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Heya goons. My mom is thinking of adopting a cat here in South California and while I would love to have a little guy running around, I'm kinda apprehensive about the idea. We live in a really hilly suburb with neighbours who have dogs. Our property is large enough, but I worry that those assholes might get through the fence (I saw them managing to crawl under the fence into another dude's yard). My other issue is the wildlife. We have raccoons, coyotes and eagles around here. Did you know that apparently eagles are strong enough to pick up kittens? The previous owner had to fish out her neighbor's new kitten after an eagle dropped it into her pool. Poor guy didn't make it  With all that in mind, how do I go about raising a cat (or two?) around here, keeping them happy, preventing them from being hit by a car or becoming someone else's lunch?
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Sep 23, 2015 06:41
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SSNeoman posted:With all that in mind, how do I go about raising a cat (or two?) around here, keeping them happy, preventing them from being hit by a car or becoming someone else's lunch? You don't let the loving cat outside, it's really not that difficult.
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Sep 23, 2015 13:29
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In most areas of the US it's common sense to have indoor-only cats. Your area seems like it fits in this CATegory.
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Sep 23, 2015 14:56
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As someone who lives in SoCal and works in a SoCal veterinary clinic, I can tell you that all of our happy, healthy patients are indoor-only cats. We get a few cases a year, both small dogs and cats, that are coyote attacks. Almost all of them attack around the neck, and that's assuming you can get the coyote to drop your animal/leave it alone AND get to the clinic with your animal still alive. I handle many corpses with their throats torn out, and that's not even counting the hawk/owl attacks that we get, even the rare mountain lion. I'm in Southern Orange County and I can tell you that we always, always have a 'lost cat' sign in our window. It's heartbreaking to be on either end. Just don't do it. Keep your cats inside, they may act like they want to go outside but ultimately you and they will be happier with an indoor life. If you are worried about them escaping, chip and register them so they can get picked up. It's a small miracle whenever one does get picked up, because if they aren't chipped you can bet they will be euthed at the shelters - no kill shelters will flat-out refuse to accept adult cats in our area anymore. There are just too many of them. I'm never worried about the cars. I'm always worried about everything else. Edit: I wanted to add a couple of things. First of all, coyotes are hungry and desperate enough to attack toddlers in broad daylight. Please assume just because you 'haven't seen any' your critters are safe. In addition, I can assure you that all of the animals that were breathing when they came into our clinic survived the surgery and care after the attack. So it's not a totally hopeless situation, just an incredibly dangerous and scary one. It always happens very quickly and honestly it just isn't worth it for the 'freedom' they would get in the hot socal weather. Chaosfeather fucked around with this message at 17:52 on Sep 23, 2015 |
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Sep 23, 2015 17:25
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Khizan posted:You don't let the loving cat outside, it's really not that difficult. I'm not empty quoting this so birbmod doesn't get sads. But yeah.
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Sep 23, 2015 17:56
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it's a really, really bad idea to let your cats out in SoCal. between the coyotes, the cars, the raccoons, and all the hawks we have around here, you'll be lucky if your cats make it. And don't assume they will be smart enough to stay out of yard with dogs, we had not one but two cats get brutally murdered in a week because they were dumb enough to think that going into a yard with 3 dogs was a great idea. Outside cats are also super destructive towards native wildlife populations and are estimated to have one kill per 17 hours outside. Cats were responsible for the extinction of 33 bird species and collectively kill 4 billion animals and ~500 million birds a year. Just keep your cat inside man. its better for everyone involved
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Sep 23, 2015 18:05
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I had a pet outdoor cat as a child in the boring dc suburbs and one day I found it half eaten to death. That was in my backyard with a 6 foot fence, not even adding mountain lions or coyotes or whatever wack-rear end California crap you have to contend with. So yeah another vote for "indoor cat"
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Sep 23, 2015 18:27
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Every cat I've ever had has been outdoor and they've all died horrible deaths Even the one that lived to be 19 still got hit by a car in the end (the rest, except for 1 or 2, never made it past age 4 or 5)
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Sep 23, 2015 19:50
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Yeah that's about the response I was expecting. Now to convince my mom about this  If the cat's gonna be an indoor cat I should also get a second one to keep him/her company, right? Should I two older cats, two kittens, one older or one kitten? Anyone also have any good articles on the benefits of having two cats from vet folks? My folks are the sort who want me to show my work and google is failing me. Thank you for the help thus far. It's super appreciated 
