can your cat get sick if you bring a new cat home from a shelter? after all, you never know if they're sick or not until stuff pops out..?

There is always possibility, but nearly all shelters will vet animals before they are adopted out.
It is actually against the law to sell a known sick animal to anybody.
I say the risk is very low.

The things most likely to come home with a shelter cat are the upper respiratory viruses. You can avoid passing them on to your cats by two simple things - one is to make sure that your cats are up to date on their FVRCP vaccines. The second is to isolate the new cat for a period of about 10 days (a spare bedroom, or a large bathroom work well). This gives your cats a chance to get used to the newcomer's smells, and any illness the new cat may be ready to come down with will show itself during that time. Shelters don't intentionally send sick cats home, but just like us - we may be harboring an illness long before we show symptoms.

Cats from shelters are tested for diseases before they're adopted out. Sometimes they can carry Upper Respiratory Infections home to other cats which is why you isolate them for at least a week before letting them around your other cats.

Yes, its possible.
This is why you keep the new pet separate from your current pets until they can go to the vet to get a clean bill of health.
With cats you also have to keep them separated until they get used to each other's scents. This takes at least a week.

ALL new pets, regardless of where you get them, should ideally be quarantined away from existing pets for a couple of weeks or until cleared by a vet to avoid risk of disease transmission. Plenty of illnesses incubate for days or even weeks before symptoms appear. A period of quarantine is far more rigidly adhered to with livestock, but is a good idea for household pets, too. Personally, I'd far rather pay to treat ONE pet for an illness than a whole household full of them. You can see this site for more info on how to set up an isolation area for the quarantine period: http://www.metroanimal.org/adoption/cat_meets_cat.html

it's possible , you can take them straight to the vet for a initial visit.

If your own pets are up to date with vaccines, then you have little to worry about. Best to confine the new pet to a room until your own vet has seen the pet and checked him/her out (usually done within 2 days of getting the pet). The worse that can happen is maybe a little upper respiratory infection (like a cold in humans) that could be passed to your cats or worms or fleas.

I agree with JC keep your cats vaccines up to date. The cats at shelters have been vaccinated too. It's a risk, I suppose.

Feline herpes is probably the most common issue, and its prevalent in shelters. It's the most common cause of upper respiratory infections in cats. But, 97% of cats have already been exposed to it. Some get rid of it but the majority will carry the virus their entire lives. Some cats will shed it when their immune system is weak, others may never have symtpoms again but are still carriers.

I bought a bengal from a breeder and then a year later rescued another one. The rescue had herpes, but he didn't show symptoms so I didn't know. Next thing I know my other boy has conjunctivitis in his left eye, and is a little lethargic. The rescue bengal gave him herpes, and now he's a chronic shedder of the virus, he gets conjunctivitis and needs eye ointment whenever he gets stressed.

Keeping your cats core vaccines up to date can help minimize the risk. I would not let any of this scare you away from adopting and saving a life though! With just about anything there is risk.

U keep the new cat separate for a few days and u wash hands after handling it. But usually they vaccinate cats in shelters, otherwise they would all be sick

We took in a feral, baby, kitten once and the vet was the first person we showed him to. Shots, blood work and stool specimen. all done before the other cats even saw it. We would NOT have kept it, if it had been infected. (well, lucky for us, we didn't have to decide...LOL) For real, we love cats.

Usually the only thing brought in is an upper respiratory infection (NOT a disease!). It's 'common' since people looking at cats at the shelter insist on petting all of them, so if one has an upper respiratory infection the hands are now spreading it to all the cats.

But it's treatable. The last two we adopted were ok, the previous one came with a cold and she gave it to the other two we had.

There is a very good chance that the cat you take home from a shelter will have a URI-upper respiratory infection. It is contagious to other cats but not serious (as long as you treat)
The signs are sneezing and gooey eyes.