You know what your getting—hair length, personality, temperament, disabilities, if they like dogs, etc.
Adult cats tend to have excellent litter box manners where kittens may not be as good.
Adult cats are fastidious groomers—kittens, not so much.
A kitten’s health can be more fragile—immune systems may not be well developed and that means more trips to the veterinarian.
Kittens get into a lot of trouble and need lots of supervision—they will often eat anything, they knock things over, they fall, they find nooks and crannies to explore and get stuck in, etc.
Kittens bite and chew—they bite fingers, noses, earlobes, toes, arms, chins, electrical cords, blinds cords, shoelaces, plants, etc.
Kittens are needy—cats are social animals and kittens are used to being with their litter mates. It can be a frightening to be separated from their litter and then left alone all day long while you’re at work. An adult cat will still miss you, but won’t be as needy.
Do you already have an adult cat that needs a companion? Another adult cat is probably a less stressful addition than a frenetic, crazy kitten.
Adult cats are usually already spayed or neutered and have had all their vaccines.
Adult cats have stable digestive tracts—kittens are much more likely to get diarrhea.
Kittens are more easily hurt by small children—an adult cat should still be treated with care and children should be supervised with any animals, but an adult cat is better able to take care of itself.
Kittens are young for only a short time.
Adult cats are still very playful—kittens, on the other hand, have a ton of energy, need to play a lot and their timing may not be so convenient when you’re trying to sleep.
Adult cats are available for adoption year round—in areas where winters are cold and the days are short, kittens are born during “kitten season” and are mainly available from June through October.
Cats easily live into their late Teens now—an adult cat still has many years of happy life left. In fact, many “adult” cats at shelters are just last year’s kittens.
Adult cats are rarely at the shelter because there’s anything wrong with them—their human companion has died or moved to a nursing home, someone in the house developed an allergy, their owners got tired of them, they got lost and weren’t claimed.
Adult cats are much less likely to be adopted, while kittens are almost always quickly adopted.
In the past, we’ve always adopted kittens or young cats, but I really hope to be able to adopt an adult cat the next time we add to our family. Kittens are fun, but taking care of them well is a lot of work and every kitten we’ve adopted has had at least one health scare. I’d love to adopt a sturdy, adult cat with a known personality.
Please keep those sweet adult cats in mind next time you adopt!
Many of these are of course also true of older dogs. We just got a 2-yr-old dachshund, and she is (sort of) house trained (as much as doxies can be…), and high-spirited but not chewy, etc.
Excellent point! That’s wonderful you adopted an adult dog!!
Yes, it was from a rescue organization. They ask beforehand if you are willing to deal with “issues” the dog may have – and it is really interesting finding out what they are. (Not sure if it is usually so obvious with cats – I’ve never had one.) Demi has a serious dislike for my 21-yr-old son (who mercifully is off at college most of the time) – we are guessing that there was an abusive boyfriend or something in her past. She also piddles when you pet her upon greeting – we are hoping that this goes away, but for now we just pet her on the tile rather than the carpet! She is very affectionate and cute, so it is hard to get mad at her, tho we have already had to have the carpet cleaned…
Good points on why to adopt an adult cat, and its true that most often the adult cat is already litter trained. I am going to adopt an adult cat for this reason. Also for older folks an adult cat has that training which is easier on older people. Thanks for the needed information on adopting which I believe in strongly.
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