getting a cat....questions**update--got her!**

[Rock'n Robin]

DH finally agreed I could get a second cat (my cat Tabitha will be 4 in February; our older cat Micky died in October aged 19 1/2). I had my eye on a kitten at Petsmart (through the Humane Society) about 10 days ago but in the meantime it sold.
I insist that this one be an orange tabby. I have always wanted one, and since my cats always live into their teens and I'm not getting any younger, who knows if I'll ever get another cat!
The kitten I had my eye on was orange. Now they do have a 1 year old orange cat who is also declawed, which would save me $. But I haven't had a small kitten in ages--Tabitha was 10 months old when we got her. The kids have never had a kitten at all.
Another local rescue has some orange kittens, but we adopted our dog from them and they insist ALL family members be there at the adoption. The reason for this, as far as I can tell, is so they can lecture the kids about pet care (which they did for 15 minutes when we adopted Clancy--even though the kids have always had cats and dogs--questions like "when is the right time to hit a dog?" correct answer "never!" of course). According to the hither-and-yon schedules of the kids, and DH working at least every other Saturday, that would mean we can't get one for 2 weeks at least.
So should I look into adopting the 1 year old cat--or wait and hope the petsmart/humane society gets more orange kittens soon--or just hold off until after Christmas and go to the other agency?
Robin M.

 

[Virgo10]

I'm a huge advocate for adult cats so I'd go with the grown kitty. You sound like a responsible pet owner and this declawed cat will need a home that is sure not to let it outside.

Good luck with your decisions and

WE WANT PHOTOS once you've made your choice!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Do you have any objections to adopting two kitties?


Both need homes--do what your heart tells you. Kittens usually adopt out really quickly though. I know our shelter will not "hold" an animal for you aside from their quarantine/checkup/spay or neuter if necessary. So if you can't pick up a pet due to your schedule...they won't wait for you.

Another thing--kittens don't stay tiny for very very long.

My daughter's love kittens--they keep asking for a new one. We tell them we had kittens and they grew up. They said they liked them small.

They've had cats since they were born--but will always want a new "kitten".

That being said--if the 1yo is availabe and ready, I'd go for that one and if a kitten becomes available at the other place, you can get him a buddy.

 

[BamaTigger]

I would also go with the older cat. Kittens are so dern cute, yes, but its true they will get adopted quicker than an older cat.


Kudos to you for helping a homeless animal either way you choose.

 

[geffric]

I would echo everyone and get the 1 year old. But remeber the 1 year old is still a kitten and loves to play but won't forget to use the box..

 

[denisem]

I'd also go with the older cat - your 4 y.o. Tabitha will thank you for it.

Our 2 y.o. Rocko STILL wants to play all the time with our older adopted Millie. Poor Millie gives us these looks like "This woulda been a great place to retire if you'd get rid of that pesky brat!"

 

[Sherri]

One is not that old. Still in the fun playful stage. It might be a better match for your four year old then a small kitten would be.
By the way, our Prince Henry is an orange tabby and we LOVE him to peices.
He is 2 and he still plays like he was four month old and he still thinks his body is the same size because he still goes to all of the same hard to get into places, only half of him sticks out.

 

[Laura]

I'd go for the one-year-old kitty. That's old enough to have passed the psychotically rambunctious kitten stages, and young enough to want to wrestle with your current cat without constantly pestering it.

 

[CookieGVB]

Ditto - the one year old...for all the reasons listed above.

Good luck with whichever rescued kitty you decide!

 

[PirateKitty]

Everybody wants kittens. I hate to see the older/adult cats overlooked because of this. I say go with the older cat. I even think it will love you even more!

 

[gradtchr]

When we decided on cats 2 and 3 my plan was to go get a cute little kitten to be a playmate for our 1 year old cat who is hyper. Well Pooh (cat number 2) was at the shelter and he looked at us and we looked at him and it was love at first sight there was no going back and he was three years old. Then Koda (cat number 3) and again the plan was for an obnoxious little kitten to romp and play and someone offered us Koda and it was love at first hug he's 4 years old. For cat number 4 the plan was well there wasn't a plan and we now have a 7 month old kitten.

My best advice is to go see them and play with them and interact to see which will fit your family situation the best.

 

[Rock'n Robin]

Well I went last night and picked up the 1 year old cat. She is very sweet. But I forgot about the home issues. When I got my other cat she was 9 months but my other cat was 16 and really didn't care. Plus we had a golden--a sweet, who cares about the cats dog. So Tabitha hid for a while, but no real issues.
This time, TAbitha is the "old" cat, andTabitha so far HATES the new cat (who we renamed Daisy--wanted a Disney name, but didn't figure out or a while it also works since I always teach "The Great Gatsby" to my 11th graders). If I have Daisy in a room Tabitha will walk into the room, even 6 feet away, and hiss. Then she'll sit there and do that deep throated yowl. Poor Clancy (the dog) just wants to give Daisy the sniff treatment, but she is more scared of him than Tabitha. DS said this morning the cats were having a "fight" (in my Christmas village!) but little damage will be done by that since both are front declawed. I think after a little dustup maybe they will be on the way to tolerating each other, even though Daisy doesn't seem to be bothered by Tabitha.
But if I'm carrying Daisy into a room and she sees Clancy she is obviously scared.
I have her "home base" in the laundry room, which is on the 1st floor--got her a new box and that's where the food and water for the cats are. She will run and hide behind the washer if she needs to. But any ideas on how long this period will last? It was very easy last time and I need some help.
Robin M.

