# A 1st time cat owner joining his 1st cat forum



## HappyFather (May 21, 2021)

Hello people!

I'm from Portugal, I got my 1st cat two months ago. I was looking to adopt a cat but around here the animal associations all wanted "to inspect my house inside" to see if I was a proper adopter. Besides COVID, I don't like strangers inside my house (maybe I have some cat DNA). So it was proving to not be that easy to adopt! And I had NO restrictions on colour, gender, breed... In the end there was a lady that fed street cats and a new cat showed up and looked so polite and nice that she thought it was a former house cat that got abandoned. She offered to take her in for me to collect. And thus I got my first cat.

I took her to the vet the following work day and she seems to be healthy (no FIV/FELV exams done yet), around 1year old, not neutered, not chipped. The vet wanted to neuter straight away, without checking if she was pregnant. We dislike the idea of abortion so we waited for her to have heat. She got it. She also escaped the house and is now pregnant... Well... I wanted to have two cats, seems I'll have a couple more now. She will be neutered after she stops breastfeeding.

Taking care of the cat seemed pretty easy. She follows me everywhere around the house (I'm working from home due to COVID). She is waiting at my bedroom door for me to wake up and purs while I greet her. If I go out she meows at the door and goes to the window to wait for me. She eats well, she drinks water. She never missed the litter box (when she arrived she was exploring and I showed her the litter box and she used it straight away, as if she knew what it was). She is not playful, just likes to lie on my lap or next to me. She doesn't have this level of attachment with my wife nor my kids (that live with us every other week).

As time goes by, I start to have lots of questions and not always find complete answers searching google, so better I join a busy forum! And here I am!

Pictures! Everyone loves pictures! So let me put a couple here (lets see if I get it right)




















I hope I get some help, I hope I don't get flack for letting her have her kittens, I hope you think she is as beautiful as I think she is!

HappyFather


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## Mosi (May 17, 2021)

Nice looking kitty. It is unfortunate that she had kittens, but if you are keeping them and giving them a nice home and getting her spayed, it's all good. You are just beginning with cats in your life, so you cannot be expected to know everything and you were not negligent, just trying to do the right thing, so you don't deserve criticism for the kittens.

How about kitten photos too?


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## HappyFather (May 21, 2021)

Mosi said:


> Nice looking kitty. It is unfortunate that she had kittens, but if you are keeping them and giving them a nice home and getting her spayed, it's all good. You are just beginning with cats in your life, so you cannot be expected to know everything and you were not negligent, just trying to do the right thing, so you don't deserve criticism for the kittens.
> 
> How about kitten photos too?


Thank you for your understanding! 🥰
The kittens are still unborn. If I did my math right, she is in her 6th pregnancy week. She was with the father-cat between around 7h30 am and 10h00 am on April 11th. So, it will be 6 weeks in two days. I believe the babies will be born between the 7th and 13th of June. I'm keeping them all, I hope that they are not more than 3. 😅


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

I also didn't like the fact that one adoption agency I applied to wanted to not only inspect my home, but said they had the right to pop in at any time. Seriously?

My black kitty is a chatterbox, is yours? What's her name?


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## HappyFather (May 21, 2021)

marie73 said:


> I also didn't like the fact that one adoption agency I applied to wanted to not only inspect my home, but said they had the right to pop in at any time. Seriously?
> 
> My black kitty is a chatterbox, is yours? What's her name?


Oh! I never got the "pop in at anytime" one!!!  But then, I was on the adoption process for a cat without an eye (saved from the street, lost it on a fight) and only after I passed the interview and meet-the-cat-that-came-rubbing-and-asking-for-petting-straight-away I was told there was a next step that involved "verifying the house and defining a list of compulsory changes, if any issues were spotted". Maybe the "pop in at anytime" would be said afterwards.

My kitty is named "Loreta". She is very quiet! She purrs daily and she meows when I leave the house (my wife told me) and when I'm preparing her food (she has free-feed dry food and receives canned tuna or wet-food for lunch and dinner). But otherwise she is very silent. I don't know if it is because she is still building up confidence. She purrs from day 1. The meow for food is just on the last two weeks. Sometimes she meowed whe she was caught red-handed trying to get into the kitchen's trashcan to eat our food leftovers but we now never leave leftovers there and she lost interest and the situation didn't repeat.
I think she is too silent, don't know if it is normal or not. Then again, I'm more of a silent person myself. My wife is the one that chats a lot or always has TV or music on but she works outside the house even with COVID, so she's around only evenings. I've been talking more during the day to tell Loreta that I like her a lot.


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## Mosi (May 17, 2021)

marie73 said:


> I also didn't like the fact that one adoption agency I applied to wanted to not only inspect my home, but said they had the right to pop in at any time. Seriously?
> 
> My black kitty is a chatterbox, is yours? What's her name?


In defense of rescue organizations, since I have done a lot of rescue work with dogs, I need to mention that there are good reasons for having home check visits before adoption. 

I know this because I have done a LOT of home check visits. Sometimes a person will sound very reasonable and say all the right things on the phone and then you get to their house and it is completely unsuitable for one reason or another. I have seen some pretty strange things in the way of people's homes, people who did not get approved for adoption because I did a home check. Had a dog been allowed to go to those homes, it would not have gone well and would have been very bad for the dog. A person can say one thing and actually the situation is very different from that. That's why rescue groups ask for home visits.

