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How to Manage Multiple Cats Effectively?
The average life span of a cat is 15 years or more. Adopting a cat means making a fifteen to twenty years long commitment for caring for the animal, giving it necessary attention and taking care of the medications as it falls ill. Then you have to make a proper assessment whether your home environment is suitable for the presence of this new member.
Now for some cat lovers one pet cat is sufficient for venting their affection and care towards it; while for the others having a single species around is never satisfactory. They prefer their homes to be romped by multiple cats. Although there is normally no restriction on how many cats you can keep in your home, you should be careful enough not to become the cause of irritation to your neighbors for your love for cats. For this it is important to learn how to handle multiple cats living in your households.
The ideal situations for having multiple cats
Before you decide to adopt another cat or few more, first assess the nature of the cat that you already own.
- If the cat needs to stay indoor for a long stretch of time, it may be interested by the prospect of having a companion around.
- However, if it is evident from your cat’s attitude that it loves solitude, then it may not welcome another claimant on its territory.
- Generally, an older cat becomes happier if it is joined by a kitten at the dusk of its life and it gets a renewed interest in life.
Before adding more cats to your cat-collection just ask yourself the question:
- Are you ready to go through all the hazards that are essentially associated with keeping ad caring of cats at your home? More cats means clearing of more litter boxes, going through the strain of training sessions all over again and many more.
- You also have to consider your budget. Few more cats mean going through the same expenditure of vaccinations and neutering.
- You can avoid these expenses by adopting an older cat. But you have to invest time to get it adjusted toy our home environment.
How to manage all these feline species altogether?
If you are convinced that you want multiple cats to become the part of your household, you have to learn the tricks to manage them. Here are some tips.
- Don’t make the mistake of placing the new entrants in the same area with the existing cat immediately. Take some time to introduce the newcomer to the cat you already have.
- Do not make the old cat share its possessions like litter box, toys or bowls to share with the new cat.
- Using separate articles for different cats will ensure that diseases do not spread from one to the other. You will also get hints of their respective appetite by serving foods in different bowls.
- For the first few days keep your new kitten in a separate place, preferably inside a crate and let her adjust for a few days before you finally introduce her to the rest of your cat family.
Some people are of the idea that they have to adopt the new cat from the same breed as the existing one. But the fact is; the cats from separate breeds get along quite well with each other. However avoid keeping cats of such different personalities as gregarious Rex Cat with a Russian Blue cat that prefers to stay aloof. However the breeds like Himalayan Persian or the Maine Coon are generally friendly enough to get along with even the most difficult cats.