Considering a cat

[missmartini]

Hi all, looking for advice from all you experts!

I've never had a pet let alone a cat but would love one. Live with my DP and two DC aged 6 and 3. We both work full time as teachers - my DP is in a more freelance role so is mostly home by early afternoon and completes paperwork/ plans at home. My DM watches my children before/ after school/ nursery and can pop into my house no probs throughout the day, she stays a few streets away. We obviously have the school holidays and my aunt owns a very respected cattery we would use for holidays etc.

We live in an end terrace 2 bedroom with garden in a quiet street - few cats roam around. We're not too far from a main road.

First off...do we have a lifestyle that would suit a cat? We don't go out too often maybe once per month at most.

What breeds would you recommend around children? We are also talking about a third DC so would like to know cat would be ok with newborn as well.

Indoor/ outdoor cat - could you advise me on pros/ cons?

We're also looking to move next year (possibly) to a bigger house - the estate we're looking at is in the same area (the other side of the main road I've previously mentioned) where again is reasonably quiet and not too far from the main road...would a cat cope with this transition or are we better waiting till we're in the new house?

Last point...I'm more interested in rehoming but I've heard mixed reports of success around children...any success stories?

Thank you for any help you can give x

As long as your 3 year old is taught how to behave around the cat. It shouldn't be an issue. Some of the larger rescues may of consider you because he's 3x but some small local ones might, as you sound ideal cat slaves. Tell the rescue your circumstances and see which cats they suggest. What ever you decide. You must insure them.
Having a cat is the best thing ever. You'll not regret it!

An adult rescue cat is best when you have kids - you will have the best success finding a suitable cat if you are guided by the rescue and don't have too many specific requirements (i.e. sometimes people approach the rescue where I volunteer and want to adopt a cat who we know is very shy and not suitable for a busy home with children just because it's a "beautiful" cat...). They will also be able to match you with a more streetwise cat. Many ex-strays are ideal because they are laid back and streetwise.

If you live in a house and have children, it's not practical to have an indoor cat as it would be so difficult to prevent escapes when your kids are in and out of the garden etc.

Your lifestyle sounds fine for a cat, again an adult cat (or even a pair o cats!) is ideal when you work full time.

We have recently adopted a rescue cat. She's 4 years old and has settled in brilliantly, very patient with our 3 dc. We registered with 2 local shelters and the second one already had her in foster care. She came from a large family with small children so we were fairly confident she would be ok with the kids.

Its divine having her, we wanted a cat for ages and we chose to wait till our youngest was 3 and we'd moved into a long term house. I guess you never really know how a pet will react to a new baby and I was a bit worried about litter trays and crawling babies... but plenty of babies are born into families with pets so I am sure it's not too big a deal. We just wanted to be properly settled first.

Thank you all for your advice.

I regularly take my 3 year old up to my aunts cattery and he's quite confident going in and feeding them some treats and things. I know it would maybe be different having one all the time but hopefully he would continue to be as gentle/ confident.

I've looked online at availability of local rescue centres for rehoming but none are suitable for children but will keep looking. I'll try and pop along tomorrow and speak to someone there too!

I'm so excited but trying not to get my hopes up at the same time if that makes any sense!

Can I ask one last question about costs...could anyone give me a rough idea of insurance costs, food costs (preferably per month)? Does insurance cover any vet fees automatically or would that be on top of as well if there was anything?

Not all cats are advertised on rescue websites - we usually have a couple of people waiting for child friendly cats (or indoor cats, or senior cats etc.) and will contact them directly when suitable cats come in. So it's worth emailing a few places and registering your interest. There is a list of rescues by area on this website: www.catchat.org/index.php/cat-rescue-centres-uk-ireland

Insurance tends to be in the region of £10-30 a month (cheaper for kittens, going up a bit as your cat becomes a senior 8 yrs +). Insurance covers vet fees and medication etc. for the treatment of illnesses and injuries but not routine vet care (such as vaccinations or neutering). Many vets now also offer an additional vet care package that helps to spread the cost of routine care - I pay £12 per month (per cat) and it gives us monthly flea treatments, quarterly worming tablets, annual booster vaccination and 2 routine check ups per year, with an additional 5% discount on everything else.

Food costs depend entirely on what you choose to feed... supermarket pouches are about 25p each, or you can feed posh stuff like Thrive at about 90p a small can.

Thanks @viccat for that info

I really want to make sure I can provide properly for the wee soul and that all sounds fine within my means!

I'll visit a few places tomorrow and see where I go from there!

