How old is Rosy? I tried to get an older cat a friend once… The older cat ended up being upset and peeing on everything to the point where I had to give him back to my parents.
I probably wouldn’t get a kitten. Their true personalities don’t really shine until they are adults. My two current cats were around 1+ when I adopted them.
Is there a place where you can actually have the cats meet before you decide to adopt a second one? Or a place that does a trial in case it doesn’t work out?
@Yoda_Daenerys cats should never immediately meet. that is a set up for failure. introduction between cats should be extremely slow and involve complete separation for up to 3 weeks. as in, new cat is secluded to a large bathroom or bedroom with the door closed. introduction should be by smell long, long before sight.
@meh Yes I second this advice. Many cats that initially hate each other grow to like each other over time provided you can prevent initial aggression. That is easier to do if they become curious about each other via the closed doors and get used to each other’s scent.
I have always seen the new cat(s) be absolutely hated by the exiting ca(s) for 2 weeks or so. Then, unless one of the cats really was seriously unlikeable to other cats (rare in my experience), they were fine and got quite friendly.
A cat that was neutered fairly early in life (say, before 18 months old), seemed to be accepted more quickly.
The longer animals are exposed to normal sex hormones, supposedly, the more their brains are wired to seek dominance in gender-related ways or something. It supposedly alters their behavior somewhat, and alters the reactions of other animals in the same species to them.
Or something. I’ve witnessed this (or thought I did) and heard this, but have no hard knowledge.
@f00l not all cats get friendly. Some just learn to avoid each other, and then what’s the point of having two? I love having two because they cuddle each other and keep each other company. Not all cats will. I have a friend who has cats that have lived together for years. They want nothing to do with each other.
Pinging catshirt artist @jasneko, since having a lot of catshirts doesn’t make me an expert. I do know that some of her designs were inspired by her real cats.
@narfcake@Yoda_Daenerys Looks like a lot of good info in here already, but fwiw, I echo about getting a youngish cat whose personality is known vs kitten (unless your 14 year old cat is REALLY playful, easy-going, good tempered and you think would enjoy nurturing a kitten/being pestered by a kitten’s energy… then maybe a kitten could be good!).
Some shelters know the personalities of their cats (great with other cats, etc) which could help… also I think petfinder has options like that.
I’ve personally only adopted cats at the same time (not introduced new ones afterward) but I’ve heard that in the beginning keep the cats in separate rooms so they can smell each other through the door, get used to each other, etc… there is probably a lot of info online on how to go about the process in a cat-friendly manner.
Another way to do a test run would be to offer to foster a kitten/cat… just in case it seems like Rosie is just hating the new arrival (hopefully not!). And like others have said, give them an adjustment period, a month or more.
For that reason, I doubt a meetup (especially if not at your home more than once) would really would work as a gauge for most cats. Most cats are too influenced/shaken by new environments/situations etc, that it will throw everything else off.
I do think if Rosie was used to a companion she will definitely like having another one (if the personalities click). I know a cat that lost his littermate to cancer… then after that became best friends with the dog… then lost the dog to old age… then was sad until a new kitten was adopted, and he’s had a friend and pal since!
Also, someone mentioned tiger and black cats… I’d also echo black cats are the sweetest! And this.
I’m going to answer the question in the title vs. the question in the post. Cats are the shit.
Here’s a cat story: the other night I flop into bed and as I’m waiting for that sweet sweet sleep to wipe away all my memories of the day, I realize I forgot to take out my smelly, smelly garbage. I haven’t done anything adult yet this week, so I figure I should probably force myself to do this one. The garbage bag springs a leak and garbage juice starts shooting all over my kitchen, which is awesome. It takes me a few minutes to contain the situation and clean up all the garbage juice, and all I want to do is go to bed so I can wake up and suffer through another day of work. I’ve got the bursting garbage situation under wraps, so I step out of my apartment and chuck the bag of trash onto the sidewalk. This is good, I say to myself, I have done a Responsibility. I return to my door and find a four-legged orange fluff guarding it. Oh. Now, I know a thing or two about cats. I know they’re small and fast, and would absolutely win against me in a race inside my apartment. I also know they’re little globs of murder, and if I try to manually transplant the cat I will wind up with a bloody, toxoplasmosis-infested arm or two. Mind, I only intended to take out the trash — my entire outfit is a pair of ill-fitting yoga pants, not really hang-out-on-the-stoop-for-thirty-minutes attire. But the little bastard held me hostage for as long as it could. Even when I wedged myself between it and the door, its eyes were locked. It would paw at the door, it knew how to get in had the thing not been latched. It flopped over, belly-up, just tempting me to offer up an arm as sacrifice. It pulled every dang cat trick in the book until it got bored and distracted by a moth or something. And that is why, in my opinion, cats are the shit. They are adorable devils, perfectly adapted to prank humans into subservience. They operate on their own terms, and when they tire of their victims, they make new ones. They also have really cute ears.
@RedOak It was likely deaf or hearing impaired. A friend of mine had a deaf white cat and I don’t know how she could be in the house with it as it constantly, loudly vocalized. It also climbed walls, was batshit crazy, and none of her other cats would have anything to do with it.
@moondrake … except about the only thing that crazy cat did on command was come to us when we called it from the other room.
When we came home from the hospital with our first kid, we learned my parents had given the cat away. We were a bit sad, but relieved.
Funny, they gave the cat to an ex-girlfriend friend of mine and her husband. They had a contemporary home with open stair risers. That cat climbed the stairs. From the underside. My parents swore they did full disclosure.
We had tiger cats that were mellow and well behaved. Get a tiger cat.
From what I’ve heard, many older cats, especially females, never accept a new cat. But others are happy to have their little mini colony restored. Give your cat a couple of months to grieve. Then I suggest fostering a calm natured mature but young cat with the intent to adopt. Supposedly, leaving a towel where your cat lays to collect their scent and then rubbing the new cat well with it just prior to introducing them to the home increases the likelihood of acceptance (cats are nothing if not narcissists). Give it at least a month. If it doesn’t work out but you think your cat is lonely, try a few more times.
I lost my own beloved and most perfect cat Jasmine about 2 years ago, my friends and I are all dog people, the only cats in my universe are the handful of owned but wandering cats and the large population of feral cats in the neighborhood. My opinion of cats drops daily as me and the little shit machines battle it out for ownership of my yard. Zephyr has been a new ally in this. Simba would give merry chase but the cats knew he didn’t intend to hurt them, and that they were faster than him. Zephyr was bred to hunt fast, agile game, runs like the wind and chases with intent. He hasn’t caught one yet, but far fewer cats in the yard these days.
cats are not as hard as people say to properly introduce. it just takes separation, good patience, a level head, and more patience. and for you to not give up on them. have 3 cats with starkly different personalities plus one cat loving dog, ages 5.5, 3.5, 1 year and 2.5 years. they live peacefully, but it was an adventure adding each one. they’re not all BFFs. they are all rescues/shelter. two as kittens (oldest and youngest cat), two as adults (one cat at 2 years, dog at 18 months-ish). i found asking the rescue people about personalities helped quite a lot, even with kittens.
@meh I would agree. I had one abandoned by her mom at 10 days and had to bottle feed her, then 3 mo later added 2 (litter mates) all three were young kittens and adjusted in about 2 days.
Then found a stray 6ish week old kitten at the side of the highway in the pouring rain on a bridge. The first 3 were around 9 or 10 at the time. Drama for about 2 weeks and then everyone was happy except the one original litter mate cat who hates every cat she meets except her brother (and the other cats learn to leave her alone so there is peace). I kept her in a big cage at first with 2/3 of it covered and the other side open. She made friends through the bars.
