Views on whether it's become difficult to find a nice moggy

[Twixes]

I'm a fairly recent cat convert, of the evangelical kind and I've been so lucky to find a brother and sister kitten for adoption via a local free ads page. They are adorable, so friendly, purr like mad and so calm and accepting of my kids, particularly of my two year old who doesn't quite get the gentle-with-animals thing.

Anyway, to the point of my post; when I was at the vets he said it's almost impossible to get a nice moggy like you could years ago. (In our naice middle class area) people have become almost too sensible, neutering all their pets and now we're only left with ferals/semi-ferals and overbred pedigrees. I was a bit taken aback by his comments but I can see where he's coming from, in order to get my kitties i had to have an alert set up and move quickly, the list interested was insanely long!

Is there a possibility that the lovely handreared mog, born in someone's kitchen is becoming extinct?

Well, of its true then its a good thing, just take a look at your local rescue centre and you will see dozens of older cats waiting for their home because they get passed over for cute kittens. No such thing as being too sensible when it comes to neutering cats, your vet sounds like a bit of a twat tbh.

• if its true

No, my local rescue centre is full and can't take any more cats at the moment. I am always constantly seeing moggy kittens posted for sale on facebook as well.

But the thing is people don't want the older cats, it's a sad fact. Last year our biggest rescue was inundated with people looking for kittens, people were frantically putting their names down for them!

I know it may not be the same everywhere but that's the situation here.

What's a nice cat though? Mine was stray for 4 years and is possibly the most gentle loving cat I've ever met
The only thing he hates is being picked up, but the neighbours child can lug him around under one arm and he just blinks at her
The fact he was stray/feral is neither here nor there when it comes to his temperament

I think anyone who actually is a cat lover would have an older cat. I adopted two of mine as adults, they were actually much easier than the dumped kitten that I took in.

Well then that's extremely sad and people need to stop breeding kittens to give the older cats a chance. We adopted our 2 at 4 yrs old, the rescue knew their personalities and were able to recommend them for our family set up. We love them to bits, they are part of our family and I am proud to have given them their forever home.

I'm thrilled to hear that that is the situation at least somewhere. Here in East London it most certainly isn't. We have hundreds of unwanted nice moggies (we of course have even more shy/semi-feral/difficult ones, but there is no shortage of young, problem-free, 'nice' ones). This most certainly isn't a middle class area though.

At the moment we're in the throes of kitten season (at the moment we're taking in an average of two mothers and new born kittens a day) and in a few weeks we'll be swamped with lovely, problem-free kittens, and we'll struggle to find homes for them. The adults don't even seem to get a look-in around that time. It's great that the neutering message is getting through somewhere, because around here it certainly isn't (and I'm writing this with beautiful kittens jumping on my legs - another unwanted litter and we're so short of space they are currently living in my bedroom).

Perhaps you should look at rescues in your nearest down-at-heel urban locality.

As a lifelong cat owner I know when my two current fur babies are gone I will be adopting an old cat to live out it’s days in peace and comfort. And then another one after that. And so on.

Step into an economically deprived area and you'll see for yourself that reaponsible cat/pet ownership is far down the list of the community's priorities.

*responsible

People want kittens, but then end up rehoming them when they grow up and turn out to be prolific hunters / cats that prefer to be only pets / livewires / crazy spikey adolescents etc that don't suit their family. Adopting an adult is great as you can be matched to a cat that suits your lifestyle and home.
I adopted my gorgeous boy aged 5 after his owner sadly died from cancer, he's now 11 and my best mate.
There's plenty of fab moggies in rescue (I used to volunteer in an RSPCA cattery, I honestly could have taken home several cats each week!).

This is Gatsby. We adopted him from friends of ours. He was rejected by his mother and hand reared. We adopted him 16 months ago, when he was 2 months old. He promptly decided that I'm his mum

As you can see he is a very nice boy.

Our Biggie came from a shelter. I petted him. He purred. I picked him up. He still purred. I said, "Oh, Honey, I think this is the one." He is a very nice boy and practically worships Daddy. He is smiling for Daddy in this pic. Gatsby is sleeping on Daddy's lap.

I’m in contact with a few cat rescues and they are all overflowing with kittens.

It’s kind of hard to imagine a future without stray cats.

"people don't want the older cats, it's a sad fact. "

I guess I'm not "people" then. I'm some other species.
I really wanted a pair of 7-8yo cats used to living together & with children.

CPL refused to give us anything but kittens, b/c youngest DS was under 5yo, they insisted only kittens could adapt to having children in the home. We could have held out, I realised later, for the right pair cats to appear, but didn't know how long it would take (about 6m as things turned out, I noticed some perfect cats appeared on their listing, but we had our kittens by then.). Kittens were only sure choice from rescue.

I'm still annoyed about it, tbh. Cats are such a long commitment. Older suited us better. Our CPL is heaving in kittens.

Mine were five when I adopted them. They are every bit as lovely as kittens. I don't get the whole 'I must have a kitten thing' yes they are cute but they will grow up!

I knew I wanted to give a home to an elderly cat so adopted a 15 year old 4 yeas ago. He is wonderful: relaxed, affectionate, playful (still!) and I would adopt an elderly cat again in a heartbeat.

I've somehow managed to find 'the right cat' whenever I've looked at rescues. Not necessarily the prettiest cat or the friendliest cat but the cat I felt a connection with and knew would fit into my household.

Our cat waved at us through the bars of his cage at the rescue. It’s the brightest thing he’s done in his life. He is the dimmest cat we’ve had by a long stretch, but is cuddly, purry and loving.

Our local CPL is quite odd about who it will rehome to and what your family setup must be (absolute need for a catflap was what ruled us out, plus their insistence that we take a pair rather than a single cat).

Personally no it is not hard to find a nice cat but like pp I am in East London so there are always cats available.

I tried to find a home for a local stray cat that I couldn’t take in myself, it was almost impossible to find him a place. Eventually I found a rescue to take him. I was advised not to call the RSPCA as they would put him down.

My cat is a rescue. I got her aged two and she’s the gentlest cat I’ve ever met. I was 100% sure I didn’t want a kitten. I wanted a chilled out adult cat (preferably long-haired as I have mild allergies) who was happy to live as an only cat. She’s totally fab and I’m very glad indeed that I didn’t go for a kitten.

As a cat charity volunteer I can tell you the situation seems to be getting worse every year, not better! Kitten season starts earlier and earlier and even though we're based in SE London, we get contacted about stray kittens and unwanted home-born kittens from all across London from Notting Hill to Golders Green... Give it a few months and there'll be the second wave with the slightly older kittens (usually black) these idiots who let their cats breed couldn't sell and now they're 5 months old and no one wants an "old" kitten in a "boring" colour...

There are so many cats and kittens available that people are getting really picky! Everyone wants not just a friendly kitten but it needs to be a tabby or a ginger or another "interesting" colour, no one is interested in that black & white pair... Even worse for the adult cats who wait weeks or months to find their new homes no matter how friendly unless they too are specifically stunning (long haired tabbies are particularly popular at the moment...)

no one wants an "old" kitten in a "boring" colour...

That's so sad. My latest cat was exactly that - a 9 month old black boy - and he's fabulous! Black cats are beautiful.

I find it so odd that black cats are unpopular. I have always dreamed of having a black cat, but none were available - and tbh I didn't care once I set eyes on my dapper, purring elderly gentleman.