Last line of defense crumbled.... (Cat people)

[BlsdMama]

The HUSBAND suggested getting a cat for Sarah this weekend.

 

 

You could have knocked me over with a feather.

 

 

So a few questions:

 

1. If I feed her any kind of super special magical food will it not get hair balls or puke a lot?

 

2. If we have big, giant windows in the bedrooms down the basement and she has a window seat and everything, will she be a happy girl to stay there *most* of the time?

 

3. They make those gloves for grooming to pick up hair - will cats allow this like dogs do?

 

 

We think we've found a young female (age 1) that is for adoption.  We've not committed, just sent the family a short email to discuss,  but they want a home with children (good with small children) but she isn't recommended with other pets, which is perfect for IN our house!  

[Carrie12345]

No

Maybe

Maybe

 

Be prepared to give up glassware, including vases, and fresh flowers/plants in any container that you think might be just heavy enough for a cat not to knock over.

 

I love my stupid cats.

[MercyA]

The only cat I've had was an outdoor former stray.  I'm sure he would have allowed me to use the grooming gloves, because he reluctantly put up with me washing him with Allerpet.  :)

 

I think it's great that you're considering adopting a fully grown cat instead of a kitten. There are so many that need homes. I don't think I'd adopt a cat if I had to confine her in the basement, though. 

  

[Carrie12345]

The only cat I've had was an outdoor former stray.  I'm sure he would have allowed me to use the grooming gloves, because he reluctantly put up with me washing him with Allerpet.  :)

 

I think it's great that you're considering adopting a fully grown cat instead of a kitten. There are so many that need homes. I don't think I'd adopt a cat if I had to confine her in the basement, though. 

 

It sounded to me like it's a fully finished, happy basement.

One of my cats spends the vast majority of his time in my bedroom.  NOT by my choice, lol.  The other cat spends most of his non-obnoxious time on my daughters bed.

Unless there's a glass of water sitting around somewhere, and then they're busy making a sharp, wet mess for me to clean up!

[AlmiraGulch]

There is no way to answer any of your questions definitively, because it depends entirely on the cat. 

 

I have three cats.  None is a puker, but the cat I lost last year was. 

 

I have one cat who will pick a spot and hang out for most of the day, but he tends to pick different spots.  No consistency.  One likes dark, closed in spaces. The other runs around the house like a lunatic.  She's a kitten, but my last kitten (my now not-quite-1-year-old cat) never acted that way.

 

All three of my cats will let me brush them, but THE BEST thing for cat fur, bar none, is the Furminator.  It's infinitely better than that glove thing.  

 

Finally, my cats like to be where I am.  They don't climb on me and don't get up in my space (for the most part) but if I'm upstairs, that's where they go.  If I'm downstairs, they're not far behind.  If you're hoping to have a cat that just wants to hang out away from you, well....good luck with that. 

[catz]

The thing is if you have kids coming and going from a space, if the cat wants to explore others spaces, the cat will get out. My cats were never outdoor cats until my kids started going in and out. I don't think there is any predicting. If there are humans in that space most of the time, your odds are possibly better that kitty will be happy down there. I'm not sure I'd get the cat if that part were a deal beaker.

[MercyA]

The thing is if you have kids coming and going from a space, if the cat wants to explore others spaces, the cat will get out. My cats were never outdoor cats until my kids started going in and out. I don't think there is any predicting. If there are humans in that space most of the time, your odds are possibly better that kitty will be happy down there. I'm not sure I'd get the cat if that part were a deal beaker.

 

OT, but I miss your cat's not-actually-a-beret antlers, WoolySocks.   :)

[BrookValley.]

If you can go into it knowing that the cat will do whatever the heck it wants, whenever the heck it wants to, and that any and all of your best-laid plans can and will go out the window on the whim of the cat, then y'all will be just fine.  :laugh:

 

We have two very, very different cats. One is a very high-maintenance Bengal cat; despite the super special magical food, he has IBS and frequent digestive distress. Despite what we might like, he goes wherever he wants, and he only wants to hang out with my oldest son (he is curled up on the couch with him now. He doesn't even want any other person touching him, much less snuggling). Despite the fact that he gets completely into the bathtub with oldest son on his own accord, he will not tolerate any type of grooming from anyone. I've never heard him purr. He is, however, a pretty interesting and amazingly intelligent animal. He can be very entertaining.

