offered an eight week kitten but feeling a bit uneasy

[freshstart24]

I'm looking for a kitten. I've tried v v hard to get a rescue kitten but have had no luck. I would like to be able to get the kitten this week as I have 10 days off to settle it in.

We have a puppy arriving in a month and I really wanted kitten settled and comfortable before puppy arrives.

I've adopted lots of cats before, and lost my two beloved golden oldies recently at almost 20. I've always just adopted whatever cat pulls on my heartstrings!

However I'm less familiar with kittens. The owner been v helpful over the phone. She's happy for me to view kitten Wednesday evening and then collect on Friday at 8 weeks. She had two available and I'm
more interested in the black one she said people want black cats less, so I felt sorry for him! I didn't want to place deposit until I'd viewed and she was happy with that. However when I asked about defleaing and worming she told me that you don't do this until 12 weeks- which a quick google has suggested is not true, as they can be done earlier.

I'm worried that I'll get there on Wednesday and fall in love with kitten and take him home regardless of my gut feel.

What could I be letting myself in for? Is it not effectively rescuing a kitten and guaranteeing the little mite a loving home even if the owner is a bit dodgy? Or should I walk away?

I have a puppy and kittens too OP. It has been bloody hard.
We lost our old girl last year. I was devastated and desperate for a cat straight away. That was July. We had a holiday booked in August. So I waited. Until September.
I have been desperate for a dog for years. Couldn't have one with elderly cat. Couldn't have one with flighty mad chasing each other found the house kittens. Or once they had been spayed and needed quiet. Or once they started to go out(or they might be too scared or cross to come home.) So I waited. Over a year.
They are settled. We have done very careful introductions following advice on Blue Cross and sight hound rescue websites.
But I still have to have her on a longline near the cats. Can't leave them alone together.
Taking on a kitten from someone who is just out to make money YABU. Having a kitten and puppy so close together. YABU.
Re KC reg. it means bugger all I'm afraid. Decent breeders will probably have a waiting list and won't have litters that often.

out of interest, how much is she asking for the kitten? If it's a lot of money, then she's likely just out to make money. If it's a token, maybe that is just to screen out the uncommitted.

I don't know about defleaing/worming, but I remember from our cats (2 yrs old now) that we couldn't get their shots done til they were three months old.

good luck with your new arrivals

Thanks for your thoughts.

She is asking for a token amount.

I'm as confident as I can be about the puppy. The breeders are well known to us and I'm sure they are reputable.

I am not an irresponsible person. I have given this a lot of thought, and taken advice. I can see that the majority of posters on this thread think a kitten and a puppy are a bad idea, but other threads and other research has suggested that with if handled with great care it can and does work.

I will give it some more thought.

To the posters who have been aggressive towards me- you are not helping the situation and you are making unfair assumptions about me.

I think you're right to feel uneasy so that would put me off. I think she is using mum as a kitten producing machine.
The CP I volunteer at had 5 younger kittens (one of whom thought I made a great tree) at the weekend from 3 different mums and an older 6 month old so there are kittens around.
No experience of puppies but puppy and kitten at same time? No.

Kittens run.
Puppies chase.
I think the advice is to settle a cat first and introduce a pup whilst cat is young. Not to have a baby kitten (vulnerable) and puppy (likes to chase and chew) together.

The puppy might kill the kitten

I know mine would have. Not out of any malice but she's a big breed. One of my cats acts like she wants to play with the dog. But dogs and kittens don't play the same. Someone would get hurt.

My girl came to me at eight weeks via the headmaster from the local school she had been deflead and cost me nothing. She has a fantastic life in my flat with outside access. The rescue centres wouldnt look at me. My next one will come in eight weeks from the local tennis club, the owners are devastated their cat is expecting, im not judging shit happens. Again i wont be paying and she will be deflead. Surely its ok to take in a friend of a friends kitten?

Why are the owners devastated? It's always going to happen if you don't get a cat neutered.

