Adopting the older cat

Sadly, many people consider a six month old kitten to be too old to be adopted.

This is six months. This is also cute.

This makes no sense. It's highly likely our cat will make it to fifteen. Are we going to quibble over .01666% of their life?

When we find a love interest we want to be serious about, we expect to meet them when they are grown up and have some opinions.

That is what makes them interesting.

People like getting tiny kittens for more reasons than their teeny cuteness. They think they can mold the Cat to Come by getting them young. They think they will have maximum time with them. They think they can avoid a bad outcome.

But none of this is guaranteed.

And people, especially those new to cats, don't realize those teeny tiny kittens come with matching teeny tiny attention spans.

It takes months to train little baby kittens. That same task can take a single day with an older cat, who knows how to think.

While kittens are a lot of fun, there's also fun to be had when we adopt an older kitten, or even a grown cat. Because what matters is how compatible we are. No matter how young our kitten, they already have their own personality.

When we adopt an older cat, we can much more easily figure out what that personality, is.

Read a touching story of why I agree it is Never too late.

Can we love a cat who is grown up?

We often want to get our cat as a kitten. There's nothing wrong with that. Except... we don't know what we are getting.

Three weeks old and we have no idea.

They are too young to give clues about their personality, and so much of their personality has already been set.

We don't think of kittens as already having a personality. We think of them as a blank slate where we can write whatever we want.

But this isn't true.

From the very beginning, our prospective cat's genetics could make them an Alpha, a Beta, or a Gamma. All great cats, but all very different experiences. And that's before they even emerge into our world.

Even at six weeks, which is really too young to leave their mother, our future cat has learned what beings they can trust. They have explored the world and formed opinions about it. They have learned to get along with their siblings... or not.

While kittens this young are learning all the time, they are not aware of it. Their short attention span means they are easily distracted and must be constantly reminded of proper behavior.

A cat past the kitten stage has full access to their thoughts, their collection of communication strategies, and a store of patience. We can establish a working relationship in a fraction of the time it takes to raise a kitten. When we meet our cat as an adult we can each discover things about ourselves, right away.

Of course we will make our own impression on our cat.

No matter what age we get them at.

Consider other cat ages with the cat acquisition continuum.

Used cats are a great bargain

People are scared about adopting shelter cats. Yet, this makes no sense.

She was once "the most pathetic kitten in the shelter"

The apprehension is based on worrying about taking on "other people's problems." But this is the backwards way of looking at it. What we are seeing are cats who are the scapegoat for their people's problems.

If we don't clean the litter enough, don't provide enough ways for the cat to amuse themselves, or neglect essential areas so that the cat feels compelled to bother us all the time? People drop the cat off at the shelter, and blame the cat.

I don't entirely blame the people involved, either. Once of my driving pressures is the fact that our society, and many like it, do not understand cats. In such a case, it is not surprising the people do not understand cats, either.

People treat cats like dogs, get poor results, have nowhere to go, and have a poor cat experience.

It is not the fault of the cat. But it isn't really the fault of the people, either.

Fact is, cats in shelters are a bargain. They are "fixed," vet-checked, often chipped, and pre-evaluated, and have many many years to give in return for their chance.

There's not a reason in the world not to.

For more about how many shelter cats are overlooked gems, see The cats no one wanted.

Adult Cat Adoption - So easy!

What is the easiest, and best, way to get a cat? It's getting an adult cat from a shelter.

I'm fairly sure that is not the response most people would think of; something like "kittens given away" or "taking in the stray who shows up" would be what most people think of as The Easiest.

But it is all about how we define "easy," isn't it? These methods require little effort on our part... at first. Yet, they require the greatest effort in shaping this cat into a wonderful pet. Especially if we are new to cats.

The problem with cats as randomly found objects is that we need to do health and personality evaluations. Before giving them the run of our home and our heart.

Do we have a quarantine room we can set up?

Do we know what they are saying when they are upset and frightened?

Can we tell if they are sick or hurt or suffering?

A good shelter is able to answer a lot of these questions. Plus, we get vet care, ID chipping, and reassurance.

