domestic longhaired cats" are not a breed of cat. And therefore, she's got that wrong completely. And she's branding all longhaired domestic cats as being "a$$holes". This cannot be correct. It's impossible to state that and it is completely stupid. It goes against logic and the views of hundreds of millions of longhaired cat owners.

Please click on the video play button twice ✔️😊.

She says that the Ragdoll cat "will bite the $hit" outta u". In other words, all Ragdoll cats are biters and aggressive and nasty. That is also completely mad particularly as Ragdoll cats are bred to be passive and laid-back. Even if they were not passive and laid-back it is still completely incorrect to brand an entire cat breed as being biters. Incidentally, the Ragdoll is in the top 3 most popular cat breeds 👍.

She also says that the Bengal cat behaves like a wild leopard. And she brands the wildcat hybrid cats as being impossible. Well, wildcat hybrid cats can be a little bit more aggressive than your standard domestic cat, but they are still very unaggressive, and they make very good companions albeit more active than the average cat. It is even specified in the cat breed standard for the Bengal cat that they must be unaggressive. And therefore, all breeders of this breed of cat make a particular effort to achieve that goal.

Surprisingly, too, she states that she would never adopt a Persian cat using these words: "h3ll no". Persian cats are known to be passive, and some people describe them as being a bit like the furniture. They can be a little bit nervous which means they have a reputation for inappropriate elimination i.e., not peeing in the litter box. But they do not have a reputation for being difficult or aggressive for any other aspect of personality which makes them poor companions.

That's it. She has picked three cat breeds and one type of cat to state that they are all unadoptable in her opinion. I thought I might chat about it for a while and on this page, you can see her TikTok video above.

Please note, that her video has been downloaded to my desktop and uploaded to this website because this is allowed by the TikTok administrators. It is better to do it this way rather than embed the video on this webpage because sometimes videos on these third-party sites are deleted which stops the video working on this site.

"Cat of the Month", Flint, has been at Battersea for 5 months because he's black

Flint, a black domestic shorthaired cat, has been at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home for about five months. He's been described as having a playful and bouncy character. He is extremely affectionate and loves to be on a person's lap in the evening. His character is so good that he was awarded "Cat of the Month" by the shelter. He's also been described as "one of the bravest and loveliest chaps" by shelter staff.

Flint. Photo: Battersea Dogs & Cats.

For five months, however, it appears that the colour of his coat outweighed and was more important than his beautiful character. That is the level of the negativity surrounding black fur. It's remarkable really how difficult it is for a shelter cat to overcome this obstacle which they carry by pure chance.

Phone number of Battersea Dogs & Cats Home: 0800 001 4444.

He's been with foster carers and been a superb cat there. I don't know whether this is true but one person commented to say that he had been reserved by an adopter. If it is true, I'm delighted because he is going to make a wonderful cat companion for a lucky person.

Statistics from the USA based upon a study found that of the cats left behind at animal shelters, black cats were the most common at 30% of the "left-behind" cats and with gray cats at 28% and white cat at 26%. They also state that the most common cats to be taken in at an animal shelter are black cats at 33%. Gray cats account for 22%.

Common sense dictates that the reason why people dislike black cats compared to, say, tabby cats is because they are superstitious and there are still very many people who are sufficiently superstitions to believe that black cats bring bad luck particularly with their association with witchcraft from mediaeval times. 

In addition, the black coat is plain and uninteresting to some people. It also is clear that the primary criteria for selecting cat at a cat shelter is not the character of the cat but their appearance. It's a shame because there are many cats with beautiful characters who would be deeply loved given the time but they remain at shelters where they are in jeopardy of being euthanised.

Shelter says: "The only cat left on our adoption floor is Bell" -video

This is a TikTok video of an eight-year-old shelter cat named Bell. She is female which is unusual for a ginger tabby and she is the only cat at the shelter as you can see when the video camera roams down the aisle of shelter cages with not a cat in sight. By implication, Bell is the only cat left because she is middle-aged in cat years. She looks very cautious when the person making the video enters her cage. This is understandable.

Bell emerges from hiding in her shelter enclosure. Screenshot.

On the outside of her enclosure there is a sign saying "free roaming". I am not sure what that means in this instance. I don't think Bell was free-roaming but she might have been. Perhaps it means that she is able to roam freely in a larger than usual enclosure or area at the cat shelter.

