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Totally Normal posted:Does anybody have any stories of introducing new cats to a one cat household where the new/old cat wasn't a horrible hell-beast and was good to go after maybe 2-3 weeks of appropriate separation/socialization? Seems like I only read stories of mayhem and disappointment which is a bummer because I want to get another cat. I'm a horrible person and never bothered with socialization. My cat has lived with loads of other cats over the years, including temporary cat-sitting stints. I just toss them together. There's some initial scrabbling and yowling, and then everyone seems to settle in. Most of the time, this has resulted in the cats simply co-existing peacefully, but there was one who was insistently friendly until my cat gave in and then they were buddies. Also there was the near-famous "gosh I know nothing about cats" criscodisco who went from never having touched a cat to having roughly a zillion of them, all super besties despite being thrown together with no preamble whatsoever.
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Mar 11, 2014 19:22
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baxxy posted:there was one who was insistently friendly until my cat gave in and then they were buddies. This is a pretty good description of my gf's cat. She moved into an apt with a resident house-cat that no one really took care of. After about a month of her cat being unfailingly friendly, and a few scuffles, they got along fine. She adopted the house-cat soon after, and now they're best buds.
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Mar 11, 2014 20:18
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Dutchfool posted:Our cat hasn't come home for about 5 days now, we're getting really worried as the longest time she stayed away from us before was 2 days. This concerns me and makes me think she might have lost a territory dispute, and the territory includes your home. Have you done the routine stuff, put out posters, call shelters and pounds? Did she have a collar/tag?
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Mar 11, 2014 22:36
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Manslaughter posted:This concerns me and makes me think she might have lost a territory dispute, and the territory includes your home. Have you done the routine stuff, put out posters, call shelters and pounds? Did she have a collar/tag? She is tagged. I fear that you are right about the territory loss part, we recently got a young (male) cat in our house and they haven't been the best of friends. We are/were hoping their relationship would get better as time passed, though.  All of our neighbours know about it already and my gf has placed quite some posters around. We have even warned the animal police (It's a reality here) about her, if they catch her they're bringing her back for a fee of 40 euro's.A big problem is also that we have quite some forests around us, if she happened to end up there I don't if we'll be able to find her. To add to all of this, the last time I saw her (5 days ago) she was being chased by another cat (not our male). I wasn't able to catch her or the other cat, sadly. Jack the Stripper fucked around with this message at 23:53 on Mar 11, 2014 |
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Mar 11, 2014 23:48
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Hello kitty people. My friend's cat has bladder stones; they'll be removed on Monday, so we don't know yet if they're struvite or calcium oxalate, and thus I realize this question doesn't (yet) have a precise answer. Nevertheless, can anyone offer opinions on high quality foods for cats with stones? The vet apparently recommended Royal Canin Urinary SO, which brand I realize is pretty crap (but I suppose it's probably better than the Science Diet alternative). Do any of the really decent brands make a version aimed at bladder health? Obviously she won't stray from the recommendation without approval from the vet, but perhaps a little directed questioning will yield a better alternative?
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Mar 12, 2014 00:01
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kwantam posted:Hello kitty people. Nope. It's basically Science Diet or Royal Canin. The wet varieties suck less because they're not full of corn, but those are really your only options.
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Mar 12, 2014 02:50
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Totally Normal posted:Does anybody have any stories of introducing new cats to a one cat household where the new/old cat wasn't a horrible hell-beast and was good to go after maybe 2-3 weeks of appropriate separation/socialization? Seems like I only read stories of mayhem and disappointment which is a bummer because I want to get another cat. I'd never introduced cats before and I brought in a second cat for my first cat, and they had a couple of days of hissing and halfhearted swatting and now they're best buddies. Then I brought in a third cat, and there was some hissing and flapping and now they're all buddies too. It was a lot less stressful than I'd thought.
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Mar 12, 2014 02:59
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Rodent Mortician posted:I'd never introduced cats before and I brought in a second cat for my first cat, and they had a couple of days of hissing and halfhearted swatting and now they're best buddies. Then I brought in a third cat, and there was some hissing and flapping and now they're all buddies too. It was a lot less stressful than I'd thought. So this was just dumping them in the same home together and no seperation at all?
