Getting a cat - advice from cat owners please (especially if you have DC)

[ferrisbeullersjacket]

Looking for advice on a new pet (cat). Context is we have a 5.5 year old and busy jobs / lives but I do wfh most days.

I am a previous cat owner, cat lover in fact. I had a cat growing up my whole life and looked after her devotedly so I feel I know quite a lot about them. She was a rescue cat from cats Protection League. I actually got her when I was 5, and she lived to the ripe old age of 25!!

Anyway my DS has been asking for nearly a year to get a cat. He doesn’t seem to understand you can’t just go to a shop and buy one (well some people do but I never would), and I need to teach him they are living things and not a toy. But I think it would be valuable for him to have the experience of adopting a pet cat. We are a one child family so no more kids on the horizon and we have the capacity to adopt a pet.

What should I bear in mind or think about with this step?

Questions I have are:

I assume Cats Protection League will want to look at our home?

I assume they would help us adopt a cat whose temperament suited bring around a typical 5 year old boy?

We are in London and I grew up in the country so having a cat on the streets does worry me, though it’s a quiet leafy road. There are also two other cats in our street, though one seems to be a housebound cat. The other does mooch along the wall outside our garden. My childhood cat used to get into all sorts of fights and scrapes either other cats, but she had a huge territory of fields etc. how does it work when the territory is a tiny flat with a small garden??

When we go on holiday we don’t have anyone here to help out. As a child my grandfather would pop over twice a day to feed the cat. Do people use cat sitting service to drop by? I can’t imagine using a cat kennel / cattery as they seem cruel.

Are there any other things I should think about here?

I am quite busy with work and other responsibilities but hoping as I mainly wfh the cat would feel looked after. I know it’s a commitment and also £££ with vets bills etc. so I want to make sure we take the step conscientiously and get everything ready beforehand.

Can you afford food, litter and vets fees?

Are you prepared spend time and actually look after the animal ie clean it's dishes and litter trays, groom, stroke and play with the cat. As much as they're independent they also like human company.

Are you also happy to train your child not to harass it as well

All of those answers should be yes.

you may struggle adopting from cpl as I’ve heard they are more reluctant to adopt out to those with small children. You maybe better to find a smaller local rescue. I foster for one but in South Yorkshire and they do adopt to homes with small children but this is very much based on cats temperament all cats are fostered before rehoming so they can be assessed. In terms of the road they would also perform a home check and assess if an indoor or outdoor cat would be suitable. Where I foster they won’t adopt out a cat if the person wants an indoor/outdoor cat if they don’t think the road is safe or surrounding roads.

i have used a cat sitting service and a cattery and was much more comfortable him being in the cattery he had a small room with glazed door, things to climb on and a window etc and people around all day, he wasn’t too fussed when I came to pick him up. It was also cheaper than a sitter (x2 30mins visit a day £30 x1day in cattery £20) I did my research and I would 100% take him there again. For the odd night away he gets left with an autofeeder

I adopted from Blue Cross and had never had a cat before. They asked about home and did a Google maps view of my immediate area (they were happy there was a huge park at the end of our road, which never occured to me). They didn't visit, but it was COVID times so that could be why. Cats Protection might be different.

We were after a middle aged, house trained, and independent natured cat. He got matched with our lovely boy and he was all of those things. At that point. One of the things with getting cats from rescue is that they can change once in a home environment. Our nice natured but unneedy boy, who I chose because I also didn't want to not give him the attention he needed, has turned into a lapcat who loves to sit in on my Teams meetings and who tells me off if I go out for too long. Mind you, if he goes out then that's different according to him! So what you think you're getting and what you get might be different, but I wouldn't want mine any other way.

And yes, we use a visiting cat sitter, but if only overnight, we use an auto feeder and a pet cam. He always yells at me when I get back even though I can see he has been having the time of his life on the sofa all to himself.

I am a home checker for a cat rescue - although not Cats Protection League. I can tell you what we would do. We always conduct a home check to see if the home is suitable and to try to match cats to families. This is usually done online. Prior to that we always check whether the location of your home is suitable as we believe that cats should have access to an outdoor space and so some applications fail at that stage because they can’t provide outdoor space that is reasonably safe. We are not super fussy about what people’s homes are like inside - but we do ask questions to try to assess whether people are good cat parents!

