I tell everyone, if you want a cat, get two, preferably litter mates. It is an identical amount of work to have two cats compared to one, and my two little girls (sisters but not voids) literally spend 90% of their time together playing and sleeping on one another. I would literally amount separating them to animal abuse. They need one another.
True. My littermate kitties were super snuggly as babies. Grew up with lots of play fighting that turned to actual fighting (opposite personalities). Got grumpier as they both got older. But when one finally passed a few years ago, his brother looked for him often. Definitely noticed his brother was missing and would come if I accidentally spoke his name. Was so bittersweet. They do miss and love each other, even if they grew out of playing and sleeping together.
Same here. I intentionally got litter mates hoping they would be/become a bonded pair but alas... obe always gets mobbed and clobbered by the other and the other one is so desperate for his love that he doesn't even complain. 😭
But a duo are often less likely to get bored and do something dumb and more likely to spawn the question of what place are they cuddling now.
Which often results in either on the couch or bed or under. Which is a lot less stressful than discovering ones kitty some how made the impossible jump to that impossible to reach ledge.
I wold challenge that statement. I have two bonded voids, not littermates but adopted at the same age, place, and time from the same shelter. They do play, fight, and cuddle together more often than not, BUT they get into mischief all day. They've already broke my TV, one climbed into the top shelf of the closet, and their zoomies are destructive. I love them, but having kittens is not for the faint of heart.
It ain't 2010 anymore. Getting a cats teeth pulled costs like 3000 bucks. An actual medical emergency with an animal will bankrupt the average person now. there is no planning for vet bills when the practice is predatory.
It's nearly on par with American dentistry and hospital bills for people and in some cases worse. 15k for surgery is one option and then the other is putting them down. A checkup can be several hundred with an unneccesary follow up for a few extra hundred just to be told all is well and to ask if you'd like to setup another follow up app. A lot of small vet practices were bought up and the ones that weren't have seemed to switch to this predatory model anyways. Like, Holy shit. I just wanna take care of these babies, is this really where we have to profit at the highest degree possible?
Not all vets are created equal. We put down our cat last year at 19. Trust me, I'm well familiar with the prices. It does help to ask for prices upfront and specifically why each thing is done. But yes, it's not cheap
Vets receive more training on more subjects than any human doctor. Animals are just as hard to care for, if not harder, than humans.
The medications are similar or the same as are many of the tools used. it's more surprising that vet med was so cheap in the past although part of the change in cost likely reflects the fact that on average people care more about their pets than they did in prior decades and demand a higher standard of care for their animals. the closer this standard gets to human medicine the closer the costs will get to human medicine.
I promise you the majority of vets are not getting rich or even trying to profit majorly off the services they provide. They're charging what's required to keep their staff and pay for medical equipment.
I always recommend pet insurance for a reason. It’s pretty affordable if you start when they’re young and it has saved my ass a couple times over the years.
One of my girls spent the first five years of her life with her brother; someone adopted both of them and then returned only her. :/
(She's spoiled rotten now, though. I keep joking that I wish she'd go back into her shell a little, because she went from hiding in the closet to being the loudest cat I've ever seen.)
I adopted two unrelated black kittens from a shelter that had a policy that kittens had to be either adopted in pairs or to homes with other young cats. I thought it would be great for them to grow up together and they would end up bonded. The girl kitten ended up being a “people cat” in that she was only interested in interacting with people, and more specifically just me. She wasn’t abused or anything, she’s just a diva.
My boy cat is extremely friendly and outgoing though, and we just got a new kitten last year who ADORES him, so now they both have playmates and my queen baby gets some peace and quiet. So 2 is easier than 1, and in my case 3 was easier than 2. Good ol cat mathematics
Agree with 3 is better than one. I have two adult cats, I think they’re like 8 or 9, who were together since birth. Boy kitty is playful and loves being around other cats. Girl kitty is a little more indifferent to other cats and would get irritated by boy kitty’s attention. Last year I took in a stray. She was about 9 months at the time. She blended right in, like she had always been here. Boy kitty loved her on sight, girl kitty hissed a couple of times then gave up? Idk. But now boy kitty has a playmate so he mostly leaves girl kitty alone, girl kitty is happy to be loved on by humans, and kitten is well… a little crazy. When she gets her zoomies I call her parkour kitty lol. But they’re all happy and I love it.
In my case, 4 is better than 1. We had two that grew up together, Artemis and Loki. They both love attention, but Artemis doesn't care for playing with other cats, and Loki loves to play and chase his sister, so we got him a kitten (Anubis) so he'd leave her alone. Then, Loki hurt his hip and couldn't play as much, so then Anubis would bug Artemis. So we got another kitten (Hecate) for him and Loki to play with, and it works out perfectly. We only have to "protect" Artemis from Loki once or twice a week now instead of several times a day.
The way he does it is so funny though. He'll walk towards her purposefully, she'll start growling and run away, and he just slowly walks after her, he never runs during this. And repeat until we stop him or he loses interest.
I agree 100% except I think it is actually easier to have 2 instead of 1! I play with my kitties a LOT throughout the day and night. Still, I can't keep up with their zoomies and sibling fighting/playing which is basically a role play of the Lion King (without the murder)
I can't imagine just having one.
One of mine is a void though and boy does he love to occasionally hide in impossible to find places and disguises himself VERY well. So if you can't find them get a flashlight and take a breath. They don't abide by the laws of physics. But they are probably just tucked away napping.
I would literally amount separating them to animal abuse.
That's rather far. There are many reasons why someone would only be able to get one. When renting, there's often a pet deposit and/or pet rent for each pet. There may be a maximum amount of pets allowed in the rental and they already have a dog. Two cats are double the food, litter, vet bills and flea preventatives, boarding if you travel or pet fee if you travel with them, etc. If you limit adopting cats out only to people willing to take two, you're going to adopt out less cats. That leaves the unadopted cats vulnerable to euthanasia, or, if it's a no-kill shelter, less room for more cats that need to be taken in and funds from adoption fees to do it.
It is not an identical amount of work, or expense. Better to leave both of them in a shelter behind cold metal bars than bring 1 home if that is all you can take in?
It's true. We were only getting one, but I had to get two. The other looked lonely. They aren't littermates. Then we came upon a stray. People will say three is a lot of work. Not with automatic feeder, rechargeable drinking fountains, and automatic litterboxes. Even when I was scooping it was not much extra work. They spend most of their time playing and annoying each other. 1 sleeps all day. The other two younger one play. We also built a catio.
Yes. I've had three sets of cats and my current pair the brother got sick and died at 7 years old compared to the other sets where they both died within a year of each other at old age. This single cat has completely changed without her brother and it's so sad. She's so codependent with me and lonely I can just feel her heart hurting. It's been a couple years and she just needs someone all the time without her brother around
These two sisters love each other, they'll wait for the other to eat, and if the weather's bad and one is outside, they'll make open the window and we wait for the other to come home. They take care of each other
932
u/Leet-God 21h ago
I tell everyone, if you want a cat, get two, preferably litter mates. It is an identical amount of work to have two cats compared to one, and my two little girls (sisters but not voids) literally spend 90% of their time together playing and sleeping on one another. I would literally amount separating them to animal abuse. They need one another.