I’m hoping that the good pet experts of the SDMB can help me out with my planned pet adoption.
I live in a spacious aprtment, and neither the landlord nor the roomies wil have a problem if I get a kitty. None of the furniture is worth anything, so scratching won’t be a problem. There’s just one thing: one of my roommates smokes pot.
A. Is this any more dangerous for a cat than it is for me (occasional second-hand pot smoke)?
B. Do animal shelters have rules against allowing people who smoke in their homes to adopt pets?
Each animal adoption center has their own adoption policies. You need to check with your local shelter.
FWIW, our local one has a screening process. It’s not just filling out forms and paying a fee. They do background checks to see if you are a potential suitable pet owner, visit the premises before an adoption, and do followup visits after an adoption. My take on that is a potential household with a smoker (legal or otherwise) would not pass the screening process.
More importantly, the second-hand smoke (legal or otherwise) is a health hazard for your pet as well.
IMHO, dump your roomie, fumigate your place and adopt two kitties. You will have a healthier and more fun life.
Without rendering judgement on pot-smoking, or knowing whether it’s bad for the cat, I will just add that adopting from a shelter is not the only option. People are giving away kittens all the time. Check the newspaper.
Your pot-smoking roommate would probably object to the kitty after a while anyway. It’s a little known fact that cats have not only the desire to get high, but are quite adept at using a bong (they use their tail to cover the carb hole and their pointy faces conform to even the largest bong opening forming an excellent seal).
You will know if your cat has been smoking if it exhibits a large apetite, especially for pasta & sweets, and if it sleeps a lot.
Wow! Then my cats must be sneaking off somewhere to smoke their pot behind my back!
Because they certainly exhibit a large appetite (for anything, not just pasta & sweets) and they also sleep a lot. Plus go into wild frenzys in the middle of the night where they run around noisely, mess up throw rugs, knock tablecloths off tables, etc.
Does the animal pound have a drug squad I can notify?
I can categorically say that the two cats I have lived with in recent years do not mind pot smoke. The first cat belonged to my former roommate. She would leave the room if anyone blew smoke in her general direction, but its not as though we hotboxed the entire house or anything, so there were plenty of rooms for her to go into if she wanted to avoid the smoke. My own cat will actually come into a room when pot is being smoked and try and climb into people’s laps, also will move directly into puffs of smoke. Heh.
I imagine that unless the roommate is holding the cat down and blowing smoke into it’s face, the pot smoke will not affect the cat in any way at all differently than it does you, and if it’s bothered it will just move away from the smoke.
About the shelter thing, I wouldn’t advertise that you have a pot-smoking roommate for general reasons (ie your roommate may not appreciate you telling other people that they are a recreational drug user), and just stash the bong when (if) they want to do a home-check. Plus, as someone else said, there are usually plenty of free kitties available in your local newspaper who may very well be healthier and cleaner than shelter kitties. URIs, ringworm, and other general funk sometimes runs rampant at shelters due to the nature of many of the animals brought in and the crowded conditions.
