Adopting older cats

[Liz]

We have here at the Clan 46 darlings ranging from 17.6 years to the former feral Oodie doodies at 5 and 6 months respectively

Last year  we ended up takingon the remains of a feral colony all 3 of them deemed to be unhomeable Miss cissy now aged 16, and her 2 kittens Smudger and ragamuffin who are now 10, Miss Cissy is now deaf and looks to the outside world from her radiator bed with a look of contentment and Smudger and Ragamuffin are happy with heat, food and warmth - we have worked hard with them and all are now able to go to the vets - Smudger goes in a curhs cage since he bit Robin through the welding gauintlets!

We also ended up coming home in 2000 with Bert and Moose from Cp for foster they had been in the homing centre for 11 months and were very rough round the edges my vet thought we had gone mad bit Moose blossomed in to a gorgeous longhaired white and black boy who lost an ear to cancer and finally outlived his 8 week prognosis by 9 glorious months and died in my arms on the way to the vet at the pint 2 of his brothers had been lost to RTA's.  Bert Meanwhile soldiered on with several isues - his blood din't clot, he went blind, he had arthritus and finally aged 21.5 died with his dady in attendance from a tumour in his heart.  Both these boys enriched our lives and left gaping holes when they died

We have 40 under 10 as most are unwanted ferals who we work hard to make in to nice cats but have failed with Ace and Blue who adore the other cats, the dogs food on tap but not the humans, we have our rescue ragdoll Minmin here to

We only bring in Puppies now due to the cats numbers and the cats soon train any curious puppy!  When we lost our oldest deaf Collie at 13.5 we couldn't face taking on anymore but Sky and Sunny have joined us in the last 2 years to be companians to Jazz out JRT who is 15.

I love the oldies and if and when any more turn up - I have a battered old boy who appears at the odd time - not neutered but one day he will go in the trap and move on in unless we end up with some more hard luck stories!

We are so fortunate we have the cat family we have thanks to Robins job and his devotion to ferals lets us have our big house and the land we have but it came at a huge price we sold our souls to buy this house and are mortgaged to the hilt having been mortgage free in our last home but we bought the house for the animals although it is our dream home to!

I still do the lottery every week!

[maryas]

this would be my dream home 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwM6f0liHpo

[/color]

Licia that video is fantastic. 500 - 700 cats are there at one time.  They all look so well looked after - what a wonderful like that would be.  So tranquil.  It would take all day to stroke them all.

My Bonnie was 10 when I adopted her and she will be 12 this coming Tuesday.  Not only an oldie but she has no yail either - I love her to bits and she loves me too.

Mary

[Desley (booktigger)]

Most calls do tend to be about younger cats, but I have had some oldies that have been rehomed quicker than younger cats i had in at the same time - my best was Rosie (the first one), the person who adopted her rang up wanting two tabby kittens, and it was Oct, so we had no kittens at all, told her what we did have in, and it was the colouring she wanted, so she ended up with a 13yo tabby!! I do hate the people who think a 4-6mo kitten are too old though.

I personally only adopt oldies, my current three are 19.5, 17 and 12 (although Sam could be older, but acts younger!!) - one of my fosters is also an oldie, the girls had both been overlooked in a rescue for months before coming to me. The youngest cat i have adopted was 5, and I lost her after 8 months, so decided to go for purely oldies after that (and if I am honest,I actually went for an oldie, but she was the only cat there, I thought she would be the cat that stayed while oldies came and went, but the reality was that cat was Ginger, who was estimated at 11 when i took him off the streets). I have fostered quite a lot of oldies too, as with the old rescue, I Was the only one set up for them - hence having Sam, he was initially with someone else, until his true age and health came to light.

Unfortunately i have a knack of having cats with health issues (hence why my numbers are so small), so I do end up losing cats every single year, this year has been the worst with losing the three terminally ill/disabled cats (all picked up off the streets and volunteered for all) and still having two cats with health issues. IT is worth it to know they have had a warm, loving home environment for the end of their life though.

[CC & The Pussycat Guys & Dolls]

Have only had one oldie (11 years) and have to say he acted just as much of a kitten as my kitten at the time did 

[Bazsmum]

I love em all! I have furbabes here from approx 16 months old to almost 18!  They all have individual character's and I could sit all day and watch their antics! 

[Pudding]

My first 2 cats were about 4 months old (CP ckittens) and feral.  Called Domino and Chequers, they were both 16 when they died a couple of days apart. While they were with me they also enjoyed the company of 15 year old Bill who died 18myhs later of a stroke, 16 year old Hero, who died afyer 3 years with kidney failure and 14 year olld Skater who also was with me for about 3 years before he succombed to a bowl problem. All gorgeous cats wo derved a bit of comfort in their retiremeny. I love them all.