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Mar 12, 2014 03:02
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Well the vet ended up pulling 3 teeth, and just cutting out that weird laceration thinge as well as biopsing it. So almost $2000 (after everything including tests from 2 months ago) later and my cat is back to her normal "laying at the top of the stairs and hissing at everyone who walks by" self (albeit slightly more stoned, and with slightly more contempt for me and the wife) and I couldn't be happier for it.  Heres a pic of my objectively terrible cat. TheAbortionator fucked around with this message at 07:41 on Mar 12, 2014 |
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Mar 12, 2014 07:22
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I've been curious, I have a 6 year old tabby that is really affectionate. When he chills with me, he really doesn't like being pet on the head, to the point of putting his ears back a little and making a funny face. The worst I could have done was give him a static shock, of maybe my other cat did something. Thoughts? More curious than anything. When he's in full happy mode he stops.
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Mar 13, 2014 00:18
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Some cats just don't like to have people hovering over their head. Like some cats don't like belly rubs or having their paws messed with or being held.
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Mar 13, 2014 02:18
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Mugh, I never should have introduced my cat to wet cat food. She's gotten all picky now. It's not even that she eats it; just as often she's just howling so she can lick all the gravy off and that's it.
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Mar 13, 2014 02:33
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Here's a picture of Cleo, you'd think by looking at her that butter wouldn't melt in her mouth. But behind that cute facade is a merciless hunter. There's nothing she'd rather be doing than roaming around outside and in the bushland, finding new things to get into and generally terrorizing the neighborhood flora and fauna. When it's time to bring her in at night, I'll go outside and give her a call, and then I see this little black and white thing running / galloping towards me, and she's really pleased to see me. So she gets inside and the very 1st thing she does is go straight into the kitchen, to see what culinary delight awaits her majesty. I kid you not, she has a bowl of Kit-e-Kat milk, a bowl of water, a bowl of dried treat biscuits called "Dreamies" and I'll have you know she has ALL the flavours, and a fresh bowl of wet food - Sheba (the most expensive) to be precise, and for afters she also has these "meaty stick" things that smell to high heaven AND some other really expensive treat biscuits - again all the flavours. Goddam cat has her own shelf cupboard full of this stuff LOL. She's seen the buffet smorgasboard and the reaction is like "I'm not eating that *&^%", hmmm we're off to a great start. She's now back in the loungeroom and she's "hopping sideways", springing like a small dwarf gazelle towards me, and running around like a mad thing. Oh, that's right it's playtime. So, as I'm getting her toys out of her basket and placing them all on the rug, she thinks, "nows a good time to scratch the couch to sharpen my claws, yes I know my scratchy post is less than two feet away, but I can't be arsed to go over there". I say to her "Oi, scratchy post", and off she runs again. So we play with the stick that has some string on it and we zoom it around the room for a bit and then she stops on the rug. If you try and touch any of her toys, BAM, out come the paws, "mine, mine, mine". Let's be clear, these are her toys. I go into the kitchen to help with dinner and NOW she decides to pick at her food. While the wife dishes up OUR dinner, she begins "talking" to us, yes I know your thinking I've lost my marbles, but she communicates in her own way with little sounds like "meh". I stupidly ask her how her day was and if she made any new friends, just as you would with a normal person, and she responds in her own unique way ( she can really get quite animated). Dinner is served and we're at the table, and guess who's there, on the table, thinking to herself where's MY food. I've then got to go back into the kitchen and grate some cheddar cheese for her, put it on a small plate and bring it back to the table. NOW she's happy and now we can ALL eat. Dinner is finished, dishes are done and now it's time for dessert. The wife will get her Greek Yoghurt (yuk) and I'll get a small pot of RiceCream (soft rice in custard) and I try and hide it until the wife and I are on the couch. So here we are, sitting comfortably, watching TV, and I get my RiceCream and begin to tear the lid off, and guess who appears, yep you guessed it. So now it's the two of us, sharing the same spoon, a spoon for her and if I'm lucky a spoon for me. She's not really chewing, it's more like inhaling, and there's bits of rice being flicked by her tongue all over me, excellent, I wont be wearing these trousers tomorrow. She's now had enough and she's back on the rug, and now the cleaning starts. Legs in the air, tongue between the toes, cats are great at yoga. After 30 minutes she's now ready to go back outside. I'm thinking WTF !!! You've just