Preparing for a pet

[swedex]

Hi

We've decided to get a cat sometime next year, most likely a rescue my husband has finally caved and accepted the rest of us would like one!
Before committing what do we need to consider? How should we prepare?
Many thanks! And merry Christmas

I'm had two DCats a long time ago. You need to consider whether they'll be indoor DCats, allowed to roam or have access to the garden with something like Protectapet to make it so that they can't escape.

And definitely start hanging around the The Litter Tray section to garner the odd tip

The boring (expensive) parts - good insurance and finding out how it works (increases with age, difficult to change later if you get it wrong/find out you didn't cover enough, due to exclusion with pre existing conditions), vet pet health plan for check ups and regular flea/worm treatments.

Get a cat flap (unless planning an indoor cat).

Research local cat shelters- some of them may have a lengthy wait to be vetted so worth signing up soon. Some may not have a website only a Facebook page. Catchat is a good site to find quite a few (but not all) near you. Some shelters will be fussier than others, so speak to a few and work out which ones are ok with your road, children’s ages etc. Bear in mind they probably won’t be answering phones till the new year.

Decide what sort of cat you want - indoor/outdoor, boy/girl, kitten/young adult/older adult, single cat or pair. Any strong views on colour.

That’s about all the prep we did for our rescue! We did a very fast shop at Pets at Home on our way back from the shelter…

Enjoy! My DH was a reluctant cat adopter and now adores our cat!