Sorry in advance, this will be slightly long.
We have had my cat since she was a kitten. She will be four years old in June, and has always been the only cat in our house. She's never been around any other animals except for when she was at the shelter and was with her sister (we couldn't adopt them both, at the time, so we only got her). I have noticed that she gets easily bored, and even her toys don't always satisfy her, or she doesn't want to play with them when I do. She craves attention 24/7, even if I've been making a special point of giving her extra love and affection each day. I do play with her with her toys, but she's not always interested. My husband and I both work 8-hour days, so she's home alone 5 days a week until we get back. I give her attention when I get back, but then she wants it constantly, and when I am home with her on a weekend, she doesn't stop asking for attention, no matter how much I play with her, love on her, etc.
For this reason, we are thinking about getting a kitten when the coronavirus craziness dies down, so that she has someone to play with. But if she's been the only cat for four years, is she gonna freak out? We just moved into a house about 8 months ago, out of the apartment she had known for most of her life, and it took her a while to adjust. Now that she sees this house as HER domain, will it be ok to introduce a kitten into the picture?
I want her to have a "sibling" to play with so she isn't bored all the time, but I worry that she will either be mean to the new kitten when we bring it home, or that she will start displaying bad behavior patterns (she already bites us when she wants to play, and she territory marked a couple of times when we tried to get her a bed for the house). I want this to go well. It makes me sad to know she's bored, but I also know that I spoil her and love on her all the time, so she knows she's loved. She is bonded to me and hardly ever wants to leave my side, so I'm not worried about her not feeling loved.
I want her to be able to respond happily and start playing with the kitten, but I don't know if she will be happy or upset. Or maybe she will be initially upset and then get used to the kitten being around after about a week?? I've only ever had one cat at a time, but I know a few people who have two to six cats all living in the same house, and those cats all get along just fine.
So what do you think? Is it too late to introduce another cat into her home since she's almost four and won't be growing up alongside the new kitten? Or do you think it's ok?
TL:DR, cat is almost 4 and has been the only cat in our home since she was a kitten. Is she too old to respond well to us bringing home a kitten for her to play with?
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/fmg170/is_it_too_late_to_get_my_cat_a_playmate/
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