Thoughts on Cats

[Jo Ferris]

I have a dog who acts like a cat, does that count? She's a great mouser, little bigger than Garfield (60lbs), closest to a cat I'll probably ever have. Nothing against cats, I'm just more of a dog person.

[Brian Leavitt]

Cats! Cats! Cats! Of course I've gotta reply to this thread!

My two personal kitties are Cleo and Sylvia. They came from a feral litter that was born out on a country property back when I used to live on it. They're my snuggle kitties


My mother also recently adopted a pair of bonded kittens.

This is Cody:


And this is Madeline (and my ugly face lol):

[T.D. Palm]

Had one calico for 12 yrs before she passed.Got another calico 2 yrs ago around Christmas time, so we named her "Holly". She looks like that calico in Rochelle's post.
She's my best "bud".

[Willowcreek Farms]

Homicidal fluff muffins, all of them!! I am definitely not a cat person. Put our new 6 month old kitten seems to have picked me. My wife says she is here to teach me to be more cuddly. I am NOT a cuddler.... unless its Sami, our 6 month old kitten.

[Carole Hanson]

I have a dog who acts like a cat, does that count? She's a great mouser, little bigger than Garfield (60lbs), closest to a cat I'll probably ever have. Nothing against cats, I'm just more of a dog person.

Same! My dog is very wary of strangers, lounges around all day long, loves to rub herself on your legs and isn’t particularly playful with other dogs. But she clearly loves her family and we dearly love her, best dog ever.

And yea I don’t mind cats but overall, I am a dog person.

[Joe Bengston]

I to loved the musical cats as a kid. i don't even want to see the new one just no just no should not have been something to remake. let the classic stand on its own.

I hate to be the debby downer but this thread does not belong in thoroughbreds.

[Joe Bengston]

Read a lot of really terrible reviews, but I liked the musical as a kid

my last reply was in response to this.

[Laura Smith]

Okay. I'm in a situation right now. My partner (I feel too old to say "boyfriend" these days) and I bought a house and so for the first time in our relationship, we can have whatever pet we want, with no landlord to tell us otherwise. I desperately want a cat. I grew up with cats. He's never had one but he likes them, in the sense of, you know, liking other people's cats.
He's sort of up for it but also sort of not. He's got this idea that the cat is going to go around scratching up all our furniture and knocking every item off every table and counter in the house. I agree that I don't want those things, but I also think that the kind of cat we'd be looking at (older, from the humane society) would have fewer destructive tendencies than the stereotypical cat on the internet. Somewhere along the line I even started to drink the koolaid and now I'm starting to believe that we shouldn't get a cat. But deep down... I want!
Should I just drag him down to the humane society and pet things until we adopt one?!

[Rochelle Bos]

Okay. I'm in a situation right now. My partner (I feel too old to say "boyfriend" these days) and I bought a house and so for the first time in our relationship, we can have whatever pet we want, with no landlord to tell us otherwise. I desperately want a cat. I grew up with cats. He's never had one but he likes them, in the sense of, you know, liking other people's cats.
He's sort of up for it but also sort of not. He's got this idea that the cat is going to go around scratching up all our furniture and knocking every item off every table and counter in the house. I agree that I don't want those things, but I also think that the kind of cat we'd be looking at (older, from the humane society) would have fewer destructive tendencies than the stereotypical cat on the internet. Somewhere along the line I even started to drink the koolaid and now I'm starting to believe that we shouldn't get a cat. But deep down... I want!
Should I just drag him down to the humane society and pet things until we adopt one?!

DO IT! How I manage to pull it off is looking through local no-kill rescues and sending my husband pictures of all the things I love

As for scratching things, makes sure you have plenty of scratch posts, we have at least 1 on every floor, even the basement! And two on the main floor. If they scratch on something they shouldn’t, put them on the scratch post and praise them when they do it right!

The ONLY time my cats have scratched on the furniture is when we had the couch away from the wall as a divider for the living room and the one corner close to the walk way was just SO convenient lol

Don’t drink the koolaid!

[T.D. Palm]

Okay. I'm in a situation right now. My partner (I feel too old to say "boyfriend" these days) and I bought a house and so for the first time in our relationship, we can have whatever pet we want, with no landlord to tell us otherwise. I desperately want a cat. I grew up with cats. He's never had one but he likes them, in the sense of, you know, liking other people's cats.
He's sort of up for it but also sort of not. He's got this idea that the cat is going to go around scratching up all our furniture and knocking every item off every table and counter in the house. I agree that I don't want those things, but I also think that the kind of cat we'd be looking at (older, from the humane society) would have fewer destructive tendencies than the stereotypical cat on the internet. Somewhere along the line I even started to drink the koolaid and now I'm starting to believe that we shouldn't get a cat. But deep down... I want!
Should I just drag him down to the humane society and pet things until we adopt one?!

I don't believe in de-clawing as I think its too traumatic & painful; but if you do some research you may find a cat at the humane society that has already been de-clawed.