Now I have 5yr old Lettuce who I toon on for a friend of a colleague whose aunty etc etc (she was about 4 months as well when she arrived) and back in September this year, Zareth also about 5yrs who I was actually fostering while he recovered from an op and we were looking for a home for him. He'd already found it

[Mark]

I have never had a kitten - Kylie was 2 1/2 - she chose me at the rescue centre though. Mainly because she scratched me and I saw the challenge and knew there was an unhappy & confused cat - she is my big soppy darling now 

Alice was around 10 when I adopted her 2 years ago - She was supposed to be a 2 week fostering case after cancer surgery - wasn't she Sharon & Julie? 

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

I have never had a kitten.

Kocka found me when she was 10yrs old and turned me from a cat hater to cat lover.

After she went tio the brige I wanted a pair of cats who new each other about 2 years old and ended up with Misa 4yrs old and Sasa 6 years old who had never met before!

Then took on birman brothers aged 13 yrs, one with 3 legs and they are all  now 3 or 4 years older and find it hard to think that the big kitten called Misa who knew nothing is now a big man who is still learning 

[bunglycat]

The youngest i took on was Smartie at 18 months -now 12 1/2 years
Winston was 4 years old - now 11 1/2 years.
Bungly was 5 years old -now 9 1/2 and very poorly .
FiFi was 10years old - now 11 1/2
Sophie was around 4-could have been 5 years - now around 15 1/2 or could be 16 1/2 .
 I love the older ones too and would take them over a kitten.

[Gillian Harvey]

I've adopted many oldies, all so special 

Oldest adoptee was Amber who was in her 20s and she lived with me for 4 years before she died. Poppy was 10 when I adopted her and lived till she was 18. Milly was 15 when I adopted her, she lived till she was 19, Jasper and Zeta came together age 12 and 13 respectively - I lost Jasper early this year and Zeta is nearly 16 and still here, although poorly at the moment. Suzie was 10, and 14 when she died of kidney failure.

I have other cats who I've had since kittens - they are all 12 + now, and of course my Elsa who was 6 weeks old when I got her, and 20 when she died 

Youngest at the moment is Gwynnie, who is just over 2 yrs old now - a mere child! 

[Canterbury_cats (Sharon)]

As rehoming officer for canterbury CP. .i do get pretty depressed with continual kitten calls no matter what time of the yr!.. Today i have turned a "kitten call" into taking on our lovely Maxine..15 months, had 3 litters already... !! But i think it takes time to bring people round and whn i have had a busy day with endless calls do i want to spent another 20 minutes on the phone convincing them of the benefits of taking on a older cat.. Sometimes just the fact that they go and see the cat sometimes means the age is irrelevant.. They just fell in love!!

Which brings me to a story about Mulberry..! A very ancient cat we took in around a yr ago, who was in a pretty poor state, and one of the thinnest cats i have ever seen... She was tortie very dark and long haired, a few teeth missing, coat abit of mess, looked really sorry for herself.We were stunned to find out that there was nothing at all out of sorts with her blood work.. She was just old!! So the day she came in our care i had a lady ring me who wanted to take on a cat that needed to be needy!! But she has several stipulations, it had to be male, it had to be short haired, it had to be fairly young and it had to have a lovely nature.. Well as it happened we didnt have anything in our care that fitted the bill.. But i mentioned Mulberry as being especially needy, as there was no doubt she would be in our care for a while.. The vets put her at 16 or so!! Well what do you know.. All those stipulations went out the window and the lady went to see her the next day.. Mulberry was rehomed a few days after coming into care and is still going strong!!

[Fire Fox]

I've only personally adopted three cats, and all three were chosen by someone else! My ex-husband chose our two as he wasn't 100% on the idea as he'd never had a cat before (supposed to adopt one but he couldn't decide which ) and Adel CP chose Noah for me. I never wanted a kitten, cats little ways are just as cute to me! I think adult rescue cats are often so happy to have a loving home that they become very attached to their owner slave. All three of mine have been very loving and easy to love back, so I cannot understand how one ended up a stray at death's door, one got left behind when his owners moved and one got traded in for a puppy.

[CoolCyberCats]

and if I won the lottery I would buy a big house and garden and open a retirement home for all the poor old pusses no one wants

I always play several ticks with number picked relating to our cats (like birthdays, years old, converting names to numbers) and have promised the powers that be that if the tickets ever win at least half will go to help cats. If more than a couple million is ever won I have promised to start up a cat sanctuary somewhere. Been trying for at least 8 years now.

