Think we are taking on a kitten!

[Danascully2]

I've been looking for the right rescue cat to adopt and although I was thinking of a young adult cat I made the mistake of visiting a litter of rescue kittens... I am waiting on a bit more information but I am pretty sure one of them is the right personality to be a good family cat for us. Rationally there is no reason why not - we can afford it (incl insurance/vets), have no other pets, I work from home, kids are old enough to be sensible, we have no holidays booked until August. I have plenty of animal experience but have never had a kitten. It's exciting but also really scary.... What if it gets stuck somewhere/falls off something/eats something it shouldn't?? What if one of us gets ill or loses our job?

Also, how am I ever going to get any work done with an adorable kitten around getting into scrapes??

Just needed to share as I haven't told the kids and husband isn't such an animal person and doesn't quite understand the nervousness...

Ps husband is fully onboard with taking on another kitten/cat, we previously had a cat for a long time, don't want to give the impression he doesn't want it...

What if one of us gets ill or loses our job?

how is this relevant to having a cat? Is money that close to the wire?

I've recently taken on a rescue kitten after my rescue cat died in June.

If I had my time again, I'd go for a cat, not a kitten. My furniture and carpets are ruined. I get jumped on at 4.30am - if the doors are closed the carpet gets shredded or she mews loudly from the kitchen. Zoomies are crazy.

She's as cute as a button but I've decided I prefer cats at least 2 years old. It's going to cost a fortune to replace everything and while she's growing, I've got tatty everywhere.

Opinions here do vary a bit - but I'd recommend two kittens rather than one. They keep each other amused.
In terms of settling in - keep them in one family room for a few days to start with so they get used to you. Then i troduce them to the rest of the house.
Block off possible escape routes, (windows, doors, fireplaces etc). Keep the toilet seats fully closed.
Make sure your camera phone has a clean lens 🤣

We were recommended to get two so they play with each other/tell each other off/teach each other and they had been wonderful and barely any trouble. A bit of carpet scratching but they like scratch pads and posts. They have always been put to bed in the utility room and we don’t hear from them overnight, they go out during the day but in every evening and night. When they first came I kept them in the room I was in with me and gradually gave them more freedom, we did lose one once and looked everywhere, but she appearing stretching a bit later so was obviously sleeping somewhere.

I just love having them and they were so sweet as kittens!

A kitten(s) would be perfect for older children, who can help entertain them until they're old enough to go out, whereas older rescue cats often need quieter homes and can struggle to settle into a busy household, so it would be a good choice. Even if you get the most hyperactive kitten in the world (like our tabby boy 😁) they don't stay kittens for long. You'll be able to get lots of tips and advice on here so don't worry about looking after them but, yes, if you wfh you'll struggle to get any work done 🙂.

Thank you - I understand the argument about two kittens but don't really want two adult cats. And yes if it was just me and husband an adult cat would be fine, I even went to visit one. But I think a confident kitten would be better around the children (though they are very good around animals, with our old cat when they were younger they were well trained not to disturb him when sleeping etc).
Our house is pretty scruffy already and there's no carpet downstairs, lots of our furniture is from charity shops (not because of cost, more environmental/not fussy/don't really care if secondhand).

In terms of what if we lose our jobs etc we do have savings so would be fine for a bit and would cut down as far as possible rather than considering rehoming the cat. It's more me overthinking about committing for the next 20 years as nobody has a crystal ball to predict what life is going to look like for that length of time. But nobody would ever take on a dog or cat if you had to be completely certain no adverse events were going to happen (I also worry about fires/floods and having to have major work done on the house which would be trickier around a pet - I know this is anxiety though).

My two when kittens didn’t destroy anything, just played and slept. They were really easy and I think it because the kids kept them occupied. They have fitted into our lives really easily as they just got on board with our routine and haven’t ever been afraid of loud children or bangs as they have grown up with it. You’ll enjoy them OP!

All you need to know is make sure it’s kept in until neutered! There were so many litters roaming our area where people didn’t get them neutered in time! Best of luck op, you’ll be fine!!

I got kittens last year and they were really no trouble at all. Yes they go a bit crazy at night and zoom around, but we didn't have the destructiveness and chaos that people talk about. Admittedly we did have two so they could play together, and with only one you will need to play with them more yourself.

But yes they will be a massive distraction if you wfh because you will want to be taking cute photos of them all the time.

