Adding a cat to our family

[Three~Little~Birds]

Hi,
We are planning on getting a cat in the near future. I'd love some thoughts on this.
We have 3 kids: 8, 6, 22mos.
We are trying to decide between a kitten and a 1-3 year old cat. Any thoughts for consideration?
Also - should we keep the cat indoors, or allow it to roam free outside?
I am also wondering what the best kind of food and litter are.
It has been about 10 yrs since I've had a cat so I'd love to hear others' opinions.
Thanks!!

[Lady Mayapple]

From my experience, a young kitten is more likely to bond with ALL members of the family. We adopted two Maine Coon mix cats from a shelter who were about 7-8 months old, and both of them took to me and no one else. When DH and I were dating, we adopted a 12 month old Siamese-Himalayan mix who promptly took to DH only and was downright mean to everyone else.

I always used Arm and Hammer cat litter, seemed to keep the stink down better than other brands. We fed them Purina One food. The Siamese had a bad allergy to food dyes, which we found out the hard way when the store didn't have our usual so I grabbed a box of Meow Mix. He was sick for days, throwing up red goo everywhere.

Allowing your cat outside depends on where you live. My first Maine Coon, Rosie, loved to be outside. There's a wooded area behind my mom's house and she would go back there and hunt mice and birds and whatever else she could sink her claws into. She was a fantastic hunter, and I couldn't imagine taking that experience away from her-it was such a huge part of who she was.
Kiku, our Siamese, was not allowed outside without "adult supervision" because he would climb up a tree and onto the neighbor's garage roof and tease their dogs. Then we started getting reports of "pet theft" on our street, so we kept the cats indoors unless we were right outside with them.

We do not have cats right now, and if we did they definitely would not be allowed outside. The people next to us have a boxer, the people behind AND across have pit bulls, and now the neighborhood watch group has started a trapping campaign because of the feral cat "problem". I don't think they are a problem, but perhaps it is worse on other streets. You need cats to keep rodents and other pests away. I would say the REAL problem is the overwhelming presence of European starlings that make their nests in awnings, overhangs, and chimneys I just don't agree with the trapping because they are taking these cats to the pound to be euthanized.

In fact, call your local pound before you go anywhere else and ask if they have young kittens. Pound animals have such a short amount of time to be rescued from death. Around here it's 72 hours.

[Three~Little~Birds]

Thank you so much for your reply. We have decided to get a (rescued) kitten, for the reasons thaat you mentionned. If it weren't for the kids, then we'd probably get an adult...

We'll wait and see about the inside/outside thing and keep her inside for now..

Should we feed her moist, dry or both foods? Which is healthiest?

Thanks!

[lonegirl]

Both wet and dried are good. It was believed that dry was best for their teeth....but as they age they need more water for their kidney health so canned is good...so a mix is a good way to go. Get a good kitten specific one to begin with. If you get a male it will be even more important to get a top shelf food (speaking as a tech who has had her male cat block twice). I love my boy but would likely stick to females in the future.
Get a kitten check-up and vaccines and talk to your vet/tech about available foods out there (good vets/techs wont just recommend what they sell).

[kittywitty]

I would find one that your children bond with and that does well with them-not just because it's a kitten.

Also, I would not allow free roam outside. They will pick up diseases including toxoplasmosis, they are a big cause of decreasing songbird populations, a non-native species that causes damage, dig up peoples gardens, poop in peoples property, and are a general nuisance when left free range 90% of the time. Not to mention the greatly decreased lifespan of the cat when allowed outside. My mom has always let her cats be indoor/outdoor and I've had at least 15 hit by cars. It's quite traumatizing to a child, or even an adult, to watch your cat be killed. Not to mention if the pound people pick them up. We had to pay $50 one time to get a cat back that even had tags on. Around here, they put them down pretty much immediately. Indoor cats are perfectly happy, anyway.

[Lady Mayapple]

There are so many more choices on the pet food market now, especially wet foods. My general rule was if it didn't smell good enough for ME to eat, I wasn't feeding it to my cat. I would also give them each a can of tuna every now and then-it's good for their fur.

[Narmowen]

Give them a mix of wet & dry. I feed my two cats hard food twice a day, and wet food once a day.