offered an eight week kitten but feeling a bit uneasy

[freshstart24]

I'm looking for a kitten. I've tried v v hard to get a rescue kitten but have had no luck. I would like to be able to get the kitten this week as I have 10 days off to settle it in.

We have a puppy arriving in a month and I really wanted kitten settled and comfortable before puppy arrives.

I've adopted lots of cats before, and lost my two beloved golden oldies recently at almost 20. I've always just adopted whatever cat pulls on my heartstrings!

However I'm less familiar with kittens. The owner been v helpful over the phone. She's happy for me to view kitten Wednesday evening and then collect on Friday at 8 weeks. She had two available and I'm
more interested in the black one she said people want black cats less, so I felt sorry for him! I didn't want to place deposit until I'd viewed and she was happy with that. However when I asked about defleaing and worming she told me that you don't do this until 12 weeks- which a quick google has suggested is not true, as they can be done earlier.

I'm worried that I'll get there on Wednesday and fall in love with kitten and take him home regardless of my gut feel.

What could I be letting myself in for? Is it not effectively rescuing a kitten and guaranteeing the little mite a loving home even if the owner is a bit dodgy? Or should I walk away?

[thecatneuterer]

Do not buy a kitten. Please. It will encourage her to keep on breeding her cat. The reason you can't find a rescue kitten is that kitten season is just beginning. Cats are giving birth all over the place at the moment, but will need to stay with their mothers for ten weeks before being homed. In two months from now rescues will be drowning in kittens. A few cats give birth out of season and they are the ones that people are selling at the moment. When that cat has her second litter they probably won't be able to give them away.

Don't contribute to the problem by paying people to not neuter their cats. It's better to wait for a while and get a rescue.

[freshstart24]

Hi there, thank you for your advice. I can totally see your point but I've been looking m, emailing and phoning for 8 weeks with no luck and for my family waiting will make the card settling in period more tricky.

This kitten has been born, and needs a home. I can see your point but I would like to give it a home.

Am I asking for any more trouble in terms of a pet than if I rescued a kitten?

[WannaBe]

While I disagree that there are loads of kittens in rescues, I do agree that buying a kitten from a home environment is a really bad idea. The fact there are kittens in this home in the first place shows that the owner is either irresponsible by not having had her cat neutered in good time or not taking sufficient steps to keep it inside before neutering, or that she is actively trying to sell kittens in which case she likely won't get her female neutered in the future.

There is no excuse for anyone not to have their female cats spayed in this day and age.

The reality is that rescues don't have nearly the volume of kittens which they used to,and this is in part due to the fact that neutering programmes are more successful, and the fact that people do go to rescues over home-born kittens as the price generally includes vaccinations and neutering whereas your home-bought kitten will still cost £150 plus just for a kitten.

I couldn't find a kitten for love nor money last year when I was looking to adopt one, so I ended up rescuing a beautiful three year old cat instead. Unfortunately she was killed by a car just four months after we brought her home, and I have sworn off having any more for the time being. But if I did I would opt for an adult cat as these are often overlooked.

Could you look at adult cats instead? I wanted a cat under three years and there were plenty to choose from in the rescues I looked at, even ones who could potentially live with dogs.

[Wolfiefan]

You want a kitten. Cats can live for over 20 years but it has to be this week?

If you work full time then don't get a kitten. Especially not one from a backyard breeder who just wants the money.
You say this kitten has been born and needs a home. But if you buy it then this person will just keep breeding for the money.
And if you get a tiny 8 week old kitten then it won't be settled and neutered and ready to face a puppy in a month. We had our girls over a year before introducing a pup.
You really haven't though this through OP.

[freshstart24]

Yes I could adopt an older cat. My last 6 cats have been adult rescues and for many reasons I would like to have a kitten this time around.

The only breeders that appear to exist are for pedigree kittens. I would prefer a 'moggie' for reasons that I believe are valid. However, they are hard to find!

I accept your concerns but am hoping to find out if I am any more likely to be taking on a pet with issues if I take on this kitten than a rescue kitten / cat?

[Wolfiefan]

You won't find a rescue mog kitten as it isn't quite kitten season.
I'm going to guess that yes you work full time. You don't care what life the mum cat/breeding machine has and that the puppy has come from a puppy farm too.

[freshstart24]

Hi wolfie. I have thought this through. I've taken advice including that from Mumsnet which said the best way to introduce puppies and kittens is at a young age and very carefully.

I do not work full time.

I am very familiar with the needs and longevity of cats.

[ZilphasHatpin]

You're getting a kitten and a puppy within a month of each other?? Why??

[fuzzywuzzy]

The woman is lying, the kitten should be de-flead and have her shots up to date and a clean bill of health from the vets.

I wouldn't buy this kitten the woman sounds like she's just out to make money.

We adopted our kittens from our vets, they re-home strays maybe ask your local vets?

Also if you're going to be out of your home a lot might be worth getting two to keep eachother company one little kitten will be lonely alone all day.

[Asmoto]

freshstart While I agree with all the points on this thread about responsible breeding, I think in your position my heart would rule and I would want to take a little black kitten from a potentially irresponsible home to a place of safety. The kitten has been born now, and needs a home - he will end up somewhere - better for him to end up where he will be loved and looked after.

[freshstart24]

Wolfie you have judged me unfairly. Your guess about my work is just that 'a guess' and it's completely wrong. How could I possibly be taking on a puppy if I work full time.

I work 3 days a week and would be out of the house for 3 hours maximum. However, for the next few months at least I will be WFO.

Puppy has come from registered kennel club breeder who my parents and aunt have used more than once. Parents are hip, elbow scored and eye checked.

You may decide now to judge me based on something else, and I can't convince you with words on a screen that I am a responsible pet owner so shall we agree to disagree and move on?

