Let's talk about cats

@ELUNO It is definitely a negative in my book, I am trying to fix it. Hopefully another year of this dumb school stuff.

@PlacidPenguin If I get a cat, it will be spoiled and will be spoken of constantly.

@conandlibrarian Then it will miss you when you are gone and be a velcro cat when you are home… In my mind not a bad thing but then again it depends on what you are looking for.

Kittens are dumb like toddlers. If you don’t want to do cat proofing of your house (and you still might find them up the curtains) then don’t get a cat under about 6 mo old. Adopting older cats a decent shelter can tell you what their personality is.

Sometimes you can accidentally adopt the cat from hell who isn’t all that friendly (often the problem if they didn’t get socialized enough as babies).

@conandlibrarian

I just realized, and I blame @narfcake and @ELUNO for this, that you won’t be getting a cat.

Instead, a cat will be getting a human.

@PantHeist I honestly only know one person that has cats, and she rescues ferals, and I definitely do not want to deal with those issues. She tells me horror stories.

@conandlibrarian Yeah… as much as I love cats I’d recommend against that. First “pet” my family had was a cat my Dad found when he was working in Puerto Rico. My dad was the only one who could touch her, and he could only do it for 3 seconds or so before she would turn on him.

@pitamuffin Mileage varies on hairballs- mine’s had two in the 6ish years I’ve had her.

Good on you for not declawing- it can make them much more aggressive since they feel defenseless. Mine scratches shit too, I’ve been able to get her to at least do it much less by putting cardboard scratchy things near furniture she likes to scratch.

I’ve got nothing to say about bags and getting into things… as far as I can tell short of a locking door there is no way to keep a cat out of anything.

@pitamuffin I have several scratching posts, one is cardboard and messy but they love that. No problems at all with any of my cats (and I have had a ton of them - both foster and mine) clawing furniture with enough, and the right kind (defined as whatever kind they will use) scratching post.

I also have cat trees in front of my two windows and they spend time on that looking out the window (and claw the living daylights out of the carpet on one of them - but then again that is cat furniture not human furniture - they don’t claw the other one for reasons unknown).

@pitamuffin Buy a bag of wheat grass, or whatever wheat seed is cheap on Ebay. Plant a couple of spoonfuls in potting soil in a small plant pot every week. As soon as it has green showing, start another pot. Cats will happily gnaw at it, heave up wads of grass, and leave them for you to clean. This cuts way down on hairballs.

@pitamuffin Our cat was quite fond of anything plastic-bag like. It was a real problem when guests were over, because he would dig in their luggage for plastic baggies and proceed to hide them elsewhere in the house for late night nefarious chewing. He was smart enough to know that he had to do it in secret or else I’d take it away.

@f00l One of my co-workers fosters kittens. She gets very attached. It is something I might consider.

@conandlibrarian And you could foster just until you find a cat you really “click” with and then adopt it. It can tear your heart out though to part with some of them. I know I will regret until the day I die that I didn’t keep felix and oscar (two fosters) but that would have given me 6 cats of my own and there is no way you can rent with 6 (let alone 8 which is the most I have had in my house at once). Four is hard enough.

@Kidsandliz I try to put the last bit of food down just before my bedtime (all mine are on diets) so theoretically they’ll eat and nap for awhile. So far so good. Agree wholeheartedly that multiples are necessary, otherwise the human becomes the Cat Entertainment Network, and they get bored easily.

@OldCatLady Yes and when they get bored then they get into trouble… just like a little kid (grin). My cats adored when we had goldfish. Cat TV. LOL. On the other hand gold fish are more work than cats. Gold fish interact with the outside of their tank world. They also live 20 years and you need 5-10 gallons (forget which - thinking it is 10 gallons) per goldfish if you don’t want them to die really young. They can get pretty big.

@Kidsandliz “You get out of them what you put into them” SO MUCH THIS.

Cats get a rep for being loners and being low maintenance. And sure, they don’t have to be walked like a dog. But I’ve seen so many cats that aren’t loners, they are bored to pieces. When someone starts paying attention to them, and playing with them in a way they like, they perk up so.

The vast majority of cats want to pretend to hunt when they play. So, pull toys, a “Da Bird”, laser pointers, something that gives them a chance to stalk and run.

I’ve been very lucky with my rescue’s. Hope you have the same luck.

@BethanyAnne My cats used to greet me when I got home from work.

@BethanyAnne I hang round elastic from a nail in a door and put a toy at the end (you have to tie it very tight so it doesn’t come off and snap them in the face) and let them play. My cats pull it back and then let it go and then play.

