<p>I looked in the cat lovers’ thread but found it to be more of a discussion of cats already owned.</p>
<p>As a lot of you know, I’m now working full-time in University Housing and live on-campus. I drafted a pet policy yesterday to allow live-in professionals to have pets (small to medium cats or dogs.) This is actually becoming pretty common for live-in professionals at a lot of schools, and I’m hopeful the administration will approve it. If they do, my plan is to adopt a cat. I’m really not home enough for a dog, and I don’t think I could give it enough outdoor time.</p>
<p>I’ve done lots of research on my own and done some online shopping for the basics to examine the financial commitment, and I could make it work. I’ve also looked into pet insurance and found I could cover that as well.</p>
<p>What other tips do all of you have? We never owned a cat when I was growing up; we were strictly a dog family. I want to adopt from a shelter and get an adult; partially to save the cost of a neuter/spay, and partially so that it’s easier to see the temperament of the adult cat and know exactly what I’m getting. And there are lots of cats in the shelter nearby that need a good home.</p>
<p>Thanks, romani! While I’ve never personally owned a cat, I have several friends that have and that’s been all of their advice. </p>
<p>There’s a shelter right here in Grand Junction, which will make it very easy one of my co-workers volunteers there on the weekends to get her animal fix. And I’ve never been a big fan of buying from pet stores. I always get creepy vibes from the way they keep the animals and they just never seem well cared-for. It makes me sad.</p>
<p>My parents always loved the purebred labs, but they always did their due diligence making sure the breeders were reputable. The breeder we bought from for 2 (at least) of our labs was a very close family friend and very well known in the breeding world. His dogs were absolutely incredible. The second lab we bought from him was my Izzy, who we sadly had to put to sleep this summer.</p>
<p>Which is also, I think, partially why I’m so badly craving another animal. I think it might help me heal, at least a little.</p>
<p>Thanks, GAmom! I’ve been looking at pictures on the shelter web site…which I’ve now decided was probably a bad idea, since it isn’t a sure thing yet. I already have my eye on a couple of adorable calicos.</p>
<p>My first rescued pittie was a girl named Izzy. We lost her about five years ago and I still miss her </p>
<p>I thought of one more piece of advice- if this is your first cat, you might want to get a short haired cat. We had a long haired cat when I was growing up and there was FUR EVERYWHERE. SO MUCH FUR. Plus, he was a grouchy cat so grooming was impossible without going to a professional. </p>
<p>HGFM, good luck and kudos for thinking about adopting a mature kitty! Adult cats are waaaaay better than kittens. Been there, have/had both, so I speak from personal experience. Make sure you “visit” with the prospective adoptee cat for 15-30 min at the shelter to see if you like each other and that there are no weird allergy issues etc. :)</p>
<p>My other $0.02 of advice - get your kitty quality pet food and do not over feed it. </p>
<p>romani–That occurred to me this morning while looking at pictures on the shelter web site! I hadn’t thought about it before, but especially living on campus; I don’t care so much about hair myself (having grown up with labs that shed EVERYWHERE), but I don’t want to inadvertently cause an allergy attack in one of my students if they pick up fur from me.</p>
<p>Bunsen–any suggestions on food? I’ve been researching all morning but found lots of different perspectives/advice. And what qualifies as over-feeding?</p>
<p>Lucky you, to adopt a cat. Adult rescue cats make fantastic pets, and usually you’ll have a good choice.</p>
<p>My advice: </p>
<p>Spend time at the shelter with the cat you’re considering, to make sure the temperament is what you want. Not all cats sit in your lap and purr. If you want a cat like that, make sure you’re getting one. And if you want a cat that’s more aloof and high-energy, make sure you’re getting that.</p>
<p>Do not consider declawing. Declawing a cat consists of lopping off the first joint of their “fingers”. It’s painful and unnecessary.</p>
<p>Keep your cat indoors. It saves your cat from cars and coyotes, and it saves songbirds from your cat.</p>
<p>If you adopt a rescue, it’ll probably be spayed or neutered, but if not, that’s the first thing to do.</p>
<p>Get a tall scratching post, so your cat can stretch all the way out to scratch.</p>
<p>IMO, you’re better off financing your pet’s health care from savings rather than insurance. But others may chime in to disagree.</p>
<p>Yes-agree with short haired cat. I have my first long haired (2 of them) and finally purchased my own clippers to keep them clipped.</p>
<p>But the one misnomer many people seem to support is that you can’t train cats not to shred the furniture which just is not true. You can. My couch has been through four cats and is still un-shredded. One of the most important things you MUST buy is a scratching post. I prefer sisal (it looks like rope wrapped around a pole) because the carpet ones will lead the cat to believe it is okay to sharpen its claws on your floor carpeting. I keep it in front of the most inviting corner of my couch that all my cats have tried to scratch at times. Then keep a water bottle handy and squirt the cat when he/she tries to scratch the couch. Give lots of praise when he/she scratches the post instead. After a short while the cat will prefer the post over the couch and everyone will be much happier. </p>
<p>Adopting an adult cat is great - must less babysitting involved. They’re terrified at first and will hide under your furniture but eventually come out once they are more comfortable. Old habits are a little harder to re-train (see scratching post above) but it can be done. I’ve only adopted one adult and she turned out to be a real sweetie but I did have to be patient in re-training her not to use my couch for her scratching. </p>
<p>Calicos are the best! All calicos that owned me had great personalities. They were feisty, independent thinkers but very affectionate. </p>
<p>(I currently have a little tortie cat, the female that D brought from Central Asia, and this tortie is the most amazing cat - she comes to me and “asks” me to hold her and carry her around on my shoulder. She chirps gently instead of meowing and purrs like a tractor motor! ) </p>
<p>I adopted mine from a shelter–pretty much an adult and the sweetest thing on earth.
