Cats and Kids

[CaliDreaming]

I'm thinking about getting a cat sometime in the future and need some advice. I have always had dogs, but I just had to put my 12 year old dog to sleep this weekend. My 5 year old daughter has been asking for a cat for months now but I know next to nothing about them. I guess they're a good pet for kids since so many people have them.

I am not going to get another dog for many, many years because with my job, hubby and two kids I don't have the time to give a dog the attention that it would need. I'm considering a cat because I understand they don't require nearly as much daily, undivided attention as dogs. Is this true?

Another concern is that my hubby is sensitive to smells. Is it easy to keep the house from smelling with a cat?

Finally, I'm concerned about the cat scratching up furniture and the floor. I'm wondering if we get an older cat that is not as active if that will take care of the problem. I've read that declawing is considered inhumane.

The mental picture I get of owning a cat is of a creature that you feed, groom, clean up after and take to the vet but that is able to take care of themselves the rest of the time. You don't own them they own you and will come to you for attention when they want it. You don't have to take them outside for walks?

Any advice would be much appreciated!!

 

[Tanikins]

Your right about cats owning you, they can be such anti-social animal

We have 3 cats, 2 are twins of 1 year and 1 kitten that's around 5-6 months. They are all completely different animals.

They are all free to go outside. Twin 1 practically lives outside, but is the sophist cat ever when he's in. He loves nothing more than to be cradles like a baby. He will come to us jump on us and generally demand cuddles.

Twin 2 is a little more anti social but also a little more indoorsy. Hes happy to be strolled but doesn't go.out of his way to get them

Kitten - is allowed outside but chooses not to. He will be stroked but goes through stages of loving people then hating people

Smell - the bigger two often poop outside but kitten goes inside. He stinks, honestly he's worse than the kids. But we just scoop and dispose and it's gone. Same as if we were to poop, once you dispose it's fine.

One day to day basis we just feed/water them and leave them alone. They are very able to say when they want attention.

Just make sure you get it neutered, because they have a tendency to stray otherwise

 

[CaliDreaming]

Awwww, your kitties sound adorable!! So interesting how their personalities differ.

I am hoping since I'm 99% certain we would adopt an adult that we'd find one that would be a good fit. The care and feeding sounds very doable! I think we need a cat who likes to stay indoors, can tolerate noisy and rambunctious kids, and likes a cuddle every now and then but not all the time. I love the look of long haired cats but being realistic I think we should stick with short haired ones.

I'm kind of scared of being ruled by a cat after having a dog for so long, but excited at the same time.

 

[Parkep]

Cats vary in personality SO much. Getting an adult cat is a great idea. The rescue will have a good idea of their personality. You can keep them indoors if they are used to it. I know in Canada a lot of rescues only adopt to you if you are going to keep them indoors.
If you have a good cat food and good cat litter (and a cat that covers the poop lol) there is not too much smell. We keep our litter box in the bathroom.
My cat is so great with the kids, will cuddle here and there but not demanding.
https://i66.tinypic.com/359jvhd.jpg

 

[SarahBear]

Cats are super easy. If you're concerned about time commitment and being able to dedicate enough time to an animal, I would definitely get an older cat. My cat was SO attention needy in his youth. He needed a lot of interaction and playtime. That lasted for number of years until he finally started to slow down. Now that he's an old cat, he just eats, poops, and comes out for the occasional cuddle. In his youth, he'd DEMAND your attention and NEED play time. Some cats are a lot less demanding. I think part of it with my cat is that he's indoor only. As for easy of care, you just scoop litter, fill the bowl, and give attention when they want it. If you need to be gone a few days, you just fill up the bowl extra. You can't do that with a dog. As for smells, some cats will go outside the box for a variety of reasons. Often times it's linked to either stress or health. That's about the only real smell issue. If you're concerned about your furniture, I'd advise you to not get a cat. It's not something that goes away with age because cats don't just scratch for fun. They scratch because of how their claws grow. They grow in layers and in order to shed the outer layers, they scratch things. I'm waiting for my cat to die before I either replace my furniture or get covers to make things look decent. I have no idea how old my cat is though, so that might be a while... I've had him for 9 years and he's probably about 12. He could be around another 6 or so years.

 

[Zephram]

I'm curious about why you want an indoor cat? I've always had cats except for the last few years and they have all been outside cats - cats who are free to come in and out as they please. It's really rare where I live to have a cat who is only kept indoors, I've literally known one specifically my whole life and it was an apartment dwelling cat in the centre city. It was on anti depressants too, no joke!

