Opinions-kittens or young cats?

[goldfinch]

We have a neighbor stray, a Tom. He is the sweetest guy. I am horribly allergic to cats or I would take him in. I did take him to the vet. Got him neutered, dewormed, and got him his shots.

I hope he makes it. I wish I could find someone to adopt him.

[Velocivixen]

@Badger, yeah, it would be great to be in a room and just see what cats/kittens come up to us. I want them to like us too.

@Becky, for sure regarding why folks return cats. Sometimes it's something like the child has allergies or they're moving and cannot have pets, etc. The folks at the no kill shelter are not shy about sharing why cats have been returned, etc. I feel that they legitimately want to find forever homes for these cats and will work with you.

I think we're leaning toward the range of 6-14 month age range, and littermates if possible. We are open though, and I would like at least one of them to be black.

[Chile Pepper]

Oooh, I could not resist a kitten! I have two cats and four dogs, so no kittens in my near future--and that makes me sad. Those itsy bitsy balls of fur are just so cute! I would not want to miss that if I had the option.

[Koronin]

The reasons for abandoning or returning dogs or cats can be just crazy. I will never understand the dumping an animal because you're moving. We moved across state with our three cats and my parents ended up taking in the stray we had been helping. Long story short we took all 4 to my parents for about 2 months while I sold our old house and we moved to the townhouse we rented. Our three would not accept the stray, but my mom's cat had no problem accepting him, so he stayed with my parents who are very happy to have him there. The place we rented the company we rented through has a two pet limit, but with approval you can have more pets in one of their rentals. They called and talked to the owner who said we could have our three cats in her place. She didn't mind at all.

[Kathi]

Meggie in her kitty tree.

[smilingcat]

I'm still in touch with the rescue group in California. In fact, I had a long pleasant conversation with one of the directors.

Times are still tough! Families are still downsizing and moving into apartment which do not allow pets. @ apartment owners. Traumatic for both the cats/dogs and the kids.

Adoption for kittens and cats are very slow. It hasn't returned to a level we used have 5 years ago.

If you are planning to adopt two cats, Bicilista's comment about getting two cats who have bonded is a great idea. Cats have feelings and being separated from one they have bonded is just too cruel. It would be nice if you could find a pair you like.

If you are worried about their personality, adopt a pair of cats who have been fostered and not just locked up in a cage at a shelter. The fosters are generally very upfront and honest with their assessment of cats personality. I didn't want my fosters returned so I pointed out all the faults with my foster kittens.

The group I worked with, they have about half a dozen kittens from last year, now a year old. Pretty sad. And I have 7 failed fosters who call my home their forever home. Other three were never up for adoption.

Older cats are just as fun as the kittens. Kittens only stay kittens for about 9 month to a year.

Enjoy your new kittens or cats when you find them.

[SheFly]

Last year, we adopted 9 week old siblings from a foster/no-kill shelter. As Mimi said, they had already bonded, and we were luck in that they actually DID choose us when we went to see them! They are brother/sister, and have NEVER been apart (well, except when we had to temporarily separate them because Ellie went into heat early).

My DH stayed home a bit more when we first got them, but they have settled in with both of us working. We just bought a brand new leather couch, and they haven't destroyed that or any other furniture (though they do like to chew on the cherry knobs of the bedroom furniture!).

After having lost a 17 year old cat (whom I adopted at 10 weeks), these two have literally rescued us vs. the other way around.

So, I agree with the bonding piece - and if you can, siblings are terrific!

Good luck!

SheFly

[Aggie_Ama]

Muirenn- My hairdresser acquired a dog as part of her house too! The owners were moving due to a layoff and the Great Pyrennes mix couldn't go to the one bedroom apartment with a 30lb limit. It was only 6 months old and they were devastated. They asked her if they could leave the dog with the property so it wouldn't languish in the shelter, no friends could take it. She felt pressured but said yes, she LOVES him. She has a profoundly autistic daughter but the dog takes great care of her. He doesn't mind her lhasa mix either and she said a great guard dog for the 5 acre spread. So it ended up being a happy ending.

[Biciclista]

wow, I can't imagine unexpectedly inheriting such a huge dog. Glad it worked out ok.

[Koronin]

Those two dogs got lucky that not only did the new owners accept them, but they also are good owners.

I guess I actually can understand the layoff loosing a job and having to move thing a bit more than most other reasons.

[tbl35]

We had to put my 20 year old kitty sleep in January, knew we'd want more but unsure how long it would take. I had gotten my other kitties (had one die at 17 a few years ago) a year apart and they never did like each other. Nothing violent but they pretty much ignored each other, so I really wanted to raise two together in the hope that they'd at least like each other!

I started looking in March though not seriously. Mentioned to a friend that I was sorta looking and wanted 2 sisters. Lo and behold, there were 2 littermates living at her vets office that they badly wanted to adopt out. The staff had been handling them every day, so they were very socialized. They were about 5 months, this was about 2 1/2 months ago. Glad I did it, they can be nuts (early morning stampede/wrestling sessions) but they're also sweet and make me smile. That's them in my avatar.

Sounds terrible but I had forgotten what it was like to have a healthy cat! Loved my old baby, but we had been giving her thyroid meds for years and her last few months were awful. I wouldn't have minded slightly older cats (2 or 3 years) but for me, I couldn't face having an older cat again so soon. It's tough.

[smilingcat]

We have a neighbor stray, a Tom. He is the sweetest guy. I am horribly allergic to cats or I would take him in. I did take him to the vet. Got him neutered, dewormed, and got him his shots.

I hope he makes it. I wish I could find someone to adopt him.

There are ways of coping with cat allergy. It has to do with cat dander. I have a friend whose SO is allergic to cats. My suggestion was to brush the cat regularly, a regular bath , after a while the cat will get "used" to the regular bath. The bath and grooming helps to control the cat dander. Another thing I suggested was to get a room air filter with HEPA filters to catch the cat dander. We use a vacume cleaner with HEPA filter. It's amazing how much fine dust it collects.

Depending on how severely allergic, and how much are you willing to do, you might be able to live in harmony with the cat. Maybe not...

Just a suggestion.

Sincerely,

smilingcat

[Koronin]

Cat dander is the typical reason for cat allergies, although some people are allergic to their saliva and a very few are actually allergic to their fur. My husband is one of those very few that is allergic to the fur. (He had one of those allergy tests and basically it told him he's allergic to everything, except food). He's also lucky from the stand point that once his system gets used to whatever it is causing the allergic reaction he builds up an immunity to it. It's more allergic to long furred animals (both cats and dogs) than to short furred ones, so we make sure we will only have short furred ones.
Oh and with brushing the furminator is a wonderful item. It not only helps get rid of loose fur, but also helps to keep the dander down as well. One of our is much more prone to a high amount of dander than the other two are.

[jessmarimba]

I'll have to check that out Koronin. I have one black cat with the worst dandruff I've ever seen and it's been that way for 8 years. I've tried everything (else) but I guess that's just how she is. Good suggestion.

[smilingcat]

furminator IS EXPENSIVE but it really does the job that regular comb/brush can't do or wont do.

We have long hair cats, short hair cats, cats whose fur mats really easily. The furminator seems to cut out the mats if it isn't too bad. And strangely, the cats love being brushed with them.

Furminator will remove "dead" undercoat as well as their "dead" top coat. Have a reasonable size trash bag next to you when you are using the furminator on the cat the first time and plan on brushing for 20-30 minutes. I also use a mister to keep the fine hair from flying around. Static electricity ya'know.

We also have one for the dogs, a very furry golden and a lab.