Should I get littermates?



Member Since
Purred: Sun Nov 24, '13 9:17pm PST 
Hello all. I am new to cat forums, but I had a question I would love to hear answers about. I am planning on getting a kitten. I spoke with a lady who has 3 boys available. At first I was planning on only getting one, but then I thought two is better so they have a buddy when I am not home etc. Then I saw a picture of all three boys together, and my heart was saying take all three! Financially I am capable of caring for them, Im worried 3 kittens will just be a handful. My household consists of two dogs and three adults including myself. Ive only ever had two cats at once. How much harder is a third kitten going to be? Is my heart out of its mind?! Lol. Thank you for any information and advice you give.


Monster of- Mayhem
Purred: Wed Nov 27, '13 12:02pm PST 
Three kittens can definitely be a handful. I fostered three littermates (and kept 2 of them), but because they are littermates, they will occupy each other with very little assistance from the rest of you. The two that I kept often curl up together and sleep or take turns grooming each other. Assuming they get along well, I'd say go for it.

QGM- Harlequin- (Striped- Seven)

I am a show- champion!
Purred: Thu Nov 28, '13 9:46pm PST 
Yeah if you can handle three I would say go for it!
Kittens do much better with a playmate, so it's always better to get a pair. In fact some shelters I know will only adopt out kittens in pairs unless the person already has another young playful cat at home.
I have 4 littermates, three are boys and they are awesome. They weren't really a lot more trouble having 4 of them, just more litterboxes to clean. Well, the vet bills can add up-- unfortunately mine seem to have a genetic allergy problem so they all end up needing a lot of vet care.
When they were babies I rescued the feral litter and there were 7 of them! I was only able to find a home for one of them at first, so I had 6 of them until they were about 6-8 months old and then two others found homes and I ended up keeping the other 4.
When they were kittens they were so great together, they used to sleep in a big pile (in fact if you look at my Pet Page (go to my Photobook) you can see some photos of that!) They kept each other company and played together.
Now that they are adults they don't play or sleep together so much but they will still sometimes snuggle two together, groom each other, or play chase.

Edited by author Thu Nov 28, '13 9:48pm PST


Member Since
Purred: Sun Dec 1, '13 7:36am PST 
Thank you all! I decided to only get 2 of them. They are doing great!