I’m going to be in a position to adopt a kitty, FINALLY! In the next month or 2. I’d like to get some opinions from ye forumites regarding the pros and cons of adopting a kitten versus an older cat (probably 3 years old max). I would feel all altruistic if I saved an older cat (and not likely have to worry about litter accidents), but I’m worried about bonding with it.
Can anyone clue me in here? Did you find it a better experience to adopt a cat or a kitten? And just offhand, what kinds of things do you look for in a new kitty? Do you take any toys with you to test the feline out? I know that each cat has its own personality, but I would like one that at least appears to like me. Optimal snuggliness preferred.
I fell in love with my cat at first sight, which was a picture of her on the humane society’s website. She’s a gorgeous brown and white Snowshoe Siamese, with one huge blue eye.
Yeah, only one eye. The photograph didn’t show that. Since I was already in love, though, I didn’t care. When I adopted her, she was 3.5 years old.
I also sort of wanted a kitten for the “squee” factor and the ability to raise it “right” myself, but in the end, I think that this particular adult cat was a far better choice. I was working a lot of hours at the time, and wouldn’t have been able to spend the time a kitten needs, both for loving and for discipline. Pudding was already content to sleep when I was gone, and someone had trained her very well to stay off counters and tabletops, not play with things unless they were introduced to her as toys, always go in the box, and not beg for food.
The people at the shelter called her “abnormally sweet”. It isn’t a no-kill shelter, but they had kept her for almost seven months at that point, nursing her through a bad respiratory infection, eye ulcers, and the eye removal. The fact that they kept her so long and through so much speaks to what a great cat she is. When I first met her, she was pretty freaked out but not the least bit aggressive. After sniffing out the corners, she sought refuge in my lap. That was a good sign too.
She is a very, very good cat. My experience with adopting an adult cat was excellent.
I adopted Heidi, an adult cat, last year. She rocks. One of the sweetest, best-natured female cats I’ve ever known.
This spring, I adopted Tina and Leon, who were 6 week old littermates. They are both growing up to be terrific cats.
And to top it all off, all 3 of them get along very well. They all clean each other, play together, and sometimes I find all 3 of them sleeping in a lump on my bed or in my fav chair.
Bottom line: it’s hard to go wrong with either a cat or a kitten, as long as they have some attraction towards you.
ETA: Bonding with an older cat is about the same as with a kitten: let them pick the pace.
Multiple cats are not an option. I am renting a room in a home. The homeowner has a dog and says I can have one pet. If you want to discuss the wonders of owning 2+ cats in this thread, I guess that’s cool. But it’s outside the realm of possibility for me. Any more advice on that matter isn’t relevant.
I guess I should have mentioned in the OP that the homeowner has a labrador mix which is smaller than a pure lab, but still on the large side for a dog (although it is ok with cats, she says). I know that it’s possible to get an older cat which is known to be OK with dogs, but I wonder if it might not be better to get a kitten to acclimatize it into a multi-pet-species environment more gradually?
Thanks again, some good advice thus far. I love hearing stories about pets! My sister and her partner have adopted multiple cats with special needs of all ages over the years. And although I don’t think I’m quite ready to take that step, their actions have gotten me to thinking about maybe getting a not-kitten.
An older cat is more of a known quantity. Kittens can be spazzy, destructive, keep you up all hours, etc. With an adult cat you know what you’re getting, and that’s important in a living situation that has other animals in the mix.
I wouldn’t worry about bonding. You’ve got 15 or so years ahead of you. I adopted my cats when they were 2 and 3, and we bonded plenty.
When I adopted my first cat, I wanted an older one because they do not get adopted as easily as kittens. At the shelter I spotted a 2-yr-old cute orange tabby. She had been living on the streets, and she had a litter of kittens who were all adopted before her. The shelter told me she was very skittish around people. But when I started petting her, she really responded to my touch and seemed to like me. I felt like we had a connection, so I took her home. I’ve had her about six years, and she’s one of the sweetest cats I’ve ever known.
I think a lot of cat owners would tell you that cats often have a way of “choosing” you. The most important thing is to find one that you connect with. You can just as easily bond with an older cat as you can a kitten. Added bonus is that an older cat is not going to be nearly as much of a handful as a tiny kitten will be.
If you have to pick just one, somebody else is going to adopt the kitten. The older cat is gonna get the needle if you don’t get it. Plus, it’s already got its adult personality (not that that shows at the shelter) and it’s a lot calmer. I’ve adopted two adult cats and one older kitten - the kitten was fine, but there is no reason in the world not to get an older cat.
Al other things being equal, adopt the adult cat, for precisely the reasons that **Zsofia **pointed out. But I think the *best *thing to do is just to go to the shelter and take a look at all the animals there. Chances are there will be one cat there that will ‘draw you to it’ above all the others; that’s your new kitty.
