Advice on Cat Adoption
Hi all, me and my partner currently have a 3 year old girl cat who we inherited the beginning of March due to the passing of a relative. She has experience living with other cats and we always wanted two so we’ve started the process of looking to adopt a second cat.
We were supposed to be adopting a 10 month old from the RSPCA but in the pre-adoption check she came back positive for calicivirus and we couldn’t risk the potential infection of our existing cat Bramble.
There’s another cat that has been offered to us, a 6 month old girl who was born from a feral cat in a garden and is now with a fosterer. Other cats from the litter have shown symptoms of cat flu but she hasn’t, how likely would it be for her to be a carrier anyway and if we were to test for it and it came back negative would you trust it?
Basically I’m just nervous about the whole process now, I’m a first time cat owner as my previous pet was a dog so I’m a bit out of my depth. It seems all cats for adoption come from outdoor/feral backgrounds which makes sense but is there then not a chance for them all to be asymptomatic carriers? How should we go about making sure the second cat we bring into our house won’t pose a health risk to Bramble?
Not getting another cat also isn’t an option since Bramble does need company now that she has settled. Also any cat would be an indoor cat as Bramble already is. Any advice or reassurances are greatly appreciated.