Too old to adopt kittens!

I understand what you are saying, and in many cases, your thinking might very well be valid. The only thing is, who is more important, the animal, or its owner?
There are probably many older people who don't have the desire, or the wherewithal, to deal with a difficult animal.

I think that it comes down to the individual cat owner, no matter what his age. Some love a challenge, while others want an easygoing pet that will not take up too much time and energy.

You don't have a pet, Phoenix, do you?
You probably don't know how much work and effort a puppy or kitten takes.
Their energy level even surpasses that of a child and an elderly person rarely
can keep up.

Actually, very few shelter animals are ill behaved and difficult. The majority
of them are well behaved and utterly grateful to be in a new home. We have
had all our animals from shelters and every one of them was very well behaved
and the most gentle creatures.

Calamity Jane- I don't have a pet now, but I did have a Boston Terrier when I was a kid, and a Boxer when I was first married. The Boston was a pleasure, all spunk and smarts, and very easy to handle. The boxer, on the other hand, was an awful problem.

I suspect, that when I am elderly, I will get a kitten. I would suppose that I would not rule out an older cat, but we would have to "connect".

no, the vast majority of elderly are bored to tears. A kitten which takes a lot of time and demands a lot of attention would be better for such a person then a mature cat.

OMG, I'm agreeing with Hawkeye...

<feeling forehead>

I seem to be all right!

I agree with Boris and Hawkeye. Many elderly people would buy a dog, except for the reality of daily walks. Since many of the people who buy cats are alone and lonely, it seems to me that they would want a pet to respond to them.

A kitten who is trained when young to be close with his owner, is more likely to be a good companion for the elderly, rather that an older cat, who might have a more indifferent personality.

Oh, so many issues here!

First, I have never had a problem with an older cat being "Set in its ways" when adopting from shelters. I've found older cats sleep practically all the time; it's what cats DO.

Not only that, but the older cats I've adopted have appeared (to me) to be extremely grateful to be out of their cages and into a home. They couldn't care less about their previous homes or habits; getting away from a tiny cage with barking dogs in the background seems to supersede any "spoiled habits" they might have had in the past.

Kittens, in my opinion, are not nearly as difficult or demanding as puppies.

This woman was, if I'm not mistaken, actually 81 yrs old, not 70, when she wanted to adopt a kitten. I would have let her. Again: There is no kitten shortage in the US.

I adopted, some 20 years ago, a one-year-old cat from a private shelter. This shelter called me, FIVE years later, to check up on the cat. He was fine, happy, and beautiful.

Still, the caller berated me for letting this cat outdoors. Despite that, this cat (Binky) lived to be 14 yrs old.

I live in a rural Florida county. In this county ALONE, over 5,000 cats and dogs are killed each year by our local Animal Control Shelter. This a single county in a single US state. Multiply for the real numbers.

My husband used to walk the dogs at this shelter, until the day he saw a front-end loader dumping scores of dead cats and dogs into a large pit behind the shelter.

Once you see/hear of this, you're more likely (I think) to adopt a cat/kitten/dog/puppy to anyone who can give it at least a chance of life.

My problem with this is from my own experience, volunteering with cats at a local Humane Society Shelter (a different part of FL, by the way).

Older cats were usually calmer and more affectionate than kittens. Kittens who were raised Feral were often too fearful to approach people at all.

An older cat is easily "vetted," that is, tested and examined for his/her level of affection. I fell in love with several older cats while volunteering, but I did NOT fall in love with any of the Feral Kittens, who consistently refused any human contact.

I really think this woman might have been satisfied with an older cat, and I certainly agree that older cats are more in need, in the Shelter situation, than kittens. (Older cats are more likely to be killed.)

In addition, older cats who are available for adoption are unlikely to be feral; they'd be put down immediately, at a public shelter. So they are already vetted.

However, she preferred a kitten. Fine with me, there are TONS of abandoned kittens this time of year (summer) in the US. Due to irresponsible or uninformed owners, there's a huge number of available kittens every summer.

At any rate (cripes, I'm nattering again), I think older cats can be Great Adoptees, perhaps better than kittens, since they are already tamed. Kittens are more work, but not nearly as much work as a puppy.

I think this woman should have been allowed to adopt a kitten or two.

As it stands, she BOUGHT two kittens from a Pet Store. This only encourages irresponsible breeders, and MORE kittens, which in my opinion we do not, by any means, need in this country.

Oh, BTW, HI Phoenix! Haven't "talked" to you in ages! How are ya?

Alma Otis was lonely after her two elderly cats and a dog died within three months of each other earlier this year.

But when she tried to adopt two kittens from a local animal shelter this week, the 81-year-old was turned down because of her age.

Otis said the shelter would only allow her to adopt an older cat, due to uncertainty about the animal’s future.

Well yes, kittens are more work, and their path of destruction must be seen to be believed. Kittens are also a heck of a lot more fun.

when I was a kid it was kinda common to get chicks at Easter and other times, and at some point the animal rights people lobbied against the practice. They pointed out that the whole exercise had no point other than to give a few kids the fun of chick for a couple of days, after which they often would suffer the not nice death of being eaten by a cat, starved, or stepped on. OK, that made sense.

But now we have what has become a lunatic fringe of the Animal rights crowd actively claiming that animal rights are more important than human rights. This has to stop. The elderlys' right to the fun and other rewards of a kitten override the cats right to have the best life possible. This is not even worthy of debate. It is probably time to address this discrimination against those of a certain age.

Actually, if we could really know the length of life left in each kitten, and each elderly person, I might be willing to debate. Since we can't, a happy kitten coupled with a happy person seems the best sollution.

I personally am a huge fan of 'senior citizen' pets. I have and would again adopt one 5+.

In general, I think some of the shelters guidelines can sometimes begin to run to absurdity. The restrictions can be tight. Tighter than the majority of those who are willing and wanting to take care of an animal can meet sometimes (but at least for some things you can lie).

I can see the thinking behind restricting people 70 plus from adopting. I don't agree with it though.

Just a reminder again that this story (for this agency) is about trying to convince seniors who are over age 70 to adopt an older cat, instead of a young kitten.

It is NOT about denying those same elderly people from adopting cats altogether.

In the shelters run by this agency, it is not the kittens that are languishing waiting for a home. It is the older cats.

From the evidence that I have seen, there currently is no problem finding homes for the kittens. So, there is no need to worry about them.

Right.....this is an abuse of elderly humans problem.

I got my senior cat through an agency. One of the questions on the form was "Where will your pet sleep". It's a cat, for crying out loud! Cats sleep where ever they want, and they don't worry about where you will be sleeping while they do it.

When Lady Diane comes to bed Dante Cat sits at the door doing his Siamese cat howl for about an hour then goes on top on the kitchen cupboard near the ceiling and sleeps the night away until 4 a.m. wen he comes back to our bedroom door Siamese howl til I get up.

The obvious solution is to install a pet door in the bedroom door.

You mean you shut the bedroom door and keep the poor fellow out? How amazingly cruel of you!

You deserve everything you get.

I've learned not to shut the door - otherwise the Possum-cat rattles it until I get up and open it!

For me it was the clawing at, and destroying, the carpet under the door.