Possible adoption of a 10 year old Cat....

[Mamf74]

Hello All,

A while ago I posted in Chat about my DH's Uncle's cat - his Uncle died and left the cat and the family were looking to see if she could be rehomed. As her vaccination / health status was unknown they took her to a local Cat shelter and she is now their "Cat of the Week", for rehoming.

We are in London, cat is in Sheffield. We have a 3 year old and the shelter have advertised her as being suitable for rehoming with older children, although I think that is down to her being an older, lap cat rather than playful kitten (according to the family she's not spiteful or aggressive).

So, DH has now said that if no-one has taken the cat when we go to Sheffield at the end of June we should bring her home with us. Is this a good idea? I think DH feels guilty about the cat, and is under a little pressure from his family now they know he's considering it (although none of them want her ).

I know nothing about cats at all, would the shelter allow us to take her without a home visit? Would the trip be too much for her? And where would we start with regards to settling her, getting stuff for her etc.

Our plan would be to go and meet with them (without DD) then, if they think it's ok, take DD along and see how she and the cat get along. From there it's a blank!

Any advice seriously welcomed, there are loads of older cats awaiting rehoming so it looks like she'll still be there in a couple of weeks.

When my Mom died, Seniorboy (then 13) was personless - and it just so happened that I had a vacancy so took him on. Non-one else in the family was prepared to have him. He's opened up enormously, become more social - and is still going pretty strong at 18.

The big thing, however, is that he was a family cat. It makes a huge difference.

This is the problem area, I think - UnclesCat is only used to being around Uncle; he was a bit of a loner and a hoarder so he tended to go and visit family rather than have visitors, which I why I'm a bit concerned about her being flung into family life. By all accounts she's lovely and I think some of the neighbours talked about taking her but couldn't (other cats).

I think the family connection is what DH is bothered by; she was a kitten when DH's much loved Auntie died, she chose and named her etc, so I think DH feels responsible for the cat. I really don't want to piss on his chips, but am thinking one of us needs to be a bit pragmatic as it's a lot of change for the old lass.

Well what do you know? My Mom was a loner and a hoarder as well. I've just allowed Seniorboy to have a safe place (the bedroom) and if there's too much going on, he takes himself up there and goes to bed. He's become much more social than he was with Mom, though. (He's lying on the bed as I type, looking beatific.)

It might be worth a try for you all.

Thank you so much for your encouragement, cozietoesie, feel a bit more confident about it now!

We'll have to see what the Shelter thinks then take it from there - am a total cat novice so hopefully if it all works out they'll steer us in the right direction!

Cats adapt though, we had a retired breeding queen who had never been outside in 7 years. She was scared of everything and frightened of spiders and cat toys.

We taught her to play and she got over being arachnophobic.

We adopted our boy when he was somewhere between 8 and 10. He adapted quickly and was a lovely, loving pet. We hadn't had cats before and it was a learning curve, but we got there. Make sure food/water/tray is easily accessible and he has somewhere safe to hide. The we let him take his own time to get used to us.

I couldn't be without a cat now.

Thank you for your positive stories! I think we'll phone them early next week (we're going up there on the 22nd) to see how the land lies. I have a lovely friend who is a Trustee of a shelter here and has offered to do a home visit on their behalf if they need one.

Quite excited but trying to be "The Sensible One" and not get as giddy as DH!