RSPCA at CAT-pacity, adoption discounted till Wednesday

MERC600 said :

MERC600 said :

Why are the kittens more expensive than the cats? Just wondering.

I’d actually been thinking about adopting a kitten recently anyway, so I think I can help the RSPCA free up 1 spot at least. 🙂

Look at the cats too – I’ve adopted two older cats – no need to house train them, and mine have been wonderful. If you adopt an adult, their personality has developed which makes choosing one less risky re temperament traits. Plus it’s nice knowing you may have saved them from euthanasia (regardless of what the rescue places tell you, I doubt whether there really is a “no animals are ever euthanised” one).

I totally agree , I recently adopted an older cat and she is just amazing 🙂

gooterz said :

Lurker2913 said :

crackerpants said :

buttermaker said :

Considered in adopting a kitten but unfortunately, the reduction in adoption fees finished on 25th May. I received this RiotACT email on 26th May! Mordd, I am thinking the same question re kitten more expensive then cat.

I might visit RSPCA.

RSPCA have the discounted adoption fees semi-frequently so I’m sure the next one isn’t too far away.

Alternatively, if you decided to adopt an adult cat or an adolescent kitten (8-9 months old) I am pretty sure Flossie’s Kitten Rescue do a pretty reasonable adoption price for them – don’t quote me but I think it’s around $150 and includes desexing, microchipping, vaccinations, the whole shebang.

I’ll be looking into this further, part of what made me change my mind last minute was your prior comment about these services being willing to take the adoptee back if it really could not work out with the existing pet for some reason. I know my cat has a solo personality (ok a lot of cats do but yeh) and I did worrt about the stress I would be putting on her. So the idea of working with an agency before and after to help with the process is definitely appealing. And worth it I guess even if it does cost a bit more. I would still look to adopt ideally an adolescent male cat around 1yr of age.

If you see this reply today – Flossie’s Kitten Rescue are down at Belco Pets for an adoption day and they have some adolescent kitty cats with them… my personal favourite is Jamal – a gorgeous black boy kitty.

🙁 Was at work all day, doesn’t matter, i might give them a call this week for an initial chat.

Lurker2913 said :

crackerpants said :

buttermaker said :

Considered in adopting a kitten but unfortunately, the reduction in adoption fees finished on 25th May. I received this RiotACT email on 26th May! Mordd, I am thinking the same question re kitten more expensive then cat.

I might visit RSPCA.

RSPCA have the discounted adoption fees semi-frequently so I’m sure the next one isn’t too far away.

Alternatively, if you decided to adopt an adult cat or an adolescent kitten (8-9 months old) I am pretty sure Flossie’s Kitten Rescue do a pretty reasonable adoption price for them – don’t quote me but I think it’s around $150 and includes desexing, microchipping, vaccinations, the whole shebang.

I’ll be looking into this further, part of what made me change my mind last minute was your prior comment about these services being willing to take the adoptee back if it really could not work out with the existing pet for some reason. I know my cat has a solo personality (ok a lot of cats do but yeh) and I did worrt about the stress I would be putting on her. So the idea of working with an agency before and after to help with the process is definitely appealing. And worth it I guess even if it does cost a bit more. I would still look to adopt ideally an adolescent male cat around 1yr of age.

If you see this reply today – Flossie’s Kitten Rescue are down at Belco Pets for an adoption day and they have some adolescent kitty cats with them… my personal favourite is Jamal – a gorgeous black boy kitty.

crackerpants said :

buttermaker said :

Considered in adopting a kitten but unfortunately, the reduction in adoption fees finished on 25th May. I received this RiotACT email on 26th May! Mordd, I am thinking the same question re kitten more expensive then cat.

I might visit RSPCA.

RSPCA have the discounted adoption fees semi-frequently so I’m sure the next one isn’t too far away.

Alternatively, if you decided to adopt an adult cat or an adolescent kitten (8-9 months old) I am pretty sure Flossie’s Kitten Rescue do a pretty reasonable adoption price for them – don’t quote me but I think it’s around $150 and includes desexing, microchipping, vaccinations, the whole shebang.

I’ll be looking into this further, part of what made me change my mind last minute was your prior comment about these services being willing to take the adoptee back if it really could not work out with the existing pet for some reason. I know my cat has a solo personality (ok a lot of cats do but yeh) and I did worrt about the stress I would be putting on her. So the idea of working with an agency before and after to help with the process is definitely appealing. And worth it I guess even if it does cost a bit more. I would still look to adopt ideally an adolescent male cat around 1yr of age.

