My partner and I foster a lot of cats. Some of the sweetest cats take forever to get adopted just because they aren't kittens anymore. One of our fosters has been with us for almost three years now - just because he isn't a kitten and needs some inexpensive meds sprinkled on his food once a day.
We adopted a male cat who was a couple years old, he had no teeth and has stomach problems so he needs special food. He had already been adopted once and returned because of the issues and he got bullied out of his foster home by some other cats. Felt so sorry for him, he’s the sweetest boy and our other cat tolerates him ok (they have an older sister/younger brother dynamic), and she doesn’t usually like other cats.
The shelter staff made it sound like he was special needs but it’s literally just a slightly more expensive hard food. I guess after he was returned they wanted to make sure whoever adopted him knew what they were getting into. Love that little guy!
66% of our resident cats are on prescription diets. Total non-issue. I think people just worry about other unanticipated costs.
That's super awesome - both for the fostering, and for paying the cat tax in advance!
I like the idea of getting an adult cat - a bit bigger, a bit wiser, and a bit warmer to the idea of having a bed and a human to call their own.
What a handsome spotted guy!
I won't adopt kittens, personally. Those little shits are cute, sure, but they eat everything and claw everything and try to kill themselves on everything. Just like a toddler.
Even if an older cat wasn't trained at all, they still get some sort of common sense level up after they pass kitten age.
And the non kitten fellows! We wanted a third cat after adopting two kittens years ago. We were so over the erratic nature combined with the roll the dice luck of whether they were floor pissers, plant eaters, etc, so we decided to look for adult cats. The only one the shelter had was this mongy manky stray who was estimated to be 5 years old. When we went in the adoption room with her, she looked at us and did a massive wet shit that made us all evacuate the room. Her adoption photos make her look mangy, aloof, old, dirty, and distant, not to mention smelly.
Later, when the poo particles had settled, we went back in and picked her up. She sank into my arms and I just knew... I cried and couldn't bear to let her go.
Four years on, her shaggy fur has became soft, her distant eyes started slow blinking and showing emotion, her little frame filled out and she became an absolute hellhound for dinner time. When you walk in the door, no matter who you are (literally, you could be a burglar), she will run up to you and do this silent meow asking to be picked up. When you hold her, she purrs so much her body shakes and she drools until her face is dripping. She will climb into bed and play little spoon at night, and she loves laps all times of the day.
We've had her 4 years and she no longer does wet shits, but is the same loving cat that melted when someone held her and showed her love. She converted me to older cats.
Gawd, between your story and the OP I'm just an emotional wreck right now. 😭😭 I have a 20yo cat and it breaks my heart so much to think of him in a shelter with nobody to hold him. Thank you for giving love to these old kitties.
She sounds wonderful, I'm so happy she found a home with you!
I would always adopt an adult rather than a kitten. We've had a kitten and he was hard work!
Our orange cat was 2 when we had him from the shelter. He was found on the street with cat flu. They treated this, but he was still very skinny when we adopted him, with rough fur and cracked paw pads.
We've had him just over a year and he gained a lot of weight at first, but now he trusts that there's always going to be dinner for him. His fur is glossy and bright, and his paws are healthy. He's incredibly loving, even with children, and loves sitting near us when we're working.
I'm glad we got him. Even our other cat (also adopted, but from a friend) is slowly warming to him!
When we went in the adoption room with her, she looked at us and did a massive wet shit that made us all evacuate the room.
I laughed so hard at this single sentence that I couldn't stop even while writing this. Bravo!
Oof. Much feels.
Also, old cats yaoll like a mfer and develop incontinence. Give them the best last days you can, but when its time to let them go, let them go.
Yelling into empty spaces isn't exclusive to old cats. I know of at least two who do it just to hear themselves yell.
I don't know why mine used to, but then I separated and he yowls a lot less now. It's really kind of weird. I think it has to do with knowing where I am
Man I'd love to be able to do that and give cats a good run-in for their twilight years but I don't think I could - partly because one of the household is allergic to cats; but mainly I don't think I could deal with the repeated emotional devastation of having to let them go at a much higher rate than a "normal" pet owner.
Fair play to those that do. Pretty ballsy.
I thought the same thing till I met a beloved old cat-daddy neighbor. Before he passed away he had asked if I could help find homes for his kitties. I took his two oldest cats without knowing what I was getting into (mostly) in a good way. I found out old cats howl and even though they are so rickety they move like an At-At from Star Wars they’ll scamper like a fool given the right stimulation. Totally worth it! Seven years later I still have one of them who is now 21 years old. She sleeps a lot but loves a good scritch and pet session. I wish I could make all of my cats infinite cats. Having lost pets just means I cherish them all even more.
Lovely photo.
Yeah, I could never do it, but mad respect to those who do.
