pondering a cat

[gosling]

We have wanted to add a cat to our household for years, but for various reasons we never did. Today, however, we just saw a mouse scurry across our kitchen, which we have decided might possibly be all the excuse we need. We very specifically want a cat that actually knows how to hunt *and* can tolerate becoming an indoor cat *and* isn't too

Comments

[eccentrific]

I will suggest you look for a Maine Coon cat. They're hypoallergenic. Also, the coon I had was the best mouser I've ever seen.

[ukelele]

Cat cat cat cat cat cat cat!! :)

I don't know of a specific cat, but I can tell you our search strategy for our current cats, which worked very well:

* Talk together about what kind of cat we want
* Use petfinder to find the place with the most cats potentially meeting that description (kid-friendly is one of the filters you can use)
* Head out there for a few hours to play with All The Cats until V had chosen

(This got us to the MSPCA, and the best pair of cats ever. Our previous cat had come from the Animal Rescue League. Both of these places have the virtues of having a great many cats and a simple, usually same-day adoption procedure; the small shelters will make you jump through a ton of hoops and have many fewer cats available to be played with.)

[sweetmmeblue]

North Shore Animal League in Salem has a lot of cats at times and a playroom you can sit with the cats in and see how they are and how you interact with them/

[donnad]

I will concur that Maine Coon cats take a lot of work but are very sweet cats. If you don't have the time to brush them every couple days they do mat up and it can be quite uncomfortable for the cat. They also tend toward puking hairballs more than short hair cats. They are a lot of work

[koshmom]

I've got a Maine Coon mix (mom is 1/4 siamese and the rest ??? and they know a Maine Coon boy lives in the neighborhood - mom got knocked up by Who Knows?). My cat has "medium long" fur, long enough to recognize Maine Coon, but shorter than many MC's I've known. My point it, I rarely have to groom the cat, and he doesn't cough up hairballs often (mostly he pukes knitting yarn, but that's another story...).

Thus you might want to look more towards a MC Mix.

[gosling]

If the cat scratches the kids I figure they probably deserve it and hopefully will learn to be more careful and respectful of the cat. I am more concerned we not get a cat that is going to be stressed all the time by being around loud active children, because that feels totally unfair to the cat.

[beah]

I don't know if they are mousers, but I do know that veek was looking for a new home for her cats. I also suggest getting a pair of cats, particularly if they will be indoors and therefore have no other opportunity to socialize.

[rmd]

I got a pair when I got my cats and I think they like the socialization and distraction of each other.

[coraline]

yeah -- her cats are also pre-baby-socialized (seem to do well with nico :)

[gosling]

I clearly need to talk to her.

[achinhibitor]

I ran into this amusement on "The Daily WTF" (dedicated to computer screwups). It seems that you can choose between "new" and "used" cats: