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Coping with Cats

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Re: Coping with Cats

#91

Post by IncRnd »

coryrc wrote: post #80
IncRnd wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not? Because an Internet article said it might, possibly be a bad idea? I never said cats were human. I don't wash my cat. We don't shower together. What makes you think I wrote any of that? None of the items listed in that article have happened in my experience to an actual real-world cat that I have seen. The article is full of suppositions. There are no actual facts listed. The first thing that I noticed in th…

Cat parasites are not removed by sewage systems and hurt fish. Do not flush. https://www.mercurynews.com/2016/08/19/flush-cat-poop-dont-d... https://www.kingcounty.gov/~/media/depts/dnrp/solid-waste/ec... http://www.seattle.gov/utilities/your-services/collection-an... https://keepingitpawsome.com/never-flush-cat-poop/

Those are links to Dear Joan columns and the Seattle PU that don't apply to my septic system that is large enough and capable of handling this. Water from my toilets goes through a home recycling system. Pregnant women who drink water at my house are not susceptible to toxoplasmosis.

People didn't invent cats, who have been self-burying their feces for a long time. Seattle and the municipalities in your links may not be configured to handle cats, but people have known how to compost cat feces for a long time without withering the vegetables and poisoning pregnant women.

Re: Coping with Cats

#92

Post by wizzard »

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…

If you're as diligent as you say then it's probably not an issue, but hearing people state this so confidently always reminds me of the Febreze story: https://priceonomics.com/americans-thought-they-smelled-fine...

Re: Coping with Cats

#93

Post by novok »

sdflhasjd wrote: post #33

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

A project I've had in the back of my mind is to make a little outdoor contained porch area for it. That way it always gets vented. It would be a bit of an expensive project although.

Re: Coping with Cats

#94

Post by mathewsanders »

com2kid wrote: post #38
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 gett…

> 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.

My boy Dudley is the same. It’s so funny I’ll be in the living room watching TV and at a certain time he’s like “okay good night” and wanders off to the bedroom. He sleeps through the night, but will be up at dawn to watch the birds outside through the window.

Re: Coping with Cats

#95

Post by munificent » 

    The Dryer

    Turns out dryers are reasonably good at removing cat hair
    if you wait long enough. Remember to clean the lint trap 
    frequently.
Brilliant idea. How long should I leave the cat in?

Re: Coping with Cats

#96

Post by wizzard »

Some great thoughts here, but I just wanted to clarify that Chewy.com does warn you via email several days before autoships happen. (I've been using autoship for close to a year now.)

Re: Coping with Cats

#97

Post by notmars »

I don’t know much about LitterRobor, but I must say, as an expert in cats (yup, don’t ask), that if you have the money and the room (best place is in the laundry room or next to your washing machine): CatGenie is the way to go...(https://www.catgenie.com/)

I’m not affiliated or involved in any way, it’s just an amazing product, from what looks like a great company, that has not-as-good SEO skills and (I would guess) is enjoying success enough that they dont need to be so agressive.

In any case, it’s a cat-owning disruptive item if you make it work for your cat: as any robot litter, it takes some training.

I litteraly don’t change the litter ever. I add more of their recycled washable granules once a year and, around every 4 months, one box of the product that washes them.

It wasn’t talked in any of the threads, so I couldn’t resist sharing.

Maybe our household and cats are an exception and lots of other people had a lot of problem with it. Or maybe people just don’t know how amazing this thing is :-)

I’m rooting for the latter.

In our home, it clearly succeed in wiping what the article start with as the big ticket item: the smell.

For the rest of the blog post, I do believe there’s solution but they all depends on the cat :-)

We have more problem with the air of our small dog, than with our persian-hairy cat...(and thanks robot vacuum cleaners!)

Re: Coping with Cats

#98

Post by munificent »

gumby wrote: post #22
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…

Aren’t these all reasons for having a cat as a pet? Intellectually it seems strange to have pets: after all we build homes to keep alien species out . Yet when I met a neighbor who didn’t have a pet it seemed weird and even somewhat of a personality disorder. Which is absurd: households with pets are in the minority. But I really can’t imagine living without dogs, cats and assorted other vertebrates.

> Intellectually it seems strange to have pets: after all we build homes to keep alien species out.

We build homes to keep bad organisms (pests, thieves) out and good organisms (family, friends, babies, pets, plants) in. Species is relatively orthogonal. As long as the organism is a net value-add, in it goes.

Re: Coping with Cats

#99

Post by birdyrooster »

notmars wrote: post #97

I don’t know much about LitterRobor, but I must say, as an expert in cats (yup, don’t ask), that if you have the money and the room (best place is in the laundry room or next to your washing machine): CatGenie is the way to go...( https://www.catgenie.com/ ) I’m not affiliated or involved in any way, it’s just an amazing product, from what looks like a great company, that has not-as-good SEO skills and (I would guess…

Doesn't this have the same problem as City Kitty where toxoplasma gondii infiltrates water supplies since treatment plants cannot neutralize it? This particular virus is known to be harmful to marine life and other mammals.

Re: Coping with Cats

#100

Post by gumby »

danbolt wrote: post #81
gumby wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aren’t these all reasons for having a cat as a pet? Intellectually it seems strange to have pets: after all we build homes to keep alien species out . Yet when I met a neighbor who didn’t have a pet it seemed weird and even somewhat of a personality disorder. Which is absurd: households with pets are in the minority. But I really can’t imagine living without dogs, cats and assorted other vertebrates.

It's interesting how you find it weird; I'm almost like the opposite side of the same coin. I have pretty bad allergies to most pets and never grew up with them and find them. Apart from the itching and eczema, I don't really feel like I'm in a home when pets are around. For others though, I think it's the complete opposite. It must be with what we grow up with.

> It's interesting how you find it weird;

Totally! Having live with pets for almost my entire life, it feels “obviously” normal, but if I step back, I (and the rest of the world’s pet loving minority) are actually abnormal.

Fascinating.

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