Hi all. Hope this is allowed here. I’ve been toying with the idea of getting a cat for the past several months now. I’ve actually never really interacted with cats, though. I don’t even know if I’m allergic to them. I visited my coworker a couple of times and one of her cats rubs up against my leg to either greet or mark me and then goes elsewhere.
Some info on me:
- Early 30s, lives alone, works ~40 hours a week in a NON wfh job (so I will not be home for significant portions of the week)
- I do not have much of a social life, so most of my time outside of work is spent at home
- I am very comfortable financially to own a pet. I frequently pay vet bills for my mom’s dog who has ailing health.
- I own my own place, ~1200 sq ft (111 sq m), and do not plan to leave any time soon
- I do not plan to move, have a partner, or have children
- It is impossible for me to ever wfh with my career and I do not want to change my career
- I am familiar with taking care of dogs, and took care of my mom’s dog on my own temporarily for 1 year without issue
- I am only interested in owning a single pet, not two (I know people frequently get 2 cats to keep each other company)
- I am interested in an adult cat, not a kitten
- I don’t do lengthy traveling, however I frequently visit my mom (and vice versa) for a couple of days at a time
One big important thing to note is that my mother and I take turns visiting each other every couple of weeks. It involves us traveling a couple of hours by car and then one of us staying with the other (either my place or my mom’s place) for 2 days. My mom has a dog who is quite old and has ailing health, so I’m not sure how much longer she will live. Her dog is a small dog ~15 lbs, but is not necessarily great with other animals. She is ok with other dogs if they do not antagonize her, but I don’t know if she would fight with a cat or not as she has never met one. Her dog also has bad separation anxiety. I have enough rooms in my house that I could separate the cat and dog when my mom visits, but idk if that is a ok or not. It also means that I might leave a cat home alone for a couple of days when I visit my mom. I have read that people can do this with cats, but I don’t know if it is a good idea. I would plan to purchase pet cams, auto feeders, etc.
I still haven’t had the balls to go down to the local Human Society and ask them about cats and cat adoption, but I don’t know. I am thinking about going there tomorrow. Is my situation too complicated for me to have a cat? I feel like mentally it would be nice to have a companion to come home to every day. One of the reasons why I’ve never bothered to look into getting a pet is because I live alone and don’t work from home and because my mom and I visit each other. Although I have experience with dogs, it seems like a cat might be more doable for my life situation.
Would this be too poor of a life for a cat?
Thanks for your time, all.
Because I don’t feel like I can care for multiple pets as a single person who lives alone? I know some do, but I am not comfortable with that. I don’t understand why that is so odd. As I stated, my situation is exactly why I’ve never entertained this idea to begin with before recently.
My career doesn’t allow me to work from home. Not everyone has that type of a career. I am compensated well for what I do, so I am not interested in changing careers. If my conditions are harmful to a pet, then I won’t get one. That’s why I’m inquiring here.
There are definitely cats that need companionship and lots of socializing, but there are also cats that are perfectly content with an hour or two of your time, and cuddling in and lying on your bed with you while you sleep can also fulfill that need. 40 hours a week still means plenty of time with you physically in the house. I’ve had cats all my life and seen lots of personalities. I think it’ll be important to find the right cat but they are absolutely out there. I say go for it.
But the question is why?
What about owning two pets seems more difficult than one?
I’ve owned multiple cats bonded to me and each other, and I’ve owned a single cat bonded to just me, the former is much much easier.
I have experience taking care of one dog. I don’t have experience with taking care of multiple pets concurrently and don’t really feel comfortable doing so. I’ve never taken care of a single cat, so immediately jumping into two sounds incredibly daunting and I am quite frankly just not interested in doing so considering I have zero experience in that. It will already have the potential to be complicated enough when my mom visits with her elderly dog.
I get what you’re saying, for a responsible pet owner, it’s always nerve wracking going into pet ownership and taking on a dependent.
But my point is that jumping into cat ownership is jumping into cat ownership. You’re going to have to keep their water full, pour some food in their bowls a couple times a day, clean their litter, and then play and cuddle with them every day. Once a year you have to put them in a carrier and bring them to the vet.
Adding a second cat to that situation means that you pour a second bowl of food, fill up a second bowl of water, clean a second litter box when you clean the first, and once a year put two cats in carriers rather than just one. At the same time the amount you need to play with them and cuddle them every day decreases substantially.
With one cat, going away on vacation means that you basically need to find a cat sitter, or you leave them just sitting at the door waiting for you all day getting depressed. With two cats, they get sad but then play and cuddle and bond with each other.
You keep saying stuff like ‘im just not interested’ which isn’t an explanation, it’s a thought terminating phrase. Take it from us experienced cat owners when we say that in your situation, it’s would be great to adopt two cats, and cruel to adopt just one.
Edit: it is different if you adopt an elderly isolated cat that would otherwise be put down. In that situation, you’ll still be providing them with a life, but if you do get through to them, they will bond to you, and it will still make leaving for trips difficult, even if they’re used to your daily absence. A support network is inherently more flexible and robust then a support pair.
It is not cruel to have one cat. You’re saying all cats are social, that’s bs, tell that to my grandads old cat Tuggs who would attack anything that wasn’t him. Or my parents old cat that lived to 18 in a loving household, on her own. . Your attitude stinks - “take it from us experienced cat owners”, you can’t talk for all cat owners.
I did edit it and follow up softening my stance.
You’re right though, it’s just a sore spot because there are a lot of people who think that cats are independent animals by nature and can be left alone without consequence. If you have an older cat who’s been alone their whole life that can be true, but virtually every cat would be happier if they were raised from a young age with a friend.
Jeez, alright, man. I get it. My lifestyle would harm a single pet. That’s why I never considered having a companion until meeting my coworker’s cat. I’ll drop the idea.
Don’t listen to one person, lots of cats love being the only cat, I had two at one point, ended up having to separate them because one wanted to play all the time and the other hated it and wanted to be left alone! Just like people, you can’t put everyone under the same umbrella. Some cats want company, some don’t. You need to find one that suits your needs.
Don’t listen to that fool. You are perfectly qualified to care for a cat. I’m probably less qualified than you, and my cats are happy and love me.
I edited my comment after with this because I thought I was coming off too harsh against the idea, and even this I would soften further:
The fact that you’re putting this much thought and consideration into it, signals that you would probably be a very good cat owner, and I don’t think you should write the idea off.
Just, try and find a cat that seems independent, and 6 months or a year in, look back and reconsider if it would actually be that much harder to add a friend to the mix.