Thank you all for all your help!

In terms of choosing a cat, your best bet is to get the whole family together and go to the shelter to interact with them. My criteria were that the cat had to purr when petted and continue to purr when picked up

Then again I didn't have a 3-year-old. Your criteria may be different.

Insurance doesn't cover all vets visit and you may not want to claim for everything. Depends on your excess. You can get health plans with vets that cover vaccinations and flea treatments. Mine gives 2 free consultations a year and one for vaccination. It also offers free nail clipping. You need to decide if it's good value for money for you or not.
My insurance is £52 a month for my 8 & 6 year old Persians. However we've had £16k worth of claims and they have cover it with no quibble. (Tesco)

Definitely worth getting an adult rescue. Kittens are a scratchy nightmare.
If you’re going to move soon then you will need to keep your cat in for at least a month before it can go out.
Catproofing a garden is a good thing if you’re close to a main road. And indoor cats? Only if there’s a good reason for them not being allowed out and it’s what they’ve grown up with.

Definitely thinking a slightly older cat, kitten I think would be too time consuming at the moment. I'll hit a few shelters myself tomorrow and then go back with the kids when I've seen a few. I don't want to take them too early and they get all excited then something doesn't work out!

Thanks so much for all your advice everyone, o really appreciate it!

When we worked full time we got a bonded pair. Mum and son. 2 years and 18 months. Yes really were mum and son.
Kept each other company.

In regards to visiting rescues be mindful not all welcome visitors all day every day. For example the one I volunteer with has its headquarters at someone's home so visits are by appointment only even though you can find the address online. Also many smaller rescues have their cats at foster homes rather than one big centre.

So it's worth contacting them by email/phone first.

It sounds like a,lovely home for a cat.

My spoiled little princess eats middle range to posh. Lilly’s kitchen and thrive mainly. I get her food on Amazon’s subscribe and save so it’s a bit cheaper. Bit I think she costs about £1.50 a day in food. Research food, some supermarket stuff is very low quality. I had no idea cat food was such a hot topic until I looked into it - we only buy grain free.

Insurance is £10 per month and we have vet membership that is £9 per month and covers flea treatment checkups and annual boosters.

She is worth every penny.

Oh and look into catflaps. I control mine via an app on my phone. Brilliant.

And sometimes they want to introduce the whole family to certain cats. Sometimes cats are homed quickly.

I would wait until you move. Moving is not always easy on a cat and a larger house means they can easily ‘escape’ from the family and find a quiet hiding place. I’m basing this on how my cat would cope but other may have different and more experience.

My friend has a cat she had since a kitten and does not let her put. She is a very unhappy cat who is often ill with stress related illness. Cats are suppose to roam.

Thanks all so much for your very helpful advice.

We've discussed moving but are equally happy where we are...it's still a bit up in the air. Defo want another baby so it will be a move or extend into the attic...both of which might be a strain on any potential cat to join us so if it's best to wait to after that upheaval that's what we will do. The last thing I want is to cause distress to the little soul who might have already been through the mill at some point. I'll talk to the staff tomorrow and see what they say.

The rescue home local to me is an sspca one and is open 6 out of 7 days for visitors till 4pm so will pop down tomorrow as on holiday from work. I'll just get general advice tomorrow and find out from them about the home visits and what I would need etc

Btw...cat flap controlled by an app!!! Amazing!! Is there one of those I can get for DP as well?! 😂😂😂

Does anyone volunteer at an animal shelter? I could do every second Saturday and would be quite keen...reading all the stories of the wee souls on the websites tonight are making me want to do what I can. Are volunteers widely accepted or is it more a hindrance than help to the employed staff? I'm meaning someone like me who likes animals but as I said before have never had a family pet so no experience! Honest replies are very much welcome I don't want to be a pain to anyone doing a wonderful job!

You say your local shelter is SSPCA? So you are in Scotland? If you are n the Lothians I can advise about local rescues, if you want to PM me.

Thanks @chemenger but I'm in Lanarkshire I'll look locally first and then give you a message if we need to look further afield.

Thanks for the offer 😊

I can't resist pointing you towards Monty on the Lanarkshire Cat Protection webpages! So sweet looking, and black so likely to be overlooked. With CP (if they are like the branch I foster for) it is worth chatting to them, often cats come in and we already have suitable adopters on our books so they never get advertised.

@chemenger he literally must have came up cause me and DP have already discussed Lola! Lol she was the only one shown online earlier on! Awww wee monty! I'm terrible...I could take them all!

Take both! I love having two.