Mordd, I hope you also keep have easy access to credit or a savings fund if you ever do need to claim from your pet insurance (hopefully not, but you never know). I’m yet to find a pet insurer who doesn’t expect you to first cover all bills upfront, and then reimburse you (which can take a while).

It’s great that you are trying to prepare for potential vet bills though – you sound like a responsible pet owner. My gripe is really with people who think of animals as disposable goods or who abandon them when they’re not ‘fun’ any more (too sick, too old).

I’m more of a dog person myself, but I think cats deserve a decent life too.

buttermaker said :

Considered in adopting a kitten but unfortunately, the reduction in adoption fees finished on 25th May. I received this RiotACT email on 26th May! Mordd, I am thinking the same question re kitten more expensive then cat.

I might visit RSPCA.

RSPCA have the discounted adoption fees semi-frequently so I’m sure the next one isn’t too far away.

Alternatively, if you decided to adopt an adult cat or an adolescent kitten (8-9 months old) I am pretty sure Flossie’s Kitten Rescue do a pretty reasonable adoption price for them – don’t quote me but I think it’s around $150 and includes desexing, microchipping, vaccinations, the whole shebang.

Considered in adopting a kitten but unfortunately, the reduction in adoption fees finished on 25th May. I received this RiotACT email on 26th May! Mordd, I am thinking the same question re kitten more expensive then cat.

I might visit RSPCA.

waggamick said :

If you can’t afford a $300 upfront fee for a cat, how are you going to pay the vet bill if it gets sick? I don’t understand this logic. If you really can’t afford that fee, you can’t afford a cat. I also don’t understand why someone would be more motivated to buy a pet by a special price offer. The initial cost of a pet is nothing compared to the ongoing costs, and unless you’re planning on euthanasing the pet the second it gets sick, these costs are unavoidable.

Pet insurance, I pay a small amount every week or fortnight so it won’t be an issue if something happens. So far I haven’t had to claim on it though. Same reason I have health insurance (just extras cover though) even though im on a low income, if i need new glasses for example I don’t have to worry about having $400 up front.

Anyway I decided today to hold off on adopting a second cat for the moment for my own reasons. I may still do so in the future but for the moment I’ll continue to research it and think about it.

Cats! They need to be kept indoors!

Families get conned into getting a kitten by their kids. I went through this way back with the “but Mummy, I will feed it, empty the kitty litter tray” etcetera. So “we” got a kitten. It cost a fortune to have it “de-sexed” and she mainly stayed indoors … sleeping, as cats do … but the novelty soon wore off and guess who ended up feeding and cleaning the litter tray!

I don’t particularly “like” cats. Did you guess? Would never have another one.

Having them de-sexed costs a lot but surely these ones have already had that? That’s what the “fee” is all about? De-sexed cats don’t want to roam and are usually quite happy to stay indoors to sleep (18 hours a day, minimum) and only whine when you get late home from work and they are demanding to be fed! They don’t need “exercise” nor “grooming” as such, so a rather ordinary pet for small children to learn about.

Do NOT get sucked in by their “cuteness”. Oh and cats can live for 20+ years too … owning a pet (any variety) is a life-long commitment.

HenryBG said :

waggamick said :

If you can’t afford a $300 upfront fee for a cat, how are you going to pay the vet bill if it gets sick? I don’t understand this logic. If you really can’t afford that fee, you can’t afford a cat. I also don’t understand why someone would be more motivated to buy a pet by a special price offer. The initial cost of a pet is nothing compared to the ongoing costs, and unless you’re planning on euthanasing the pet the second it gets sick, these costs are unavoidable.

I agree. However I can say hand-on-heart that it wasn’t the price reduction motivating us, it was the fact that they needed homes for cats, and we could offer one. We were down one cat through a sad tale I won’t share here, but as I said to my husband, if we’ve agreed we have room for two cats, then we have two cats.

It’s a week today since we adopted our new cat, and the introduction process is going well – I’ve been swapping bedding, beds, “zones”, food bowls etc, and had no hostility until they got within 2m of each other last night and the little one hissed – that was down to my poor management. I’m considering the feliway – great tip re the mozzie repeller, thanks!

2 weeks of no hostility is amazing! Don’t worry too much about the hiss – it was probably a bit of ‘oh my god I’m so close to the big cat so I must hiss to assert my authority because even though I am small I am a really big tough alley cat!’ Hehe 🙂

waggamick said :

If you can’t afford a $300 upfront fee for a cat, how are you going to pay the vet bill if it gets sick? I don’t understand this logic. If you really can’t afford that fee, you can’t afford a cat. I also don’t understand why someone would be more motivated to buy a pet by a special price offer. The initial cost of a pet is nothing compared to the ongoing costs, and unless you’re planning on euthanasing the pet the second it gets sick, these costs are unavoidable.