@sammydog01 Mine did too including the two rescues I so regret giving up. I open the door and there they are chirping at me, wanting petting… I have several that follow me around and have to be in the same room with me, often within 3-6 feet of me. I have never had an aloof cat. I have had some that would prefer to sit next to you rather than on you, but I haven’t yet had a cat who acted like I didn’t exist. But then I also spend time with all of them daily.

@Kidsandliz
Had more than one cat in my past who specialized in sitting on the book I was trying to read. Or on the keyboard I was trying to use. All while acting like they were doing me quite the favor by condescending to take notice of my existence.

Ya know what? They were doing me quite the incredible favor by condescending to take notice of my pitiful and otherwise useless existence.

/giphy "cats rule"

@f00l
Yeah. Cats Rule. .

And Dogs Rule also.

@Kidsandliz All mine manage to communicate at length. One does a ‘Come quick-Timmy’s down the well!’ routine, with vocals, when he wants something in another room, and I am required to go with him to get/do whatever it is. One, who was badly abused, craves petting and brushing and talking, but after a few minutes of it, she runs and hides. She comes out, the cycle repeats. One is a 21 lb. stealth lap cat. I sit down to read, he wafts onto the other end of the sofa, and a few pages later he’s magically in my lap, purring like a motorcycle. I’ve never had an aloof indoor cat.

@OldCatLady In my opinion 99% of them are not aloof if you give them enough attention, interact with them, pet them, allow them to do their cat thing of cuddling up next to you or on you, head butt you, etc. Just like with dogs, we become part of their “pack”. Heck even the feral cats usually are not solitary.

@conandlibrarian … Yes++ to everything @Kidsandliz said.

If you get kittens, start trimming their claws right away, and give them treats before and after. I did that and both of mine are pretty docile for it now. I trim their claws every 10-14 days. If i hadn’t started when they were little, i don’t think i could teach them now.

Oh, this probably goes without saying, but get 'em fixed. And do it as soon as it is safe to do so, don’t wait. It really affects their personality for the better.

The hairballs and the litter box are gross, but you get used to it. Ok, that’s easy for me to say because I’ve had cats my whole life, and also used to be a kennel attendant.

Lastly, know that they will sit in front of the tv and lick their butts. Especially while you are eating.

@narfcake Added my two cents below!

@Moose That is a great clip

@KDemo

Didn’t I already show the truth about that video already?

@PlacidPenguin - I don’t know what you said, but I know about the video and posted it because it’s funny.

@KDemo

The concept is funny. According to eHarmony, there were parodies of it.

The sad part is, I know someone like this, which is ironic since they’re allergic to cats (yet they have 3 of them).

Whatnot eHarmony response.

Debunk post.

@PlacidPenguin - I have done my best to avoid you, but you seem determined to ruin the humor I try to bring here.
You’re winning, this is no longer fun for me.

@KDemo I thought it was funny. I doubt that anyone thought it was for real. Thanks for posting.

@KDemo

I honestly didn’t really see that this was running the fun.

I honestly thought that the eHarmony response was funny.

I apologize.

@sammydog01

Every time I see that video, I have tears in my eyes.

@PlacidPenguin - Accepted, but please think about what effects words will have before posting.

@sammydog01 I thought it was a real video… Not actually uploaded to eharmony though.

Oh well.

@RiotDemon Oops. Sorry.

@RiotDemon -
There’s a link posted in front of the video saying she has a series, not exactly a giveaway, but a hint at least. I don’t think of it as a hoax, I think it’s a joke. No harm either way.

Sorry RiotDemon, this is not directed at you. I just meant for it to be a laugh, I’m sorry that it has become an issue at all, and sorry that I posted.
.

Back to your regularly scheduled thread.

@KDemo I don’t see the link. I didn’t even click the video until you said there was a link at the beginning. I saw it a while back and didn’t really feel a need to watch it again. Not really sure why you’re apologizing. What issue? I’m not bothered that it’s fake. It was funny the first time I watched it, and it made me chuckle seeing it pop up again, without watching it.

@RiotDemon - Then we agree. Cool.

@lisaviolet From the “Terrible Advice” derby:

@narfcake Married to the Sea has some great ones:

@metageist

@jasneko Thanks for all of the helpful info!

@carwinew Thanks for the info! Sounds like everyone is in agreement that there is a need of two.

@carwinew

If you have a down day cats seem to understand and will come over for attention. Petting a cat has been proven to relieve stress.