 

Our other cat is a young, generic "shorthair" cat I brought home from the shelter on a whim about a month ago. That cat will eat anything, no issues. She prefers to hang out in my bedroom, and if we shut the door (to keep the Bengal from terrorizing her), she's happy to sleep on my pillow all day. She prefers to hang out with me and sleeps with me all night, but if I'm not around she will happily climb in anyone else's lap for pets. I could brush her all day; you pick her up and she just goes limp. She purrs constantly, and loudly. 

 

Neither cat was what we predicted. lol. 

 

There is no guarantee that the cat you visit will be the same cat when you get it home, but if you are able to get a decent feel for personality--and if you know their history, which it sounds like you do--you're more likely to find a kitty that meshes well in your particular household. 

[BrookValley.]

OT, but I miss your cat's not-actually-a-beret antlers, WoolySocks.   :)

 

I think that's fraidycat!   :lol:  I love the grumpy beret cat! 

[MercyA]

I think that's fraidycat!   :lol:  I love the grumpy beret cat! 

 

Oops!   :blush:  You are correct, and happily fraidycat's beret is still intact.  Sorry, WoolySocks. So many cats... 

[imagine.more]

1. You've got a 50/50 chance of the cat getting frequent hairballs/throwing up or not. Short hair does equal less hairballs though. No magic formula, but maybe ask the current owners if he's prone to it.

 

2. In theory basement cats are great...in practice some just refuse to be contained and will complain endlessly about the one bedroom door that is shutting them out even if they have the run of the house. Others are fine, just depends how social they are.

 

3. I bet they'll let you brush/pet them just fine, all of mine would allow that with practice.

 

Cats are wonderful/awful and completely wayward. We have 4 (I know, I'm insane) and they each have their quirks that make me want ti kill them and their sweet attributes that make me keep them. Personally in the future I plan to not replace the cats and just aquire a nice flock of chickens for outside instead...they're dumb but easier to care for ;)

[Tanaqui]

If the cat is going to spend a lot of time in the basement without humans, then it's probably better to get a bonded pair or trio of cats rather than a solitary cat.

[RootAnn]

Huh. I've never had a glassware problem with our cat. She adopted us when when she was just under a year old.

We did have issues with her thinking that my babies were her babies & she tried to teach two of them to hunt/disable/eat small creatures.

 

We had all sorts of rules when she first adopted us like no getting on counters or furniture. Not sure when those rules disappeared, but she's been happy with us (except for when the boys were small) for almost 12 years. She has favorite spots, but definitely has the run of the house. Ours is a puker.

[zoobie]

1. No

2. Probably not. My cats spend all day trying to get on the other side of whichever closed door they're near. We keep the doors closed to keep littles off stairs, and cats hate closed doors.

3. Another rec for Furminator, though my current cats do not enjoy being brushed. One sheds like it's his job. The more he's brushed, the more he sheds. I think it stresses him and causes him to blow fur. So we leave him alone!

[katilac]

I don't think I've ever had a cat who would have been happy to stay in a specific area. Definitely not if the people were in a different area!  I agree with Tanaqui - if this is important, you should adopt a 'set' of cats that are already friends. 

 

Cats with short hair generally puke less, but I find short hair more of a pain otherwise (spreads everywhere & is harder to clean up). 

 

Lots of cats enjoy being groomed, but definitely go for the Furminator-style brush rather than a glove or something that looks like a human-style brush. Let her see and sniff the brush a few times before you try it. 

 

 

[mamaraby]

I have two cats - one regurgitates, one does not. They're short hair cats we picked up at the Humane Society during their 2 for 1 sale. The cat who regurgitates is probably food related so we switch food a lot which cuts down on the regurgitating significantly.

 

I have no control over where the cats go. They're definitely less prone to following me around than the Golden Retriever is, but they still like the people in our house. Each one has their preferred person and secondary person plus the peons they tolerate. One sleeps on my dd's bed at night and spends the rest of the day who knows where. The other sleeps on the foot of my bed 16hrs a day and in the living room the rest of the day. During the warmer months both cats spend most of their time sitting in a window.

 

My cats hate being brushed with the fire of a thousand suns. They do shed less than the dog, though. They tolerate having their front claws trimmed more than brushing. The first we do on a regular basis. The second we never do.

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

Each cat is different.

