Are we too old to adopt a kitten?

[PinkEasterbunny]

I’m in my late 50s, DH is early 60s. Our gorgeous tabby girl is 17, and while she is very good for her age, sadly I know she won’t be around forever.

I always assumed that at some point in the future, we would adopt another kitten, until I did some maths. If we adopted a kitten in, for example, 2 years time, I would be nearly 60. So if said kitten lives for the best part of 20 years, I would be nearly 80, and there are no guarantees I would get that far and/or what would my health be like, or we could be in a retirement village. It would be awful for an elderly cat to lose his or her family due to this.

Would we be better adopting an older cat or am I over thinking this? I know retirement villages accept cats, but that’s not much use if I have died!

You’re overthinking it. Some cats live 20 years but many live 10-15. Plus plenty of people are happy for an older well trained cat as some of us hate kittens

Seriously? Are you also planning to move to a bungalow ASAP just in case you become incapacitated?
Go for it OP!!!

We’re similar ages, with slightly younger cats. Tbh I don’t think we’d get more cats once ours die - I’d like to be able to travel for longer periods, and not be quite so restricted. I have thought maybe we could do short term fostering to get our fix (haven’t told dh yet)

I have the same problem, but I am69 in that my boy is 7. Both parents very long lived so hopefully will be ok . After this boy had thought of fostering, or taking on quite elderly cats. I can afford vets and family have promised to take cat if he outlives me.
You are right to think carefully. However life without a cat seems awful

I can't comment personally, only on my neighbours experience. Both were early 80's, very active playing golf several times a week. They had 2 elderly cats d when one died and wanted to adopt an older one. RSPB and local cat rescues refused due to my neighbours age.

They contacted the cinnamon trust. I think it was called 'fostering' a cat and the charity paid for the cat to be delivered in an air conditioned van from Cornwall They also paid all vet bills till it died! I think you are too young to require this charity, but its another option.

Does it have to be a kitten?

There are lots of adult cats who are desperate for good homes. When I was fostering my favourites were the 1 & 2 year olds, but the cat I fell for was 5 when she moved in & has just turned 7. Still playful & affectionate but old enough to have some sense.

Heck I was expecting you to say you were 70s!!
Get that dcat. Or even 2..

Mine is elderly and we’d like to travel more, so when she turns up her toes we’re going to have a cat free time for a while.

After that I think I’d like to foster - specifically for women fleeing DV that can’t take their cat(s) with them.

If I was in your position I would go for an older cat. Kittens are hard work and young families tend to snap up kittens whereas older cats get overlooked. When we adopted ours we didn't want a kitten, but we also didn't want a senior so we were lucky to find a 1.5 year old who nobody wanted, she is nearly 10 now. You may still be fairly active but as you say there are no guarantees, an older cat won't require too much effort or play and will be so grateful for being given a happy home for their last few years.

For similar reasons we didn't get another cat after our last one died at 20, We just lucked into a kitten (many years later) that is keeping us on our toes, wish we had done it sooner.

This is a really good service from Cats Protection, they commit to fostering/rehoming your cats if you die

https://www.cats.org.uk/what-we-do/catguardians

I was going to recommend this too.

I've recently started volunteering for Cats Protection and lots of the cats are being re-homed to older people. It's often the perfect match for cats that have had a bit of a crappy time and would benefit from a calmer home.

The Cat Protection scheme is interesting - the 'what happens if there's an emergency, rather than passing away' section is what worries me too - if there's only one of us left, and something happens, like an unexpected hospital stay, I would fear the cat could be left unfed, trapped indoors or outdoors etc, for days on end. I realise the Cat Protection scheme can't help with this. However if we were in a retirement apartment (ground floor, cos we'd need a cat flap) I suppose there would be a Warden.

Thank you for all the responses, I'm thinking more about older cats now.

The rescue I adopted from has a clause in the form saying that if the adopter can’t have the cat any more for any reason, the cat must be returned to them.

I think that should be standard - I’d assumed most rescues would do it.

I don’t think you’re too old to get a kitten, but equally it would be lovely to adopt an older cat.

One of our 2 cats recently crossed the rainbow bridge, she was only 9 years old. In the past I have had cats that have lived from 8 to 18 years.

I am a similar age to OP and the only reason we are not off to adopt a new cat is because our remaining girl who was a tiny kitten when she came to us is loving being an only and we don’t think she will tolerate a new cat.

I have had cats all my adult life, always rescues and will adopt again.

Go and get those kitties!! In fact get two, take a bonded older pair and u won’t worry so much x

I'm 64 and one of mine is a kitten, the other is 16. I took the kitten in because she was homeless and also black. They are hard to rehome.
I didn't really think about it. I'm still working.
I have relatives who will take my cats if I drop dead.
I normally adopt older cats anyway, I prefer them, they have really developed their characters.

👋 to @MiGataCalico! I volunteer for CP too!

For those worried about what would happen if you had an accident away from home, you could add a note to the ICE (in case of emergency) section of your phone, with a contact number for a key holder?

Please consider adopting an older cat they are so so overlooked. And all kittens grow up to be older. Even if you get one that’s a few years old they are still playful. It’s the most rewarding thing giving the ones who get overlooked a home. My cat was with me in foster for 6months before i adopted him. no one else deserved to know how amazing he was after being overlooked for so long. He was up for adoption for 5 months and had one enquiry. His fault was he was a bit older around 3 and black.