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Question for multiple cat owners

B

BatmanNate

Lifer
Say you have a 3-4 year old female housecat and you acquire a 5 month old male kitten. Can they use the same litter box, food bowl, and water bowl, or do they need their own?
 
The little one may need a lower entry box for a while. As long as they get on fine, there's no reason they can't share. I have a brother sister pair who share.
 
Originally posted by: BatmanNate
Say you have a 3-4 year old female housecat and you acquire a 5 month old male kitten. Can they use the same litter box, food bowl, and water bowl, or do they need their own?
Click to expand...

They can use the same...probably add another litter box though.
 
I've had 2 males sharing 1 litterbox w/out a problem. We now have 2 males & 1 female sharing 2 litterboxes w/out a problem.

Just make sure you keep the boxes reasonably clean.

My wife had a cat that didn't like how clean it's box was, so it started peeing in the stove top burners. :Q


posted via Palm Life Drive
 
Best way to get them acclimated to each other is bring the kitten home and put him in just one room and let him explore. This will also get his scent around that room. THen put him in a different room and put the older one in the room the kitten was in. That way he can get to know the scent of the new one.

Then eventually just let them wander until they come across each other. But be there in case one decides he wants to be aggressive.

But once they get along, they can use the same water and litter box. You miht want to investigate the food they have that is specifically for kittens as it may have different amounts of nutritional things in it.... But it probably won't make a whol elot of difference.

You should definitely have at least 2 litter boxes. Normally they say one litter box per cat plus one. But I just have one per cat.
 
I have a 1.5 yr old female cat and a 2.5 mo old male kitten.

We kept them separate for a month to make sure he didn't give her anything (although they both ended up with a cold anyways). We gave him a separate, lower litter box for that month, then we couldn't keep him out of hers. Same with the food, they will eat their own, then move over to the other's after a few minutes. 🙂
 
We have four cats, and they sare their water fountain and litter box, but they have their own food bowls. Unless we go out of town for a few days, then they all share the big food thingy...
 
We have a 2 year old female cat and a 1 year old male cat. We have two litter boxes and separate food and water bowls, although the cats seem to use each other's interchangeably.
 
i have 9 cats at the moment.

i have five extra large kitty litters and one huge dog bowl for water and another for dried food (full all day long). they have separate food dishes once a day when i give them cans/packets... but besides that.. they share everything. i would not worry about the litter bowl, but i would use a separate food bowl at first when the new one comes.

how are they together? Do they get along? there is a way to introduce them without stress, but if they are already getting along, i wont go thru posting it here.

edit: 🙂 thanks Nik!
 
My vet, whom I have been going to since 1990 told me, each cat should have it's own litter box. Two cats can probably share one. Two boxes would make it easy to clean, won't get so full, up to you really.
 
If at all possible try to have 1 box for each. You don't want to do anything to trigger the males territorial instincts because that can lead to spraying. We have 10 cats and try to have a litter box available for each of them. They do share but for the ones that prefer not to there is always a box available.
 
Thanks for all the input, guys! So far the two are stalking around sniffing where the other one has been previously. There have been a few growls here and there, but no animosity beyond that. I'm hoping this is a good sign, since the female before would go into hysterics when introduced to the other 18 year old female where I used to live. Pics to come!
 
Originally posted by: FrankyJunior
Best way to get them acclimated to each other is bring the kitten home and put him in just one room and let him explore. This will also get his scent around that room. THen put him in a different room and put the older one in the room the kitten was in. That way he can get to know the scent of the new one.

Then eventually just let them wander until they come across each other. But be there in case one decides he wants to be aggressive.

But once they get along, they can use the same water and litter box. You miht want to investigate the food they have that is specifically for kittens as it may have different amounts of nutritional things in it.... But it probably won't make a whol elot of difference.

You should definitely have at least 2 litter boxes. Normally they say one litter box per cat plus one. But I just have one per cat.
Click to expand...

I would also add in a period where the cats can smell each other through the door. Be sure to place their food / water close to the doors so that they will have "positive" associations with the other cat.

I believe cats rely on smell, so it's important to have them go through this if you're having issues with direct contact.
 
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