how do you choose just one cat??

[zoom-zoom]

One was turned in at the age of 15 because someone developed allergies. Call me callous, but you'd think that person could take allergy meds until the poor cat passed. I'm thinking of taking her in; no one should have to spend their last days in a chaotic shelter.

My mom is allergic to cats. They have 3. I have pretty much carbon-copy allergies as my mom (have never been tested, but we're both sick at the same time of the year with the seasonal stuff). I take Zyrtec every day, year-round. I'd rather be a little sick, than to live without my furbabies (we have 4).

[badger]

you wouldn't believe how many cats are in there due to allergies. Another was in there because they had a baby. To me those just aren't valid enough reasons to give up a friend.

[Eden]

All the time I volunteered at the shelter I figured 99% of the reasons people turned in pets were bogus....

new baby? silliness - plain and simple
allergies - get some claratin (I test allergic to cats and I don't actually have any reaction unless the particular cat is *really* high in allergens. Then entire time I volunteered only a few cats ever made me react)
moving - sure right - I'd never move somewhere that would make me give up my babies....

The cats I sometimes felt the worst for were the elders whose owners had were also elderly and could no longer care for them or had passed away. That was the one of the few reasons I figured was probably true, rather than he's no longer a kitten and I'm tired of him.....

As far as getting along - my two are pretty good buddies. They sleep together and groom one another. They get irritated at one another and take a swat every once in a while, but mostly they are friends. Koji was a foundling. He was a tiny kitten (about 7-9 weeks) when I found him outside and I had an elderly guy already at that time. My old boy never did really like the kitten, but Koji wanted to be around him all the time. The old guy passed away when Koji was 3 and we didn't want him to be alone, so I went to the shelter to find him a new companion. Shio was about 6 months when I got her and the pair got along well from the beginning. We tried the keep them separated and introduce slowly plan - but both of them were so desperate to see each other that we ended up letting them be totally together about after 2 days.

[badger]

aww, that's nice they took to each other. Mine just hate each other, quite literally. The younger (bigger) one took a swipe at the older one a couple of years ago and got her in the leg - peeled her skin right back and needed surgery to fix it.

I'm leaning very much towards Boo at this point. I called them and asked what happens if they're caught with two cats (their condo allows only one pet).

My dad was saying it's all cow poopie, and he was very open to two cats. Which made me so happy, because then I could bring Boo's friend with him. But my mother said it would be too much to start with two, especially when my dad's sick and she'll be away for a month in a few weeks. I'm hoping that if he's still around when she gets back, Boo would've settled in and they might be open to a friend for him.

As for people turning animals in for the lamest reasons, I guess what I have to tell myself is that while the shelter isn't the best place, it's a better place than they were in! Quite a number of them were left in the apartment when their owners moved - they can't even be bothered to surrender them to the spca! people like that should never have animals to begin with.

[Crankin]

I am probably going to get flamed here, but I think allergies are a very valid reason to have to give up a cat. I don't have cat allergies, but I have friends who do. Even with taking a Claritin, etc. they would be miserable if they came to my house when my cat was alive. And maybe those people with the baby had a cat that was jumping on and clawing the baby. Our first cat used to attack women (not kidding here). The night we came home and our teenage babysitter (who had many animals) had a bleeding cut on her face from the cat, and she finally had to lock the cat in the bathroom was the night we decided to find it another home.
I have other allergies and I cannot take Claritin for more than a day or two, without it making me unable to sleep and giving me palpitations. Other stuff just makes me sleepy (Zyrtec, etc).
Obviously, you shouldn't get a cat if you *know* you are allergic to them, but almost all of my allergies developed when i was well into my thirties, so it's not a bogus thing.
I guess I am the weird one here, but not everyone has the same degree of "love" for animals.

