Hi,

I now I've asked about cats on here before but reading some of the other threads has just made me doubt myself!

Myself and my OH are moving into our new house in Jan. Its being built for us at the moment. Its a bungalow with a small/med garden. We work full time and so the cat/s would be left whilst we are out. We dont have any children but within the next 10 years we plan to have them and possibly rescue a dog as well

I have already approached our local cat rescue to enquire about rescuing a cat and they said a blunt no to due to the fact the road at the end of our estate is quite busy. I then asked about the possibility of adopting a house cat (the one in particular was deaf) and was told no because of the busy road and the risk if the cat escaped. Surely if they wont rehome a house cat to someone because of a road the cat probably will never ever even see they never rehome anything!

Anyway, after reading some of the other posts on here I started to doubt whether if we bought a kitten or 2 they would be happy soley as house cats? And I also feel a little guilty thinking about buying a cat when there are so many in rescues. Should we pursue rescuing or try to adopt a private rehome instead?

What do you think?

There is nothing to feel bad about keeping house only cats My lot are perfectly happy like many many others. So long as you provide plenty of entertainment for them they will be fine ... lots of toys

As far as the rescue situation is concerned, please try other rescue centres. Or indeed we have some ladies on the forums that rescue, and their rules may not be quite so strict.

Keeping a cat indoors only is quite a responsibility in itself though. I probably go overboard with making sure my girls don't get out (as we live on a main road), but to give you an idea:

We have a crate (large dog one) and if ever we open a window or door to outside anywhere in the house for any amount of time they go in it. We have fibreglass mess screens on the windows for the summer months, so if we do want to open the window in extreme heat we can. But I never leave them unattended when doing so, nor do I go to sleep or anything. Also they are never left unattended in rooms that have chimney's (we have 4 open fireplaces), though I am going to be getting some chimney balloons after seeing Hobbs2004 has them, just to block them off so I can relax a bit about that.

Like I say I probably go overboard, but I love my girls so much I don't think any risk is worth it.

HTH.

Thanks for the reply. I have looked into the mesh screens for windows but hadn't thought of a crate. I was just planning to shut them in the spare room if necessary. I do really worry about them escaping even though they would have a little way to go to get to the busy road.

Do you think it would be better to get 2 kittens or cats as house cats? I would worry about them getting bored or lonely whilst we arent there.

Have you considered cat proofing your backgarden? There are some amazing threads around this forum on how to do it. You can then contact the rescue and if they say 'oh but the main road' you can tell them your back garden is cat proof and so no cats would get onto the main road. Perhaps you can try a breeder. Lots of resucues won't rehome if you have young children or are planning on children. It took us a while to get Bailey and ended up giving up on the rescue because we were waiting for a long time.

This questions come up a lot in here… rescues in the UK do seem very often to have very inflexible rules when it comes to rehoming. Some people think you should just continue going to other rescue organizations until you find one rescue who thinks you are suitable. Personally…. I think rescue organizations have to learn to separate the wheat from the chaff and have to stop painting with such wide brush strokes.

Not every cat can be kept as indoor cat, but an awful of them can be, definitely those purchased as a kitten. And just for the record... I have fostered ALL sorts of cats, young and old, neutered and complete, feral and tame, and I've yet to meet one that couldn't be kept inside! Just some of them need a lot more time and effort spent on them to aloow them to be indoor cats. So I hate the fact that many rescue orgs frown upon keeping cats indoors. It's insane. But anyway.....

Since your new house is new build, have you considered cat-proofing your garden???

And I don’t mean that just as a reason so that rescue organizations well vet you as suitable…. But it’s good for the cats too to have secure access to the outdoors. And since your garden will (I assume) be a blank canvas, that’s often easier to cat-proof than having to deal with an established garden.

I could TOTALLY understand if you chose to buy a cat or kitten that didn’t come from a rescue organization. And it does REALLY pain me to say that, as I am a feline foster mum of many years and really only like to support ethical breeders or rescue organizations… BUT, I do understand all these inflexible cat charities in the UK make it nigh on impossible for many highly suitable people to rehome one of their pets.

The only thing I can advise if you do decide to buy a cat from a breeder is…. do your homework first and get a kitten from a either a reputable breeder or from someone with an accidental litter of kittens who goes about the rearing of the kittens the right way. Do NOT buy a 7 week old cross kitten from a back yard breeder just because you think the kitten is sad and needs you to rescue it. When you do that you are inadvertently supporting (and encouraging) a barbaric practice.

