Kittens? What's the reality?

[Ohthepressure]

We had cats for 15 years in the UK, all strays who adopted us. They died within a year of each other and we were devastated. However we moved overseas a year later and have been renting until now so we couldn't get pets.

Now we've bought a house, and I'm thinking this is time to get a cat. However we've only ever had independent cats, who mooched around the garden and fields near the house. Here we're looking at cats being indoor, as they're not allowed to roam at night (due to eating the wildlife) (and the wildlife might eat them anyway!) We both work, but our son is just starting at Uni (locally) so will be home a few days a week.

I would really like to get a "special" cat, as we're starting from a clean slate with no other pets in the house. There are a few Maine Coon breeders here, which look like fabulous cats, and they seem relatively sensible personalities (my parents have had Burmese, British Shorthair and a rescue Bengal, who all had interesting quirks).

My question is, how hard are kittens, and can we realistically look after one if we're not working from home all the time? I appreciate that would be ideal but it's not going to happen, they have far too good a grip on COVID here We could look at getting a retired queen, but I'm not sure if they would be too used to a bustling catty household, and hot and cold running slaves owners, so that might not be a good option.

I'd welcome opinions. Cats seemed so easy when I was growing up, and again with our strays (apart from the tablet struggles and the vomiting hairballs into shoes) so I'm concerned I'm too naive! But please be kind too, I've seen how The Dog House descends on naive new owners..!

There’s a brilliant insta page of a rescues description of its cats and it’s quite funny “Tiddles does not like 16th century Japanese politics. Please do not discuss 16th century Japanese politics with her”. 15th century OK.

@Gogglebox20 Could you cat proof the garden? If it’s a hot summer keeping doors shut all day will be stifling.

I’d try and hold off for two kittens, or a young rescue and then a kitten, rather than an older rescue and then a kitten.
We introduced a kitten to our cat when she was 3 and it took about a week for her to stop hissing at the kitten, but they’re generally great together and after a couple of months we’d find them curled up together (although they still have the odd disagreement if the younger one launched an aerial attack as the older one was walking past!). I think it’s because she was young enough to not be completely set in her ways.

Kittens generally - the only thing I’d say to watch for is poo accidents with long haired varieties if a bit gets stuck in their bum fur

@Fluffycloudland77 It’s not possible as we have trees all the way round so they could climb a tree and jump into next doors garden. We have velux windows in the main family room where we mostly are and it’s usually a cool room in summer and we have air con upstairs, so it shouldn’t be a problem. It would be lovely to let them go outside but we’re not far from a busy main road.

I lost mine on the road so I know how you feel. I’m planning on fitting solar film to our windows to keep our house cool for future cats. That and I’ll buy Flat Cat window guards nearer the time. Our house is south facing and gets so hot in the summer, it’s like an oven.

You can cat proof trees though, if it doesn’t work out. Hopefully they’ll decide inside is best.