 

 

Get the Furminator brush, it is hands down the best brush and if used regularly will cut down on the amount of cat hair around the house.  The very first time I used it I filled a plastic shopping bag and still wasn't done, all from one cat.  It works.

[BlsdMama]

It sounded to me like it's a fully finished, happy basement.

 

 

Four bedrooms, four windows, one living room, one utility room, one living room... currently in progress, lol.  Windows go in this week and then some finish work.  It will be so NICE to be DONE remodeling.  But, yes!  Lots of people down there coming and going, and, except for absence of a  kitchen, it is essentially a house - a little over 2,000 square feet for one cat.

 

 

 

There is no way to answer any of your questions definitively, because it depends entirely on the cat. 

 

I have three cats.  None is a puker, but the cat I lost last year was. 

 

 

All three of my cats will let me brush them, but THE BEST thing for cat fur, bar none, is the Furminator.  It's infinitely better than that glove thing.  

 

 

 

Hmm.  We have the really big Furminator for our dogs and it works AWESOME.  I didn't know cats would allow brushing.  Crazy but awesome.

 

 

 

I don't think I've ever had a cat who would have been happy to stay in a specific area. Definitely not if the people were in a different area!  I agree with Tanaqui - if this is important, you should adopt a 'set' of cats that are already friends. 

 

Cats with short hair generally puke less, but I find short hair more of a pain otherwise (spreads everywhere & is harder to clean up). 

 

Lots of cats enjoy being groomed, but definitely go for the Furminator-style brush rather than a glove or something that looks like a human-style brush. Let her see and sniff the brush a few times before you try it. 

 

 

The people will definitely be in the basement.  Three kiddos do various schoolwork throughout the day.  (The boy is NEVER going to let ANY cat in his room.  Just saying.  Ever.) Then all of "Read or Sleep" time is 2 hours in the afternoon.  Then we are moving the tv to the basement for the only place to watch movies.  ;)  

 

I'm thinking not a set of cats.  The owner specifically said she is not good with other pets/animals - dogs or cats, kwim?  Hm.. Two cats.  LOL.  I'm picturing telling the husband that.

 

 

 

So for mamas with pukers-  I'm used to German shepherd puke.  I assume we are talking far less quantity?  And how often are we talking?  My tolerance could do once a week but I'm not sure I could handle 2-3 times a day.  So give me specifics. :D

[ktgrok]

The HUSBAND suggested getting a cat for Sarah this weekend.

 

 

You could have knocked me over with a feather.

 

 

So a few questions:

 

1. If I feed her any kind of super special magical food will it not get hair balls or puke a lot?

My puker does best on Purina ONE Sensitive systems. That's after trying grain free, veterinary diets, etc etc. That is the only one he doesn't puke on. As for hairballs, best way to prevent those is lots of brushing the cat. 

 

2. If we have big, giant windows in the bedrooms down the basement and she has a window seat and everything, will she be a happy girl to stay there *most* of the time?

No telling. 

 

3. They make those gloves for grooming to pick up hair - will cats allow this like dogs do?

Probably, but a furminator brush works better

 

 

We think we've found a young female (age 1) that is for adoption.  We've not committed, just sent the family a short email to discuss,  but they want a home with children (good with small children) but she isn't recommended with other pets, which is perfect for IN our house!  

Good luck!

[ktgrok]

Oh, and cats sleep a LOT, so they aren't underfoot all the time anyway. Even our obnoxious kitten that is almost 1 yr spends 80 percent of the day sleeping either on my bed or on the printer. 

[Mergath]

Keep in mind that cats often live to be fifteen, even twenty years old. So if you don't really want a cat, you're going to be stuck with it for as much as the next couple of decades.

 

With that said, we have four cats. Some hork up hairballs every other day, some never do. Some just puke. I have one cat with a beef intolerance, and he starts exorcist-style puking if he so much as licks beef juice off a plate someone left on the counter. People think that cats are very neat and clean, but that's not necessarily always true. If you have carpet anywhere, you're going to want a good stain remover. Even if you only have carpet in one tiny corner of your home, your cat will find it if it has a hairball.

