I am conflicted... I want to do the right thing for my cat Church and I don't know if this is it or not... I want to give some background information first before I get to the point.
Some background, Church was a 'surprise' feral rescue, I caught him at about 5-7 weeks old when my dog chased him into my garden.
At the time, my brother (and his senior rescue cat Sneakers) had been living with us and had just 'reserved' a Maine Coon kitten from a breeder, Roxy, and we were waiting for her to be old enough to come home. Church was just a few weeks older than Roxy and around or shortly after the time that my brother's Maine Coon Roxy came home, Church finished all his health checks/tests so since he had a clean bill of health they were introduced. I had not planned to keep Church, but as time went by I was not able to find a good home for him and I started to get attached so ended up keeping him. So Church and Roxy grew up together.
The next summer I rescued a litter of 7 feral kittens, long story short I ended up with keeping 4 of them permanently so we then had 7 cats in the house total. Church and Roxy never really cared much for the kittens, did not play with them and Church especially doesn't seem to like being around them. They like each other a lot more although they don't really play together like they did when they were kittens.
My brother recently bought a house out of state (in New England), and so naturally he took his cat Roxy with him. He had been talking about moving for a while and making comments about taking one of the other cats, preferably Church, along when he moved. He'd especially been mentioning this since he had recently been sent by his work to consult in WI for 6 months and when he took Roxy out there with him she was very unhappy alone. I eventually let him take Church up to keep Roxy company for part of the time; he usually came home on weekends.
I had originally told him (when it was more of an idle thing and he wasn't actually looking at houses or anything) that if/when he moved he could take one of the cats from the feral litter since they had also been fosters originally and I hadn't planned to keep them. However Roxy really doesn't like them much and they are quite attached to their littermates so we didn't think that was a good idea after all.
We decided that his senior cat Sneakers should stay here because she is old and has health problems and her vet is here, plus there is someone at home most of the time here which is safer for her health, and I am the one who usually gave her meds and everything.
So basically he wants to take Church to live with him and Roxy. At first I didn't want him to, but I gave it a lot of thought and I think it might be good for Church. I know it will be better for Roxy, my brother said she's very lonely-- she walks around looking for the other cats and cries (the same thing she did when he was in WI before he brought Church out.) Church and Roxy both don't care for my younger cats, and I've noticed lately Church has not been very sociable even towards me so I feel like it would not be as bad as I thought at first for him to live with my brother. The thing is Church was really my first cat (not counting fosters and family cats)... I'm very attached to him, and I am not totally sure he would be happy with just my brother and Roxy alone. So I am conflicted. On one hand I really don't want to be without Church but on the other I think he might be happier there and it might be better for the cats to divide them up, but I'm not totally sure.
I am going to visit my brother next month and I agreed to bring Church there to stay with him. I told him it would be a temporary/trial basis, I said I might decide I want him back and that I'm not permanently giving Church's ownership to him at this point. I guess I'm just not sure whether it is the right decision, I want to make sure I am doing what's best for them but it is also so hard to give him up even if he's still technically mine/in the family.
Some background, Church was a 'surprise' feral rescue, I caught him at about 5-7 weeks old when my dog chased him into my garden.
At the time, my brother (and his senior rescue cat Sneakers) had been living with us and had just 'reserved' a Maine Coon kitten from a breeder, Roxy, and we were waiting for her to be old enough to come home. Church was just a few weeks older than Roxy and around or shortly after the time that my brother's Maine Coon Roxy came home, Church finished all his health checks/tests so since he had a clean bill of health they were introduced. I had not planned to keep Church, but as time went by I was not able to find a good home for him and I started to get attached so ended up keeping him. So Church and Roxy grew up together.
The next summer I rescued a litter of 7 feral kittens, long story short I ended up with keeping 4 of them permanently so we then had 7 cats in the house total. Church and Roxy never really cared much for the kittens, did not play with them and Church especially doesn't seem to like being around them. They like each other a lot more although they don't really play together like they did when they were kittens.
My brother recently bought a house out of state (in New England), and so naturally he took his cat Roxy with him. He had been talking about moving for a while and making comments about taking one of the other cats, preferably Church, along when he moved. He'd especially been mentioning this since he had recently been sent by his work to consult in WI for 6 months and when he took Roxy out there with him she was very unhappy alone. I eventually let him take Church up to keep Roxy company for part of the time; he usually came home on weekends.
I had originally told him (when it was more of an idle thing and he wasn't actually looking at houses or anything) that if/when he moved he could take one of the cats from the feral litter since they had also been fosters originally and I hadn't planned to keep them. However Roxy really doesn't like them much and they are quite attached to their littermates so we didn't think that was a good idea after all.
We decided that his senior cat Sneakers should stay here because she is old and has health problems and her vet is here, plus there is someone at home most of the time here which is safer for her health, and I am the one who usually gave her meds and everything.
So basically he wants to take Church to live with him and Roxy. At first I didn't want him to, but I gave it a lot of thought and I think it might be good for Church. I know it will be better for Roxy, my brother said she's very lonely-- she walks around looking for the other cats and cries (the same thing she did when he was in WI before he brought Church out.) Church and Roxy both don't care for my younger cats, and I've noticed lately Church has not been very sociable even towards me so I feel like it would not be as bad as I thought at first for him to live with my brother. The thing is Church was really my first cat (not counting fosters and family cats)... I'm very attached to him, and I am not totally sure he would be happy with just my brother and Roxy alone. So I am conflicted. On one hand I really don't want to be without Church but on the other I think he might be happier there and it might be better for the cats to divide them up, but I'm not totally sure.
I am going to visit my brother next month and I agreed to bring Church there to stay with him. I told him it would be a temporary/trial basis, I said I might decide I want him back and that I'm not permanently giving Church's ownership to him at this point. I guess I'm just not sure whether it is the right decision, I want to make sure I am doing what's best for them but it is also so hard to give him up even if he's still technically mine/in the family.
