General Chat

About 2 years ago, I bought a radiator hammock for my cats.
I put it on the radiator in the spare room, near my computer.
Not one of my 3 cats used it, and I started using it as a sort of shelf.
Two weeks ago, one of the cats showed an interest, sat on a stool that was up against the hammock, 'removed' the papers that were on it and plonked himself in!
He's there nearly all the time now - and the heating is rarely on!

I've just been downstairs, 'persuading' said cat that he really wants to eat the mouse he's caught, outside.
Came back to find cat #2 snuggled up in the hammock!!

I wonder how long it will take cat #3 to take a liking!
I may have to buy another one for Christmas.

Oh yes very contrary lol
Our Mirabelle is 12 now .had her from 8 months old. we had a scratching post for her in the hall just outside the lounge door and she used to give it a good going over so much that the string around it got all frayed and finally didnt want to be saved anymore so we bought a new one and swapped em over. She totally ignored the new one even when i bought some catnip spray and gave it a big dose,.Nope she didnt want to know ,the stair carpet on the step immediately to one side of it was a much better option ,she stands on the second step /landing .(it goes up two steps from the hall to a landing then turns to the left to go up stairs),and bends over to give the carpet on the first step a right going over,result now got a hole on it that looks really unsightly. cant afford to redo the stairs at the mo so got to live with it, In any case she would probably "do! any new carpet too

Gosh Shirley - you've brought back memories - I had a stair carpet like that once. Basil was the cause! He's been gone 15 years now.
Cats since have demolished the arms of my sofa, and the current ones - they've destroyed a wicker chair. Yet ALL these cats had free access to the outside.
My side gate has been worn so much over the years by scratching, there's a gap at the side
I had a scratching 'thing' hanging from the table for years. Not one of the approx.10 cats I had used it.

Of my 3 cats, one, Betty is petrified of fireworks. George isn't too bothered unless he thinks he can get somethng out of acting 'pathetic', Mr Miu isn't bothered at all.
So, when there are fireworks about - like last night - I have a litter tray in the kitchen, so Betty doesn't have to go out. Usually the 2 boys turn their noses up at using the litter tray.
Well, yesterday, I caught Mr Miu using the tray THEN going out the cat flap!!

Cats.......CATS, don't talk to me about cats!!

My four have turned my new leather suite into draylon,my ceiling-to
-floor curtains into candlewick bedspreads,my eye-wateringly expensive hall stairs and landing carpet into cotton wool,and my incontinent adopted stray leaves black pools of poo all over my oatmeal bedrooom carpets.

Don't bother with expensive cat scratchers,door mats are much cheaper and more durable.,Also don't bother buying fancy beds,because they park themselves on your bed anyway.


Don't you love them??

yep you love em,non cat lovers though must wonder why we "let" them destroy the house, thing is most times Mirabelle does it when we not looking as she knows she get yelled "Mirabelle,stop it" if shes caught, crafty too aint they !

Carpets? Nina???
I now only have a stair carpet. - all the rest have been removed.
First it was years afo - my daughter's bedroom carpets, because a cat we were looking after (?) for a friend peed in their rooms. I wonder why he never took her back?
My bedroom carpet went 4 years ago when a rescue cat (allegedly spayed - but mother of the cats I have now) decided she wanted to be the only cat and started peeing on my carpet - and IN my bed! Beautiful cat - rehomed very quickly as the only cat in the house!
The living room carpet went, because an old tom - no, it was my ex - (hard to tell the difference LOL) came round one Christmas, about 7 years ago - and the wine carrier he was toting, containing 6 bottles of wine, broke - as did the bottles! The red wine did no favours to my lovely pale green carpet.

As I said, I only have stair carpet now - perfect for George to pluck the feathers from his kills - they slide all over the place anywhere else!

What you must remember is, Cats Love En-Suite Facilities.The outside is for recreation and fun,Scratching posts are anything you have bought to enhance your home,(Which for them is a plaything )You are only there to facilitate anything they require,other than that you,re just a lodger in their home.**M**.

our Lizzie would tear at the corners of the armchairs at the back, until My OH got some long lengths of sandpaper and stabled them round the corners. Now she occasionally has a go at the centre of the backs, but has discovered our old cat's scratching post in the garden and uses that. Funny to watch because even stretched out she doesnt come anywhere near the height he could go!. The post need renewing too now.