[CoolCyberCats]

I personally think the most tragic thing is once a "kitten" grows beyond 4-5 months old, they are already considered "too old" as they grow out of that cute wee little baby stage, and majority of people no longer show them interest. 

Dolcetta46, that is a sad truth. I had not thought of this before, but the thought struck me as I read your post: The people who go to the shelters and right to the kittens, do they really want to adopt a pet or something they imagine is cute, cuddly and will always be that way? hmmm. I bet some do that.

[CoolCyberCats]

Now, I'm a complete Senior Kittizen convert! Sugar and Spice have shown me that older cats have just as much love to give as younger cats and, although I don't want to think about it right now, I know that when their time comes to go to the Rainbow Bridge, I'll be willing to open my heart again to another elderly puss.

Harlequin, That is great! One of the points I like to tell people is the the older cats are "settled" in their ways. You pretty much know what you are getting since their purrsonalities have already been shaped and molded.

Though I try to get the older cats, my adopting of found cats in need has caused us to get a few of kittens as well though, but in these cases they would not have made it without our intervention. Orion, our big black baby was dropped on the road by a hawk when I was going to work one morning. He was only about 3.5 weeks old by the vets best guess. Now he is over 5.

[CoolCyberCats]

In the UK, do most people gravitate to the kittens and young cats for adoption also?

not me, I love the oldies  (look at my siggie) our first 2 cats were kittens but when they got older I always said from now on I'd only adopt older cats because I felt so sorry for the ones in rescues.  So we've adopted oldies/hard to home cats ever since, but that's just my preference.   We have Byron who is ancient we adopted her 3 yrs ago and Pep another oldie who is deaf and blind who we adopted just over 3 months ago.

Janeyk, That is great! I am sorry about Pep. Our cat ^Electra^ went deaf the year before she left us, but I have never had a blind cat. I am a big supporter of a rescue here in the USA in Georgia called Blind Cat Rescue: http://www.blindcatrescue.com/. The work they do is just so wonderful.

Thanks for helping the older and special needs cats!

[CoolCyberCats]

I have 3 oldies
George is 20 yrs old and came to me via another Purrs person

Eddie is 17 1/2 yrs old and was originally a foster from the rescue but is now signed over to me

And lastly Tommy Tippy Toes who is 16 yrs old and was left behind when his owners moved

The rest of the gang range from 6 months old to 10yrs old

Wow Bonnielass! I am impressed and so happy that you have those senior cats! That is great and shows a wonderful heart!
After my initial cat ^Hamlet^ who was about a year and a half old when I adopted him, I have made it a point to only adopt older cats, special needs cats or abandoned/found cats in need of a home. I figure the young shelter cats and kittens will find a home, so I try to help the others.

[Claire_smc]

What a lovely video, I was welling up as I watched it though and made sure I gave Pepsi and extra big cuddle afterwards. It is sad that most people go for a cute kitten instead of considering an oldie, especially when they buy them on impulse from pet shops and things Pepsi is a middle-aged cat (not sure how old though, am going to ask the vet when I go back for her second injections) and I always wanted an older rescue cat as opposed to a kitten as I'd prefer a lap cat who'd curl up to sleep on me and sit for hours purring in my lap and that's exactly what I found 

[dolcetta46]

and if I won the lottery I would buy a big house and garden and open a retirement home for all the poor old pusses no one wants

this would be my dream home 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwM6f0liHpo

[Kay and Penny]

that video is lovely, and so sad to see all those lovely faces

I will not be having any more kittens, unless I actually find one in a ditch

I am too cowardly to take on an older cat with medical problems, because I am afraid of being in a constant state of anxiety, but otherwise I would take any cat who needed a home, and not bother about age at all

and if I won the lottery I would buy a big house and garden and open a retirement home for all the poor old pusses no one wants

[JackSpratt]

My favourite age bracket is between 2 - 5. Still young enough to enjoy their youth, but old enough to have mellow times too. I keep telling Darwin I'll be glad when he's a bit bigger.

Our cats range in age from twenty next year (Carrie) right down to five months (Darwin). Ironically, those two are the most hard work! The two with "in between" ages (Sage and Astryd) are generally the most laid back.

