Rescuing a Cat, what to know?

[dj_patm]

So my gf and I are rescuing a kitten and we're meeting her at the foster home tomorrow for the first time. I've done a ton of research about how to go about the first few days and we timed specifically so that it's over a long weekend where we can be home but I just thought I'd throw up a thread on here to see if anyone has any advice or feedback?

Specifically, is there certain things we should be on the look out for tomorrow when meet the cat for the first time? The rescue spays the cat and gives it all it's shots (depending on age) and deworming and all of that so we should be good there.

[Maxx Mazda]

Get a dog instead.

[colinxx235]

So my parents had done this twice while I was younger through the meow foundation. Both times it was a young young kitten. And each time there was an older cat already in the house so bit different of a situation.

One cat we got lucky and was superrrrr friendly/approached everyone right away. So almost no worries.
The second was stupidly scared/always hid. So this one was a bit tougher.

Some tips ontop of make sure you have everything setup ahead of time (litter, food dish) etc, pick your spots wisely for these as its nice to not move them around for the cat.
Depending on the size of your place/how many rooms in case you get a skittish one, I would close a few rooms off that would allow her to hide away in a tough spot.
The second kitten would always go under a bed at first, or hide under a hutch in the office and made it hard to get out.
If you're lucky and the cat is comfy, just do the usual show them the food/litter spot right away. And otherwise they will typically go around and explore/sniff the entire place.
Try to get them to play with toys, be mindful you don't let them claw furniture/carpet

[dj_patm]

Dog won't work in our condo and our work situation. Almost all of the dogs in our building are seriously messed up cause they don't get out enough activity or don't have enough space. The only ones that seem normal are the small ones which in turn bark a ton, our downstairs neighbour has one of these and it's not an enjoyable experience. A cat is the perfect fit for us until we have more space and we can decide if we want to add a dog to our home.

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So my parents had done this twice while I was younger through the meow foundation. Both times it was a young young kitten. And each time there was an older cat already in the house so bit different of a situation.

One cat we got lucky and was superrrrr friendly/approached everyone right away. So almost no worries.
The second was stupidly scared/always hid. So this one was a bit tougher.

Some tips ontop of make sure you have everything setup ahead of time (litter, food dish) etc, pick your spots wisely for these as its nice to not move them around for the cat.
Depending on the size of your place/how many rooms in case you get a skittish one, I would close a few rooms off that would allow her to hide away in a tough spot.
The second kitten would always go under a bed at first, or hide under a hutch in the office and made it hard to get out.
If you're lucky and the cat is comfy, just do the usual show them the food/litter spot right away. And otherwise they will typically go around and explore/sniff the entire place.
Try to get them to play with toys, be mindful you don't let them claw furniture/carpet

Yeah we're hoping we get lucky and have an active social cat that isn't skittish, we read through a lot of descriptions and picked one that sounded like the best fit for us but who knows with those write ups. We're going to have all of the supplies set up and ready to go and we think we're going to use the spare bedroom we have for her to chill out in for the first few days, I know cats don't like when you move the litter box but we will eventually slowly move the litter box to our bathroom so we don't have a "Cat Room". We'll be sure to stock up on toys and we've already picked out a pretty ballin' cat tree for it which hopefully doesn't go to waste haha.

Thanks for the tips!

[Star1995]

Lots of sweet n' sour sauce.

[killramos]

if you have carpets. Cat will ruin them. If you have furniture cat will also ruin. Cats basically ruin everything. Clawing, puking, ripping things apart. It never ends.

You either get over it or you get rid of the cat.

Seriously though if you have expensive furniture don't get a cat.

[03ozwhip]

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if you have carpets. Cat will ruin them. If you have furniture cat will also ruin. Cats basically ruin everything. Clawing, puking, ripping things apart. It never ends.

You either get over it or you get rid of the cat.

Seriously though if you have expensive furniture don't get a cat.

never have I ever agreed with anyone so much...ever.

[RealJimmyJames]

Cars are also good swimmers so it's hard to drown them when you get sick of them.

[speedog]

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So my gf and I are rescuing a kitten and we're meeting her at the foster home tomorrow for the first time. I've done a ton of research about how to go about the first few days and we timed specifically so that it's over a long weekend where we can be home but I just thought I'd throw up a thread on here to see if anyone has any advice or feedback?

Specifically, is there certain things we should be on the look out for tomorrow when meet the cat for the first time? The rescue spays the cat and gives it all it's shots (depending on age) and deworming and all of that so we should be good there.

You two didn't select the cat?

We rescued our older cat as a young male from the MEOW Foundation 13 years ago and it was he that selected us, we had our eyes on another cat but he promptly came out and plopped himself down in my daughter's lap and that was that. We figure Larry is about 15 or 16 years old, he's getting skinny, has arthritis, his eyes are starting to cloud up a bit but we couldn't have asked for a better cat. He is everyone's friend but the vet - there he turns into a feral old beast.

Good on you for rescuing a cat, keep it indoors to keep it healthier.

[Darell_n]

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never have I ever agreed with anyone so much...ever.

Same here.

[max_boost]

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if you have carpets. Cat will ruin them. If you have furniture cat will also ruin. Cats basically ruin everything. Clawing, puking, ripping things apart. It never ends.