Some of our cats are suitable for families with young children and some aren’t - so we would bear that in mind in matching you to a cat. We like it when people are as open as possible to different colours etc if cats so that we can match on personality which is the most important thing. We don’t like it when people are fixated on one cat colour!!

And yes there are lots of people who offer cat feeding services or you could consider house sitters. Hope this helps and good luck!

Different rescues will have different criteria. They might look at proximity to busy roads, outdoor access etc. You can but ask.
DH had a rescue cat when his kids were 7 & 9. Cat was a very placid older tom. Exceedingly good with the children. Sounds like you are able to afford a cat, as for holidays - overnight you can usually leave them with extra food. More than that you would need to think about a cattery or sitter/neighbour. Don't leave a cat out to fend for itself. Cats need company but cope better than dogs with having owners working out of the house. Mine sleep about 20 hours a day!

Rescues have their own procedures for home checks, but my local branch of the RSPCA does video tour of your home and also looks at Google Maps to check proximity to hazards like main roads and train lines. After that, they'll want to know about your cat experience, who will be loving with the cat and how often someone will be at home. They'll use this information to match you with a potentially suitable cat that works personality and setup wise for your family and home. You'll then have an opportunity to meet them at the rescue or foster home before making a decision. Expect the fosterer to watch how you interact with the cat and ask questions like whether you'll be getting insurance and when you would take them to the vet. Being patient, sitting on the floor to get to the cat's level and waiting for the cat to sniff you/gain confidence are all green flags.

If you are considering a kitten, bear in mind that rescues prefer to re-home kittens in pairs or to a home with an existing friendly cat. This is for the kitten's welfare (single kitten syndrome is a thing) and because having a singleton is very demanding on the owner's time and patience! Older cats are usually re-homed singly unless they have a particular need for a friend.

WRT to outside access, some rescues only place cats in indoor-only homes while others are happy for most of their cats to have free access outside. Have a look at the individual rescue's rehoming policy to check. There will also be some cats who can only be rehomed to indoor-only homes due to a health condition like blindness or being FIV+, or because they've only known life indoors and are too old to learn road sense. If you're concerned about hazards in your local environment then it's possible to cat-proof your garden or install a catio to give secure outside access. My own cats free-roam but wear trackers so I can see where they go and intervene if they start getting a bit too adventurous.

Good luck! I wouldn't be without my fleet of cats :)

ETA: I have two cat-sitters who visit our home twice a day when we're away. They're insured and send me a video update when they visit so I know the cats are happy.

I currently foster for a charity. Could you see if there’s anyone local that does it? They can give a good insight into the cats they’re fostering and whether they’re good with children. The lady I foster for gets the info from me and then when the cats go up for adoption she’ll ask my opinion.

I’ve currently got two cats that came from the same place, one is great with children and the other absolutely isn’t!

Weve always had cats, since before kids were even born (now young adults).

My input - use local rescues, where cats are being fostered in actual homes. This gives you more of an idea of temperament being around young children, check facebook if you’re on it as lots of them will have pages where you can get a feel for the kind of rescue they are. They will most likely do a home check, but not always, with our last cats we were asked to fill in a questionnaire and that was good enough for them, they were absolutely overloaded with unwanted cats and kittens 😒

Always used catteries for ours. We have a brilliant one that has large two room pens (we have several cats). Personally I wouldn’t like a stranger coming in my house when I’m not there. Just remember if you do use a cattery most will expect your cat to have had their yearly vaccinations.

Try a local foster/adoption charity. When my dear cat passed away at the age of 20, I went onto Facebook and found a local charity.
We went to visit the cats and filled out a questionnaire. They then asked for a video of our home, the garden, the road and asked questions re how much we were at home, what we did for work etc. They then brought the cats to us (I assume to check I wasn’t lying about the house and living situation).

Worth mentioning, some places won’t allow you to adopt just one cat, as they state cats should have company etc. We initially wanted to adopt one, but took two bonded sisters. To be honest, having two is lovely. They keep each other company when we are out and on holiday etc. We get a cat sitter when we are on holiday, to come in twice a day to feed/play/change litter trays etc.
Pet insurance for them both is £23 a month. Food costs us around £50 a month and litter around £15 (we buy food and litter in bulk from Amazon). Yearly injections at the vet is around £80 per cat.

I wouldn’t be comfortable with them being in a cattery, but I think it really depends on the cat’s temperament.

@MrsCat1 Do you mind me asking what you would look for in an outdoor space? We are also thinking of adopting a cat, and our garden is not secure but backs onto lots of lovely big gardens, however, there are roads close by.

