To get a cat, or not to get a cat... PICS ADDED, p. 6!

[annmarie]

So, DH and I are considering getting a cat and I just can’t seem to make up my mind. We live just down the road from a shelter with over 100 cats available right now. We can’t pass the place without pondering the possibility of adding a cat to the household. The problem is that we’ve never had a cat before. I grew up on a large farm and we did have a few barn cats that I loved when I was little, but I haven’t been around cats much since then. The thing that drives me nuts is that so many of the people I’ve been around in my adult years either don’t have one, or don’t seem particularly enamored with the one(s) they have. So am I foolish for considering this? At the moment we have one perfectly well behaved small dog in the house and we don’t have any problems as far as him being destructive, house training, getting into things, etc. So am I asking for trouble by adding to the indoor flock? Cat owners, how do you feel about your house cat?

 

[patandchickens]

For sure get a cat

- there are WAY too many really deserving wonderful cats needing homes.

You will need to consider your dog's personality and attitude towards cats (hopefully it is not a real chasey high-prey-drive type dog?) and ideally get a cat that's used to dogs already. But they're great companions, and IME not usually very expensive to keep (of course any animal *can* have bad luck).

(e.t.a. - I provide good scratching posts [homemade, NOT those useless 2' high commercial things] and have had zero problem over the past 20+ yrs with any sort of scratching; have only had one cat with inappropriate elimination issues and that was because of intractible medical problems; mine do eat houseplants however so I've had to stick to only hanging plants and start veg seedlings in the basement)

Good luck, have fun, get a cat

,


Pat, with 4 housecats at the present time and wishing we could absorb more

 

[Sunny the Hippie Chick]

I would say get a cat.. But if you havent had one or not in a long time.. Maybe you should check some books out at the library about cats.. Then maybe that will help you decide..

I have a cat.. He was born to a stray mother.. And a lady in town caught the mom and all the babies.. He is such a neat cat.. He thinks he is a dog.. After making him stay in the house for 3 months.. We started letting him go outside.. Now he goes out with the dogs and comes in with them.. So now we no longer have to have a litter box.. He justs asks to go out, just like the dogs.. But in a Meow instead of Woof...

 

[annmarie]

Thanks Pat! One point for the (potential) cat! I think my dog might get a little offended at first that we thought we needed another critter but ultimately I think he might appreciate the companionship when we're at work. No, he doesn't have a high prey drive. He just likes to bark at birds that land on the lawn, and the mailman. A cat once followed him on a walk and he just looked more annoyed than anything because it kept rubbing up against him. Cats are nocturnal aren't they? Do your cats sleep at night? If not, how do you prevent them from keeping you up?

 

[annmarie]

Okay, now it's 2 points for the kitty!

 

[Fredster]

We don't have A housecat...we have ten!

(yeah, cat lover here)

 

[Chicken Boo]

I have loved all my cats through the years. Some have been a bit aloof and only addressed me at dinner time or when I had not cleaned the cat box. Most are companions that sat with me on the couch, slept at the foot of the bed, woke me in the morning by washing my face, followed me around the house, etc. They have varied personalities. So, at the shelter, sit on the floor and play with them until one (or two) pick you.

My DH "was not a cat person" when we started up. He has grown to love all the cats that have lived with us and would do anything for them. We have dogs and cats (now just cat) that get along just fine and eat out of the same bowl. If you would like to look at our pets, go to:

http://beckerhowe.com/pets.htm

Have your supplies already when you pick up your kitty. Get 2 or 3 things for the cat to scratch on. They will try everything. With a little luck, one of the items you bought will be more interesting than the couch. I have had really good luck with a cheap cardboard box thing with the edges of the cardboard stacked together.

You will be good cat owners in no time.

 

[annmarie]

I think we're quickly getting closer to getting a cat thanks to you all! Chicken Boo your pets are adorable! Do your cats get on your countertops? I often keep things on the counter because I don't have enough cupboard space for things like bread. Will I have to come up with some new solutions for storing some of these things? That's also where I have a lot of houseplants. We have a very open floor plan to our house so there's no kitchen door to keep closed.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Cats are more crepuscular (dusk and dawn) than really nocturnal, and honestly I'd say that indoor housecats pretty much fall into whatever schedule is most convenient for them given the household's existing schedule. Mine snooze part of the day but periodically get up and wander around and say hi and look out the window and play with things; they are silliest between dinner and bedtime, then sleep most of the time til about 4 a.m. when some of them start getting busy again. They may TRY to train you to get up extra early to feed them when they bug you, but if you resist they WILL learn that it don't work that way, honest

All my cats learn fairly quickly that they are welcome on the bed as long as they are polite, but any shenanigans like stomping my spleen or playing 'chase the toes under the sheets' or bringing their toys onto the bed with them gets them rapidly ejected. Thus I have never had any real problem with the cats waking me up in the wee hours (well ok, except one I used to have who'd chew my hair in the middle of the night, but he was just *weird*

)

It's like with any other animal. Start as you mean to go on, and don't be wishy-washy, stick to the way you intend it to be, and they will go along with the program

You might take a look at a book (or even just a good website) about general cat care, not just for its obvious value once you have a cat, but also to help you provide "the right answers" when being screened as a potential adopter

Not to be too cynical about it, but it helps to know what page the rescue thinks you should be on, you know?

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
You can *try* to train your cat to stay off the counters, but it doesn't generally work real well except when you're there to enforce it, and it also cuts down noticeably on the amount of usable 'habitat' the cat has, so it would be best to work out a compromise if at all possible.

I know plenty of people whose cats have never once bothered their houseplants. My cats have mostly been the opposite, but clearly variation exists.

I have only had one (of 7) cats that bothers bread left out. It would be wise to have things to cover food with, however, so as not to overly test your cat's self restraint

I have breadboxes and tins, and if I leave something else out I upend a bowl or kettle over it, works fine.

Pat