I think it's natural to be a bit anxious. When I went to pick up our kittens I suddenly felt overcome with worry about the responsibility. But it was totally fine. One of them is snuggled up next to me as I'm typing this - the other one is hiding somewhere but she is perfectly capable of getting herself out of whatever cranny she is tucked away into.

How lovely. Just to warn you though we got one kitten. We found him after he’d been abandoned and was very unwell (probably why mum had left) so saved him. Then we had to get another cat to keep him company.

So now we have three cats because two wasn’t enough 🙈.

If you’re home and can give the kitten attention personally I think one will be fine.

Yes kitten will get plenty of attention and I would plan to limit our weekend days out etc for the next few months to make sure someone is around for kitten while it's small. On the odd day we do need to be out all day I would think about asking a friend/neighbour/cat-sitter for help.
Yes I think it's normal committing to a pet anxiety and I'm sure it will be fine....

Will you be able to afford insurance?

Yes we can definitely afford it, definitely important to plan for veterinary care.

So I continue to be perplexed about why losing jobs would mean rehoming the kitten!

Surely most people would start struggling financially if one/both of them were out of work for a lengthy period of time either through redundancy or long-term health issues? Especially with dependent children. And then would eventually have to make difficult choices?
I didn't mean it would be an immediate response to one of us losing a job, just an example of things that can't fully be predicted.

There are a lot of other things I would cut first if we had to adjust to a tighter budget eg manage with one car, reduce kids extracurriculars, put cat on supermarket food rather than premium etc.

I have a tendency to overthink as you may be able to tell...

To me that sounded like typical first pet anxiety rather than someone who can barely afford one now, potentially even catastrophising the possibilities that could go wrong.

Many people look at the worst case scenarios as well as good outcomes, especially if it's something very important to them - that's just the way some people are. As long as that doesn't lead to action paralysis it can be quite a good thing as mitigations can be put in place in case the worst does happen e.g. nobody thinks that their pet WILL have an accident or illness but you do need to put insurance in place or something similar. Parents don't plan for their children to fall into the sea or a river, but they teach them to swim just in case etc.

Yes it's anxiety/catastrophising, I have no worries currently about financing a kitten. And yes to committing fully to a pet/looking after it properly being very important to me.

And not a first pet but the first one since having kids and still having many years of paying for bus passes/uniforms/school trips ahead. Again not a current concern.

When we got our kittens they would only home as a pair, and as they were abandoned siblings it was quite fair to take them both on. They are now middle aged and not really much more trouble than having one, but the food and vets bills are double. There is less space in the bed for me and I have to scoop the poop twice as often.

My DD took on a singular kitten a few years back, he was fine as an only, never destroyed anything, but was very playful at loved climbing things. He was often found on the top of the wardrobe. At the time, she shared her flat with 2 others, so he was never alone for long periods, and he is now a very chilled adult cat. Of course, as it is with cats, once she had her own flat, she had to get a second kitten; this one is very sweet, but not very intelligent. Her big brother (original cat) tolerates her.

I know you don't want two, but I would really, really recommend it if possible. Single kittens can be a lot of work.

We've had multiple cats before, they're not really much harder work than one, apart from double the insurance and food, but they may do a discount for two on one policy. I've decided next time around I'm going to get two kittens because I've had some social issues with my last and current adult cat and being afraid of men etc.

Kittens really aren’t THAT expensive, not compared to dogs. You can do pet plans for around £20pm for vaccines/microchip/flea and worm treatment. Neutering is about £100. Food per month is cheaper buying in bulk online. It gets even cheaper as an adult cat- about £20pm on food and £10 on litter (bulk- zoo plus). Insurance increases as they age but isn’t that much.

In terms of having a cat, they’re very low maintenance but shouldn’t be left alone for a long time until about 1. If you plan on getting another eventually get 2 now- they are harder to integrate as they get territorial.

Thank you, really appreciate all thoughts. The cost of food/boosters/insurance etc is really not a problem for the foreseeable future, I was just trying to explain why I'm overthinking and feeling nervous as well as excited...

No I wouldn't plan to add another one in future.

My DP got made redundant when we had our first cat, and yes, for a while things were a bit tight until he got a new job - but there were loads of things we could happily cut down on before she would have ever entered the equation. We had insurance for any vet bills (but didn’t need the vet other than her boosters). If it had come to the absolute wire I would have got a bar job rather than even considered rehoming her!