cleaned yourself, but then she starts talking, and I talk back, but the message is clear, she wants to go out. The wife has since gone to bed, I finish watching TV, turn the lights out, and open the front door, and NOW she's ready to come in. I get cleaned up, I'm in the bathroom, oh thats right, I've got to turn the tap on, because you know who wants a drink. Taps on, water temperature just right, yep, up she comes.... two minutes later "I" get to use it and I can brush my teeth. Okey dokey, time for bed, as I'm walking in she jumps up onto the side table and waits for me. I get into bed, once I'm settled, she jumps up as well and nestle's in between my arm and my chest with her front paws and head on my heart. She's looking at me with those big eye's and it's special time. I give her head and face a scratch, and then I get a little kiss. I'm almost asleep....and the cleaning starts... again It's 6:00am (what, already !!!), and I can hear scratching, sorry, clawing on the wife's side of the bed. I sleep REALLY soundly, so trying to wake me 1st thing in the morning isn't going to work. However, Cleo doesn't seem to mind doing this about five inches away from the wife and saying "meh", "meh", "MEH" until my wife (bless her) gets up and let's her out. It's the start of another glorious day in cat heaven. Would I change any of it ? Not a chance. Having her in our life enriches it in so many ways. We don't have children, yet, but having Cleo is really like having another member of the family. Yeah, sure, I don't scratch the couch, I don't play with my food (as often as I'd like), jumping around the living room - at my age !!!, and screaming "MEH" at the top of my lungs at 6am directly in my sleeping wife's face - I don't think her sense of humour would stretch that far. Without her, life just wouldn't be the same. As long as Cleo's happy, and as long as the wife is happy...then I'm happy. That is the secret of life :-)  
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Mar 13, 2014 04:13
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Sounds like Cleo has you pretty well trained. 
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Mar 13, 2014 04:18
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Deteriorata posted:Sounds like Cleo has you pretty well trained. Yeah, you're not kidding....I wonder if I should be wearing a collar LOL. I've got to say though, those meaty stick things she gets stink to high heaven. And we've found a good use for the times she doesn't eat her wet food, we wait until her boyfriend "Mr Ginger" (I don't know his real name, he never introduced himself and he doesn't wear a collar either) turns up and he eats it. It is funny, "Mr Ginger" has to jump over the fence, as he can't fit through the gap under the gate, hmmm, I wonder why....
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Mar 13, 2014 04:39
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One of my cat's has a white/pink nose and the vet said if he's going to be in the window hanging out in the sun he should probably be wearing sun screen. Anything I should know about this? What kind of sunscreen is best?
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Mar 13, 2014 07:48
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NewcastleBrown posted:One of my cat's has a white/pink nose and the vet said if he's going to be in the window hanging out in the sun he should probably be wearing sun screen. Anything I should know about this? What kind of sunscreen is best? Maybe it work better to get some kind of UV blocking film for the windows he likes. That way you wouldn't have to apply sunscreen to your cat daily.
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Mar 13, 2014 11:59
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Think my cat has a UTI, taking him to the vet today, hope it's not worse (stones, etc). He is eating food and stuff and seems otherwise normal, but he has been squatting at random spots and looking like he wants to pee but nothing really comes out. I changed the litter to fresh and he got in and I didn't see any pee really coming out much. He also went back a few times over the few hours that evening I was awake. Just hoping I don't have to spend a grand+...
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Mar 13, 2014 12:03
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Well, after a week our cat finally returned to us.  While I was out in the morning getting my bicycle, I suddenly saw her approaching me. We're never going to let her out without a leash again, it's too risky, especially with all the forests around us. Now it's up to me to remove all the posters that have been spread. 
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Mar 13, 2014 12:25
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Dutchfool posted:Well, after a week our cat finally returned to us. I'm just glad that she came back. I just had my tabbby (1 yearish) vacccinated for Leukemia then boosted, and I'm about to do the same for my littlest one. I want them to be able to play out in the grassy area adjacent to my flat, but I'm still scared even though my neighbour does that with no problems. There's a slightly busy street nearby, and I'm afraid that they'll get confused and run off if they go outside. Despite that, I don't want to leash them, but they could really use the stimulation of fresh air and a new environment... not sure what to do. 