 

A cat *may* stay in the basement, but I wouldn't adopt a cat if that's the only way it would work, because most of the cats I've had like to be around their people. Sometimes literally on their people, sometimes just watching from a dignified distance. hujyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyfvggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg

 

Okay, you see all those letters up there? That happened because (I kid you not) my cat Clover sat her butt on my keyboard while I was typing this. That will happen to you. If you can't handle that, you probably don't want a cat. ;) I have another cat climbing on me trying to steal my broccoli quiche. Oh, wait, now he left and is sitting in front of dd while she watches her morning cartoons and I'm hearing, "Mooooom!!!! I can't see, make him move!!!!"  And now another cat is scratching at the door to the deck because she was out sunning and now she wants in.

 

They're like children. Annoying children with stinky poop that you have to scoop up and throw away every day. (Though it'll be less stinky if you buy high quality cat food from a pet store.)

[Mergath]

Oh, and cats sleep a LOT, so they aren't underfoot all the time anyway. Even our obnoxious kitten that is almost 1 yr spends 80 percent of the day sleeping either on my bed or on the printer. 

 

Omg, do you want to trade? I have one cat (just over a year old) who is awake and underfoot ALL THE TIME. She sleeps all night in the bed with us and then she's awake all day long and follows me everywhere I go, even the bathroom. It's like having a toddler all over again. :P 

[Carrie12345]

 

 

 

 

So for mamas with pukers-  I'm used to German shepherd puke.  I assume we are talking far less quantity?  And how often are we talking?  My tolerance could do once a week but I'm not sure I could handle 2-3 times a day.  So give me specifics. :D

 

Between my two cats, I'd say we average once every other day.  But I'm pretty sure it's one of them more frequently than the other.  (Brothers, same food.)

[catz]

I think that's fraidycat!   :lol:  I love the grumpy beret cat! 

 

LOL - I think so too.  Sadly, it wasn't me.  But it makes me want to pose my cats for a weird photo shoot.  ;)

[ktgrok]

Omg, do you want to trade? I have one cat (just over a year old) who is awake and underfoot ALL THE TIME. She sleeps all night in the bed with us and then she's awake all day long and follows me everywhere I go, even the bathroom. It's like having a toddler all over again. :p

 

In a heartbeat, because what I didn't say is the one that is asleep all day is up all night, getting into mischief and waking the kids, lol! 

 

Mostly he just stares at windows looking for bugs/lizards/frogs to bat at through the glass, but sometimes he does things like make a bed for himself in my underwear drawer, or my recent (not) favorite, where he got up in the top of the kids' closet and shoved around the rubbermaid bins of clothes just enough for one to fall on my head the next time I opened the closet door :(

 

Thankfully, he's my teen's cat and when he gets obnoxious I shut him in with my son. 

[Storygirl]

If the cat would be living in the basement, and you have carpet down there, definitely be prepared with some stain remover, just in case. And buy cat food that does not have dyes added. For awhile we were using Meow Mix or Cat Chow or something similar, and it left orange stains on the carpet when our cat produced hairballs. We were not pleased.

[Storygirl]

And our cat has definite opinions about where she spends her time. We do put her in the basement at night. Otherwise, she will wander through the halls, meowing at people to wake up at 2 am. Or sit on someone and wake them up with loud purring.

 

But she will stand at the basement door and yowl to be let out sometimes, or knock on the door with her paws, so be prepared for that. I'd suggest having a room in your basement that you can lock her in, so that there are TWO doors between you and the cat when you want to lock her up.

[Mergath]

If the cat would be living in the basement, and you have carpet down there, definitely be prepared with some stain remover, just in case. And buy cat food that does not have dyes added. For awhile we were using Meow Mix or Cat Chow or something similar, and it left orange stains on the carpet when our cat produced hairballs. We were not pleased.

 

Ick. I wouldn't be either. :(

 

OP, if you do get a cat, Earthborn Holistic is a good brand of food. It's grain free and high quality, but not so expensive that you'll need to sell off your extra organs just to afford it.

[BlsdMama]

And our cat has definite opinions about where she spends her time. We do put her in the basement at night. Otherwise, she will wander through the halls, meowing at people to wake up at 2 am. Or sit on someone and wake them up with loud purring.

 

But she will stand at the basement door and yowl to be let out sometimes, or knock on the door with her paws, so be prepared for that. I'd suggest having a room in your basement that you can lock her in, so that there are TWO doors between you and the cat when you want to lock her up.

 

 

She'd be in the bedroom with the girls.  Would she still be unhappy at night?

[Storygirl]

She'd be in the bedroom with the girls.  Would she still be unhappy at night?

