Kitty Rescue Questions

We are considering getting a kitty and we are pretty sure that we are going to rescue...this way we know that the cat will be "good with dogs" as we can have them meet so we can see how they do...

I was wondering, do you change the cat's name, like you would a rescued dog? Do cats relearn names as quickly as dogs?

Do you have any suggestions or bits of advice when looking for a rescue cat?

I have never owned my own cat, so this is all new to me...lol.

Thanks in advance.

Rescue cats are no more likely to be good with dogs IMO, although as you say some will "test" first. Dogs often dont behave the same in a strange environment as they wuld at home. My advice would be to have a kitten, an adult cat can do severe damage to a dog in seconds. You may find resistence from rescues if you have certain types of dog, I did, because Terriers kill cats!! The cats protection (4 branches) refused me a kitten.

I was going to do private rehoming...we have an online "classified ads" place that many people will post up rehomes or rescues...i figured that these are cats that rescues/shelters won't take because of the high demand, but they usually end up homeless anyway if the owners can't afford to keep them....there are a lot of pets going homeless in my area because people are so troubled with money lately...

Both my cats were rescues.
One from a small private rescue.... ie a cat mad lady whose whole house had rescue cats, or special needs cats who were staying with her for life. We found out about her from the local vets. They often know of the local small cat rescue people.
Our other cat Ollie was from the Cats Protection League. We got him as he was in a run when we went to collect our cat from the cattery after our holiday. The lady who owned the boarding kennels fostered CPL cats and was allowed to rehome, and as she knew us well, that our cats were insured, chipped, vaccinated and generally spoilt he came straight home with us and has never looked back.
The cats have their own room upstairs.... and don't mix with the dogs really apart from the one who taunts from the other side of the stairgate.

The Blue Cross refused us a cat. Why? Because we lived in a house converted into two flats at the time, we had the upstairs with our front door on the ground floor and they had to go upstairs, as we did, after coming in the front door, I kid you not!

Funny really as now we have a big house that is exactly what the cats do now anyway!

That is one of the reasons I would always look for independent rescues as some of the bigger ones just seem adamant no one is suitable to rehome any animal.

Edited to add we had no dogs when we got our cats, they came after.

Think I have to agree with BorderDawn. When you say rescue a Kitty, I thought you meant a small kitten, but if your looking at something slightly older, then I don't think rescue or not, they will be any better with the dogs.

In my experience,(we have 5 cats and three dogs) most of my old ones where with me and my old belated dog Meg, as Meg was very laid back they were fine about Reah entering thier lives, plus now Skye and Bruce.
But Norton came after Reah and it took along time for him to except the dog, we had alot of bother with him attacking the dog, and had to on many occassions remove him before she could walk past.

He's fine now, but an adult cat will bring more problems....as he did anything from 4/6 months up can (IMO) be capable of protecting itself where dogs are concerned............

Just a after thought too, when I took Polly she was born ferrel, she is the worst of the lot if a dog goes for her......she is like a Rotti and cats fur.

You dont say whether your dog is already used to cats, if not you could be asking for trouble, i have cats and dogs but the cats were here first and the first dog a puppy so, all was fine but we then re-homed a dog that just wouldnt accept the cats and we sadly had to give up the dog.

Kittens are more accepting to dogs, adult cats WILL fight back and the dog can get badly injured.

My dog has been around cats, and as long as the cat is okay with dogs, she doesn't really bother with them....for example, at our doggie daycare, the groomer has a cat in the room....when Ami went in, the cat was curious, but too small to get any attention (Ami was too busy with the other dogs) so the cat climbed up on a chair and jumped on Ami's back to get a better smell....Ami licked the cat, then just went on with her buisness with the cat on her back....

We had a friend whose little sister had a bunny, and Ami just laid on the floor while the bunny jumped around her to get a sniff....

but the same friend had a cat who was terrified of dogs (and people...) so when that cat would see Ami, she would hiss and swat, and Ami would go over for a sniff and would end up just making it worse...because she would follow the cat around...

I think that she will be fine with a cat who is already good with dogs, which is why I was looking at older cats who already have dog experience....I would hate to get a kitten that would just end up fearing the dog, and for the rest of its life is running and hiding from it....our friends cat was 4 months old...and we brought Ami over every day for nearly 2 months to try to make it better...and it never helped her cat relax around Ami.

I have 6 cats and 2 dogs, 4 of my cats were rescues and both dogs.we put a child gate at the bottom of the stairs so the cats can come and go and their food is safe upstairs. Not all the cats come down stairs and mix with the dogs, the dogs are fine with the cats though and our boy dog is especially fond of the 2 boy cats who are very confident and come and go as they please.I think the dogs know to back off if a cat hisses at them but I still don't know how to get the cats that are not comfortable around the dogs to come down and mix with them , so some of the cats stay upstairs all the time the dogs are awake. I hope you manage to get the balence right, its not easy sometimes, but at least you are wanting to try.

To be honest i have found the kittens far easier to introduce to the dogs than the adults, as they know no different and just tend to want to play with "whoever" is available, which in our case was the dogs, the adults have taken much longer to accept Amy, even though they have been around Diesel all their lives, the younger ones were straight in there.

Good luck with whatever you decide, its a lovely idea to rescue but not always the right one.

Kitten season is fairly close so you may well find lots of kittens need rescueing in a few months, although i think most rescues like to home the kittens in pairs.

Hope you find the purrrrfect kitty for you

I'd probably opt for a kitten over an adult cat, too. I am thinking of the cats perspective here...most rescue cats won't have been exposed to dogs and may be set in their ways. Rehoming is stressful enough for them without the added worry of a very curious but friendly dog.

Kittens on the other hand will adapt much quicker. Our last rescue kitten (now almost a year old) hissed and spat and made a major fuss upon sight of my dog at first, but now they are best buddies.