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Mar 13, 2014 15:54
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Serella posted:Nope. It's basically Science Diet or Royal Canin. The wet varieties suck less because they're not full of corn, but those are really your only options. I wasn't the most thrilled when my cat had bladder stones and had to switch food. I hybred the two wet and dry. My cat has been more of a grazer, so she gets half a can of Royal Canin S/O in the AM and half in the PM. The rest of the day she has dry food to make up for the rest of the time.
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Mar 13, 2014 16:09
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JustJeff88 posted:I'm just glad that she came back. I just had my tabbby (1 yearish) vacccinated for Leukemia then boosted, and I'm about to do the same for my littlest one. I want them to be able to play out in the grassy area adjacent to my flat, but I'm still scared even though my neighbour does that with no problems. There's a slightly busy street nearby, and I'm afraid that they'll get confused and run off if they go outside. Despite that, I don't want to leash them, but they could really use the stimulation of fresh air and a new environment... not sure what to do. Cats really don't need to go outside to be stimulated. Some cats do like being on a leash but even doing that isn't terribly important. Get some interactive toys like Da Bird or some balls you can roll and between that and having a buddy cat they will be just fine indoors. I have had indoor only cats all of my life and they are all well adjusted and happy and not a single one got hit by a car! The one cat we've had that was originally born outside you couldn't get to leave the house if you tried. They actually love it indoors, and the local songbirds and motorists love it too.
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Mar 13, 2014 18:06
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Stairs posted:Cats really don't need to go outside to be stimulated. Some cats do like being on a leash but even doing that isn't terribly important. Get some interactive toys like Da Bird or some balls you can roll and between that and having a buddy cat they will be just fine indoors. I have had indoor only cats all of my life and they are all well adjusted and happy and not a single one got hit by a car! The one cat we've had that was originally born outside you couldn't get to leave the house if you tried. They actually love it indoors, and the local songbirds and motorists love it too. We have one cat (captured semi-feral) that absolutely insists on eating on our back porch. She will not touch food in the house, but has to be on the porch to eat. After eating, she hides in the garage until she scratches at the other door to be let back in. Always out the back door, always in the front door. She also likes me to pet her and scratch her back as she eats. In other words, cats are psychos and you will never understand what's going on in their deranged minds.
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Mar 13, 2014 18:15
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Deteriorata posted:We have one cat (captured semi-feral) that absolutely insists on eating on our back porch. She will not touch food in the house, but has to be on the porch to eat. After eating, she hides in the garage until she scratches at the other door to be let back in. Always out the back door, always in the front door. She also likes me to pet her and scratch her back as she eats. Well sure, if they're semi feral they're going to have issues. But we are talking about normal cats being indoor only for the sake of not getting turned to kitty soup and ruining the week of some dude on his way home from work. Honestly, this whole "hurp derp better let them outside even though I know it's dangerous." stuff irritates me far more than it should. My inlaws have had tons of cats get flattened and with the last one (who I LOVED) I tried reminding them nearly daily of the risk they were taking but they kept letting her out even after she was mauled by a Tom. That sweet cat then drank anti freeze some neighbor left out and I had to listen to the keening wail of my mother in law being devastated while simultaneously having to bite my own tongue and not scream at her that I loving TOLD HER SO. There's a difference between having a rescued feral already set in their ways and intentionally teaching your self raised cat to go outside. One is in general unfixable as part of their ingrained upbringing, the other is being a lovely and irresponsible owner. Seriously, would you let your dog roam the neighborhood unsupervised?
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Mar 13, 2014 18:37
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SynthOrange posted:So this was just dumping them in the same home together and no seperation at all? I always had a designated "new cat" room where I'd confine the new cat if I wasn't there or wasn't going to be available to intervene if there was a huge kerfluffle. I'd bring the new cat in and let them have a couple of days alone in the new cat room so they could finish freaking out about being kidnapped, and then just open the door and let them sniff and puff and swipe at each other.
