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The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

Original poster

Where can I get kittens?

63 replies

Purplebluebird · 26/04/2017 15:22

I'm a crazy cat lady with lots of experience with cats, and I want to get 2 kittens now. Want kittens so they can grow up with my little one. No rescue places in a huge area around me has any, and nowhere else I find either! I want mix moggies under £100, but they're all reserved Sad previous cats have been free from people I knew, so not sure where to go?

OP posts:
TooManyButtons · 26/04/2017 15:23

Where abouts are you?

DramaAlpaca · 26/04/2017 15:25

It might be a bit early yet. The main kitten season is coming up so give it a month or two and there will be loads of them in rescues looking for homes.

Vinorosso74 · 26/04/2017 15:26

The CP I'm at has some and no doubt more to come. London area.

chemenger · 26/04/2017 15:27

My CP has just had the first two litters of the season rehomed. We have a waiting list for kittens.

thecatneuterer · 26/04/2017 15:29

You are a bit too early. The vast majority of unneutered females are (unfortunately) giving birth right now. Kitten season started with earnest around three weeks ago. Kittens have to stay with their mothers till they're 8 to 10 weeks, so a huge glut of kittens will be around in around six weeks time.

They will then be everywhere and the best place to get them is from a rescue of course.

How old is your child? A few weeks won't make any difference one way or the other to them growing up together. Wait for kittens to be available in rescues. If you pay money to people who are irresponsible enough to let their cats breed then you are making the problem of the oversupply of cats worse are you are encouraging people to do it.

WatcherOfTheNight · 26/04/2017 15:34

I adopted 2 young kittens from cats protection a few weeks ago.
They were the second litter rescued in our area & the fosterer was taking in more a few days later.

Original poster
Purplebluebird · 26/04/2017 16:19

Great, thanks for the replies! Of course we can wait some weeks or months (but I am broody for kittens!) and hope for some to come to the rescue centres, which is what we really want.

My little one is 3, so for him it doesn't really matter if we get a cat or two now or in 2 month's time. He adores cats so I'm very excited to get them.

We used to have 4 cats in one go before, but I think 2 will be max this time round, 4 was a bit too much!

I will give it a little while longer and keep checking the websites :)

OP posts:
thecatneuterer · 26/04/2017 16:35

I'm so pleased to hear that :)

Vinorosso74 · 26/04/2017 16:53

Not all the kittens make it on to the websites mind!
Slightly older kittens but we had two gorgeous 8 month old sisters come in today. They need to be spayed but as soon they're ok to be homed they'll be gone.

thecatneuterer · 26/04/2017 17:24

Yes that's very true. You need to register your interest with a rescue. kittens often don't make it onto the website, especially the first ones of the season.

Original poster
Purplebluebird · 26/04/2017 17:24

How often should I phone them? Every week? I am aware kittens sometimes don't make it onto the website, but a few say they don't have a waiting list, so it's just about catching them at the right moment.

OP posts:
isseywithcats · 26/04/2017 19:50

as people have said get in contact with local rescues and register an interest in adopting a kitten, ring them weekly and also if you get them to home check you in advance when a kitten comes in that you are interested in you will already be approved, the rescue i work for has already got 150 kittens in foster homes most of which are already on hold for people, but another month or so and most of the rescues will be up to thier necks in kittens good luck xxx

cows573 · 26/04/2017 20:40

Having watched another thread about a new kitten from a private seller on another chat room, I would be wary of buying a kitten for under £100.

We have just adopted a stray pregnant cat and have been looking into how much it will cost to ensure the kittens have been properly checked etc prior to re-homing.

The cost of feeding the mother on kitten food prior to the birth is extensive on it's own. Then there is worming of the kittens regularly, at least one vet check prior to re-homing, approx. £50 each for just the first set of vaccinations, £20-£30 for micro-chipping, the cost of feeding the kitten until it is the age to be re-homed (probably very minimum 10 weeks but preferably 12 weeks) and the cost of litter.

If a private breeder is being responsible and doing all this, then the kitten would have to be more than £100 to buy...

I would say that the majority of private breeders probably do not do this, usually rehome them much younger and therefore, the kitten could cost a lot of money in the future.