@gcace_rescue The only cat left on our adoption floor is Bell💔 #adoptaseniorcat #foster #rescue #animalshelter #fyp #catsoftiktok ♬ original sound - m.a.r.y s.h.a.n.t.i

Once again, it looks like a very nicely set up cat shelter with great facilities. It is a sad video and it provides an insight into how shelter cats feel.

I wonder if they could have provided a better hiding place for Bell? She hides under what appears to be a plastic stool. A customised hiding place might be better. She needs to hide because she is timid or understandably anxious. That is very clear judging by the video. She is out of her normal environment and in a very strange and rather sterile place.

This shelter cat she needs a nice home where she is loved. It is, of course, sad that she has been rejected by potential adopters. Elderly cats are not infrequently left on the shelf so to speak. This is not only unfair but inadvisable.

RELATED: Video: POV-what a senior cat at a shelter sees and hears as adopters walk by.

Elderly cats make really good companion animals. They know the ropes. They settle into a new home more easily and more quickly. They are more accepting because they have more life experience. They don't chase around the place like kittens do causing a certain amount of mayhem. All-in-all they are an excellent cat to adopt. 

RELATED: Florida veterinarian said senior cat was ‘suffering’ and euthanizes her on the day of intake at SPCA.

The only downside is that they are likely to die before the adopter. In which case you have to be prepared emotionally for that very difficult time in a caregiver's duty when you have to decide if and when you need to euthanise your cat. 

It is the toughest time for a concerned cat caregiver. The moment might be protracted because of chronic illness. Not easy to deal with. But the benefits, in my view, of adopting a senior cat far outweigh the negatives.

Note: This is a video from another website which is embedded here. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

Kitten thrown from car outside the home of the person who adopted him

Sometimes there can be a domestic cat merry-go-round. It happens all over the place in all developed countries to varying extents. I read about them a lot. One person throws a kitten away. Another person picks him up and lives with him the rest of his life. Sometimes that process is extended whereby the second owner also gives up the kitten or adult cat to a rescue. They adopt the cat out. The adopter might also relinquish their cat. It can be a merry-go-round.

Gray - a cat who was thrown away from a car as a kitten and adopted by the owner of the house near to where it happened. Photo: Janet Johson.

There is a good and rather stark example on the Internet. It comes from Janet Johnson. It happened last January when her son looked out of their front window at 8:15 PM. They live in South Carolina and the temperature was forecast to drop to 28°F. A cold night.

Johnson's son turned to her mother and said that somebody just threw something out of the car in front of their house. She went to the front door to have a look as the non-descript car pulled away.

Walking down the driveway was a little grey kitten about 4-5 months old. Johnson was not in the mood to adopt a kitten but she had lost a Maine Coon that she had adopted in 2011. He disappeared mysteriously the year before last. Perhaps he is another victim of the merry-go-round? Stolen and sold?

Johnson rescued and adopted the little grey kitten and called him Gray. She said that he is healthy, happy, neutered, loved and aggravating at 5 AM. The casualness with which the people in that non-descript car threw away their kitten is shocking. It was right in front of Johnson's house for anyone to see.

Throwing out kittens is a bit like fly tipping in the UK when people throw away items by the roadside along country lanes. They do this because it's easier to do rather than taking it down to the council tip. It's laziness. In respect of kittens it is callousness. The mentality of people who do this is very poor. They could take the kitten to a rescue centre. Too messy and too much trouble. Too embarrassing as the reason is probably allowing cats to breed.

But there is a merry-go-round between the bad people and the good people as illustrated. However, sometimes it's just about mediocre people who adopt and give up and then somebody else adopts and they give up and so it goes on.

This practice happened a lot during Covid lockdowns in the UK regarding dogs, actually. Casual and self-indulgent adoptions of puppies led to early relinquishments when they realised dog ownership is not a pushover, which led to advertising their dog for sale on social media (against the rules on Facebook) which in turn led to more careless adoptions and so on. The victims are the companion animals who are shunted around between different owners.

Health checklist for all new cat arrivals

Is the kitten healthy? Checklist infographic by MikeB

Before you do a health checklist for all new cat arrivals you should have done a checklist as to whether you are in the right place physically, emotionally and monetarily to adopt a cat. I discuss the latter issues quite extensively on another page which you can read by clicking the link below;

Should I get a cat?

