Hello - in a thread a few months ago, I asked about choosing a pet for my soon-to-be 8 year old son. After thinking about this a lot - and saving his allowance money from chores - he is thinking a cat would be the way to go, which is great. I grew up in a cat family and love having them around and can help care for it.
We are looking at an adult cat, to avoid the “terrible kitten” part of the program. We are also looking at adopting from a local SPCA or pound.
Any specific guidance or coaching?
any specific way to pick where to go?
should I go at least one time by myself, without my son, so I can check the place out without him getting stuck on a specific cat?
will it be hard for him to see hundreds of cats in cages? Any tips on how to prepare him?
picking a cat - any tips for how to pick a cat in an SPCA situation so we can tell that it will be good with kids, willing to be held/loved (not too much!), and will be good indoors? We are looking at either an exclusively indoor cat, or maybe indoor/outdoor - not sure.
what else should we know when thinking about taking this approach?
We were adopted by two kittens from the local shelter. Go check it out first, then bring your son. Look around for a rescue shelter…there will probably be several in your area. Tell your son what the area looks like, and not to fixate on a cat quickly.
We were adopted by our girls when I sat on the floor in the kitten room and Havoc ran over and “attacked” me. Very playful and fearless, and not afraid at all of human touch. Her sister Pixel was the one that batted at my fingers and tried to eat my ear. In an adult cat, look for playfulness, comfort with contact, and general healthy appearance. After that, it is up to your son. Let him sit with a few of them and see which one decides that he is now her boy.
I agree with checking out the place first, and finding out the regulations for adoption and what is included - will the cat be up-to-date on shots, is spaying/neutering included, etc.
When looking at cats - look for the ones that come to the front of the kennel if they are in individual cages, not the ones who are hiding at the back. They are generally shyer and not as suitable for a young child.
As for the indoor/outdoor issue - you will get lots of opinions. IMO it really depends on where you live and the traffic. Indoor only cats will live much longer than cats that go outdoors - there is no risk from cars, dogs, other cats, people who don’t like cats, etc. It is also much easier to keep a cat flea free if it never goes outside. As for litterbox issues, the higher quality food you feed your cat, the less the litterbox will smell. Dry food only - plenty of fresh water - and save canned food for an occasional treat. Feeding “people food” will also result in a smellier litter box and possibly diarrhea, and it’s really not a good habit to get the cat into.
Thank you for considering a shelter kitty, and an adult. They are sometimes harder to place than the younger ones. I’m sure you will be repaid by years of love and purrs!!
Any chance of going to a no-kill shelter? I have this vision of your child knowing that a cat he doesn’t pick will be killed. That would have been really hard on me as a child–hell, it is hard to think about now. Local vets will sometimes have leads on cats who are available or even have cats in their office waiting to be adopted. That’s where we got our last kitten.
For those of you who have adopted cats from shelters, is there any truth to the rumor that black cats are harder to place in homes than other cats, due to people’s superstitions (even today, in 2005)? I’ve heard this from several sources, including a girl in vet school and a cat rescuer. I am personally very fond of black cats, and when I finally live in a place that allows me to own pets again, I can see adopting an older black cat, who might have the most difficult chance of being placed overall.
All great stuff. Thanks again. I will scout it in advance and learn their processes.
No idea regarding no-kill. I think I can handle the situation with my son once I have scouted the place out and told him what to expect.
And I agree - right behavior/personality wins over look any day - I have already stressed this to him (he’d love a ginger cat, as would I, but that is a secondary priority).
So I am hearing that I should expect a process where a small number of cats get selected and then either individually or as a group they are put in a room where my son and I can check them out?
This makes sense - we can see if they are people/kid friendly, etc. Also, the obvious basic health check. Any other tips on this process? It seems like a short time to make a big decision - what if that cat is on your lap in that room because they are scared, but when you get them home they end up more aloof? Just thinking things through…
Good for you for wanting to adopt an older cat from a shelter. Unfortunately, you can’t perfectly predict cat attitude from shelter behavior. My last adoption was an older cat who was very very shy. Since I don’t have kids, I wanted to go for a cat who was not very likely to get noticed. I picked him specifically because he was so scared and wouldn’t turn around to even acknowledge me. The shelter people cautioned me that he was very ‘aloof.’
