 Purred: Thu Jan 1, '09 8:27am PST |
 | |  | | I know my cats are not pure bred, but I wonder what kind of ancestry they have. I would never claim they are pure bred anything, but I would like opinions and information from people more informed than me to try and figure out where they came from.
Tiger was a rescue, she came out of the woods and adopted me. She was quite pricey, b/c I didn't know our shelter was no kill, and I wanted her to be with me (and she obviously wanted to be with me), so I didn't dare take her to the shelter. I had her tested for everything, vaccinated, examined, and spayed. I think I spent about $600 for all her initial care. I had to make sure she was healthy . . .
Kali came from the shelter and it only cost $80 to adopt her. They don't allow kitties to be adopted until they are spayed or neutered. I didn't think to have her microchipped at the shelter, but it's much cheaper that way. Our shelter will do all the pricey things for very little money. I think other shelters are that way.
Our shelter also has a neuter scooter that goes around and does very inexpensive spaying and neutering. Even though I paid the vet oodles of money to do laser surgery on Tiger, the vets at the shelter get so much practice that they are the MASTERS. Kali's incision was much tinier and healed much faster.
If I could have gotten an older cat to be Tiger's buddy, I would have. Older cats are cheaper to adopt, they've made it through their surgery safely, they get adopted less, and you know what you're getting with them. Tiger is a real beast, however, and I knew she wouldn't put up with a cat that was anywhere near her size.
I think it's preferable to adopt older cats and in our area, which has a huge military presence, a lot of cats that are very well socialized and simply sweeties are given up, b/c the parents are posted somewhere where they can't take the cat or are sent on deployments.
Our shelter allows families to take pets home for a few weeks and see if the pet works with their family. I think that's a great solution b/c the family can make sure that they have the right pet and that their home fits the pet. I think it prevents a lot of returns and helps more pets find forever homes.
Also, I agree with others not to knock PetSmart. If you buy a cat at PetSmart, you are buying a cat from a local shelter. They do NOT sell cats that are not rescue cats. They partner with local shelters to provide space and alternate advertising to help kitties get adopted.
We actually got Kali from PetSmart. We had found this super sweet kittie at the shelter who was a love bug, but although there was no sign, she had JUST be adopted. She was probably too big to get along with Tiger anyhow. There were no other kitties that were not bigger and older than Tiger, so we went over to PetSmart and found poor little Kali, the last kitten from her litter. She was the snuggliest and most fun kitty we saw. My husband wanted this other male, but he was bigger, and seemed to have stomach problems and we thought the smaller the better. We adopted her right away. I kept going back and visiting her every day or so until we could bring her home. I wanted her to get used to my scent. It worked very well.
This is an interesting conversation!
Allison
(mother of Tiger and Kali) |  |  | |  |
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This message has been brought to you by Big Red Herbie Katz, who is a total moggie, and by far the most loving cat I have ever had! Go moggies!!!