This, so much! I know folks like to think cats are heartless misanthropes, but they really do seem to know when things aren’t right. I just lost one recently, she always knew the difference between a sleepy nap and a sick nap and would gently knead my back when I wasn’t well…

@PocketBrain Pig pong balls in the bathtub are hilarious with cats, except as I discovered the hard way (I used the bathtub as a playpen when they were too little to get out on their own so tossed toys in there including ping pong balls) if they associate the bathtub with fun they may drag toys into it and start playing in the middle of the night (when they are younger that is) so you will hear all these weird noises.

@Kidsandliz My Hattie cat chases her tail around and around and around in the bathtub at night. I didn’t entice her; she just does that. Maybe she likes the sound.

@PocketBrain One of mine (now dead) stood on the piano bench and would deliberately push down piano keys one at a time. He would entertain himself for 5 or 10 min that way. If I picked him up and placed him on the keys, or make his paw push down keys he’d jump down and walk off because, apparently, I was ruining his fun/destroying his music making. He wanted to do it himself.

@DrWorm
Speak for yourself.

That ain’t me.

@f00l Ditto. That ain’t us.

And if you aren’t heart-broken, you’re doing it wrong.

@fool @lisaviolet I think this came off sounding more mean than I intended. My apologies. Was meant to be a light-hearted “dogs rule and cats drool” jab.

@DrWorm You may have meant it as a joke (eg dogs rule) but for those of us who love our cats, especially if we have older ones who are close to dying, like I do, or have one that recently passed away, this is not even close to funny.

@Kidsandliz Heard loud and clear. This one is all on me. I was totally tone deaf on this and it wasn’t funny.

@Yoda_Daenerys Urinary track infection can be a big cause. Males get it more often, especially when they are older. I’d take him to the vet to look for problems. If you can separate them - keeping the suspected offender having access to the box getting peed outside of and having the other cat have access to a different box that should answer who is guilty.

If it is pee outside the box like anywhere in the house - get that emzyme pee remover (dog or cat as the stuff is identical - sometimes cheaper when marketed for dogs just like the equivalent poundage of dog food is cheaper than cat food even when you take into account the higher protein requirements of cats - likely due to few would have 120 pound dogs if they had to pay the real price of feeding them LOL. Anyway back to the point - if you do not remove all the odor they will then come back and pee there again.

If it is pee next to the box, arthritis may mean the cat finds it hurts too much to squat long enough (I am dealing with that in one cat. Puppy paper pads around the box catches the pee that goes over the edge. Might need to talk to the vet about pain meds for arthritis if that is the issue. At 13 it might be. That is why one of mine pees over the edge (and can shoot it a distance so I thought originally I had a cat peeing outside of the box until I saw it in action.

I also have a cat who suddenly got more picky about the condition of the litter box. She won’t poop in it if there is more than about one poop already in there (so I have to scoop more often). Originally when I lived in a bigger place and had more than the one very large litter box I use now (yeah I know I should have # of cats + 1 but in a two room place nowhere to put them), 2 cats preferred to pee in one box and poop in the other.

If you recently changed the litter some are picky about that. I am stuck using only one brand as one of the 4 will only use that brand (and won’t use the fabreeze version of it - never mind that they wrecked that litter anyway with their changes. I hope to heaven the few “heritage” versions they kept around are not discontinued - they did discontinue the best one. Sigh).

Good luck.

@Kidsandliz that was super helpful, thanks so much, and Meh.

@Yoda_Daenerys You are welcome. Here is some more stuff I forgot about that might be the cause.

Right now I have a 16 year old cat that pee’s over the edge and a different 16 year old one sometimes poops in the living room. Sometimes cats start to get senile and litter box habits start to go (although 13 is a bit young for that).

On the other hand you can also have a cat who uses the dirt box to display dominance and won’t let another cat use it. If someone doesn’t bury their poop some/much of the time you may have that issue as that is one thing the dominant cat can do if so inclined - solution there is more dirt boxes all over the house.

I have one 16 year old cat uses it and runs as several times when the 6 year old was little she’d play attack the 16 year old when she was using the dirt box and since then she only uses the dirt box when I am standing there or when no other cat is around. I’d guess sometimes she can’t hold it and so goes elsewhere. Sometimes it doesn’t take much to spook a cat. Sort of the cat got up on a hot stove and got burned, now doesn’t get up on a cold stove either…

@Kidsandliz On the advice of my petsitter, I made ‘bathroom stalls’ which surround the litter boxes. It’s a Dollar Tree foamcore sheet cut in half and duct taped into a U-shape, and you clip pee pads to it. Cats feel hidden and safe while using the box. The male who sprays feels he has accomplished something when he lets loose on the pad (I cut them in half and let the bottom trail inside the box), and I replace the pad daily. I do have boxes in two different rooms, because cats are assholes.