That was two years ago and he has turned into the most social cat I have ever known. He talks a lot, demands petting from strangers, and is altogether charming. Even a little bossy. So I got something other than what I was expecting but it’s still good.
Fom what I can tell by observation of friends and my own cats, most cats end up a mix of the personality they probably had before they were adopted and the personality they’ve taken up as a result of living in your household.
If a cat is scared or skittish, it won’t go to a stranger for reassurance. The behavior you see there is pretty much what you can expect. (I’d be more concerned about ending up with a super-clingy animal, which can also happen – one of the reasons I like cats is that they mind their own business.)
You might check (perhaps through a Google search) whether there are any cat rescue organizations in your area that use foster homes. (www.spcanova.org and www.ffgw.org are two examples in northern Virginia, where I live.)
The advantage with such groups is that a fosterer has had a chance to observe a cat’s personality and habits, which are then posted on a Web site along with a photo, so you and your son can “shop” on-line for a specific type of cat (such as one that is good with children, prefers to be indoors, is better with or without other animals, etc.). If you’re interested in a specific cat, you contact the organization and then arrange to visit the cat at its foster home. In my experience, cats are usually much more “themselves” in such settings than in a cage at an animale shelter, pet store, or adoption fair.
–Chris
Occasional fosterer for the Feline Foundation of Greater Washington
When I adopted my cat from a shelter, I let them do a lot of the work for me. I told them that I wanted a male cat between three and seven years old, playful and social, non-breed (since those ones have more of a chance of getting adopted by cat fanciers and I just wanted a pet), dark or medium fur (so it wouldn’t get all over the dark furniture I have; sure it’s a little superficial but it’s nice to not have to worry about one thing). I did look around at the cages a little, but it’s hard to tell what a cat is like in a cage. Plus, this shelter (which I am pretty sure is associated with the ASPCA… it’s a kill shelter which I wanted because I wanted to save a cat) only allowed you to look at three animals a day in the play room, I guess to prevent window shoppers that would go in and look at cats all day without adopting them, so I thought I’d defer to the people who stay with these cats all day.
I wound up adopting the first cat they brought me, although I looked at others that day and the next one. So far, it’s worked out really great; Oxford (the cat) is just as playful in the house as he was in the room and there have been no unwanted surprises except that he got ear mites a week after moving in. If you ask them for help they might try to offload problem animals on you (for instance, the second cat they brought was a pure white female cat who hid under the cabinet and wouldn’t come out, which is kind of the exact opposite of what I wanted), but you might just find a worker who listens to what you want and can match you up with just the right cat. Good luck!
When I got Oxford, they asked me to sign a paper saying I’d keep him indoors. They said that they wanted to encourage people to keep cats indoors and that they strongly suggested adopting a cat that was already indoor/outdoor if you insisted on going that route (some of the cats had notes on their charts saying they were I/O). I was planning on keeping him indoors anyway, but I thought that was a little weird.
It was true in the shelter I worked in. Although we didn’t adopt out black cats the last two weeks in October under recommendation from Animal Control. (sickos, ya know.)
Mmm, can’t say that I do know. Something about that belief doesn’t pass my smell test. Are these the same sickos that put razor blades in apples? Or the ones who beat their wives on Superbowl Sunday?
Getting back to cats, males cats are generally more social and more tolerant of rough play than females. I’d suggest looking for a large male as a child’s first pet.
As for food, I saw “dry food only” mentioned above. My vet said to us recently that ours should be on a wet food only diet, as dry food can lead to insulin resistance. There have been studies recently, apparently.
Just before Halloween, I heard a local Humane Society spokesperson say on the radio that they no longer had that policy, due to the overwhelming lack of evidence that any such problem actually exists. Their stance is that it’s an urban myth, which I think Long Time First Time was alluding to.
I can confirm. When we got adopted, they reccomended a mixed diet. So the girls self-feed on dry, and get wet food as a regular dinner treat (every third day or so).
