I live in a very rural area with a "shelter" that has a long history of severe upper respiratory disease among its cat population. All shelters are NOT created (or run) equally, and it takes careful management to keep a cat population healthy in close quarters. If I were you, I'd call around to your area vet offices and ask them to give you their frank, professional opinions on the overall health of the cat populations at your area shelters. If they assess both shelters equally, then visit them both and see which cat grabs your heart.

If you are going to adopt an adult cat, I strongly recommend a young or middle-aged, neutered male with a known history of living peacefully with other cats. Adult females can be very intolerant of unfamiliar adult cats, so your chances of finding a willing companion for Jasper would be less likely with a female.

Wherever and whatever you adopt, make sure you take time in making the introductions and integrating your new adoptee into your household gradually.

All the best,

Laurie

Laurie always gives good advice, and here is another example of it!

Also, you mentioned on another thread that there are many strays in your neighborhood. Consider taking one (or more) to the best local shelter, having it processed and adopting it. A young or middle aged neutered male is the best option, as Laurie pointed out, for a house with a neutered male cat.

Yes it's quite obvious Laurie has a lot of experiences with pets in reading her posts. I had considered letting a stray "come" into my life as if it were "meant to be"... fate throwing us together. Still an option, I will just have to see if I can make a connection with any of them in the area. I would assuredly be saving a life and improving quality of life doing it that way. The aquisition phase is the only part that scrares me... the process of capturing it and quaranting it until I can get it to the vet.

Capturing and integrating strays and ferals into an existing family structure is something with which I have waaaaaaay too much experience. My family pride currently numbers 13 (I recently lost one of my boys to CRF), the last 8 of which showed up uninvited here on my farm. Of those, 4 were completely tame (2 adult intact toms, 1 adult intact queen, and 1 adult spayed female), 2 were semi-feral (both adult intact toms), and 2 were completely feral (both adult intact toms). All are now happy couch potatoes here in my home ... but it wasn't easy putting this family together.

I'm all for capturing the neighborhood strays and rehoming them or taking them to your local shelter if they'll accept them, and you might just find one who captures your heart and wants to be Jasper's buddy. Before you decide to go that route, though, you might find it helpful to read through the integration story of my Three Mouseketeers on my website linked below (be prepared for a looooong read). They posed a lot of challenges for me, many of which are fairly common among stray and feral cats.

I wish you the best of luck in whatever you decide to do.

Laurie

Here is a link that might be useful: The Three Mouseketeers

From me! From me! Oh, I wish you lived close to me. LOL I picked up another stray cat today that I have to find a home for. It's one of the occupational hazards of working at a nursery next door to a cheap apartment complex. I'll not hijack your thread, though. I was just going to start a post about it when I saw yours.

"Or, should I go to both places and see which kitty I connect with?" I think that's a very important thing to do. In reality, even the no-kill shelters are, by default, kill shelters in that they have to turn animals away due to lack of space. Ultimately, the animals turned away may find another shelter or home, or may end up at the no kill shelter, or may be re-released into the wild. So, I would go to both shelters, and visit with all the cats up for adoption. I do agree that males are more easy going than females, even with all being neutered (using the term generically, for both sexes). Most shelters require neutering, so that's a given with any cat you get.

Good luck

Sally

I got both of my cats from the same place. Same mother, who knows who their fathers are LOL. They were born outdoor farm cats. And the sad fact is, farm cats are never overabundant despite the many litters, because they are constantly picked off by predators, cars, and other things before they can mature.

While I love both of them, the next cat I get will be a shelter cat, and a neutered male at that. I am hoping it will be well socialized and friendly. Our cats are loves, but only to certain people and under certain circumstances, and I get tired of being the ONLY object of their affection.

Just so happens somebody left a Mama and seven kittens on our doorstep at work yesterday. How many you want? There are a couple of really cute silver tabbies in the litter.

Cats always seem to find me but I think if I were going to adopt one I would give priority to one from a kill shelter. Just be sure wherever your new kitty comes from to have it tested for leukemia and aids before it has any contact with Jasper.

Lisa

That's a very good point, Lisa. You definately want to keep the kitty in quarentine at first until you're sure it's disease free. The bathroom is a good place because there are no hiding places. Of course, I'm used to deealing with feral cats.

Sally

You will "know" your cat when you find him(or her)
You and that beautiful Jasper will be really happy.

As Sally said, keeping the new cat isolated in the bathroom for awhile (with its own food and litter box) is a good idea. It will take Jasper some time to adjust to a new cat in his territory. You can introduce them slowly after a couple of days.

It might be easier on him if the newcomer is female -- as well as vaccinations and tests for disease make sure everyone has been neutered/spayed.

Our cats are rescues and they are both wonderful pets.

My first two cats I got at the local adoption shelter - it is a very nice, super clean place and both cats came to me in great health. There were no charges for these cats, just had to get them vaccinated.
The next cat was from a breeder - next to my husband and kids she is the love of my life and was worth every penny.
The last cat I got was a nightmare. I got him through a rescue group from petfinder. He was $150 and reeeeeked of urine and bad breath. He came to me with a bad ear infection, which after spending $100 at the vets and not getting proper medication was still there. Meanwhile, the rescue place said to segregate him from the other cats a minimum of two weeks. Then he got ringworm, had to be segregated again. Then, after having him for 8 weeks in which he cowered under my bed all day long and being scared to death of me because all he ever knew about me was that I'm the mean lady who gives out the medicine twice a day I gave up. I returned him to the rescue house (I think she's a hoarder), and have put a deposit on a new kitten from a breeder.
So I guess my advice to you is either get one from a clean city facility or through a breeder who gives a health guarantee.

I've had several Siamese and an Ocicat, all of whom came through breeders and were healthy, had good temperaments, etc. Our most recent kitty was born to a stray, already pregnant, taken in by our babysitter's family. The kittens were born, and lived in till 8 weeks, a garage and the great outdoors. Our kitten had never seen a vet till I took him to ours the day I picked him up. He had fleas and worms and had to be medicated and isolated for a week. At the end of that week, a very stinky intestinal bacterial infection evidenced itself and he was quarrantined and medicated for another 2 weeks.

This kitten, nearly a cat now, has personality plus. He was far more work in the beginning than any of our purebred cats were due to his lack of vet care but I also feel good about saving a kitty.

My last cat showed up in the yard. He followed me around as I gardened and begged for attention. He was really sweet and I knew he was someone's pet. I put an ad in the paper and found his owners but he came back after they took him home and then they moved away two weeks later and left him....now he is mine. $250 later for shots, neutering and microchip.