Adopt or Foster

I'm in a quandary about whether I should foster a cat or adopt another cat. I took Jack, my orange boy, in as a CL giveaway. I am so happy with him. But he gets lonely being the only one at home while I'm at work. Would it be a better idea to adopt him a lifelong friend or open my home to cats who have nowhere to go.

Some advice would be appreciated.

do you have resources to do both?

I don't have a home big enough for more than two adult cats or one adult and a couple kittens.

If you looking for a companion for your cat, I would adopt. First of all, it takes a while to introduce cats to each other. So, if you keep fostering, you will keep on introducing them and introducing them. If you adopt, you just introduce the cat. I think the cat will be happier having a constant companion instead of having different cats staying for short periods of time. If it was me, I would get a second younger cat. I did it for my cat and they are very happy together.

Originally Posted by elizwithcat

If you looking for a companion for your cat, I would adopt. First of all, it takes a while to introduce cats to each other. So, if you keep fostering, you will keep on introducing them and introducing them. If you adopt, you just introduce the cat. I think the cat will be happier having a constant companion instead of having different cats staying for short periods of time. If it was me, I would get a second younger cat. I did it for my cat and they are very happy together.

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i agree. rather than fostering why not adopt a harder to place cat such as one with fiv or an older cat so it call live out its days in comofrt. that way your freeing up space in a foster home too.

you could always offer to do short terms fostering if you have a spare room. or raise kittens in kitten season.

Yeah, I foster kitties, but in your case it is probably better. My cats are annoyed when I have fosters in the house because they don't get as much attention as before, so it could make things worse. It sounds like Jack needs a good buddy who will stick around.

Adopting from a rescue group will save a life too. You might consider an adult kitty instead of a kitten.

Isn't FIV contagious to non FIV cats? I'm new to all of this.

Well,, we satrted out with one we adopted...I really did not want more..than adopted another, and another, then started fostering AGAIN and there are times we have over 10 cats / kittens in the house....we then kept two more from the last foster batch and now we have five that are ours.

I don't know how much room you have...I can say, my large male cat gets very hurt when the kittens leave him...this is why we kept two of the last batch...I would probably go with the adopt another kitten, and foster kittens when you can.

We are full, but I know during the busy seasons, we can always handle a couple of kittens..they don't take up much room and we get soooo much joy from it.

I agree your cat needs a buddy

Originally Posted by kpullings

Isn't FIV contagious to non FIV cats? I'm new to all of this.

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Yes, it's a contageous disease, although not very infectios, but still. Since you have a cat, better look for a cat with no transmittable diseases. I mean, if you want to go for a hard to place cat, you could go for one eye cat, etc. There are healthy cats that have some physical impediment that are hard to adopt.

Originally Posted by kpullings

I'm in a quandary about whether I should foster a cat or adopt another cat. I took Jack, my orange boy, in as a CL giveaway. I am so happy with him. But he gets lonely being the only one at home while I'm at work. Would it be a better idea to adopt him a lifelong friend or open my home to cats who have nowhere to go.

Some advice would be appreciated.

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The rescue that I volunteer with has a "foster to adopt" program. You get a two week trial period before you even pay an adoption fee. It's really good for people who have an existing cat and want to try out a second cat.

http://www.lostdogrescue.org/

Katie

I've heard about groups adopting FIV cats to households with non-FIV cats. FIV is not at all like FELV from what I understand. But I'd talk to one of the rescue groups a lot before doing that though. I'm sure they have other special needs cats as well if you are interested.