Oh yeah my first experience with cats was this homeless kitty that would hang around our house, and we started giving her food and she just stuck around. Eventually my mom let her come in for a little bit at a time and she really enjoyed it (the theory was that she was an indoor cat before but someone just left her when they moved). It was Oregon, too, there weren't as many mosquitoes or dangerous bugs there like where we live now.
We only intended on having Mulder at first to be honest. Despite growing up with cats we had only really had experience with multiple cats at once and didn't realize that you really need to have a couple for them to socialize with. Also I think my wife was kind of jealous - she wasn't working after we moved and she spent all day with him but he still just wanted to always spend his time with me lol.
And yeah he was just uncontrollable, he would just "raid" our bed non-stop all night - charge it, jump on it, scratch at our feet and hands/arms and run away. That's when we started doing more research and realized cats generally need furry friends.
I've heard the same thing about older cats having less luck. I think it's not just their size but also the fact that their personalities are a little more set, whereas with kittens I think you have more opportunities to train them and stuff.
Speaking of which my wife finally took her turn sleeping with little Desi last night and apparently she just slept on my pants still, didn't cuddle with her like she did with me :( I hope she grows up feeling comfortable with us both.
From your experience, would you recommend getting two kittens or one kitten one older cat? I'm still not sure on pulling the trigger and actually *adopting* (versus the neighborhood cat interactions), but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to get three cats (two kittens and a senior).
I'm also enjoying your updates on Desi's socialization! When Mulder came in did he stare at her? Or just do his own thing?