<p>I’ve had cats since DH & I hit our 6 week wedding anniversary almost 23 years ago. Up until Monday, I had 4, but we just had to have one put down (odd kidney problem.) 4 was too many but our most recent addition was a knee jerk reaction to D1 leaving for college :)</p>
<p>Clean the cat box everyday and make sure that they always have fresh water. If we’re just going away for a night or two, we put out two water bowls and two food bowls. Longer than that & we have one of the teenage neighbors pop over once a day. No felines seem to mind especially since they have each other for company.</p>
<p>For a shelter cat, may I suggest looking on petfinder.com ? You can search by zip code, breed, sex, age, etc. Of the 8 cats we’ve had, 7 have been shelter cats. #8 is a purebread Ragdoll, which have the nickname of “puppy cats;” very social :)</p>
<p>You may want to watch Cats 101 (an Animal Planet series) to see if you or DH have any preferences in terms of look, coat, personality, etc.</p>
<p>I have a cat. I absolutely adore her. She’s the sweetest thing. Get them while they’re young, though. It’s always easier that way.
When you travel or go on vacation, depending on how long you’ll be away, you can just leave the cat a lot of dry food and clean water, and thoroughly clean the litter box before you leave. My cats litter box is huge so I can literally go a week without cleaning it, even though I clean it every two days (nobody wants to walk around in their own feces). I did not declaw my cat, and she has never scratched anything but her scratching post. All cats are different, though. I did fix my cat to avoid the problem of her getting her period every month and because I oddly like the fact that she’ll be innocent forever. Cats are great pets, and are so loving when they want to be. They are also independent, so they give you time to yourself, unlike dogs who are always craving attention.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for the input. We are still thinking about it. The question of de-clawing is interesting. What are the issues on both sides? (I understand why I might want to de-claw the cat–to keep her from scratching people or the furniture. I am curious what harm it does to the cat, assuming it is done safely and when the cat is very young.)</p>
<p>Amesie,
Most people’s objections to declawing stem from the fact that it is significant surgery for the cat–analogous to surgically removing the last bone in your toes. Some people simply think that it’s cruel, others cite practical concerns like the possibility of behavior problems and vulnerability to predators if the cat ever escapes outdoors. I believe the procedure is illegal in some countries. Ultimately, of course, it’s a judgment call for each pet owner.</p>
<p>Declawing a cat is in reality an amputation of its digits. See this article for a detailed factual and medical explanation of what declawing really is. [DECLAWING:</a> What You Need to Know](<a href=“http://www.declawing.com/htmls/declawing.htm]DECLAWING:”>http://www.declawing.com/htmls/declawing.htm) I grew up a dog person. Would you amputate a portion of your dog’s toes to keep its nails from scratching your hardwood floors? We now own 3 cats of a breed that is known for its climbing abilities. We do not have problems with scratching of furniture. We trim their claws once a week and have also trained them not to engage in scratching behavior with our furniture. We keep plenty of climbing trees and scratching posts around the house. I would never think of declawing our cats. If you are not willing to take the time to trim their claws regularly and teach them proper household behavior, you shouldn’t own a cat.</p>
<p>If declawing is what it takes to get a cat out of the kill shelter, I’m all for it. After all, aren’t neutering and spaying considered major medical procedures (and the cats have no say whether they want to undergo them or not)?</p>
<p>We had declawed cats, but my current kitties have all of their claws. It is not hard to trim a cat’s claws. One of my cats is an amorphous blob that barely moves (I’m exaggerating), so the procedure takes a couple of minutes. I grab the other cat who is a bit more frisky, wrap her in a “kitty blankie” and quickly trim her nails. There are kitty “manicure kits” that can be found in pet stores.</p>
<p>It is a fantastic product. We’ve been using it on our very aggressive three year old male since he was a kitten. It is a great solution for cats who scratch children (our main concern) and furniture. </p>
<p>We have also noticed that Softclaws reduces our cat’s desire to scratch. He only scratches (ineffectively) a particular wicker chair in the kitchen and he leaves all of the other furniture alone. Scratching is not a big part of his life. Soft Claws don’t harm him at all - they’re sort of like nail tips on a human, and he does not seem to notice them whatsoever. And they look very cute. We only use black on our black and white cat, but they come in many colors. </p>
<p>Once you are used to applying them, it’s a piece of cake. I hold the cat and apply them, while my H fills the glue and hands them to me one at a time. They last from four to six weeks. Please give this a try before declawing - or if you’re constantly trimming claws.</p>
<p>I’m extremely allergic to cats so just make sure you aren’t before he decides to bring one home. BF has been dying to get a cat and has recently been looking into this. I told him if he gets a cat it better be kept in his basement away from me because I won’t come near his house if there’s a cat there. I can’t deal with the cat hair they leave on furniture or on the floor or wherever. I get really sick and I’m not about to start drugging myself every time I want to come over. He says that keeping it downstairs defeats the purpose of having an “adorable, cute, fuzzy, cuddly little animal” and that i “love cute fuzzy things”. Hopefully I win this one and the cat stays away. Maybe he can leave it at his parents house or something, lol. I don’t think he realizes just how ill it makes me. Are there hypoallergenic cats or something?</p>
<p>I’ve had 9 cats, two for more than 22 yrs. and all have been declawed. Ones nails grew back and got infected a few years later. They all ripped up everything as kittens, and I’ve never heard of house cats that aren’t declawed.</p>
