Calling All Cat Lovers - views for cats as a pet....

[Alambil]

Well, seeing as you are cat lovers, presumably you think they are good pets but WHY?

I have a 5yr old son who is very animal minded and respectful so would be no issue.

I would love a kitten and am just wondering on any words of wisdom? Is it a stupid idea/good idea?

Roughly how much are they to keep? (thinking injections, food, basket, toys etc etc etc)

Please help - good AND bad views appreciated (need both sides of the coin!)

We got a kitten last November, my ds was 4.5. I have had cats before and know what wonderful pets they make.

If you get a kitten it will need speying which is about £80, then jabs which are about £20. But some vets do special deals. Mine doea a one off payment of £60 which covers all vaccinations for life. Then there is flea and worming on top of this. So not cheap, but not a fortune.

They can live very happily off dry food (don't need whiskas/sheba etc) Basket is a waste of money for a cat - it will only ignore it and sleep somewhere else

Toys are fun, but you will find they will equally enjoy playing with other things found lying around teh home....

I love cats so I think you should get one

I love cats too and have always had them as pets. Beware though if you live near a busy road. I got two kittens in June aged 3 months and lost one on 10th October on the road outside my house - I didn't realise he was out. Devastating.
The other kitten is now housebound (much to her disgust)while I look into the cost of fencing off part of the garden to keep her off the road.

I have Petplan insurance (about £10 a month) which will cover any vet bills (excess £65).

So far we have paid out about £150 in vet bills for vaccinations, spaying and microchipping.
On the plus side we didn't pay for the kittens as they were both part of a local litter.
If you want a pedigree though be prepared for around a £300-400!! cost.

Kittens can be a bit of a nightmare for a few months though. We have two who were born the beginning of June. They have trashed two big pairs of curtains from climbing them and pulling the curtain poles out of the wall. There has been cat wee in a variety of places and poo as well, though they seem to have cracked that now. My rugs are permanently moulting threads everywhere that they pull off.

They also came infested with fleas but were too young to use flea stuff on. So we had a flea infestation.

We've had to do two tree rescues as one is great at going up but rubbish at going down.

However they came from a house with 5 children, 4 dogs, 2 cats & 6 puppies and are absolutely bomb proof, so brilliant for the children. DD is responsible for putting their food and water down (she is 8.5)

They are very affectionate and despite everything would be very missed if not here.

a cat will:

scratch your furniture
kill birds/mice and bring them home and mutilate them on your carpet, or if you're lucky you'll just come home to thousands and thousands of feathers..
climb your curtains (while still a kitten)

On the plus side cats are fairly self sufficient so you won't need to take it for walks like a dog.

I do love cats honestly, but I have two now and when they go I won't be getting any more.

My view on owning cats as pets?

get a goldfish or hamster!

or a slightly older rescue cat. Ask the homing staff which one they recommend for your circumstances. I got a great 6 year old girlie, neutered, vaccinated, wormed and flea'd and she is fantastic.

You can de-flea small kittens from about three days of age with frontline spray, just make sure it dries before mum washes them.

ok love cats and dogs , but have 3 moggies.
mine will only eat sachets( posh food) and i would say 2 each a day which is about 60p per cat per day.
you will end up doing the looking after- don't think for one minute ( like I did )that this will be his special pet. It will be yours forever.
Once you have got past the cat litter(£4.00 a bag) stage and have fitted a cat flap(about £30) and had it neutered (anything up to £100 depending on what your vet charges)the biggest expense is probably food and flea spot on.That is unless you go away a lot which means having the cat looked after.I have a cat sitter who charges £5 per visit so mostly get my mum to pop in if she is around.have never used a cattery as with three it would cost more than a family holiday!
We have only had a few vet visits over the years for a leg bite, and for worming , which i do myself now.So over all NOT as expensive as a dog methinks
the only other thing i would say is be prepared to fall in love and for the damn cat to break your heart if it goes missing.

I love my cat, despite his little ways as outlined by wannabee.

My 2 kids love him too - he's the same age as my elder child so they have grown up together ( hae to admit that 2 crazy kittens plus a 5 mth old baby was a little stressful at times)

I have had cats since I was a kid and think they are great pets for children.

Never had a cat who climbed the curtains or scratched the furniture. If you get them a proper scratching post and teach them to use it, you should be able to avoid that issue. For training cat to stop scratching etc try a gardening water spritzer - most cats will learn to stop what they are doing if they get a quick spritz!

Outdoor cats will likely bring home dead things - look at it as a sign of love, they want to contribute! Over the years we have had birds (dead and alive), mice, lizards and even a frog. Now have an indoor cat! You can have a happy indoor cat provided you do this from very young and give them lots of exercise in the house with games etc. But it means in the summer you are constantly checking the windows are not too wide open so that the cat does not get out!

Be aware that cats can live for a long time - not unheard of for them to last 15 to 20 years, sometimes longer. So your 5 year old could be at uni before kitty goes to the big cat basket in the sky!

I've had a few cats and I've not had one that climbs the curtains either, although we have had to do a few rooftop rescues

Mine have been a bit hit and miss with scratching posts tbh, but a good tip is to ahve lots of wicker things around teh home (chests/baskets etc) as they love to sharpen their claws on it.

we've had 2 cats, both of them around 7 when we've got them. Been a very positive experiece and I'm not a cat person. Get a moggy fewer health problems and if you have an ok neighbourhood should be used to going outside.

