[LiteraryLark]

This question is seperate from me wanting an apartment.

When I think about adopting a cat or dog, my first thoughts are on the kittens, but then I begin to think about all the older cats at the animal shelter who get snubbed because everybody wants kittens. I'm starting to wonder if I would prefer an older cat, but not sure if I would bond as well as with the cat I have now that I had since I was little.

I think dogs are different though. I'm not sure if I would want an older dog because he wouldn't be trained the way I want him to be trained. But puppies are high energy and I would rather have a laid back dog.

Would you rather have a kitten/puppy or an older pet?

Tough choice but I'd go with the older cat for the reason you mentioned. I'd feel more compassion for a pet that had been abandoned or lost it's owner. Same for a dog. Also we're talking about a lifetime commitment.

[KeepGoing8]

I adopted a black kitten from the shelter. I wanted a kitten so I could build a strong connection...and kittens are so flipping cute...but I've definitely built strong connections with adult cats I've met...Here in the bad old US of A, people have a black cat phobia that causes them to toss out black kittens, avoid adopting them from shelters, and even kill them...believing them to be demonic (wtf). So, for me, I saw Noir at the shelter and thought, " of course! He's purfect!" and the shelter workers thanked me because, "Black kittens are hard to place." Now he's a healthy, happy, sneaky lil bastard that I love like he was my child! Black cats RULE

[roads]

If you spend a bit of time at the shelters in your area, you can get to know the older animals and their personalities--as well as good/bad character traits. Not the ones that show up in the environment, like the chewers, but you'll find out how the animals will relate to you. That's the biggest part of what you'll want to know anyway. Most environmental problems can be improved on.

Many adult cats and dogs are incredibly grateful to their rescuers. They do know that they've been saved from shelter life, and perhaps from an even worse fate. Somehow ... they know. Animals who have been abused, though, are never able to show love as fully as animals who have never known anything but love. Shelter workers can usually clue you in to the ones with unhappy pasts.

Althought it's nice to think that love alone can fix them, it can't. It takes special people with lots of experience to nurture abused animals. There are plenty of mentally healthy animals who need a good home, so please--share your home with one of those.

If you're patient and look at lots of puppies, you'll find one now and then who is really very laid back. There really are a few. Really! If your secret passion if for a puppy,mdont rule it out yet. Look for a few months ... maybe you'll be lucky.

Let me know what happens, okay? Any questions, ask away. I volunteer in local shelters so get a variety of experiences.

[Fresia]

Spending time with them is the only way you'll know and asking the people who work with them what they are like. I have had good luck in finding a connection with both younger and older cats and dogs, that I won't hesitate to rescue either. I choose a puppy this last time but will probably look for an older one this time, in a different place in my life which is something to account for too; how much time you have to put into training starting with a kitten and pup. No matter whom you rescue, they will be lucky to find someone so caring.

[Squirrel1983]

I rescued my first cat from my mom's condo. Her neighbor got yired of it and put it outside to fend for itself. That cat was 13 or 14, she died a year and a half after I rescued her. I adopted my 2nd cat from a shelter. He was 6 or 7, I still have him. I adopted another cat about a year ago, she was 7 or 8. I still have her as well. I prefer older cats as I feel bad that no one wants them.

[BlessedRhiannon]

Originally Posted by DrSkipper

This question is seperate from me wanting an apartment.

When I think about adopting a cat or dog, my first thoughts are on the kittens, but then I begin to think about all the older cats at the animal shelter who get snubbed because everybody wants kittens. I'm starting to wonder if I would prefer an older cat, but not sure if I would bond as well as with the cat I have now that I had since I was little.

I think dogs are different though. I'm not sure if I would want an older dog because he wouldn't be trained the way I want him to be trained. But puppies are high energy and I would rather have a laid back dog.

Would you rather have a kitten/puppy or an older pet?

If you're training a dog for something specific, like sports or work, then it is easier to lay that foundation with a puppy. However, it is still possible with an adult dog.

If you're looking for a pet, then adult dogs do just as well as younger dogs as adjusting to a new home and learning the rules and learning new behaviors. Honestly, I've found that adult dogs pick things up sometimes faster than puppies!

I've had all ages of dogs come in to my home. My first dog, I adopted when she was a year and a half. She's always be practically perfect, and she's just an amazing pet. My second dog, I adopted when he was one year old. He's 7 now, and has been competing in agility for the past 4 years and has multiple titles. My third dog, I got when she was 10 years old, and she passed away last year at 16 years. She came to me knowing almost no basic obedience and had learned to sit, lie down, wait, and walk nicely on a leash within a month of being with me. She snuggled with me 'til the day she died, and was a great old gal. My latest dog, I bought from a breeder as a 10 week old puppy, because I wanted a dog that I could show in conformation and start in agility as a puppy. She's been lots of fun, and it's been a new experience training her.