Then picked up another stray who became fast friends with the one from the road in about 3 days, the rest of them adjusted in about 3 weeks (this lovely little cat died at 3.5) and her best bud was bereft, then bonded with the original litter mate dominate male. She I kept isolated about two weeks, introduced the highway kitten first and there was almost instant peace with them playing, then liberated her and after about a week or 2 of hassles things were OK.
Then my neighbor left 3 behind (all of whom were serious love bugs and it especially killed me to rehome one of them - had I still been in my house rather than with friends and now in hud housing I would have kept them). My oldest were around 13 or 14, these were 2-3. Two of the three made their peace with everyone almost immediately, one (male and really sweet, loving and friendly) wanted to be king of the world and made peace with everyone (including the dominant male) except one of my younger ones. These guys were kept isolated for about a week when I forgot to shut the door tight and they escaped the room, there was relative peace so I left things alone.
Then took in a 1 year old who was hanging out at a restaurant and they were going to shoot her because she wouldn’t leave people alone - wanted to be friends. She fit in easily after the initial usual hissing. I was not in a position to isolate her from everyone else and just plain got lucky.
When I had to give up my house and live with other people I eventually had to give up my cats. Two of my neighbor’s cats went to one home. The other one became fast buddies with the one from the restaurant and they were placed together. This leaves me with three 16 year olds and my now 6 year old (goat cat - in a couple of posts here). Goat cat (posted photos of her elsewhere on meh) is going to need a buddy when when the others die (but especially my dominate male).
@Yoda_Daenerys Make sure you ask at the shelter for a cat who is not one who wants to be a dominant, king of the world cat. That will make it easier as well.
@Yoda_Daenerys be sure to tell them about rosy’s personality and age, it should help them a lot in suggesting housemates that would be a good fit for her, especially animals that came from multi-cat households.
re: the title question. Cats are my favorite mammalian. My cat, Mac, is my best fur-friend. I raised him from birth. His momma fed him, etc. but I handled him daily. He became bonded to me, and I to him. He’s now six, and sees me as another cat. I get regular grooming, and such. He takes care of me when I’m ill, or not feeling well/in a lot of pain, which are regular occurrences. I return his attentions in kind.
We didn’t do much of the subtle introduction thing with our cats and they were fine. I think the key to that was the temperament of both animals and lots of patience though. My existing cat was male, about 5 years old, and very clingy to me. He didn’t care about the new adopted cat (female about 2 years old) because he preferred human companionship. So we didn’t need to separate them and he ignored her as long as I didn’t pet her or show her love in front of him. That said, they lived together for 11 years and never really became friends either. Some cats just don’t want to cuddle even if we want them to
After he died recently, we decided that she would not get along with another cat because she’s even more grouchy now as an old lady. So we adopted an old man dog instead.
@Kidsandliz The new dog is about 7 years old with no history from the shelter, but I feel like he must have lived with cats before. She basically looks at him like he’s big and gross and weird (he’s about 80lbs so much larger than her). The dog won’t look her in the eye, and always yields space to her. So we’ve been lucky as there has never been a fight. The cat arches up occasionally at him if he gets too excited about his toys or something, but he backs away from her first.
We knew she wouldn’t want any new furry friends in the house if she had a choice, but at least this way she has the same relationship with the dog as she did with the previous cat: frenemy
Currently, I’m feeding 2 - 6 (usually from the same superset) that come by every night. I think the main 2 were born in my back yard. Usually 3 or 4 each night, but I have seen only 2 lately; however all the food is disappearing overnight. Occasionally, a small possum also, but I’ve tried to shoo it off. Luckily, no skunks yet, though I have whiffed them slightly. I’ve seen as many as 6 cats at one time, but it is a little hard to tell the regulars apart because they share a lot of the same markings (probably from the same litter, + a momma). They seem to get along OK, even when pushing in for the food or occasional stale milk. Only once have I heard any squalling, and that was actually a little way away from the food. I also leave fresh water for them.
