Yet another cat thread..

[12Footer]

Re: Yet another cat thread..

Originally posted by jsfinn:<br /> Man...you guys are scaring the hell out of me... My fiance wants a cat and I just agreed to getting one... I'm not much of a cat person and have certain criteria that the cat has to meet:<br /><br />1. Brown/Grey/Orange so that it' fur matches most things ... I'm going to hate having cat fur on my clothes.<br /><br />2. It *HAS* to be declawed. I don't want anything scratched.<br /><br />3. It's not allowed on anything but the floor, and her lap. No counters, no tables, no chairs.<br /><br />4. It's not allowed outside. Ever.<br /><br />5. It has to come from the shelter. I'm not much for killing things so I figure this is a good way to save it from being put to sleep..<br /><br />6. It has to have short fur.<br /><br />7. It ONLY eats dry food. No scraps, ever. I don't want any accidents.<br /><br />After reading all this, I'm really wondering how much it's going to destroy the house. Ugh... this sucks.

The above description is of a house cat, which is a totally different animal than a cat who is allowed outside with all it's "cat equipment" to play with. The two are like different species.<br />Most house cats make ideal pets, provided the criteria she laid-out about are met.<br />Once a cat is allowed to roam outside, it's over..Spayed or not, it's over.<br />Might as well shoot it before it finds another use for your car's interior.

 

[fixin]

Re: Yet another cat thread..

Originally posted by jsfinn:<br /> Man...you guys are scaring the hell out of me... My fiance wants a cat and I just agreed to getting one... I'm not much of a cat person and have certain criteria that the cat has to meet:<br /><br />1. Brown/Grey/Orange so that it' fur matches most things ... I'm going to hate having cat fur on my clothes.<br /><br />2. It *HAS* to be declawed. I don't want anything scratched.<br /><br />3. It's not allowed on anything but the floor, and her lap. No counters, no tables, no chairs.<br /><br />4. It's not allowed outside. Ever.<br /><br />5. It has to come from the shelter. I'm not much for killing things so I figure this is a good way to save it from being put to sleep..<br /><br />6. It has to have short fur.<br /><br />7. It ONLY eats dry food. No scraps, ever. I don't want any accidents.<br /><br />After reading all this, I'm really wondering how much it's going to destroy the house. Ugh... this sucks.

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: Yet another cat thread..

Fixin, as for your #3 Keeping them on the floor idea, it won't happen unless someone is there ALL the time. Cats have a natural need to climb and be up high on stuff. Ask anyone that has an indoor cat, they eventually will find a way to run out when you are least expecting it. A cat is like a toddler, you just don't know what to expect.<br /><br />I have heard that some states are making it illegal to de-claw a cat.

 

[jsfinn]

Re: Yet another cat thread..

Heh..I didn't mean to hijack this thread..sorry about that.<br /><br />The cat will be an indoor cat and we plan on getting one from a shelter that is already declawed. A lot of people say you can teach the cat to not scratch things but in order to teach it, it has to do something wrong. I'm not willing to let a cat destroy anything in order to teach it.<br />Mark, They don't de-tooth cats, do they? <br /><br />12Footer, your comments made me feel better about this. There is a wild cat that lives in the gutter across the street - it's been there a few years. It's kind of small and afraid of everything - it won't let you get closer than 20 feet to it before it runs back in the sewer. Lucky for me, I think it's just that ONE and not a colony of 'em. <br /><br />Mayfloat, I'm hoping she gets a little older cat that's maybe a little tired. Hopefully, this will cut down on that...

 

[Raghauler]

Re: Yet another cat thread..

Advise to keep the house cat off the kitchen counter, table, etc. Never fails...<br /><br />Get a roll of wide (2" -3") clear cellophane tape, tear off squares and randomly place sticky side up anywhere you don't want the cat to go. When you return home later, you may find a few pieces of tape missing, and a terrified feline with really wide pupils huddled in some safe spot in the house. They are not likely to go back to wherever it is you left the tape anytime soon, but if they do, repeat the process. Like dogs, cats have a pavlovian learning curve, and they absolutely hate tape stuck to their paws.<br /><br />Another pointer... to keep them out of a Christmas tree, blow up a few balloons and leave them under the tree. Sooner or later, they bounce one up into the needles, exploding the balloon. Same result as above... terrified feline with really wide pupils huddled in some safe spot in the house.