Merlin .you are absolutely right, We dont own them ,they deem to let us live in their house providing everything is to their liking.

I know you ladies will not like to hear this....but how can you let animals ruin your homes.?

If it was children destroying you home, I am sure you would put a stop to it. the mind boggles.

Because children can be taught to behave, animals are not so easy! My OH is worse than me, he even lets them claw him in play.

So, what you are saying is, its ok for your cats to trash you homes.?

Animals can be, and are often trained to behave.

Because you may domestic a cat or dog but their instincts are still there, when you take on a pet you have to accept that they will do things that you wouldn.t accept from a child .
The love they give you unconditionally is worth a bit of hassle.

I do fully understand that you all seem to be cat women, BUT to allow an animal to destroy furniture and other stuff in your homes is beyond belief.
and not seeming to care about it is even stranger.

Annina, stated that her four cats destroyed her new leather suite.!!!!!
the mind really boggles.

Shirley, what you are saying is, you would not let you child ruin something, but it is OK for you cats. and it also reads to me, that you think you get more love from a cat than you would from a child...?? weird.

Many years ago I was a Nanny for a very well to do titled family.I lived in and I was allowed to have my cat Jerry there.He was a gorgeous ginger tom.In the downstairs passage was kept the top of a billiard/snooker table,with that green felty material (can't think what it's called).I discovered that Jerry had been using it as a scratching post when I found his claws were full of green fluff.My Boss Lord ** noticed that this top was all tufty and called me to have a look.I thought my time was up and that he had seen Jerry at it.But no,he said "Jane do you think moths have done this" lol.At that moment Jerry waltzed by with his decorated claws!!!!!.I nearly had a dicky fit.

I didnt say that Foggy.
You dont Allow a cat to destroy your home but they often do things when you arent looking.

Train cats Foggy,not a cat in hells chance,as for the furniture,they are only things,having a posh home has never interested me,and after all,the suite is just as comfy,the curtains still cover the windows and the carpet just as comforting underfoot.

When my brood (human)was young,they were taught to respect other peoples belongings,but I don't believe in nagging children for the sake of 'things', so always had battered old secondhand furniture.

Come to my house Foggy,and see how comfy you feel,everyone feels at home here,and it makes my day when someone knows they can put their feet up and spill crumbs on the floor.

Annina, my sentiments exactly, cant stand a showroom house.

Scruffy furniture goes with cat ownership!
If you have a cat (or dog come to that), don't expect black trousers to remain fur/hair free. Even my black cats manage to find some white/grey hairs to shed!

My furniture has been destroyed by many cats over the years, all of whom have been great company.
Yes, they HAVE been trained - inasmuch as you can train a cat!
I have never had a cat attack a human (unlke my sister's particularly nasty beast) - this was 'trained' out of them as kittens, they were also 'taught' to totally trust me - not many cats can put up with their belly being stroked - all mine can - because I started doing it from very young, and they know, despite it being a very vulnerable place, I won't hurt them.
It's a two-way thing - I trust them not to bite/scratch a human, they trust humans in the house (even my grandchildren) not to hurt them.

They don't get on the worktops, don't pee or poo in the house, and, amazingly tend to do their 'business' in MY garden - my barked over area of garden is like a giant dirt tray - and it's regularly cleaned out!

If my children had remained toddlers/teenagers all their life, the way neutered domesticated cats do in the company of humans, the furniture would be in a much worse state!

I have always been able to train my cats not to jump on the worktops, etc. but they are not as easy to train as a dog is. You must catch a cat 'in the act' of doing something wrong, and either a smack on the hip and even just to clap your hands in front of them, teaches them it's wrong. No use chasing them off and around the house to smack them - their instinct tells them they are being smacked for being caught in the chase!
If they won't leave something alone, cover it with something they don't like (and add a little pepper to it) until they find somewhere else, then you can remove the cover once the lesson is learned.