I agree. However I can say hand-on-heart that it wasn’t the price reduction motivating us, it was the fact that they needed homes for cats, and we could offer one. We were down one cat through a sad tale I won’t share here, but as I said to my husband, if we’ve agreed we have room for two cats, then we have two cats.

It’s a week today since we adopted our new cat, and the introduction process is going well – I’ve been swapping bedding, beds, “zones”, food bowls etc, and had no hostility until they got within 2m of each other last night and the little one hissed – that was down to my poor management. I’m considering the feliway – great tip re the mozzie repeller, thanks!

Masquara said :

Kimm said :

Re having more than one cat in the house, I remember watching a documentary where they filmed the cats in a village for weeks. Many owners of multiple cats thought their cats got along, but the films shows many only tolerated each other, avoiding each other as best they could. They would often have ‘their’ place in the house. That way they mixed with each other as little as possible. This appeared to be a surprise to their owners, who thought their cats were friends, when they weren’t, and would rather have lived as single cats.
The exception to this was a colony of semi-wild cats on a farm. They were all related and lived as a family. All the other cats in the documentary didn’t appear to want to live with other cats.
I used to have two cats and even though they were kittens together, their relationship was not all plain sailing. At one moment they would be sharing a bed and washing each other, but then one of them in particular would be trying to establish dominance, by biting his fellow cat on the balls, plus spraying in the house. I’m guessing the problem was having two male (both desexed) cats in the same household. It would have been worse, but they were inside/outside cats. This behaviour continued when I replaced one cat who died with another kitten. Perhaps this would work better if there had only been one male cat; ie. one male and one female cat, or perhaps only female cats. Anyway, I vowed never to have two male cats in the house together again.

The one thing I was told/read the most when i looked into this was if I have a female cat, definitely get a younger male cat for the best chance of a match. Everyone said 2 male cats together was the worst combination, and 2 female cats was normally ok but opposite sex mixtures have the best chance of working apparently. This comes from both stuff I read through google and my sister in law who has homed about 12 cats over the past 10 years usually with 2-4 in the house at a time.

I think it really depends on the cats personalities. We had a female cat (she was about 2 years old) when we got our boy kitten and they don’t get along. Well, the girl cat hates the boy cat. They co-exist but have a few spats (not bad enough to cause injury) every now and again haha.

We have a female foster kitten at the moment and she gets on well with the boy cat. The girl cat doesn’t really like her much but they tolerate each other 😛

If you can’t afford a $300 upfront fee for a cat, how are you going to pay the vet bill if it gets sick? I don’t understand this logic. If you really can’t afford that fee, you can’t afford a cat. I also don’t understand why someone would be more motivated to buy a pet by a special price offer. The initial cost of a pet is nothing compared to the ongoing costs, and unless you’re planning on euthanasing the pet the second it gets sick, these costs are unavoidable.

Kimm said :

Re having more than one cat in the house, I remember watching a documentary where they filmed the cats in a village for weeks. Many owners of multiple cats thought their cats got along, but the films shows many only tolerated each other, avoiding each other as best they could. They would often have ‘their’ place in the house. That way they mixed with each other as little as possible. This appeared to be a surprise to their owners, who thought their cats were friends, when they weren’t, and would rather have lived as single cats.
The exception to this was a colony of semi-wild cats on a farm. They were all related and lived as a family. All the other cats in the documentary didn’t appear to want to live with other cats.
I used to have two cats and even though they were kittens together, their relationship was not all plain sailing. At one moment they would be sharing a bed and washing each other, but then one of them in particular would be trying to establish dominance, by biting his fellow cat on the balls, plus spraying in the house. I’m guessing the problem was having two male (both desexed) cats in the same household. It would have been worse, but they were inside/outside cats. This behaviour continued when I replaced one cat who died with another kitten. Perhaps this would work better if there had only been one male cat; ie. one male and one female cat, or perhaps only female cats. Anyway, I vowed never to have two male cats in the house together again.

The one thing I was told/read the most when i looked into this was if I have a female cat, definitely get a younger male cat for the best chance of a match. Everyone said 2 male cats together was the worst combination, and 2 female cats was normally ok but opposite sex mixtures have the best chance of working apparently. This comes from both stuff I read through google and my sister in law who has homed about 12 cats over the past 10 years usually with 2-4 in the house at a time.

