Is it the right time to adopt a new cat?

[brogueish]

I had to let my beautiful 19 year old lady go last month, thank you for all the brilliant advice you gave me then, but the house has felt so very empty ever since. I adopted her when she was 2 so she was part of my life for a long time. I miss having her around dreadfully - I work from home so I notice her absence even more.

I keep looking at the local rescue and rehoming charity websites and I know that I could never replace her, but maybe having a new companion would help? I feel I have so much love to give and there are so many older and overlooked cats that need loving homes out there.

The catch is that we are due to have our first baby in June and we need to have some disrupting work done on the house before then. DH thinks that the timing is all wrong, and he may well be right. I just don't know if I'm looking at this rationally.

What do you think? Could we be a good home for a new cat now, or should I let this go?

I adopted a cat when ds was 4 and I was pregnant again as my kitty passed away through old age. I would suggest if you can go to the rehoming centre yourself to see the cats then take a friend or family members child in your next visit. I went the first time by myself and thought I had found the cat for us when I went back with my son the cats reactions were very different. Most had been friendly to me including the one we ended up with but only 2 cats came near me when I had my son with me. He wasn’t being boisterous or anything some cats are not keen on children. The cat we took home came straight over to us (he came to see me last time too) and was super friendly to my son. He is still good with the kids although my now one year old gets a bit much at times for him as he does tend to be rough (we are trying to teach him to be gentle) but the cat generally goes out when he has had enough.

I'd say it all depends on the cat. We let our lovely 17 year old cat go at the start of Nov. It was so sad, but she'd been living with tumours for 9 months and I'd cried for her almost every day of those months. I almost felt like I'd done my grieving before she went.
Our house was so empty so we kept an eye on the local rescue sites and adopted a lovely 3 year old 2 weeks ago.

If you go somewhere where they know a lot about the cats in their care, they'll be able to advise whether the cat will be happy with your circumstances.

FWIW, we moved house with our last cat and did major building work very soon after. She coped ok. Can't comment on the adjustment to a new family member though.

No harm in keeping your eyes peeled I'd say...

As long as you get a pair of rescues.

A lovely start to the new year for all of you wouldn't you agree?

We lost ours at the beginning of November. Our vet who is a real cat person described having cats in your life as an adventure (which it certainly is with some!) so you never replace them but it's the next part of the adventure.
I volunteer at CP so meet cats regularly. We intend to adopt in the New Year.
Speak to rescues and see what they say. Make sure cat has somewhere safe to escape housework and a mobile baby!

Well, we got our 2 rescues on New Years Day, so they have been with us almost a year now, and they have filled the cat shaped hole left behind when we lost our old 18yr old girl. If you have somewhere safe for them to retreat to when the building work starts then I say go for it!
(And come back and post pics)

Thanks so much for the replies and the great advice. I'd not actually considered taking on two but that would make a lot of sense. I think another conversation with DH is on the cards. Thanks for reassuring me that I'm not nuts for even considering it.

Honestly I think you can overthink these things. I have never ‘waited’ to ‘grieve’ for any cats of mine that have died, not because they weren’t loved but because I know I can give a cat a lovely life with food, freedom, warmth and love and help out a rescue centre and so what’s not to like? Some cats aren’t great with children but plenty are.

Great news OP! You'll know if you find the right ones. When we went to the rescue we specifically asked for a pair of family friendly cats, unfortunately we'd had a bad experience with a different rescue who let us adopt a very non family friendly cat, telling us the opposite. She went missing, very sad story, just wasn't happy in our home. So when we went for the two, we were determined to get it right. Chose a fantastic rescue who really knew their cats and would only show us ones suitable for our family. The two we came home with were the first pair we saw and they are perfect (if a little naughty!)
I know that's a bit of a tangent but just to say, choose your rescue carefully and you will have your happy new beginning! Good luck and come back and update

Definitely it's a good idea to adopt, and also to adopt a pair. I can't comment on how difficult it would be with a baby, but people manage don't they?

However the extensive building work would worry me. Cats and building work are a very bad mix, so I would say it depends on how extensive, and for how long. If you have say a room where the cats could be kept during the building work that might be a solution. But if you are having major work done, which will take a very long time, then it might be wise to wait until afterwards.

We contacted the rescue on the day our cat died (she was one of two, and they went within 6 months of each other). Waited a couple of weeks for the kittens to be old enough to come to us, but we would have taken them earlier if we could.

I’ve always had cats and can’t imagine a home without them. We were all distraught when the previous cats died, but you can still grieve while moving on. The new ones aren’t a replacement for the old ones, and never will be, but they make the house feel complete.

Agree the building work isn’t ideal, but depends what you’re doing. We had a loft conversion and the cats were able to be in a different part of the house so didn’t bother them.