 

[Twidget]

Re: Yet another cat thread..

I have some goofy neighbors that 'had' a cat. It was declawed and they alway put it in the back yard. Theory was that the cat couldn't get over the 6' privacy fence.<br /><br />My neighborhood, for some reason has attracted people that all belive they need 2 labs in their very small yard.<br /><br />The cat evidently got into one yard, was chased across the yard by the dogs, jumped the fence and landed between the two dogs in the second yard. One dead kitty about 20 seconds later. <br /><br />Goofy neighbor is now mad at the people whos dogs killed their cat. I still cant figure out how its the dogs fault, they were in their fenced yard when it happened.

 

[surplusman]

Re: Yet another cat thread..

The way I figure it, if the cat can outrun 3500 fps, I respect that and they can go free. If not, .... well thats where the dogs can find them. I usually reccomend that they dont run, for they will just die tired. I have not met a cat yet that I respected.

 

[BoatBuoy]

Re: Yet another cat thread..

surplus, Are you allowed to discharge weapons in Pittsburg? If so, you have a bigger problem than cats.

 

[Tinkerer]

Re: Yet another cat thread..

Originally posted by Mark42:<br /> <br />Wife and I coaxed them into boxes, drove a few miles and released them in the woods by a stream. <br /><br />I thought that showed great kindness on my part, considering the .22 alternative. <br /><br />

Maybe it's different in the US, but here one of the worst threats to native wildlife is feral cats, i.e. domestic cats living and breeding in the wild. They kill bird life like nothing. They're smarter than rabbits, like that would be hard, and breed fast. <br /><br />I don't like killing things to no purpose, but if it's a choice between killing a cat and releasing it into the wild, kill it and save the wildlife.

 

[Tinkerer]

Re: Yet another cat thread..

Originally posted by 12Footer:<br /> I've trained Bambi the bowsprit wonder-dog to attack any feline that it sees.<br />She has a few battle scars, but is undaunted!<br />

A dog that needs to be trained to attack a cat?<br /><br />How do you train it?<br /><br />Show it a cat and make sure you're not between it and the cat?

 

[ebbtide176]

Re: Yet another cat thread..

one of the worst threats to native wildlife is feral cats, i.e. domestic cats living and breeding in the wild. They kill bird life like nothing. They're smarter than rabbits, like that would be hard, and breed fast. <br /><br />I don't like killing things to no purpose, but if it's a choice between killing a cat and releasing it into the wild, kill it and save the wildlife.

i agree. and i have 2 outdoor, neutered cats. we always had birdhouses/feeders. i had to rethink the placement of the houses. i've seen a whole group of baby quail dead in a line, all facing the same direction, no more than 5-6ft apart, like they'd been dominos- and without being eaten. just anything small that moves is a plaything for a cat, until its dead. also, several other young birds, rabbits, lizards, snakes have been rescued by me, too late to save them. the dead wild critters i've found are too numerous to count.<br /><br />the cats come when called, can be petted, are friendly, but otherwise they are almost not worth having. i don't want any indoor pets, although they were inside before age of neutering. <br /><br />the best practical help they give us, is they keep the other neighborhood cats away, which was a problem before. my nextdoor neighbors have a house & yard full, probably 10 at least.<br />one of them was a nuisance, spraying inside my jeep & boat, and i almost started to 'go on a hunt', but like a great fortune i found him beside my house under a bush dead, a few days later. my other neighbor who loaned me his BB gun thought for sure i'd done him in, but he appeared to have major crushed ribs like a car had hit him.

 

[KennyKenCan]

Re: Yet another cat thread..

Cats?<br /><br />Tastes like chicken.

 

[12Footer]

Re: Yet another cat thread..

Originally posted by Tinkerer:<br />

Originally posted by 12Footer:<br /> I've trained Bambi the bowsprit wonder-dog to attack any feline that it sees.<br />She has a few battle scars, but is undaunted!<br />

A dog that needs to be trained to attack a cat?<br /><br />How do you train it?<br /><br />Show it a cat and make sure you're not between it and the cat?

