Where to find a new kitten?

[JamesWebbSpaceTelescope]

Currently catless and not loving it so looking for a new kitten.

Our favourite cat was a large fluffy black moggy and we do prefer long (or semi long) haired cats. But how do you go about finding one?

Looked at the RSPCA and we would have to get a pair and it is £170 each, which is crazy for a bog standard moggy.

We have 2 dogs and a teenager at home (ill health so taking a year out of education). Considering a pair but might just get 1, moggy, mixed breed or pure breed considering all options just don’t know where to look to get ethically bred.

Bear in mind that adoption fee includes a vet check, vaccinations, neutering, deflead and dewormed, & 4 weeks insurance (plus any other treatment the kittens have needed prior to rehoming).
Two is a good idea - tends to save a lot of damage to your ankles and furniture as they have a playmate.
Smaller rescues may have different adoption fees; occasionally our local vets have kittens or adult cats needing a home too.

A trip to the vet to have your cat health-checked, treated, neutered, wormed etc would come to more than £170. I gave CPL £200 for my adult moggie, and he was worth every penny.

Not sure many rescues will place kittens in a house with two resident dogs, anyway. Where did your previous cats come from?

One we brought in the UK, one was abandoned as a kitten in Azerbaijan, one was brought in South Korea, 2 were rehomed via a vet many years ago.

Nearest cats protection doesn’t have any kittens, RSPCA might but don’t say on the website, they do say they will re home with dogs and as both dogs are used to being subservient to a cat I don’t anticipate problems there. For the RSPCA you have to fill in a form and hope they deem you worthy.

I don’t think it’s really kitten season right now so the rescue centres probably don’t have many in looking for homes.

Agree that £170 for vaccinations, chipping, a health check and usually six weeks of insurance is reasonable.

Wait until about March - rescues will be starting to be over run with kittens then. Never a great idea to introduce new pets to a household just before Christmas anyway.

As pp have said, it actually works out cheaper to get kittens from a rescue because of all the things they do before they rehome them. Even if the kitten is too young to be neutered they usually still give you a voucher to get it done when they get old enough.

For the RSPCA you have to fill in a form and hope they deem you worthy

Yes, we completed the form and had a homecheck for adoption. Its not about being deemed worthy, its about checking suitability - no point spending their resources rescuing pets from terrible circumstances to then rehome to the same type of places, so they have to check the homes. It was very straightforward otherwise, & pretty standard for most rescues. Unfortunately there are horrendous cases of animal hoarders far too frequently, so they really do have to check.

Thank, I was wondering about the neutering as they would be too young. Not looking to get one before Christmas, just starting to look at the options.

I would another large fluffy boy, which is less likely with a rescue kitten. I’ve found boys are more affectionate but that might just be the ones we’ve had.

I found my last 2 at small local rescues via Facebook. I agree with others that around £170 is a normal amount to pay and normally includes first vaccinations and neutering when they are old enough. It is in the rescues interest to make sure as many cats as possible are neutered.

Boy Cat came to us at 11 weeks and was neutered - rescues will neutered far earlier than regular vets, and there is no evidence of any issues with this for cats (dogs is a different matter).
Boy Cat is now nearly 7kg, and sleeps on top of my head the vet said he's not overweight, just a really big moggie!

It was the line that they won’t respond if you don’t meet their criteria that seemed a bit off. They could just had a standard ‘thanks, but no thanks’ email.

I’m not sure we would do well on a home visit as one of the dogs is noisy to unknown people but was totally chilled out with former cat and we will take our time to introduce any new kitten.

He is gorgeous! Love a big moggy.

I would look at local cat rescues. And it’s not kitten season yet.

Just be prepared to outline how you'd keep kittens safe during introductions; can you have separate rooms, use baby gates etc to ensure they don't meet unexpectedly, access to safe high spaces such as a cat tree or furniture so cats can feel safer. Maybe you can you work on the introductions a bit before any checks - our dog can be noisy and overexcited too but will go to his bed when firmly told to, and then we give visitor a treat to give him. Although despite my efforts the postman is a different matter...

We didn't have the dog when Boy Cat was adopted but our existing cat hid under the bed and completely refused to meet the lady who did our home visit, it was no issue at all. They were more just checking that what we'd said on the form was true and that the house wasn't falling down / actually on the M25.

Thank you - he was the last one left, and no one wanted him as he is black and white. I think he's lovely.

My little menace was found abandoned in a barn at between 6-8 weeks old. She had cat flu and wasn’t in great shape. She’s now been with me for three months and is an absolute sweetheart. Still a bit sneezy but the vet thinks she’ll always be prone to respiratory problems.

I’d been debating getting a new pet after losing my little dog a couple of years ago and when I got the message from my sister asking if I could take this little one in, it was an instant yes. Weirdly she is as stubborn and bonkers as my old spaniel so I like to think there’s a little of him there as well.

I’m sure you will find the right kitten for you OP.

@kittenwatch this one reminds me of your scrump!

Now my dog loves the postman, 1) because he now known and 2) he carries dog treats in his pockets.

Another possibility would be to adopt a slightly older kitten, maybe 6-8 months old? There may be less concern about your noisy dog, and by then the personality will becoming out - with a kitten, you can never be sure what they will be like when they grow up.

Added bonus they should be past the most destructive stage 😁

Cats protection. I volunteer at a CP rescue centre and there are still plenty of kittens coming through currently where I am.
They have proper processes for looking after the cats and vet checking them etc.
Having also previously fostered cats for a different local independent rescue which was sadly run very haphazardly do look out for anything that seems “off”.

All four of our moggies came from local farms. One sadly passed away two years ago but the other three are still causing mischief 😉

Depending where you are, Northumbria Cats Protection will have kittens available from about the 7th Jan. I think the adoption fee is around £100 but as a past poster has mentioned that includes neutering (full cost voucher), vax, vets check, flea and worm and 4 weeks insurance.

We got our kittens from the RSPCA (bear in mind that all branches are locally run so will have different prices and procedures). They were not neutered because they were too young, but the neutering was paid for as long as we used the vet that they had been pre-registered with. The adoption fee also included both rounds of vaccinations, health check, and flea and worming and 4 weeks insurance. Given that spaying a cat alone costs around £150 (both ours are girls) then the adoption fee was very reasonable value.

I did have to fill in a form but they were super quick and helpful - responded very fast, arranged a home visit as soon as I had met the cats and confirmed we wanted to go ahead, and approved us the same afternoon that the home visit had taken place. The lady at the home visit made it clear that they are not looking to find nit-picky reasons to turn people away and they aren't looking for unattainable perfection, they just wanted to be sure that the animals are coming into an appropriate and safe environment and that the adopter had thought about it seriously and wasn't doing it on a whim.

If you are near to north London I can recommend a rescue that has kittens looking for homes. I got mine there a year ago.

Any cat shelter to give a loving home to. Xx

Not a kitten, but when we adopted our boy (who was then one) from CP I had to do a video tour of our house/garden rather than them actually visit. I don’t know if it’s just our branch, but the cats are delivered in a van by a volunteer so they can obviously cross reference. (I offered to give her a tour when she dropped him off but it turned out to be an ex colleague of mine so she was quite comfortable we were legit!)

Live scenes below. He’s done okay here!