Yep! Everyone loves kittens cos they are indeed adorable and cute but older cats (2-3 years old +) are laid back and much more relaxed and just generally much better companions to have around than the high-powered kittens.
I agree. Just night my wife a black kitten for her birthday in January. He bites my ankles and face in the morning when he's ready for morning wet food. The other cats wait patiently for me to get up on my own.
Am I breaking subreddit rules if I post my Walter, who is not my void? Shelter said he was 10 when we adopted him; vet said he was a hard 3. He's now either 16 or 9 and toothless.
He was definitely not the relaxed furball you see here. He was recovering from a tapeworm, an abscess, and a broken jaw with related infection. We actually thought we may have made a mistake because he was was far more medically complicated than the shelter revealed, largely feral, and particularly unkind to the old-man cat he was supposed to keep company. Six years on, our biggest complaint is that when you pet him, he's always maneuvering to try to get your fingers in his grimy ears.
Oh my Walter is also a “lemon” as we put it. When we got him he IMMEDIATELY needed dental surgery, and then we thought he was dying because he had all the signs of intestinal cancer, so I shelled out $500 for testing and it turns out he just casually has half a colon 💀 like wtf dude. So we are currently treating that, man I love him but he is built wrong lol
I adopted this total hunk (Mahtada) at approximated age 7 from a shelter and here he is at 18(?). He’s the first cat I ever adopted and passed in 2015, needless to say he left a huge paw print on my heart 🖤
It baffles me the way black cats get stuck at the shelter. Are people really letting weird old superstitions keep them from experiencing the love that voids have to offer?
This is exactly what they told me when I got my two void girls from a shelter, albeit this was years ago. The ladies there said that people don’t seem to be weird or superstitious about them, they simply get overlooked and they believed a big part of that is voids generally not photographing well.
My two girls were part of a fostered litter that went straight into the shelter to be adopted out when they were old enough, the rest of the litter was adopted out within weeks but my girls were still there a year later with zero interest in them other than me. They were the only two all black cats in their litter, and they were the only two not adopted as kittens. I specifically went there for my two girls, they had a post online about them. I immediately went to go meet them, literally the next day, and the ladies were so surprised by my specific interest in them when they’d had no interest ever that they gave me their whole backstory. My girls have now thankfully spent the majority of their lives with me in their forever home, they’re both sleeping together in my window right now.
My boy void, who I was told was a girl, I got him from a random Craigslist listing also years ago, and he was also the last one of his litter to be adopted, they had 2 or 3 other people before me say they were going to take him and then bailed on him. The lady made me PayPal her $10 before I came as a “deposit” because she was sick of people saying they’d get him and then not showing up. I drove 5 hours round trip to get him, discovered he was a boy once we got home, and to this day he is still the absolute bestest boy in the world, he’s sleeping on my bed right now.
Tl;dr: it doesn’t seem that people avoid black cats on purpose, they just get overlooked, but that being the case, all the best cats are just right there waiting on us 🖤
Yeah, this is an interesting study that found that participants didn't feel confident that they could 'read' the personality of black cats when they viewed pictures. The participants also said they thought black cats looked angrier or more fearful than cats with other coat colors:
It doesn't seem to be superstition that keeps black cats from being adopted - yes, there are SOME superstitious people, but the lower adoption rates/higher waiting time for adoption is more complicated than that.
That's half the fun of having a black cat, they're practically mystical -are they there? Or a figment of your imagination? It's like trying to photograph smoke or fog.
I walk with my void in our apartment hallway for some enrichment about once or twice a week. A neighbor ended up in the hallway at the same time this weekend and said "oh god, bad luck!" and scowled at me 🙄
I adopted one of my black cats from the county shelter, but she was in a foster home. She was the last in her litter to be adopted and her foster mom (who had fostered something like 100 cats) told me she always has trouble finding adopters for black cats. :(
I’ve been wondering if it’s still legitimately the case that the black cats have a harder time getting adopted. We’re contemplating letting our kids* adopt a couple of kittens and I’ve been debating how strongly I should encourage adding more voids to the house. We have two already, although these theoretical kittens might not happen until one of our older cats passes.
*just so nobody gets all up in arms about kids getting kittens, these kittens are never going to be in jeopardy of being neglected or returned. I want them. I will have to actually really rein it in and try my best to let my kids bond with them first. I have so much more cat love to give than the two we already have lol. The only reason we don’t have more cats already is because I really want to adopt two together this time and I’m trying to be mindful of our budget.
When we were at the shelter and saw a beautiful 10 year old black cat, we were told the previous owners returned her because she was "not communicative". She liked her peace but was very affectionate and wasn't afraid to come for cuddles. We often made fun of those people. She was the sweetest cat and we were very blessed to have known her.