All my cats and everyone else's around here can go outdoors and so they poo outdoors and you don't have to clean a litter tray and poop wrangle. Cats bury their own poo so you won't find turds on the lawn like you do with dogs.

Other than that if you don't have a cat door you just let them in and out when they ask, feed them and take them to the vet for vaccinations. That's it. We never had a long haired cat that needed grooming, just short haired mongrels we rescued. They clean themselves, they are self-sufficient, but they always made themselves part of the family and came for cuddles.

I love cats. My DS1 has asked for a cat too, hopefully soon we'll get one again.

 

[CaliDreaming]

Parkep, you have one gorgeous cat!! Love the blue eyes and plush fur!

It seems a cat would fit into our family nicely and the only concern would be about the scratching.

Sarahbear, yeah, kittens are cute but I could see how just like human kids they would like to play A LOT!!

I could deal with a few scratches here and there on things but not a cat that's extremely destructive. I'll have to do some soul searching with dh on this in the next few months before we get ready to make any moves.

Zephram, I'd like an indoor cat mainly because we spend so little time outdoors I don't feel like we'd be able to bond with it otherwise. Also I'm scared of it climbing up a tree or getting lost or something.

 

[CaliDreaming]

Does anyone use the little vinyl claw covers for their cat? Do they work?

 

[SarahBear]

Does anyone use the little vinyl claw covers for their cat? Do they work?

I suppose it would depend on the type of fabric your furniture is made out of. I would wonder if it would interfere with the natural claw shedding process though?

 

[SarahBear]

Sarahbear, yeah, kittens are cute but I could see how just like human kids they would like to play A LOT!!

And I didn't even know my cat as a kitten. I found him on the street when he was full grown. The vet at the time said he was at least 5 or 6. Then two years later, a different vet looked him over and when we said the age estimate had been 5-6, the vet said, "yeah that sounds about right." As in, two years after we found him, he looked like he was 5-6... So we really have no idea how old he was when we found him. My estimate is about 3. However, he was VERY playful and quite wild for many years after that. Heck, maybe he was only a year or two, who knows? He also would be VERY demanding for attention. But then he also had a wild side where he'd randomly bite or scratch. Over the course of my daughter's life (She's 4), he's really transitioned into being an old cat. Many cats are a lot calmer, less socially intense, and less playful. With a kitten, you might not know what you're getting. With an adult cat, you can be more discerning. You can choose the level of social, play, and energy needs... of course with the understanding that they will change as the cat continues to age.

As for the outdoor/indoor debate, I think it can help if the cat has some safe and contained outdoor space. When I lived in an apartment, my cat was allowed on the balcony and he LOVED it and it seemed to be good for his mental health. In my current house, there's no safe contained outdoor space and I feel bad for my kitty. The reason he's indoor only is that the first time we let him out after bringing him in, he immediately tried to attack the first cat he saw. He's very cat aggressive... or at least he was. I think he's calmed down in his old age, but at this point he's been inside so long that I'm not sure its safe to let him try being an outdoor cat. We'll try letting him out in the spring after we've put up a climb resistant fence (for the dog we plan to get). A problem with outdoor cats in general is just that there's a lot out there that's not safe for them and letting them out puts them at risk of injury, fights, and early death. If possible, I think it's good to find a balance between the safety of a house and the mental health benefits of the outdoors.

 

[CaliDreaming]

They are supposed to be very safe and humane and don't interfere with them being able to retract their claws or shedding. As the cats nails shed the covers come off. You have to get them replaced every 4-6 weeks or so.

 

[Parkep]

Thank you! Shes a ragdoll cat her name is Waffles and shes the most amazing cat.

Those caps are great. And a good price. We have all leather furniture, she never scratches it. We have a scratching pole with catnip that she loves instead. We trim her nails regularly (they get caught in the carpet)
Mine is an indoor because I signed a contract with the breeder that I would keep her indoors. Ragdolls tend to love everyone and are not scared of anything. Aka cars, dogs, coyote's. Plus I dont want anyone picking her up and taking her home. Too many cats get hit by cars plus we have lots of coyote's and racoons around our place. She is a very happy cat, she goes in the backyard when we are back there.

 

[CaliDreaming]

Glad to hear the caps work well! The caps would at least give me some time to figure out where the cat likes to scratch and to get it to scratch other stuff.

