Kitties

[meggels]

So, i think some of you on here have cats...

I was wondering...and this is probably incredibly naive of me...

But how much work is it to own a cat?

I was toying with the idea of getting a kitten and hoping it would become pals with Abbie, Murph never plays with her.

Lord knows I have enough samples of Natural Balance cat food to last it a year. I have bowls. All I'd need is a litter box, which I worry about the smell....

[frogdog]

I do not own a kitty but my mother does and would say completely easy. Her cat is sweet but independent just make sure water is down and feed them accordingly. She does have her cat neutered which helps.

I love to watch the dogs and cat play. I think it's a great idea and they require less expense.

[rannmiller]

My cats are easy! The problem is though, kittens are a pain in the butt. They're like puppies but they can get into more things easier and harder to train. But if you want a companion for your dog, a kitten would probably be the way to go unless you can adopt one that you already know is good with dogs.

But yeah, my cats are pretty simple, just feed em twice a day, make sure they have water, clean out their cat box and life is good. The only kibble that sort of kept their stool odor down was BB Wilderness, but it was still pretty smelly. So I switched them both to raw and voila, no more cat poop smell! I also use Arm and Hammer Essentials (natural litter) that smells amazing, so that helps with the smell too. The Tidy Cats 24/7 Odor Control was amazing for odors but I didn't want them to have clay-based litter anymore so I switched it.

Anyway, kitties are great but they can be some work.

[Paws&Tails]

Compared to dogs, cats are easy. There is obviously still work involved though.

Rule of thumb for litter boxes is 1 box per cat plus 1. If you maintain it correctly, you won't have problems with smell. It should never smell. Scoop it twice a day. I use World's Best Cat Litter and love it. It's the best litter I've ever used, and I've tried practically all of them. It doesn't leave that heavy scent hanging in the room like clay litter does (clay litter also makes my allergies worse) and it's completely safe and environmentally friendly. Yeah, it's pricey, but if you scoop it often enough you won't need to do complete changes hardly ever, just add some litter to keep it at 2-3".

As far as food goes, raw is obviously best. If you do want to feed raw, it's typically MUCH easier when they are kittens. As well as all the other benefits, their poop has virtually no odor on raw. BIG plus! Some good websites for raw feeding cats are Raw Fed Cats and What About Cats?

Change the water every day, or get a pet fountain.

Play with them. Minimum of 30 minutes a day. I am able to let my cats outside which has made them ever so much happier and less stressed.

[RawFedDogs]

Cats are easy. I have 2 and they are raw fed. I scoop the litter box every week or so. No odor. My cats are indoor/outdoor so they don't use the litter box all that much. I feed them drumsticks and I cut off pork, beef heart, and fish pieces for the cats when I feed those to the dogs. I hardly ever know the cats are around.

[emilie]

i have 3 siamese cats. they are fairly easy to take care of really. scoop the litter box a few times a day to keep the smell away, change the water daily. play with them 30-1h a day. they get into everything so make your house kitten friendly. I dont know if your dogs will be okay with the cat but if not i like to have an area where it is dog free so my cats can feel safe. my cats have the whole down stairs to them self but they do come up all the time.

[meggels]

thanks guys :) I think I'm going to not get a kitty and put extra time and money towards making Abigail into a rally dog, if she can handle it :)

[CorgiPaws]

Cats CAN be easy.
Unless you get a butthead....
in my experience, MOST are buttheads.

I won't ever have another cat, after the ones that live here are gone.

blunt. honest. sorry if I offended any cat people....

[emilie]

I will agree with you, no more kitties for me well atleast not siamese anymore lol they miow to much like they talk to you if you even look at them they will start to miow for 10 minutes :O

[chowder]

I've had a lot of cats. I miss MOST of them. Some are crazy (tortoiseshells and orange cats). You couldn't pay me to own another tortoiseshell even though I loved mine very much. They are crazy as loons! One minute purring and loving you, the next minute clawing their way up your curtains (or your legs). But our dogs used to love all our cats and would play with them, sleep with them, and snuggle them. Plus our human kids would haul them around the house and the cats were absolutely great with toddlers (even the tortie).

We definitely plan on getting ourselves a great big Maine Coon cat as soon as we move out west.