Hi Everyone,
I'm new here (obviously lol) and I'm pretty new to cats. Growing up my mum always refused to let us have a cat she didn't like them so my first experience with having a feline friend was when I met my husband. Myself and my dog Cassie moved in with him and his cat Tiger, we worried at first that they wouldn't get on as Cassie was young and not used to cats and Tiger was very old (in his 20's) and hated everything and everyone except my husband. He took to me straightaway and slowly him and the dog got used to each other and within weeks they were curling up together.
We lost our old old cat in 2006 aged 23, fast forward to now and we have an 8 year old daughter who was desperate for a cat but we always insisted we would wait until the dog had passed before getting another cat. That plan went out of the window just before xmas, my aunt's partner's cat had kittens early November and when we visited a few days before xmas we fell in love with one of them, a teeny tiny little black boy (with a spot of white on his chest) who according to them was shy and timid. We decided to try him and the dog together, dog was fine he was fine and so we brought him home. Everything was fine until he settled in and his real personality came out - he is one very feisty little baby, always trying to play with the dog but she's 13 now and just wants to sleep most of the day.
We tried everything to keep him occupied; playing & toys(spent a fortune on interactive toys such as the catit senses circuit as well as homemade stuff) but he always went back to the dog trying to play and because she's such a big softie she never ever told him off even when he was chewing on her ears. After much researching online (which pretty much all said they are better off in pairs) and speaking to a local shelter we decided to get another kitten as he obviously needed a playmate, unfortunately it's the wrong time of year for kittens so no shelters had kittens.
We found an independent rescue home who had a young cat who was described as shy but affection(also described as 4 months, then 6 months when I called and was huge in person) so we decided to take her on after being reassured she would be fine with our dog/kitten. Long story short she really really hated our dog, our little kitten seemed intimidated by her and she just wouldn't settle with us so we had to return her. Long story trying to do that in which they tried to convince us to keep her for longer that she would settle eventually, then they were awkward about when we could return her and then once we agreed to not having our money back all of a sudden there would be someone there to accept her back the next day. When we returned her the person who took her back off us told us that she would run and hide whenever she saw dogs out of the window, the original person had failed to tell us that (because obviously we wouldn't have taken her). We felt awful about it because she was such an affectionate beautiful cat but just not right for us at all. I advised the lady there when they look for another home for her to make sure there are no dogs and it's a quiet home ideally no children (our daughter is good with animals but obviously because she's 8 she can still be loud/giggly sometimes) as every little noise with us scared her (the original woman also had the nerve to call later that day and ask if we wanted one of the other cats instead who was less introverted).
So back to the drawing board and again no kittens to be found luckily a local woman (well I say local she has a farm a short drive away) who's cat had kittens and even better this lady has dogs, cats, children(and alot of farm animals) so the kittens were used to a busy, animal filled household. We picked up a little black & white girl yesterday from her and it has been such bliss, the kittens adore each other and the dog is happy as she's getting to sleep in peace again!
Here they are, Twyla and Midnight (or mini as we call him);
Curled up together on my husband's lap;
A clearer one of mini in one of his favourite things - a tissue box lol;