They are still (after maybe a year) hesitant in actually coming within touching distance of me. Haven’t gotten them to mew either, even when I’ve tried to hold out on the food in their sight or coax them with my mews. (They look at me as if I’m mewing in Greek.)
@phendrick i heard a story about pigs as pets. it went something like this: dogs know that you are their master, cats know that they are your master, pigs know they are your equal.
i almost went to the shelter on an impulse today, however it was closed, so decision delayed further.
@Yoda_Daenerys You feed a dog, you love a dog, you see to it’s every want and need. The dog looks up at you and thinks “Wow, she must be a god.” You feed a cat, you love a cat, you see to it’s every want and need. The cat looks up at you and thinks “Wow, I must be a god.”
mutz
How old is Rosy? I tried to get an older cat a friend once… The older cat ended up being upset and peeing on everything to the point where I had to give him back to my parents.
I probably wouldn’t get a kitten. Their true personalities don’t really shine until they are adults. My two current cats were around 1+ when I adopted them.
Is there a place where you can actually have the cats meet before you decide to adopt a second one? Or a place that does a trial in case it doesn’t work out?
I hope you find a friend for Rosy. So sad.
@RiotDemon thx for the thoughts. rosy is approaching 14. she is playful.
i like the idea of a meet up.
@Yoda_Daenerys cats should never immediately meet. that is a set up for failure. introduction between cats should be extremely slow and involve complete separation for up to 3 weeks. as in, new cat is secluded to a large bathroom or bedroom with the door closed. introduction should be by smell long, long before sight.
@meh Yes I second this advice. Many cats that initially hate each other grow to like each other over time provided you can prevent initial aggression. That is easier to do if they become curious about each other via the closed doors and get used to each other’s scent.
I have always seen the new cat(s) be absolutely hated by the exiting ca(s) for 2 weeks or so. Then, unless one of the cats really was seriously unlikeable to other cats (rare in my experience), they were fine and got quite friendly.
A cat that was neutered fairly early in life (say, before 18 months old), seemed to be accepted more quickly.
@f00l srysly? they can tell at what stage(age) that new cat got the stuff cut out?
@Yoda_Daenerys
The longer animals are exposed to normal sex hormones, supposedly, the more their brains are wired to seek dominance in gender-related ways or something. It supposedly alters their behavior somewhat, and alters the reactions of other animals in the same species to them.
Or something. I’ve witnessed this (or thought I did) and heard this, but have no hard knowledge.
@f00l not all cats get friendly. Some just learn to avoid each other, and then what’s the point of having two? I love having two because they cuddle each other and keep each other company. Not all cats will. I have a friend who has cats that have lived together for years. They want nothing to do with each other.
@f00l It definitely impacts aggression in dogs, especially males.
Pinging catshirt artist @jasneko, since having a lot of catshirts doesn’t make me an expert. I do know that some of her designs were inspired by her real cats.
@narfcake @Yoda_Daenerys Looks like a lot of good info in here already, but fwiw, I echo about getting a youngish cat whose personality is known vs kitten (unless your 14 year old cat is REALLY playful, easy-going, good tempered and you think would enjoy nurturing a kitten/being pestered by a kitten’s energy… then maybe a kitten could be good!).
Some shelters know the personalities of their cats (great with other cats, etc) which could help… also I think petfinder has options like that.
I’ve personally only adopted cats at the same time (not introduced new ones afterward) but I’ve heard that in the beginning keep the cats in separate rooms so they can smell each other through the door, get used to each other, etc… there is probably a lot of info online on how to go about the process in a cat-friendly manner.
Another way to do a test run would be to offer to foster a kitten/cat… just in case it seems like Rosie is just hating the new arrival (hopefully not!). And like others have said, give them an adjustment period, a month or more.
For that reason, I doubt a meetup (especially if not at your home more than once) would really would work as a gauge for most cats. Most cats are too influenced/shaken by new environments/situations etc, that it will throw everything else off.