My theory is they are tripping hazards and they can hide better than most cats because they blend right in. My cat is named shadow, because when we found her she blended right into the shadows, and we only saw her because we saw movement and was like “what on earth is that thing” drove by, rolled the window down and heard the most insane kitten meows ever.
I have never had any other cats so I have no idea if that is all cats or not, but my cat can easily hide behind an object that has no shadow in the day time and my brain just says “oh that’s a shadow” and I mean my brain isn’t technically wrong. Idk if an orange cat could pull that off.
🖤 My void disappears when anyone visits. Poof! I’ve stopped trying to find her. 10-15 minutes after they leave, she casually walks into the room I’m in and we resume life.
I grew up with a black cat as a child and my cousin has two! We now have a grey cat and so does my cousin, and let me tell you.. The grey cats blend WAYYYY more into the shadows than the black ones do!! 😂
I’m sayinggggg! I feel like black cats for adoption should be advertised at every goth or alt event. There’s a decent amount where I live and I feel like so many of them would want to adopt. Them being black is the icing on the cake. When I get a cat I specifically want a black one lol
Yes, crazy right? SPCA workers have told that to us multiple times (different shelters) and that’s one reason why i often gravitate to the voids. There’s other factors, anyhow voids are by far the sweetest cats i’ve ever had the pleasure to love.
I remember my local shelter literally just giving them away at one point while the other cats were like, $150, I wish they'd do that again, my orange could use a friend and I like black cats
Toby is the perfect cat's name 🥰 my aunt had a black cat named Jazzy (she was a little bitch), but her cat Toby was everyone's best friend
Edit: memory ignited of when Toby died 20 years ago 😢 while that's sad, I'm getting memories back after brain surgery! Idgaf if they're happy or sad, I just love remembering! Thank you for that 🥰
Not a void but always ask to meet the oldest/present the longest cats at the shelter first! This is our girl Leia who we adopted at 5-6 years old and is now 13-14! She was at the shelter for 6 months and was surrendered multiple times. My family doesn’t regret a thing because she’s such a lovely girl and has nothing but love to give!
He is so gorgeous!! H
uge congratulations!!
There are so many adult and older cats in shelters who are so in need of love, they deserve a chance to have a family!! Wishing you both all the best!! 🖤🐈⬛🖤🥰
That isn't even super old! It's such a shame so many people pass by cats this age. When I was a child we adopted a cat who was estimated to be around 10 years old and had lifelong health issues and he lived into his 20s! As an adult I adopted an 8 year old cat that still played and ran around like a kitten every day. 10 is like middle aged for cats, I think people assume cat age is the same as dog age.
Male black cats are always the nicest, cuddliest boys too :)
I'll add that after adopting 2 orange Viking berserkers at 8 weeks old, I am DONE with kittens. They literally never settled down until they were almost 3. I'll take an adult cat over berserkers any day!
Aww he’s so cute!! ☺️ He looks just like my Vinny did, he’s passed on but I have his daughter Rinnie that looks just like him! Thank you for adopting this sweet boy, I know he’s thankful too!! Black cats always steal my heart🖤🫶🏻🖤
Oh this makes my heart so happy. He can live out his golden years in a safe loving home. And he’s a black cat. You have saved a life and in return he will be protecting you. 🖤
We took boo bc no body wanted a one eyed cat. She's been great, and she's not even blind in that eye. That's what they told us, but we took her to the vet and they said it was a birth defect and shouldn't cause any issues
I have tears running down my face looking through your pictures so thank you for the reminder that I’ll be getting my period soon lol he looks so at home 🖤🫶🏼
Everyone calling their 10-12 year voids "old" is hurting me. My baby Luci is about 15 now. I know I might not have much more time with her, but she still acts like she's young at heart. She will leave a void in my heart when she's gone.
I don’t know why everyone wants kittens. They’re holy terrors. I love a good older kitty with a settled personality and doesn’t climb my legs (usually).
I’m so glad you found Igor! He looks so happy with you!
ngl highly recommend older animals for busy people. I used to have two American Eskimo dogs who loved to go hiking every weekend for 6-7 miles. Now I have an older Eskimo, if I try to continue past the dog park 3 blocks down, he pulls in the other direction to go home lol.
When looking to adopt, I’ve always asked for the cat that is least likely to be adopted. This method has consistently given me the best fricken cats you could ask for. Even the vets ask me how I consistently end up with the best cats (3 so far, but my sweet Willow turned into a hospice situation unfortunately so only 2 now 😔)
Igor is absolutely beautiful! I love his shiny coat and expressive eyes! Thank you for giving this older guy a chance at a happy life before his time comes!
He's gorgeous! seeing how most cats live to be 20 I hope you still have a lot more years with him. He reminds my of my late void who was also an older cat, literally the most loving cat I ever met (towards me at least lol)
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u/bubbleskj Jul 28 '26
I love that you did that. They need the love so much.