I adopted my 4th dog at a PetsMart adoption day. The dog actually came from the Gwinnett Co. Humane Society.
He’s been a good dog, and I think it’s good of PetsMart to let rescue organizations use their facilities.
If you’re looking for a purebred cat, you might try checking out a cat show. I bought a retired show cat from a lady that I met at a pet show. The cat was a red-point Siamese – a lovely and intelligent cat. I had her for many years. But I also got good cats from Humane societies and friends with kittens too.
You’re right , I forgot those in my rush to make my point.
My straight dope om ragdolls (and I ain’t Cecil) is that they have a tendency to go really limp when they are handled. But that is a psysical thing, almost neurological. It does not indicate a sweet temperament.
:: imagines holding totally limp, yet foul-mooded cat in hands::
But yes, in all other respects they are just as wonderful as other cats.
Signed Maastricht, who works in a stray-cat shelter/neutering project too (Go **MissBunny ** Go!)
Yay shelter animals! Depending on where you live, the local shelter may have to euthanize 70% or more of the animals that come in: there are so damn many animals out there without homes.
Ask a veterinarian or two about which local shelters are good. Some shelters are much more responsible in providing care to their animals than others.
Although no-kill shelters can be perfectly legitimate, don’t rule out adopting from a shelter that euthanizes. Shelters that euthanize are also the shelters that don’t ever turn animals away; no-kill shelters turn animals away when they’re full.
If you adopt from an organization that works with www.petfinder.com, you can get 60 days of free pet insurance from ShelterCare, insurance that covers most of the conditions that pop up in shelter animals. This is a fantastic grant-supported program; I highly encourage it. (At our shelter, we practically require every adopter to sign up for this free insurance before they take their animal home: there’s really no downside to it, it really is free, and it really isn’t some sort of scam where they automatically renew you once the 60 days are up. It rocks)
If you get an older cat, see if the shelter can tell you about the cat’s history. Although not all shelters have the infrastructure, better shelters will be able to give you some information about how an animal came into the shelter. If the animal was surrendered by a previous owner, they can hopefully give you some information about the animal based on what the previous owner told them. (In a large municipal shelter, this is more complicated than it sounds – our own shelter only recently set up a system for doing this).
Wow, so many cat owners from MA! I have two cats from no-kill shelters in Metrowest. Stray Pets in Need operates out of Framingham, and Buddy Dog is in Sudbury. They are both very choosy about whom they’ll allow to adopt. It’s great if you can find a no-kill shelter. They have limited space and keep the animals until they’re adopted, so the more they’re able to adopt out, the more room there is to save other animals.
So glad you’re looking to adopt an adult cat, GMRyujin. Both of mine were adults, and are really great cats.
If you keep them indoors (no-kill shelters generally have that as a condition of adoption), the vet bills will most likely be lower than if they are outdoors. They’re much less likely to get diseases, have accidents and fights, and it really increases their lifespan. Even if the kitty you adopt was previously outdoors, most will adjust quickly to being indoors all of the time.
If you have room, I would suggest adopting two. If you work all day, they will have company while you’re out. Two really aren’t much more work than one (except for the incremental cat hair). Not all cats get along well with others, but the shelter can tell you more about each cats’ personality.
I second the notion that short-haired cats don’t shed less than long-haired. However some long-haired cats require more maintenance - brushing, etc, that short-haired cats don’t.
Well, purchase is going to be put off a bit, as the deposit to have one join us is going to be $300, which is a bit steep. That’s what happens with a change in management, though. I do intend to keep looking, but it’s been pushed back a while.
Your advice about keeping them indoors and about getting two at once is spot-on, but I want to nitpick the quote above.
Both open-access shelters (the kind that euthanize) and limited-access shelters (the kind that don’t euthanize) are able to help more animals the more that are adopted from them. The difference is that when an open-access shelter’s adoption cages are full, they have to euthanize animals that come in the back door; when a limited-access shelter’s adoption cages are full, they have to turn away animals that come to the back door.
