Cats - What are the disadvantages

[Beral]

I have never had a cat but would love one, I have read a fair bit but all the books are full of how great they are. Aside from the potential cost/illness what are the day to day downsides?

As a family we have a lot of love to give but the fact that so many cats are in rescue centres makes me think 'what went wrong!' As it is a possible 18 yr commitment can anyone help & be honest?

check that your cat especially if a rescue cat, will be friendly with children. ours only appear at night and at best ignore the children which is a shame as kids love them to pieces

We got a rescued cat who was very aloof, nervous & wouldn't let you pick her up. I now feel so bloody priviledged and grateful that she shows me affection, doesn't tear me to ribbons and lets me cuddle her (entirely on her terms)

I wouldn't be without her.

The upside is that she's very adaptable and happy to spend an hour in the car to go "on holiday" to my mum & dad's if we go away, or to spend time at friend's houses, and can happily be left for 48 hours with enough food and water. All cats are different though.

Don't forget the fun at christmas! Climbing up the christmas tree, ripping the paper off the presents, knocking baubles off the tree (just like DD in fact...)

Go on, get one..............you will see why cat lovers love cats!

We have 2 cats neither of which we really wanted - 1 came with my DH, his ex GF gave it to him when they split - as in "take the cat it's yours" - he didn't get much else the other my wonderful mother bought as a kitten for my DD 1st birthday (WTF)

I have always had cats in the past but when these 2 go to cat heaven they will not be replaced

Neither are particularly affectionate
Both bring in a variety of dead and half dead animals
Both spend half their time crying for food then don't eat half of it so the dog steals it then 5 minutes later they are crying for food again
They will vomit in hard to reach, unobvious places - on windowsills behind closed curtains, under beds, on clean washing
Even when they have a clean litter tray and free access outside they will still poo on the carpet by the front door underneath the letterbox so the mail falls in it
They poo in my vegetable patch even though they have clean litter tray, plenty of access to other toileting areas in my garden and my veg patch is screened off from them - they will pull holes in the netting just to go in there
We can take the dog on holiday with us - the thought of trying to take the cats doesn't bear thinking about so we rely on neighbours to feed them as they won't go into a cattery.

I would miss them if they weren't there but mainly because life would be easier without them, I am not however going to do anything to hasten their demise but just tolerate the fact they will be with us for years yet!

I never wanted a pet - too much work but our cat picked us as she was a stray. The downsides are the vet bills to put her in the Cattery which she hated. The sneakiness of sleeping on my bed when I think she's in the garden. Waking me at 4 am because she's hungry/bored/wants to go out. Snacking her food so it's alway lying about smelly with flys in it (even with cling film on it ). Scratching my rugs . Coming in the back door and walking straight to the front door to go out (thinks it's a different world). We lurve her to bits though

Only downside I can think of is worrying that they may get run over.
And sometimes they wake you up early by miaowing for food.
Otherwise it's all positive!
Big fan of neutered boys here too, am not sure why. I quite like that they are rather dim!
Pluses include the fact that you don't need to entertain them and never need to change a nappy, so they are far easier than most babies and children .

I left out the nightly show when she 'Dances with mice' and sometimes makes them disappear like magic; you turn porch light on = corpse plus cat, turn light off and hear meow, turn on again and cat is licking lips but no corpse in sight - magic (vomit).

My cats have always been trained to sleep in the kitchen overnight so no early or in the night wakenings for us. The most resistant cat took a 5 nights to stop meowing for us on and off all night, I did think I was going to have to send him back on about night 3 and then it dramatically improved, job done.

They might get run over
They annoy the neighbours when they shit in their garden
They kill birds and other wild life in your garden (and your neighbours' gardens)

That's 3 disadvantages to 0 advantages.

Agree with the first post that the main downside is that you would have a cat.

The other downsides are:
-getting up in the night/ early to feed it
-worrying that it might sit on your childs face whilst asleep.
-vet bills
-the smell
-bringing back mice and frogs
-fleas
-and tail around your ankles while you try to cook dinner
-the smell of piss around your front door
-hair everywhere
-that gross thing they do before theyre sick
-having to get a cat sitter if you go away
-the cost of its food

• the fact that you will give and give and give and get absolutely NOTHING back apart from the odd cuddle if its been a while and it feels like it really must make some effort.

Cats are like all the bad parts of every relationship you could have but with none of the good.

Oh and they lick their bums and scoop their poo with their paws and them walk all over your kitchen sides... and dont say you've all trained your not to.. because they do it when youre out just to spite you. And then they laugh about it behind your back.

Although Somalis are lovely, I also recommend Burmese, Orientals, Siamese and Tonkinese as being the most incredibly loving breeds, like a dog. I breed siamese and orientals and they come on walks with me, sit on the bath while I havea bath, sit on my knee in the loo, sleep in or on the bed with me, sit on my knee at the computer -they are great!

