Do you have advice for a first-time cat owner?
Before anybody freaks, please remember that nobody, including me, thought I’d be a good driver. And I’m an excellent driver. I love driving and always invent new routes to get in and out of state, even if they take much longer because I love being in my car. The point being that I can be good in very unexpected arenas.
” a first-time cat owner”
I’ll limit my advice to which breed to get.
The general rule is, the longer the fur the stupider the cat (persians are notoriously dumb). On the other hand, the shorter than usual fur cats (siamese shorthair) can be a handful
So standard length fur is my suggestion. And female or ‘fixed’ male since intact males are likely to want to mark their territory (with urine).
Don’t declaw them.
Contrary to reputation cats can be very affectionate with people but they need their space at other times.
I’ll let those with more cat experience add more.
Folks, I’d never declaw. There’s a whole segment in my new book about how declawing cats is the ultimate n-word.
Is American Shorthair good?
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Well, I am admittedly biased, but your daughter seems responsible, so maybe get a dog. There is always a lot of rescues available from the fools that unthinkingly bought one for Christmas. If you do, choose a working breed — because brains matter ;-D
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Declawing is cruel. Will reiterate Cliff: female cats are better (spayed preferably) because they don’t pee on everything. If not spayed, you will have feral toms hanging around your house at night yelling, now and then. They will spray your yard and make it stinky, and if you’re a light sleeper you will want to murder them.
We always had indoor/outdoor cats: they could go in or out as they pleased, and generally came in at night. The downside of this is, they get in fights with the wildlife (more true for male cats) and hunt the birds lizards and squirrels, but IMO they have nicer personalities than all-indoor cats and are better mousers. All-indoor cats are kind of bland and neurotic (I of course think this because my default is the other kind). Cat-doors not recommended though: raccoons and opossums will gladly use them if there’s free food.
If you go for all-indoor… maybe look into “natural” feeding plans. Hunting animals actually need to rip cartilage and crunch little animal bones and stuff to develop skull and jaw properly. A diet of all soft food is as bad for animals as it is for people.
Litter boxes are gross, need to be cleaned daily, and think hard about where you put it, and about protecting nearby floors and walls. I’ve lived in more than one rental house where, even after multiple deep-cleans if we came back after a weekend away, and the house had been closed up, you could still smell the litter box… of some previous tenant. We didn’t have a cat. The smell soaks into the walls and floor. I could tell you in our last house exactly where the litterbox had been even though I’d never seen it (carpet, ugh: smell never ever comes out).
You will have to clean up hairballs and barf sometimes. It’s gross. You’ll probably get used to it, unless the cat takes a liking to your bed for that. If the cat likes you: not usually a problem. We had a cat who specially sought out my mother’s bedding for that purpose. Repeatedly.
If the cat begs you to scratch its tummy, don’t fall for it. It’s a trap. I still have little scars all over my wrists…
-ethyl
If you get a kitten, start early with consistent and regular claw-clipping. You’ll save yourself a lot of grief down the road. Also lots of picking up and cuddling, if you want a lap-cat.
If it starts scratching furniture, double-sided tape on the surfaces the cat likes will help to deter it (to my surprise, this actually worked).
Don’t let the cat out — for the sake of the cat and the local ecosystem.
Scoopable cat litter is the way to go.
According to my husband, it’s good for a cat’s mental health to have lots of toys and cat trees that they can ignore. I would happily throw it all out and suspect it would not make any difference.
For the rest, never fear — the cat will have you trained in no time.
depends on the way your house is set up but I find the basement to be the best spot for the cat box. Scoop it daily because it’s gross and cats will relieve themselves elsewhere if it’s not cleaned up to par.
i recommend not a calico cat as they are notoriously not friendly. Everyone here is saying get a female cat, but I’ve had both, and found the males to be better companions. Females ime were not as cuddly or friendly. And my last female cat actually was the one peeing and shitting outside of her litter box. I think it was an act of protest because she started the behavior after my daughter was born. She finally died two years ago and (when my daughter was nine), and put me off any new cats.
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All of the above advice is good. To add something, think about whether you want a kitten or an adult cat. Kittens are cute and can be taught a lot (like claw clipping and stuff like that). However they do need to be taught everything, including how to use the litter box, what not to chew (like cables), not to scratch furniture or people etc. So getting a kitten is a lot of work and stays a lot of work the first year to two years. However they are cute and playful and very active, so they are a lot of fun as well.
Getting an adult cat means less playing and way less work. It is usually easier to gauge their personality when you meet them the first time as opposed to a kitten. However they can’t be taught as much as they will have formed strong opinions on stuff like claw clipping and how much they like to be pet.
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Klara only likes adult cats. She has her eye on one who’s 3yo. We were once on a farm where a cat has just had kittens. I thought Klara would be into the kittens because they were legit precious. But she was only interested in the mom. Stood there for hours, contemplating her.
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That is a very good thing honestly. It means she can choose a cat that likes her and whose personality and demeanor she likes. It won’t change much after you get it home.
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“but past the crazy kitten phase”
Yes, the term “gentle as a kitten” has never made any sense whatsoever since your average kitten is chaos and violence incarnate and doesn’t kill you only because it can’t.
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