Indoor cats?

Disclaimer: This has all probably been said already. I didn't read most of the responses.

1. How do you keep a cat inside and happy? And without tearing up everything without declawing it?

I give them plenty of access to windows and (their favorite) the glass door that opens into the backyard. They love laying by the glass and soaking up the sun. Mine have always been perfectly happy to stay inside. Siamese cats are notoriously fancy. lol My female would probably die if she had to walk outside. And keeping them happy isn't too difficult. Give them things to climb and scratch, get toys they like and play with them, let them lay on top of your head and suffocate you.... lol Plus some toys that they can play with on their own. There's lots of good stuff out there these days.

As for tearing up everything, it just takes a little bit of work. When they started to try to scratch my couches as kittens, I would just move scratching posts in front of the arm rests. It got them back to scratching on what I wanted them scratching. Then I just gradually started moving it away from the couch. Mine were never much trouble beyond that.

2. Do you just... leave them loose while you're gone? You don't have to crate them or make a cage for them? I'm so worried they'll get into everything...

When they were younger, I would leave them in the bathroom while I was gone. Now that they're older, I leave them loose. The only thing is that if I leave food out to defrost for the dogs while I'm gone, they will get into it. lol

3. What do you do for outdoor time? Do you give them outdoor time?

Mine don't get any outdoor time.

4. Food- in general is a good brand of dog food going to make a good brand of cat food?

Most of the time. Like others have said, it's important that you keep cats hydrated. They won't drink enough water. So if you don't feed raw, I would feed a good canned food or soak their dry food in water.

5. Litterbox and smell- how do you keep the house from smelling? I've changed shelter litterboxes and they SMELLED bad. I don't want my house to smell like dog or cat.

Partly diet. A raw fed cat doesn't really stink up the litterbox, and they have really tiny poops. A high quality canned food will smell a little worse, dry food a little worse than that. But crappy dry food and crappy canned food will stink up your entire house.
The other part is finding cat litter that you like. I don't like the smell of corn litter. I prefer Arm & Hammer. But that will just take a little time on your part, trying out a couple until you find something you like.

6. Pros and cons of adopting a kitten versus adult. I almost wonder if it might be better to find an adult for adoption that has a good, easy personality.

This has been covered pretty well from what I saw. I would go with an adult. You don't have the evil kitten stage where they get into everything and cause more trouble than you would believe possible, and you can find one that is good with dogs and has a personality that you like.

I have two cats, and I absolutely love them. AND they're useful. They kill just about anything. Roaches, snakes, spiders, mice... Having a cat when I lived in a college town was sooo nice. My apartment was the only one in the complex that never had any critters, I think. lol

Plus.... They're cuuuuute!

And sweeeet!

And pretty!

And you need one!

Or two. Or three. It's hard to stop with just one...

/picturespam

[~Dixie's_Mom~]

Omg mhmr....omg. You're killing me! Is Raja good w/the cats? When we left Violet with a dog sitter for a few days, they had a cat, and they were fine together. She even played with it a little. But I still am very leary. I don't think a kitten would work at all, but an adult cat could work. My dad says no more pets, but still. Hahaha!!

Depends what you mean. She does love them and gets along with them just fine.


But I would never fully trust her. She's never shown ANY sign that she might do anything to them. But I just can't forget that she has a ton of prey drive. Same with her around small dogs. She plays with them just fine and has never done anything wrong. But I will always be mindful of her when she's with them juuust in case. Because if one of them should take off running and her prey drive kicks in, I'd hate for her to get carried away and have things end up badly.

ETA: I crate Raja when I leave anyhow, so it's not something I really have to worry about. And I don't watch her like a hawk at home. But for instance when Conan starts playing with the dogs and running up and down the stairs with them, I kind of make sure to walk over and keep an eye on things. Just stuff like that.

[Laurelin]

Thanks for all the replies! I'm still undecided about it but it's definitely good to learn some more. I really know nothing about cats at all. Dogs seem easier.

[hedwig]

Please dont feed your cats any type of dog food! Cats require taurine! Dogs can make it themselves but cats need to have it added to their food! Unless your feeding whole prey or very course minces/chunky meats then you will also need to add some to every meal your cats eat.

Also dogs should not eat cat food for long either as its too high in sodium or something along those lines!

