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Coping with Cats

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Re: Coping with Cats

#31

Post by powersnail »

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…

> wake up at 2 in the morning to some weird noises

I used to have that problem. But I now make sure to exhaust my cat, feed him, and poop him before I sleep. And he no longer wakes me up in the middle of the night. Works like a charm.

Re: Coping with Cats

#32

Post by vharuck »

Jtsummers wrote: post #17
beervirus wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I have my cat trained to expect a phone alarm for breakfast time. Total accident at first. It was my wake-up alarm, but I started always walking up before it, and then it was the "owner's awake and over here" signal. Any meowing before it gets a strong tone at first and a spritz if continued. Now that I'm working from home, I'll also start using an alarm for dinner.

I had tried to teach her to read an analog clock by putting it near her food dish. No change in behavior except she kept knocking it over.

My previous cat was like yours, though. She didn't expect meals at usual times on weekends. We can train them somewhat, but they do have unique personalities.

Re: Coping with Cats

#33

Post by sdflhasjd »

Of all the problems I've had owning a cat, the location of the litterbox has been the biggest difficulty for me - without the space of a dedicated small closet, it seems to be unsolvable

Re: Coping with Cats

#34

Post by r00fus »

powersnail wrote: post #31
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…

> wake up at 2 in the morning to some weird noises I used to have that problem. But I now make sure to exhaust my cat, feed him, and poop him before I sleep. And he no longer wakes me up in the middle of the night. Works like a charm.

I can understand the exhausting & feed him, but "poop him"? How do you control that?

Re: Coping with Cats

#35

Post by stbtrax »

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've been to a few friends places where I've smelled it. I would never tell them.

Re: Coping with Cats

#36

Post by jstarfish »

r00fus wrote: post #5

Regarding the litter and smell - being a relatively new cat owner I did a lot of reading and I came to 2 conclusions (note: I only have one cat, and she's 1) Litter needs scooping every day. Otherwise cat will rightfully be upset and do poop in the wrong place just to let you know. Recommended to have N+1 litters for the N cats, but small apartment = difficult to place/clean all of them. 2) According to many cat book…

> So venting them outside may cause other confidence issues

This seems like perverse logic though. You're venting toxic ammonias and spores to the outside...where they're supposed to go in the first place.

Re: Coping with Cats

#37

Post by thomasfortes »

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…

> 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!

If your cat is anything like mine, it is on demand for them...

When they don't want to play they climb in the highest place that they can and look down on me and my frustrated attempts to convince them to get down for play or food.

Re: Coping with Cats

#38

Post by com2kid »

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…

> -cat likes to knock over your breakable things just cause it likes to see them smash

My cats are super careful and have maybe knocked over 1 thing.

> -wake up at 2 in the morning to some weird noises only to find the cat spiderman-ing up the screen on the window because some rats or something were outside

My cats not only sleep through the night, they insist I go to bed on time (no later than 11) or they start getting upset.

> -Oh, you were 5 minutes late feeding the cat, well have fun with non stop fucking around for the rest of the day or night

My cats are under weight (!!) so I try to feed them as often as possible.

Never had them really beg for food, though if I am eating string cheese they'll beg for that.

Re: Coping with Cats

#39

Post by gnulinux »

stbtrax wrote: post #35
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've been to a few friends places where I've smelled it. I would never tell them.

What's the smell, is it urine or poo, or the smell of litter? I would guess yeah it'd probably smell a little like the litter, but I can't see why it'd smell like urine or poo, I can't even smell it when smell the litterbox itself. Maybe depends on which kind of litter you use, mine definitely masks smell. I use Arm&Hammer litter.

Re: Coping with Cats

#40

Post by com2kid »

RankingMember wrote: post #18

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…

Furminators can leave bald spots. They are basically half of a set of hair trimmer blades.

Just because the cats like it doesn't mean it is good for them.

That said I do use mine, and the cats love it, but I have to use multiple other brushes after to get rid of residual hair the furminator stirs up, or else I am 100% guaranteed fur balls a few hours later.

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