Coping with Cats • Hacker News Board

Re: Coping with Cats

#11

Post by dmart » Thu, Sep 03, 2020, 7:52 PM UTC

I appreciated the recommendations, but from a tech perspective related most with this sentence in the opening paragraph: "when I tried to research mitigations for any of these it was 100% SEO listicles".

I've found this to be true as well. Searching for impressions/reviews on literally any type of product is impossible now - the entire first page of results are just spammy sites either regurgitating PR for a specific product or paraphrasing Amazon reviews. In order to get real human opinions on anything, you have to suffix your search with "reddit".

All of these sites are clearly bogus and should be banned. How did search become so broken?

Re: Coping with Cats

#12

Post by gnulinux » Thu, Sep 03, 2020, 7:52 PM UTC

I'm a cat owner and never had a problem with smell. No one coming into my house mentioned anything about smell. I circulate air in my house every day and clean the litterbox ever day. I'm not sure why cats would cause any smell.

And to add to this: yes I think cat ownership is very worth it. It's basically an on-demand pleasure source that you can use as long as you want, whenever you want. Just curl up into the soft kitty and feel him purring, awesome!

Re: Coping with Cats

#13

Post by beervirus » Thu, Sep 03, 2020, 7:53 PM UTC

Sucks that she had problems with the Litter Robot. I love mine, and it's only malfunctioned once in the last several years. And for the fur, just get a Roomba.

Re: Coping with Cats

#14

Post by beervirus » Thu, Sep 03, 2020, 7:54 PM UTC

grawprog wrote: post #8

It's an alright list, but that's some beginner level stuff. Where's things like -cat is obssessed with plastic bags whenever he wants attention and ends up wearing them like a cape trailing it through the house causing havoc. -cat likes to knock over your breakable things just cause it likes to see them smash -wake up at 2 in the morning to some weird noises only to find the cat spiderman-ing up the screen on the win…

An automatic feeder is worth having. It seems to decouple the food from the owner in the cat's mind, so that if they're hungry, they go sit by the feeder instead of complaining to you.

Re: Coping with Cats

#15

Post by beervirus » Thu, Sep 03, 2020, 7:55 PM UTC

dmart wrote: post #11

I appreciated the recommendations, but from a tech perspective related most with this sentence in the opening paragraph: "when I tried to research mitigations for any of these it was 100% SEO listicles". I've found this to be true as well. Searching for impressions/reviews on literally any type of product is impossible now - the entire first page of results are just spammy sites either regurgitating PR for a specific…

Google still makes money on them and has no incentive to crack down.

Re: Coping with Cats

#16

Post by interrupt_ » Thu, Sep 03, 2020, 7:56 PM UTC

gnulinux wrote: post #12

I'm a cat owner and never had a problem with smell. No one coming into my house mentioned anything about smell. I circulate air in my house every day and clean the litterbox ever day. I'm not sure why cats would cause any smell. And to add to this: yes I think cat ownership is very worth it. It's basically an on-demand pleasure source that you can use as long as you want, whenever you want. Just curl up into the soft…

> I circulate air in my house every day

Might be hard to do that in really cold weather. I live in a place that's very warm and the windows are always open, so I can't relate.

Re: Coping with Cats

#17

Post by Jtsummers » Thu, Sep 03, 2020, 7:57 PM UTC

beervirus wrote: post #14

grawprog wrote: post #8

It's an alright list, but that's some beginner level stuff. Where's things like -cat is obssessed with plastic bags whenever he wants attention and ends up wearing them like a cape trailing it through the house causing havoc. -cat likes to knock over your breakable things just cause it likes to see them smash -wake up at 2 in the morning to some weird noises only to find the cat spiderman-ing up the screen on the win…

An automatic feeder is worth having. It seems to decouple the food from the owner in the cat's mind, so that if they're hungry, they go sit by the feeder instead of complaining to you.

I feed my cats at a random time between 7am and 10am (between 7 and 7:30 during the work week, between 8 and 10 on the weekend). They never bother me in the morning on the weekend, and on the rare occasion they do they usually want to play. I think the randomness has helped, especially the extreme variability of the weekend.

Re: Coping with Cats

#18

Post by RankingMember » Thu, Sep 03, 2020, 7:59 PM UTC

Something about the tone of this article rubs me the wrong way and makes the owner appear to see his cats as being solely for his own pleasure rather than for the mutual pleasure of being companions in each others' lives. One example:

> [The furminator] was absolutely amazing at removing fur from the cats (on areas broad and unbony enough to support the comb), and they liked it, but it left them less soft. I did not get these cats to have them at less than their maximum softness.

Re: Coping with Cats

#19

Post by klyrs » Thu, Sep 03, 2020, 8:00 PM UTC

grawprog wrote: post #8

It's an alright list, but that's some beginner level stuff. Where's things like -cat is obssessed with plastic bags whenever he wants attention and ends up wearing them like a cape trailing it through the house causing havoc. -cat likes to knock over your breakable things just cause it likes to see them smash -wake up at 2 in the morning to some weird noises only to find the cat spiderman-ing up the screen on the win…

A friend's cat is like this. I fear that there's nothing for it. But, some things I've succeed at improving rambunctious cat behavior:

1. Play with them at least 30 minutes a day. If they're not bouncing off the walls during this play, you're doing it wrong.

2. A catio can provide entertainment. Kinda passive, probably won't be a significant improvement.

3. Never feed them human food, even if it hits the floor. Never let them on counters or tables. Use spray bottles, clapping and hissing to enforce rules.

4. Give them safe places on high -- cat towers are cool, shelving and ceiling-height bridges are awesome.

And of course, you've already got a relationship with your cat. They'll be very slow to learn and possibly vindictive. Sorry. Better luck with your next cat.

Re: Coping with Cats

#20

Post by jakear » Thu, Sep 03, 2020, 8:00 PM UTC

I’ve always had my cats as outdoor/indoor animals, with no litterbox at all (Except when they’re very young). Never noticed any problems with smell, as cats are naturally clean animals and do a good job of simply finding a place to use the bathroom outside.

I joke that indoor cats are like children (with all the maintenance that entails..), whereas outdoor cats are like delinquent friends that randomly show up to eat your food and crash on your couch. Both have their pros and cons!