The animals turned away by the limited access shelter are lucky if they’re brought to an open-access shelter: many of them are simply abandoned by the side of the road.
I think it’s not important whether you adopt from a limited-access (“no-kill”) shelter or from an open-access (“kill”) shelter. Instead, evaluate shelters on the following basis:
Do they spay and neuter ALL cats and dogs before they leave the facility?
If they euthanize, do they use sodium pentobarbitol? This is the recommended form of euthanasia: most other forms are widely considered inhumane.
If they don’t euthanize, how do they decide which animals to accept and which animals to turn away? And how do they deal with behavioral problems that develop at the shelter? If a shelter won’t even euthanize an animal that’s gone “cage crazy” (a condition where an animal spends all day chasing its tail due to loneliness and isolation), you may want to look for a more humane facility.
What tests and vaccinations do they provide to their animals?
What behavioral tests do they perform on their animals?
What are conditions like within the shelter? (i.e., are the cages reasonably clean, do the animals have fresh water, do animals have adequate room in their cages? If multiple animals are housed in the same enclosure, are they checked for compatibility? What sort of disease-control measures do they have in place?)
What sort of reputation does the shelter have in the local animal care community? your veterinarian may be able to let you know, for example, that this shelter over here is being investigated by the state for health violations, or that shelter over there just got a new director who’s working to improve conditions, or so on.
I have, over the years, gotten cats from shelters, newspaper ads, and off the street as adults and kittens. All of my cats have been sweet-tempered and well-behaved, which I think is more a product of a loving home and lots of affection and care. I may be wrong, or I may be lucky, but I suspect if you treat your kitty with love and respect, your kitty will have a great temperament.
There are schools of thought that link color to temperament. I’m not sure this is 100% true, but it seems to hold up in a general way:
Orange males are affectionate bruisers
Calico and tricolor girl kitties are divas
Black and whites are sweet knockaround guys and girls
Solid black cats are a bit aloof
I have cats of all the following types and I’ve found them to be loosely true.
When looking for a kitten or cat, be sure you spend some time playing with the cat. If you want a very affectionate cat, be sure to pick him up (gently!) and see how he takes it. Try petting him avidly and see how he reacts. Notice how he interacts with his littermates and mother (if he’s a kitten).
My most recent kitten was the largest of the two litters (a mother and daughter cat had litters simultaneously). He was always eating, or snuggling/playing with the other kittens. Not standoffish at ALL, and still isn’t. He was very social, was OK being picked up, let me touch his feet and look in his ears. He turned out to be very affectionate, gets along with the other cats, and is active and intelligent.
If you end up looking for a specific breed, I would try looking at rescues. I recently had to place my Bengal – who is anything but the type of cat you are looking for, from the sound of it – with a rescue because I moved and couldn’t keep him anymore. He now has a new home an hour and a half or so away. (WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! But he’s happy, and that’s the whole POINT of it, isn’t it?)
My family has had very good experiences working with a Golden Retriever rescue, and the Bengal rescue guy had a BEAUTIFUL setup for his kitties. If you’re looking based on personality alone, check out a shelter or Petsmart or something like that. But if you want a particular breed, AND personality, try a rescue.
My wife and I recently moved into a house, from a small apartment, and decided to get a couple of cats. We went to the shelter and, of course, wanted to take every single kitty home… But, we couldn’t. So we sort of let the kittens choose us - we picked the two who seemed to want it the most. Two sisters, just gorgeous kittens who are now about 7-8 months old. It’s been the most rewarding experience of my life, thinking that we may have saved these kittens from death. We had actually discussed it, and were willing to take injured or “ugly” kittens, just because noone else would want them…
FWIW, I knew a guy with a very expensive ragdoll, and another gal who’s family raise them… my humble barn cat has more ragdoll characteristics than their cats, and she’s also very striking and beautiful. I got her at about 4 months old, and could already tell that she’d have a very mellow temperment - perfect for an apartment. OTOH, her tabby brother and sister were little hellraisers. If you’re interested in a cat, spend some time interacting with it, and putting it through some tests, and you’ll get a good idea of its personality. Even within litters cats can be very different. The same is true of my other cat. He has remained very shy, while his littermates were more outgoing. They’re both very sweet cats, and I think being well-socialized plays a huge part.
