Choosing and buying a cat

You will be able to obtain a new cat or kitten from a number of sources, including breeders, pet stores and animal-welfare organizations. Alternatively, you may perhaps know of a friend or neighbour whose cat has recently given birth and who is looking for homes for the kittens – this can be a good option, as you will already be familiar with the mother cat and know whether she has a good temperament. Another possibility is to visit your local veterinary centre, which may well have a noticeboard advertising kittens.

 

If you are looking for a particular breed of kitten, you will almost certainly need to track down a breeder (look at the advertisement columns in cat magazines or contact a national cat organization for names and addresses). You may have to be patient in your search: kittens are not always available all year round, because fewer are born in the late winter than during the spring and summer months.

 

SELECTING A KITTEN

Eight weeks is the ideal age for a non-pedigree kitten to go to its new home. By this time it should have had contact with a wide range of people and other animals, particularly during the fourth to seventh weeks (the so-called ‘socialization period’), when a kitten’s experiences will have lasting effects on its personality and on the way it reacts to people and other animals in later life. In the UK, pedigree kittens are often kept by their breeders for 12 weeks, so that they have had their initial vaccinations and are litter-trained before going out into the world; this usually varies in other countries.

 

When choosing a kitten, you should aim to select from a whole litter if possible. The appearance of the young cats will obviously influence you, but so too should their behaviour and health. Choose a friendly, frisky kitten that is quite happy and confident about approaching you, rather than a shy one which tends to hang back. If any of the kittens appears to be unwell – sneezing, with runny eyes or nose, soiled fur under the tail, flea-bitten, with a poor coat or excessive wax in its ears – it will be best to take none of them, and to look elsewhere.

 

Non-pedigree kittens are often much more popular with pet seekers than their pure-bred relatives, and there are usually many looking for good homes.

 

What to look for in a healthy cat

 

The ears should be clean with no unpleasant smells. White, blue-eyed cats are prone to deafness, so test a pure-white kitten’s hearing by making sounds from a point outside its field of vision (all kittens’ eyes are blue at this stage).

 

The eyes should be clear and bright, with no signs of ‘weeping’.

 

Gently lift the lips and look at the gums: they should be pink (not red), and the teeth should be white.

 

The coat should be clean and unmated. Check for fleas (tell-tale signs are the tiny black dots they leave in the fur), and for bald patches or flaking skin which could indicate a skin disorder.

 

Check for signs of diarrhoea under the tail – in a healthy cat this area should be spotless.

 

A VETERINARY CHECK-UP

Soon after acquiring your kitten, you should arrange to have it checked over by a vet to ensure that it is fit and healthy, and is not suffering from any obvious developmental problems. If the vet does detect any signs of serious ill-health in your kitten at this consultation, he or she will help you to decide what to do. All good breeders should sell their kittens subject to veterinary approval, and will refund your money if there is a problem. If you collect your kitten at eight weeks, it will need another appointment at 12 weeks for its first vaccination, plus a second round of general checking.

 

If you do not already know of a good local veterinary centre, look in your local business telephone directory or ask cat-owning friends for recommendations. Choosing a centre that is fairly close to your home is a good idea, in case you ever need to get there quickly with your cat in an emergency.

 

TAKING ON AN ADULT CAT

Opting for an older cat can be a good idea if you do not have the time to spend training a kitten, particularly if you are offered a well-behaved animal by a friend. Other sources may be a breeder who has no further use for a particular cat, or an animal-welfare organization. Sometimes a cat simply moves into a home where it finds a welcome, and, if this happens to you, it is quite possible that you may never find out where your cat originally came from.

 

If the cat is from an animal shelter, find out as much as you can the staff at the shelter about its background. Some cats, for instance, may not be properly house-trained if they have spent much of their lives roaming about on their own, and may not integrate well into a domestic environment. If a cat’s age is unknown, there are really no reliable indicators you can use to determine whether it is relatively young or not. Even when an older cat has been fully vaccinated you will need to keep it indoors for at least two weeks – complete with a litter tray – before allowing it outdoors. Otherwise it is likely to stray, possibly back to its former haunts if these are nearby.

 

There are many older cats in need of good homes. They can settle well, although much will depend on an individual cat’s background and personality.