[Lily Wilkins]

Okay. I'm in a situation right now. My partner (I feel too old to say "boyfriend" these days) and I bought a house and so for the first time in our relationship, we can have whatever pet we want, with no landlord to tell us otherwise. I desperately want a cat. I grew up with cats. He's never had one but he likes them, in the sense of, you know, liking other people's cats.
He's sort of up for it but also sort of not. He's got this idea that the cat is going to go around scratching up all our furniture and knocking every item off every table and counter in the house. I agree that I don't want those things, but I also think that the kind of cat we'd be looking at (older, from the humane society) would have fewer destructive tendencies than the stereotypical cat on the internet. Somewhere along the line I even started to drink the koolaid and now I'm starting to believe that we shouldn't get a cat. But deep down... I want!
Should I just drag him down to the humane society and pet things until we adopt one?!

Definitely go have a look. I volunteered at a local no-kill shelter in high school, and they had a big co-living area for their adult cats. It was seriously my favorite place in the entire shelter because the cats were always so serene and friendly. Most of them were just fat, fluffy love bugs who wanted to sleep and cuddle. The kitten room, by contrast, was like walking into a tornado

[Stormy Peak]

Please do not de claw a cat...you are not removing it's claws...but amputating it's toes to the first knuckle, thankfully there are some vets now who will no longer do this procedure.

I've had cats for years and it's fairly easy to keep them from scratching furniture. Just get a cat scratching post one that has several varieties of material and see which one the cat prefers the most. I had one cat that would Shred rope wound around a post, but wouldn't touch carpet. I had another cat that liked looped (commercial type) carpet but rarely scratched on the rope, and I have another cat that liked to just knead her claws into fluffy carpet.
It also helps to rub cat nip into the cat scratching post to help and keep cats attracted to it.

Stormy

[Tammy Stawicki]

Okay. I'm in a situation right now. My partner (I feel too old to say "boyfriend" these days) and I bought a house and so for the first time in our relationship, we can have whatever pet we want, with no landlord to tell us otherwise. I desperately want a cat. I grew up with cats. He's never had one but he likes them, in the sense of, you know, liking other people's cats.
He's sort of up for it but also sort of not. He's got this idea that the cat is going to go around scratching up all our furniture and knocking every item off every table and counter in the house. I agree that I don't want those things, but I also think that the kind of cat we'd be looking at (older, from the humane society) would have fewer destructive tendencies than the stereotypical cat on the internet. Somewhere along the line I even started to drink the koolaid and now I'm starting to believe that we shouldn't get a cat. But deep down... I want!
Should I just drag him down to the humane society and pet things until we adopt one?!

Scratching and climbing are instinctual behaviors so any cat is going to do it regardless of age but certainly, it can be managed so it is not destructive as long as that is something you are willing to put the resources into doing. As others have mentioned you will need scratching posts. Also you will want to make sure you get things your cat is allowed to climb. You also want to make sure you factor in time to play with the cat (even older cats need playtime) through interactive play so they can burn off some of that energy that would otherwise be used for destruction and also don't have a cat that is being naughty just to get attention.

A lot of rescues are stretched thin but ones with the resources will work with you to find a cat that fits what you are looking for. Smaller rescues often rely heavily on keeping cats in foster homes so they often will have knoweldge of what the cat is like in a home setting rather than just the shelter environment.

[Jo Ferris]

Okay. I'm in a situation right now. My partner (I feel too old to say "boyfriend" these days) and I bought a house and so for the first time in our relationship, we can have whatever pet we want, with no landlord to tell us otherwise. I desperately want a cat. I grew up with cats. He's never had one but he likes them, in the sense of, you know, liking other people's cats.
He's sort of up for it but also sort of not. He's got this idea that the cat is going to go around scratching up all our furniture and knocking every item off every table and counter in the house. I agree that I don't want those things, but I also think that the kind of cat we'd be looking at (older, from the humane society) would have fewer destructive tendencies than the stereotypical cat on the internet. Somewhere along the line I even started to drink the koolaid and now I'm starting to believe that we shouldn't get a cat. But deep down... I want!
Should I just drag him down to the humane society and pet things until we adopt one?!

All of the cats my family had growing up (total of 8) were all declawed on all four paws. None of them ever had an issue associated with being declawed, no pain beyond a day or two after surgery, no behavioral issues, ect... if I ever do get a cat, they will be declawed as I'm with your partner, I don't want them scratching anything or ruining floors either by clawing floors or just running they'll leave scratch marks on flooring which was a huge reason why my family declawed all our cats, they'd mess up the hardwood.

[Nena Olson]

Declawing cats is the same as amputating off your fingers and toes. Imagine getting through life having to walk on your wrists and ankles, all because somebody didn't want you to scuff their floor/couch. If your furniture/floor is more important to you than your cat, please do not get one. Cats use their paws to rub on furniture/floor/etc. because they have feel-good pheromones on their feet. There are far more humane ways to prevent cats from making your furniture or floor look "ugly" like soft paws (plastic caps on their nails), cat trees, feli-way spray, etc.

https://catvets.com/public/PDFs/ClientB ... ebView.pdf

https://www.petmd.com/cat/care/7-negati ... g-your-cat

https://www.petmd.com/news/view/declawi ... cats-36344

Anyway, as somebody who sees cats with urinary issues/botched surgeries getting surrendered or euthanized because 'I thought the declaw would work but now they just pee on things instead!' or 'omg my cat went from scratching me to biting me!!' (saw this at the vet clinic I worked at and the humane society I work at), please exhaust all options first. My vet clinic refused to four paw declaw, they found it so inhumane.

Obviously, everyone does their own thing and view animals differently but its definitely something I would suggest researching before doing.