Get an already declawed adult cat. I hate cutting claws but if you are renting there will be less damage. I have a used cat. he is declawed. he smacks my beagles in the face and they pay no attention at all.
I’ve done both. Do so on the basis of the cat or kitty rather than any ideal. Visit shelters and contact breeders. Find an animal that suits your personality. I fell in love with an ugly kitten from a shelter just because he was such a sweetie pie. I took in a beloved older cat because my grandmother had to go into a nursing home and it was either me or the shelter.
Kittens are fun. So are older cats. Kittens can be destructive but trainable and moldable. Older cats have generally settled into the kind of cat they’ll always be so you get a better idea of what you’re going to live with long term.
Good advice here. I’ve adopted two adults (Tigger and Fiona) and each fit into our family (human and feline) just fine–in fact, perhaps faster than if they had been kittens. In Fiona’s case, she was hours away from euthanization when we decided to adopt her from the humane society; Tigger wasn’t quite that close to death but he would have been euthanized eventually had we not adopted him. Both were fairly calm when they came home, and they continue to be; though they will play like kittens if I encourage them with a toy. And they still have their distinctive personalities.
The primary shelter I’m looking at is no-kill, so this is not necessarily the case. However it’d still be nice to free up an adult sized space to save another adult kitty from euthanization.
I don’t consider myself a hippie, or particularly in-tune with animals or anything. When we went to visit a shelter, just to find out about adoption fees - absolutely not to get a cat that day - the second I saw him I knew Ferdinand was our cat. It might be more accurate to say the minute he saw me.
He was estimated to be about 2 years old. (A vet we met later said that he was actuall at least a year, or probably two older than we thought.) He was rescued by Animal Control from a 2 bedroom apartment along with 47 of his friends (the people were allowed to keep 2 ot of the 50). I wondered if he’d have any lasting effects from those conditions. If he did I was never aware of them.
My husband adopted a kitten when she was about 4 months old. She’s settled down now (about 3 years later) but when she first arrived on the scene a friend of ours called her “an electron.” She spilled a lot of stuff in those early months.
Sorry…I digressed. What I’d hoped to suggest was to visit a shelter. See if you find “love at first sight.”
If you’re willing to adopt an older cat, maybe you should, since a lot of people only want a kitten. I adopted Feather when she was about six months old - I think that’s the perfect age for adoption. I suspect she was in the shelter because she and her sister had outgrown their kitten cuteness (although she was absolutely adorable still) and were heading into going into heat. She was able to be spayed before she came home, so that was taken care of, and she still had tons of energy and playing in her (she still does, 10 years later). She’s 100% bonded to me, and I didn’t notice any bad habits that she had when I adopted her (and she was easy to train, too - easier than a dog, even, I understand - I only had to tell her once or twice and she got it).
One other thing I noticed - her personality in the shelter was pretty much exactly as it was when I got her home. Cats are who they are.
Exactly - just because the particular shelter you’re adopting from is no-kill doesn’t mean that space and funding is infinite. One adult cat in your home is one adult cat the county isn’t putting down.
By the way, I don’t know how it is elswhere, but here the county shelter is just fine for cats. Wouldn’t adopt a dog there (the dog room is concrete cages and you can’t tell a thing about the animals) but the cat room is great, and when we adopted Dewey we knew we were saving him from euthanization. (Boring brown tabby.)
I agree that an adult cat - one that is used to dogs - would be your best bet. Most no kill shelters will have information about any particular cat’s suitability to living in a household with a dog, and give good advice about integrating.
Step 1: Decide it’s time for a cat.
Step 2: Cat appears.
The cats have appeared in various ways, including a friend who got a kitten and turned out to be way allergic, a friend who decided she had to go back to England and didn’t want to isolate/quarantine her widdle bwack babykins for 6 months. But the most usual method is, they walk down the street with their tail in the air, see a kid in my yard, and start rubbing up against said kid.
I haven’t had a kitten in ages (as the cats that tend to walk down the street, etc., tend to be a little past kitten age–there was one exception), but any cat you take is a cat that won’t end up in a shelter, right? So it’s all good!
I’d get an adult cat just based on the fact that my cat drove me batshit when he was a kitten. Sure, he was freaking adorable, but he ate all the buttons off one of my cardigans, he climbed the drapes, he jumped on my head when I was sleeping, etc., etc.
Now that he’s four, he’s much calmer and less destructive.
The shelter told me she was very skittish around people. But when I started petting her, she really responded to my touch and seemed to like me. I felt like we had a connection, so I took her home. I’ve had her about six years, and she’s one of the sweetest cats I’ve ever known.