When I was in high school, we had 3 sister cats, each with a very distinct personality. The tabby was a she-bitch who only liked my brother, and only tolerated being petted on the head and chin. The calico only liked my dad, if anyone, and was very prissy. My white and tabby was more mellow and affectionate with everyone.
sometimes shelters will have purebreds. i know people who have gotten maine coons and siamese from shelters. i guess the former owners didn’t take the very vocal part seriously.
my three girls came from my back yard. no shelter, no up front cost. a lot of vet bills though.
keep your eyes and ears open in your neighbourhood. it is mating season. nod the naughty and malenka the miraculous were both brought in over mother’s day weekend. noddy was about 10 days old and malenka was about 3 days. ( nod had an infected bite wound in her side, malenka’s mom was rescued before they knew she had a kitten.)
Get a Pixi-Bob! These are very cool cats! Expensive, though. We have owned one for ten years. She is generally very quite, but does have different noises she makes while bug-hunting, or when she wants to be picked up (chirps and ‘talks’). Very clean and non-distructive. She will ONLY use her scratching post…never the rug or furniture. Has a dog-like personality, and often will come when you call her. Excellent indoor pets…don’t let 'em outside. Too valuable for that. Too much bad stuff happens to cats outside.
Check them out! http://www.catsinfo.com/pixiebob.html
My suggestion would be about six months old. I got Feather from the shelter when she was six months old, and that was the perfect age for me. She was young enough to be trained to my liking (no jumping on counters, trained to the leash, that sort of thing), and was still very playful, but she was old enough to not cause kitten-type problems, and her personality was pretty much set already (it hardly changed at all - she’s just a little more settled now that she’s four).
I learned from getting cats at the shelter that their personalities seem to stay much the same in the shelter as out. Feather was calm and nice in the shelter, and she’s a calm, nice kitty out of the shelter.
As for the balcony, chicken wire with the top turned inwards (like they do in prison yards :D) will keep any cat in. But you might want to think about keeping kitty in anyway. If you move to someplace with a yard instead of a balcony, kitty will still expect to be let out (as with my other cat, Maxie - she’s an escape artist now).
Oh, and don’t spend much money on cat toys. Cats are contrary creatures, and mine have never given two sniffs to an expensive toy. I buy most of their toys at the dollar section of Toys R Us. A three-foot rod with some string attached to the end is one of their favourite toys, too. $0.80 at any hardware store.
As for colours linked to personalities, I have two calicos. Maxie, the traditional black and orange actually is a diva; Feather is a peach, grey and white calico, and she has the sweetest temperament of any cat I’ve ever known. I’ve heard from other people that the peach and grey calicos are sweet, too.
Glad to see that you’re considering an adult cat from a shelter. It’s so nice to see people that know an adult cat is still a great pet!
The one thing that I didn’t see mentioned yet (I just skimmed though) is that sometimes shelter cats can pick up an upper respiratory infection. Basically a kitty cold.
When I worked for the SPCA, we would treat them and warn the new owners to look for any symptoms. It’s not a major deal if you catch it quickly enough, and just remember to keep stress levels down with your new kitty.
As mentioned earlier, I’d recomment getting two, but that’s just my inner cat-lady talking.
And calicos/tortoiseshells are divas! I agree! I have two myself. And a male mackeral tabby. He gets all the flack from them.
(One day I hope to start my own cat rescue, preferably feral cats.)