What it boils down to, is how much of the "puppy" stuff you want to deal with. Do you want to have to deal with having to take a pup out every 2 hours to potty, because they just can't hold it? Teething? Chewing on stuff? Constant activity? housetraining, crate training, basic manners, etc? Yes, some of that you'll have to do with an adult dog too, but at least they will have the maturity to be able to hold their bladder, and won't be teething, and will be a little more settled and have a little more self control.

[HereIamBp]

Thanks for considering pet adoption.
I've always adopted adult cats and I've bonded deeply with each of them. I feel so strongly about giving adults cat a second chance that I will be adopting two more after my vacation this month from an animal shelter now that I'm cat-less. I can't wait to hear all the purrs and share my bed space again. I've had kittens in the past, but they adopted me as strays. So far, all of the dogs I had were puppies from breeders when they joined my family. In May, we want to get a second dog but this time I'm searching on PetFinders.com, shelters and rescue groups at both puppies and adult dogs. My MAIN concern is that the dog gets along with cats and other dogs. Not having to housetrain would be a plus.

I hope you find the pet(s)of your dreams!

[whenwillitend]

I got a 13 year old cat off CL, he was severely neglected, ended up having to have a toe amputated, and let me tell you, he is the best cat I've ever met. Doesn't get into stuff, doesn't jump on my kitchen counters (something that would drive me nuts), he's just a huge cuddle bug, always wants to lay on someone, he sleeps next to me at night, always purring, and he is so incredibly laid back, is awesome with our dogs, and when we dogsat a huge "tank" for a friend for ten days, he was fine with that too. He is simply perfect. I hope he has many many years left with us.

I would always choose an older cat over a kitten, as cute as they are. I always feel bad for the older ones, because nobody wants them.

I also got an 8 year old dog off CL, also neglected, and she too is the most awesomest (I know that's not a word ) dog ever.

Yes, puppies and kittens are extremely cute, but the older animals deserve a chance too, and in my experience they make great companions. I think they know you gave them a second chance, and they're very grateful for that.

Plus, with an older animal you know what you're getting if you're adopting from the shelter anyway, with babies it's kinda of a surprise package.

[DaveyJones]

I think you can bond equally well with dogs or cats, young or old. Actually, we have a cat and five dogs (ok, a REALLY paranoid cat (lol). She kind of does her own thing, dogs are a lot more needy! She also tortures the dogs incessantly... It's HILARIOUS to see Melody whack my 90 lb Doberman on the head when he walks by the couch!

A dog will require a bigger time investment .. You're in an apartment, so you'll have to walk her frequently, not just for potty but for exercise too... Great way to bond with your dog. A smaller dog would likely be best. You can train any dog, dogs are pretty much stimulus=response. You can do it yourself, there are tons of great books on the subject. If you don't want to yank her around by the neck all the time try something like "Don't Shoot The Dog" by Karen Pryor or "The Dog Whisperer" by Paul Owens. (NOT the TV guy!). If you want some help, try one of the classes at one of the big pet stores. Be sure to go watch a session and see what's going on. Your local kennel club will probably have classes also. Look them up at AKC.org.

The most important thing you can do is to "socialize" your dog. Take her as many different places as you can, have her meet as many different people, animals, cars, dogs as you can. This will make for a happier, better adjusted pet.

A lot of folks will tell you you can't teach older animals, but that just isn't true. Plus it's tons of fun!

Good luck with your hunt. If you take your time in selecting and raising an animal you will have a wonderful companion for years to come!@

"Maturity is simply a better
grasp on cause and effect"

[Nammu]

Woof woof, arf, meow, gmzzggzmm, purr, uruff.

You have some great information in the posts already so I'm going to try to not repeat.

Besides dragging home any animal I could and reading every book on animals while growing up, I volunteered at a shelter for several years before the pain took over. From a shelter perspective, they try very hard to find good homes because they don't want to see the noses and tails when they come back. There's several on-line tests that say they can match you up with the breed that will fit your life style. Some are good, some are OK, but they do give you a rough idea of what personality types you might want to look for. High energy/ low. Lots of brushing to almost none. The various types of possible health problems for different types of breeds and physical traits. How much they will eat, play, guard, be a lap-cat/dog or be a one person pet(loyalty) or family. They also give you pointers on what to think about-dog vs cat. how much maintenance, food, vocal vs quiet, guarding, tips on which types of dogs are better with apartments, where you live-long hair/short.

I live in south TX and was shocked how many big, long haired cats and dogs the shelter got. The summers here, are not kind to long haired short nose breeds. We had to really scramble in the summertime before the new shelter was built to find foster homes or rescue groups to take those types of dogs, because all the dog kennels were outdoor runs with indoor shelter connecting though a doggy door(no AC).Volunteers would take dogs twice a day to potty outside their kennel, and other volunteers came to take them for walks/runs/ or exercise play areas.

