Thread: Should I consider a rescue cat or a 'retired' breeding cat?

I have two rescue MC's, and I think just like any cat you never know what you're going to get until you meet them. Mandy was around 2 years old when we adopted her, she was rescued from an abandoned hoarder house (as if either one of those situations alone wasn't bad enough!). She was intensely affectionate with me from the first hour and became best buds with our tabby/Bengal, Rose. She took a while to adjust to the kids, but seemed okay otherwise...until we adopted a large male cat. Mandy's "wild" tendencies erupted and she was a snarling, growling, swatting, horrible creature for about four months. She is also very fearful of strangers and will kind of "go feral" when there are visitors. But the rest of the time she is a sweet bundle of purrs and kneading and head butts.
Merlin is our most recent MC rescue. He had been literally treated like garbage and left next to a dumpster at a local shelter. He weighed six pounds and most of his teeth were completely rotten and had to be removed. The vet initially estimated Merlin to be 12-15 years old, but after a few months of good food and lots of love we think he's probably 8-10 years old. Either way, he's "old" for a shelter cat and most people do not want older cats. Merlin is the most loving and talkative cat we've ever had and lives up to the MC bill completely! Even though he was totally let down by people and should have zero reason to trust a human ever again, Merlin greeted his rescuers at the shelter with a chirp and a head butt, still hoping that someone would love him again. I would recommend adopting an older cat to anyone. They sometimes need more care, especially if they are coming from a shelter situation (we had a nasty bladder infection to tackle with Merlin) but I think it's far better they live out the rest of their lives with a loving family instead of in a shelter.