Looking for a cat - rescue or breeder?

[GnomeDePlume]

We have just buried our second cat - a 4 year old we had as a kitten from Cat Protection. His brother died two years ago. Both had feline leukemia contracted from mother and died from related complications.

We want to get another cat.

What is the best option, risk another rescue cat or go to a breeder? Are both options equally risky? What we really want is an underbred moggy but we want to be confident that we wont be burying him in a couple of years time from an entirely preventable disease.

Any thoughts please?

Rescue cat - dont get a kitten, we have a rescue boy and he is in fantastic health, I had a lovely cat [moggy] died at 19.

I'd definitely say rescue cat-I don't think they are any riskier in general than pedigree cats, and in many cases will live longer and have fewer health problems. I think you were just unlucky with your other cats

Sorry to hear about your loss, btw.

My rescue cat is a funny bugger- I didn't choose him, he just arrived. He is a right moody and temperamental psycho cat, but you can't help loving him!

I have rescue pedigrees from the bread societies.

£50 donation for each fully vaccinate, fully spayed, full histories, pedigree papers.

Rehomed for genuine reasons too.

Is it acceptable to ask for a potential kat/kitten to be tested for diseases up front? I dont have a problem with paying I just dont want to put the kids through another young healthy cat dying before his time. Both our cats died after short sharp illnesses without time to prepare.

I think it is perfectly acceptable, especially given your history. The CPL I think routinely test for felv/ fiv before rehoming, and I know the SSPCA test for fiv (but not felv, for some reason) Any cat charity would be happy to have the tests done, especially if you were happy to pay, I'm sure

I work with some of the cat charities around here- whereabouts are you?

JollyJinglyJoo thanks for that. Not sure that the CPL do test (we had our cats as kittens from CPL, they were immunised but that doesnt work if they are already positive).

We are in East Midlands.

Ah, sorry, I'm in Scotland. I think some branches of the CPL test now, but it's worth speaking to the charities, as I'm sure they'd be understanding. Good luck!

Thanks, Jolly

Def contact the breed societies of any breeds you are interested in, they nearly all have adults up for rehoming and will let you know if they are used to children, are friendly lapcats or not IYSWIM

My local Cats' Protection is full due to a number of people being evicted and not able to take their pets with them.

You can probably pick up a cat with a complete history of vaccinations / health record.

wolverhampton.cats.org.uk/wolverhampton/adopt-a-cat/?cid=15816

I got my cat from a woman who lived in a flat over a pub. She advertised in the local paper 'kittens free to good homes' she interviewed us, then sent us on our way with our kitten, picked out by DD1. We were probably lucky she had nothing by way of health problems, but she did turn out to be allergic to commercial catfood that contained preservatives and artificial colours.

Try looking here www.catchat.org/ We have just adopted two brothers from a rescue centre. They were part of a group of 10 cats and 11 kittens that were left behind when a family were evicted They are 14 weeks old and delightful, can't imagine being without them already

Thanks all

DH has just spoken with vets (returning unopened drugs, cancelling next appointment which is all rather sad).

They have said we were quite unlucky with the two we had and also didnt have high opinion of pedigree as the blood line can be quite narrow.

So, we are thinking to go down the rescue route but insisting on testing before we seal the deal. Of course some wont allow the testing but then IME that is part of the test IYSWIM.

Good luck, we are in the middle of the process of adopting some kittens from CPL. It has all been more protracted process than I expected; though maybe I need that to get my head around all the aspects of it and the costs (oh the COSTS! ). The funny thing is I don't even want kittens, I would rather have mature cats, but kittens are the only ones they list suitable for living with young children. . And only black ones available, to boot. You might want to go in with a rather fussy list of criteria to start & take more time to find something suitable, I think if we get too fussy we'll never adopt anything at all, though.

I feel your pain lljkk I went to the CPL with exactly such a request, given the websites all say the older boys and girls shouldn't be homed with young children, only to be told that kittens shouldn't be homed with young children.

So that's a pair of cats that could have a home that won't.

Note: my child was born into a home with cats that I managed to look after for 18 and 19 years.

I feel your pain lljkk I went to the CPL with exactly such a request, given the websites all say the older boys and girls shouldn't be homed with young children, only to be told that kittens shouldn't be homed with young children.

So that's a pair of cats that could have a home that won't.

Note: my child was born into a home with cats that I managed to look after for 18 and 19 years.

We got our cat from the local Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, as a kitten. I went for the interview, explained I had young children and said we would be happy to have an adult cat or kitten.

They called 3 weeks later to say an older mother in their care had just had kittens and there were 2 left, would we like to come and see them? One was a girl, short haired, the other a tom, fluffy. I was all set thinking we'd have the girl. We turned up and the girl was very shy but the tom climbed striaght down and started playing with the children. He chose us. They warned us he had a heart murmur but that this was quite common in kittens and he may outgrow it. We spoke to the Battersea vet and she said it was up to us to decide if we still wanted him.

Of course we did. We went for it. They called the next week ( he was still too wee to take home ) to say they'd checked him again and the murmur had gone.

He's 2 next month and the light of our lives. The children adore him, but I love him most.

We've started looking into getting into a cat, preferably 1-2 yrs old. The CPL didn't really have anything suitable, I want one that is friendly and good with children. They did say they had one possibility in a foster home, but it feels weird to go to someone's house and then not like the cat.

Is it normal to visit lots of fostered cats before you decide?

Too many into's there

If I was being at all fussy I reckon we'd have to visit 4 or 5 fostered cats before choosing. Just be very up front about it. And phoning around more, and dealing with up to 5 different cat/animal rescue set ups! It's like a 14 year commitment (potentially even more) so not silly to take your time about it. We only got approved by CPL yesterday & don't think I'll be ready for the kittens until end of next week. I spoke to a lady who visited her dog-to-adopt three times, almost 2 hours drive away each trip, before being sure about it.
(Lovey dog, has to be said)

I would recommend farm Kittens, they are usually very cheap and robust ours have always lived to quite an old age with very few problems.

We got a 3yr old from a local rescue. Her whole history was known, so we know she had lived with dogs and children.

We were quite specific about what we wanted and ended up waiting about 3 months. I also turned down 2 we were asked to visit in foster care.

Ive had both rescue and from a breeder. Archie is a british shorthair and is an amazing cat. The only thing about breeders is they tend to say the cat has to be a house cat (suited me fine). He is more laid back than any of the moggys ive had and think i would only have another BSH from the breeder i got him from (or she reccomended).