I do think if Rosie was used to a companion she will definitely like having another one (if the personalities click). I know a cat that lost his littermate to cancer… then after that became best friends with the dog… then lost the dog to old age… then was sad until a new kitten was adopted, and he’s had a friend and pal since!
Also, someone mentioned tiger and black cats… I’d also echo black cats are the sweetest! And this.
I’m going to answer the question in the title vs. the question in the post. Cats are the shit.
Here’s a cat story: the other night I flop into bed and as I’m waiting for that sweet sweet sleep to wipe away all my memories of the day, I realize I forgot to take out my smelly, smelly garbage. I haven’t done anything adult yet this week, so I figure I should probably force myself to do this one. The garbage bag springs a leak and garbage juice starts shooting all over my kitchen, which is awesome. It takes me a few minutes to contain the situation and clean up all the garbage juice, and all I want to do is go to bed so I can wake up and suffer through another day of work. I’ve got the bursting garbage situation under wraps, so I step out of my apartment and chuck the bag of trash onto the sidewalk. This is good, I say to myself, I have done a Responsibility. I return to my door and find a four-legged orange fluff guarding it. Oh. Now, I know a thing or two about cats. I know they’re small and fast, and would absolutely win against me in a race inside my apartment. I also know they’re little globs of murder, and if I try to manually transplant the cat I will wind up with a bloody, toxoplasmosis-infested arm or two. Mind, I only intended to take out the trash — my entire outfit is a pair of ill-fitting yoga pants, not really hang-out-on-the-stoop-for-thirty-minutes attire. But the little bastard held me hostage for as long as it could. Even when I wedged myself between it and the door, its eyes were locked. It would paw at the door, it knew how to get in had the thing not been latched. It flopped over, belly-up, just tempting me to offer up an arm as sacrifice. It pulled every dang cat trick in the book until it got bored and distracted by a moth or something. And that is why, in my opinion, cats are the shit. They are adorable devils, perfectly adapted to prank humans into subservience. They operate on their own terms, and when they tire of their victims, they make new ones. They also have really cute ears.
QED: Cats are the shit.
@brhfl
But
Highly allergic. Skin welts, sniffling sneezing, red itchy eyes just being in the same room where a cat has been.
@ruouttaurmind i’ll take that as a ‘no’
@Yoda_Daenerys They’re cute, but not cute enough for the agony I get from them. So… no, no kitties for moi.
I prefer dogs but cats are OK if you’re away from home a lot during the day since they’re mostly oblivious.
But do not. Do not get a white cat with blue eyes.
Had one and it was triple hyper crazy. We had wallpaper that had texture. That cat climbed the wall.
Get a black cat or a tiger cat. Much more mellow.
@RedOak It was likely deaf or hearing impaired. A friend of mine had a deaf white cat and I don’t know how she could be in the house with it as it constantly, loudly vocalized. It also climbed walls, was batshit crazy, and none of her other cats would have anything to do with it.
@moondrake … except about the only thing that crazy cat did on command was come to us when we called it from the other room.
When we came home from the hospital with our first kid, we learned my parents had given the cat away. We were a bit sad, but relieved.
Funny, they gave the cat to an ex-girlfriend friend of mine and her husband. They had a contemporary home with open stair risers. That cat climbed the stairs. From the underside. My parents swore they did full disclosure.
We had tiger cats that were mellow and well behaved. Get a tiger cat.
Meow!
From what I’ve heard, many older cats, especially females, never accept a new cat. But others are happy to have their little mini colony restored. Give your cat a couple of months to grieve. Then I suggest fostering a calm natured mature but young cat with the intent to adopt. Supposedly, leaving a towel where your cat lays to collect their scent and then rubbing the new cat well with it just prior to introducing them to the home increases the likelihood of acceptance (cats are nothing if not narcissists). Give it at least a month. If it doesn’t work out but you think your cat is lonely, try a few more times.
