I think I want to adopt a cat but I’ve never had a cat before and I have questions!

[Pigeonqueen]

Please be kind, some of my questions might seem daft 🙈

I’ve only ever had Guinea pigs before - many, many of them in a huge indoor cage, and I loved them to bits but my health is declining now (lupus, joint issues) and bending down on my hands and knees to clean the huge cage out was becoming very hard for me. Over time the herd became less and less and I sadly lost my very last one 3 weeks ago 😞. (Old age).

So…. Now I am Guinea pig free, and I’m thinking I’d like a cat. But I don’t know a lot about actually the day to day stuff of caring for a cat. I’m googling and watching you tube stuff etc. And I’d like to rehome rather than get a kitten I think (although open to a kitten through a rescue I guess).

The main things I’m confused about are -

If my hypothetical cat has a cat flap and can go in and out as it pleases (we’re in rural Norfolk) do I still need a litter tray?

Is getting an air tag collar a good idea?

Insurance - there’s a difference between costs for the same age of cat depending on whether it’s male (more expensive) or female (cheaper), why is this?

Are kittens easy to litter train? Or am I better to go for an older cat, maybe around 2 years ish?

Really going back and forwards on this and want to make the right choices for the cat and us all. (No other pets now, I can’t work due to disabilities so home a lot, Ds aged 13 and dd aged 21 who is at university most of the time and a dh who works full time).

And he’s found the cat tree - he’s huge though, I didn’t realise how large he is - 😳😂

Oh he's lovely! What a handsome cat. Glad to hear he's doing well.

My cat grew in confidence and things like his eating habits and where he chose to spend his time did change - but his underlying friendly calm nature was apparent from day 1 and that hasn't changed.

I was wondering about that! Maybe I’ll get a fountain water thing for him.

His name is Gary 🙈😂 I always thought we’d choose a sweet, obscure name but dd 21 and Ds 13 were playing around coming up with names and couldn’t come up with one and dd said “at this rate he’s going to be called Gary!” - and we laughed; and it’s stuck 😳😂

How nice of him to use the cat tree you bought him - not like some ungrateful cats I could mention.

Thank you for the compliments ❤️

Gary is a great name 👍

My cat is called Kettle so it could be a lot sillier 😄

He's beautiful and I love Gary!!

Lovely cat and I love his name too! He’s surveying his new kingdom from the cat tree and wondering how he got so lucky!

Do you know about his background, how he ended up in rescue? @Pigeonqueen

Gary’s a great name for a cat! Bring him over to the Excellent Cats thread, it’s possibly the nicest place on MN.

As for cat trees, I started off with one small one in the living room. Then I added a slightly bigger one.

Now we have two in the bedroom & three in the living room, one of them (Kitty’s Christmas present) wall-mounted & reaching the ceiling.

You wait.

😂😂 Gary is gorgeous! He looks like trouble though. I recommend Flat cat screens to contain him, when you want to have windows open! I have no doubt you will be back in a few days, wondering why you didn't do this years ago!

Yes. He came from a family where they’d had two babies / young toddlers close together and they just weren’t coping with him and the other cat they had who was bullying him a bit and he didn’t like the noise from the babies, so he was spending all of the time upstairs hidden away and they thought it was best to rehome him - and the other cat. In the rescue they’d decided the pair didn’t need rehoming together for various reasons so here we are….! I hope he’s going to like our house because it’s very quiet, no loud toddlers or screaming babies and a cat slave available mostly all day. He just seems desperate for affection to be honest. Just wants to be next to you all the time. I fully expected him to hide under the chair / in the hideaway I’d made with blankets but so far he just seems pleased to be here. Tomorrow may be a different story! We will see.

I've had two cats from rescue and was fully prepared for them to hide away

The first one strolled out the carrier and looked around then sat on my lap and fell asleep, leaving me to tear up the settling in your cat leaflet
The one I have now (who was very obviously sent to me by cat 1) strolled out the carrier, rolled over and asked for belly rubs

Neither changed, that was just who they were

I am an experienced cat owner. My previous cats lived until 16 and 17 and my current 2 are 5 and brothers.

They are free to come and go as they please but I don't have a cat flap. Mainly because I have a horrendous phobia of mice and rats and I don't want to suddenly find a dead /injured (or worse in my case ) live mouse running around my home.
Yes we do have to play a bit of ( as we call it) okey cokey , in, out, in and out. But this lets me check to ensure they are not bringing in any unwanted gifts.

Something that surprised me with my first 2 is how intuitive they are. Somehow they know when you are not well. I became mentally quite unwell when my current 2 were about 6 months and on a bad day one especially would snuggle into my neck and purr gently into my ear. That always helped. A friend who works with cats full time summed it up succinctly by saying " cats know shit"
My boys are just standard moggies but absolutely loved and adored and they make me laugh every day.

It sounds like your house will be a relief for him, somewhere he can relax and be himself. He's lucky you found him.

Welcome to your new home Gary 🏠

He looks well settled in already!

Oh he's gorgeous!

I know of a cat called Lamb Chop so Gary is a better than that!

Love him!

Gary is very handsome. Our rescues were named Kizzy and Fizzy at the rescue we got them from. I had plans to rename but the kids wouldn't let me!

Cat tax paid

He’s a lovely cat and looks like he’s made himself right at home. It all sounds like a perfect match.

Congratulations on a successful outcome from the Universal Cat Distribution System! Yay for Gary! What a handsome boy.

We adopted ours when she was three, and she has a similar back story to Gary’s - not liking a new baby, hiding away and unhappy etc. As soon as she got here she was just a joy. We always had cats when I was growing up, but they were always very independent and aloof. This one is barely off my lap, and would literally just sleep on me for 22 hours a day if she could! 🐈 😻

Gary really is a 'proper' cat name.
Congrats @Pigeonqueen - he looks gorgeous and clearly 'at home'.

I love human names for cats! All three of mine have human names. Our last guy was called Cat... I can't tell you how embarrassing that was in the vet's!! He found us shortly after we'd lost our three cats in the space of 11 months, and we were in the zone of never having another... so the poor wee man wasn't given a name, and then Cat just suited him!

He became a real lapcat in time. My kids are disappointed that none of our current three are!

Oh what a beauty! I love this thread. Thank you for rescuing.