Big Decision on Adding 1 or 2 kittens to Older Cats Home

Question
I have an important decision to make very very soon. I had two cats. brother & sister for over 19 years. My boy cat Cody passed away from Cancer a couple of weeks ago. A huge loss but I wanted to add a companion to his surviving sister. I discussed it with his centenarian and he thought that was a great idea. I know everything I have to do for the first several weeks. I have a dilemma that arose. I am getting my new little male kitten from an animal rescue center. .He is in a foster home until he is old enough for me to bring him home. He is almost 7 weeks old and has a sister that they want me to take also. I can afford it but am very afraid that my older female cat will barely accept one new kitten but two may be too much. I know she can use the company while I am at work but am afraid to overload the situation. I am sure the kitten will be lonely without his little sister until he bonds with my older female. HELP!!!. I want to make the right decision. I live alone in a household with no children or other pets. They will stay inside and will be fixed. I want to do the right thing for the kittens and my older female cat.. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide. I need to make a decision very soon.  

Answer
HI Steven,

I know how you feel, it's always impossible to tell how things will work out until you try them. However I'd like to offer some encouragement about adopting the pair of kittens. Sometimes with all the kitten energy, the constant desire to play can be a bit much for an older cat (I assume your female is 19?). Having a pair of kittens means they will be able to play with and wrestle with eachother while she gets some nice sleep. In my experience, adopting 2 kittens often works out better for an older cat because they aren't the only companion, in constant demand for playing!

Introducing the new kittens may still be a bit of s tep for your older cat even though she will be better off with the companionship since she was used to having her brother around. Introduce the kittens gradually, and try to provide a few retreats for your older cat to get away from the kittens when they are too much - a cat tree low enough for her to get up on, a bed on top of a piece of furniture, somewhere high yet accessible (I don't know how agile she is at her age).

Here is an article on introducing new cats (or kittens) to a resident pet. It's a good idea to first allow your olde rcat to meet the kittens while they are inside a cat carrier or similar arrnagement so she can smell them and get used to them without feeling overwhelmed. Of course be sure to give her plenty of extra attention so she knows she is still the center of the universe :)

http://catnet.stanford.edu/articles/introducing_cats.html

Good luck!