Meow

[eredien]

Has anyone ever adopted a cat from a shelter? (Feel free to talk about other animal adoptions, too, but we're thinking of a cat specifically). If so, what was your experience? Would you recommend it? Does your pet have lingering behavioral problems?

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[khava.livejournal.com]

I adopted both of my cats from "foster care" homes associated with shelters. In DC, there isn't much animal shelter space, so they have volunteers who care for several animals at their homes and can tell you a lot about the animal from personal interaction (though they're also doing a sales pitch, so they may play down problems). I love both my cats dearly, and they've turned out fine.

Ethelwolf was just a kitten when I adopted him. He'd been found with brothers and sisters but no mom when they were just a few days old, so they'd been bottle-fed in foster care. Because of this, he kind of thinks he's a human and doesn't have a lot of the standard cat socialization behaviors.

Maggie was a year old when I adopted her, and had given birth to a litter of kittens (sadly, all were adopted by the time I met her). I fear that she had suffered some abuse or abandonment, since she has a few behavioral issues. She's extremely cage-phobic - whenever I so much as put her in a carrier to take her to the vet, she has an "accident" in the carrier. When I first adopted her, she would snap at me and try to bite if I touched her back legs, but this behavior faded away over a few months and now she has no problem with it. She also can meow louder than any cat I've ever heard, and has no qualms about meowing at 15-second intervals all night if something is upsetting her. But she's the sweetest little girl ever, and she's completely stolen my heart by being so loving and compassionate.

Both cats follow me around the house. To the point where, if I get up in the night to go to the bathroom, they follow me there and wait outside the door.