From: mlb@CISCO.COM (Marcia Bednarcyk)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Re: Should I get a second kitten?
Date: 15 Sep 92 00:42:45 GMT

In article <1992Sep8.155754.17096@gateway.novell.com>, lyndap@Novell.COM (Lynda Peterson) writes:
|> Is it everyone's opinion that two cats are better than one? Is it every  
|> cats opinion that two are better than one?

Being yet another person who was going to post the same question, I probably
should post my own answer....I had a second cat find me :-).

Oliver was an only cat, a little over a year old, and I found that since I
work about 10 hours a day and run errands on the weekends, he was getting
very lonely. He was also geting "whiny", demandingto stay on my lap, nipping
my ankles and elbows for attention, etc. I like the fact that he's very 
affectionate towards me, but simply couldn't give him the time he was
demanding. So even though I have a 1 bedroom apartment, I figured it was 
time to start looking for a friend for him.

I knew this cat would have to be special, since Oliver has a very strong 
personality. I wanted a female, somewhere between 4-6 months (so she'd be 
big enough to play), preferably in some other colors besides black and white
(because Oliver is black and white), and have a personality that would 
stand up to Oliver's. So I went out looking the weekend before last, seeing
a number of adorable kittens on Saturday and Sunday, but none that looked
into my eyes and said "I'm yours". (Oliver did this...that's kind of how I
ended up with him. :-)

Sunday night at 12:30 I hear this gawdawful yowling outside my patio door.
It's a small tortoiseshell kitty, looking hungry, and purring like a washing
machine when she saw me. I checked her over to make sure she wasn't hurt, and
figuring she was someone's cat, shooed her on her way home. She didn't show
up Monday, but as I was getting ready for work Tuesday Morning....yowl, yowl,
yowl. I shooed her away again, and decided that maybe fate was intervening...

Wednesday morning, 6am. Outside my bedroom window. This time I was smart
and put a flea collar on her with a message that if this is your cat, please
call my number. She hung around even after that indignity, until I shooed
her away again, hoping her owners would call and I could get some sleep again.

The groundskeepers at the apt. finally called, since she'd been around a bit
longer than I'd thought, and they were going to take her down to the ASPCA.
I finally got the message, and took her in...giving her a flea bath right 
off ;-).

Oliver, of course, was confused. I figured with a second cat he was going to
either eat her a live or be a pushover. Well, he's a coward :-). Even though
he outweighs Sarabeth 3 to 1, she had him running...it also didn't hurt that
he didn't know he was a cat :-). His reaction to the whole thing was "Wow!
A toy that plays back with me!" They've been going through the "getting to
know you" stages, but have also touched noses and spent some quiet time
together.

Oliver has been the happiest I've seen him in a long time since Sara came.
He's bouncy and alert and no longer so whiny...and amazingly, he's still very
affectionate with me. Sara's starting to be affectionate, purring loudly and
showing me where she wants to be scratched.

So I don't know if another cat is the answer for you, but it certainly seems
to be working out for us. Of course, it helped that she adopted Oliver and me
rather than the other way around :-).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marcia Bednarcyk                                        ADDRESS: mlb@cisco.com
"Sweaty Snugglebunnies."
"... the meaning of life is to be happy, try not to hurt people, and hope
you fall in love."