[tabulahrasa]

Getting a kitten and a puppy at the same time is... well it's not a great idea, I'm not sure who told you it was, but they're wrong.

You'd be way way better off just getting the puppy, making sure it meets cats regularly and getting a kitten next year once it's not in the mad puppy phase.

[Gallavich]

Let the puppy settle in for a few months before you get a kitten. I can't see why on earth you would want to do both at the same time!

[MsMims]

You've been very responsible in choosing your dog, as a comparison the kitten you're interested in is a similar situation to a puppy farm. Bred with blatant disregard for the welfare of the existing cat and future kittens. She's already lied to you about worming etc, do you think she'd let on if they'd suffered from cat flu or worse?

Apart from the compelling ethical considerations (backyard breeding is inexcusable), a rescue kitten will be a much safer and healthier bet. They would be blood tested for diseases like feline aids, vet checked, microchipped, cost of neutering included etc. You would be informed of any hiccups in their early weeks that may (or may not) be relevant to their future health.

Yes the temptation to get the kitten out is overwhelming but buying from someone like this just perpetuates the cycle of breeding and misery. If she struggles to rehome them this time it may well make her think twice about doing it again.

[Checklist]

Wolfiefan - it may be unlikely, but you can get a rescue moggie kitten out of season. We got two, last March who had been born feral in the December.

As for kittens with issues, the vet said to us that taking on feral kittens means you don't know what you are getting! One has had a string of health problems, possibly viral!

[freshstart24]

So the only ethical way to get a moggie kitten is from a rescue, and the only type of cat that I can ethically buy from a breeder is a pedigree?

I don't like the way that pedigrees make cats valuable and so unsuitable for going outside. I also feel that various cat characteristics are exaggerated in pedigrees and so prefer moggies.

[Gallavich]

Lots of people let their cats have one or two litters before spaying. Not in a backyard breeding for profit way just in a being slack/love cute kittens way. I got my kitten from a friend of a friend whose cat got pregnant before they got round to spaying her, she sold the kittens for £20 each to cover the cost of spaying (and she did it, mummy cat had a shaved patch and stitches when I picked up kitten)
Ask around?

[WannaBe]

The problem with this notion of getting the cat out because "it's already been born" is that if the woman sells the kitten to you for upwards of £100 and she has say, six kittens then that's a £600 straight profit she's made from her moggie given she hasn't even bothered to de-flea or worm the kittens. And then after that you'll be paying approx £60 for vaccinations, another £90 or so for neutering, so that's your moggie taken care of for nearly £300 before you've even bought a pouch of cat food, and it's a kitten you'll be letting out at around the time your puppy will be coming into the house to disrupt its life.

And if the woman manages to sell all her kittens she has no reason to neuter the cat in the future.

As for the people who have a few litters for the cuteness factor, well nothing like humanising a cat is there? Cats don't know if they've not been able to have kittens. Once they've been spayed they don't have this urge to be parents like humans do, however having litters is not beneficial to them in any way at all.

I sympathise with the idea that you cannot get a rescue kitten. I couldn't either and I was looking in rescue season and this idea that there are thousands of kittens out there then is simply not true.

However, the fact that there aren't thousands of kittens out there is testament to education on how not to allow your unneutered cats free range Amongst the local toms, and meanwhile there are plenty of older cats in rescues looking for homes.

But if you're getting a puppy shortly I would seriously wait.

[littlemissM92]

No op, no reason why it would have any more problems than one from a rescue. Go get that kitten bring it home and love it to death (get them both and don't get a dog)

[Jellybean85]

While everyone has made valid points a lot of hate towards op!!
Op to answer your question, I've adopted both a kitten and older cat from rescue.
Older cat was only roughly around 1 so hardly geriatric.
It's hard work with a kitten and I would agree takes longer than a month to fully settle.
The kitten had a mad half hour every night once we went to bed. He would sprint from one end of the living room to the other over and over again making a total racket. If we left the room when he wanted to play/love he just meowed like crazy

[Weedsnseeds1]

If you are getting a puppy an older cat with a proven track record with dogs might actually work better. You don't really know what you are getting with a kitten, it might be fine, it might not. They are manic when they are tiny though! If you do get the kitten, it will need flea and worm treatment and lots of entertainment. Good luck whatever you decide.

[Cyrpusinsummer]

There are hundreds of kittens in rescue near me in the south east, two rescue pages have just come up on FB, they are over run with kittens.

[caoraich]

I feel for the OP here. Your question is about worming/de-fleaing and that's what would concern me.

All our kittens have come from surprise pregnancies via friends of friends etc. The most recent kitten was born as a result of a tom getting in through the roof space and impregnating an indoor cat! We paid mum's owner a bit of money and she used it for vet checkes for the kits and getting her cat spayed. However our kitten had been checked and had appropriate worming etc when we got her at 9.5 weeks. If that wasn't the case I'd have been very reluctant.

I get your point about breeding and I'd never want anything but a random mog. I'd love a dog and growing up we had a proper "bit of everything" dog. Whippet/spaniel/scottie/collie/god knows what else! He was sharp as a tack and lived til he was 22. Dogs like that just don't seem to exist any more. Weird, isn't it?

[Trustyourself2]

The kitten obviously needs rescuing, but the fact that she's expecting payment makes me uneasy. She shouldn't be asking you for money for giving a home to a kitten that she doesn't want. I'm wondering if she's using a cat to breed? Do you know her or is she advertising online?

[thecatneuterer]

The reality is that rescues don't have nearly the volume of kittens which they used

Ha ha. I so wish that were the case. In kitten season we normally take in two litters a day! And we're only a small rescue. At the moment we have scores of mothers with kittens in foster care until the kittens are old enough, and more are coming in daily.