What Nobody Tells You About Getting a Cat After You Retire
If a retired friend wanted a cat or dog, I would absolutely tell them to go for it if their circumstances allowed. I think it’s important to remember that while animals are just the best, they are also expensive, especially if you’re on a fixed income. If you have the financial means to care for a pet and you live at home or in a place that allows pets, I would say run, don’t walk, to your nearest shelter!!
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I think pets open you up in so many beautiful ways. I had a cat growing up, but it wasn’t until my 40s when we got Thelma and Louis. I was honestly a bit hesitant at first…how would we travel? Would they make a mess? But they have tapped into so much love in me, more than I thought possible!
We don’t have any children, but they have 100% become our babies. I’m not sure how people feel about their human babies, but if it’s 1/4 of the way I feel about these cats, I can’t imagine how fulfilling it must be! I love Thelma and Louis so much I would absolutely run into a burning building for them or jump into flood waters. Anything to save them! I think that sort of love and devotion and JOY is truly priceless at any age, but especially as we get older and sort of crave that connection.
What to think through before you adopt
Here’s the short version of what I’d think through before adopting. The rest of this post gets into each one.
| Think about | Ask yourself | What helps |
|---|---|---|
| Money | Can I cover food, litter, and vet visits every month, plus one bad day? | Pet insurance, a savings account, or room in the budget. Decide before you adopt. |
| Housing | Does where I live now, and where I might move later, allow pets? | Check the pet policy before you meet the cat. |
| Kitten or adult | Do I want the kitten stage, or a settled adult or senior? | Adults and seniors have set personalities and wait longer in shelters. |
| Lifespan | A cat can live 15 to 20 years. Who takes over if I can’t? | A named person who has actually agreed to it. |
| Litter box | Can I bend, scoop, and carry litter every day? | Long-handled scoop, smaller bags, delivery, box on the main floor. |
| Travel | How often will I be away, and for how long? | A sitter the cat already knows, or family willing to sleep over. |
| Time at home | Am I around enough to enjoy them? | The easy part. The cat still needs places to climb, scratch, hide, and watch. |
| Emergencies | Who feeds the cat if I’m in the hospital tonight? | Wallet card, contact sheet at home, a neighbor with a key. |
They are expensive, especially on a fixed income
The love part is easy. The money deserves a much less romantic conversation. Food and litter are the bills you can predict. Dental work, diagnostics, prescription food, and an emergency visit are the ones that can knock a hole in a fixed budget, so decide before you adopt how you would pay for the bad day. That may be pet insurance, a dedicated savings account, room in your monthly budget, or some combination.
One retiree with six house cats, a dog, and a group of neighborhood cats described pet care as the place where they consciously choose to spend:
It’s an incredible luxury, but it’s also our main source of enjoyment in life. We don’t have children, and our health is too compromised for travel. In all other respects, we’re quite frugal, but in this one area, we splurge.
I wouldn’t rule out a kitten, but I would be realistic
If I was older, I wouldn’t be opposed to getting a kitten, but you have to be realistic about how long cats can live and what our own life expectancy is. Granted, something can happen to a pet owner at any age, but if you are in your 70s, a cat can live well into their teens and sometimes 20s, so you would want to have a plan in place if you have to move somewhere that might not allow pets, or if something were to happen to you. Everybody should!
Cornell’s Feline Health Center asks adopters to be ready for a commitment of 10 to 15 years or more. That does not mean someone in their 70s shouldn’t adopt. It means you need a real person who has agreed to step in, not a relative you have silently assigned because they once said your cat was cute.
Also, kittens can be a little crazy for a couple months. Adorable, but climbing and learning what to scratch and not scratch and just getting the hang of everything. An adult, however, say a seven-year-old cat, may be more settled and want lots of lap time. Senior cats are also amazing.
I would just go back to the idea that an older cat might need more checkups and potentially more medical care, so you’ll want to make sure you have the means to afford it. The 2021 AAHA/AAFP feline life-stage guidelines recommend an exam at least annually for every cat and at least every six months for senior cats.
The beautiful thing about adopting an adult or senior cat is that they often stay in shelters longer, so you would be helping alleviate that issue as well! The ASPCA points out another advantage to adopting an older cat: their personalities are already developed, which makes it easier for shelter staff to help you find the right match.
One retired couple decided to travel first, then return to pet ownership later:
After a lifetime of pet ownership, we gradually stopped replacing them so we could travel full time after retirement, in our 60s. I miss having pets, but am loving the travel.
In about 7 years, when we are both approaching age 70, I hope to buy a house and get pets again. But only senior pets, or fosters. We can’t get a kitten at that age because it might outlive us. My last cat lived 17 years.
It takes planning!
