Howard adores his cats...thinking' of getting one..need real world advice

[Beth Eats Hay]

I'll answer the ones I have experience with:

1) It's sometimes hard to tell if you get a kitten if they will be affectionate - you can usually tell by holding a full grown cat if they are affectionate. Although I adopted a stray who I had for several months and she was so unhappy I thought I made the wrong decision. Then one day she changed like a light switch and became such a sweetheart. I find with cats you need a lot of patience - they do things on their time.
/

Did the same thing. Adopted a fat cat that was hit by a car and the pound declawed him due to his injuries. Was very skiddish at first but came around eventually.

Best thing he did was sit inside the litter box......but crap outside of it.. Good times...... Loved that guy...

[Thelma]

1) I've heard that females can be bitchy, but I think it just depends on the cat.

There is another category of female cat - scaredy! I've only had two females and they are both scaredy cats - which means visitors will rarely see them unless it is with a look of terror as they bolt for the nearest hiding place. There is no known cure for the scaredy cat so don't even try!

[Beth Eats Hay]

The rescue group requires it..and I am fine with that...

They usually give you a coupon for Friends of Animals to do it. They encourage this.....

Get the cat. If nothing else, your dog will appreciate it

[Lou Cypher]

I'll answer the ones I have experience with:

1) It's sometimes hard to tell if you get a kitten if they will be affectionate - you can usually tell by holding a full grown cat if they are affectionate. Although I adopted a stray who I had for several months and she was so unhappy I thought I made the wrong decision. Then one day she changed like a light switch and became such a sweetheart. I find with cats you need a lot of patience - they do things on their time...

Good point, Thelma. Mine were all adults, except one, when I took them in. A couple were vicious in a scary way, but they've learned to be affectionate (on their own terms). It's incredibly touching to take in a sad, frightened, messed-up cat, give him/her lots of love and watch him/her learn to relax and trust you. It took one of mine over a year before he'd purr.

[Beth Eats Hay]

no shitting or pissing outside the litter box is my only rule.

Hahahaha.... See my post I made one minute after you.....

[Lou Cypher]

There is another category of female cat - scaredy! I've only had two females and they are both scaredy cats - which means visitors will rarely see them unless it is with a look of terror as they bolt for the nearest hiding place. There is no known cure for the scaredy cat so don't even try!

Aww, poor things. When I volunteered at a cat shelter, we had someone return a (female) cat after a week because she wouldn't come out from under a bed.

[knu3421]

I lost my cat a couple of months ago he was 17. i was sad.

[Lou Cypher]

no shitting or pissing outside the litter box is my only rule.

How do you enforce it?

[Rufus Teefus]

Best thing to do is go to NSAL and adopt a black cat.

Nobody wants the black ones.

Tell them Beth O sent you, and you'll get a discount.

[Lou Cypher]

I lost my cat a couple of months ago he was 17. i was sad.

Damn, sorry to hear it.

[Vashier]

7) Only males spray.....Females bleed. Get them fixed.....solves both problems.

Not true., Males spray to mark territory. It stops when they are fixed usually. Females not so much BUT they will spray if they want to claim something...or someone. My female sprayed me 3 days ago out of the clear blue. First time she's ever done it. I was just sitting here and all of a sudden this hot stream nailed my side. WTF!!! Cat flies 10 feet through the air lands on the floor and high tailed it outta here. Females do not bleed in heat either. They are obnoxious as hell while in heat, and it's not healthy to let them go through heat after heat w/o getting preg either. Dogs bleed when in heat though. My sister had a husky that wasn't fixed. Looked like the valentines day massacre in her cellar when the bitch was in heat. The husky not my sis

[DlistCelebutard]

Aww, poor things. When I volunteered at a cat shelter, we had someone return a (female) cat after a week because she wouldn't come out from under a bed.

I get that...animals need time to adjust..my dawg didn't truly trust me for at least 6 months to a year...he then realized I wasn't going to hurt him..I took care of him...but it took time to gain trust..I can put that time in..but I just don't want an aloof cat that I just feed and clean her litterbox, while she gives me a 'fuck you...' and shreds my furniture..

[DlistCelebutard]

Best thing to do is go to NSAL and adopt a black cat.

Nobody wants the black ones.

Well that is true, same with dawgs..few want a black dawg...I just want a cat that is a Lap Cat...and gets along with my Dawg..

[ClumpyStern]

And since I can't wait for Beth's O My Cat book to come out, thought I would ask here...
BTW, I've never had a cat..only dawgs..so I don't feel that confident being a cat owner..

1) I would like an affectionate kitty..I hear some are very aloof...how do I pick one?
2) that jumping on kitchen countertops..don't like that..can they be trained not to?
3) Do you really have to clean the litter box several times per day? (Beth says so, but I don't have a Conseula)
4) Do they really sleep all day then run around and keep you up all night?
5) Would not declaw a cat..but don't want them scratching up everything....can they be trained to not do that?
6) My dawg is confused by cats, he doesn't know what to make of them at Petsmart or the vet..he isn't aggressive..just confused, might chase them if they run...how do I insure they get along?
7) And why do they spray? Is that a male thing? Should I get a female?