 

It depends on the cat. If she prefers to be somewhere else, she might meow to get out. Or she might interrupt their sleep even if she is happy, because she wants their attention. You really can't predict it. Both with this cat and the one before, we started out with letting them sleep with people, and it was fine and fun at first. But we ended up shutting them away each night, because they eventually became annoying.

[RootAnn]

Our puker will go weeks without puking then do it two or three times in one day (small amounts). She's an indoor/outdoor, so it is probably food-related.

[Cinder]

When we adopted our 2 cats we found one was a puker, the other was gassy. :ack2:   The gassy one got better after about a month of adjusting to his new food. The puker . . . we found through trial and error that he needs to be fed teeny amounts several times a day. He tends to scarf down his food, and if he has too much at once it all comes right back up. The puker also cleans himself more often than the other one so I'm sure he's getting more fur for his hairball. He tried to barf it up last night but without success, so I'm still waiting for that one. :001_unsure:

 

We have never tried to contain our cats in one area of the house.

 

Most of our cats have tolerated being brushed. I have not tried grooming gloves.

[gingersmom]

You do know cats love people who proclaim they want nothing to do with cats :) They always seem to be the cats favorite person.

 

I had single cats for 15 years and now have 2 and they are so much happier together. 

 

Why does this cat  not like other pets?

 

 

[Tiberia]

Warning: You might just end up loving cats!

 

Dh unexpectedly got a cat for dd a few years ago. I was a staunch dog person. Now I'm fully converted. We have two cats, one grumpy, one overly friendly; I love them both. But, they sure are different from dogs!

 

Ours cats don't puke or do hairballs. I would recommend getting a scratching post to put near the couch, and getting a spray bottle to spray water when the cat goes where it's not allowed. Cats think they're allowed to go everywhere, since they own the universe, but you can keep them off of things with a spray bottle (at least when you're around). We ended up getting a companion cat for our first one, and after a few months of scrapping, they are friends.

 

Good luck!

[catz]

She'd be in the bedroom with the girls.  Would she still be unhappy at night?

 

It's really hard to say.  Neither of our cats like closed doors.  If we close a cat in our room, they will inevitably meow to get out.  If we close the door to keep them out, they bop the doors until they get them open and come in.  I just think it's really hard to predict whether kitty will not regularly try to escape from the space you've limited them to.  Some kitties might be perfectly content and some might not be.  Every cat I've had wants to be on the other side of any closed door.  When I open our attic door (which is rarely), kitties will come from no where to get up there.

 

One of our cats is a puker and the other isn't.  Both eat high end food.  I actually started doing some canned food daily and our puker is puking less on the canned food.  I don't think the puking is usually a big deal though.  It's always a small amount and we have hardwoods and area rugs. 

 

[Tanaqui]

She'd be in the bedroom with the girls.  Would she still be unhappy at night?

 

The girls might be. Cats are nocturnal by nature. Many of them do adapt to human hours when they live with humans (one of mine routinely snuggles with me to sleep at bedtime - but I probably get to bed MUCH later than your girls do!), but you can't guarantee this. (Well, you can ask the current owner if their cat is very active at night. If she is, being in the bedroom at night is a bad idea. Bad, bad, bad.)

 

Even if she's happy with the girls at night and vice versa, the door will need to be open so she can access the litterbox and also get food and water. Unless you put that stuff in the bedroom, which, ew.

 

I'm thinking not a set of cats.  The owner specifically said she is not good with other pets/animals - dogs or cats, kwim?  Hm.. Two cats.  LOL.  I'm picturing telling the husband that.

 

The situation you described is different from what I was picturing. I was imagining a lonely social cat with little interaction during the day. That's not good for most cats. If this kitty is going to be around people, then especially as she's being billed as "not good with other animals", then the basement should be fine.

[zoobie]

She'd be in the bedroom with the girls. Would she still be unhappy at night?

She likely won't want to stay in a closed door room overnight. Cats want to do what they want to do when they want to do it. Unless you're going to have water and a litterbox in their room, don't close her in there.

 

There's also no guarantee the cat will be "her" cat. One of our cats loves all of our kids, especially babies. He hops from bed to bed at night. The other has no time of day for anyone but DH. No idea why or how he came to be DH's cat. He only comes to DH, will groom his hair, lie across his lap and stare longingly... It's very weird. He's not mean to anyone else, but he doesn't care that we exist.