<p>I once left two alone for ten days with lots of food and water, but it was too long. They were totally freaked out when we got back from Maui! They survived.</p>
<p>Fendergirl - Siberian cats are less likely to induce reactions in allergy sufferers. They also happen to be a beautiful, long-haired breed, so that’s a plus. Surprisingly, since most allergy sufferers are actually allergic to the cat’s saliva rather than the fur itself, hairless breeds apparently don’t offer much benefit to those with cat allergies. </p>
<p>Dylanr - I know lots of people with housecats who are not declawed, and I am one of them. My cat has a laid back personality so I give his nails a trim whenever they start to get sharp. Most of our furniture is a wreck in the first place, so the scratching isn’t much of a concern, but if he does scratch it seems to be to stretch or to climb, and nothing beyond that. We also don’t have cat posts around our house, so he doesn’t have much alternative. </p>
<p>We’ve had declawed cats in the past, and I can’t say that they were in any way traumatized. I’ve heard that the significant distress and personality changes can occur in older cats though. I just think it’s easy enough to trim the nails instead of electing for a kind of brutal surgical procedure. Though I also agree that I’d rather see a declawed cat in a forever home than a clawed cat in a shelter, if it came down to that.</p>
<p>Siberians and Norwegian Forest Cats, both long hairs, are touted as hypoallergenic. My wife is very allergic to cats and has no reaction to our 3 Norwegians and 1 Siberian. The Norwegians climb all over her, lick her, she can bury her face in their fur, all with no effect.</p>
<p>My H is allergic to certain cats, but he is OK with our 2 feline family members. And he was just fine with our previous cats. All were picked by visiting with them for about half an hour in the shelter. If H felt any itching in his eyes after holding a cat, the cat was not a candidate for the Bunsen family membership. I highly recommend this method of selecting a cat. One caveat: it might not work well for kittens. As a kitten grows, his/her protein expression pattern might change, and s/he can produce more of the allergy-causing proteins.</p>
<p>We declawed out first cat when I was pregnant, paranoid about the baby possibly getting scratched, but it was a stupid decision by a novice cat owner, and I regretted putting her through an unnecessary and drastic surgical procedure until the day she died. We now have two Ragdolls (this breed is lovely–big, long-hared, blue-eyed, affectionate). Their nails are trimmed regularly (if you start when they are very young, they don’t fight it), they have scratching posts, and any attempt at scratching elsewhere was squelched early on by a squirt of water from a spray bottle. My upholstery and wood furniture have no scratch marks. I don’t know anyone who still declaws their cats, and the local vets have become very reluctant to do it.</p>
<p>As for leaving a cat alone for 10 days–that’s just neglectful, if not cruel. Cats may be low maintenance compared to dogs, but they are domesticated creatures, and still need reasonable care, attention and affection.</p>
<p>No one is talking about leaving cats alone for 10 days. A cat sitter typically spends some time playing with kitties, not just dumping some food in their dishes and leaving. However, some cats are totally fine if the food magically appears in their dish and cannot care less about having human presence.</p>
<p>(Now, a dog needs way more attention than a cat. As I’m typing this, I hear sad, hoarse barking from the neighbor’s yard. They left for what looks like a week-long vacation, and the gal who comes to feed the dog does not spend more than 5 minutes in the yard… :().</p>
<p>I use the Furminator once a week, along with daily brushing on my medium-haired cat. This reduces the amount of shedding to almost nothing, and it helps eliminate the cat’s digestive hairballs.</p>
<p>“As for leaving a cat alone for 10 days–that’s just neglectful, if not cruel.”</p>
<p>It was unintended, and an unfortunate occurrence. The sitter failed to show. Fortunately we
had left enough food and water so that they were not harmed. One should always leave enough food and water in case the person you hire is unable to.</p>
Get it from the pound or adoption agency- near me, Petsmart has adoptable kittens every Saturday. Look for one that’s active and likes to be held.
Get a very young kitten, and handle it a lot, including it’s paws. It will get used to being handled and touched so you can cut it’s nails when needed. Do not declaw. I know there are older cats that need a home, but I have had 2 very weird cats that were adopted as adults- nervous, stand-offish, hiding under the bed, and so on. I think they had led scary lives.
3.Never let it outside. I just saw a dead cat on the side of a road yesterday- what are people thinking to put their pets in danger like that? Also, indoor cats are healthier, cleaner, and more affectionate to their owners- you are their whole world.
4.If you need to be away for only a day or 2, they sell a cat bowl that opens on a timer- so your cat can be fed every 12 hours. Longer than that, try to get someone to come in to feed it- they hate being boarded.</p>
<p>I agree with the advice to start with a kitten, if possible. My favorite cat was given to me as an adult and she was very neurotic. She peed anywhere BUT the litter box, and lived for 7 more years. </p>
<p>One of my house cats was let out by my child and was killed by a car. Don’t assume house cats happily stay in the house. They will always try to “escape” and you frequently have to chase them around the neighborhood.</p>
<p>My experience has shown me that a cat’s diet is very important. My cats that were healthiest and lived the longest NEVER ate canned cat food. They were fed a special dry food that is to prevent urinary tract infections in male cats (though they were female).
They also ate whatever the people in the house were eating - their favorites were vegetables and meats, not ground to mush, but just as it was served at the table.</p>