Cat ownership - honestly how difficult is it?

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Hi, I'm thinking of getting an adult rescue cat. Really it's for my 11yo son, who's got anxiety and possible autism and is desperate for one. I don't mind cats but to be honest, have had a tough few years and don't really want the extra responsibility. However if it makes a difference for DS I'm willing to consider it.

Everyone I talk to seems to say it's barely any work looking after a cat - just make sure it's fed basically. Surely there's more to it than that? I don't want to go into this underestimating the commitment. Grateful for any thoughts!

I have 3 cats: 1 is nearly 2yrs old (I got her from a litter my friend’s cat had - she’d got her booked in to be spayed and the sod got out the night before the op date and had some fun with the local cats), the other two are nearly one (I got them from a rescue when they were kittens). The rescue checked my house/living situation over and met up with me/my kids before we could go on the waiting list for adoption. I’m a single parent, working FT, and my kids are 15 and 8, so at school.

I feed them twice a day (dry food in the morning, wet food in the evening). They have a cat fountain for drinking water. They are neutered/spayed, fully vaccinated/insured and chipped. I give them flea treatment every month and worming tablet every 3 months. I’ve got a cat flap so they can go out (I live in a small village), but I keep them in at night. They use litter trays and I clean these out twice a day (I’m about to invest in an automatic self cleaning litter tray though).

the most expensive thing I find is the food. I’m particular about what I feed them. When we go away, I pay people to come in and feed them etc.

The pro’s of having a cat? They’re wonderful, mischievous, really loving and so much fun. We adore our cats (even when they wake us up at 5am etc). I wouldn’t be without mine.

Cons: I can’t think of any really. You worry about them, but that’s normal.

No just go to a cat rescue, talk to them, be honest and let them guide you.
Far more sensible than setting your heat on a particular breed or colour.

But yes in answer to your question, cats are generally quite easy to care for.
We got a pair of sisters and they've been no bother at all because they keep each other company.

Easy peasy compared to a dog but not worry free. He was a rescue kitten, all my cats have been rescue.

Costs wise, mine costs about £60 a month in food and insurance (he does have expensive insurance though, so don’t worry if that number feels high!).
Regular flea & worm & Vaccinations (boosters) annually.
He’s long haired but a scruffy little urchin, so I need to brush him every day, so that’s 5 mins of daily effort.
He spends most of his time outside in warmer weather (his choice, he has a flap) and comes in of an evening for an hour of very intense cuddle time (again, his choice, he walks off when he’s spent).
He sleeps on the bed with us maybe once a week in summer. Every other night or so in colder months.
He’s really affectionate with us but stand offish with strangers.

I’ve had cats all my life and they’ve all had different personalities but mostly, they are very easy going and not hard or time consuming to care for. None of them have ever wrecked furniture, in over 40 years. Fear not though, we haven’t escaped, the dogs do that with their rearrangement of blankets/throws to get comfy .

Depends on the cat.

My girl cat is very low maintenance. She can let herself in and out through the cat flap and as long as she's fed she's happy. She loves a stroke and some attention but no more than that.
My boy cannot use the cat flap so we have to be around to let him in and out but he will happily wait for us if we're not in.

They make very little mess, have never scratched or damaged anything. They do shed on furniture a little but they have their own spots so it's localised.

Worth mentioning they were also adopted as adults, aged 4 and 2 respectively. The girl is now 10 and the boy is 4.

We have always used a cattery. A bonded pair will keep each other company. If you tell rescues you are after a cuddly lap cat they should be able to match you appropriately.

@Phos According to your figures your girl is aging 3x faster than your boy!

Definitely go for temperament over breed.

Dont get bogged down with breed or colour. Look at personality, how they interact with you and how they’ll fit with your needs and level of experience. I agree, be honest with staff about your expectations and what you can offer (eg age bracket you are prepared to take on, are you prepared to look at cats with medical needs?, indoor only/outdoor etc).

Thanks. I’m not bothered about furniture being wrecked! And I don’t have my heart set on a breed, just wanted to see if any are notorious for a particular personality.

I like the idea of a pair but it depends what’s available I guess.

Roads - my own road is a normal 20mph suburban street but we are a couple of mins walk from a busier 30mph road. I suppose that’s a risk I’d need to take - plenty of people round here do have cats. I don’t want an indoor-only one as I think that’s too limiting.

My ten year old son campaigned for 2 years begore we gave in and got a cat. One of his winning arguments is that it'll help him calm down (he has ADHD and anxiety).

Cat is gorgeous but it has created a load of extra stress for DS. When going to sleep if he hears a noise he wants us to check the cat is ok. When we go out he worries how cat will get out if there is a fire. When we open a window he panics cat will jump out. When cat plays with toys he stresses that he will swallow it and die...

We've had the cat 6 months now and DS is getting a tiny but better still shouts and panics a lot every day.

