Choosing a Cat
Adopting or buying a pet cat is certainly an exciting time. But to ensure that you and your pet are happy together you need to consider what type of cat suits your likes, home, budget and family.
While choosing the individual cat you take home with you will ultimately be an emotional decision, you can easily narrow down your choices by addressing a few key areas of cat ownership.
These include:
- Long or short haired cat?
- Indoor or outdoor cat (or both) ?
- One or more cats?
- Buy or adopt?
Coat Type
Choosing between a long or short haired cat comes down to looks, as well as whether or not you have any cat hair allergies or are planning to keep the cat inside where an abundance of hair may bother you. Most long haired breeds, like Persians, require regular grooming, while a shorthaired breed will not require much or any grooming by the owner. Keep this in mind when choosing your cat!
The Maine Coon is a large, semi-longhaired cat.
Indoors vs Outdoors
While it is always wise to lock your cat inside at night, will you be keeping him outside or inside during the day? Or a combination of both? Some cat breeds love the freedom of outdoors; others prefer being quietly inside. Choose the cat to suit your lifestyle.
How many cats?
If you are adopting a kitten, it may be a good idea to take two together. This gives the kittens company and allows them to not have to adjust to a single life. On the other hand, it will of course cost you more in food and vet bills so make sure you consider that.
Buy or Adopt?
If you are after a pedigree (purebred) cat, then you'll almost always have to buy from a breeder. Prices can vary from a couple of hundred dollars for some breeds up to $1,000 for rare or exotic breeds.
If you are not into cat showing and just want a friendly pet, or perhaps want to save a life, visit your local cat shelter and you can pick one up there for just the price of desexing and worming (usually around $100 or less).
Good luck with your cat search!