Kittens are delightful and cuddly but require more time and patience than adults. Adult cats should come home altered and up to date on their shots. It's great to get some idea of what this cat is like, and if that is what we want in our cat.

Adults are great starter cats because it is easier to develop communication skills. Things we like in kittens are also found in adult cats.

The problem is that people don't know how to make friends with adult cats. But that's easy!

I explain in The Bridge to Grown Cats.

Don't fear the shelter cat

It's not that people are afraid of shelter cats. They are afraid of adopting shelter cats.

Cats in shelters have the perception of being "someone else's problem." Is that how they got there? Fortunately, science has an answer. In a recent study, here are the reasons an owner relinquished a cat to a shelter, in the order the person gave to the researchers:

• Moving (8%)
• Landlord not allowing pet (6%)
• Too many animals in household (11%)
• Cost of pet maintenance (6%)
• Owner having personal problems (4%)
• Inadequate facilities (2%)
• No homes available for litter mates (6%)
• Allergies in family (8%)
• House soiling (5%)
• Incompatibility with other pets (2%)

As we look over this list, we see only a few reasons that would possibly be the cat's fault.

The most fearsome, house soiling, is only 5%! As someone with a lot of experience in cat rehabilitation, I can confidently assert that out of all the cats that get turned into the shelter for not using their litter box, 49.5% have an easily-fixed medical condition, and 49.5% have no problem using a clean litter box.

I think this mindset occurs because people who want a cat as a pet have trouble understanding how anyone could give up a cat... unless the cat has a problem. But that is not what we have going on here.

Abandonment, moving, losing the cat and not looking for them, letting them languish when they need medical care, and "dropping them off in the country" for other people to take to the shelter... this is how cats wind up there.

Cats get into the shelter because of human problems; not cat ones.

For more reassurance, read my article on the great benefits of adopting cats from shelters.

What Can a Cat Overcome?

Rescuing a cat from bad circumstances is a wonderful feeling. Rescues are supposed to have a happy ending. But we need to remember that the best we can do is maximize the cat's potential; we cannot change the intrinsic nature of the cat.

Puffy is actually coming out for play sessions lately. Not that he actually plays; not that he does it every time. But under the supervised encouragement of RJ, Puffy is being more social.

How far can he go? Probably not much farther.

Puffy is never going to be a ball of fire. He's not going to throw toys around, or greet me in the morning, or wrestle with RJ. That's not in his repertoire. Getting him over his shyness has always been a two-steps-forward, one-step-back kind of progression. Dear Husband and I work on him all the time, figuring out what treats will bring him out of his lair, bringing him into the bedroom to cuddle with him on the bed, even though he only lasts a few minutes before he flees.

Without our constant encouragement, he wouldn't even have that. A Puffy ignored would be a Puffy invisible. As far as I know, and I got him pretty young, he was not mistreated. He's just that way.

On the considerable other hand, there's RJ, who could qualify as some experiment in deprivation. Skin and bones even after a month in the shelter, and he didn't know what a toy was when we got him. He's still a little off, but we couldn't ask for a sweeter, cuddlier, kitten. He's just that way.

Some cats, resilient and socialized, can bounce back from the most terrible of circumstances. Some cats, timid and fearful, don't have any background of abuse, yet act terribly traumatized. I've known cats to make a comeback from abuse, injury, or years of neglect on the street. Sometimes it's a matter of calming them down enough for their true personality to shine through. Sometimes it's creating a routine that gives them a sense of security. Sometimes it's as simple as making that soul-to-soul connection, right away, or over time, that reassures us both that this relationship will work out.

If we get the smallest glimmer from the cat, the slightest sign; there's hope. They can do it. They want to do it.

They just need our help.


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Bless Us, Every One

I got my favorite Christmas present early this morning. Despite the fact that I'm off work for the holiday, RJ still has an imperfect grasp of scheduling, so I expected him to wake me up at my usual time for breakfast. He did his Richochet Rabbit impersonation; leaping onto the bed and springing off as though shot from a cannon.

