Where can I find a kitten?

[Wannabeyorkshirelass]

Is it just the wrong season for kittens?

I'm registered with Cat Protection but they don't have any kittens at the moment.

I'm checking preloved, gumtree, pets4homes and freeads daily but there's not much coming up, and the ones that are coming up are either dodgy looking (eg people selling one kitten) or silly money - I have the money but just won't pay £200 for a moggy and encourage irresponsible backyard breeding/pet ownership.

It does need to be a kitten for various reasons. If I know that there will be lots of kittens later in the year I can happily wait. Is there anywhere/anything else I should try please? Thank you!

It isn't kitten season. That said the Cats Protection I volunteer at had a litter of 5 who were rehomed at the weekend. You may get slightly older kittens day 5/months at rescues. To be honest they are less messy!!!
Please don't buy a kitten via Gumtree, pets4homes etc. They are likely to be dodgy/using mum cat as a kitten producing machine.
There is website called Catchat which lists all rescues in an area.

That should be "say 5/6 months old"

Adult cats are just as wonderful and you know what you are getting.

Ah I guess I'll have to wait a few weeks then.

I'll have a look at Catchat thanks. And I'd also always be super careful when buying a kitten and avoid anything that looked remotely dodgy. There are a LOT of dodgy ads.

Ours was from cats protection. Wood Green also had one. Few months back though. You might just need to wait a bit.

I adopted my Siamese after an old lady advertised her on Facebook.

I know adult cats are wonderful, I have one (and have had several in the past including rescues) but we have really specific reasons for looking for a kitten this time.

Thank you. Cats Protection have been lovely so hopefully we'll be able to rehome one in a few weeks/months.

Please stay off Scumtree and the like. It won’t be long until rescues will (unfortunately) be snowed under with kittens. I know you say it has to be a kitten but would you contemplate a slightly older one. Rescue I volunteer in has a 4 month old kitten (now reserved).
Without being too specific, can you give a vague idea of where you are so people can suggest rescues?
Good luck!

I would also check local vets.

Do you have a local group/charity that rehome cats?
There’s a small group of people near me that catch feral cats and rehome, they get a lot of kittens. It’s worth searching Facebook

What are the very specific reasons you need it to be a kitten rather than giving a home to a deserving young cat? You realise that kittens grow? That in a couple of months the cute little bundle of fluff will be just the same as the ones that don’t currently fit the bill? Why so important that it’s a kitten?

It's not kitten season!!

There will always be a few born out of season, but cats generally give birth twice a year, in Spring and late Summer. In a couple of months all rescues will be flooded with kittens. Please don't buy a kitten from anywhere - it only encourages people to be irresponsible. There are far too many kittens born for the numbers of homes available, don't give anyone a reason to add to that number.

So hang on a couple of months and CP will be very grateful for the home you can offer.

I would look for an older kitten. There may be kittens for Christmas whose novelty has worn off . I looked recently on Pets4homes, Bumtree, Preloved and Feerads. Lots of expensive cats and kittens, plus older moggies. Some seem genuine.
There are some rescue centres advertising on these sites. They may well have an older kitten.

Please don’t go to a website. “Genuine” people rehome through a rescue.

Do they? Genuine people tend to neuter their pets so they won't have kittens. Definitely look at the rescue centres though as they will probably get an abandoned kitten or pregnant cat in the spring.

I have heard of people taking on a cat they believe was spayed.
Responsible owners spay.
Those who genuinely want to rehome go through a rescue.

I'm in the same boat as you in that I'm looking for a kitten. It's not kitten season yet and although some shelters have them local to us, they only rehome in pairs. Not keen on going to gumtree and they are very expensive! We already have lovely adult cats and are a cat loving family. I'm going to spill my guts on the reasons for this desperate kitten hunt:

DD (9) is an avid animal lover but doesn't remember our cats as kittens and last year she was subjected to some strange behaviour from a neighbour of a close elderly relative. The neighbour found a pregnant cat and took it home. DD was excited at the prospect of seeing kittens and then when the cat's owners came to get her the neighbour immediately 'found' three orphaned newborn kittens. He really hooked our DD onto the care of these kittens. DD was never alone with the man but one kitten then died (DD heartbroken) and elderly relative started to put pressure on us to leave DCs with the neighbour and even tried to engineer a situation where DC would be left alone with him, when we refused my relative got cross and said he would trust the neighbour with his life!

Needless to say we have cut contact with kitten man (other red flags were present) and DD has been very sad and confused about the situation even now, many months on. The neighbour even got my relative to pass her some photos of the kittens, including the dead one. This has caused her to be fixated on the kittens.

As I say, we are a cat family and a new kitten will be loved. I feel like DD could get closure from the situation if she has her own one. Also DH and I are thinking about a counsellor for her, but other family members have scoffed at the idea.

So angry at the man, to me it's like textbook 'look at these puppies' type grooming.

Wow MyThirdEye, well done you for cutting her off from a dodgy situation. That does sound weird and inappropriate. I wouldn't trust the elderly relative anymore either.

In response to:

What are the very specific reasons you need it to be a kitten rather than giving a home to a deserving young cat? You realise that kittens grow? That in a couple of months the cute little bundle of fluff will be just the same as the ones that don’t currently fit the bill? Why so important that it’s a kitten?

Kittens grow?? Really??

I don't owe you an explanation for my decisions just because you assume I'm stupid, uncaring and irresponsible. I shared the information that for us it needs to be a kitten because it's relevant. My personal circumstances are not.

Thanks to all the lovely people who offered good, sound advice though. I'm sure our kitten is around the corner.

Kitten = 20 yr commitment (potentially). Eeek.
I wanted 2 x 6-7 yr old cats. CPL would ONLY let us adopt kittens, b/c DS was under 5yo, they insisted that an older cat could never get used to children. Few months later a pair of older cats suitable for living with kids did turn up on their listings (boohoo, we already had the only-allowed kittens by then).

Our cats are nice, though, born in August so were still kittens in January when they arrived. Keep looking, be patient to get what you want. We should have been more patient.

There is someone over on ‘Chat’ who wants to re-home a kitten. I think the thread is called something like ‘Advice please - unwanted pet’. You never know; they might be round the corner.