General Chat

I have 3 two year olds at the moment - not so much rescue cats, but the result of a rescue cat we were assured had been spayed!! She hated her kittens and after having her spayed, she started crawling under my duvet and peeing in my bed- then lying on a dry bit!!
Decided to send the really loveable mum back to be rehomed - I was getting fed up having to turn my mattress and remake the bed every other night!! She's now a really happy 'lone' cat who no longer pees in her owners bed!!
I have had cats nearly all my adult life and have had 3 'disappear'. One went (at the age of 20) to live with an elderly couple down the road. One decided to live on the allotments. Not sure where the 3rd one went.

The problem with cats is, they'll do their own thing!!.

The three I have now are allowed to come & go as they please - George managed to get run over at 10 months and broke his jaw one Bank Holiday - cost me £200!! (£67 of that was the Bank Holiday consultation - where Iwas told to bring him back the next day!!) In return he has become very loving.(he had to grrr)
Generally they're cheerful little beasties, bit wary of strangers, but not a viscious bone in their bodies. Never bitten or scratched - apart from in play (I love to rub their tummies!).

My sister doesn't let her cat out. Stroke her more than twice and she will attack you - don't even consider touching her tummy. Very wary of strangers.

However, my dad never let the 3 cats he had out - because they were rescued feral cats, and there was a chance they would become feral again.
My children were warned not to touch them, but they came up for affection and never bit or scratched.

Each cat is different. You will soon know whether or not your kitten wants a friend.

maggie

Hi Daff,

the name he's already been given is Oscar and we'll keep that so as not to confuse him.

What's the thing about no butter on the paws - not heard that before

Love Maria x x

Thanks everyone. We're very excited about the little chap and I may well be back for more advice soon. But I'll take on board what everyone's said tonight.

Note sure how to add him onto my tree - might put that on the Tips board.

Ta very much, off to bed now.

Maria xxx

Just a little more from experience.

My cats are all outside cats -- they were strays, and adult males when they arrived, so I really didn't have a choice. If yours will stay in, and you are happy with that, do consider it. It saves wear and tear on both the cat and the wildlife. It sounds unfair to the cat, but it's one of those decisions we have to take responsibility for if we're going to harbour and populate the world with artificially evolved species. ;)

If you're getting a companion for yours, consider a female. In my experience it's unpredictable how unrelated males will deal with each other, while a female will usually train a male to leave her alone. My multiple males have always dealt with one another mainly by violence and piggish behaviour. Disturbed sleep for us and abscesses from fighting for them, and peeing in the house to mark territory. Tedious.

Not to mention the FIV that likely spread from one to another of mine before we had a clue. It's quite a rare disease (cat equivalent of HIV, although not nearly as deadly) -- our vet had only had 10 cases, including my neighbour's cat and my cat. Don't know who gave it to whom -- suspect one of my other cats was the intermediary, if not the source. But once a cat is diagnosed, it must be kept indoors, to avoid infection in the cat and transmission to others. There's no vaccine.

To sum up: inside/outside, either way is going to make you feel guilty about something; companion, get a girl!

Lol Maria... I looked after a ginger Oscar for 6 months when his owners had to go away... they were both in the military!

An old wives tale is to put butter on their paws to stop them straying, but it actually has the opposite effect, butter or anything should NEVER be put on paws... it masks the cat's own smell... they have very powerful scent glands in their paws, and they can find their way back if they want to... if you mask the smell with butter or anything else, it makes it more difficult to find their way home.... and also they really don't like it so might not want to come back!!

I have moved house many many times with my older cats... well experienced, lol!

Love

Daff xxx

I have always whistled to get my cats in. I can cope with standing on the doorstep shouting George and Betty (my cats), but my daughter has called the 3rd (her cat, but staying here), Mr Miu. I am not going to open the door and shout Mister at midnight!!

maggie

One of my cats is called Pig.

Me standing at the door ... Here, pig pig pig pig ...

Whistling is very good. The ones we have now generally hang around wanting in when they know I'll be going in myself, but whistling was always my call of choice otherwise.

If they're reluctant in-comers, you can get them to recognize "din din din din" as being a food signal ... or "nip nip nip nip" as the catnip signal. Or just rattle a can opener. That usually does it even if they've never seen tinned cat food. They seem to be born with the can opener gene.

Hi Maria

You've had lots of sound advice, but I'm going to add mine anyway. I've owned loads of cats, the most I've had at one time was 18, thankfully now only 5, but they're my babies and I love them. My advice is, if you keep him in get him a friend and as soon as possible, if you let him out don't bother. Cats that are kept in can become bored so a playmate would be good, if you let him out there's always plenty to explore, it's just a worry about all the dangers. btw it's an old wives tales that putting butter on cats paws will stop them from escaping, the reasoning is they will clean the butter off and not want to get out. Not true, if a cat usually goes out, it will still want to go out again after its moved.

I hope you come to a good decision, I'm sure you and Oscar will love each other to bits.

My opinion is that male cats are much more loving and devoted to their owners. I've got a severe case of jealousy at the moment because I just love a ginger mog! Give him a big (((((hug))))) from me.

Dee x

Most animal shelters in the US won't let you adopt a cat unless you swear to keep them indoors. Seems hard to imagine in the UK but I've seen so many threads on here from people who had their cats killed on the road.