If you have adopted from a shelter your cat will have been through their standard checks and vaccinations. You should therefore both be in a good place. Likewise, if you have adopted from a purebred cat breeder, your cat will have been thoroughly checked and vaccinated and you will have received all the papers you need to prove pedigree and ownership et cetera. Once again things should be in place but here's a list nonetheless for those intermediate cases where you've adopted a cat informally and in case there are problems even when buying from a breeder.

Check list

It is advisable to watch your new cat's behaviour closely especially during the first 24-hours in your home. You can watch for potential health problems. The list below is prepared by Dr. Bruce Fogle and if you answer no to any one of the questions you should schedule a visit to your veterinarian on the same day or the next day he says.

1. Is your cat eating normally?
2. Defecating and urinating without any difficulty and without signs of distress;
3. No signs of diarrhoea or vomiting;
4. Breathing easily with no discharge, noise or effort;
5. Has nice, healthy pink gums and no unpleasant odours from the mouth;
6. Has a healthy, shiny coat without flea dirt towards the tail or indeed without any fleas;
7. Moves around in general such as getting up, jumping and lying down without difficulty;
8. Alert and active?

Number 4 might refer to lower urinary tract diseases such as typically cystitis, an inflammation of the bladder caused by a bacterial infection.

Number 4 refers to URIs; very typical of rescued kittens. They almost invariably have 'colds'; viral infections of the upper respiratory tract followed by bacterial infections of the eyes (pink eye).

RELATED: Diets to Promote Feline Oral Health

Number 5 is very typical of rescued cats with bad oral health. This is a reference to gum disease. And if the gums are not pink it is indicative of anaemia.

Number 6 is almost bound to be answered in the negative if you have rescued a cat because there will be fleas at the front of the cat and flea dirt at the rear end. You probably know that flea dirt is a reference to flea faeces which is processed blood basically.

RELATED: True or false: ‘Indoor only’ pets don’t get fleas and therefore don’t need a flea preventative

Number 7 is a reference to conditions such as arthritis or if it's a kitten to a congenital problem. It might also apply to ataxia i.e. a lack of coordination. 

Number 8 is a reference to general health and whether the cat is feeling well.

UK: Empty nest parents adopt pets to fill the void

In the UK, the extensive pandemic lockdowns experienced by citizens has led to parents becoming closer to their teenage offspring who are now being packed off to university. This is creating a strong empty nest syndrome and in response a survey indicates that parents are considering adopting a pet or allowing an existing one to sleep on their bed. Note: there must be some relief, too, with the food guzzling, messy and noisy teenager out of the way. Not all teenagers fit this description however.

Empty nest parents adopt pets to fill the void. Pic in public domain.

Apparently 93% said being closer to their children during the pandemic had made the empty nest syndrome worse. A poll by a provider of purpose-built student accommodation, Unite, who commissioned Censuswide, also found the following:

• A sixth of parents cried uncontrollably when their child or children went to university;
• A fifth said they felt guilty for not making the most of their time they had with their child;
• A fifth said that they wished that they could have that same time again i.e. the period of lockdown when they were closer with their children;
• Some feared depression or had suffered physical symptoms of grief including panic attacks and sleeplessness;
• A third cleaned the house more! This sounds like diversionary tactics or displacement activity;
• Some turned to alcohol!

It wasn't all bad though because a quarter felt excited about what lay ahead without their children being around and one in six enjoyed bragging that their child was going to university. Some were considering allowing a lodger to occupy part of their home to raise some money. Perhaps, too, this was an attempt to fill the void with another body. They should be careful, though, because although rent from lodges is tax-free up to a certain limit you have got a stranger in your home.

Should a family of five living in a compact, subsidized apartment have two cats and a dog?

NEWS AND COMMENT: The Sun reports on the story of a family of five with two cats and a dog living in a mouldy flat in Manchester, UK. They want a three-bedroom house from the housing association from which they rent their home at a subsidised rate. They say they can't go on living in their housing association apartment because a daughter is suffering from health problems because of the mould. We don't know what is causing the mould but it might be condensation because after all there are eight sentient beings in their apartment breathing in oxygen and breathing out carbon dioxide!

Mum Charlotte says she cries herself to sleep as she's so desperate for her young family - and their three pets - to leave their cramped flat in Greater Manchester. Photo: The Sun newspaper.

But the question I always have when I read the stories is whether this family is in a proper position to adopt (or have) two cats and a dog. Many people would agree with me and say that they were never going to be in a position financially and in terms of accommodation to be able to properly care for three companion animals.