Owning cats it is easier to keep them indoors 24/7. Large long hair dogs need a big house and AC, plus exercise area. I'm one of those people who think that all city cats should be indoor only. Man and his toys are the cats biggest enemy. If you get a black cat never let them out around Halloween. At the shelter we will not adopt out any black cats/kittens 3-4 weeks before Halloween. Some people were not allowed to adopt black cats. It was a very subjective blurry area but those who had the final say just had to go with their guts. We did have a list of people who were not allowed to adopt any more because they had, had too many "accidents". All the shelters and rescue groups cooperated with that list. Where I live is very pro-animal rights. You can get list of all pet friendly apartments, but it might be a shorter list to find apartments that did not accept pets.

Personally my favorite is mixed breeds. You can find purebreds at shelters but you will not get any papers, all it means is that the dog or cat will be closer to the breed traits. That makes it a bit easer to decide if you and the cat/dog will fit each other. Good shelters try very hard to match you up with pets that fit and will ask a lot of questions. Our shelter also needed proof that apartments did accept pets.

Where I volunteered, we had lots of events a year, such as spring time we would have kitten disco. There were many kittens so we would bring them all together in the "ballroom" set up play areas in three corners w/ disco balls and other decorative things for a Jazz area, rock-n-roll, and the hip-hop area. In the middle all the kittens would have there cages with the info. That way you could watch the kittens at play, not just take them to the visiting area but get to watch them interact and play. For those two weeks the kitten were reduced. When we had a lot of older cats we had reduced prices on the older cats and Katapolzza. Kind of the same thing with out the disco balls, for older cats. The older cats could get out and walk around among the people and each other. Puppies don't last long so they didn't get a special week but older or "special needs dogs" would have their weeks also. With a play on the TV show Desperate Housewives we do a desperate Housecats special for long staying cats, some that had been at the shelter for longer than 6 months. We would write up all their info in a fun way and get more detailed than usual. Those of us that worked w/ the cats we could add things like their favorite toys, or sleep position, that they loved to cuddle or talk, whatever made them so special. These things get advertised in the papers and local TV and bring a lot of people in just to look--but then they start getting interested in adopting or becoming foster homes. We are now a NO KILL shelter thanks to all these programs and the number of people who have signed up to go though the foster care training.

If you have not had a pet before I'd not recommend a special needs pet. Usually (at least at our shelter) special needs pets come with extras, to help place them but those of us that work/volunteered there were very protective of our special needs guys. Sometimes the special need is simple like remaining on a lifesaving diet to lose weight. Other times it is three legs, FIV positive, blind, deaf,or other health issues. We had people who would have one FIV positive cat at home and wanted another FIV positive to keep it company. Three legged cats go very fast, there is rarely anything else wrong and everybody just wants to protect them. I just wanted to bring all that up because if your shelters have anything like that it is a great way to meet the pets and get to meet in a more relaxed laid back environment that was a lot more fun than the regular everyday meet the pets. Often times the price is also reduced during these events.

I have a mixed breed British Blue short-haired/American short haired from the shelter. His personality is all BB very much the four on the floor, thick two coated silver-tipped blue fur. He is cobby-square, muscular some people say these guys are the bulldogs of the cat world, but they look as if they are smiling all the time. BBs are very loyal, easy going, fun, smart, and yet independent cats. Great indoor only cats. I used to prefer oriental cats, they are more outgoing, vocal, and rather pushy but fun. I have changed though as I've gotten older so I like having a calmer cat. He was 5 when I brought him home and he was so easy to train, I do not allow cats on the kitchen counters. You can teach an older cat new tricks!! He may live to be 20. Some breeds only live to 10-12(Ragdolls) years. With dogs, generally speaking the larger the dog the shorter it's life span.

At our shelter small dogs went very fast, partly because there are more special rescue shelters for small dogs, and they would get sent to those. I have seen pure breed German Shepperd's, shar pie's, Chinese crested and other expensive breeds, but pure breads usually have specific health problems to look at. At shelters all are the same price. Mutts have the most even temperaments. {Generally speaking-theres always exceptions} Shelters can not adopt out any animal that has too uneven a temper. We have dog handlers(psychologists) that would work with those dogs and foster dogs who were clearly abused to hopefully get them adoptable. The cats had their handlers, any animal that bites can not be adopted until it goes though one of the shrinks to make sure there are no problems. I really believe anyone can find a pet to match at a shelter.

Cat VS Dog? It depends on what you need and can provide. I know that there is a match out there for you. Just go slow and look at all the options. Talk to the shelters, visit often, get to know the people there, if they know what you are looking for they will help you. You may end up with two of each!!! If I had a larger apartment and more money I would have both.

Oh right I was also going to say that pet insurance can be a great option. There are wellness plans and ER only plans. The costs depend on age, breed and where you live.

What you get back in return for giving a pet a home is beyond words. Love-unconditional, love.

Sorry this got so long, hope it is not too preachy, it's something I feel very passionate about and miss volunteering there very much. Good luck.

[roads]

Great suggestion, about the insurance, sidestepper. Ought to keep this thread somewhere, a guide to ...

So what do you think? Any of this help? Anything else you're still wondering about?