How To Find The Perfect Cat To Adopt

If you’re thinking of adopting a cat or kitten from a shelter, you’re making a great choice! We’ll help you decide which cat is right for you and your family. Here are a few things to consider when adopting a new cat.

Senior cats and disabled cats struggle the most to find homes. Many people want tiny, cute kittens. Others are willing to rescue adults but want a healthy, young cat.

However, senior and disabled cats have just as much love to give! Sometimes, they require extra time, attention, or even money—but many of these cats are pretty low-maintenance, especially when compared to kittens that are hyperactive and untrained.

In this article, we’ll discuss how you should decide which cat to adopt—and what you should know about kitten adoptions if you’re opting for that path.

Adopting disabled cats

Disabled cats are a broad category, ranging from severe medical issues to non-life-threatening disabilities like blindness, deafness, or missing limbs. The latter can live long, healthy lives with the right family. They’re just as happy and loving as non-disabled cats.

Anyone can adopt a disabled cat, but you should ensure you’re up for the job first. Learn about the cat’s disability, how to accommodate them, and how much their care will cost.

For instance, blind cats require consistency in their environment. They will learn where things are by memory and may stumble or be injured if you change the placement of furniture regularly.

They also rely more on sound, so you’ll want to speak to them as you approach so they don’t get scared by you petting or grabbing them.

Cats with diabetes will need a healthy diet, monitoring of their blood sugar, insulin therapy, and regular veterinary appointments (source).

Some disabilities may require constant monitoring, meaning the cat cannot be left alone. Others might produce costly bills from the veterinarian. Some barely change the cat’s care at all!

Every disability is different, so you should talk with the cat’s current caretaker, do your own research, and discuss the disability with a veterinarian to ensure you’re fully informed before taking the cat in.

Adopting a senior cat

Senior cats come with several benefits. They’re typically already litter-trained, socialized, and used to living in a household. They also tend to be lower-energy and have more predictable temperaments than kittens.

However, there are also drawbacks. You’ll have less time with them than you would a kitten, for instance. (Though some cats live into their twenties, so don’t let this stop you from adopting a teen!)

Some seniors have trauma from abandonment or abuse and take time to warm up to a new household. They’re also more likely to have health problems than younger cats—though this isn’t too much of a downside because even young cats will age!

Senior cats are excellent for people who don’t have time or energy to spend training, socializing, and playing with a kitten. While they still require attention and work, they’re a lot easier to manage.

While a kitten might be bouncing off the walls wanting to play, a senior cat might be content to lounge in your lap while you watch TV.

Adopting a kitten (or kittens!)

Despite how many people think of them, cats are social creatures. Kittens, especially, tend to do best in pairs. They can teach each other crucial life skills and keep one another occupied while you’re busy.

Adopting one kitten can lead to problem behaviors like hard biting, destructiveness, and having more energy than their human families can handle.

If two kittens or cats are bonded to one another, it’s extra important that they’re adopted into the same home and not separated!

Other things to know about kitten adoptions or fosters include:

Never adopt a kitten before eight weeks of age.
Kitten-proof your home before they arrive. Kittens will get into everything! Keep cords out of reach, put away toxic items like cleaners, and check your plants to ensure they aren’t toxic to cats.
Set up a safe area for your kittens, like a spare bedroom or bathroom. Place toys, a litterbox, fresh water, and everything they need inside. This can help them to adjust to your home and keep them separate from other pets as well.
They should be fed kitten food until they’re a year old. Although there are varied opinions on this, it’s the age most cat food brands recommend. Always follow your veterinarian’s guidelines.
Never declaw a kitten—it doesn’t remove just the claw but also the first digit of each toe. It’s painful and leads to health problems later in life (source).
Set boundaries early in their lives. An easy mistake to make is allowing your kitten to bite your fingers during play or attack your older pets. It seems harmless and cute!
However, you have to consider if you want the behavior to stick around into adulthood. A full-grown cat scratching the dog’s face or biting at your ankles is no longer so adorable. So be sure to set boundaries early so your kitten can learn what is and isn’t acceptable.

Do kittens make good first pets?

Many people adopting a cat for the first time choose a young kitten. You may think this is the easiest route, but it couldn’t be further from the truth!

First, kittens should be raised in pairs. This means double the trouble—and kittens do cause trouble!

Even adopting a cat that’s one to two years old comes with many benefits over a young kitten, including:

Older cats are already trained. While they may come with behavioral problems, more commonly, older cats are litter-trained and have bite inhibition—meaning they won’t bite hard during play like many single kittens.

Older cats have less energy. Keeping a kitten entertained is a lot of work! This is lessened by adopting two kittens because they can play with one another, but you’ll still see them bouncing off furniture throughout the day and racing through the halls in the middle of the night.

Older cats are typically less destructive. Kittens climb curtains, scratch furniture, and claw up carpets. Training them to scratch their scratching posts can be a long process. (And declawing is inhumane because it amputates the cat’s toes and causes health problems throughout their life.)

Many older cats are less destructive due to a combination of training and having less energy. While you can end up with a destructive older cat, it’s less likely.

Older cats require less time. Every cat requires commitment, but if you work full-time outside of the house and don’t have a family, a kitten isn’t the right pet for you. They require too much attention.

On the other hand, older cats can be alone while you’re gone, and most of them are used to having an owner who works.

What cat makes the best first pet?

Everyone’s ideal first pet will be different. We recommend never adopting a cat as your first pet if it’s because you think they’re independent or don’t require attention—caring for a cat properly takes time and effort, just like a dog.

You’ll need at least 30-45 minutes to play with your cat daily, and you should never leave your cat outdoors unattended (source).

Often, the easiest cats are healthy young adults under seven years old. They require less work than kittens, seniors, and disabled cats.

However, you might love caring for a disabled cat and have the funds to do so. Disabled cats need more care than average, and this might make you feel closely bonded due to all the time you spend together.

Or, you might value giving a senior cat an amazing last few years of life.

If you don’t know where you’ll be in ten years and cannot commit to a cat’s entire lifespan (which can sometimes be 20+ years!), you might do better with a senior cat in the upper teens. This will ensure you can commit to their entire life rather than abandoning a cat when you no longer have the time or the environment to keep them.