Pedigree or not? Kitten or adult?

[gossipgirl56]

Hi, I'm looking for some advice really. We have two children ages 6 & 3 years old. Do we go for a pedigree or a moggy? Kitten or adult? I've had a look in several cat rescues in South of England but nothing available that would be suitable for young children and no kittens available either. Not sure where to find a cat for us and should we have a kitten or adult cat, which one better when young children? Ta

Personally I would go for a young adult moggy as you know what you're getting temperament wise.

Kittens are scratchy and bitey little fuckers and I wouldn’t have one with very small children. It’s not kitten season yet so you won’t find many in rescue. Sadly you will in a few weeks.
An older cat is a much more known entity. Our first cats were a mum and son. 2 years and 18 months. Old enough to sheathe their claws but young enough to play. This time we got kittens. They are NOT suitable for a young family but it wasn’t obvious when we saw them as tiny kittens. They also hate each other.
If you don’t have a completely burning desire to have a particular pedigree then I wouldn’t bother. I love Siamese. But couldn’t justify that. I wouldn’t breed or show and there are sooooo many in rescue.
Oh and I do love the little shits we have now. But if they had gone to a family not prepared to be bitten? They wouldn’t have stayed long.

Young adult rescue.

And this is the longest of long shots. But our first rescues came from Katz castle in Cobham. They took time and care to match the best pair to us.
Good luck OP

Young adult rescue. For a start you are doing something good as opposed to encouraging people to breed yet more cats in a world where there are already too many for the number of homes, but more importantly from your point of view you will probably get the best cat for you that way. With an adult you know the temperament you are getting. With kittens you have no idea. Rescues will have suitable cats and will know which would be ok with young children. And just because they aren't on the website doesn't mean they don't have them. Those are usually the cats that get adopted soonest, so often they don't make it onto the website. So just register your interest with a few rescues and take it from there.

A comprehensive list can be found here: www.catchat.org

TCN knows her stuff OP.
I would never take on kittens again.
Might foster when the DC move out though

I will have a look at the list and try ringing couple of places, thank you!

I also came to say to contact rescues as not all cats get listed on their websites. It also seems a slightly slow time of year for rescues in terms of cats coming in - I'm not sure exactly why but we always have space available this time of year and others seem to do as well, and then we are full to busting again the rest of the year! - but going into late spring/early summer there are usually always more cats available.

A laid back adult rescue or a pair is best with children. Rescue doesn't always mean they come from a bad situation, many of the cats at charities have been rehomed because people are relocating or develop pet allergies etc.

Unlike puppies there isn’t a huge amount of “moulding” you can do with kittens in my experience. They scratch and bite and can be completely nuts until they mature. As everyone has said above, a young adult cat is a much better bet as their personalities will be known, and they are far more easily matched to your family. As it happens, rescues are full of exactly that type (if you get a choice, pick a black one, they are the most “unpopular” colour for some ridiculous reason).

www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/55-siamese-cats-been-rescued-2665652

Plenty of Siamese cats need rescuing..

Hi I'd go for a young adult rescue.
I've had two young cats from rescue, first from cat protection. She was 6mths old when we bought her home, and was 22 when she died. We found our second at blue cross rescue. She was 14mths, we've had her six months and she's lovely.

As said above the rescue centres take time to match you/your family to the cat best suited to you, and at the same time your giving a homeless cat a loving home.

Meant to mention Blue Cross also operate home start. The cat stays with its family until a new home is found. The cat is taken to the local centre by its owners for you to meet. You have a second meeting then take him/her home with you.
This eases the stress for many cats needing new homes.

Agree with others. Definitely a young adult rescue as you know their temperament.
Rescues don't always know if cats are suitable for children as they may have never lived with them or they have no background on the cat.
My DD "tests" out some cats at our local CP to see how they are with kids. Rescues will want the entire household to meet the cat prior to homing.
There are always young adult cats needing him-sadly a lot of people still buy kittens, novelty wears off or they can't cope with them.

I think the only thing I can do is to try some of the smaller rescues. I've checked the big ones and all the cats available are for families with older children. I tried checking some of the pedigree rescues too but I was having the same issue there, only for families with older children...

Adult moggy 100% when children are concerned, temperament is a lot better and children (particularly toddlers) aren't known for their awareness, DC are similar ages to yours and I still have to remind them to be careful with the cat and calm down.

We got ours from bluecross and they were great, DC came with us to meet him whilst he was being fostered so they could be introduced and see how he reacted to them. Incredibly lucky as he's the most laid back fusspot I've ever had.

Smaller rescues or one that uses foster homes is a good idea. They also may be less concerned if you want an adult. A 3 year old and a kitten isn’t a great combination. But a sensible older cat would be better.

Agree with a young adult from a rescue, but you might struggle to find one that will let you have one with a 3 YO. Kids that age tend to not leave cats alone, which makes them stressed and scratchy.

The rescue that I foster for would probably be very reluctant. But worth a try, as all have different policies, but do contact them - many aren't very good at keeping websites up to date, or don't put all the cats available on the website for various reasons.