Following on from the puppy regret thread, anyone got cat regret?

I'm allergic to cat hair and I have three cats, two of them long-haired! I'm just really careful to wash my hands thoroughly when I touch them and I'm mostly ok! I couldn't bear to be without a cat! Mine are all indoors too so I don't have to worry! Funnily enough all three of them (rescues) were used to being outside but they are happy to be indoors here!

Put that man in the shed!!!!

We've always had dogs by default because DH is allergic to cat hair. I have been tempted to ask DH to move into the shed so I can have a cat though. They are beautiful 😍. I'd also struggle with letting it leave the house, so it's probably for the best. I'll just admire my neighbour's cats when they come into my garden to shit 🤣. It really doesn't bother me.

Neither did I, but when I got Cat3, he had to sleep in the dining room overnight, because Cat1 is loose around the house and hates the other two. I was going to move him in with Cat2 as they love each other but he is so used to the dining room now and obviously I can't keep him off the table overnight.

Cat2 who knew fine well she wasn't allowed decided to copy him so now both the big lumps lie across from me while I wfh. I just fumigate the table every morning and keep the two of them out of the kitchen!

They're not allowed in my bedroom but Cat1 sleeps on beds!

This post is making me feel a lot better about my cats, haha.

I was guilted into having them by a friend who found them as feral kittens. I’m not a cat person but I have them now so I will give them a nice life. They have a nice life and they don’t go without. One of them has cost me around £2k in the last year or so in vets bills, but I couldn’t have him being in pain or PTS so off to the vets he went.

Although they are both very sweet and good natured cats they are too fidgety to have on your lap - they don’t stay still and if you stop stroking them they pester you relentlessly or they start kneading you and the claws come out. They are 7yrs old so it’s not like they are young and overly energetic. I’m hoping they will calm down eventually but I fear it will be at least 5 more years before they do.

But as I said, they are both sweet cats. They don’t jump up on surfaces, they don’t steal food, I’ve never allowed them in the bedroom (I don’t fancy a half dead mouse being plopped onto my face in the middle of the night) so they don’t disturb my sleep and because they have never been allowed in they don’t scratch the door to get in.

As far as cats go they are excellent but I doubt I will get any more.

I love our cats, and have never regretted getting them.
But some of the things you don't like, I would never let my cat do.
No cats on kitchen table or worksurfaces.

and while I am happy to have cats sleep on my bed, I deliberately shut the door regularly so that they don't HAVE to sleep on our bed.

Take back some boundaries!

No we really took a good while to think about what cats to get and they have really enriched our home, I love them both very much but have a very soft spot for my black cat, she's so smart and chippy, lovely little girl.

Now we’re heading for retirement and getting away more I regret the 40.00 a night cattery fees, Otherwise our two are great.

Never regretted having cats - even the one who tries to steal my breakfast every morning.
Life would be much duller without them.

Never have any regrets about our cats, except that we don't have all the cats! I'd have lots more if we could.

The food dispenser is a great idea, but what about litter? For an indoor cat, I have 2 litter trays but if I'm away more than a day I'm not sure how I'd manage that.

I do love our cat. We've got one left now. She just turned 17 - and we've had 4 different cats over 25 years (since the kids were little.) Had just this one for the last four years since the last one died.

I do love her to bits and I look after her and care for her and cuddle her and love her. But to be honest with you, I won't have another cat as long as I live when she's gone. They are not difficult and demanding pets, but they live for SO LONG. 😆 Like often near 2 decades. You have to be sure you are in it for the long haul with cats!

Maybe it's coz I'm a miserable menopausal moo at the moment, but my cat just irritates me about 40% of her waking hours; whining and howling and mithering and fussing. Following me around from room to room, tripping me up, begging for food and then leaving it, jumping on my laptop and phone and paperwork, shoving her arse in my face, pretty much wrecking parts of the house - scratching at the furniture scratching and at the carpets too, and squashing her food into the carpet!