But not the first cat I met at the shelter. I went to the shelter several times. They had a bit of history on some cats (helpful) and would let you hold and play with them for pretty much as long as you wanted.
My advice: 1) Play with them. Get a good feather toy and see how they react.
2) See if they’ll let you hold them.
3) Ask (or observe) if this is a really energetic cat (read frenetic) or more laid back (but the shelter can be scary).
4) Why are they there?<br>
5) Look up breed types–their personalities are inbred often. Siamese are gonna be LOUD. Some don’t even say meow. Some chat conversationally (my favorite).<br>
Cats can be left alone but they DO get lonely. You must play and interact with them daily.</p>
<p>Thank you all, this is wonderful advice! Just as I expected :)</p>
<p>PhotoOp, I did some shopping on the PetSmart web site this morning to find all the basics and estimate a cost. I did include a scratching post that was also part of a cat tree (from observing friends’ cats I’ve seen how much they enjoy vertical space.) It had the rope-looking stuff because again, that’s what I’ve seen.</p>
<p>Gouf, all good advice and some things I wouldn’t have thought to ask!</p>
<p>And I am home 90% of the time in the evenings, just not during the day. And even during the day I’m only down the hall from my apartment, so I can pop in and visit for lunch or just for a few minutes to say hi.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t put too much emphasis on why the cat is at the shelter. Cats get abandoned by owners for reasons that have nothing to do with the cat. A lot of shelter cats are strays. But I definitely agree with gouf that you should spend time with the cats to make sure that you like your prospective pet’s temperament. </p>
<p>We adopted a shelter cat once and she was the sweetest cat. The shelter where we got her described her personality, and why she was there. I don’t remember the details. We have had several cats, and no problems with any of them until recently when I took a couple from a friend – peeing problems with one of them. I put it outside a lot because of that, but it is a problem in the winter here. It has to stay inside then, obviously. I think girl cats are less likely to mark their territory in this way? Or maybe he does it because we have three. I’m still learning about what makes cats tick. </p>
<p>Set aside some money to microchip your cat. It’s a one time expense and it helps knowing that it ups your kitty’s chances of returning to you should he get lost.</p>
<p>My best piece of advice: make up your mind - once you adopt - that you and your cat can make it work. It may not go smoothly at first (though it may, of course). Be patient. I adopted a kitten and my two older cats hated him. It took months till he made friends with one and the other still just tolerates him. I determined from the first that we would get through the tough stretch and we did. My daughter’s cat had a litter box issue and they worked through it - with some angst and frustration - but they did work through it. She adores that cat now.</p>
<p>Look on Amazon for a cat tree – they have a few really tall/elaborate ones for not much more money than you’d pay for a very basic one at a place like Petsmart.</p>
<p>I agree with Ignatius - be patient and work with your cat and things will work out. I always get my cats from shelters but my husband prefers kittens. Kittens are a blank slate - they’re not old enough for personalities to emerge. The nice thing with an older cat is you can see pretty readily what they are like. I have heard (and it’s sad) that only the friendly ones survive at the shelter as there are just too many. But we have never had much history. The one adult we adopted was left in the overnight box so they had no idea where she came from. I think she was the sweetest cat I’ve ever had (and only female) but she had a short life due to illness. I’ve been told male and female are no different once they are spayed/neutered, but she seemed sweeter to me.</p>
<p>I’ve actually never had a cat condo - the only thing to keep in mind is if the sisal is used (as it should be) it will wear out and you will need to replace that part of your condo. I’ve seen replacement parts for sale so make sure you get one that has that capability. Otherwise you’ll end up with a shredded couch :)</p>
<p>here’s a suggestion, especially if you are keeping your cat indoors as I hope you do: Adopt a bonded pair. They’ll keep each other company during the day, and they won’t be much more trouble than a single cat.</p>
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