Should we or shouldn’t we? That is the question.

It seems Survivorman wants another cat, a little brother or sister for Boo. It’s not that he’s bored with Boo, by any means. He just thinks the poor guy gets bored all day roaming around the apartment by himself. And when I say roam, I mean sleep.

I have to admit, the thought has crossed my mind. I do feel bad every morning when I leave the house. I give Boo his treats, give him a rub on the head and tell him to have a good day. And, very dog like, he looks at me as if to say, “Sure, I’ll have a good day, here, by myself, in this heat, with no one to talk to or play with all day. Don’t worry about me.”

I thought cats weren’t supposed to care if you lived or died, as long as you fed them! Boo is not like that, at all. He makes me feel bad about leaving (among other things), the way my poor old puppy used to. So yes, when Survivorman suggested we get him a friend, I didn’t say no — right away.

I’m not opposed to the idea outright. I just want to wait until we have a house to call our own, a place with more room so that if Boo and his new ‘brother’ need some time (and space) apart from each other, they will have it.

I’m also concerned about rejection. What if Boo doesn’t like the new cat? You can’t send him back once you bring him home. That would be wrong.

It’s not that I expect Boo to be mean to a new cat. It’s people he has a problem with. But there are no guarantees of course, and as I said, you can’t send it back once you take it home.

Boo has previous experience sharing his home with a strangercat. My niece Laura, while attending Dalhousie, used to bring her cat Roxy over for visits, and even sleepovers, and Roxy lived to tell the tale. It was sketchy at first, mind you. Roxy was much smaller than Boo (who isn’t?), and a tad timid, choosing to stay safely tucked into her kennel for the first hour or so of the first visit. She eventually ventured out, got smacked back in by Boo a few times before finally asserting herself and standing up to him. By morning’s end, they were fast friends. Boo chased her and pounced on her and scruffed her around all day long. And she kept coming back for more. Boo and I were equally sad when Laura moved back home to Ontario, for different reasons, obviously.

Ever since then, I have thought about getting Boo a friend. I just haven’t followed through.

Survivorman however, has done more than think about it. He’s already told Boo it’s going to happen.

“I had a talk with Boo,” he told me the other night, “about what’s going to happen when we move. I promised him a brother.”

Really? You had a ‘talk’ with the cat. You promised him a brother?

And people wonder why I drink.

Reality check I had the pleasure of attending a barbecue at a cousin’s house this week, a cousin who happens to have two cats. The second cat wasn’t ‘planned.’ It was a stray their daughter just had to keep. It’s a cute cat to be sure, a shiny black and white number that seems to have a very pleasant personality — unless, of course, you are the cat who called the house your home long before the new one arrived on the scene. In that case, the new cat is not cute, she’s nothing more than an

interloper.

By all accounts, they hate each other. If one comes in, the other goes out, and vice versa. Again, what can you do? You can’t send one away.

That’s a situation I want to avoid, completely. The ever-

optimistic Survivorman however, promises me everything will be fine. Boo and the new cat will be the best of friends. We’ll see.

Mind you, the way the house hunt is going, that’s a problem I won’t need to worry about for a long time to come.

What do you think? Is a brother or sister for Boo a good idea? Is he too old (five years) to adjust to a new friend? Log on to www.TheChronicleHerald.ca/Homes and share your thoughts.