Rescue kittens - I have a dilemma

[AddToBasket]

I'd like to get a cat. We have a big garden, away from the road and we're here most of the day. We've lived here for three years and I sort of assumed we'd just acquire a cat; someone would know someone who was moving etc. That hasn't happened so yesterday we went to the rescue for me to get one.

There were two lovely 4month old kittens and the DSs fell for a gorgeous purry one who was very sweet and affectionate. She couldn't come home with us but will have been spayed by next weekend if we want to get her then.

The dilemma is this: she just wasn't 'my' kind of cat. I had this idea that we'd choose a tabby tom or a scuffy moggy girl - this cat is a pretty white princess with beautiful peach markings. The DSs chose a name I didn't want and DH kept using it and so that's what she's now called.

Should I stick with her? She's on reserve for us but she'll be snapped up in a second by someone else if we don't take her. I'm feeling a bit weird about it - she was going to be my writing pal. I have a lot of work coming up and so a kitten was going to be my study buddy.

Should I wait and get one I bond with? Or should I get the one the family likes and just suck it up?

[cozietoesie]

From my own experience, 'pretty' cats tend to have considerable depths, Add. (They don't generally lie on couches all day asking for tuna.)

You might well find that she would be your writing pal. Just that she hasn't shown that side of her character to the rest of your family yet.

[AddToBasket]

Oh, I know a pretty cat can have depth !

I think I had a picture of what my 'Home Sweet Home' cat looked like and it was like the cats I had when I was little (farm cat types). I'm just feeling a bit off-balance because she isn't like that.

Life sin' perfect and she did have a super adorable nature. It's just... Dunno.

[AddToBasket]

Also, I think the lack of options was a factor. There were only two kittens and I rang other rescues and they don't have kittens at the moment. I want to get a kitten as kittens were also part of my childhood but we had bloody tonnes of the blighters and I'm definitely getting any cat of mine spayed.

[youbethemummylion]

If you have a narrow view if what you would like from a cat I feel you may find yourself dissappointed. I had a rescue cat come to us he was apparently a lazy homebody who never went far and loved cuddles. After the first week we never saw him apart from when he was dragging half dead bunnies through the cat flap and he never ever sat on anyones knee for a cuddle! We now have a rescue who was apparently timid and likes to be outside away from people a lot. She hardly leaves the house and sits on anybody and everybody. Cats are like a box of chocolates you never know what your going to get until it is too late!

[Migsy1]

Why not get 2? Problem solved.

[Branleuse]

get two.
i have two unrelated rescue kitties i got at the same time and they are the best of friends.

[cozietoesie]

In 3 years you haven't been acquired by a cat by some means and now the rest of the family have fallen for a kitten - and named it! (Very important, that.)

I think you have to live with the situation now and see what she's like when she comes to you. After all, the family could have chosen, say, a tabby who turned out to be Horrid when they came to live with you. Rescues can only predict on available information - they can't say with certainty how a cat will interact with your household.

[FabBakerGirl]

We got two cats at the rescue place last year. All of our choices were already taken or on reserve. We ended up being shown 2 cats and tbh not really given any choice. I discounted both on seeing their photos and wasn't sure for a few days as I really wanted tiny kittens. I didn't want to queue though as that seemed really unseemly. The two cats we were shown have now been living with us since May and we are all completely under the paw . I just wouldn't be without them now. They look nothing like my cat I lost but they are lovely in their own ways and they chose us. They never came out when any one else viewed them...

[Terrortree]

I have two cats that I wasn't keen on when I first saw them. I'd would fight you tooth and nail if you tried to take them away from me - they are just the best company, and full of normal 'cat idiosyncracies'. You stop seeing the cat but start knowing the cat quite quickly after they come home.

And you can always get a second cat in the next few months - kitten season has only just started...

[tobiasfunke]

Get 2. Then when they are kittens they get to play with each other rather than wreck your furniture. The rescue centre round here tries to rehome kittens in pairs.
I had a massive large tabby who looked really hard but was the biggest jessie ever and screamed like a girl/Ned Flanders.
I also inherited a small black and white male kitten who was a puffed up ball of froof. Looked like some sort of designer cat you might carry in a handbag but it turned out he was a lean, mean killing machine and a total hoot.

[AddToBasket]

Get 2! That might be the answer.

Do I need to get them together/leave a big gap or would this one be OK if I were to re-home another kitten in, say, June? I hadn't really twigged about the kitten season or I'd have started looking in a few weeks time. (Is that the kitten season?! Spring?)

[FabBakerGirl]

Get them together otherwise Cat 1 will think they are Top Cat and that isn't fair on Cat 2.

[QOD]

I'd never get two together again, they didn't ever bond with us

[Migsy1]

You could get them together or one now and another later but if you don't get then together you will have to go through the hassle of introductions.

[Terrortree]

I got mine four months apart. Introductions took 24 hours. The best thing to do is to ignore new kittie and lavish attention on old kittie so new kittie learns its place! Worked for me anyway - although it was hard on us hoomans!

It's best if you get a girl first, then a boy cat as in most multiple cat homes, the girl is the boss. Mine get on fine - they don't often cuddle up together, but will share my bed, sleep in the cat tree at the same time. They chase each other around the place and rarely does it get into a bigger fight.

As someone said, it is more likely they bond with you if you get the at seperate times as well. However, you will be kitten-ed out by the time they turn 1 (I was anyway!) and can't wait until they become middle-aged kitties!

[Iwouldratherbemuckingout]

On the issue of bonding if you get multiple cats together, I've done it with a few batches now, never a problem.

The current 3 monkeys all came from the rescue together, play like mad together, but all loves their mum and are bonded with me.

[AddToBasket]

I got the sweet-natured kitten. Turns out she's absolutely FAB and I am besotted

[Sparklingbrook]

Fab, We will need to see a picture.

[cozietoesie]

[HolidayCriminal]

I heard that if you never put them down (okay don't exhaust a kitten, so within reason) that they are more likely to be come addicted lap cats.
(You have been warned if you go down the route).

I have 2 black cats. I find black dead boring, I chose them for personality though. One of them is honestly the handsomest cat I've ever had. Both are very very cuddly.

[Fluffycloudland77]

We need pictures. I bet she's fab.

[HoneyDragon]

I am not a Labrador person, they are not the sort of dog I have in my head when I think dog. I'm on my third, they find me, and each one has been the right dog for me despite being in a Labrador casing

[FabBakerGirl]

.

[TheTerribleBaroness]

Oh come on Honey - the whole of MN knows about your thing for Labradors!

[HoneyDragon]

Sssssssh!