They are unable to care properly for their children without financial and accommodation support. They have to rely on the housing association to provide a home for them. That's okay. That's fully acceptable as some people have a difficult start in life but it is not clever to burden yourself further with six mouths to feed i.e. three children and three companion animals when you can foresee financial issues.

If financially they qualified for a housing association flat, they could have restricted their family to one child perhaps and perhaps one cat. That would be a state of affairs which fitted their apparent budget. But they seem to have gone over their budget and knowingly relied on the local authority to back them up financially. And the housing association is reluctant to take action. And it seems that they have gone to the press for assistance in pushing the housing association into taking some steps to rehome them.

I don't think people should have 3-child families and three pets on the basis they have to rely on subsidies to make it work. If you are self-sufficient, you can have as large a family as you like and as many cats and dogs as you like provided you look after them well. If you rely on a third party - the housing association or the council - to prop up your desires you are asking for problems.

No doubt, in due course, they will get their three-bedroom home but I believe that everybody should take responsibility for their financial affairs. They should also take responsibility for decisions regarding the adoption of companion animals. Animal adoption should be taken very seriously. It should be fully budgeted and people should be fully aware of the responsibilities that need to be discharged in order to care properly for pets.

Too often, people adopt animals on impulse or without proper preparation because they just want to live with a pet. The idea appeals to them and they bypass all the usual sensible processes of initially asking themselves whether it's a good idea and whether they can afford to do it and/or have the facilities to do it. This story is a case in point.

Video example of antagonism between cats in multi-cat household

This lady bought some new cat shelves which attach to the glass in a window frame through suckers. It's quite a clever idea as cats love to look outside and high vantage points. She is pleased that they work. She is not going to be pleased that her cats are fighting. It looks like a minor contretemps between two family cats in a nice home. 

Video example of antagonism between cats in multi-cat household. Screenshot.

They, are no doubt, well looked after and loved. But my guess is that there is a background of quiet, simmering animosity between these two cats. They probably get along pretty well nearly all of the time. But they both jumped onto these new cat shelves to try them out which put them close together and a slapping competition commenced.

CLICK FOR A PAGE ON FIGHTING IN MULTI-CAT HOMES

This is an embedded tweet. They often go caput because they are pulled from Twitter. Sorry if that's happened. You have a still image instead which is nowhere near as good.

Was looking at “cat shelf” reviews and found this truly perfect user-submitted video: pic.twitter.com/s7IzHpg5e2

— Carlos Maza (@gaywonk) August 24, 2021

The experts say that if there is a cat behaviour problem described as "bad cat behaviour" in a home it's often caused by friction between cats in a multi-cat household. If that isn't the cause it is going to be the behaviour of the human caregiver which has rubbed up against feline emotions.

Adopting a second or third cat into a home is a problematic process which should be carried out with great care. Rescue centres should allow people to "suck and see" when adopting a second cat. They should allow them to bring the cat back after a week if it doesn't work out. Perhaps they do this in some shelters but it should be the default policy.

You get chemistry between cats. We don't know why some cats get along and some don't but I'm going to propose that the reason is a common sense one: they just get along like people get along because it's the right chemistry. But the big issue with multi-cat homes is that you are putting cats quite close together; unnaturally so. 

Domestic cats need several acres at least of home territory and they have to adapt to a much smaller space especially if they are confined to the home. They do this but it is easier for some cats compared to others. This is likely to cause stress if the cats are not friendly with each other. This is what has happened in this instance in my opinion.

Stray cats ask passers-by to adopt them

Is it fair to say that sometimes stray cats literally ask passers-by to adopt them? They don't do it in an overt, noisy way. They follow the person, perhaps meowing which sends out a clear signal. Of course, domestic cats, with a home nearby, might also do this and therefore you have to be careful. I guess you'll make some enquiries to find out whether a cat who followed you lives with a human caregiver.

Stray black cat asked to be cared for by passing person. They responded. Photo: u/CreditConsistent2878 on Reddit.

My mind was turned to this topic because on the Reddit.com website one of the members of that site posted a photograph with the title: "I found him outside the gym, kept following me, what should I name him?"

The picture shows him comfortably ensconced on the person's sofa inside his or her home. So, within that title there is a subtle statement that she adopted him. She got the message that he wanted a home. This kind of encounter throws up a plethora of potential problems but also a stack of delights. I think that people can sense when a cat is homeless. I hope so. But you don't want to adopt someone's companion animal, do you? Although, I sense some cat owners wouldn't mind losing their cat because they've lost the connection between themselves and their animal. 