Now, with the pandemic, the dog rescue I work with has been doing virtual home visits, which is not as good, but at least it's something.

I don't want strangers in my home at any time, personally. But I am fully on board with a rescue wanting to know where the dog is going to live, if I wanted to adopt one, and I would feel the same if it were a cat.

The "pop in anytime" thing......now that, I would not agree to. That seems an invasion pf privacy. I would agree to a pop-in if it were arranged well in advance, and not a surprise. But even then, I wouldn't allow it more than once, if that. The one time home visit should be enough.

Of course, you get to stick to your own needs and preferences on this topic, Happy Father, and I am glad you got such a lovely cat without needing to adopt from a rescue. The cat you got clearly needed a nice home.
You might want to start asking people you know if they want to have a kitten, and finding potential homes now, just in case she has 6 kittens!


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## Kitty827 (Sep 3, 2020)

Welcome! We are glad to have you here! I hope we can give you answers to all of your questions! Loreta is a beautiful kitty! 

I believe that you did the right thing letting her have her heat and letting her keep her kittens, although some may disagree. I also believe that it was irresponsible of your vet not to check and see if she was pregnant or not.


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## HappyFather (May 21, 2021)

Kitty827 said:


> Welcome! We are glad to have you here! I hope we can give you answers to all of your questions! Loreta is a beautiful kitty!
> 
> I believe that you did the right thing letting her have her heat and letting her keep her kittens, although some may disagree. I also believe that it was irresponsible of your vet not to check and see if she was pregnant or not.


Thank you for your support! That vet was one I was recommended to by the lady that caught Loreta for me as it is a "low cost" clinic.
I've since collected other recommendations from neighbours (lots of them have cats too) and friends and when I needed vet again I went to the neighbourhood one. A little more expensive but its a clinic run by a couple, both vets and both do it for the love. So she was more worried with the cat than with charging me. And I see this as proof that I can trust her and that when she says my cat needs something, she really needs it straight away.



Mosi said:


> In defense of rescue organizations, since I have done a lot of rescue work with dogs, I need to mention that there are good reasons for having home check visits before adoption.


In a way, I also understand. One worker from a different organisation explained to me some awful things people do, especially with young kittens or with black cats.
But my parents didn't spend Christmas with me because of COVID, and letting a stranger in not even a month after Christmas... January here was very bad and we ended up being confined again February, March and part of April.
Besides, I live in a detached house (I don't know if this is the right English expression) with a patio, not in an apartment. That was an immediate blocker for some organisations because I would let the cat out, because the walls aren't high enough to hold the cat inside, etc.



Mosi said:


> Of course, you get to stick to your own needs and preferences on this topic, Happy Father, and I am glad you got such a lovely cat without needing to adopt from a rescue. The cat you got clearly needed a nice home.
> You might want to start asking people you know if they want to have a kitten, and finding potential homes now, just in case she has 6 kittens!


Thank you! On the topic of giving babies away after the finish breastfeeding... Still having trouble with that idea. I already have a friend asking for a kitty, but I feel chest pains thinking about it


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## tomjk (May 12, 2021)

She is beautiful! Welcome to the forum!


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## Mosi (May 17, 2021)

Just so you know, in case you do decide to give away some of the kittens, they should not leave their mother until they are at least 8 weeks old. 6 weeks, which people often do, is too young.
I am rooting for your cat only to have two, though, so you get to keep them.


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## Kitty827 (Sep 3, 2020)

HappyFather said:


> Thank you for your support! That vet was one I was recommended to by the lady that caught Loreta for me as it is a "low cost" clinic.
> I've since collected other recommendations from neighbours (lots of them have cats too) and friends and when I needed vet again I went to the neighbourhood one. A little more expensive but its a clinic run by a couple, both vets and both do it for the love. So she was more worried with the cat than with charging me. And I see this as proof that I can trust her and that when she says my cat needs something, she really needs it straight away.


You're welcome! Thank you for loving and caring about Loreta and her kittens. She's lucky to have you.

Yeah, I don't think low-cost spay and neuter clinics have the resources to see if a cat is pregnant. 

Aw, I'd give them my business! Vets nowadays do it for the money and don't really care about the animals.


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## Mosi (May 17, 2021)

Kitty827 said:


> Vets nowadays do it for the money and don't really care about the animals.


That's a very wide sweeping statement, don't you think?
And it's not true.
Most vets are completely dedicated to the animals they serve. 
And being a vet is _not_ a good road to riches. No one goes into that profession because they want to make a lot of money!
Human doctors, yes, some do it for the money.
But if you want to get wealthy, or if you don't care about animals, you don't choose to be a vet.


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## Woosie (Apr 27, 2021)

Kitty827 said:


> Vets nowadays do it for the money and don't really care about the animals.


I'm another who really wants to dispute this. My vets are wonderful with my two cats and are incredibly dedicated.
As Mosi says, you don't become a vet to get wealthy.. they work very hard and unfortunately they have a very high incidence of anxiety and suicide.


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