She's also starting to cost us quite a lot in vet fees now for a certain monthly treatment she has to have. She's going downhill slowly. Bit of arthritis. Gone rather deaf. Lost 15% of her body weight in the last year and a half. Getting very bony. I don't think we'll have her a lot longer, but we do love her .. However, truthfully, I can't wait to be pet free I have to admit.

We will never have another pet. I can't wait to be able to tootle off for a few days without having to worry about someone caring for her while we're away. And she can't be left alone with a food dispenser; she is too clingy, and needs company. And I would be too worried the food dispenser may malfunction while we are away, and we wouldn't enjoy ourselves because of worrying about her!

By the way, she has only started to annoy me 40% of her waking hours for the past couple of years. Not sure if it's just her being more annoying, or if it's down to me being irritated more easily these days. She irritates DH almost as much as she irritates me though LOL!

I have two indoor cats and have an automatic food dispenser that I used when away at the weekend, you don't need anyone to come to feed your cats. The automatic food dispenser has two bowls, one for each cat, it also have a camera so I can keep an eye on the cats. Great thing.

I did recently, but he ended up going back to his previous owner who wanted him back and was happy to pay for his care.
He was lovely, but hard work:
Constantly ran around my feet, tripped me up a couple of times and I stood on his paws accidentally once or twice.
Tried to get in my bins quite a lot.
Went after the other cat's food.
Loud meowing during the night.
Couldn't eat anything/cook anything for myself without him trying to get at it.
It turns out a lot of the symptoms were down to illness, and he was very gentle cat, just very hyperactive. I hope he's having a lovely life now.

Our last guy humped things until we got him done!

I've got one that dries her arse on the carpet after using the litter tray! They're gross! Lucky that they're cute!

No regrets at all about my 14 year old boy but man he does like to howl at 6am in the morning to get everyone up

Did you find him in woods when searching for him? Or did he just come home on his own? 7 weeks is such a long time. Lovely to hear he was ok.

I got an outdoor enclosure and that makes it a lot better. They spend a lot of the day outside and if they start being annoying, I'll put one or both out there.

Oh yes! When he was quite young. That hasn’t stopped him though, and we have a performance most nights. He’s the only cat I’ve ever had who has done this and I try to dissuade him when we have company.

Isn't he neutered?!

Not regret at having cats but maybe having quite so many, and one really should be an only cat because he’s a bit of a bully to the others at times - but he’s great with people. The house would be calmer without him but I wouldn’t do anything to give him up. He’s a huge fat lump and currently curled up tight against me, after having a wank, following his dinner 🙄

Sometimes it makes life more challenging when DH and I want to go for a weekend away and once again have to find someone who can feed her. Day to day it's lovely though. She runs to the door to greet me when I get home from work, and is very chill otherwise. We did deliberately adopt an older cat so that we could have a sense of her personality rather than going for a kitten.

Adore my little woman to bits but … no, can’t do it- she follows me everywhere and runs across the field to get food greet me when I return from anywhere 😍

Slight regrets... I had the best childhood cat, he was so cuddly and you could lie down with him on a bed and put your face into his fur and he never ever scratched. So I always wanted cats once we owned our own home.

We now have two six year old cats who mostly hate human contact, who really dislike our kids, and one of whom went through a long phase of peeing in random places.

I kind of wish we had waited till we had kids to get kittens as then they'd be accustomed to kids from the outset.

My kitten had liquid arse for 8 months before i found a cure. There were moments when i was cleaning the millionth puddle (his preference was my bed ☹️) and throwing out yet more bedding, when I momentarily rued the day I got him, but he is an exceptionally lovely cat, I could never give him up, or any cat.

It doesn’t sound like you’re much of a cat fan. Maybe don’t replace the current guard?

One of mine likes to either be the little spoon while we sleep. Or she insists we hold hands like otters 😅