Anyone who is contemplating a kitten should also be familiar with their disadvantages. Kittens are considered “more adoptable” and there’s nothing wrong with adopting them. However, one of the reasons I write so much about choosing cats properly is to help people understand appropriate age choosing from all angles.
This increases the chances they will realize the fun of adopting the not-kittens, too.
age range
“Little and cute” is a very fleeting moment in any baby’s life. Many people consider cats to be no longer kittens by six months. If we assume a 15 year lifespan, that is only 3.3% of the cat’s whole life.
We got Tristan at a mere three weeks, when he was barely able to walk. At four weeks he was, somehow, even more incredibly adorable.
If cute was all there was, there would be lines out the door to get such industrial strength good stuff. But this stage comes with the considerable downside of every-two-hour attention that keeps such extreme fostering volunteers in short supply.
People don’t realize the same plus/minus situation is true for the older kittens, too. Six weeks is often the age kittens are offered, and while that is a very cute stage, it’s still too young for them to leave their mother. So we often have the irony of newbie cat people taking on the greatest cat challenge.
Fortunately, this is where the innate independence of cats makes for a happy result most of the time. Still, I am always more confident of my kitten raising when I do it with cats. Growing up with adult cats to supervise and act as models seems to increase our kitten’s confidence and security, not to mention getting all their “cat bolts” properly tightened.
This can also help our kitten’s socialization and communication skills. Raising a kitten with the help of an older cat is like having a translator… or, not. This is important because the cuteness is usually in direct, negative, correlation with their thinking skills. The younger the kitten, the more air-headed they are.
career arc
I don’t read much cat advice that takes the long-term, ideal, view: that of a person who craves all the cat delight they can handle. I have come to emphasize the important of “starting right” because if we want multiple cats, the correct foundation makes such an endeavor so much easier. To smoothly acquire all the thrills of Cat Civilization, we should start off properly.
Over and over again, I encounter people who get one cat, enjoy it so much they want more cats, but then discover that first step has become their stumbling block. Maybe they got a young kitten who they raised without other cat input; and now this cat is having difficulty adapting to sharing their territory with a new cat. Maybe they inadvertently acquired an Only Cat, and not the kind who can change. Maybe they are simply daunted by the fear that their present cat will not handle a new cat situation well, and this perpetually gives them pause.
This sad situation need not occur. We can start with two cats. Any cats who have already demonstrated social skills, or even comes with a buddy, will manage each other’s socialization at full burn, keep each other company, and gives us twice the potential for getting our point across. Especially since two kittens can play with each other better than any other kind of creature.
If we are in circumstances where we need or want to start with one, I recommend adopting an older cat if we have never had a cat before. As I explain in Best Cat for Newbies, learning how cats work from a mature veteran is an excellent way for both of us to be in shape for that kitten.
lifestyle match
My decorating style is highly compatible with the kitten-proofing needed to correctly raise a baby cat. By comparison, the part of our environment we need to possibly change is less if we get an adult cat, and the precautions needed by a senior cat are smaller yet. If we are at all uncertain about our cat wrangling skills, it makes sense to start with a partner who understands both humans and cats.
In my Cat Match Quiz, I concentrate on choosing the right Cat Type for our personality, but this also serves as an age guide, too. If we find a Gamma recommended, an older cat is going to embody those same qualities. If we lean towards Alphas, we can handle the demands of all the youth and energy a kitten brings.
As I caution in my post, Dear Pammy, I didn’t mean to pick an Alpha!, if we want a kitten for a long time, we should deliberately choose an Alpha Cat Type. Tristan, our six year old Alpha, has started to complain that Mithrandir, our two-and-a-half year old Beta, is not as playful as he used to be.
Many potential cat adopters are apprehensive about getting a cat who is already “fully baked.” But that is actually a value-added situation. My recent post, The awesomeness of senior cats, is all about how a twenty year old hoarder survivor walked in and charmed a household full of dogs and adults and little boys, making it look easy. It is an amazing thing to see a Master at work, and this family would not have traded this particular cat experience for any other kind.
If we are aware of the full range of our possible cat experience, we will be astonished at how many possibilities might be out there.
Which is why it is difficult to stop at just one.
More kitten choosing musings at When to get a kitten and my podcast, Podcast #11: How to Pick the Right Kitten.
Find out more with a visit to my page on How to Choose the Right Cat.
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