I lost my own beloved and most perfect cat Jasmine about 2 years ago, my friends and I are all dog people, the only cats in my universe are the handful of owned but wandering cats and the large population of feral cats in the neighborhood. My opinion of cats drops daily as me and the little shit machines battle it out for ownership of my yard. Zephyr has been a new ally in this. Simba would give merry chase but the cats knew he didn’t intend to hurt them, and that they were faster than him. Zephyr was bred to hunt fast, agile game, runs like the wind and chases with intent. He hasn’t caught one yet, but far fewer cats in the yard these days.
Cats vs Dogs is a personal decision.
Dogs are pack animals - their owner/family is their pack.
Cats are not. They will form bonds, but don’t always require them.
I once heard the analogy - dog are like children, cats are like teenagers, there is some truth in that.
When I had pets I preferred cats, because I don’t like clingy, and dogs are clingy, maybe not to you but to me.
As for a second cat, as everyone said, depends a lot. Good luck no matter what you choose
@Cerridwyn Check out this excellent essay. I used to keep a copy of it in my desk to share with staff who were despairing of raising teens. It always lifted their spirits.
http://theparentcue.org/children-are-like-dogs/
@moondrake EXACTLY
cats are not as hard as people say to properly introduce. it just takes separation, good patience, a level head, and more patience. and for you to not give up on them. have 3 cats with starkly different personalities plus one cat loving dog, ages 5.5, 3.5, 1 year and 2.5 years. they live peacefully, but it was an adventure adding each one. they’re not all BFFs. they are all rescues/shelter. two as kittens (oldest and youngest cat), two as adults (one cat at 2 years, dog at 18 months-ish). i found asking the rescue people about personalities helped quite a lot, even with kittens.
@meh I would agree. I had one abandoned by her mom at 10 days and had to bottle feed her, then 3 mo later added 2 (litter mates) all three were young kittens and adjusted in about 2 days.
Then found a stray 6ish week old kitten at the side of the highway in the pouring rain on a bridge. The first 3 were around 9 or 10 at the time. Drama for about 2 weeks and then everyone was happy except the one original litter mate cat who hates every cat she meets except her brother (and the other cats learn to leave her alone so there is peace). I kept her in a big cage at first with 2/3 of it covered and the other side open. She made friends through the bars.
Then picked up another stray who became fast friends with the one from the road in about 3 days, the rest of them adjusted in about 3 weeks (this lovely little cat died at 3.5) and her best bud was bereft, then bonded with the original litter mate dominate male. She I kept isolated about two weeks, introduced the highway kitten first and there was almost instant peace with them playing, then liberated her and after about a week or 2 of hassles things were OK.
Then my neighbor left 3 behind (all of whom were serious love bugs and it especially killed me to rehome one of them - had I still been in my house rather than with friends and now in hud housing I would have kept them). My oldest were around 13 or 14, these were 2-3. Two of the three made their peace with everyone almost immediately, one (male and really sweet, loving and friendly) wanted to be king of the world and made peace with everyone (including the dominant male) except one of my younger ones. These guys were kept isolated for about a week when I forgot to shut the door tight and they escaped the room, there was relative peace so I left things alone.
Then took in a 1 year old who was hanging out at a restaurant and they were going to shoot her because she wouldn’t leave people alone - wanted to be friends. She fit in easily after the initial usual hissing. I was not in a position to isolate her from everyone else and just plain got lucky.
When I had to give up my house and live with other people I eventually had to give up my cats. Two of my neighbor’s cats went to one home. The other one became fast buddies with the one from the restaurant and they were placed together. This leaves me with three 16 year olds and my now 6 year old (goat cat - in a couple of posts here). Goat cat (posted photos of her elsewhere on meh) is going to need a buddy when when the others die (but especially my dominate male).
