Kitten or Cat-Which is better to adopt?

[Robinrs]

Awww, and God bless you for getting her to 20!! So sorry for your loss.

I lost my beautiful ragdoll Meeko last November. I thought my son was going to lose his mind. It was so hard on him, Meeko was only 7 and he was the rough and tumble boy that Mike liked to play with. All of my other cats are kind of prissy...

Soooooo, we got TWO kittens, a white kitten and a maine coon kitten. Mike calls them Ike and Tina because they FIGHT all of the time.

He doesn't remember our other cats as kittens so these two are a shock to him. It's like having toddlers in the house! Crash, something broke, bang something fell. Cute as buttons.. but a LOT of work!

I would suggest a rescue cat of one or two years. They are so grateful and loving and EVERYONE loves kittens, not necessarily the cats. I love my kittens but no one loves me like the cat I adopted at two years old, who thanks me everyday for "saving his life". He turns 10 next month.

Good luck and again, so sorry for your loss....

 

[dakcp2001]

I definately forgot about those "sneak attacks!" lol another reason to stick with adult cats. My kittens used to hide and when you walked across the room they would come flying at you and grab on to your feet and attack. Then they scamper off. lol. THey took me down a few times. Haha. Brats. Older cats are less wild. If you are home a lot you could do a kitten, but if it would eb alone all day Id go with adults.

I also vote that getting two is a good idea, then they can keep each other company when you are not home. ANd there are a lot of pairs that want to go together.

 

[LJC1861]

Our new 3 year old Manx literally adopted us! When Lisa went to meet her at the shelter she took one paw and placed on Lisa's chest in greeting. She was sitting up on a counter at the shelter and was literally at eye level. When we got the word the next day that she was still available and I went down with Lisa to bring her home she did the same thing....got nose to nose with me and quietly "purrup"ed to me. We knew we wanted her just from her picture, but to discover that she wanted us too was pretty special.

She is settling to life in our house beautifully, and seems to LOVE her new home and family. I agree with a previous poster, Abby seems literally grateful to have a new home that does not have any other cats around to bother her.

Linda

 

[Schminston-Mo]

I am sorry for your loss.

I'll second the opinion that if you decide on a kitten, consider getting 2. That way they have an outlet for their lunging attacks other than your feet!

I used to take Petfinder pictures and post the descriptions for a local cat rescue. It was more fun posting the ads for adult cats because their unique personalities are developed. For kittens, you can only say "cute and playful" so many times!

 

[puffkin]

Soooooo, we got TWO kittens, a white kitten and a maine coon kitten. Mike calls them Ike and Tina because they FIGHT all of the time.

That made me laugh out loud....

 

[jenm2878]

We lost our 9 yo sweet gray tabby at Christmas time and recently decided it was time to add another cat to our family. (We also have two other cats and a dog) We went to the APL to look around, and my DH was instantly taken with a 1 1/2 yr old male. He's an awesome cat. Very mellow, just wants love and attention.

I'm sooooo glad we got an older cat instead of a kitten. Kittens are adorable but are so much work. I love the fact that our new boy is already past the crazy stage and just wants to hang out with us. We're still working on indroducing him to our other two, but he's so calm that I don't foresee many issues.

I vote older cat, but really it depends on which kitty steals your heart.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I love kitten antics and have never lost sleep over kitten behavior. I just love their naive nature--thinking they are the big dawg, putting their paws up as if to say "don't mess with me".

That being said, it is such a very short time span--that I don't purpose to adopt kittens. My last adopted kitten was many years ago with the exception of someone giving away a free on at Walmart (NEVER again!).

Our beloved Grumpy passed away due to Kidney Failure a little over a year ago. He was only 13 years old. He has had minor Urinary issues over the years and liver problems. We got him with his sister b/c he was mean, kind of ugly at the time--and he was the last of the litter and noone wanted him. So we adopted him b/c with his demeanor, he may have not had much luck at the animal shelter. He was named b/c of his....attitude. He turned into the most loving cat and he is greatly missed. I believe he took a week or two to adjust. (he was not feral btw--just had lots of attitude).

When we went to pick him up from the vet, they had two cats in the lobby that they were hosting from the shelter. They always take cats who noone wants from the shelter and try to adopt them out themselves. These 2 cats--had been in the shelter for many months. They were still quite young (1-2 years), but they were "over the hill" as far as people coming into adopt were concern.

I'm glad we adopted both--b/c at the time, one was friendly adn the other--not so much. The other--as it turns out, is like Grumpy's twin. Very loving--extremely loving--likes to be cozy. The other, she'd rather keep to herself.

We are at 4 kitties right now. I keep wanting to "cut down" and we just can't seem to.

Give whomever you want a home--but please adopt from a shelter or pet rescue. Don't spend the money on a kitten at a pet store that is "for sale".

Don't necessarily go on looks. Grumpy was an "ugly duckling". He looked like some genius didn't like that he was a white cat, so they slapped on a tiger striped coat. Hard to explain, but he really looked like he was wearing some other cat's fur and had this constant scowl.

My funniest adoption was Tinkerbell. She died earlier this year (walked to her death. ) She hopped into my van one day and I swear she declared me her owner. We promptly took her to the vet and had her checked out and spayed and brought her home. I didn't choose her--she totally chose me.

 

[dakcp2001]

That made me laugh out loud....

Me too! lol

 

[scottishduffy]

I Highly recommend an older cat. All of my pets (dogs and cats) have already come full grown.

I got my current Kitty when he was about 3 and he is now 8. He is the best little cat! Right now he is curled up next to me as I type on my computer. he was a little slow to warm since he had been through 3-4 homes already, but once he did warm up he became the sweetest guy.

Older cats are much harder to adopt out and make wonderful pets! You can trul 'rescue' a cat when you adopt an adult cat. It doesn't affect their bonding to you at all, they love you just as much. Perhaps on some small level they kind of understand where they came from...

 

[JESW]

...and don't forget to post a picture when you decide...

 

[Jcricket Fan]

All of our cats have come to us as feral. We had quite a breader in the neighborhood (we called her Patches for her markings so pretty!) that I was never able to trap so she popped out several litters a year....so very sad.

Her last litter was a little over a year ago when she moved the week old kittens by the back wall of our house. I saw Patches in the driveway and she looked so sad and tired. I can't explain it but she looked at me as if to say she knew I would care for her last kittens because she just couldn't any longer.

I heard this faint crying and found the babies (they looked like hairy egg rolls their eyes were not open yet) I never saw Patches again. This still breaks my heart.

I took all 4 babies in. They needed constant care and bottle feeding. My gosh could those babies howl! We already had 3 adult cats in the house and 5 is really my limit so once I was able to wean them a dear friend took two and we kept two.

I am greatful that I had two kittens together because they were great company for each other. The older cats were not real interested in playing kitten games so the kittens had fun with each other.

I would not seek out kittens as our next cats. They just are too active in the house (only indoor cats for us) I know how many older cats need homes and when we get others they will be older ones.

Best wishes OP with what ever you decide.

I am so sorry for your loss.....a pain I know very well.

Peace.
Colleen