Would tweet beth but I'm sure she would say 'hire a cat psychologist" or some such nonsense.

1) Your best bet is to get a kitten and handle it a lot. They still have genetic predispositions that you can't know without knowing the parents, but as far as what you can control, human contact and affection starting as soon as possible is the most important single factor.

2) Yes, but not as reliably as a dog can be trained not to do stuff. A well-trained dog will violate space rules 0% of the time even when you're not home. A well trained cat will follow your rules 90% of the time but occasionally give in to criminal impulses. I had a wall with swinging doors installed to the kitchen for that reason. Most of the time, he'll stay out and wait for his food right at the edge of the open door or lie down there with just his paws over the line. When we leave the living room for any length of time, we shut the doors. Sometimes, we'll both be in the kitchen putting away groceries with our backs to the door and then look down to see him at our feet looking up at us like he was invited.

3) No. Ours is 18 lbs and only has 1 litter box because he stopped using the other 2 we started with. Just get a bigger litter box. Scoop it out once every 24 hours. Most of them just know to go in the litter box; if they don't just put the shit into the box and place them in it the first time they squat somewhere else...same as a puppy except you only need to do it once instead of 100 times.

4) They tend to be nocturnal but adapt to your schedule. If you play with them a bit during the day, they're less likely to run around at night. Ours has his own room at night that we lock him up in. It has a strip club stage that I built and the stage doubles as a big cat box with a square hole on each end that's carpeted inside and all over the outside walls, so it's also a huge scraching post. If you leave them out at night, they'll do all sorts of shit they're not allowed to do when you're around and/or bother you to get into your bedroom. We got a cat wheel from http://www.catwheelcompany.com/...fucking thing is huge and ours will only do it when there are treats involved, which kind of defeats one purpose of it, but it's still exercise.

5) See answer #2. We also have a door on the hallway to the living room because we don't leave him alone in there for that reason. Nine outta 10 times, he won't do anything, but you can never trust them 100%. Get one of those 4-ft scratching post towers and anytime you catch him scratching other shit, pick him up and take him to the post and reward him for using it. Catnip spray on the post helps and bitter apple spray helps on any shit you don't want scratched. but 100% compliance is rare so err on the safe side anytime they're unsupervised.

6) If your dog isn't aggressive, all you have to do is start with a kitten who isn't aggressive or terrified of dogs. Even most adult cats are ok with dogs but they may take a while to trust them. Always give the cat options to hide where the dog can't get to him and you have to supervise interactions so you can cue your dog to be gentle when necessary. Cats figure out pretty quick that the dog isn't a threat and if you search youtube for "cat & dog," that's pretty much what you can expect unless you have an unusually high-strung cat. The cat has to figure it out on its own time but dogs take cues directly from you that the cat is a family member and not prey. You can speed the process by giving each a blanket or piece of clothing that the other has been sleeping on and by interacting with each of them after you have the other's scent all over you.

7) Just have it spayed or neutered at 6 months. Regardless of gender, you'll get a better behaved cat and have fewer problems of all kinds. Keep it in the house too; they live up to 20 years inside but average only about a quarter of that if you let them outside. There's also no need for them be out tearing up birds and other small animals just for the Hell of it.

[Beth Eats Hay]

Not true., Males spray to mark territory. It stops when they are fixed usually. Females not so much BUT they will spray if they want to claim something...or someone. My female sprayed me 3 days ago out of the clear blue. First time she's ever done it. I was just sitting here and all of a sudden this hot stream nailed my side. WTF!!! Cat flies 10 feet through the air lands on the floor and high tailed it outta here. Females do not bleed in heat either. They are obnoxious as hell while in heat, and it's not healthy to let them go through heat after heat w/o getting preg either. Dogs bleed when in heat though. My sister had a husky that wasn't fixed. Looked like the valentines day massacre in her cellar when the bitch was in heat. The husky not my sis

Wow, I never heard of that before.... Had a few females and luckily didn't have that problem.

[Nemo]

There is another category of female cat - scaredy! I've only had two females and they are both scaredy cats - which means visitors will rarely see them unless it is with a look of terror as they bolt for the nearest hiding place. There is no known cure for the scaredy cat so don't even try!

I captured a feral kitten/young adult.


She is now 6. I'm her only human.
She is napping on a thousand dollar recliner
...I'm sitting in a tattered 10 year old recliner

[DlistCelebutard]

With all the advice here, am thinking of getting a kitten..HATE do to that b/c so many older cats never get a good home..but I do love the brindle kitty (1 yr ode) that has been at petsmart for 2 months..

[DlistCelebutard]

She was so sweet...wanted her ears scratched..

[Nemo]

How do you enforce it?

one box per cat....scoop it once a day.
so far so good.

[knu3421]

I got another cat when my cat that was 17 yrs old passed on and the new cat is 4 months old and he is all over the place!!!!! So much energy!!!