Question
So my sister wants to adopt a little kitten that is roughly 3 weeks old. My fear is, our cat is somewhat of a murderer. He just kills for fun and not eating.
You may see him hunt a rat, slash the back, make the rat run, then slash the hind legs and make the rat run again, until he cuts off the rat's legs. He will then finish off by opening the skin of the rat, but you can actually see that the rat is still alive, but bloody.
Another example is a chick. He cut off the wings and one leg of the chick and watched the bird die, then walked away.
The cat kills anything that he can from rats to birds to lizards as big as 2 inches.
We took the murderous cat when he was a baby, and the only friend that he has is our 12 year old shitzu.
The cat is 4 years old now. I am thinking that the kitten might be mistaken as a rat and the cat might kill it. Or the cat might kill it because he might become jealous. But my sister insists on adopting the kitten even with my warnings. With this kind of cat in our house, should we adopt the kitten or not?
Answer
First, step back and read up on best ages for kittens to leave their mother. (The best age to adopt a kitten is around 10 weeks.)
At 3 weeks of age a kitten is completely helpless and will need help with every thing from keeping warm to drinking (it cannot eat yet) and relieving itself. Till 6 weeks you are just fostering a kitten, let the mother take care of the kitten, please. Weeks 6 to 12 are needed for socializing from the mother.
Your cat seems to have no problem with a (very) small dog. So I think you can introduce an other cat into the house.
Then becomes the question: how to introduce a new cat into your home? That can be done, but it will take time. Experiences vary, mine was about 2 months before my 2 cats could safely be in one room...
Good reads on this topic:
- How can I tell whether adopting a second cat is a good idea?
- Recommendations for introducing kittens to adult cats
- How should I react to two fighting cats?
Answered By - Flummox - don't be evil SE