Some rescues will specify a particular cat needs to be indoors.
I would think very hard about an outdoor cat with an anxious child.

The most annoying thing about my cats is that one of them has a 4.30am internal alarm clock. His meow is loud and hard to ignore, but he gets increasingly clever at ways to make me get up - he's recently resorted to playing with the blind cord and pulling them down.
Mine have long hair and need grooming. Other than the increasing frequency of vacuuming they are very low maintenance.

Cats are super easy as long as you feed regularly and show affection when you see them!

Posted too soon, ours is an outdoor cat and very much a moggy who we rescued between 6 and 12 months so he wasn’t a tiny kitten when we got him. He’s grown huge and has a resplendent coat which gets everywhere.

At night we put him out as he teases the dog, or he’s shut in the kitchen. Rest of the time he has full wandering rights over the house/garden/beyond.

Flea and worming is a pain, he hates it but it’s only 4x a year…

A cat will be great for your son, but stressful for you. Are you ok dealing with half-dead mice and birds? Cats waking you up at 5am because they want to be fed? Hair all over your sofa? Clearing up cat vomit? Trying to work out why your cat suddenly doesn't want to eat their favourite food and refusing everything else you try and feed it? Cats digging up your houseplants? Cats staring at you every time you eat so that you can't leave a morsel of food unattended? And a cat that likes to drink tea?

Why not try to foster a cat first to see what it's like?

Low maintenance and totally worth the minimal effort in my experience as a life long cat owner.

You'll never forget to feed them as they'll remind you.

Scoop the litter tray when needed.

Other than that they're just about as nice company. I chat away to mine, cuddle them lots, they sit on my lap in the evenings. They play with each other more than us really but will normally chase a toy for a bit if one of us starts the play. Generally felines are pretty lazy though which is what makes them great pets.

Just makes our house feel like a home to have cats in it I find.

Not difficult at all, so long as you give up all your human rights and organise your life around their whims :)

Some rescues are very cautious about who they’ll rehome to, so there’ll be a home check to pass. Primarily to check they can’t get access to a busy road, but for example we had to put child proof lock things on some of our windows. Sometimes people end up not being able to open windows or having to put up window screens.

Cats are so different and often most troublesome when young and old (like humans). In between most cats are a breeze to look after. The biggest thing for me is organising care when you go away. And missing them!

Older cats can be £££. My 17 year olds healthy pet club (injections and worming) plus insurance is expensive plus excess of recent vet treatment now suddenly a lot more than previous years.

Be careful on the cat's age. Some rescue places might say the cat is younger than it actually is because they want to find it a new home and know if the cat is too old it might not be adopted.

I had very low maintenance cats growing up as a child BUT when I decided to get my own cat when I was mid twenties in my own house, the cat I got turned out to be extra high maintenance. Couldn't hold its food down and was always sick (almost daily! Normal cat food was so bad for him that I had to buy white frozen fish from aldi and batch cook it/store in my fridge as it was the only thing he could tolerate, it barely kept him full... vicious circle). He was very needy/high demands cat. Very talkative cat always meowing, following me everywhere. Couldn't sit down without it jumping on me all the time. Smelly, messy, health issues, behaviour issues... It was more like a dog in that sense. Nothing like the cats I had had before. The cat died eventually (I suspect it was older than what the cattery told me) and it's really put me off getting another cat - and this come from a cat lover who grew up with cats.

Our cat is super low maintenance really but I'd make sure you're insured. She'd have cost me almost 2k in vet fees in the last year otherwise. Cat boarding/sitting can also rack up if you don't have anyone nearby to feed them while you're away.

I would recommend a sitter as a opposed to a cattery. They much prefer being in their own home.

Vet bills for my two 12yr olds cats this year have been around £4k. That might be unusual but certainly possible. They are insured, thankfully, but that is about £700.

Looking after, lots of hair on cushions and on wood floors. Hoover mostly cat hair. They are occasionally sick. BUT they are very soft and purry and entertaining.

Its so variable, its impossible to say. Right now, on a day to day basis, both mine are pretty easy - they need feeding, trays scooped, letting in and out their garden area, some play with toys and lots of cuddling (though they sort of come along and take the cuddles though, I just sit and pet them). But they've both had periods in their lives that were a huge amount of work - one when she had never-ending stomach problems due to a virus and couldn't seem to tolerate any kind of food, back and forth to the vet all the time, trying differnet things, cleaning up her messes, worrying about her...and the other when she dislocated her ankle and had to get a plate in it. After that she had to be on restricted activity for weeks and that was hard. I adore my girls and they enrich my life no end but really you should only get a pet for you, because you want it and are committing for the duration of its natural life.

I came across my cat book yesterday we no longer need if you would like it.

Very, very easy as long as they’re not sick or have odd habits. They just go about their catly business.