You either get over it or you get rid of the cat.

Seriously though if you have expensive furniture don't get a cat.

yes agreed some cats are bad and while mine did do some of that they settled in nicely and started to come around. i know most people say cats don't care, useless etc. but i disagree.

[Amysicle]

.

[jacky4566]

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if you have carpets. Cat will ruin them. If you have furniture cat will also ruin. Cats basically ruin everything. Clawing, puking, ripping things apart. It never ends.

You either get over it or you get rid of the cat.

Seriously though if you have expensive furniture don't get a cat.

Parents always had cats and never a problem with that? Mind you thier cats were indoor/outdoor and did all thier scratching on the boulevard trees haha.

[dj_patm]

Not concerned about the furniture. Only piece of furniture it could ruin is a hand me down couch, plus I've read up a lot on how to dissuade them from scratching things you don't want them to scratch and instead scratch things you do want them to scratch. Hopefully it works, but again, if there's an adjustment period and the crappy couch gets scratched up it won't be the end of the world.

I was expecting a strong anti-cat reaction haha. I've only ever met one cat I hated (the thing is the devil) and I'm almost positive it wasn't raised correctly. Every other cat I've met has been awesome. Much prefer that over some yappy little toy dog.

[Brent.ff]

We rescued a cat from ARF a few years ago, and when we went and met there was a whole herd of them. My girlfriend (wife now) made the right call, and we chose the most boisterous of the group who was crawling all over us and wanting to play. He has been an absolute gem, fun to play with, social as all hell and is essentially a dog. Glad we chose the life of the party rather then the quiet cuddly one at the time. He wrestles all the time with the dog, and is definitely the boss of the house

Get a scratching post or a house for them to climb in, cut their nails if you're keeping inside (which you should anyway, they're little murderers when they get out) often and they dont feel like scratching to all hell. We've never had our cat scratch a single couch or chair in the house...

If you get an assertive cat, you'll be suprised how fast they explore the house and take it over. Ours was all over our house and comfortable within a day. We gave up on the 'kitten room' almost immediately. Be fastidious with cleaning the litter and your bathroom will far less stinky. Multiple-cat litter is definitely helpful


I'd say that everyone that has a 'cat from hell' experience is due to the person who has that cat is probably just ignoring them all the time, never cleans the litter, and the cat is losing it's mind and destroying stuff as a way to relieve some energy.

[mzdspd]

I have had cats for years.. Like suggested, a scratching post is needed and also cut their nails lots.

A spray bottle of water is handy when they decide to climb on the counters

Normally our cats would choose us when we went to the humane society. We have always had good luck (always had female cats) but it usually takes a month or so for the cat to learn their litter box and such.

[tonytiger55]

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if you have carpets. Cat will ruin them. If you have furniture cat will also ruin. Cats basically ruin everything. Clawing, puking, ripping things apart. It never ends.

You either get over it or you get rid of the cat.

Seriously though if you have expensive furniture don't get a cat.

WTF?



Congrats on Le Kitteeeehh DJ. What colour is he/she?

Depending on the age of the kitten, its sometimes hard to say. I know its a rescue but do you know it he/she was the eldest? Runt of the pack? Any info on the mother?

Sounds like you got bases covered, Colin posted pretty much what I was going to say & Toys.
The first week is pretty much the kitten adjusting to its environment. But they are pretty adaptable.

[dj_patm]

Yeah there's been some good advice and reassurances in this thread, thanks guys.

We tried 4 different rescues in Calgary and none of them had kittens on site, all of them had them in foster homes so you had pick the one you wanted to meet. We would have preferred to go see a bunch a time and how they all reacted to us but looks like that's not an option anymore?

Either way, we're going to be looking to see that it's not too skittish around us (obviously it will be shy at first) and that it doesn't bite and scratch for fun. Anything else doesn't really matter. Those are our two biggest concerns.

We know she has sister that she is fostered with which is a bit of a worry since she might freak out when shes alone but honestly almost every kitten we saw on rescue sites had a sibling. The rescue didn't seem to concerned about splitting this pair up (they were with others) so I think we should be okay.

I don't know anything else yet. I'll ask the foster family what they know.

Besides history what else should we ask? Any suggestions? We plan on asking about eating habits, litter brand, play style and any behavioral concerns we should know about. The good thing is we're not set on this cat, if it's not a good fit we're fully prepared to say no. We really want to make the right choice.

[MalibuStacy]

Take your time. Kittens are generally easier. Out of curiosity why not consider an adult cat?

Cats are surprisingly resilient. I inherited/adopted my late great uncles cat 2 years ago. She had never been with anyone but him and a second older cat for a short time. I was worried she would not accept me let alone adapt to living in a multi person house (roommates).

It took the better part of two weeks where she hid under my bed all the time, but eventually she got more open. I just kept gently encouraging her to come out and visit and eventually left my door open for her to roam.

Two years on she is now a royal lounge lizard in the apartment, and a welcome addition to our house.

[dj_patm]

Main reason we want a kitten instead of an adult cat is to make sure it wasn't an outdoor cat, cause living on the 3rd floor would make it impossible to let it out if it started to freak out being stuck indoors in an apartment.

We considered a deaf adult because my girlfriend is a bleeding heart but again, we have no idea if it was an outdoor cat or not.