New cat?

[tomatoplantproject]

Can I have some advice please? We have just decided that we would like a cat. We are TTC so no babies in the house yet, but there may be one or two in the future. We thought that we would like a young cat from a rescue home rather than getting a kitten from a breeder.

I have just registered with Battersea Dogs Home, but are there other worthy places I could go to? We are in London.

Any does anyone have any advice for what we should be looking for when we go and meet a potential new cat? And any breeds which are friendly/like a cuddle/can be independent?

We both grew up around cats (and my mum has successfully taken in strays/rescue cats so I know we might need to use lots of patience).

TIA

Yes - the Cat Protection League. Definitely lots of patience. When I got mine, they were scared, shy and it took several months of patience before I could stroke them at all.
When you see them, go with your instinct. They told me one of mine would never be a lap cat. But she is. Sits on your lap, purrs all the time.

Thanks UC - you make it sound likes its all worth it! Is there anything that they'll be looking for from us, particularly when they do the home visit?

Have a look on here on cat chat If you put your location on the top left it will give you a list of rehoming centres local to you.

They were quite interested in our plans to have children - mostly from point of view of warning me of dangers of toxoplasmosis from cat poo!

They didn't want us to have kittens with small children either. And they wouldn't have given us the ones they did if we'd had young children at the time, as they were so traumatised and frightened.

I think it will depend on the cats - I don't recall a home visit at all though... Ours arrived and were so scared they stayed under the futon in one room to start with for a few days, then ventured out but only in that room. We gradually increased their "exposure" to the rest of the house, and finally, outside - but that was a good few months.

Guess it will depend on the history of the cat. Ours were particularly stressed and afraid of people. However, you'd never know that now...!

Good luck, it's definitely worth it!

Thanks both. We need to work out how we can fit a cat flap in (our back doors are double glazed and it looks bloody expensive to put in a flap) so unless my clever DH comes up with a good solution we need to get saving before we can become kitty-parents. We would rather not have a litter tray in the house when we have a perfectly respectable garden.

Toxoplasmosis? Eek... [head in the sand emoticon]