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Mar 13, 2014 20:55
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Stairs posted:Well sure, if they're semi feral they're going to have issues. But we are talking about normal cats being indoor only for the sake of not getting turned to kitty soup and ruining the week of some dude on his way home from work. My inlaws live on a farm. For them, farm cats are free, self-maintaining pest control. They have a small bed in the garage and a daily scoop of kitty chow, but they are left alone to their own devices in the great outdoors. Every other spring they get two or three kittens from a local litter, because that's how long their cats last. Equipment, predators, illness, feral wanderlust, and the country highway that runs in front of their house claims them all. I loved my Ozma back when she was their Missy, and I couldn't bear to see her go the way of her two brothers, so I asked for her. The terms of getting her on my lease at the time was a dreadful ordeal and hardly my chosen scenario, but I couldn't let her disappear. Anyhow: she went from having wide open fields to a small apartment and adapted without problem. Don't risk your pet's life when a cat tree, window perch, and 30 minutes of play a day can meet her needs.
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Mar 13, 2014 22:59
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So my cat, after 3-4 years of being good, is now developing a wire-chewing problem. I zip-tied most of the computer cables together and above the ground, which helped, but he just loving loves thin power cords. I've already gone through 2 each power adapters for my modem and router. I've tried 2 different kinds of bitter sprays, rubbing alcohol, hot sauce, etc. on the cords, but no dice. It's a pretty big area under my desk I'm trying to make him avoid, so those air-spray things probably wouldn't work. Any advice?
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Mar 14, 2014 15:49
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drunk asian neighbor posted:So my cat, after 3-4 years of being good, is now developing a wire-chewing problem. I zip-tied most of the computer cables together and above the ground, which helped, but he just loving loves thin power cords. I've already gone through 2 each power adapters for my modem and router. I've tried 2 different kinds of bitter sprays, rubbing alcohol, hot sauce, etc. on the cords, but no dice. It's a pretty big area under my desk I'm trying to make him avoid, so those air-spray things probably wouldn't work. Any advice? Can you buy some thick plastic conduit to wrap around your cables?
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Mar 14, 2014 15:55
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Stairs posted:Well sure, if they're semi feral they're going to have issues. But we are talking about normal cats being indoor only for the sake of not getting turned to kitty soup and ruining the week of some dude on his way home from work. I resent this. While I see your point, all I wanted to say was that I have a nice tranquil grassy area outside of my little porch that I would like my two to be able to enjoy that small, safe space. My neighbour does it with her two cats, one of which is the brother of my littlest, and it's great. I agree that letting them go everywhere is a terrible idea, I would just like to replicate the success that my neighbour had. They wouldn't be free to roam non-stop, it would just be like recreation time at school... in a controlled area and only when I am around.
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Mar 14, 2014 15:57
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Stairs posted:Seriously, would you let your dog roam the neighborhood unsupervised? JustJeff88 posted:I resent this. While I see your point, all I wanted to say was that I have a nice tranquil grassy area outside of my little porch that I would like my two to be able to enjoy that small, safe space. My neighbour does it with her two cats, one of which is the brother of my littlest, and it's great. I agree that letting them go everywhere is a terrible idea, I would just like to replicate the success that my neighbour had. They wouldn't be free to roam non-stop, it would just be like recreation time at school... in a controlled area and only when I am around. I don't understand why you are so angry since you aren't doing what Stairs is talking about?
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Mar 14, 2014 16:05
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Iron Crowned posted:Can you buy some thick plastic conduit to wrap around your cables? There's too many of them going to too many different places - I bunched most of them together but the power cords for the modem/router need to be separate.
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Mar 14, 2014 16:06
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drunk asian neighbor posted:There's too many of them going to too many different places - I bunched most of them together but the power cords for the modem/router need to be separate. Well, if he's ignoring the standard bad tastes, shielding it in some fashion is all I've got. I mean it would look stupid to have a 3/4" piece of tubing covering a thin power cable, but I doubt he'll be chewing through that.