The litter box is probably the chore to think about
Nothing about the cats is really a pain when it comes to chores for us, but if you have mobility issues, the litter box might be the biggest potential struggle. Whether you’re scooping or using poop bags, you will likely have to bend over. You will also need to clean the litter box, though you can use litter liners as well depending on the litter setup you choose. You could also look into a Litter-Robot, which might alleviate some of those potential issues.
Litter-Robot 4 by Whisker
We don’t have one, but if bending over a litter box is the thing standing between you and a cat, this is the machine to look at. It sifts after every visit into a drawer you empty instead of scooping. You still clean it, and not every cat will use one, so I wouldn’t build the whole plan on it.
A robotic box still has to be emptied and cleaned, and not every cat will use one, so I wouldn’t make the entire plan depend on a machine. Smaller containers of litter, delivery, a long-handled scoop, and supplies stored near the box can all make the job easier. The Feline Veterinary Medical Association’s life-stage guide also recommends changing the box size and location as a cat ages, including avoiding stairs for senior cats.
Depets Long-Handle Metal Litter Scoop
A metal scoop on a long handle, so the daily scoop happens standing up, or close to it. Cheap, and it fixes the exact part most people dread.
Purina Tidy Cats Breeze Litter System
The pellet-and-pad system we switched to and recommend over the pine. Less sifting, a lot less smell day to day, and the refill pellets come in 3.5-pound bags, which are much easier to carry than a big tub of clay litter.
One cat owner considering fostering instead of adopting again said the physical and financial parts had become connected:
That’s my plan too! I adore my cat, but the $1,000 semiannual vet appointments and the daily labor of scooping multiple litter boxes are not compatible with my dwindling budget and aging body.
Being home with them is actually the good part
Working from home with our cats is definitely a bit different. I feel bad if I’m working too many hours straight, so I will often interrupt my day to go and pet them or play, but that’s a good thing! If I was retired, I would have even more time to do that, which would be great!
That does not mean a cat needs you to provide entertainment every minute. Cats still need their own places to climb, scratch, hide, sleep, watch, and play. Current feline veterinary guidance for indoor cats includes safe resting places, vertical space, clean toileting areas, and opportunities for hunting and play. Being home more gives you time together, but the cat should still have a life when you are reading, napping, or out for the afternoon.
Travel is where it gets complicated
If you love to travel, I think having cats is actually a bit harder than having dogs, mostly because you can more easily take your dog with you. It is my dream to be able to take our cats with us places, so that’s a goal. But I’m not sure how realistic it is. If you envision your retirement years full of a different exotic locale every season, you might not want to get a cat.
We 100% travel less than we would if we didn’t have the cats. My mom cat-sits for us, which is great because I love that she sleeps over with them while we’re gone, but I don’t want to ask her to do it too often. We have yet to travel on a trip longer than five nights, but it’s my goal to do that soon also. I’m building up points with my mom, lol.
All of that to say, I haven’t WANTED to really travel that much since we’ve gotten them, because I miss them when we go away! I used to always roll my eyes when friends would only travel with their kids, but now I totally get it. If we could only travel with them, I would!
Pet Gear No-Zip Happy Trails Lite Stroller
The stroller we use for Thelma and Louis. The cover latches securely instead of zipping, which was the nonnegotiable part for me, and it folds flat when you’re done.
For many cats, having someone care for them at home is less disruptive than moving them to a boarding facility. Ohio State’s Indoor Pet Initiative recommends introducing a sitter before the trip and letting the cat get to know them through food and play. Their vacation guidance is worth reading before you book anything.
Another retiree decided the company was more important than the occasional travel headache:
I can’t imagine not having my dog and cat as companions. Who else would listen to my poetic and eloquent soliloquies on life? The amount of time I spent fretting about pet care when I travel, which is rare, pales in comparison to the enjoyment I derive from their companionship.
Write down what happens if you can’t care for them
Who feeds the cat if you are admitted to the hospital tonight? Who could take over for a month? Who has actually agreed to care for the cat permanently if necessary? Those may be three different people.
The ASPCA recommends a wallet alert card, an emergency contact sheet at home, and a pet portfolio with feeding habits, medications, veterinary records, and behavior notes. Give copies to the people in the plan, and make sure someone nearby has a key or knows how to get one. If you want money set aside for lifetime care or need a legally enforceable arrangement, talk with an estate-planning attorney about the options where you live.
I think about the future, if I was living alone and my spouse was no longer with me and I didn’t have kids and wasn’t working, and how a pet would be so lovely to have to keep me company! They really do fill your life up in the best way possible.
Founder and editor of CatSeat and cat mom to Thelma and Louis. She’s been writing online since 2000.
Hi! I’m Lindsay. I run this site alongside my hubs Cory and our very opinionated cats, Thelma and Louis. We’re so happy you’re here!