Here are some great points:

http://www.mspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Indoor_Cats

Rose

Hi Beth - no it won't stop them straying!!
The one we had that now lives on the allotments was spayed and microchipped, but no-one can catch her!! She was a very loving cat as well, but obviously prefers her new life!!! If she was caught, we couldn't keep her as she would just return to old haunts.

maggie

I think so much depends on where you live.

We've lived in our present house for nearly 25 years and have had two cats. The first one was 9 when she was hit by a car. It is a very quiet village but unfortunately there was a small group of children playing on a street corner (not my kids) and our cat had wandered off to say hello to them. A car swerved to miss the children and hit our poor cat.
A dreadful accident and it might never have happened.

Our present cat is 11. She goes out but we try to keep her at the back of the house as much as possible. She does wander across the road sometimes but we get very little traffic.

She has a special cat flap with infra red gadget on her collar so only she can get in. She sleeps in a cosy bed with heat pad in the winter in a lobby.

Her favourite thing is to play in the garden with us and to be out there in the sunshine when we are there. She also enjoys going with us to our holiday home and sitting with us on our deck.

I think I would only ever consider an indoor cat if I lived in a flat or on a busy road. I can't imagine how tricky it would be to keep a cat indoors when we love to have doors and windows open. I also think they love being outside so much that it seems a shame to shut them in.

Yes they do hunt (some more than others) though as they get older most cats don't bother much if they are well fed and played with.

Our cat did go missing for 4 days some months ago and that was very upsetting but she wandered back in just after I had finished putting up posters everywhere. I think she must have been shut in someone's shed.

Only you can decide what is best for your cat and in your situation but I wonder whether a cat that has never been outside might be terrified if it accidentally got out and might easily be lost.

Cats are a bit of a law unto themselves. Our local paper this week has a story about a cat which went missing for 4 years being recognised by its former owners in the pub where it now lives. They've left it where it is but have unlimited visiting rights LOL

Sue

That was an interesting link Rose but some of the hazards in the US don't exist over here in the UK.

We don't have rabies and a cat in the UK is unlikely to be faced with some dangers that a US cat might find. We have only one venomous snake and most domestic cats are very unlikely to come across an adder.

I think in towns the dangers for cats would be the obvious ones of traffic, some unpleasant people and perhaps dogs but many owners in the UK live in places where a cat can wander safely in a local area. I don't like to see cats strolling about in town and I wouldn't keep one if I didn't have a safe place.

I know there are other houses with cats around us and we do sometimes see other cats in our garden. We tend to shoo these away. Most of the time our own cat seems to hang around wherever we are. She catches the very occasional mouse or shrew but hardly ever any birds.

Have fun fellow cat lovers everywhere

Sue
x

Cats should be let out in my opinion to roam free and not be constricted to a house. That to me would be cruel.

I have just looked after 2 kittens and 1 grumpy old man (older cat - not OH) lol, last 2 weeks for neighbour The grumpy old man did not always like the kittens running around him and swiped them with his paw and hissed at them.

The kittens were not allowed out only because they have not had their jabs yet but the old cat has a cat flap to come and go as he pleases. I often see him in my garden and cannot wait to see the other kitties when they are a bit older roaming our garden!

Unfortunately I have a cat allergy and can no longer have a cat of my own so I envy you your new kitty. As much as I loved looking after the neighbours cats - suffered for it culminating in an asthma attack!

Love and treasure it and it will love you back.

Tina x

we have indoor cats which is a strange experience because we're used to outdoor cats. To be honest, it's far less stressful as you know were they are and that they are safe.

We do let them out into the back garden and they don't escape. (possibly due to their breed)

However, we have one cat who we have to supervise when he goes into the back garden in case he escapes (which he does occasionally).He is a different breed. (actually don't know if he is a breed as such) He's pure white and deaf so if we let him roam (which he'd love to do) he would be in danger of getting run over like his sister. (who we didn't own). I don't know if we are being cruel by having him as an indoor cat but we love him too much to risk his life on the roads. I don't think we are being cruel to the others as we do let them in the garden and they seem quite content.

Hi Liz, his mother and the previous litter weren't deaf but his litter and a subsequent litter was.

Someone on the internet asked me to check his hearing when she heard we had a white kitten and sure enough he is deaf. It's hard to tell sometimes.

Thnks so much everyone for all your advice and anecdotes.

We are very very excited about our new boy. Been shopping this morning & got everything he needs for now (I hope!)

Once he's settled in and we've got to know each other I'll post an update for anyone who's interested.

Thanks again everyone, roll on 6:30 tonight, Oscar time :o)

Maria xxx

Maria, I think there might be a puss cat birthday party on General soon... maybe Oscar would like to join in?

Quite a few of us have young cats who are coming up to a year old... some were born *online* so to speak, including my Hermie!! All of that litter now live cosseted lives with GR members, and many of his half siblings too... yep, my Jethro, lol!!

Love

Daff xx

Why thankyou Daff I'm sure he'd love to join in with your pampered puss cats.

Let us know when and I'll have him all groomed and gorgeous with his best blue collar on!

Maria x

He'll be the beau of the ball, lol!!

Love

Daff xxxx

Hello Maria, It might be a good idea to see if you can get some "Sherleys Swiftie" Puppy and Kitten Trainer.you put a couple of spots in their litter tray and they will use it.if you can,t get it contact " CIBE-GEIGY Animal Health.Whittlesford,Cambridge.CB2 4QT.Tel.0223 833621.Its well worth getting,it works for Older Cats Too. **M**.