Older cats are sometimes overlooked in the adoption process, but a Reddit user shared her path to adopting her second cat after being spurred on by the online community.
User “Bloodyfaucet” shared a picture of her newly adopted 12-year-old cat Hermes, who had been at the shelter for six years.
“After the overwhelming support I received, I realized that older cats are being adopted less than I thought. Here is 12 year old Hermes, who has lived in the shelter for six years. The lady started crying with joy when I said I wanted him. “You have written in the past.
With 81,000 votes, the post related to the cat owner’s previous announcement of her recent adoption of a 10-year-old cat. The news was celebrated on Reddit as people shared their own personal stories about adopting older cats versus kittens.
Two days ago, the user shared a picture of her other cat and wrote, “Everyone is adopting kittens, I adopted this 10 year old boy so his last days would not be in a cage.”
Although the news was only posted a few days ago, previous posts by the user suggest that it was, in fact, adopted much sooner.
Cats are reportedly considered “geriatric” around the age of 12 and are no longer classified as kittens after one. According to Spots.com’s 2021 Pet Adoption Statistics Report, kittens are far preferred by owners adopting from animal shelters, with 50.4 percent of the 1.1 million cats adopted in the U.S. in 2020 being kittens.
After posting her newly adopted cat, the Reddit user received an influx of comments telling similar stories of shelters with overlooked older cats – this inspired her to include 12-year-old Hermes as well.
“It’s true that older cats spend more time in shelters than kittens. Adopters prefer kittens and kittens. Older cats are often overlooked, although it is much easier to gauge an older cat’s temperament. Older cats can also have health problems that make adoptive parents reluctant. We should encourage and praise the adoption of seniors. We need more people considering opening their homes to older cats and other older pets, “wrote one user.
“I also adopted two adult cats. The first one is said to have been 7 or 12 years old. She definitely had a genetic defect because she had crooked eyes and couldn’t breathe properly. We only had them for 1.5 years. But we could every day.” we see how grateful and happy she was to be with us. She was the cutest and it was heartbreaking to lose her. Six months later we adopted a 4 year old, “commented another user.
“People often think that animals that have been in shelters have behavior problems because of it, but that’s not true at all. When you adopt an adult, you know what you’re getting and they’re so grateful,” one person wrote.
The Reddit viral post is the latest in a good week of older cat adoption news that sees a 101-year-old adopting the oldest cat at a shelter, according to Newsweek.
Penny and her family were looking for an older cat companion after their previous cat died.
“The adopter’s family contacted us and asked to adopt an older cat for their mother,” said Jane Bower, executive director of the Humane Society of Catawba County (HSCC). “She had recently lost her cat and even though she had given her a stuffed cat, she wasn’t happy because she wasn’t purring.”
Gus, 19, was taken to HSCC in North Carolina in mid-September when his previous owner was unable to care for him due to unforeseen work commitments.
“We were cautious about the age of everyone involved, but the family said they were willing to take care of the cat on their mother’s behalf,” said Bower.
She described the adoption as “a heavenly couple” and explained that Gus has settled in perfectly in his new home.