I have 2 indoor cats. I would not leave them alone in the living room. They have a cat room that i lock them in during night and when im out during day they have the cat room and then the hall and 2 flights of stairs to my loft bedroom (has no door) and i find that they are not destructive.

I provide a good cat tree (a chopped up felled tree) and thats in the cat room and they love giving that a clawing!

I feed porta 21 dry cat food as mine will not touch wet food. its grain free and i THINK its 80% meat. My cats drink alot! If my cat jumps up on my lap i hear the water slosh in his belly rofl!

[milos_mommy]

Not reading the whole thread, but my brother (whom I live with) got two older kittens about 6 months ago, so here's my opinion:

1. How do you keep a cat inside and happy? And without tearing up everything without declawing it? toys. windows. attention. a scratching post. They sleep like 3 times more than dogs, at least as adults. They're cool with chasing a toy for 10 or 15 minutes and looking out the window for an hour and sleeping and grooming themselves and eating the rest of the time. Our cats are declawed against my will, but claw covers are a good option, or just training.

2. Do you just... leave them loose while you're gone? You don't have to crate them or make a cage for them? I'm so worried they'll get into everything...we put them in the bedroom when we're gone. The only thing they'll get into are the houseplants, anyway, but still. Growing up my older cats had the run of the house.

3. What do you do for outdoor time? Do you give them outdoor time? these kitties do not. our kitties growing up came outside with us, they never left our porch or yard, but i wouldn't trust future cats like that.

4. Food- in general is a good brand of dog food going to make a good brand of cat food? i think my brother feeds them wellness?

5. Litterbox and smell- how do you keep the house from smelling? I've changed shelter litterboxes and they SMELLED bad. I don't want my house to smell like dog or cat. you change them regularly. After every poop is preferable. Keep the box in a bathroom or somewhere out of the way. I have to admit, even though my cat's box is cleaning out multiple times a day, it still smells bad when they go, and I DESPISE the deodorizer smell of the litter. It's GROSS. it smells like air freshener or power or something, but EW. I'm assuming other brands of litter don't smell like this...but my family likes this one. *gags* you can only smell it in my brother's room and right out his doorway, though.

6. Pros and cons of adopting a kitten versus adult. I almost wonder if it might be better to find an adult for adoption that has a good, easy personality. kittens are adorable and fun and playful and get into everything. Adult cats are less work, less supervision, less exercise, and you can pick it's personality. Kittens, IMO, have a 50/50 shot of growing up into an evil nasty weird cat. Cats are either evil and nasty and weird or nice.

[misfitz]

Super long post, sorry...

Originally Posted by PWCorgi

As for keeping them from tearing up everything, redirect to good scratching places. If it becomes a problem you can use a squirt bottle if you want. Mainly though with Whiskey, we clip his nails like twice a week and he just isn't able to do any damage because he doesn't have nails to do damage with. Even when we are playing I never feel his front nails.

You might also have to experiment with different types of scratchers. I learned through trial and error that my cat will only scratch the cardboard ones. Well, those and my woven storage baskets. >.<

My cat used to be indoor/outdoor until I moved, and now I have to clip her nails. I never did when she went outside, because the climbed trees and kept them worn down. So I think with an indoor cat you need to keep an eye on their nails as they don't wear them down as fast, even with scratching posts.

2. Do you just... leave them loose while you're gone? You don't have to crate them or make a cage for them? I'm so worried they'll get into everything...

All of my cats have always just roamed around the house. I've never known anyone that crated cats. That said, it's good to have a crate and get them used to it, both for travel and in case the cat gets out. It's easier to catch an escapee if they have a familiar crate.

3. What do you do for outdoor time? Do you give them outdoor time?
Nope! In my experience once most cats have known what the outdoors is they tend to be hell to try and keep inside. Yeowling and clawing at the door to try and get out. Not something I am even remotely willing to deal with.

Depends on the cat, and your living arrangement. My cat transitions from outdoors to indoors pretty easily (well, she's kind of an attention ***** when she's indoors LOL). In my current place, when I'm home I leave the door open so she can go out sometimes, but she isn't brave enough to go past the patio. Which is fine with me - if I thought she would go further I wouldn't let her out at all. She's a very cautious cat though - I know others that I wouldn't do this with, as they have no sense of self-preservation.

