Hi folks
Looking for a bit of cat advice please.  I have a neutered mainecoon male who is 12 yrs old.  In good health and happy cat who still loves to play and generally loves life.  I'm not sure that he's a 'cat lover' tho.  We did have a girl cat when he arrived home many moons ago but she passed when he was only young still (maybe 3 yrs) and he got on great with her but he doesn't seem to want/need the company of other cats, namely a neighbours neutered male.  This poor cat seeks him out constantly just to sit about in the sun with him but our cat growls and snarls at him till he bogs off and will chase him off too if necessary.  Not sure if its a territory thing? They have had some crackin barneys too over the last couple of years with injuries on both sides.  Is this just because they are both males?  The neighbours cat seems to want to come in the cat flap at times which bothers the heck out of mine.  We lock it over the winter time anyway so it's not an issue at the minute but I just wonder why he seems to dislike other cats so much?  Do I have no chance of having another cat while he is around? I don't want to chase him out his home and want him to be happy so if we need to wait, so be it but I'd love another.  Jeez, I wish cats were as easy as dogs to read!!

I found the recent TV programmes about cats very interesting to watch, especially "Catwatch 2014". Without going into the old debate of indoors vs outdoors, the outdoor cats pretty much ALL had issues with other cats in the area, and it was claimed cats don't like company. They also showed a family with 4 cats, that the family believed got on well together but when filmed during the night it proved they were in fact not all that good friends. (Again these cats went out.) However, they then filmed a large number of feral cats on a farm, and found THEY got on great with each other and chose to stay close even though they had acres to roam about it, they reared kittens together etc, and it was somehow proven that the reason for this was that they were all related to each other, as cats can tell by scent if another cat is a relative. And relatives get on. That would explain why  those of us who are breeders can have large numbers (dozens even) that get on just fine -although I have to add, that cats also tend to settle into colour groups and indeed the cats at this farm, were all red or tortie. I see this all the time here. The torties will be cuddled up together, the blues and lilacs together, the blacks together, the Colourpoints together etc. I have one lilac male, now neutered, who spends ALL his time with his lilac son and blue daughter, but will have nothing at all to do with his black daughter. Fascinating really. :)

Now if we were talking about indoor cats, I would say that chances are very slim that a 12 year old cat would like company after all this time as he will have got used to being on his own. But if you really wanted a kitten to get TWO, as they then play with each other and will ignore the "boring oldie". But I have no idea how adding the outdoor element into things will work as I have zero experience of that.

Much appreciate your input.
He is an outdoor cat and spends a good deal of time snoozing under bushes and ontop of the sheds in the garden.  No idea why as the house is empty all day except me and the dogs and none of them would dare bother him, sleeping or not!lol  I'm too scared to add a kitten as I worry that he will just take himself elsewhere as he did when he realised the last pup was staying!lol  He came back with unashamed blackmail on my part and my neighbour who had 'adopted' him stopped feeding him.  Oh well, I'll just be a 1 cat family then....
The kitten I had my eye on was the same breed but a different colour and I would have had the choice of sexes(but prefer males) but like I say, if the old man wouldn't be happy, I really can't take the chance.  I'm scared to ask the breeder as I know she would have the kittens best interests at heart and I need someone unbiased or at least thinking of my old cat :)

I introduced two kittens into my house with a resident 20 yro cat.
Despite following the introduction protocol to the letter, it did not go well, but Polly had been a miserable sod all her life, and due to her age, by her choice, she lived in my bedroom 24/7 even before the kittens.
So although she never took to them, I worked round it until she popped her clogs 7 months later.
With previous cats, I've never had a problem introducing new cats to resident males, it's always been the females that have kicked up a stink.

Oh Celli!!lol  I couldn't do that to my boy :O I adore him and I love the breed and will get another but after cooling my heels, we are going to wait till he's gone.  I'd hate for him to feel pushed out his home by a newcomer.  He's such a sensitive soul and a mummys boy, I'm not sure he could cope with sharing me.  I'm just feeling broody at the minute and my lot are all older and sensible!lol  If I were sure he'd be OK with it, I would get another in a heartbeat but I'm not 100%.

I have 4 neutered unrelated male cats. They are all rescue cats and range in age from 2 to 4 years of age. Pete was here first and is my big gentle ginger boy. He is such a sweet cat and craved the company of another cat( though I suspect he sees himself as a dog!!). So I got Joey from the same rescue when Pete was 10 months old. Joey was 5 months old at the time and they just clicked. 6 months after that Jacob arrived. A big white deaf boy who spent 9 months at the rescue and who no one wanted as being deaf required an indoor home. He purrs like a machine:-) . And slotted right in with no problems. The last one to arrive was Ted, another white deaf boy. Initially Jacob hated Ted with a passion. Lots of hissing etc but no attacks. Pete loved him and Joey was indifferent. It took a week for Jacob to decide that Ted was ok. By in large they tend to all do their thing. They have their own favourite spots and all share a food bowl with no problems. No fights but sometimes when they are playing, it gets a bit too rough and they get into a strop if I tell them to stop. I have had to stop fostering kittens which I really enjoyed doing as I found it led to tension between my own cats. They were all grumpy (except Pete) when any kittens arrived though o would keep them apart. I would say your cat would probably prefer to be an only cat from my experience

Thanks Kate.
I've tried to understand cat behaviour but I find them as easy to read as horses!!lol  They seem to be the total opposite of dogs, which is so confusing.  I've got a cat behaviour book but my boy just confounds me and the book!  One minute, he's hissing and growling at the neighbours cat and the next, they are lying together in a sunbeam.  He's just a misunderstood boy :)
We are going to leave him an only child...well, as far as cats are concerned.  Couldn't really make my peace with buying a kitten either while so many need homes.  We'll wait a few years till we are cat-less and maybe rescue a couple at the same time this time :)

Goldmali, that is really fascinating that colours tend to flock together.... (learning new things all the time) fascinating. ;-) I can certainly agree that cat siblings and relatives do click together whereas those not related just tend to tolerate one another, they have their own territorial points in the house and grounds and very rarely sit together, they never play together, whereas siblings I've had do and they greet one another.

I agree with getting two kittens, if you do want another cracar........ having also had a Maine coon, they are pretty solitary cats anyway, the kitten will not become a friend or playmate, just a tolerance or even an intolerance. :-D Whereas, as already said two kittens will play together and be company for one another.

Just seen you are going to keep your M.C as a single cat....... for him that will work just great. :-)