[Eden]

Maybe once in a blue moon the baby or allergy excuse is valid (I know of one case where the guys cat died and he got a new one - went from long haired to short and was ironically very allergic to the new cat when he'd been fine with the old one....)- but nearly every cat who comes through has one of the following

moving (probably #1)
allergies
baby
too many (I'll accept this one - better the shelter than a hoarder...)
can't afford (sometimes this is valid too- we did get cats with health problems that were better off at the shelter where they could get good care)

Still, 99.99% of them are really - I just don't want this animal anymore, its no longer young and no longer cute and just a pain to take care of, from people who should probably have never had a pet in the first place. No one will actually say this of course, so they have to have something that sounds more valid than I'm tired of this animal.

[indysteel]

I am probably going to get flamed here, but I think allergies are a very valid reason to have to give up a cat. I don't have cat allergies, but I have friends who do. Even with taking a Claritin, etc. they would be miserable if they came to my house when my cat was alive. And maybe those people with the baby had a cat that was jumping on and clawing the baby. Our first cat used to attack women (not kidding here). The night we came home and our teenage babysitter (who had many animals) had a bleeding cut on her face from the cat, and she finally had to lock the cat in the bathroom was the night we decided to find it another home.
I have other allergies and I cannot take Claritin for more than a day or two, without it making me unable to sleep and giving me palpitations. Other stuff just makes me sleepy (Zyrtec, etc).
Obviously, you shouldn't get a cat if you *know* you are allergic to them, but almost all of my allergies developed when i was well into my thirties, so it's not a bogus thing.
I guess I am the weird one here, but not everyone has the same degree of "love" for animals.

I agree with you, Crankin. I absolutely love my cats, but if they were truly making me or a loved one sick, then I would consider rehoming them. I suffer from seasonal allergies. Even with daily meds, I still have really bad days/weeks. It's not just that I have a runny nose or itchy eyes. I just feel like poo and have almost zero energy. I've tried different drugs; I still get breakthrough allergies. I also get sinus infections from them, so it's no small problem.

IMO, allergies can pose some serious medical conditions, especially for those with asthma or other autoimmune issues. Granted, I'm sure some people who give up their pets use "allergies" as a pretextual reason, but for those who truly suffer from them, I don't think it's my place to minimize or dismiss how they feel.

[Eden]

Granted, I'm sure some people who give up their pets use "allergies" as a pretextual reason, but for those who truly suffer from them, I don't think it's my place to minimize or dismiss how they feel.

It's not minimizing those with allergies (I have seasonal allergies and I wouldn't adopt a birch tree....). It's about people probably who do not have allergies just using it as a convenient excuse.....

If you've had a cat for a few years its not all that likely that all of the sudden you'll have developed terrible, untreatable allergies to it (and definitely unlikely in the huge numbers of pets who are given up)...... If someone adopted a cat and a few weeks later realized that they had terrible allergies (like the doc I worked with) I could see it, but on the intake forms there was also a space for how long have you had this pet - most people suddenly develop their allergies after they've had the cat for quite some time, usually around right the age they stop being a cute little kitten....

You won't convince me that most people don't tell the truth when they drop animals off at the shelter.... I'm not saying they shouldn't shelter their unwanted pets - better they go to the shelter, especially a no kill shelter, than the worse things that could happen. Then again if you aren't willing to commit to a pet for a lifetime, better to not get one in the first place....
(and for goodness sake spay and neuter!)

[tulip]

Crankin, I agree with you. I grew up with cats. At one point we had 26, mostly barn cats and strays that stuck around. I had one favorite cat that I got when I was 10 and that died when I was 31 (okay so I had moved out way before then, but the cat stayed at my parents house and became my younger brother's cat). I loved cats; they slept on my head. We always seemed to attract pregnant strays that ended up having kittens in my closet.

I had a terrible time with what turned out to be allergies, although on one thought to actually take me to a doctor even after years of chronic bronchitis, chronic sinus problems, and trouble breathing (yes, it turned out to be allergy-related asthma diagnosed YEARS after I had moved away from home). I even lost sight in one eye due to no-one-knows-what. One theory is histoplasmosis or something similar, which can be related to cats.

If you have a baby, or if your child develops allergies, or if you end up having to care for an elderly relative who is allergic to cats, then yeah--the cat does not come first. I don't advocate abandoning the cat, but finding it a good home is perfectly reasonable.