So it looks like we are now officially cat owners-to-be! I think I'll continue to read up on cat ownership for a few months and then we can start looking for one to adopt.

Thanks everyone for your help on this!

 

[Srrme]

We have 3 cats, 2 males who are 4 years old and 4 months old, and 1 female who is 8 months old. Our males are more personable than our female - she likes her space sometimes, and can act skittish every now and then for whatever reason. I prefer male over females personally. I have very young children and they all tolerate being cuddled and handled. When they've had enough, they usually find somewhere else to go (like the top of their 7 foot cat tower).

We free feed water and dry kibble (our cats aren't fond of moist food, so we don't normally buy it). I clean their cat box once a day, usually in the morning.

They are fed a high quality dry kibble, and I noticed (and so have other people, even my family when we stayed with them) they BARELY smell when they go potty, and if they cover it up like good kitties, you can't smell it at all. I am pretty sensitive to smells too, and was surprised at the difference when we switched food.

Ours are all indoor cats. I don't feel comfortable having them roaming around outside, and eating/catching birds and/or rodents, especially since I have small children who like to cuddle up to them.

As for scratching, you can buy caps for their nails that you have to glue on, or you can trim their nails frequently. We have a huge cat tower our cats are allowed to scratch (we spray it with catnip to encourage the behavior there).

They're pretty darn easy to care for, especially compared to a dog (we have a high maintenance German Shepherd).

 

[CaliDreaming]

Thanks for the tip on the high quality dry kibble Srme. I was lol at the thought of your kitties getting away from your children when they were done playing!

I am more and more excited about getting a cat now! Maybe we are destined to have more than 1!

 

[SophiasMummy]

I would actually suggest getting 2 cats together especially if your out a lot. Yes cats are independent but they do like companionship too. I have a dog and cat who are best friends. We got our cat as a kitten, never had problems with her scratching furniture you just need to give them something else to scratch like a cat tree. They love having somewhere high to climb too so I'd always recommend cat trees. I would also recommend kittens not adult cats, my friend has made the mistake twice of getting adult cats none of them will go anywhere near her kids and will scarper out at loud noises eventhough they seemed really friendly before they came home. My girl is super tolerant, she's only ever scratched once when my daughter pulled her tail really hard (she was 5 so she knew better). My girl is an indoor cat too she loves to sleep cuddled up to my daughter at night.

 

[SarahBear]

I noticed multiple people mentioned nail trimming. I have to say this is something I don't understand. We had our cat's nails trimmed once and it was a disaster. Since the nails are made up of layers, it isn't just one clean cut. Then when he tried to claw our couch, it was worse than usual as the different fibers had more parts of the nail to get stuck on and it did far more damage than untrimmed nails. Does it help because you also put the caps on? We do nothing to our cat's nails.

 

[jessmke]

I would suggest getting an adult cat from a rescue that uses foster homes as opposed to a shelter type rescue. It'll give you a much better idea of how the cat behaves in the home and whether or not it gets along well with children. My personal experience is that male cats tend to be more affectionate and tolerant than female cats.

It must be location specific about whether or not cats live indoors or outdoors. In Canada it is illegal for cats to roam outdoors, so almost everyone I know has an indoor cat. It is actually considered very irresponsible to let your cat outdoors where they are likely to get hit by cars, eaten by urban coyotes or foxes, or poop in other people's gardens. Our cat lives outside because we live in the country, but in the city it is very much frowned upon to let your cat roam outside.

Trimming your cats nails shouldn't cause the nails to shatter if the nails are healthy. If you find this happening you could try adding vitamin e oil to it's diet. The soft paws work really well and most vet clinics will apply them for a reasonable fee. They will trim all the nails then apply the caps. They need to be replaced every month or so as the nails continue grow under the caps. It is very important not to allow your cat outside if they have soft paws on because it renders them defenceless, they are unable to fight or climb trees to get away from predators with the caps on.

 

[SophiasMummy]

I noticed multiple people mentioned nail trimming. I have to say this is something I don't understand. We had our cat's nails trimmed once and it was a disaster. Since the nails are made up of layers, it isn't just one clean cut. Then when he tried to claw our couch, it was worse than usual as the different fibers had more parts of the nail to get stuck on and it did far more damage than untrimmed nails. Does it help because you also put the caps on? We do nothing to our cat's nails.

Everything time I trim my cat's nails they cut through cleanly.

 

[CaliDreaming]

Jessmke, thanks for the tip about foster home adoptions vs. shelter adoptions! I never would have thought of that.