In my experience I would recommend a kitten.

My 14 year old recently passed away leaving the 13 YO Worf alone, although
the 2 never got on as Q was a stroppy git anyway. I adopted an 8 year old
female from a rescue who, after 2 days, beat the living daylights out of
poor Worf. I shut her in another room for 2 weeks and allowed sniffs through
the door etc but even then when I carried her out she would strain to escape
from my arms to get to Worf. In the end I re-homed her.

I recently got 2 kitties. Initially Worf was scared of them and kept out of
their way but slowly all 3 have become friends and sleep together, the only
whinge comes when one of them kits decides to try and eat his tail.

I think it's a GREAT idea, particularly if your place is big enough that
each cat will have a place to withdraw to, their own separate, safe
territory. I'd have two boxes and feed them at opposite ends of the house,
too.

I love adopting adult cats, you have less to deal with than with kittens.
The secret is to adopt one from a shelter that has been there a while--
several months at least. Why? Because this generally means that they
are accustomed to other cats and have had the time to get in the habit
of going in the box and having human contact. My shelter takes
extra measures to socialize the cats, so many of them are very
affectionate pets. Also, the shelter director/staff can tell you
about the personalities of cats that have been there for a while.
It soon becomes apparent who is more sociable and who
would do better as an only cat, for example.

I wouldn't try to bring a new cat into the household with a 16 year old
cat. When Nickleby hit 15 or so I really became concerned about keeping his
life as stress-free as possible -- getting a new cat is a huge adjustment
and even though it could work out over time, I just wouldn't want to stress
a 16 year old that much. But I'm sure other people have other opinions.
Good luck with whatever you decide.

--Catherine
& Rosalie the calicohead

Hi Bluesman,
I'm sorry about your mom:((
If this were me I'd would not get another cat. Cats spend about 70%
of their time and it sounds like she has adjusted to living with you.
She is old and might not appreciate another cat in the house.
Alison

You know Fatass' personality best, and  you can pick a shelter kitty
with a complimentary personality. Talk to the folks at the shelter. As
a former cat socializer, you learn a lot about a cat's personality
when you work with him/her than just looking at him/her in the cage.
They should be able to help you find a good match.

I wouldn't worry about her age being a factor. My parent's cat,
Berries, is 17.5 and has been through many animal changes (dogs
mostly). My parents got a puppy a few months ago, and it didn't phase
her despite her "senior citizen" age. You just never know.

Rene

Bluesman <hotblues20@netscape.net> wrote in
rec.pets.cats.health+behav:

My neighbor suggested I get another cat now before Kami passes away so
it will be easier, but given she is just past 16 1/2 I have a hard time
thinking that will ever succeed, especially since there have been
honest-to-goodness hissyfits from her every time I try to intorduce her
to his cat either on my turf or his.  His cat tries to be cordial, but
Kami will have none of it.

Good luck to you!

I vote for older cat. I got a kitten thinking that he would be less of
a threat toward my surviving elder cat. Sure, all he wanted to do was
play and all Nico wanted to do was lie around. I think he ended up
killing Nico. Besides, everyone does want kittens and it leaves all
the older cats behind. Take one.

Some cats are really better off being only cats, and I think this
becomes more true as they get older and get more sedentary.  However,
if you really think he'd like a pal, I agree with the folks who say go
for an older cat.  While an older cat will have their personality set,
at least they will be out of that play-till-you-drop phase of kitten
life.  We just went through this ourselves.  We lost the best pal of
one of our older cats, and she was really mourning.  After about three
months I thought she'd be happy with a new buddy to play with, so we
got a kitten.  Well....let's just say that the kitten has *way* more
energy then our two seniors, and it's been very hard to keep him from
terrorizing them.  He just wants to play--he's not being mean or
anything--but they just want to sleep, so they do not appreciate his
attentions.

We ended up with a rescue kitten to keep our now one year old puss
busy, and that is working out great, thankfully.  If you get an older
cat and your original cat never warms up to it, at least thay can
respectfully avoid each other.  A kitten will have no such manners,
believe me!

dragon

I won't adopt another cat for precisely the same reason.  My two oldest are
18 and 13.

Your cat has gone through major changes, already.  I wouldn't add to the
stress.

Phil

Here's my 2 cents on the subject.  I had two cats that were 8 years apart in
age.  They never really got along.  When the older one died, Scooter, who
was then about 12, became the only cat.  Scooter has always been quite
needy, very territorial, and a sprayer.  I was advised by an animal
behaviorist that Scooter would be better off being the only cat.  But I was
torn to get another cat.  I posted messages to newsgroups where I was
advised not to get another cat or if I did, get 2 kittens so that they would
leave Scooter alone.  Did I listen to this?  Well, I held out for about a
year and a half, but then agreed to adopt a kitten.  I thought about getting
2 but I worried that I would then have 2 kittens beating up on Scooter and
if it didn't work out, I would be forced to find homes for 2 kittens.  So I
adopted the one kitten.  Introduced them slowly.  Scooter was not pleased,
especially since the kitten did want to play with him and Scooter wanted no
part of it.  It's been over a year now and while they aren't best buds, they
do get along....alot better than I ever thought.  They play fight together
and things do get out of hand sometimes, but at that point I just break up
the fighting.  It helps that I have a large home with lots of room so that
they can find their own space when needed.

So I guess I would try it....if Fatass will tolerate an older cat, I say go
for the older one.  You may be pleasantly surprised.

S.