Those breeds all have rescue clubs on the internet - often the owner has died, so they are longing for affaction.

Only thing that puts me off siamese is the noise!!!!! Previous Somali was so flippin noisy, fortunately the current 2 although vocal are not incessantly so. Some of the siamese at the cat shows would drive my crazy in a few days but def realy characters and dog like. I know just what you mean I get accompanied everywhere and anywhere - hence the put to bed in the kitchen overnight 2 adults and 2 cats one double bed isn't going to work for me.

We have two cats and dh says they'd make fab slippers.

They scratch my chairs all the time. It doesn't matter if you provide them with scratching posts or if they have the whole farm to scratch, they scratch my chairs

They poo in the veg patch

They eat and eat and eat and lie, claiming they have never eaten

They climb on the kitchen sides and look for scraps and cannot be trained to stop it. They just wait until you're not looking and then knock things over and break them

They swing on the curtains

They unwrap Christmas presents

They eat dd's toys

Cat one will insist on sitting on you at all times

Cat two hates everybody

They miaow to come in from 4am every day

They are ruthless killers. Bats, rabbits, mice, voles, birds etc. It never stops

They sit on clean washing as their first preference

They leave hair everywhere

Why do my cats only do 2 of the above???

Leave hair around, quite handy it forces me to vaccum more often

Sit on you as often as possible

They do jump up on the worktops but it just means I clean them more often

The do meow for the tap to be turned on for a drink

Not a peep at night!

The kill for fun and bring you part of every victim for your perusal and delight - sometimes at 4am.

Old cats smell. Sick cats smell.

They leave slugs on the carpet from sitting in the garden in the rain. Some of them are thick as pigshit!

One of mine used to like peeing in the sink

Like with any pet, the main disadvantage ultimately is that you're taking responsibility for another life. And that means if the cat is sick or unhappy or whatever, you have to deal with it.

But we can't wait to get a cat. We had cats and dogs growing up and having a pet is so wonderful.

I think also that it depends what you put into it - like children, a cat or dog that's had lots of affection, clear boundaries, is well fed, cleaned, warm etc will generally turn out to be a better pet than one that is not given enough attention. There's no point getting a pet if you're not willing to put in that effort.

They're maddening, hairy, sometimes a bit stupid, and they lick their own bums, but they're also funny, sweet, and entertaining.

They do seem to get run over quite a lot though - my first cat did.

The puking on carpet thing is spot on (see my opening sentence). Mine are house cats so no pooing in gardens, but they do occasionally indulge in a spot of guerilla-pooing behind the sofa, when the litter box isn't completely spotless.

My last cat disappeared for 3 days and spent the time eating every mouse in the neighbourhood. I know this as he came back looking very peaky, and puked partly-digested mouse all over my carpet (where else?!). I've never smelled anything quite as bad as that, before or since.

Burmese are lovely - I got an adult female via the Burmese Cat Club and she's the nicest cat I've ever met. All she wants in life is a lap to sleep on, somewhere to poo, and a self-replenishing food bowl.

cats drinking from the tap....?! hyperventilates.

I love my cat. Definately research the temperament of specific breeds then you can go to specialist websites and rehome one of them! I have a ragdoll cross and she is very affectionate, and miaowey though i don't know what she is trying to tell me! SHe's an indoor cat so no dead things.

Negative points:
Have to think about care for her before going away for more than 2 days.

She leaves white fur all over my dark sofa

Has scratched the shit out of the leather dining chairs (I hated them anyway so not a massive negative personally! DP may disagree though)

That's it, she's fab.

I love my two cats to bits posh boy and common girl, but the disadvantages:-

1. The hair everywhere even in your knickers no matter how hard you try.
2. The sick always on the duvet just when you have changed the cover.
3. The dead things - only the posh pedigree one does this so being pedigree is no guarantee
4. The live things loose in the house - again the posh boy
5. The arrogance you are merely staff who should be treated with contempt.
6. The bills and I'm a vet so don't pay those bills, but the food they get through.
7. Waking you up at 3am because they are awake and want some attention.

Wouldn't be without them despite it all.

I don't understand all the comments about cat vomit! My cat has vomited once, ever, and that was a hairball (you can buy defurr em treats from petsathome which seems to have worked)

My cat is actually half wild fen cat, but like i mentioned above was until recently totally agrophobic. The only thing it kills are spiders (huge bonus!) likes to hunt moths which is hugely entertaining (cat is nowhere near as bright as a moth) Doesn't climb on worktops as it is the most un-agile cat you could ever meet

Msrisotto some of us have cats who vomit just for fun. Despite extensive investigations I have never got to the bottom of why common girl vomits, but usually I am aware I have upset her in some way like being out for too long, overnight or fed her late. Even sometimes if I move her from say the bed she will just go and vomit in the hall.
Spent all the money on all the hairball stuff and often it has no hair in it. As I say some of them seem to do it for fun!!!