So when I peeked over the covers, he came bouncing over to my face. But this time he didn't have his serious little expression; this time he was trying to pull something. What his face conveyed was false surprise, Oh, you're up! As though he had nothing to do with it.

RJ has shown glimpses of trainability before, as when he asked to eat in the kitchen, and showed he knew what it meant when he moderated his formerly voracious behavior to be a Big Boy and leave other cats' dishes alone. But it's always been difficult to read his face. When he's happy, he's relaxed; we can get his attention fairly easily at such times. But at all other times his face has tended to have only one expression; that serious, intent look that seemed to be all that was left when we managed to wipe the desperation off of it.

This morning he not only showed himself capable of deviousness; his face was able to convey that knowledge. He's starting to lose his poker face. I'm thrilled. He's feeling more secure, he's reaching out to interact with us, and he's getting more open with his emotions.

In a way, every new cat is a wrapped gift. How will they fit in? How affectionate can they become? What surprises do they have in store? But when a cat comes in with known difficulties, there's even more categories of suspense. Are they capable of socialization? Will they lose that chip on their shoulder? Can they overcome the difficulties they faced before they got this home?

This couldn't help but be on my mind, since Mr. Bond and Puffy are also Cats with Problems. When I had to shut down my cat civilization and find most of them new homes, I wound up with Mr. Bond and Puffy mostly because they would have the greatest difficulties finding new ones. I loved them all; but I had to let the easy ones go first.

When I went looking for a new kitten, I was looking for someone easy. Except... there was RJ, needing special understanding. I must have been sent to rescue this little guy.

Because it's not just Dear Husband and I who enjoy RJ. Mr. Bond thinks it's great having a sidekick. This morning, he went trotting into the kitchen for breakfast, too. He had nothing to do with this. We can't prove a thing.

I can see the discussions between him and RJ: With my brains and your cuteness, we can really go places, kid!

From all of us, to all of you, a wonderful holiday. And the hope that there are plenty of the kinds of gifts who keep on giving.


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Rescue of a Shelter Kitten

This is RJ.

This is his mugshot. He's around three months old in this picture, taken when he came into the shelter I got him from, and he'd been there three weeks, and in two other shelters before that. He got into the system from the Big City. He was being held as evidence, but no one knew what kind.

That is all we know of his past.


I had come to get Gobi. I had found him in Petfinder.com, by expanding my search for certain characteristics; the long hair and broad head that might hint at the mellow disposition I was looking for. An hour away. When I came into the shelter I was disappointed and elated to hear that Gobi had gotten a home the previous day. He'd been there three weeks, and I had gotten a long distance crush on him. But of course, as my friend pointed out, we had come here to look at kittens, so of course we had to look at kittens.

We looked at several kittens, so by the time we came to the kitten alone in its cage, he had woken up. I needed a kitten for easy blending with two middleaged cats and a husband with a chronic illness, and it had to be the right kitten, too.

This kitten wanted to make eye contact. A great sign of the friendliness and sensitivity I was looking for. I knew he'd been overlooked for a while, because, with his status as evidence, he wasn't on Petfinder, and there were younger kittens around him. When he turned around I discovered he was a boy, quite a boy already. His fur was skimpy and his tail resembled a rat's. He rubbed his face on the bars to show affection, and drew me closer, to pat my cheeks with nails held in and finished with a pat on the nose.

Okay, it was over.

I called the Big City police department and managed to get him sprung the next day. I deduce that he was taken from his mother too soon, because he nurses in his sleep sometimes. I saw that he was not like any of the other kittens in the shelter, and held in a separate cage, so whatever he had gone through, he had done it alone. I know he hadn't gotten enough to eat for quite a long time, because I brought him home with his eyes still sunken in their sockets.

I gladly paid the shelter fees and added extra. They were doing important work, not least keeping him alive and taken care of until I could find him.

Gobi found a home. Reverend Jim found a home. Perhaps Gobi and RJ are no more than birthday candles in a vast and indifferent darkness. We do what we can, and what we could do was find a wonderful cat and give them a home.



To keep that little candle from being puffed out.