When we adopted ours, they came from the shelter with 2 free, fairly fancy-looking mice - big and (theoretically) fun to play with. Too big, I think. They mostly ignore them, though occasionally play with them, after 6 months. However, they both go batshit over small, hard, fur-covered mice made by Hartz - $1.99 for 3 at the grocery store.
Our (now my) cat was a referal. He was not able to go where his people were going, so they got on the grapevine and looked for somebody who could take in a two year old 16lb fully clawed up cat. If he hadn’t found us, he’d have died.
We agreed sight unseen, and it’s been a good decision. Once he figured out that we weren’t going to kill him (took 3 days and a can of tuna) he settled in nicely.
Kittens are cute, but an adult cat is way more fun to adapt to. Kittens are all pretty much the same, but cats who’ve been around long enough to develop a personality are very interesting to get to know.
Oh, and cats are evil. You should know that going in. It’s mostly a background issue, but it’s there. Kitten, stray, purebred, mellow, neurotic, inside kitty, outside kitty, the evil is really the only consistent part of the feline package. Don’t let it stop you, just remember I told you when you realize it the first time.
Ah, the evil one has just finished his stretching routine and is walking towards the door. He has to go out and kill something, I have to have a smoke, we are in symbiosis.
The day they learn how to work can openers, we are so screwed…
I know cats are evil. Did you (or anyone) ever see the Got Milk? commercial with the old cat lady who is out of milk and tries to trick her kitties using creamer? And the cats pull the blinds, lock the doors, etc.? I think that’s a documentary.
Anyway, purchase is on hold while we round up the pet deposit and the cat fee and such. It used to be $100 refundable, now it’s $300 non-refundable. And I know I could just do the “not tell em, oh it’s my sister’s cat” thing, but I don’t want to be scrambling around, trying to hide the cat when they do inspections and such.
our cat (who died in november, aged 14) was a very energetic, sweet kitten who would climb inside the piano at 3am and walk along the strings…very eerie.
however, he grew up to be a big slob who lived on top of a cupboard over the water heater where he could stay warm.
he would then roam the house looking for open bedroom doors, and sleep on people’s faces.
he was very affectionate and sweet, but basically the feline equivalent of homer simpson.
I fell in love with an adult cat at the Humane Society on Friday afternoon, too late to start the adopting procedure. I came back Saturday morning to find that she’d started sneezing overnight. She was about to be placed in foster care, and I told the people that I can give liquid medicine to cats, and that I’d be happy to adopt her NOW. So she came home with me, and we learned that she will take liquid medicine gracefully…if it’s on turkey or canned cat food. I did have to swear up and down that I’d get her spayed as soon as she was well, as generally the cats are fixed before they get adopted. I guess that they figured that if I loved her enough to adopt her when she was sick, then I’d love her enough to spay her.
She went into heat before she fully recovered. She’s at least part Siamese. You haven’t LIVED until you’ve heard a Siamese queen declaring, at the top of her lungs, that she is Lonely and she Wants Some Lovin’. She made absolutely scandalous suggestions to my husband. She even seduced our male cat, who had been neutered when he was about 10 weeks or so. He managed to get the neck bite, the proper position, the pumping, and the treading…however, he could not finish the job. Which was a pity, as it would have ended her heat, even if he IS sterile. As it was, she kept throwing herself down in front of him when he was just walking about the house, minding his own business. He felt absolutely stalked.
Before we all went COMPLETELY mad, she finally recovered from her cold. And she didn’t get pregnant.
Siamese tend to be loud and energetic. If you live in an apartment, you might not want to get one, as it might disturb the neighbors. Yes, they’re THAT loud. What’s more, they like to have conversations with their humans…if they speak to you, they want a reply.
I’ve never owned a Maine Coon, but I used to know a breeder/rescuer who had several. They’re long haired, but easily groomed. They’ve got wonderful sweet temperaments and are very attractive. One thing about these cats, though, they only come in one size…the Large Economy size.
