Should we rescue this cat?

[lolaselina1]

Hi all,

Honest opinions needed please!

We have two five year old cats, sisters from the same litter. As it is the Easter holidays I took my three year old boy to a cat rescue service so I could teach him about cats that do not have homes, and how people take care of them. He loved it and asked about the stories behind each and every one of them.However whilst we were there, he was taken with a particular cat that is waiting for a home. She was the same age as our current two cats and was brought in with another cat twice her age as the owner had sadly passed away. Now our two cats are wary of children but this cat seemed to want to play with my little boy all the time and pawed at the window to come out and play. My son wanted to rescue her and I said we would think about it.

My issue is this. One cat of ours is so docile and friendly and I don't think she will have any issues. However, my other cat loves fuss but does not get on with her sister one bit. She doesn't avoid her necessarily but we are always 50/50 as to whether she will sniff her sister and walk off or growl and hiss at her. This is a long term problem, only placated by the fact that the docile cat likes to roam outside on her patch whilst the other is a fussy house cat.

Under these circumstances do you think we should even consider this?! I would never dream of rehoming if it was detrimental to a cat's interests, so although we have the space I would still be hesitant at first. I'd adopt every cat in the world who needed a home if I could, believe me! We are actually talking about rehoming the cat she came in with but we aren't sure we can afford 4 cats at the moment... And they can be rehomed separately apparently, I was wary about this at first but after thinking about how my two get on, I can understand this more now.

Thanks in advance.

[Kay]

this is a tricky one - in my experience females are more difficult when it comes to sharing their territory, and bringing one into the home of two others could well prove to be a challenge - it would help if you have a big enough house to give a newcomer a room to herself at the beginning, so you can take your time over integrating her - and if your incumbents have access to a garden that will be another space she won't be sharing at first

I hear what you say about going from 2 to 4 cats, but I think I might be sensing too some guilt if you leave number 4 behind in the rescue - if there is a chance you'd find yourself going back for her you might as well bite the bullet sooner rather than later!

I suspect there' s going to be some soul searching whatever you decide, but it is rare for multi-cat households to have serious and lasting problems if the house is big enough, and the owner determined to do her best to make it work - with loads of advice from us lot, of course

good luck whatever you decide, and a hug for your boy - he's clearly got a loving heart and probably a lifetime ahead of him of being owned by cats