I know poor little thing. I was banging on my vets door as soon as she was old enough and someone actually told me i was cruel not to let her have one litter. I really didnt know people sold moggies i always hear of someone looking for good homes for theirs. I wouldnt buy off a stranger but i do get where the op is coming from if shes built up a rapport with the owner.

Those people who advocate just one litter in cats (and dogs) are just not thinking things through.
I don't think they enjoy it and then they get upset when their babies are taken.

These are at my local rescue

There are lots of gangs who rent houses and sell farmed kittens in a format that makes it look like they're household pets.

The reality is that they've been bred in hideous conditions and they're turning over litters via FB and Gumtree.

True hhorvath

I have really really contacted all rescues in my area, none have kittens.

I have plenty of experience of puppies (just to clarify to poster who thought differently). I've also rehomed many cats.

I can appreciate the harm that a puppy can do to a kitten, or a fully grown cat for that matter. They will not be together unsupervised, for a very very long time or ever if necessary.

I'm horrified to think of kittens being farmed out. However, in reality, if I don't take this kitten what will happen to it? I can offer a loving home.

I'm horrified to think of kittens being farmed out. However, in reality, if I don't take this kitten what will happen to it? I can offer a loving home

You'd be supporting an industry that causes scores of adult cats, who are used as kitten creating machines and not treated as living things to suffer.

It's not about that kitten, it's about all the rest. If people didn't buy from them then these people would shut up shop.

Can it not be about that kitten to me? It feels like it is. No one wants it because it's black and she a bit asking for much for it. What will she do to it if she can't sell it?

She's obviously lying to you about nobody wanting it to get a quick sale.

How do we know this is a farm?

It's either a farm or a random irresponsible owner who's allowed a cat to have a pregnancy and has already lied to OP about worming.

Either way it's shit.

I accept that you may be right, but equally you may be wrong. She has a number of kittens, not just the black one.

What do the people who feel that this woman is a front for a kitten farm will do to the kitten if someone doesn't have it.

Unlike other advertisers she has not asked for a deposit as she said she'd prefer to meet us first and for us to see kittens.

What breed of dog is it you're getting? That may greatly affect the chances of success getting a kitten and a puppy so close together.

I'd recommend having a read of this as well. You'll be far more than doubling your work having both at once and even when they're small situations that appear to be fun play can quickly escalate and result in injury to one or both participants.

Thank you I will have a read.

Pup is a Labrador.

Best of luck OP. Sounds to me like there is a little black kitty out there who needs a loving home .... .

Lab puppies (I'm presuming you'll know this if you've experience of the breed) can be absolute sods for biting as puppies. If you go ahead getting the kitten you'll have to make absolutely sure that the kitten always has escape routes to places the puppy cannot get to and nip any play between the two in the bud as it can very easily tip over into more predatory behaviour.

As an aside, you mention the parents of the pup being hip/elbow scored and eye tested but there's also a raft of DNA tests which should have been done on both parents: Achromatopsia, Leukodystrophy, Congenital Myasthenic Syndrome, Cystinuria, Degenerative Myelopathy, Dwarfism, Exercise Induced Collapse (KC), Centronuclear Myopathy (KC), Hereditary Nasal Parakeratosis (KC), Macrothrombocytopenia, Narcolepsy, Adiposity, Pyruvate Kinase Deficiency, Progressive Retinal Atrophy (KC), Oculo Skeletal Dysplasia (KC) and X-linked Myotubular Myopathy.

Those marked with a (KC) are recommended by the KC and so should be considered an absolute minimum level of testing, although ideally a breeder should be doing all these tests and using the results appropriately.

I do know that cornflake- and the rosy extends to all cats and labs not just kittens.

I am also fully aware of the tests required for labradors. My parents have had a lab from them.

I am being completely bashed in this thread and I think some of it is unnecessary.

Im wondering if posters will now begin to comment on my abilities as a parent.