Pros and Cons of having cats

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And another con:

Sometimes a cat doesn't use the litter box for various reasons and can't get into the bathroom to go in the tub and they will go on stuff. Cat pee smells horrible and is just about impossible to get out. Sometimes if they are upset over something they will show their displeasure by peeing on your clothes or bed or furniture.

hmm...............maybe i should get a parrot instead.

Yup, I had five cats, and one started peeing on things, so they all started going. We had to get rid of the one cat that was causing problems. We steam cleaned the whole house, cleaned off all the furniture, and everything still reaks.

Hi Namaste,
I am a self-proclaimed cat expert.
At the present time, I have six inside cats and three outside cats.
All but two I raised from kittens and all but one is spayed/neutered (Kitty, the outside cat is a bit ferrel and I can't get a hold of him to take him to the vet).

Every kitten I have had has instinctively gone pee-poo in the box from the first moment they set foot in it. There are exceptions. If a cat is pissed-off (or sick) it may go outside the box - that's why Whisker is no longer an inside cat. It's been my experience that solid black cats sometimes like to go outside the box for no reason.
The are nothing like a puppy - you don't have to potty train them.

I LOVE my cats. Each one has his unique personality - some like to snuggle and be held, some don't. Minie Me likes to play fetch with little plastic rings off milk jugs. He also likes to push his water bowl all around the kitchen floor and will close the frig door when I open it. I came home from work one day and found a half-eaten pack of hotdogs on the floor - one of them had opened the frig and taken them out!
I have two that love to get in the shower with me. One sits on the window sill and likes me to slather water all over him and then he'll lick the water off my shoulder, the other likes the same thing, but will also walk right through the shower.

They are great mousers. They growl when they hear a stranger in the yard. One actually alerted me to a burglar once - when I saw him walk backwards away from the back door with his ears down, I knew I had an intruder.

Winkey is sitting on my lap purring right now.
The kitten stage is very entertaining, but they can be rough and you will have scratches on your hands. I trim their toenails once a month.

The cons are:

They can get urinary tract blockage, which is fatal if not detected immediately. You can solve this by making sure they are on a good diet.

They hack up hairballs all over the house.

If you have them inside, you will have cat hair everywhere - forget wearing black or navy blue.

They may shred the furniture - I buy inexpensive furniture, so it doesn't bother me too much.

Litter boxes are a real nusiance. I have four and clean them every other day. I don't use regular litter boxes; I bought the clear plastic storage boxes and cut a "walk through" opening on one end. This keeps stuff inside the box.

The worst con of all, as with most pets, is that one day you will have to put them down, for one reason or another.

Last edited by MissQ on 06 Feb 2012, 6:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Why did you want a cat/kitten?

i want a pet...i feel lonely
i dont want responsibilities of a dog
cat seemed easy

Where....where do you put your cat?

Maybe an adult cat? Animals shelters have rooms to meet the cats, you can watch them, see if one even picks you.

I would say the responsibility level of a cat is equal to that of a dog - different, but equal.
Maybe you should start with a fish?
My mom bought one last year and she really enjoyed it - while it lasted.
Extremely low maintenance.

My cat has a covered litter box.

Sometimes my cat's littler smells so bad there's FUMES!! Fumes which make my eyes water and sinuses go insane. At first I thought maybe the cat litter might have been contaminated with chemicals that reacted badly with her pee or something, but I tried other litters and it did the same thing. Also I hate the crystal litter, it goes bright yellow

I'm familiar with those fumes!
Just something you have to deal with if you love cats... and I do.

oh thats sounds like lot of work........

Actually, you can train a cat to use a human toilet if you can't stand the litter box. It takes a few weeks, but it can be done. The only disadvantage to training a cat to use the toilet is that you have to keep the toilet seat up so it has access to the toilet, which can be a problem if you have small toddlers. Just look up "Toilet training a cat" in the seach bar and you see kits and instructions for doing it.

That said, both of the cats that I've had didn't seem to mind that the litterbox was often dirty (not overflowing, but often stinky and with poops) and didn't go outside of the litterbox. I think it depends on how the cat was raised. If one is a staunch neatnick then the cat will be too, they won't have developed the tolerance for the occasional mess. I was often one of the people that tended to scoop the litterbox about one-two times a week, usually only doing so when the smell became intolerable. But the cats didn't seem to mind, and the only time one started to elimiate outside the box was when he was getting old and seemed t lose the tolerance for the smell.

For cat scratches and bites, I would say that unless they are deep or they develop an infection, the kid should be fine with regular soap and water. I've had cats scratch me as a kid and I just washed the scratches, I never developed an infection and I never had to go to the doctor for any of them.
I would say however that if there are kids, that they should learn how to treat the cat correctly, so the cat doesn't feel compelled to have to bite or scratch. Usually the cat is does after it's other warnings have gone unheeded and the kid is still pushing the cat's boundries. Or sometimes the cat gets excited or upset, which then the best thing would be is to leave the cat alone until it calms down.

I think the thing with pregnant women and litterboxes is mainly the issue with toxoplasmosis, as cats can be a carrier for this parasite. The reason why toxoplasmosis is a danger is that due to a peculiearity of the parasite's lifecyle (it uses it's host's immune system to keep its numbers in check to avoid killing the host) it makes it a danger to unborn babies (they don't have an immune system yet, so the parasite keeps increasing in numbers, thus severely damaging or killing the baby.)
But even with this, pregnant ladies can still empty the litterbox if they take precaution by wearing a filter mask (the kind you see contruction men wear when in dusty areas) and by using rubber gloves and washing their hands afterwards.

As for the cat 'stealing a baby's breath,' that is an old wives tale. Cats don't steal breath, but what they do like to do is lie down in warm places or with people, and a cat will sometimes try to sleep on top of a person and these are what can be a danger for babies.
However, if the cat is kept out of the baby's room then there shouldn't really be an issue, especially if there is a door that can be shut to keep the cat out.

Having a cat does have it's pros and cons (I should know, I have one right now ) but they can be easier to take care of then a dog. A dog requires a bit more work, and plus they have slightly shorter lifespans then a cat. And landlords tend to allow cats more then dogs, as dogs can be messy when left alone for too long and they also have a tendancy to bark. I like dogs, but cats are more 'user friendly.'

I wonder if the OP has gotten a cat?

I've adopted 3 cats and they don't damage anything in the house, cleaning the litter boxes is almost no work, there was no need to train them in anything, they just behave with common sense like humans. They go to the kitchen when they're hungry, to the bathroom when they need to use the litter box, and to the bedroom when they want to sleep.

That said, I adopted the biggest challenge - 3 adult strays directly from the street. So they have behavior problems just like a human does when born and grown in the streets. I wasn't looking for an easy companion, though, I just wanted to save them, so I welcome the challenge, which is mostly that they're overreactive to perceived danger, also from each other, and often have an urgent need to go downstairs to the street for a short while. They're extremely clingy, fearing very much to lose me, and want my attention all of the time. Aloof creatures? I wish, if for just a few minutes! The most difficult part for me is when they can't decide if they want in or out, as they can keep me holding the apt. door or the elevator door with them sitting on the threshold grooming and deciding for a long time! This is the part that drives me nuts. I just leave them there after a while, and come back in a few minutes to an already decided cat - who hurries to follow me home, hehe.

Cons:
-hair everywhere
-furniture gets scratched
-always interferes in what you're doing
-brings back dead animals
-can scratch you
-self-centered [word not found]

Pros:
-They're KITTEHS. What more do I need to say?