[Pinkbear (Julie)]

We do still get an enormous amount of people asking for kittens. Especially at this time of year.  Strange thing is that on occasion the potential adopters simply hadn't thought of adopting an older cat.  Our rehoming officer has successfully turned potential 'kitten' homes into adult cat homes and both parties have lived happily ever after.  I would say from our experience it is seasonal. Certain times of year it's only kittens they ask for (like Christmas, when there are very few actually around!  ) but at other times requests for adult cats are greater. We do rehome more adult cats than kittens so I would say that it's not as bad as it could be.

I do know that some branches of CP, as well as other rescues, have adult cats that have been waiting for years but thankfully not us. We have a good rehoming turnaround and I think the average stay is around 2/3 months and this includes time recovering from illness and injury. 

Have to add by far the hardest group to rehome are those older kittens (4months to 12 months) that aren't classed as adults but are outshone by smaller kittens. They seem to fall into a neverland and don't appeal to either camps. 

[dolcetta46]

I personally think the most tragic thing is once a "kitten" grows beyond 4-5 months old, they are already considered "too old" as they grow out of that cute wee little baby stage, and majority of people no longer show them interest.  To me it is so absurd.  Small kittens are of course cute to look at, but honestly most of them (or the charm they carry should I say) are pretty much the same from one to another.  However as at about 4-5 months kittens start to show established personality more clearly, the individuality which make each of them special, and by the first birthday it will be much more clear.  I would much prefer to see a cat/kitten at at least this stage so I can see if we do connect, whether we are really made for each other.   Plus I was always more attracted to big, distinguished cats more than ickle littke kittens anyway...

[Karon]

When we got our two oldest they were kittens but I had gone to the rescue looking for one older cat (so came home with two 10 week old kittens).  There were none needing homing at the time, but the kittens were desperate.  But I would happily take on an older cat - and indeed have done so with my oldest yard cat who is 17+.  He started hanging around me 3 years ago and I started feeding him, a year later I could just about stroke him and now he's completely tame.  He's very sweet, and it's lovely to just sit and fuss him for a while when I'm at the yard as he's a lovely old chap.

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

noving this to general cat chat cos the rescue and rehoming section is just for that   

[harlequin]

Both mine are 12 years old and I must say they still enjoy chasing each other round the house and are still relatively active.

Our last cat we had when she was three months old and we found her something of a handful at times because she had boundless energy. When she died aged one year old, it broke my heart that we never had the joy of her growing old and enjoying life for many years.

After she died, we adopted our two current cats, Sugar and Spice. I don't think we made a conscious decision to have elderly cats, it just sort of happened really. Our main reason for adopting them was because they had spent their whole lives as housecats and just wanted a quiet house to live in, so we fitted the bill perfectly because we don't have children or dogs. Now, I'm a complete Senior Kittizen convert! Sugar and Spice have shown me that older cats have just as much love to give as younger cats and, although I don't want to think about it right now, I know that when their time comes to go to the Rainbow Bridge, I'll be willing to open my heart again to another elderly puss.

[bonnielass]

I have 3 oldies
George is 20 yrs old and came to me via another Purrs person

Eddie is 17 1/2 yrs old and was originally a foster from the rescue but is now signed over to me

And lastly Tommy Tippy Toes who is 16 yrs old and was left behind when his owners moved

The rest of the gang range from 6 months old to 10yrs old

[Janeyk]

In the UK, do most people gravitate to the kittens and young cats for adoption also?

not me, I love the oldies  (look at my siggie) our first 2 cats were kittens but when they got older I always said from now on I'd only adopt older cats because I felt so sorry for the ones in rescues.  So we've adopted oldies/hard to home cats ever since, but that's just my preference.   We have Byron who is ancient we adopted her 3 yrs ago and Pep another oldie who is deaf and blind who we adopted just over 3 months ago.

[CoolCyberCats]

When I lived in Illinois near Chicago before moving to Montana, I helped at the shelter I adopted 2 of my cats from. I eventually became their webmaster and began to make condos the could resell. At one point they asked me to make a video they could play on their computers for people to explain why people should consider adopting the older cats, not just the kittens. This was my 1st attempt and they used it for years. Keep in mind it is now dated (being made between 1999 and 2000 if memory serves me) and any statistics given are both 9+ years old AND based for the USA. Still, I felt it was a moving video and they say it did get many people to adopt the older cats! Oh, and all the cats used in it were from Save-a-pet then. I spent 2 days there with my camera, taking images and playing with the cats all day. (it is about 3MB so please be patient while it loads and starts up)

<a href="http://www.save-a-pet-il.org/test/oldcats.swf" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.save-a-pet-il.org/test/oldcats.swf</a>

In the UK, do most people gravitate to the kittens and young cats for adoption also?