@OldCatLady I get our peepads by the carton at Walmart online. $29 for 200 pads. With elderly cats, we go through a lot of them.

@RiotDemon I see your cat trap box is working nicely. LOL

Yes old age and cats does put some limits on what you can do. Fortunately for me when I was homeless the one family where I stayed in their shed takes my cats if I have to go somewhere and pill them (3 of the 4 are on 2x day meds) - they do rescue too. The drawback is they always pick up fleas and twice now tape worm from the fleas.

I worry about outliving my cats as I have had several cancers, one of which has no cure. My 16 year olds probably no problem but my 6 year old this may be an issue. She will need a buddy when one of the 16 year olds die (her almost same age buddy died unexpectedly several years ago) as she is very dependent upon him. But I worry about the fact that no one much will take older cats and they will not do well in the no kill shelter with 100 other cats running around in the big cat room. Illinois has a nice program for placing cats whose owners have died or can’t take care of them due to age or illness, but I live a long way from there. On the other hand I don’t want to be without my cats as I get a lot of out those relationships too. They keep me sane.

The emzyme stuff works well to get rid of pee odor but you may have to use a lot since it may have soaked way into the couch cushions and follow the directions exactly. Getting that which is marketed for dogs can be (not always) cheaper per oz. The contents are no different (I called the manufacturer of several brands to ask).

@RiotDemon

Cat hair. Everywhere. Omg. I don’t care how much you clean, you will leave the house with cat hair attached to you somewhere. I don’t know how many lint rollers I’ve gone through the years.

I once knew a pair of married doctors who had a dog and two cats. All were short haired and they fed them special stuff to supposedly reduce the shedding but still. And they were always worried about allergic patients.

So he and his wife kept their work clothes - suits - in a huge laundry room attached to the garage in plastic bags. They had bought the house specifically for the enormous laundry room. The pets were not allowed into the laundry room.

They would wear sweats around the house and then go into the enormous laundry room, carefully change and bag the house clothes to keep the hair from getting loose in the room. Then wipe themselves with towels to remove dander. then unbag the suits, re-dress themselves, and go to work. When they came home, reverse it all. Even then sometimes a few animal hairs got loose

They loved their animals so they went thru this madness. Theu moved off and I lost touch. They were planning on having kids soon and I couldn’t imagine how they would keep all this going with kids on the prowl.

@f00l I’m not that crazy about the cat hair. If I’m planning to go out, I’ll just wait to get dressed as the last thing I do to get ready, and then I’ll grab the lint roller to get the inevitable stray hairs that are on me anyway.

@RiotDemon @f00l I found a great way to get cat hair off me, couches and chairs… Pet stores sell, in the cat grooming section, a purple cat that has silicone spikes on one side (great to get fur off of cats and gets off stuff wire brushes don’t, as long as you don’t push too hard most of my cats think they have died and gone to heaven when I use it on them) and a flat side. I use the flat side to gather up hair on me (you have to hold shirts taunt for this to work), which gets most of it. Then, depending on what, if anything is left, use the lint roller.

@Kidsandliz @f00l @RiotDemon best pet hair remover ever: http://a.co/3VsHidB

It’s got refillable sheets with a texture like the rough side of velcro. But, you don’t actually need to refill them. You can remove the sheet and wash it (or shake it out outside) and reuse it. I use it on my chairs, ottoman, and couch before company comes over. Works very well and very fast.

That said, I rarely think about if there’s pet hair on my clothes. I’ve always lived with animals so it’s just a fact of life that I accept. I guess mine don’t shed much anyway… except for Spike (dog)… but I just don’t pet him when I’m in nice clothes. I probably always have one or two of his hairs on me anyway.

@kcface I’ve often heard that about adult rescues – they know which side their bread is buttered on.

@whogots We’ve rescued a lot of cats since we’ve been married. He’s as responsible for as many as I am. At our high point, we had 37. Our backyard fence has been modified to keep the cats in our yard and not neighborhood nuisances. And, for the most part, it keeps other critters out. (We’ve seen the occasional possum, raccoon, even a few cats that ended up living here.)

At one point, we had them all in at night, but we took one if for a friend who’s landlord told her the cat goes or you go (it was her mom’s cat; her parents having moved in with her when her dad needed hospice). That cat dug and dug and dug at the cat doors, even pulling them off of the hinges to go out at night. We gave up. Now, they can all go into the backyard at night if they wish.

Right now, we’re down to 22. They’re aging out and when they’re gone, we really don’t see getting anymore (because we’re aging out as well).

But based on your algorithm, how many do we have?

@lisaviolet Ooh. If they were indoor, it’d be 325,948 cats, but since they can come and go at will, I’m not sure.