But the point of this post is that stray cats do go up to people and asked to be adopted. They remember what it was like to live in a home. The security, safety, the food and the warmth push them into approaching a strange person. That takes courage for some cats. Can they tell whether the person is going to be kind-hearted or push them away, perhaps violently?

Do cats sense whether a person is good or bad? That is an unanswerable question in my opinion. But I sense that stray cats can quickly learn whether a person is going to be helpful and is therefore kindhearted. They do this by approaching a person and judge their response. In turn they will respond either by interacting more intimately or running away.

Associated: Courageous Belgian woman during World War II fed stray cats with prime fillet steak

This discussion also points to another issue with respect to the human-to-cat relationship which concerns the misapprehension by many hard-working people that their cat will be fine while they are away in the office for 10 hours. It's a nice thought but it is untrue. Depending upon the individual cat, they hate being alone all day often in an apartment which gives them no room to entertain themselves outside albeit with a lack of security.

Associated: Fines for tenants in luxury Dubai development if they feed stray cats

You will find videos on the Internet of domestic cats waiting by the front door for hours on end for the return of the human companion. It is not a good thought. Dogs are even worse. They really do suffer with separation anxiety and stress. Thank God for the Covid-19 pandemic. I'm being facetious but the one great benefit of this horrible pandemic is that it has changed working practices permanently allowing pet owners to stay at home.

There are going to be many millions of happy cats from now on because many businesses are changing their work policies permanently to allow employees to at least spent part of the working week at home. This will plug that awful gap in the lives of many millions of domestic cats who are socialised to be with people. Domestic cats are not aloof and independent. They are dependent on the companionship of their human caregiver.

Animal shelter cleared out after all the pets are fostered and adopted

Animal shelter cleared out after all the pets are fostered and adopted. Celebrations. Screenshot.

This shows a Palm Beach animal shelter kennel totally empty and the staff celebrating. The number of staff there seems to be quite large so it must be a large shelter. It shows one of their three kennels. The video was posted to Facebook but it seems to have been removed because it was used by the news media who I guess wanted exclusive rights to it. The kennel that we see I believe serves as the shelter's stray housing and adoption overflow unit. They have animals for adoption at their main kennel.

It is always brilliant to see these images and videos because it means that a lot of animals have been rescued and rehomed. It represents success in a way although behind that, the back story, there is failure because in a perfect world, in a truly successful world with respect to humankind's relationship with animals, there would be no animal shelters! That is an ideal. It is unattainable but arguably animal shelters are a symptom of failure.

I believe the success is down to Covid-19! An increase in adoptions over the lockdowns. Amazing that there is at least one brilliant silver lining to the pandemic. There have been some downsides though such as a surge in puppy mills to feed new adopters.

The video on this page may well stop working in the future. This is because it is held on another website and the administrators of that website might delete the video in due course. In which case, it will disappear on this page as well.

People are adopting animals in person from rescue centres in New York City at last

NEWS AND COMMENT - NEW YORK CITY: New Yorkers are pleased that they can, at last, visit an animal shelter in person, look at the animals, relate to the animals on a one-to-one basis and adopt when they fall in love with an individual. This, in a way, marks the beginning of the end of the coronavirus pandemic, we hope. It's a sign of getting back to normal. And they lined up for the pleasure. It is said that they turned up in droves on Saturday at Animal Care Centers of New York City. It was their first in-person adoption event for more than a year.

Cut cat in shelter waiting for an adopter. Photo in public domain.

In all 55 cats were adopted. It seems that the general consensus is that adopting online remotely is not anywhere near as good as being there in person. One customer, Vaneza Almodovar, 43, had tried to adopt online several times during the pandemic. She adopted a cat from the Animal Care Centers' East Harlem branch. She surprised her daughter when she brought the cat home. Her daughter said that she had never had a cat of her own while her mother said that "It's been worth waiting".

You had to get to the rescue centre early and lineup. Denise Cunningham and her granddaughter Ariah Williams got there 90 minutes early and were ninth in the queue of dozens that apparently extended down the block. They adopted a brown tabby called Raspberry. They chose him because he was shy. I like that because it is normally the confident cats who come forward and make themselves known and to get adopted. To go for a shy cat is a nice thing to do.

