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Cat vs. panel heater: which is better?

oneroof.co.nz

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Re: Cat vs. panel heater: which is better?

#21

Post by dkersten »

carabiner wrote: post #12
dkersten wrote: post #2

Not sure where they got their cost estimate from, but I spend a lot more than $250/year on each of my two cats (and 250 NZD is only ~160 USD). Still, fun article :)

Huge variation in cat food costs. Cheapest food can be under $100/year, most expensive can be 10x that.

Well, just to put it in perspective, I've spent more than their budget on vet bills alone over the past few months, nevermind cat food, flea/worm tablets, toys etc. They must have cats that don't need anything but the minimum amount of cheap food, never get sick...

Re: Cat vs. panel heater: which is better?

#22

Post by bacon_waffle »

dundarious wrote: post #11
bitwize wrote: post #7

The ideal number of cats per home in New Zealand is zero. Cats prey on local wildlife, much of which is near extinction as it is because of introduced predators including humans. Those who advocate for banning cats in New Zealand have a pretty strong case.

Is there an argument against indoor cats? That is now the recommendation in the US, as far as I know.

I live in NZ and my partner has an indoor-only cat. It's considered a bit weird here, we've had friends politely suggest that keeping a cat indoors is cruel. In principle indoor cats are just as good for bird life as no cats, but either is a tough sell.

Re: Cat vs. panel heater: which is better?

#25

Post by kaybe »

reaperducer wrote: post #13

I was once desperately poor. Too poor to turn on the heat. But I did have access to friendly cats, so I've been through this experiment in real life. One cat stuffed under the blankets at night is a significant improvement. But as you add more and more cats, the improvement becomes only incremental. I eventually learned that two cats was really the best one could hope for. Best positioning is between the legs, and wi…

I can recommend hot-water bottles, plus a kettle for quick assembly. It's a lot less cozy though, I suppose.

Re: Cat vs. panel heater: which is better?

#26

Post by outworlder »

aidenn0 wrote: post #18
saagarjha wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps you can keep your cat indoors?

Any sufficiently popular indoor pet that can survive outdoors will end up with a feral population. So it's a bit like saying "instead of ROHS can't we just mandate recycling, but if the cheap kids toys people dump indescribably could breed.

Unless they are fixed.

Charge a high pet licensing fee if they are not.

Re: Cat vs. panel heater: which is better?

#28

Post by setr »

saagarjha wrote: post #20
aidenn0 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any sufficiently popular indoor pet that can survive outdoors will end up with a feral population. So it's a bit like saying "instead of ROHS can't we just mandate recycling, but if the cheap kids toys people dump indescribably could breed.

I mean, you can very easily keep your cat indoors.

the GP is saying that across a sufficiently large population... you will have cats escaping (some subset of the population), and thus a feral population will eventually form.

It does not necessarily need to be your cat that kicks this off.

One trustworthy indoor cat steward can get away with it; a large enough population will naturally contain some careless people, or even surprises (hit by a bus)

Re: Cat vs. panel heater: which is better?

#29

Post by randallsquared »

bacon_waffle wrote: post #22
dundarious wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there an argument against indoor cats? That is now the recommendation in the US, as far as I know.

I live in NZ and my partner has an indoor-only cat. It's considered a bit weird here, we've had friends politely suggest that keeping a cat indoors is cruel. In principle indoor cats are just as good for bird life as no cats, but either is a tough sell.

Considering longer lifespan, better health, and seemingly equivalent happiness, it's arguable that not keeping a cat indoors is cruel.

Re: Cat vs. panel heater: which is better?

#30

Post by rtkwe »

viraptor wrote: post #10
saagarjha wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps you can keep your cat indoors?

Or in an outside enclosure. They're not very hard to install around your fence.

I will say cats are crazy escape artists. We had to confine ours after a move to make sure they didn't make a mess or escape while we reassembled our house but the room didn't have any doors so we piled up boxes and they just got better and better at escaping. This escalated to one of our cats jumping up and slamming a box off the top to make his escape.
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