Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I'm traveling to the states for over a month soon and Thomas is going with me for the first two weeks. Last time we traveled, Tiffany was alive and Milton had at least another kitty around the house (albeit a grumpy, old one). Now he's alone and I'm worried he'll be terribly lonely for two weeks with only a daily visit from a friend for food and water. We're adopting another cat when I get back, because he needs a friend to play with. We can't seem to play with him enough and when he gets bored he goes into tear-shit-up mode. He's extremely social and friendly and loves playing and snuggling.

So, a friend of ours offered to keep Milton at her place. She has two cats - sisters - a little older than Milton. I like the idea, because Milton will have people he can play with and snuggle with and hopefully the other kitties will take a liking to him.

My question is, which is better? I know Miton will be fine - he doesn't stress about going new places and is friendly to everything "new," but I worry about Poppy and Rosie. Is the cruel to them? I housed them at my house once for a few weeks before we adopted and they spent two days under the couch, afraid to come out. Granted they were kittens and after a few days they were fine. I'm assuming since Milton is moving not their space for a while, it won't be so bad.

What do you guys think?

Worst case is probably that Poppy and Rosie don't like Milton, but he still has people to hang out with. Since he's invading their territory, if they are anything like cats I've had, they'll set the rules for Milton quickly. And maybe he'll wear them down and they'll decide to like him. I'd leave him with your friend, if it were me.

2 weeks seems like a long time to leave a kitten alone with only short visits. I'm sure he'd be fine, but it doesn't seem ideal.

I agree - take him to your friends. They will probably get along after a day or two or just ignore each other. If Poppy and Rosie are really stressed, Milton could always be confined to 1 room part of the day to give them a break.

I would only take him to your friend's if there's an easy and safe way to keep them separated if it is needed while still giving Milton the human interaction he needs. If the two females decided to gang up on him it could go very poorly very quickly. I would also only take him there if your friend has enough knowledge of feline body language to appropriately read stress signals.

Unfortunately people tend to play down the need to properly introduce cats, and their tendency to be extremely territorial makes it incredibly important. Some cats can be introduced easily and quickly, others can be very dangerous together if proper steps aren't taken.

Good point. They have a way to separate them if necessary and they will have keys to our place if they think it's not working out. That was my concern, but we'll see how it goes.

That was the other thing I forgot to ask, if there would be a way to try it for a couple of nights and send him back home if it really isn't working out. Hopefully everyone gets along well, though!