@lisaviolet
what you’re doing.

Do you live outside city limits or on unzoned land?

@f00l Thank you. There’s actually a limit of six, but it’s not enforced. We’re in the county and on a third of an acre.

Our fence has been modified since January 1994. We lost a young cat in December 1993, she jumped into a neighbor’s yard and their dog broke her back. Watching try to climb the fence was horrible. Since then only one kitty has died here at home (she passed in her sleep). All the rest were euthanised at the vet’s office because of health problems that greatly interfered with their quality of life and would never be resolved. Cancer, heart, kidneys…

I know it helps that they don’t annoy the neighbors. We used to have a lot of ferals around, but coyotes moved in and we rarely see any other cats.

@lisaviolet
Here code would enforce - at least if anyone could complained.

If you’re rural and many cats went outside much, plenty of predators might get interested.

I met a person who lost a toy dog to a raptor in a fenced small yard - but she was rural. Her dogs only go outside now into a very small fenced area, with a human always standing within a few feet. We have hawks, falcons, and coyotes for starters. If you get really really rural - an hour or so past the suburbs - there are big cats.

@f00l We hear the coyotes at night, even chase them away from in front of our house. There are a lot of bunnies around this area.

@f00l Some people I was staying with had a front declawed cat who took down a hawk (broke its neck) and brought it home. Very sad. Hawk had left some damage on his shoulder but that is about it.

@Kidsandliz
I guess hawks should be a bit smarter in who they pick on then.

I do feel bad about the hawk a little, because they can be so beautiful. But a hawk who got near a cat was trying to get dinner, unless the hawk was injured. The cat had every right.

@conandlibrarian I’d get two adults, maybe two that are already living in the shelter together. I adopted both my cats around a year old.
Kittens are cute, but you don’t really know their personalities until they become adults.

@conandlibrarian Honestly, for a first-time cat owner i think the safer bet is kittens because they are easier to bond with (and also the claw trimming thing i mentioned earlier). Kudos to you if you do get older cats though. I would recommend two cats that already know each other… otherwise they have to get used to a new human, a new place, and a new cat all at once.

@katylava I think the ideal age might be 6-12 months, because so many people get kittens and ‘turn them in’ once they’re past the initial fluff and cute stage.

@OldCatLady people do that?! that’s so sad… how can you bond with a baby animal and not still love it when it gets older?

@katylava People suck. My most recent rescue cat was so badly abused that when I took her to my vet, he videotaped her as he examined her, and offered to testify in court at any time against her previous owner. They had to sedate and shave her to get rid of the mats, for one thing.

@OldCatLady

What I want is for all counties/cities to all pass code restrictions where all dogs and cats must be neutered, vaccinated, and chipped by, say, 5 months or something like that. Violate it and you get a big fat fine. (1st violation per animal really really cheap.)

People who want to breed have to have the animal vac’d and chipped and pay an annual breeder’s fee per animal.
The fee gets way way way higher per animal if there are more than some number of animals on the premises or more than that # owned by one person or entity. They could ever limit the # of breeding animals per county, possibly. Dunno needs some tweaking.
That’s the stick.

Here’s the carrot:
Anyone who’s asks can get an in-city or in-county animal neutered, vac’d, and chipped for free or nearly free. (Nearly free like say $20.) All you have do to is sign a form stating that you cannot afford the full cost at the present. Zero verification or whatever. And then discount vac’s in the future as needed for those who request them.

Viola. Empty or nearly empty shelters. Few excess animals. No puppy and kitten mills. Potentially difficult or very ill animals could prob be handled by volunteer breed rescue groups, and the like, so little or no euthanasia for reasons of overpopulation (after the populations had stabilized).

Ok it’s not quite that simple. But i have been told this approach has worked in places. Dont know which or where - was told this by a local rescue person. it would seem to make some sense. The code regs have to cover the county land as well as the city.

And it’s prob no more expense - perhaps far less expensive - than costs of running a shelter, the amount of animal control we currently pay for, other social and govt costs, and all the donated costs incurred by of all the rescue people and animal assistance groups. Or might be less expensive after costs have stabilized. Plus people would donate big time. Practically everyone I know would donate if it meant an end to overpopulation euthanasia.

I’d sure like to see it tried large scale or state-wide. Could it possibly be worse than what we do now? Rescue a few lucky ones?

@f00l At least here in SoCal, most municipals have significantly higher licensing fees for non-spayed/neutered. Alas, plenty still are unaccounted for and those are the ones causing the issues.

https://meh.com/forum/topics/to-whoever-was-the-heartless-bastard