I’ve held off even looking too hard as wasn’t sure on the outdoor space requirements.

OP good luck with your adoption!

Cat momma to a 2 year old British Shorthair here (and 13yo human child).

Each rescue has its own criteria, but if you look online you’ll find that cat profiles do generally mention what type of home they’d be suited to and if they’re an indoor or outdoor cat.

You could consider getting an indoor only cat if you’re concerned about it being let out, you’d also have to figure out how it would get in/out safely if an outdoor cat. Do you have a back door that you could fit a microchip cat flap into?

Yes, you can get cat sitters, or perhaps you’d trust a local neighbour with a cat to pop in and feed daily, and offer them the same in return. That being said, if you’re only going away for a night or two, you can possibly leave the cat. I have a Petlibro automated feeder for dry food and water fountain, they also do a wet food feeder.

In regard to other factors… perhaps adopt an adult cat that is already established in its personality so you know a little bit more about it and if it’s a good fit for your family. It is probably also less work initially as less training required. Definitely talk with your son some more. My son also wanted a cat for a year or more before I also agreed, but he was 12 at the time so there was a bit more responsibility attached to it as I said I’d expect him to help out with cleaning the litter tray (but nothing stopping you having the same approach). Definitely do your research if adopting a specific breed that isn’t just a domestic, some cats are more prone to certain illnesses, might be more fussy diet wise (our cat has very expensive food taste!), require more grooming, have different temperaments etc. You said you live in a small flat so think about where you’d put things. Cats don’t really like having litter tray, water or food close together. Then you’d also need a bed and scratch post, at minimum. I’ll be honest and say out of everything, the cats stuff is what I’ve struggled with the most but I’m one of those annoying people who like to have aesthetically pleasing things and cat stuff just doesn’t really fit into that! Last thing I’d say is get a cat when you know you’re home for the foreseeable. The first we considered getting was a kitten in late July, but I didn’t want to be home training a cat all summer. We ended up getting a 1 year old in the end, and we got him in January when I knew we’d be home the majority of the time whilst he settled in (he did sulk with us the first day we left him home alone). Also I’ll say, when we first went away I would send him to a family members to be looked after but he’d give us the cold shoulder for days afterwards. Now, we arrange someone visiting him at home and he much prefers that. With rehomed cats, I do think they may be more sensitive to changes based on uncertainty. Sorry if I’ve rambled, hope some of this helps.

I have 2 cats and a 7 year old DD.
I would always suggest getting a bonded pair not just one cat.

@BlackberryandcherrySure! We first check to see if people are near a busy main road - usually an A road - and if so that’s a straight no. By nearby I would say within about 200 feet of the house but we also look at likely routes that a cat will take so it’s a bit subjective. We then look at access to garden space etc and what other roads are nearby. Your situation sounds like it probably could be ok. Most people live near roads with some level of traffic - it’s just big, busy roads that we exclude. Smaller, local roads are fine. Generally I would say we are fairly easy going as a rescue. We cover both urban and rural areas and I would say that we only refuse about one in five on the grounds of location. But rescues do vary a lot in what their home checks cover.

We have 2 cats, boy is 17 and the girl is 10. Older one we already had when our daughter was born (along with another who died when our daughter was 3, we then got the 10 year old about a couple of months later) Or daughter is an only child, and we were well aware that a lot of rescues don't rehome cats with a small child in the house so we went elsewhere for her. She has always been gentle with them, even as a baby but I totally understand why rescues feel this way. As someone said before, often rescues like to home cats in pairs, mainly for company, but paying for two as opposed to one can become very costly indeed.. Both of our cats are insured, but boy has health problems (discovered during covid) and so for the last 6 years we have had to pay a fortune in increasing insurance fees, because of his age we have to pay so much towards his drugs and so on, the insurance now is 100 a month just for him. Sadly we know he will only be around for a few more months (if we're lucky) as he is deteriorating, but thank God the other cat is OK for the moment. Imagine two cats with health problems and the cost of that?!
Also to those saying catteries are cruel, we've put ours in one when we've been on holiday for years, and we've had no problems at all, these places wouldn't be in business if they weren't doing their job! (Having said that, if boy is still around when we go on holiday this year, we won't put him through it as he's so old and weak, my mum will come to stay here as he needs drugs twice a day at certain times)

All really helpful, thank you very much everyone.