Hey....She is smaller than most of the cats in my hood. She had to first learn that cats do not play with dogs. She then had to learn to cover her own six, because the fargin cats would ambush her while she peed in the grass (like a good girl,BTW). She has matured to the point of attacking on-sight, any feline she sees. She is too small to harm them, but her blitzkrieg-like attacks scare the cats right up the nearest tree. She does what she can, and as soon as I can justify poison bait, she will lose her gig.

 

[Tinkerer]

Re: Yet another cat thread..

Hey....She is smaller than most of the cats in my hood. [/QB]

Then she's doing real well.<br /><br />Most dogs lose a fight, or more accurately a confrontation, with a cat that stands its ground anyway.<br /><br />I had a killer boxer when I was a kid. Great dog with people but ridiculously aggressive with other male dogs. It'd attack any male dog within view. It'd go into a pack of a dozen dogs and clean up those that didn't run away, starting with the biggest. <br /><br />Never saw it beat a cat that stood its ground, including the one it treed and that I pushed out of the tree with a pole. It landed right on the dog, clawed it, got on the ground with its back arched and fur puffed up and hissed and swiped at my dog. Clawed the dog up but the dog never laid a glove on it. Dog was frantic. Eventually the cat just walked off in its own time all arched and puffed up. Dog didn't know what to do. <br /><br />You gotta admire the way cats stand up to dogs. <br /><br />It's just a pity that all that skill and courage is wasted on such a useless animal.

 

[12Footer]

Re: Yet another cat thread..

Pound-for-pound, cats are the perfect predator.<br />The only chance any dog has in a fight with a cat, is to run it down and get a lucky grab at it's neck. I saw a large mastif dragging half a 1/4" chain leash, kill two cats before I could shout "HEY DOG! LEAVE THAT CAT ALLONE!"<br />Like he would pay me any mind.... But it caught the first cat by it's head and shook it side-to-side like a rag. It then dropped that cat as soon as the other tried to leave the tree it half-way climbed. It grabbed this cat by the neck and tossed it into the air. The cat tried to re-climb the same tree, but the dog got it by the rear end and shook it like the first one...Game over.<br />My dog would not stand a chance with a full grown cat, but she does try.

 

[surplusman]

Re: Yet another cat thread..

BoatBuoy, I actually live about 30 minutes outside of pittsburgh. Lots of farmland and cows. My buddy growing up had about 100 acres that he boarded and trained horses on. The darn barn cats were a real nusance. They really bothered the horses and got into all the feed. They bred fater than we could shoot them. They were mean too! Grabbed one once and barely got away with my arm.

 

[demsvmejm]

Re: Yet another cat thread..

All this hatred of felines is nothing but bigotry. I agree the laws need to be more equal, but sadly most jurisdictions don't even legally acknowledge cats. I have two, both indoor cats. They go out on a string in the warmer months. We get lots of jokes about that. No they aren't really good for much but eating, using th elitter box and leaving "presents" somewhere in the house at night, only to be found during that 3:00am trip to the bathroom. My male is 2 and 14#'s. He's declawed and neutred. I never believed in declawing but the shelter he came from already did it when he was young. He's quite an amusing idiot. A wonderful pet overall. My female still has her claws and is not fixed. She's dumb as a stump, and mean during the day, but as sweet as can be at bedtime. We tolerate her. Ther eis no need to be cruel or mean to either of them. We had a stray show up and wouldn't leave. She was as sweet and affectionate as could be. But she wouldn't get along with the existing female, so to the SIL's barn she went. NO problems with the horses, or the feed. Also no problems with rodents.<br />To keep your cats from scratching the furniture, door casings, your leg, try catnip scratching pads from Cat Claws, web page Once we got a scratch pad, the furniture was never nervous again.<br /><br />And I'm sure there will be many more viscious posts trying to substantiate the senseless hatred against cats. It's simple really, if you don't like them, don't have one. If there's strays in your neighborhood, don't leave things open. Cat's don't gnaw their way in, they don't have opposable thumbs, they aren't magical. <br /><br />And to show that I have a snense of humor, and don't take myself too seriously...<br />Where's the kitten meow mein?

 

[Tinkerer]

Re: Yet another cat thread..

Originally posted by David L. Moore:<br /> No they aren't really good for much but eating ...

Never tasted one myself.<br /><br />Too afraid of chomping down on a bullet.