As an old cat adopter I want to add one thing to this. Yes, it hurts to lose them when their time comes, but something I didn’t expect is that after the mourning I’ve always started to feel a sense of urgency to find the next old timer to rescue. I’ll remember the time and love I had from the ones before and I curse how much time was wasted while they waited in a shelter for someone to come for them. Why couldn’t I have found them sooner? They deserved so much more love and comfort, where the hell was I? Then we go out and find our new friends that have been waiting for us for so long and our family gets better again.
It’s always tough knowing that our time with them is short, but that’s true of any animal relationship. In the end we’re left with the love for them which in my experience never diminishes. We may say more tearful goodbyes when connecting with the old ones, but over time the wonderful memories and love in our lives just accumulates more and more.
I agree the responsibility (and occasional expense) of caring for older animals is not always in everyone’s capabilities, but I implore you not to avoid considering welcoming one (or more) into your life solely because of aversion to the pain that comes from losing them. The love they give outweighs it a thousandfold.
giving them a good last couple years is totally worth any pain you will feel. You will know they died happy and loved instead of scared in a cage alone.
Damn those onion ninjas again...
Not going to start crying in the middle of this restaurant. Nope.
If only more people adopted in general instead of spending money on designer pets.
Why not both? We rescued an abandoned Scottish fold, and now we spend plenty of money on her. She's a sweetie!
Creating designer pets is immoral. Creating a side channel market for abandoned designer pets is immoral because it increases demand for designer pets (people can abandon their pets knowing they will be cared for).
Sure, if they're abandoned.
The issue is that we have so, so many stray cats. So, so many cats left in shelters. We do not need people to breed more cats just so people can have their very expensive and very specifically bred designer furbaby. We need people to take care of the ones that already exist and are already struggling.
He is so cute either with those big ol’ paws. ❤️❤️❤️
My aunt did the same thing. She said the cat she adopted never forgot about it, either - just super sweet every day, happy to have a home and a good friend in the world.
My family has had some of the best cats this way. My mom would always go to the shelter and adopt the oldest one they had and we had so many truly wonderful sweet cats over the years.
These are the best people on earth.
I wish i had the capacity to adopt animals. I've always wanted to do this. Older animals being in shelters makes me sad.
the only reason I only have one dog is my tiny apartment. I am moving to TX so I can live in a house with a yard soon. when my boy passes I plan to get an elderly dog and spoil it until it dies, then rinse and repeat until I die
I see so much suffering in this world. I am exhausted from being depressed and anxious about it. I just want to help a tiny bit if I can, I can't just wallow. that wont save any animals from dying alone on a cold floor. action will
CUTE
Dumb question, but is it common for cats to end up in shelters? As I understand, they tend to fare not too badly as stray cats.
Do they get put in shelters when they're too old/sickly to hunt? Or are cats raised as housecats not good enough at it? Or do we generally put cats into shelters, because we don't want them to hunt and obliterate the local wildlife?
Totally not a dumb question tbh - the answer probably also highly depends on where you’re from.
In Germany (also highly depends on county/city) yes, they do normally fare pretty well and shelters often operate multiple feeding stations where there are a lot of strays. So they get to know the „local strays“ and can keep an eye on them via volunteers and cams.
When a cat is visibly sick, they catch them at this station, treat them and if the cat is alright, oftentimes release them again - shelters are notoriously full and money ist scarce for these organisations unfortunately…
However, if there are conditions that make life for this cat (or others - e.g. FIV) dangerous, they are normally kept in the shelter and then opened for adoption as a „only indoors cat“.
Also, older cats often end up in shelters because they often belonged to older people - and when they can’t care for the cats anymore, have to move or die one day, the cats have to go somewhere too.
Where I am, strays are usually catch, sterilize, release. But if you caught a cat who was sick they'd treat it, and lots of cats end up at the shelter because people don't fix their pet cat in time, and they get pregnant (even if you are responsible - we had a brother sister pair and I asked the vet what she would he fix them, he said "6 months", I asked but when can they get pregnant? "4 months". Thankfully it didn't happen, they were fixed and lived long kitten free lives).
And pets, if someone gets sick and can't care for them they get surrendered.
New to me that cats can live 20 years!
Yea, they can live pretty long. It’s mostly the dangers out there (cars, people, poison, other animals) that shorten the lifespan drastically.
That’s why indoor cats have a longer lifespan on average.
Also, the kidneys… keep an eye on them and your cat should do pretty well for a long time
They can live longer than that. One of mine lived to 21 years and the worlds oldest cat is almost unbelievable
I hope my boy Biscuit does https://urda.social/tags/biscuit
my grandmothers cat lived into it's mid 20s. it was so active until the end, you really couldnt tell it was that old
Reminds me of the time my wife and her friend when to an adoption event. She said she might come back with one. I told her to pick out the dog least likely to get adopted. She came back home with a 20 pound mutt that’s blind and deaf. He was rescued from a hoarder and had a bunch of open sores. Real pitiful. The before and after pics are crazy. He looks great now. Total asshole and fits right in with the family.
No cats are immortal you can't convince me otherwise