The shelter said that people were not surrendering their companion animals during the pandemic lockdown and neither were they adopting stray cats because they were not leaving their house. Pet adoptions had continued during the pandemic but some found the online application process a bit tricky. Almodovar said that they had put in an application and then told that their selected cat had "just got adopted out. We were so frustrated."

It's nice to read that things are getting back to normal in the world of cat adoptions and shelters.

Wife went back to the office this week, her favorite cat is waiting sadly at her empty desk

The headline comes direct from Reddit.com because I can't beat it. This is happening all over America and Europe; cats suddenly and unceremoniously left without their human companion who they've been close to for 18 months or thereabouts due to social distancing measures i.e. lockdowns.

Wife went back to the office this week, her favorite cat is waiting sadly at her empty desk. Photo: Reddit.com user: u/HawkTheHawker

The same is happening for dogs perhaps even more so. This is because a lot of people adopted dogs during the coronavirus pandemic and all they've known is to be with their human companion all day long. Suddenly, their owner is going back to work at the office and bingo, a puppy who's lived most of his life with an owner who was always there is suddenly alone. This is going to cause a lot of distress for the dog and I guess for the owner if they are genuinely concerned.

And cats aren't quite as independent as people make them out to be. Domestic cats have become social creatures and they love to have their owner at home with them. As you can see in the photograph they particularly like the desk with a computer because this is where their owner has been working and of course the computer gives off some heat which they also like.

The cats are simply not going to understand it. It will take some time for them to settle down and revert back to the old routine. In the meantime, I would guess that some of them will suffer from separation anxiety. There will be a few cases of cats being a bit naughty because if they become stressed it can be manifested in what people describe as 'bad behaviour' such as spraying urine or perhaps scratching and even perhaps becoming a little more aggressive because they are irritated.

Their owners will be distressed too because they will miss their cats. There is a big argument that people should be allowed to take their pets to their workplace. Apple, as I recall, allow dogs or is it Google? I think it's actually Google who allow this. Google has a very open attitude towards the workplace which is very evident. Everything within a Google office is untypical but geared up to creative thinking and productivity. The presence of a companion dog arguably improves productivity. There may even be a study on the topic which supports this.

It is much harder for cats to be brought to the office for obvious reasons although it does happen. The Foreign Office of the UK government used to have an office cat called Palmerston but he didn't really like it and he was pensioned off. Larry at Number 10 Downing Street is more at home and he's been there for quite a long time. It's worked out well and I'm sure he contributes. These are high profile examples of working cats and offices. There should be more but the complication is that a person or persons need to look after the cat and these will be volunteers. That's what happens at Number 10 Downing Street. And I recall they even use their own money for the purpose because there is no official funding for Larry. Larry was spraying when Dilyn the PM's dog was adopted.

A lot of animal rescue organisations are particularly concerned about dogs because they foresee a lot of abandonments of newly adopted dogs by inexperienced people who haven't really researched what dog ownership entails because they've hastily bought into the idea of adopting a sweet flat-based puppy such as a French Bulldog during lockdown. 

They discover that dog ownership is unviable when they return to the office which is happening right now. So, they offer the dog for sale online. They have to sell because their cute puppy cost them £3,500 which is a lot more than they normally cost due to market forces. And if you sell a companion animal online you generate some problems, at least potentially. 

And the dog, of course, is then being pushed around from pillar to post which is unhelpful particularly when they are young and going through those developmental years. It could result in the dog becoming badly behaved i.e. developing bad habits which lead to the possibility of the new owner passing on the dog. These are the negative effects of the coronavirus pandemic in respect of companion animals.

Video: adopting an old cat

Just a short video of an anonymous person doing something fairly ordinary: adopting an old cat from a rescue centre but I find it touching and a lot of praise must go to the person who made the video and therefore who adopted this old gentleman cat. He looks like former street cat who has to be at least 15-years-of-age and perhaps older. He looks tired and as if he has been in some fights until he was rescued. It is difficult finding new homes for elderly cats like this guy. The good people adopt them because they know that they will have their reward. Old cats know the ropes and they are less work. They settle in more easily and all the while you know that you have saved his life and given him a good life for the last few years or months that he has to live. That is a beautiful reward. It's an act of altruism in adopting an elderly rescue But, it is also a selfish act because it genuinely benefits the person.

Screenshot from video below.