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Mar 14, 2014 16:14
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I need to fatten up my cat, and I'm not sure how to do it. Our cat Twig has always been on the skinny side of normal. He is picky about food, eating only dry kibble, and responds to anything else with nothing more than a sniff. We've tried giving him a variety of fancy treats, as well as trying to sneak him some people food every once in a while. He won't even touch chicken or tuna. My husband and I took him to the vet this past week because he was having some digestive issues, and the vet told us that he has lost a full pound since they had last seen him in September. Fattening up the Twig is complicated further by the fact that we have another cat, Beans, whose diet we're trying to restrict. We went from free feeding to feeding twice a day, about a 1/2 cup each time. At first, we were concerned that Twig wouldn't be getting enough food, so we watched the situation closely. Twig never begs for food or even acts excited when it's food time. There's almost always a little bit of kibble left over from the previous feeding. This probably means that the situation is not doing much for porky little Beans, but Twig always has some food available if he's hungry. If I got some heartier, fattier food to give to Twig, I would have to make sure he was the only one with access to it. For a normal cat, I would just put Beans in a closed room for a few minutes while I fed Twig, but Twig is so disinterested in anything other than his plain, dry kibble that this wouldn't work. He would have to be super, super hungry to eat anything else. Do you guys have any tips?
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Mar 14, 2014 16:34
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JustJeff88 posted:I resent this. While I see your point, all I wanted to say was that I have a nice tranquil grassy area outside of my little porch that I would like my two to be able to enjoy that small, safe space. My neighbour does it with her two cats, one of which is the brother of my littlest, and it's great. I agree that letting them go everywhere is a terrible idea, I would just like to replicate the success that my neighbour had. They wouldn't be free to roam non-stop, it would just be like recreation time at school... in a controlled area and only when I am around. Oh, I wasn't referring to you, but to the person who said "cats are psychos so you better just let them do whatever." which is a common excuse people have to wash their hands of cat responsibility. My previous post to that was directed to you: that cats don't really need to go outside to be happy if they have a cat buddy and toys. I can tell you are actually concerned about not letting your cats get pancaked. Now, in reference to your idea of supervising them on the lawn: how does the neighbor prevent the cats from just running off somewhere else? I like the idea of being able to recall a cat and have it work, I've just never actually seen it. Stairs fucked around with this message at 17:19 on Mar 14, 2014 |
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Mar 14, 2014 17:13
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Stairs posted:Oh, I wasn't referring to you, but to the person who said "cats are psychos so you better just let them do whatever." which is a common excuse people have to wash their hands of cat responsibility. My previous post to that was directed to you: that cats don't really need to go outside to be happy if they have a cat buddy and toys. I can tell you are actually concerned about not letting your cats get pancaked. Your admonition about never letting cats outside is rather over-the-top and silly. Whether cats should be able to roam unsupervised is entirely context dependent. We live in a suburb with little traffic and few predators. Our cats go outside whenever they want (as do all the neighbor cats) and there have been no incidents at all that I'm aware of in the 20 years we've been living here. Dogs are required to be leashed outside by law. They tend to revert to their wolf instincts and start roaming in very dangerous packs when left to themselves. Leash laws are to protect humans, not the dogs.
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Mar 14, 2014 17:28
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Rather Tonic posted:I need to fatten up my cat, and I'm not sure how to do it. If the vet found no actual health issues to explain the weight loss, then that's good, usually rapid weight loss is a sign of some huge illness. My suggestion is liver. Stinky, stinky liver in any form, but preferably actual beef liver, cooked by you, would be very hard for most cats to resist. The best formula to use is: "The stinkier something is to you, the more your cat will want it." Another good (temporary) idea is some super smelly cat junk food, like 9 Lives tuna and egg flavor. It's like the cat version of deep fried fair food in quality, but there's something about that cheap poo poo that makes cats obsess over it. It has to be the tuna and egg flavor though, not the regular tuna flavor, and it smells like death and farts to give you fair warning.
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Mar 14, 2014 17:34
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drunk asian neighbor posted:So my cat, after 3-4 years of being good, is now developing a wire-chewing problem. I zip-tied most of the computer cables together and above the ground, which helped, but he just loving loves thin power cords. I've already gone through 2 each power adapters for my modem and router. I've tried 2 different kinds of bitter sprays, rubbing alcohol, hot sauce, etc. on the cords, but no dice. It's a pretty big area under my desk I'm trying to make him avoid, so those air-spray things probably wouldn't work. Any advice?