@Kidsandliz thanks for helping so many cats
@meh It was all accidental - they came to me… I also volunteer at a shelter (which is who placed those 4 of mine).
@meh @cerridwyn @moonfrake @f00l @redoak @brhfl @jasneko, et. al. - i appreciate all the advice, still on the fence - maybe we’ll visit the shelter next week instead of this week.
@Yoda_Daenerys Make sure you ask at the shelter for a cat who is not one who wants to be a dominant, king of the world cat. That will make it easier as well.
@Yoda_Daenerys be sure to tell them about rosy’s personality and age, it should help them a lot in suggesting housemates that would be a good fit for her, especially animals that came from multi-cat households.
re: the title question. Cats are my favorite mammalian. My cat, Mac, is my best fur-friend. I raised him from birth. His momma fed him, etc. but I handled him daily. He became bonded to me, and I to him. He’s now six, and sees me as another cat. I get regular grooming, and such. He takes care of me when I’m ill, or not feeling well/in a lot of pain, which are regular occurrences. I return his attentions in kind.
We didn’t do much of the subtle introduction thing with our cats and they were fine. I think the key to that was the temperament of both animals and lots of patience though. My existing cat was male, about 5 years old, and very clingy to me. He didn’t care about the new adopted cat (female about 2 years old) because he preferred human companionship. So we didn’t need to separate them and he ignored her as long as I didn’t pet her or show her love in front of him. That said, they lived together for 11 years and never really became friends either. Some cats just don’t want to cuddle even if we want them to
After he died recently, we decided that she would not get along with another cat because she’s even more grouchy now as an old lady. So we adopted an old man dog instead.
@metageist so do cat and dog get alone?
@Kidsandliz The new dog is about 7 years old with no history from the shelter, but I feel like he must have lived with cats before. She basically looks at him like he’s big and gross and weird (he’s about 80lbs so much larger than her). The dog won’t look her in the eye, and always yields space to her. So we’ve been lucky as there has never been a fight. The cat arches up occasionally at him if he gets too excited about his toys or something, but he backs away from her first.
We knew she wouldn’t want any new furry friends in the house if she had a choice, but at least this way she has the same relationship with the dog as she did with the previous cat: frenemy
“what’s your opinion on cats?” …
That they are more opinionated than I.
Currently, I’m feeding 2 - 6 (usually from the same superset) that come by every night. I think the main 2 were born in my back yard. Usually 3 or 4 each night, but I have seen only 2 lately; however all the food is disappearing overnight. Occasionally, a small possum also, but I’ve tried to shoo it off. Luckily, no skunks yet, though I have whiffed them slightly. I’ve seen as many as 6 cats at one time, but it is a little hard to tell the regulars apart because they share a lot of the same markings (probably from the same litter, + a momma). They seem to get along OK, even when pushing in for the food or occasional stale milk. Only once have I heard any squalling, and that was actually a little way away from the food. I also leave fresh water for them.
They are still (after maybe a year) hesitant in actually coming within touching distance of me. Haven’t gotten them to mew either, even when I’ve tried to hold out on the food in their sight or coax them with my mews. (They look at me as if I’m mewing in Greek.)
Dogs definitely show more gratitude.
@phendrick My neighbor fed feral cats and one very, very fat possum waddles there to eat as well despite how often she tried to get rid of it.
My cats show a lot of gratitude too and several of the ferals, once they got over being scared, did too. They are just more subtle than dogs.
@phendrick i heard a story about pigs as pets. it went something like this: dogs know that you are their master, cats know that they are your master, pigs know they are your equal.
i almost went to the shelter on an impulse today, however it was closed, so decision delayed further.
i do appreciate all of the stories and comments.
@Yoda_Daenerys You feed a dog, you love a dog, you see to it’s every want and need. The dog looks up at you and thinks “Wow, she must be a god.” You feed a cat, you love a cat, you see to it’s every want and need. The cat looks up at you and thinks “Wow, I must be a god.”