Awwww!!!!!
I just read the first post, but I wanted to give you my advice.
I grew up with dogs, but I think I'm more of a cat person somtimes. :rofl1:
Male cats are better pets then female cats, IMHO. Male cats actually seem to like people
and are attention whores. My male cat actually gets separation anxiety when I'm gone, and is a total mush.
Female cats are more independent, less interested in people, and more apt to get annoyed with too much attention.
This is a rule, but as you know, there are exceptions to that and I've met some very sweet female kitties and some aloof male kitties.
Certain cat breeds are more people oriented then others- siamese cats are aloof and independent to the nth degree. Maine Coons and Rag Dolls and Persians are very people oriented (well, as far as cats go
)
If you're looking for something specific, you could try a kitty rescue or just go to a shelter.
I have a Maine Coon mix (that I'm about to post some cute pictures of here) that I found at a shelter when he was 6 weeks old. I had no idea what he was until at 6 months he was a skinny 13 lbs and still growing.
With a shelter "mutt", you neeeeeever know.
As for food, wet is best. Dry food isn't really that good for cats. Innova, however, makes some fantastic cat food.
As for litter...I do the clay litter. Most cat people will tell you that's the devil, but Mr. Meowgi does fine with it.
The only thing about shelter cats that I would worry about is feline rhino virus, aka Kitty Herpes. My cat has feline herpes and any type of stress will bring it out in him. The shelter environment is bad for that.
But, any kitten anywhere could have it. Sometimes they're born with it. It's not as bad as it sounds, but once they have it you should try to limit their exposure to other cats if possible.
The boyfriend said I should tell you that Mr. Meowgi, though he is about 6 or so, acts like he's about 2 years old and is a total pain in the butt. He still runs around like a crazy cat and he's so noisy! He has to tell you everything that's going through his his head which comes out like, "MRROOOW? MEEEOOOWWWWWWWWWW. OOOOWWWWWWWW. meow?"
He has to be in the middle of all attention and he follows us around like a dog and is forever underfoot. In fact, right now he's watching me type this. He likes it when I move the cursor.
Any house plants are fair game, so we don't have any of those. He likes to chew them and knock them over and then bat the dirt clods all over the kitchen.
Er....I hope I didn't just talk you out of getting a cat. Just make sure you have plenty of toys around and hope that your kitty is not like mine LOL