Talk me out of kittens

[BobBobBobbin]

I’m supposed to be waiting for a rescue cat, but someone locally is selling the most beautiful kittens.

We have young children (youngest is 4) and my plan was to wait for a rescue with the right temperament for a family. But, but...I’m so tempted by kittens!

Talk some sense into me...

A friend got two kittens (sisters). One is very timid and lives in an upstairs bedroom. The other is quite friendly but is out all day and they never see her. Honestly, getting kittens is a complete gamble on personality, unless it’s a breed with a recognised personality (eg Burmese).

Also, you have to keep them in for months until they are neutered and vaccinated, and that’ll be a pain in summer. Kittens will be harder to cat sit if you wanted to go away. Plus they can be destructive...

I do need to see a photo though OP, to answer fully

I loved my cat so much when I had her but I do remember she used to bring half alive animals stink my house out. Also she was the craziest thing I’ve ever met . But to be fair to her she was a rescue who owner didn’t treat her well . She would also go crazy if I ate pizza or chips and try and steal them and attack me🤣 but I would do it again if I didn’t have a young child myself.

You’re right @minipie keeping them inside in the summer months would be tricky!

The whole idea was to get an older cat with a suitable temperament rather than gamble with a kitten. I’ve been told the temperament of the kittens and we have first dibs on the laid back kitties, but I don’t know if at 8 weeks their personality is particularly set.

If you get a kitten you need to get 2. Do you fancy 2 cats?

Normally I'd say just get two! However keeping kittens in over the summer would be really hard. And the clean up can be a lot on top of having kids.

We got two kittens last September and they're lovely but it has been quite hard at times. One reacted badly to being neutered and my lounge was covered in cat diarrhoea and sick every day for a week!

My DCs are older so I didn't have to try to do anything with them while frantically cleaning the floor, curtains, sofas and anything else the kitten might have wiped her bum on....every day, for a week!

On the other hand, kittens are very cute!

One of mine is the most stubborn creature I've ever met and the other one is really quite mad. Obviously I am madly in love with them both!

Wait for the rescue that you know will fit with your family. I would be wary of supporting irresponsible breeding too, and at eight weeks they are far too young to recognise temperaments, and shouldn't be leaving mum for a few weeks yet.

I’m up for two (cats or kittens) and if kittens would definitely get two.

And we’ve had our fair share of cleaning up cat wee, poo and vomit over the years (though have recently refurbished the house so DH would not be impressed to go through all that again!).

I know I should hold out for the right rescue really - I don’t know if I am chasing an impossible dream though of a cat that has a brilliant a temperament as our last one who was the perfect ‘family cat’. She actively liked rather than simply tolerated our children and always sought them out and never bit or scratched at all, I’m not even sure she was aware she had claws. Part of me would rather take our chances with kittens rather than assess an adult cat against an unrealistic benchmark.