In another place I lived I had a tiny backyard/patio that was fenced, and she went out there but never tried to climb the fence.

4. Food- in general is a good brand of dog food going to make a good brand of cat food?
For the most part. You want lots of protein and ideally all wet/raw food as cats are desert animals that are made to get their water from the critters that they eat, not standing water.

Yes, wet food only is best for cats. Raw is even better. It's easier to get them eating raw if you get a kitten. Cats imprint on foods when they're young, which is why they can be such picky eaters. They literally think anything new is poison. They aren't instinctive scavengers like dogs.

5. Litterbox and smell- how do you keep the house from smelling? I've changed shelter litterboxes and they SMELLED bad. I don't want my house to smell like dog or cat.
If you feed crap food then the poop will smell terrible. Raw fed cat poop is about as good as it gets. Canned food poop smells better than kibble poop. And some cats just have smellier poop!

Agreed again. Scooping out the box often is best. Like 2x a day.

6. Pros and cons of adopting a kitten versus adult. I almost wonder if it might be better to find an adult for adoption that has a good, easy personality.

You can find an adult cat that's friendly already. I've found, though, that the younger a kitten you get, the more they bond with their humans. My previous cats have all been acquired as kittens, and were all very social. My current cat was only 6 weeks when I got her - that's too young, the shelter said they were 8 weeks but there's no way, she was just too tiny. But she is the most loving, cuddly cat I've ever had, and I've heard from other people with similar experiences. She also drools all over me when I pet her because she was weaned too early. So, yeah.

Generally if you get an 8 week old kitten and give it lots of attention, it will grow up friendly and social. At least in my experience. There's not so much of the socialization needed with cats as we do with dogs.

Also since you already have dogs, I would get either a kitten or an adult that you know has lived with dogs before. Acclimating an adult cat to dogs can be difficult if not impossible. Although with Paps you don't have quite the issue of size difference. A kitten will grow up with the dogs and they will probably be buddies. I didn't get Sienna until my cat was 2 years old, and they coexist, but will never play together or be very close - and Sienna loves cats, it's the cat that couldn't care less about her.

[misfitz]

And as to general differences...

Kittens are much easier than puppies. Cats mature faster than dogs I think. Kittens are more like small cats, whereas puppies are more helpless and require more direction, IME.

They are more independent, as has been said, but it seems to me that dogs focus on their people and cats on their environment more. Not that cats aren't social. But to a dog, home is wherever the pack is. To a cat, home is a specific territory - we just happen to live there too.

If I disappeared tomorrow, Sienna would be heartbroken. My cat would just be hungry.
Not dogging on cats (uh, LOL), I love them and grew up with cats more than dogs. But they are definitely different animals!

Like Barbara said, cats love windows. Cats are more visual than dogs - I think cats are more sight,sound,scent whereas dogs are scent,sight,sound (or something like that). Cats are perfectly happy to watch squirrels out the window all day, while a dog would have a nervous breakdown from not getting to chase the squirrels. All of my cats have watched TV, while I've never known a dog that had any interest for moving objects on a screen.

A lot of people like my type of cat for short periods. They come over, ask for pets, are sweet and friendly, and people think that's awesome. But if they had to live with a cat who is literally ALWAYS in their way, they would be miserable.

That would drive me crazy, too LOL. I cat sit for a Devon Rex and he's like that. Cute but OMG. Georgette, my kitty, is needy but mostly a lap cat. She just wants to sit on or near me, and she's happy. The dog is usually the one that's all up in my business.

None of my cats have ever been real terrors as kittens. I guess I've been lucky!

Originally Posted by Southpaw

I find kittens nuts. Personally I would rather have a puppy than a kitten lol.

LOL, I would much rather have a kitten than a puppy!


I mean, how can you resist THIS?

[Panzerotti]

Originally Posted by MyHorseMyRules

Plus.... They're cuuuuute!....

Or two. Or three. It's hard to stop with just one...

/picturespam

Please start a thread of Siamese & dog pics. Pan isn't yet at the point where she can cuddle with my Siamese, but they wrestle and really like each other. I absolutely adore other people's cat and dog cuddly pics.

[GedewemsNeoge]

GedewemsNeoge