Although I foster for cat shelters and have done for years, my two own cats are pedigrees and come from very ethical breeders. I don’t give a hoot about how my cats look or if they would or wouldn’t score prizes at cat-shows… but I do care an awful lot that my cats come from generations of pampered and well looked after cats, bred for all the right reasons. That’s why I chose to buy pedigrees instead of keeping one of my own foster kittens. That’s not to say I have anything against purchasing a cat from a shelter …. I just do not agree with people purchasing kittens from “dodgey” breeders… and we see loads of that on this forum, and often the kittens have health problems or behavioural problems because of the way they were reared, often too they are separated FAR too young from the mother and siblings, and that is never good.

Best of luck in your search for a kitten/cat.

I absolutely admire the fact that you are doing your homework now!! Well done for that. Too many people wait till the house is built and painted and furnished, then buy a cat or kitten as a spur of the moment decision, and well…. a quick through the cat forums will let you see the problems that entails.

with kittens, I would definitely say 2 is better than 1. And with cats too.... but sometimes an adult cat is better on it's own if it has certain territorial problems... but as a rule of thumb, I would alwasy say 2 is better than 1.

Hello,

Yep I had thought about cat proofing the garden but my OH really isnt keen. Although we have 6 foot fences all around we would need to adapt the top and he doesnt like the look or the idea of it at all unfortunately.

We were looking at the egyptian mau breed which are apparently very keen on walking on a lead so my OH would much rather prefer this.

Thank you. I'm definitely not taking the decision lightly and as I have never had a cat before I want to be 100% sure before I get one as I definitely do not want to add to those getting put into rescues.

I am starting to look at breeders now but its really hard to know exactly what to look for. It is especially hard looking online at their websites as they all look so professional etc. Nearer the time I will visit a few and see what I think then.

I dont plan to get a kitten or 2 until they are at least 12 weeks old, preferably 13 or 14 weeks. A lot of breeder sites I've seen so far sell at 12 weeks and offer to hold for longer if needed.

Its also hard choosing breeds as a 1st time cat owner too. As I mentioned before we are considering a couple of egyptian mau kittens as my OH seems quite taken with them and from descriptions of their temperment they seem like they would like living with us! I'm the same though about not minding about looks. Plus they are going to be neutered as soon as possible as I've always liked the idea of having a boy and a girl but definitely dont want to breed them!

Would you have any ideas about how to stop house cats scratching furniture etc besides giving them a scratch pole? Thats one of our main concerns with a new house and new furniture!

Regards looking for a good breeder (again..... can I just pat you on the head and hug you to death, lol).... I wish everyone would take time to find a breeder they like!!

Anywayyy.... have you considered going to cat shows? I don't show my own cats, but we do go to cat shows... and apart form being a nice day out it is a GREAT way to meet a lot of breeders in one day. You will meet some and be put right off (irrespective to how gorgeous their cats are, the "click" just won't be there), but you will meet others and as you chat with them, you will start to think "yep, this is my type of person, I like how she is, I like how she rears her cats, I like her attitude". You will learn more (good and bad) about breeders in one day at a show than you will spending a month online. A bad breeder can have a top website, and a good breeder can have a lousy website. Nothing beats the face to face contact you get at shows. And if you meet someone at a show, and say for isntance they don't have kittens at that moment in time, or live to far from you, they will be more than happy to put you in touch with a breeder closer to you or one with kittens.

As for scratching, yes there are loads of things you can do to prevent it...
- plenty of alternatives to the furniture, and that doesn't have to be 5 expensive cat trees, I will dig up and old post of mine with photos to show you some of the cheap and cheerful solutions I have. Door mats taped on to a door for instance. Rope wound around a table leg is another. If a kitten has plenty of alternatives that are better than your furniture, he will choose those.
- in the beginning limit the space available to the kitten, minitor his behavior, distract when he goes to scratch somehere he is not allowed. (in other words, don't go to your work for 10 hour and leave him with your new leather sofa ) Not in the beginning anyway. It's a gradual process.
- keep their nails trimmed
- lots of things to prevent boredome (can be anything from an empty cardboard box to a paddling pool filled woth ping pong balls to tin foil balls).
- a few bouts of interactive play each day with your kitten... tires them out, is a good manner of keeping fit for them, keeps their body and brain active, and if they are so knackered after chasing a feather on a string that you pulled around the living room, then they are too tired to wreck your new leather couch.

Hope that helps.

Nope I hadn't even thought of cat shows. I will definitely try to find one that isnt too far from us and try to go tho. Thats a really good idea. I dont particularly want to show cats either but it definitely sounds like an ideal way to meet breeders and get advice on the breeds and their care etc.

I was planning to take a couple of weeks off work when we first get the kitten/s to bond and get them used to gradually being left alone. Also this will give me time before they arrive to make sure we have bought everything we need and get them registered with our vets etc.