I think I have convinced my boyfriend to let me have a kitten - we have a beautiful cat already who is a house cat because she is too scared to go outdoors since she was abused as a kitten (not by us obviously - she came from the shelter)... she is very happy and content, not at all nervous of new people and is very tame and friendly...

We have now found out about a kitten needing a home who is deaf and therefore also needs to be a house cat and boyf has said if I do the washing up for a week I can have it...BUT we are very worried how tabby will react and need to think this through properly...

Does anyone have any advice or guidance?

Pick a time when you are at home - time off work for a few days to make it a very long weekend. Your old cat needs to see you around with the new kitty so they suss out nothing too much has changed and they are still top cat in your eyes. Even if you have a new love!

Might have to do feeding separate and sleeping. If your old cat likes a certain bed or window sill then encourage the new one to go else where.

It can take months for the old ones to adjust but it can be done easily. If they hate each other they tend to avoid each other. But if they become best mates then it will be adorable.

Sound advice there... Do you think the fact new kitty is deaf will help or hinder? :confused:

Guess it won't be scared of the vacuum cleaner...

Not sure. My mate had a deaf kitten once and it did get spooked and would dig its claws into you until they disappeared and it was utter agony removing them!

But it lived happily with their dog and cat until it got out one day... and a car came along and ... well it was tragic. So don't let it escape.

Years ago I bought a tabby kitten, then when she was a few months old someone I knew had a cat which had some white kittens. Unable to resist I brought one home. After a bit of hissing and growling the two would lay and play together. Then the white one had kittens of her own. Two of them turned out to be deaf so my mum had one and I kept the other. Therefore we now had three cats. After keeping the third (deaf) cat, the two original ones 'fell' out and the mother of the kitten seemed to begrudge her being around, so for the rest of their lives they hated each other - all three. They never fought, but would occasionally lash out with the claws if one was getting too close for comfort. Having said that they were all gorgeous cats, with their own individuality and I had them all many years, the last one (which was the first one I bought) died last year at 18 years old.
So I don't know if it was the deaf cat which made the other two strange, but I wouldn't let it put you off keeping the deaf one. Yours may be a completely different story.
Good luck.

Your chances of success depend really on whether Tabby's likely to be a bit of a bully. She's more likely to accept a kitten, but some cats just can't be persuaded to accept any other cat I'm afraid.

In terms of taking a deaf kitten, you do have to remember that there are significant issues with deaf cats. Not just the bit about keeping them indoors, but also the fact that they are invariaby either the noisiest cats you will ever have met, or totally silent- and either way round they are a sitting duck for another cat sneaking up behind them, whether to play or to attack.

If you're going to try it (and please understand that this could go wrong- but you won't really know for a few weeks whether they're really going to get on anyway) then you need to be able to be home for a few days and do it sensitively. Bring the kitten in to a separate room to Tabby. Cuddle the kitten and scent mark your hands then go in to Tabby and let her smell your hands and cuddle her, so covering her in kitten smell and at the same time scent mark your hands with Tabby smell, then go back and wipe Tabby smell on the kitten. With a bit of luck, a few hours/a day or two of this and they will both be anxious to meet each other, so gradually let them find each other, and be on hand to break up any ill will.

Whatever you do, you'll need to provide them with at least 2 litter trays so they can choose not to share trays if they wish, and the same with food and water bowls, allowing plenty of space between them at meal times.

The main thing is that a house is plenty big enough for 2 cats who don't really get on, provided that there are spaces that they can get into to avoid each other (and provided that they don't want to rip each other limb from limb, which is quite unlikely, especially of they're both neutered), so have a positive outlook on this.

I have my own little colony of 4 cats, and although it takes a few weeks for a new cat to settle in, and there are a few little niggles every now and then, they seem to get on most of the time (and I've had 8 over time, so they're obviously OK with making friends, or tolerating each other at least).

Whichever decision you make, feel good that you're doing it for the right reasons (and having 2 indoor cats is easier than one who can go out and one who can't). Good luck on making the right decision for both you and the cats.

Medusa thank you so much for taking the time to write that reponse for me - it's really helpful... Boyf is finding out if the kitten is still homeless today so fingers crossed.... If it has gone we will be off to the shelter next sat to find another little kitty that is in need of a home....