[Starr]

I think you need too many assurances for cat behavior.

 

There is absolutely no way to know what will happen. Some cats puke, some don't. Some don't puke for 2 years and then start. Some scratch everything to death and others use their cat scratchers, some pick one person others pick another, some deal with closed doors others cry until they are opened. It will particularly painful if the cat starts waking the girls up at 5 AM. There is no way a child will be able to keep a cat brushed enough not to have cat hair in your furniture or carpet. They are hard to re-home and they live longer than your cat girl will be living at home.

 

She will not be happy in the basement alone most of the time. Will your dd still be hanging out in the basement in  5 years? 10 years?

[AlmiraGulch]

Bottom line...

 

You know all those memes on the internet you see about cats?  

 

They're all true.  

[BlsdMama]

I think you need too many assurances for cat behavior.

 

There is absolutely no way to know what will happen. Some cats puke, some don't. Some don't puke for 2 years and then start. Some scratch everything to death and others use their cat scratchers, some pick one person others pick another, some deal with closed doors others cry until they are opened. It will particularly painful if the cat starts waking the girls up at 5 AM. There is no way a child will be able to keep a cat brushed enough not to have cat hair in your furniture or carpet. They are hard to re-home and they live longer than your cat girl will be living at home.

 

She will not be happy in the basement alone most of the time. Will your dd still be hanging out in the basement in  5 years? 10 years?

 

 

Pretty much.... our youngest daughters are 5, 4, and 2.  :D

 

I said she wouldn't be alone even half the time during the day.........  Some people have basements as storage.  Some people use them as living space.

[BlsdMama]

Bottom line...

 

You know all those memes on the internet you see about cats?  

 

They're all true.  

 

:D

 

We owned cats all of my childhood *but* there is a world of difference between living on a farm and having farm cats vs. having an indoor cat.  Quite the learning curve.

[BlsdMama]

 

 

The situation you described is different from what I was picturing. I was imagining a lonely social cat with little interaction during the day. That's not good for most cats. If this kitty is going to be around people, then especially as she's being billed as "not good with other animals", then the basement should be fine.

 

I'm actually really fearful about too much interaction for the kitty. :(  I've always heard cats are loner animals.  Our dogs get an insane level of interaction during the day and they are outside.  I really was afraid we'd fall into way too much interaction for a cat and I wanted to shield her from that.  In the basement is where older kiddos are throughout the day.  Toddlers are upstairs.  I don't mind if she wants to spend time up here (though I really don't want a toddler in the litterbox, kwim?) but I just think it's too chaotic.  The owner says she REALLY likes small kids, but she's still a cat, kwim?  Really liking a two year old is totally different than really liking a 5yo, a 4yo, a 2yo, and a 1yo.  I just think it would be overwhelming for her, kwim?  No, definitely NOT lonely.  That is nowhere on my radar, lol.  

[Tanaqui]

I'm actually really fearful about too much interaction for the kitty. :(  I've always heard cats are loner animals.

 

I don't know why people say that. It's simply untrue. The domesticated cat is a social animal. Some individual cats are not very friendly with humans who are unknown to them, but they all need some interaction with others, either of their species or another (usually humans, though you hear odd stories like the crow that raised a kitten or the stray that palled around with a rat).

 

When cats first domesticated themselves, they were primarily solitary creatures. However, some cats realized that if they hung around human settlements, they would be able to catch a large supply of mice and rats to eat, humans being in the habit of building granaries. In order to do this, the cats had to develop a high tolerance for human presence, and also a high tolerance for the presence of other cats. (They also had to learn to communicate with humans. "The kitty says meow?" Not when among her own kind, she doesn't! Cats only meow to humans, to greet us or make requests that we have to decipher.)

 

Consequently, modern domesticated cats normally engage in a number of social behaviors, ranging from social grooming to babysitting, and the well-socialized cat is happy to task humans to do the sorts of things they'd normally do with a littermate.

 

As you have several small children, your cat should have a few quiet places to retreat to - preferably, one on each floor they're allowed to access. A simple box is sufficient. We have cube storage thingies from Ikea, we took some of the drawers out and now we have mostly books and three cubes for cats. You can get a cat scratcher that has places to hide... though those are pricey, I will warn you. Your children should be admonished to NEVER remove a cat from a hiding place, and to that end, some of those places should be out of reach of little hands.