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Mar 14, 2014 17:38
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Deteriorata posted:Your admonition about never letting cats outside is rather over-the-top and silly. Whether cats should be able to roam unsupervised is entirely context dependent. We live in a suburb with little traffic and few predators. Our cats go outside whenever they want (as do all the neighbor cats) and there have been no incidents at all that I'm aware of in the 20 years we've been living here. I don't find it over the top or silly when I have personally seen it in my low traffic suburban neighborhood. Everyone always says "Oh that doesn't happen around here!" until someone squishes Mr. Fluffles and then they act like they never expected it because "Mr. Fluffles was always so careful!" Then these same people forget all about the lesson they just learned once Mr. Fluffles' replacement starts going outside since its "mean" to make him stay somewhere he might not get run over in. Wash, rinse, repeat. And for the record, I live in one of the most low traffic, golf cart soccer mom dominated, puppy-in-the-purse suburbs in the United States and this poo poo even happens here. You can tell yourself it doesn't, but it does.
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Mar 14, 2014 17:45
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Deteriorata posted:about cats going outside as they please I'm curious as to whether or not your area has a cat bylaw, as well as where other people who let their cats roam live. My city does and I know several people in violation of it. I realize that there are some cats who are content to merely go sun outside on the porch for a while and then come back in, but far more of them like to wander far and wide. So, if there are bylaws in place, how do people justify it? Directly from the bylaw itself: RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE OWNER 3 (1) No owner shall allow or permit his cat to run at large. (2) No owner shall allow or permit his cat to damage public property or the property of any other person. I also don't understand the mindset from the simple perspective of all cats and dogs are pets that we love. Most people don't (at least, I hope they don't) let their dogs wander about just because the dog loves to be outside. So why do they to think it's okay for cats to do it?
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Mar 14, 2014 18:24
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Stairs posted:Oh, I wasn't referring to you, but to the person who said "cats are psychos so you better just let them do whatever." which is a common excuse people have to wash their hands of cat responsibility. My previous post to that was directed to you: that cats don't really need to go outside to be happy if they have a cat buddy and toys. I can tell you are actually concerned about not letting your cats get pancaked. Fair enough - sorry for the misunderstanding. Simply put, my neighbour has two and a cat door installed in the sliding door out to her porach area - we are both at ground level, of course. Her cats usually go outside to do their business or if it's a particularly nice sunny day, but they always come back on their own. They don't wander and this side of the building is closer to the road but away from the semi-feral colony that lives nearby, from which both of my cats and one of hers were adopted and tamed. She never trained her cats, they just do that on their own. However, I had one of mine, who I have since rehomed, get out one night and she went feral on me and wouldn't come back and was in fact terrified of all people until my neighbour brought her back one day - she seemed perfectly content up until that point. I'm scared to let my guys, especially my tabby who I adopted a bit later, go out even for a second because I'm afraid of them forgetting where they live and who loves them or running in front of a car. My tuxedo was 7-8 weeks when I took him in and is very well-adjusted so he worries me less (though he is very playful and loves to "hunt"), but my tabby is very skittish and is terrified of everything that isn't me. I have a huge cage for large-breed dogs and I'm thinking about putting them in that on a nice spring day to see how they react. No random wandering, though... I wouldn't dream of it. Canadian Bakin posted:I also don't understand the mindset from the simple perspective of all cats and dogs are pets that we love. Most people don't (at least, I hope they don't) let their dogs wander about just because the dog loves to be outside. So why do they to think it's okay for cats to do it? People go by word of mouth and are too lazy/dumb/indifferent to get their facts straight, even in this age of easily-obtainable information - they think that "people can't be inside all day, so cats are the same!" or they just stick to "tradition" because they are thick. I grew up in the UK, and even though I had a bad cat allergy then and couldn't have my own, everyone let their cats outside whenever they wanted. The "cat flap" was a part of every house. Some cats would go everywhere and some would just stay in their own garden, but people then and now would never dream of keeping a cat indoors 100% of the time. America is coming around a little bit better to this, but the UK is really stuck in the past, even in more urban~ish areas.
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Mar 14, 2014 19:37
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