Kitten or adult cat? Which one to adopt
Almost everyone wants a kitten, while in shelters the adults wait for months. A kitten is gorgeous and a challenge; an adult is a fully formed personality you can already see. Neither option is better than the other: it depends on your home, your time and what you are looking for.
The decision most often made with the heart
You see a photo of a two-month-old kitten and your mind is made up. It is understandable: kittens are irresistible. But a kitten stops being one within a few months, and you are left with an adult cat for fifteen years or more whose character you had no way of predicting. An adult cat, on the other hand, already is who it is going to be. In Spain, shelters fill up with kittens every spring and summer and they are adopted quickly; the four, six or eight-year-olds are left waiting. It is worth thinking calmly about what suits you before falling in love with a photo.
The good side of a kitten
A kitten adapts easily to whatever it finds at home: other animals, children, noise, routines. If you socialise it well during its first months, it will grow up used to your life. You have more years ahead with it. And it is enormous fun: it plays with everything, explores everything, and watching it grow up is a privilege. If there is already a calm dog or a young, sociable cat at home, a kitten usually fits in better than an adult set in its ways. And if you want a cat that is relaxed about brushing, the carrier or the nail clippers, getting it used to them while it is small does almost all the work.
The less charming side of a kitten
A kitten is a hurricane for its first year. It climbs curtains, bites hands and feet, races around at three in the morning, gets into the washing machine and eats things it should not. It needs lots of play, several meals a day, vaccines, worming, neutering and a thoroughly checked home. And its adult character is a gamble: a shy kitten may turn out affectionate and a bold one may turn out independent. There is also something people forget: a kitten on its own, with no other cat to play with, tends to use people as its sparring partner, and with claws and milk teeth, that hurts. That is why many rescues recommend adopting kittens in pairs.
The good side of an adult cat
With an adult you know what you are getting. The rescue or foster home can tell you whether it is calm or active, whether it seeks out cuddles or tolerates them now and then, whether it lives happily with other cats, dogs or children, whether it is chatty. It is past the stage of wrecking everything, it knows how to use a litter tray and its health is better known: the FeLV and FIV tests, the state of its mouth, whether it has any illness. For a first cat, a quiet flat, older people or someone who works away from home, an adult is usually a much better choice than a kitten. And settling in, although it may start with a few days of hiding, is usually quicker than people think.
Fears about adult cats, one by one
“It won't bond with me”: false. Adult cats form bonds with their new family, often more intensely, because they know what it is like not to have one. “It comes with trauma”: some have fears, but the rescue usually knows and will tell you. Many adults are up for adoption for reasons that have nothing to do with them: a house move, an allergy, a death. “It will get ill more often”: a four or six-year-old cat is in its prime, and the life expectancy of a well cared for indoor cat is over fifteen years, so you have many years together ahead. “It won't learn the house rules”: adult cats learn perfectly well, and they already arrive knowing the basics.
The senior cat, the one that waits longest
Among adults, those over nine or ten wait the longest, and they are often the easiest companions: calm, affectionate and grateful. It is true that you should plan for check-ups with blood tests and that a chronic illness may appear, but it is also true that many live well to eighteen or twenty. For an older person living alone, or for a quiet home, a senior cat may be the best choice there is. Some rescues have special programmes for them, with reduced fees or vet costs partly covered. Ask.
If you choose a kitten, the age it leaves home matters
A kitten should not be separated from its mother and littermates before eight weeks, and ideally you should wait until twelve. In those weeks it learns to be a cat: to judge the strength of its bite, to play without hurting, to use the litter tray, to handle frustration. A Finnish study of thousands of cats linked weaning before eight weeks with more aggression and more repetitive behaviours in adult life. The key period for getting it used to people comes even earlier, between two and seven weeks. That is why where it comes from matters so much: a kitten raised in a home, handled kindly and with its mother, is not the same as one found alone on a patch of waste ground.
Two kittens are better than one
It sounds like a rescue exaggeration, but there is a reason behind it. A kitten needs to play-fight, chase and bite, and if it has no sibling to do it with, it does it with you. Two kittens together wear each other out, learn to judge each other's strength and let you sleep much better. The extra cost is less than it seems: a second litter tray, a bit more food and litter, and another neutering. If you only want one cat, the sensible alternative is a kitten with a young, sociable cat already at home, or simply an adult, which no longer needs a sparring partner to stay balanced.
What each option costs
In Spain, the adoption fee at a rescue is usually similar for both, €50 to €150, but what comes afterwards is not. A kitten still needs part of its first vaccinations, worming every few weeks, neutering if it is not yet old enough and, almost certainly, more than one toy and a shredded curtain. An adult usually comes already vaccinated, tested and neutered, and what you pay is what you see. On the other hand, with an older cat you should budget for a yearly check-up with blood tests. Either way, the real expense is the fifteen years ahead, and that is almost the same for one as for the other.
How to decide
Ask yourself three questions. Do you have the time and patience for a year of kitten, with play several times a day and broken things? Are there other animals or small children at home for whom a cat of known character would be safer? Do you care more about knowing what it is like or about watching it grow up? If you have little time, work away from home, it is your first cat or you want a calm companion, the adult wins almost every time. If you have time, enthusiasm and, better still, another young cat at home, a kitten, or two, is a great option. And whatever you choose, tell the rescue what your life is like: they know their cats and will help you get it right.
A kitten is a lovely gamble and a year of work; an adult is a character you already know. If you are short of time or it is your first cat, the adult from a shelter wins almost every time. If you choose a kitten, make sure it does not leave its mother before eight weeks, and preferably adopt two.
Educational content from Michipedia, translated from the Spanish original. It does not replace the advice of a vet or a feline behaviour specialist. Every cat is an individual.