I have a 5 month old neutered male and am getting a 2 year old female this Friday. Is this a good idea? I have never had 2 cats before, had one for 18 years!!! Will they use the same litterbox? If so, do I need a REALLY big one? I do have a large one.

Hi and welcome

It is recommended that you have at least one litter box per cat and one extra. I have two bengals and three litter boxes. Jagger in particular does not like sharing his litter box! On the other hand, a litter box is a litter box to Hendrix and he doesn't care about sharing them at all! It all depends on the Bengal but you should definitely have at least one more litter box - and again, as large as possible! Sometimes they like one litter box for poop and one for pee.

The other thing to bear in mind is the female might be used to a different litter to what you use and you will need to keep to what she is using at the moment initially and then gradually change over so she doesn't get confused.

I hope it all goes well!!

_________________
Clare
Hendrix and Jagger, Brown Marble Boys (born 18 August 2013)
Hampshire, UK

Definitely:

( number of cats ) + 1

as a minimum, so 3 litter boxes in your case.

I would try and find out what the girl is using at the moment and put that litter in at least one of the new boxes, actually both new boxes would be better.


Now that the poop question is dealt with, welcome to the forum and good luck with your new girl. Having 2 cats together is far more than twice the fun and mischief than having one - you'll see a whole lot of cat-to-cat communication and play that you've never seen before.

It might be a bit bumpy to start off with, but take it easy - it'll be worthwhile in the end.

Welcome to the forum! You'll need to properly introduce the two of them. I'd start with putting the new baby in a "safe" room to start the acclimation to your new environment (put litter box, food, water and a cat bed). This is not a kitten coming from a breeder and mom and siblings. This is an adult cat who has known at least one other home for her life. It is possible for two cats to co-exist together without problems, but ... a male bengal is pretty territorial and your male has had the entire house to himself for a couple of months. His scent is all over the place. A new cat will smell that and it can wreak havoc or it can be okay. At least for the first couple of days, keep them separated and start swapping out scents (rub towels or blankets over them and swap the scent out with the other cat. I'm sure both cats will be curious about the other. You can try and feed them in the same general area, or get toys and try to play with both of them using the toys as a distraction. Hopefully, you have at least one tall cat tree as bengals LOVE to be high up in the air. Know that there may be hissing and growling when these two first meet, which is fine. If there is aggressive fighting, separate them. And never leave them alone together until you are confident they have become the best of friends.

Litter boxes -- you MUST have at least two, preferably three, and the others are correct about the type of litter. The worst thing is when a new cat will not use a litter box and pees and poops elsewhere. This little lady will be stressed out enough just coming to your home, so make her as comfortable and confident as you can. Keep us informed on how this goes. Congratulations.

Well, we only have one (the biggest we could find) litter box, a lidded type but with the flap door removed for now

They share ok, in fact when one has been it seems to make the other go!

Only issue has been treading in the others poo - with a rather nasty looking footprint or two to clean up

They are litter siblings so I suppose never known anything different, each situation is different. I hope they continue to share as a second litter tray wouldn't really fit in our small utility room

Two cats can share a litter box but it has to be kept spotless. All it takes is one to head in there and decide there isn't enough space for them and start going elsewhere and begin a behavioral issue that takes a while to cure. I have one bengal and one litter box in the utility room. There is another hooded box in Raiden's enclosure and he uses both of them. Many people have become inventive and found a way to add a second litter box in disguise. I'm sure there are a ton of images online of them. Just know that what works now, may not work once the boys are grown adults.

I have two sisters and two litter boxes side by side. One is hooded and the other is open. Both are the largest available. One has clay, the other has clumping wood dust litter. They prefer the clay to poo but they will switch it up. They stick to using the litter boxes when they need to go, but I try to keep them very clean so they are not turned off. Also I use the litter genie. It is a great invention and keeps odors to a minimum in the house.

I recently added a 6 month old snow mink, Star to our household. Diablo, the reigning King Bengal, 4 years old, accepted her real fast. I already had a large covered litter box, and do not have much space either. So, I discovered a corner litter box! It is covered and fist nicely into any corner. I bought it from a well-known store here in Montreal, Quebec, called "Mondou". I am sure you could find something similar if you Googled it.

I sift twice/day. I never knew kitties could go so much!

I've seen the corner litter boxes being sold in the US. I got my latest box from Chewy.com.

I wonder....I used to have persian and himalayan kitties....they never used the box as much as these too..lol...

I have had a Mainecoon mix, Himalayan, Siamese, and a couple strays that I have no clue what they were! This cat does way more than 2 of those combined!

I know that I can check Raiden's litter box before I go to bed and get everything out of it. In the morning, he's peed at least three times in there -- if not a poop! He only poops once a day, but he will pee in there several times -- AND he is constantly peeing and marking when we are on our walk. He doesn't drink a whole lot of water, so I don't know where it is coming from. He's just a pee-making machine, I guess.

Well, forget what I said above regarding two sharing. Yes they share but there's a risk in that!

We now have a couple of litter trays, one open and one covered. Don't care about the loss of floor space, just don't want them to tread in each other's poo!!!

I realised they're only going to get bigger and when fully grown need adequate facilities for 'team toilet time' ... when one has been it seems compulsory for his brother to follow suit almost immediately!

Glad you came to your senses, Fen! LOL