Note: This is a video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

Do cat siblings get along?

Do cat siblings get along? It is an important question. On the face of it, if a person adopts two siblings from the same litter when they first adopt a cat they give each cat an instant companion for life. This can take a load of responsibilities away from the cats' owner because they can entertain themselves. 

Domestic cats are social creatures despite what you read on the Internet about them being independent and solitary. Over 10,000 years of evolution in domestication they had developed into far more social creatures which means they need companionship which in turn means that their human guardian should be around. Sometimes they can't be around because of work commitments which is when a cat companion steps up to the plate.

Lykoi cat siblings. Photo: Brittney Gobble.

So the question as to whether cat siblings get along can be vitally important. And the answer is yes and no. When they are kittens and sub-adults they do get along. They entertain each other and play-fight with each other. The world is perfect if they are in the right home. But when they grow up and become individuals with better developed characters they can start to dislike each other. They may be incompatible. The relationship cools and they drift apart. Sounds familiar?

I do not have statistics on the percentage of siblings who are compatible or incompatible. But there is quite a good chance that they will be incompatible so you can't bank on adopting siblings in the expectation that they will get along for the rest of their lives. This means the policy of a double adoption of kittens from a shelter might not work.

That does not mean you can't adopt two rescue cats from a shelter who are adults. In fact there is an advantage to adopting two adult cats that need to get along because you know that they get along. The shelter staff will be able to assess this and tell you. The cats have been tried and tested. Their characters have matured so if they do get along it will likely be permanent.

I remember when I adopted my cat from an animal rescue centre, the organiser told me that cat siblings do not get along. She must have had a bad experience in adopting siblings herself. Or she had noticed that within the shelter siblings were fighting. She was partly right. Sometimes they don't, as mentioned, but they might and they often do. It's down to personalities.

But once they become adults they like to establish their home range. In the wild when kittens become adults and leave the natal nest they go out into the big wide world and establish their home range i.e. their territory. They want their piece of landscape and if they are in a home together they might be fighting over that territory. Or they might fight over some of the assets such as food and the litter tray.

And if they are incompatible they may urinate inappropriately, they may defecate inappropriately or they may spray urine and finally they may scratch furniture and walls to mark territory. So it will be a bad scene despite best intentions.

I think that the only surefire way of knowing if two cats will get along is by trying it out. That's why I think cat shelters should allow adopters to take a cat back to their home where there is a resident cat for a week to see what happens. They should be open to the possibility of the cat being returned. That should be part of the contract. It may be possible in some cat shelters. I don't know of any other way to deal with this very difficult question of multi-cat homes. Perhaps I'm being too negative because I know their are some very successful homes in which there are several cats.

And when you think about it in this instance domestic gas are being no different to human beings. How many dysfunctional families do you know? How many human siblings do you know who fight with each other because who dislike each other? It is very common for human siblings not to get on.

I myself don't get on very well with my brother and I never got along with my late sister. We were quite different characters. Hell, I didn't even get on with my parents that well either.

Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian has 2 cats

The Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines, Huang Xilian, has 2 cats, Ding Ding and Yuan Yuan. They are both grey. One of them, who I believe is Ding Ding has partially folded ears which indicates to me that this cat carries the Scottish Fold gene or a variant of it. The ambassador adopted both cats in the Philippines during the pandemic. 

Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian has 2 cats.
This is one of them possibly Ding Ding.

He adopted them as kittens. He took them to a veterinarian to have them checked thoroughly. He says there now strong and healthy. They love each other but sometimes they fight and are a bit naughty. He likes their company during his work and he finds them comforting. He said the work hard during the pandemic.

Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian has 2 cats. This is 
possibly Yuan Yuan.

He wants cat lovers to guess which cat is called Ding Ding in which cat is called Yuan Yuan. I haven't got an idea about that! The Chinese word "Yuan" is the currency in China. I checked out what Ding means in Chinese. It's a family name humans and there are just two strokes to it when writing it in Chinese. Someone Facebook said it means (round) in English. I read that it means strong. I'm no nearer to figuring out which name fits which cat. I have guessed.

Huang Xilian should be screaming from the rooftops for the cat cruelty that takes place in China's cat meat markets to stop immediately. It is horrible behavior and it is time it stopped. How can he love cats and be silent about this damnable market where tens of thousands of cats and dogs are brutally killed annually for meat because they belive that the flesh has some medicinal qualities. It is pure bullshit.