Re having more than one cat in the house, I remember watching a documentary where they filmed the cats in a village for weeks. Many owners of multiple cats thought their cats got along, but the films shows many only tolerated each other, avoiding each other as best they could. They would often have ‘their’ place in the house. That way they mixed with each other as little as possible. This appeared to be a surprise to their owners, who thought their cats were friends, when they weren’t, and would rather have lived as single cats.
The exception to this was a colony of semi-wild cats on a farm. They were all related and lived as a family. All the other cats in the documentary didn’t appear to want to live with other cats.
I used to have two cats and even though they were kittens together, their relationship was not all plain sailing. At one moment they would be sharing a bed and washing each other, but then one of them in particular would be trying to establish dominance, by biting his fellow cat on the balls, plus spraying in the house. I’m guessing the problem was having two male (both desexed) cats in the same household. It would have been worse, but they were inside/outside cats. This behaviour continued when I replaced one cat who died with another kitten. Perhaps this would work better if there had only been one male cat; ie. one male and one female cat, or perhaps only female cats. Anyway, I vowed never to have two male cats in the house together again.

Re the feliway diffusers. You can just use a plug in mosquito repeller and buy a feliway refill pack. Works out much cheaper 🙂

Good luck with the kitty intro

No worries at all. Re the diffuser – if you have any friends with cats ask if they have a diffuser you can borrow, sooo many cat owners have them! And you may only need it for a month while they get used to each other 🙂 Alternatively, sometimes Rescue Remedy works! I have a cat with really intense anxiety and I go to The Hierophant in Griffith and they make her up a little Bach Flower remedy for anxiety, fear and trauma. I put a few drops in her water and food and it actually really helps her. You can also just buy the premade Rescue Remedy from pharmacists and I’m told that works well too – and it’s only about $12.
Best of luck with everything! Please report back and tell us how you go at the RSPCA! Getting a new furry friend is soooo exciting 🙂

*Doh, meant to say “too good to pass up”, no idea why I wrote hard. LOL

Thanks Alexandra, I really appreciate the detailed reply. I checked out the 3 places you mention, and although Pickles don’t list exact fees, Leahs lists 180-300 and 250-300 as their price, and Pet Rescue is also 250-300.

I just can’t really afford that much upfront at the moment. I know its how much it costs to get vaccinated, microchipped, desexed, etc.. but that doesn’t change my budget either. $100 for a cat from the RSPCA that I know is already vaccinated, microchipped, desexed, etc is too hard for me to pass up. I’m going to take the chance and just hope I can make it work out with my current cat and the new one.

I have read the guides about introducing cats like I said, I plan to take about 10 days, slowly introducing bit by bit, having them eating on either side of a closed door in their own space, rubbing socks on each of them and leaving it in each others space, swapping them for short periods so they can smell each others scent, etc… I think i’ve got it down pat what I need to do, and I don’t expect them to be friends, although that would be nice, but as long as they can get along well enough without attacking each other is the main goal. I have a fairly spacious 1bdr apartment so theres enough room for 2 cats to co-exist without being on top of each other, i’ll let you know how I go. I’ll think about the diffuser as well, I want to do more research into that before I invest in something thats going to cost me $70 + $30 / month.

wildturkeycanoe said :

Leon said :

MERC600 said :

Why are the kittens more expensive than the cats? Just wondering.

I’d actually been thinking about adopting a kitten recently anyway, so I think I can help the RSPCA free up 1 spot at least. 🙂

I think it’s because everyone wants a kitten. I used to volunteer at the shelter, and they would often reduce the price further for older cats (5+) because it’s so much harder for them to find homes.

I saw the callout on Facebook on Tuesday night, and we adopted a mama cat on Wednesday morning. We already have an 8 month old cat, but so far so good. Cats are so easy, I’d really urge anyone to consider adopting one (as appropriate to their circumstances of course).

I wondered if that was the case. I have an old female cat atm, getting into her elderly years, she won’t be with me much longer most likely. That’s why I was thinking of adopting a kitten, thought that might make it easier for my current cat to get along with the new one, but with the cost differential I might try and get a younger male cat but no longer kitten anymore instead if they have a suitable option for me.

Any tips on introducing 2 cats the first time? I have googled a lot of links and read a bunch of really good instructions and am fairly confident on what I am going to need to do, seems its a 7-10 day process to do properly but if followed I am assured it should at least have them not tearing each others throats out if not becoming friends. Still keen for any tips from anyone who has done this before themselves. Cheers!

I’d suggest you read Cat vs. Cat by Pam Johnson-Bennett. From my own experience and coming from a long line of crazy cat ladies some cats just don’t like other cats and will never get along. Good luck if you decide to go ahead with it though.