 

However, keeping kitty from being tormented from eager toddlers does not and should not mean avoiding contact for fear of stressing her. She'll probably initiate friendly contact with you, but if she doesn't, you should encourage her by initiating gentle contact at short but frequent intervals - a friendly verbal greeting here, a few pets and ear skritches there, a short time dangling a ribbon in front of her or throwing a foil ball.

[JoJosMom]

The HUSBAND suggested getting a cat for Sarah this weekend.

 

 

You could have knocked me over with a feather.

 

 

So a few questions:

 

1. If I feed her any kind of super special magical food will it not get hair balls or puke a lot?

 

I feed ours treats twice a week that are designed to reduce hairballs .  She rarely barfs-usually when I've been forgetting her treats.

 

2. If we have big, giant windows in the bedrooms down the basement and she has a window seat and everything, will she be a happy girl to stay there *most* of the time?

 

I think this will depend on the kitty.  Ours sleeps quite a bit during the day, but is very social first thing in the morning and in the evening.  She is an extremely affectionate and loving kitty, though, and seems to have missed the "cats are aloof" memo.

 

3. They make those gloves for grooming to pick up hair - will cats allow this like dogs do?

 

All of our kitties (the inside one referred to above and the two big, bruiser barn kitties) love to be groomed.  I have a "Furminator," which I find to be very effective.

 

 

We think we've found a young female (age 1) that is for adoption.  We've not committed, just sent the family a short email to discuss,  but they want a home with children (good with small children) but she isn't recommended with other pets, which is perfect for IN our house!  

 

 

ETA:  I just wanted to mention that our inside kitty is quite well-behaved.  When she first moved inside, she jumped on the kitchen counter.  I scolded her, I think twice, and it never happened again.  She knows that the reminder "Gentle, gentle" means "Sheath your claws if you want me to continue playing" AND she responds to it.  She also comes when she's called and greets us happily at the door when we've been gone.  I've never been a cat person, but this one has me wrapped around her tiny paw!

[fraidycat]

Everybody has already answered the questions, so I'm just posting to put my grumpy-not grumpy-beret-not a beret kitty in the cat thread. :)

[JoJosMom]

I'm actually really fearful about too much interaction for the kitty. :(  I've always heard cats are loner animals.  Our dogs get an insane level of interaction during the day and they are outside.  I really was afraid we'd fall into way too much interaction for a cat and I wanted to shield her from that.  In the basement is where older kiddos are throughout the day.  Toddlers are upstairs.  I don't mind if she wants to spend time up here (though I really don't want a toddler in the litterbox, kwim?) but I just think it's too chaotic.  The owner says she REALLY likes small kids, but she's still a cat, kwim?  Really liking a two year old is totally different than really liking a 5yo, a 4yo, a 2yo, and a 1yo.  I just think it would be overwhelming for her, kwim?  No, definitely NOT lonely.  That is nowhere on my radar, lol.  

 

If this is true, she might surprise you.  When ours first came in, she was really funny about her feet being touched. One day, DH saw DD reading in her bed.  Kitty was next to DD and DD had kitty's back paw in her hand and was running her fingers on the webbing between kitty's toes. :huh:  Had I tried that I would have lost a digit.  Kitty also does not like to sit on laps (she does like to lie beside us, however), but she will sit on DD's lap for hours. None of kitty's rules apply to the short person. 

[JoJosMom]

DP

[mommymilkies]

The first rule of cats is:

 

1. Every single one is different and you never know what to expect.  

 

I would caution you about going into this expecting anything other than a forever home despite the cat not being like the textbook and memes show.  I have pukers, non-pukers, dainty cats, stomping messy cats, loud cats, nearly mute cats, feisty cats, and genteel cats.  IMHO, that's part of the fun.  They have personalities, likes, dislikes, and are usually wonderful.  

 

And yes, watch your glassware for some cats.  I have one who is a jerk who likes to knock everything over.  Most don't from my experience (and I have/have had a lot!), but you'll regret it that time you leave your water out and your notebook is ruined. 

[Guest]

Why on earth would you get just one...

[Tanaqui]

Why on earth would you get just one...

 

They're pets, not pringles! :D Cats are usually happier with other cats around, though enough cats aren't that somebody who really can only handle one cat can usually obtain one like that from a shelter or, in this case, a private owner who needs to rehome a pet.