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Sep 23, 2015 21:00
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More cats is always the answer. Phoneposting but here have a petfinder article https://www.petfinder.com/pet-adoption/cat-adoption/adopt-second-cat/ Spitballing, I'd guess that picking up two cats you know peacefully interact at the same shelter or whatever might be an easy option. I say older cats personally, like 2 or 3 years old. But kittens are adorable so ymmv. slicing up eyeballs fucked around with this message at 21:11 on Sep 23, 2015 |
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Sep 23, 2015 21:08
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Even if google-fu is failing you, there should be plenty of clinics around if they really want to talk to a 'professional' to get their advice. Although I'm sure they exist, I haven't met a doctor or a tech who was all "yeah totally keep your cats outdoor around here". Same goes with multiple cats, two is a pretty good number, but three generally won't hurt if that's what you are looking for. http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74135.html Here's a good link from UC Davis, which if it doesn't get the respect of your parents then I don't know what will. http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Coyote-Warnings-Issued-SoCal-Residents-312850931.html Here's something showing coyote attacks on people mid-OC, where many people don't expect them, just so they don't wave it off as a bunch of scientists being hypothetical or whatever. The petfinder link is a good one concerning kitties, but it may not really be a problem after all. I personally prefer older cats, but if your family is smitten with the idea of a kitten, there are plenty of shelters who have whole or partial litters. Some of them will want to go home with a sibling and this will be encouraged by the shelter workers more often than not.
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Sep 23, 2015 21:31
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I see. Thanks for those links guys! I'll definitely talk to my local shelters too
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Sep 23, 2015 21:42
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Along with what everybody else said here are some BIRD STATISTICS! Everybody loves BIRD STATISTICS!!!LITERALLY A BIRD posted:I know it's hard to post Serious Bird Facts while sporting this username but a lot of people don't understand how significant the impact of cats is on local wildlife, so here we go Fluffy Bunnies posted:I'm not empty quoting this so birbmod doesn't get sads. But yeah. emptyquotes are ok girlie but ty 
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Sep 24, 2015 22:10
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We ended up getting two cats. One is a 5 month old black shorthair and the other is a 7 month old tabby. The black one has taken to the house really well and is really friendly and playful. The tabby is still adjusting. He seems to be doing okay, and plays with the shorthair, but my mom said that he apparently just randomly swats the shorthair from time to time. Like the shorthair would be lying on the floor and he would come up and paw him in the face for no reason. He's only been here for a few days, so I dunno if it's just him adjusting to his new place or if it's something serious. The younger guy is just a well-mannered cat, so I'm not sure if he'd be able to fight back.
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Oct 6, 2015 08:19
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That's cats. There is an adjustment period and, like you being stuck with any other human for a prolonged period of time, there will be spats once in a while. "Fighting" is also a game, especially for kittens. It could be that the shorthair won't participate, which is fine. I'd only be concerned once the claws come out and go for the eyes, stuff like that. Don't be shocked if there's some nipping too - most of the time you are looking at stuff that results in a shallow scab at the worst. If they seriously start going at it, spitting and the whole nine yards, then you might want to consider finding a solution. I've seen some incredibly mild-mannered cats become bossy fighters when push comes to shove, so don't assume that the calm one will automatically lose. You'll know when it becomes a problem, so let's just hope it doesn't get to that. As the cats adjust, you'll learn their body language which will help a lot. Congrats on the kittens!
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Oct 6, 2015 16:28
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Alright, thank you. My folks were just worried because the little one started to claw furniture just like the big one does, which we're gonna have to do something about. The big one is also kind of afraid of dudes, so he runs away from me. I just hope he doesn't cause too much trouble for the little guy, he's so nice and friendly.
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Oct 6, 2015 20:46
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I work at an emergency and critical care/specialty animal hospital in LA and there was one month where literally there was a cat or small dog attacked by a coyote at least once per day. many of these didn't make it. many who did required multiple days of intensive care (so $$$$$ and stress) for everything ranging from lacerations, internal damage, head trauma, blood loss, etc.
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Oct 7, 2015 03:51
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