 

[chager]

Congrats! It takes different times for different animals. Our Sadie(calico age 4) never adjusted to other animals after she came to us so we had to rehome her. Tubbs(mancoon was 5 when he crossed the bridge) didn't care for others at first but then he adjusted. Trixie (orange mix was 12) never had any issues with any other animals.(RIP Tubbs and Trixie) Lucy (our12yr old kitty) doesn't like the new puppy but finally tolerates Sissy our now 2 yr old kitty. Lucy and Trixie were fine when got Sasha (our Eskie, now 8) but Sasha was afraid of the cats for awhile. So it is really hard to say just how long it will take. I know alot of people say keep them seperate for awhile but we never have. We did rub one animals face and then rub on the other one. Sometimes we did it with a cloth to get them familiar with each others scents.
Good luck!!

 

[JustHolly]

When we got our third cat, the first two cats hid on top of my refrigerator and stayed there for a week!!!!!!!!

It does get better, I promise!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Congrats--it will take time.

All our kitties did hiss fests the first little bit.

And FWIW--we have a brother and sister kitty (Same litter) and they are the hissiest of all. They love each other, but like typical siblings--they just get enough of each other at times. This is after 10+ years.

It will improve and they will coexist peacefully . It just takes a few weeks. Right now the new kitty is an invader on their turf.

 

[Sherri]

Post a picture please. Did you get the orange tabby? Did you say the cat is a female? Did you know that you might have a rare find? Orange tabby's are usually male, very rare to find a female.
Congratulations, I bet she is beautiful.
After the adjustment period things will be fine.

 

[Rock'n Robin]

Sherri, I wish I could but I have never figured out posting since I don't have any online photo sites or anything. I just finally took our Disney photo CD (from July!) into Walgreens this morning to get my Christmas cards made!
Better night last night....I took Daisy upstairs and shut my door until I knew that the dog had gone to sleep downstairs. She is really a cuddle bug! She does "star paws" on the covers and stuff and is even a face/hands licker. Sometime in the night she left my room and according to the kids checked out each one of their beds, cuddling and doing star paws. DH said she even jumped up on the sink this morning when he was shaving to say hello.
Twice yesterday I held her near the dog and she gave his snout a good swat. I love my dog but sometimes he seems like "Mater" in "Cars". When he got swatted he just sat there as if to say "she hit me! She's my friend!" The other cat came up on my bed last night before I took Daisy up, but didn't come up after that. I think she is the one who will need adjustment time! Today Daisy has her vet appointment at 5:30. I did find out from her humane society records that she was in there from October 17 until they put her at Petsmart about 10 days ago. She had some tartar on her teeth and a URI (Is that like a UTI?) but had antiobiotics and was fine at that point. This first appt. is free through the humane society.
Robin M.

 

[horseshowmom]

Our cat Doc stayed in our bedroom for 2 or 3 weeks, because she didn't like the new cat. She only came out for food and the litter box.

Basically, when she hissed at the new cat, I called her name sharply and said "no" (not sure how much a cat cares about "no", but I did it anyway). She finally relaxed some, but it took her quite awhile to really adjust.

I just kind of looked at it from the perspective that she didn't have any choice and that she'd have to deal with it (which she did eventually).

We have dogs too, and the cats generally adjust after awhile. I just had the dogs stay away from them as much as possible if I wasn't there to supervise (out of concern for my poor dogs delicate noses).

 

[gradtchr]

The acceptance period was different on all our cats. When we brought Pooh into the house (cat number 2) It took a month for Simba to not hiss at him while we were around. we're pretty sure they were playing when we weren't around. Koda took about a week for him to come out from under the bed the other cats could have cared less and then Lucky the cats were very non chalant.

 

[Lezah]

Oh, I envy you!! I want an orange female tabby kitty so badly!! I've been checking all the humane society websites for one every day. I'm even thinking about settling for one that has any sort of orange tabby in it at this point, but now you've given me hope that it is possible! I am now home on disability and am alone a lot and it is about to get worse once ski season starts because my DH and DS will be away on the weekends too. So I would love a kitty to keep me company and cuddle with on my lap and on my bed when I'm napping (which is often because my MS makes me very fatigued!).

I have a big black lab but he is over 100 lbs and we have to keep him crated when I'm home alone because the doctors and my therapists have said that they are worried that he will knock me over (as I am not very steady on my feet right now) plus he's a little heavy to cuddle with on my lap not that he's not very willing to try!!

My DH has fought me tooth and nail on this as he doesn't want another thing to do (he has had to take over the lions share of the housework and cooking etc as I'm not having that many good days right now) but my DS has promised to do the kitty duties because he has seen how much his Mum wants one. I have been in tears trying to explain it a few times so DS really understands how important this is to me. I really think that he is ready to step up and accept the responsibility because he wants one too because he misses our 20 year old kitty we lost in February this year. We will see what happens as I can't get one until DH takes me to the humane society to pick one out. He finally agreed to get one begrudgingly when DS spoke to him and explained the reasons for it all. So we'll see what happens and if it ever works or not!! I'll keep ya'll posted!!