Opinions-kittens or young cats?

[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.