Cat Fur Question? Getting new kitten

[zumbergc]

Ok, I'm going to get a new kitten soon. I'm hoping next weekend, after it gets fixed. (its a rescue) I found a kitten that looks really good online.

One question. When do you know if the cat is going to have short, medium or long hair. Also when can you tell if the cat will have a thick or a thinner coat, you know some cats have crap load of hair, others a thinner coat.
The cat will be around 12-14 weeks old when we go visit. I'm thinking 14 weeks old.

I was going to email the lady, but wanted to know from the experts around here. I just want to try my best to get a short coat, and maybe getting a kitten isn't the right way to go if I won't know Ill gett a short coat.

Thanks
Connie

 

[inkkognito]

As a cat owner, I would say to get an adult if you're really concerned about the hair (you'll know the personality for sure too). One of my cats seemed to have shorter hair as a kitten, but his coat filled out and he is a shedding machine. They have cool reusable hair removers at Walgreens (not the sticky kind) that are lifesaver in a cat-owning household.

 

[Nie0214]

I also would opt for an adult cat, they are already trained (and unless you are home all day, a new kitten could be hard to keep tabs on!) and they don't get adopted as often as the kittens do!

 

[FergieTCat]

As a cat owner, I would say to get an adult if you're really concerned about the hair (you'll know the personality for sure too). One of my cats seemed to have shorter hair as a kitten, but his coat filled out and he is a shedding machine. They have cool reusable hair removers at Walgreens (not the sticky kind) that are lifesaver in a cat-owning household.

Reusable cat hair removers???!!! What is the brand name? I NEED this product!!

Thank you!

 

[inkkognito]

I actually use two:

This is my favorite, especially for clothes: click here

This one works good on furniture: click here.

 

[Imzadi]

Don't forget, as a pet brush the infamous: FURminator! with almost 2000 positive Amazon reviews.


OP, I agree with the others, try for a young adult cat. You will pretty much know at the pound/rescue the personality and how much the cat is already socialized and taught to behave. You will miss the kitty liter training period, if it isn't already, the teething era, and the getting into, jumping on and eating everything dangerous because it doesn't know better period of time.

I'd love to get another kitten for a companion for my kitty, but it would take too much time and energy to train a new kitten for me now. I have my current kitty well trained. I can't have one cat trained and one not. That would create anarchy as the trained cat will start not to listen to me either, when she sees the other doesn't have to.

 

[themarquis]

I agree with the others to get an adult cat.

That being said, by 14 weeks, you should be able to tell what kind of coat the kitten will have. You won't know exactly, but you can tell if it is short or long haired. Sometimes they surprise you a bit, though. When we got our "baby" (now a 16 pounder ), he seemed like a semi-long hair -- just a bit fuzzy. When he got to be about a year or so, he started poofing out like crazy and now sort of looks like a Yeti

Also, don't forget that the length of a kitty's fur doesn't have anything to do with how much they shed, how much fur there will be around your house, and how allergic people might be to it. Our short haired cat sheds a ton more than the Yeti -- it's everywhere! When you brush the short haired one, clumps of fur come off -- but the Yeti seems to hold on to every single long strand of his fur!

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Contact www.siameserescue.org . You will be able to get a cat that is definitely short hair. Last month I got a pair of 8 year olds that are bonded and used to each other. They are accepting me into the house (finally) even though it is my house they have moved into.

Most of their cats have been in a foster home for at least a month or two, so they can give you a good idea of the personalities.