Where can I find a blind, deaf or disabled kitten in the UK?
July 15, 2011 5:02 AM   Subscribe

Where can I find a blind, deaf or disabled kitten in the UK?

We currently have a 2 year female cat; she is semi-blind and we live in a flat (it wouldn't be safe for her to go outside due to her poor sight). We had a deaf cat who died last month due to cancer. The two cats didn't get on great, but tolerated each other (mainly didn't get on because of the age difference we think as the younger cat loves playing).

Anyway, we have space for another cat now and want to adopt a kitten as we figure this will be better than getting an adult cat that would face similar problems to the previous situation (obviously we're aware of all the problems of introducing ANY cat/kitten to another, but just think this would long-term be the best plan). However, we've always felt it a bit cruel to keep normal, healthy cats indoors unless they have some kind of medical reason as to why they need to stay inside.

I've been searching therefore for a kitten to adopt that needs to be kept indoors, but this is surprisingly difficult to find; I've trying searching online, newspapers, local animal shelters, all to no avail. What's stranger is lots of adverts for kittens make a point of stating that the kittens offered are definitely not blind or deaf (like this is a selling point); but this just makes me wonder - what happens to all the ones that are blind and deaf or have other problems?!

So, does anyone have any info or advice on where I should be looking to find such a kitten?
posted by Pilly to Pets & Animals (7 answers total)
 
You might visit your local shelter(s) and ask the staff if they'd be willing to put you on a wait list and to contact you in the event that they have a disabled kitten available. If they would, surely it wouldn't take long for such a kitten to pop up.

And here's a tip: keep an eye out for a white, blue-eyed cat, as it's common for them to be deaf. My Trilby was a rescue animal and is congenitally and profoundly deaf, and the shelter never clued in that he was — or if they did, they certainly never mentioned it.
posted by orange swan at 5:40 AM on July 15, 2011


Check out catchat. They have a map there where you can check by area in the UK for rescue homes, and they encourage people to go for the harder to home cats such as deaf or blind cats. Good luck.
posted by Elmore at 6:27 AM on July 15, 2011


Just popping in to say, it's very sweet of you to want to adopt a disabled cat. Be aware that a deaf cat is its own fun little package - I had one (Chester! such a sweetie) many years ago. Pros: He loved being vacuumed. He thought the drapery attachment was the best thing ever. Cons: he obviously didn't respond to the usual "OK! I'm coming!" and other noises of paying attention, so he uh . . climbed our legs. When he was really small. I'm not putting that out there as a reason to NOT adopt a deaf cat, just as something to be aware of.
posted by Medieval Maven at 6:52 AM on July 15, 2011


Try reaching out to friends via social networking sites - a friend of a friend might be able to refer you to the right group.
posted by radioamy at 10:19 AM on July 15, 2011


Have you talked to Cats Protection? My friend was 'matched' with two cats with FIV because she lived in a flat and the cats would be indoor cats. I got the impression that this was quite usual, in terms of matching cats needing homes with the homes.
posted by Coobeastie at 10:47 AM on July 15, 2011


Definitely ask the folks at the cat rescues! I've done lots of rescue and almost always have a three-legged, blind, mentally inappropriate, etc.,"project" kitten that I'm trying to find a home for. Usually they're at my house though! Because of their special needs, these are kittens that tend to be fostered in people's homes rather than at an animal shelter. So you might not see them on a walk through visit. But, I bet if you ask, the nice rescue people will steer you in the right direction! (And thanks for adopting special needs kitties! You Rock!)
posted by troublewithwolves at 11:11 AM on July 15, 2011


Response by poster: Thanks for the replies - I've tried the local cat shelters but they haven't been the most helpful; it looks like it's just a case of keep looking and hopefully sooner or later one will be advertised somewhere. Thanks a lot for the suggestions.
posted by Pilly at 2:31 AM on July 16, 2011


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