Just a thought....

thecatneuterer · 26/04/2017 20:52

Ah, I don't know then. I don't understand why they don't have a list. Is it a big rescue? Have you checked www.catchat.org to see if there are any others in your area?

Original poster
Purplebluebird · 26/04/2017 21:08

Oh wow, that's a bit disturbing @cows573 .
In Norway where I'm from, kittens are generally being given away for free due to the oversupply of kittens. Imagine that, lovely Norwegian Forest cats just melting your heart and you can pick them up without the heavy cost :) (My first cat was half forest cat). They wouldn't have had vet checks or anything though, at least not in the rural areas.

Anyway, I will keep checking with the rescues. I can't afford more than say £80 per kitten, with food, toys, collars etc in addition. The rescues around here are £60-75 per kitten. I have spoken to them all, and found one at last that say they have 3 kittens. Someone else has dibs on one or two, but hopefully they will have one so we can have the two others! :)

OP posts:
thecatneuterer · 26/04/2017 21:13

Believe me there is a huge oversupply here as well. We also charge for kittens (£50 or so), but that is to cover the neutering (which we do very early before they go), their vaccinations, flea treatments etc. I imagine your rescue will do similar. And that is all stuff you would have had to pay for anyway.

Vinorosso74 · 26/04/2017 21:36

The rescues do ask for a reasonable adoption fee to stop anyone taking on cats/kittens without thinking about the cost and any dodgy types along with getting some of their outlay back.
As TCN says they will be vaccinated, chipped etc which will save you money initially and depending on rescue may also come with a few weeks insurance.

isseywithcats · 26/04/2017 21:46

most rescues dont cover thier costs from adoption fees alone as neuter vacs, chip, flea worm litter food always comes to more than the adoption fee, but adopters will only pay a certain amount they dont realise how expensive vets fees are, they fundraise to cover the shortfall ours charges £80 for a kitten and poorly kittens cost a bomb in vets fees but we cant pass that on

Original poster
Purplebluebird · 26/04/2017 21:53

Oh yes, I completely understand that, and we have added it all up - the fee the local rescues charge, is a very very good deal in terms of everything you get from it (including neutering vouchers etc). Definitely up for that.

OP posts:
isseywithcats · 26/04/2017 21:57

dont forget that one of the rules of litter tray is that you post pics of your kittens when you get them so we can all go ooh and ahh x

SparklesandBangs · 26/04/2017 22:01

Ours were around 4 months when we adopted them, just over the really cute phase. We didn't set out to adopt kittens we went for 1 young adult cat but these 2 needed us (or so my DD told me). This is my 3rd cat adoption experience.

Our local shelter had a very high turnover of cats we went up on a Saturday morning the place was buzzing and cats were being reserved, there were 3 litters of kittens.

Where are you OP someone may be able to suggest a rescue.

NoSquirrels · 26/04/2017 22:10

We went looking for a pair of kittens and ended up with a 9-month-old stray male, and a 5-year-old female. Don't regret it - the young cat was still (is still) very playful and fun but not so much of a pain in the arse as young kittens would have been!

We went to CPL, and they said no lists, as too time-consuming to administer with time-wasters, but come back in every week (or call having been in a few times) on a Friday, and that soon kitten season would mean there were loads waiting (May/June). So I'd try to strike up a relationship with a local shelter, and bide your time.
(And don't discount e.g. a mum-cat and one of her kittens)

hapagirl · 26/04/2017 22:20

Our local cat rescue was evasive about whether they had kittens or not when I called and just told us to come in. I guess they wanted to see if we were weird or not. Then they showed us all the cats ( who were lovely but all needed quite homes etc. we have three dds). At the end, they said "you know, we have a kitten room"! And there we got our 11 week old kitten last year.

Original poster
Purplebluebird · 26/04/2017 22:30

Aww so sweet to hear! I will of course post photos :) I have been in touch with all the rescues in an area we can get to, so I've got full control, I'm just a bit impatient!

OP posts:
isseywithcats · 27/04/2017 16:40

a shame you dont live near bradford a friend of mine who runs a small home based rescue has two boys up for adoption, one black, one black and white and she is a proper rescue not a backstreet breeder x

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