These kittens are the 6th & 7th cats I've had and I hadn't had curtain climbing ones until now. But trust me, these are ! Would second the wicker, our log basket is currently the scratching post which works well.

Wouldn't be without mine.
Yes they have scratched the furniture and yes,we have had the odd dead offering but on the whole they are wonderful.
They are independent but fortunately love people and whenever I am upset or dd is ill-they are all over us.
I love it now they are without the litter btu frustrated that they seem to be the only cats in Christendom who poo in their own garden .Having said that,we have a small garden,only two flowerbeds and three cats and it isn't that awful.

There is something very calming about having a warm bag of fur sitting on your lap purring whilst being stroked.

I loved my dog but they do smell-cats don't.
(they only smell if they spray and this tends to be adult Toms)

love cats so much - we have two new kittens, one of whom has been at the vet all day poorly with God knows what - but they are so lovely and brilliant pets.

this is a good website www.fabcats.org/cat_group/mission.html

As someone who works at a vets, can I just add please don't feed cheap food like Go cat (full stop) or felix (as the sole food - if fed as one meal a day with biscuits as the other its not so bad) unless you want to spend the money you save on food at the vets!

Go cat is especially bad for male cats as it causes a build up of sediment leading to blocked bladders (VERY costly surgery and can often be fatal), and Felix (and other cheap tins/pouches) essentially rot the teeth - we had a 2yr old cat in last week for a dental who'd been on felix her whole life, and as a result had 1/3 of her teeth removed due to decay

I would say a decent dry food would be your best bet (if you can convince your cat to eat it.. and I know some won't for love nor money) as it'll serve you well in the future - it doesn't need be food from the vets (dispite what they'll say) just a good quality dry food

our cat we lost earlier this year was a rescue cat and he had the bladder problems you mention - he had to spend the rest of his life on urinary tract dry food after VERY expensive treatment.

what food is best - Science Plan?

one more thing. If you get a cat flap be prepared for the neighbourhood cats to come calling as well - I'm sure that they can smell a cat flap!

I much prefer dogs and am allergic to cats but they are such easy and lovely pets. The advantage of getting rescue cats is that you get to know their personality a bit before you home them. Both of ours have been lovely and it is so nice having someone so please to see you first thing in the morning and to keep you warm in the evenings.

Science plan is good, as is something like Iams, Pro Plan, James Wellbeloved.

Iams can be got at most supermarkets and is a decent food, Pro Plan and James Wellbeloved are usually petshop/online foods.

Prices are approx
Iams = £15 for 3kg
Pro Plan = £15 for 3kg
Science Plan = £12 for 2kg
James Wellbeloved =£12 for 2kg

Thats all based on one site online, and it'll vary place to place, but its an idea. Personally, I'd feed Pro Plan or James Wellbeloved, but the others aren't bad foods either

3kg will last a cat about a month I'd guestimate, so the amounts would be monthly costs of food, give or take a bit.

ooh thanks for that. how about "wet" food, which is good? or can you get Iams dry and wet?

I believe Iams comes in wet form too. I don't know much about wet foods as I'm not a fan of them, but give me 5 and I take a look and see what I'd feed

Oh, and I guess I better I add, no food will stop the health problems, but a decent food will minimise them. Some cats live on Go Cat their entire life with no problems, others on the top food will be plagued by problems, but as a rule, the better the food, the lower the risk!

Iams and Science Plan both do a wet food that I'm assuming are off a similar quality to their dry, so that should be an ok food.

Denes looks like a semi decent wet food as its free from many of the common icky things like salt and preservatives and artificial colors.

I would avoid felix/whiskers/sheba where possible, but as an occasional meal if you run out of one of the other brands and its all the garage has kind of thing isn't going to harm.

Personally, if I was going to feed wet I'd combine it with dry (so maybe dry for breakfast and wet for dinner, or free feed dry and then dinner offer a sachet) since dry is much better for their teeth, and as a rule, is usually of slightly better quality then a wet lb for lb.

For dogs wet v dry I think is less of an issue since you can brush a dog's teeth, but you'd be insane to try to do so with a cat

Haven't read the other answers but please look at pet insurance if you can afford it. My cat's really ill at the moment and is costing us a fortune in out of hours vet bills Fortunately we have got insurance, so I can take him to the emergency vet without the worry wherther we can we afford it.

My cat has the bladder condition nutterly described - crystals in his bladder that could block his ureatha (potentially fatal) I have never fed him go-cat mind you...

The crystals can form randomly, and not all cats are prone to them, and some breeds/cats more then others.

When crystals ARE found and occur, the only way to prevent them reoccuring is the special urinary diets from the vets, but again these can only reduce the changes. Also, specialist diets aren't covered on vet insurance which is something to bare in mind, but the cost per bag is about the same as a high quality food.

Second advice about pet insurance. Do it the day the cat/kitten comes home. Even if you opt for the cheapest policy (about £8 a month) it gives you some cover for unexpected accidents, such as broken legs/pelvises due to road traffic accidents, or blocked bladders, or even something like a kitten eating some carpet (and yes, this can happen!)

Cats make wonderful pets - our moggy is great with my ds 6 months, even though he hasnt got the whole "stroking" thing yet, prefering to grab him.

If you decide to get a cat though, please please please go to your local rspca or cats protection league and get one - there are so many adorable moggys out there that need homes - ok most of them arent cute fluffy kittens but you will miss most of the asosiated kitten problems, and be rehoming a cat that needs love and care.