Talk to me about owning cats

[wintersdawn]

I'll be honest I've grown up with dogs and as an adult have only owned dogs but our lives don't suit dogs anymore. Kids are at school, DH works long hours and I spend 2 days a week in the office but work from home the rest of the week. The commitment of walking dogs and being around for letting them out doesn't work but our last darling dog passed at the beginning of this year and I'm desperately missing having a pet that I can interact with and talk to (even though I've as much chance of getting an answer from a cat as I ever did from a dog )

The idea of a cat appeals to me greatly, more independent than a dog but still around and both the children would love to have a pet again. However and this is my issue, I don't like the idea of cats sleeping upstairs on the beds with us during the night (though the kids would love it) and I wouldn't want a cat up on the kitchen surfaces.

How many of you guys with cats manage to keep them out of bedrooms and off kitchen surfaces? With dogs it was never an issue they couldn't get on surfaces and weren't allowed upstairs.

Also would you recommend always getting two cats rather than one? Thanks

Let's get it straight...the cat owns you not the other way round 😁

Yeah cats don't generally take instruction. To keep them off things you'll need to shut them out of rooms you don't want them in, however be aware they can learn to open doors quite quickly.
We don't keep them off work surfaces tbh I just make sure I clean them before I prepare food.
No children at the moment but I will shut them out of our room once our baby is born.
That aside I find them wonderful company, such funny cute little critters.

As a pp said, you don't own cats they own you

The ONLY way to stop a cat getting somewhere it wants to is to shut them out, and their interest in their world is such that just one moment's inattention is enough for them to slip un-noticed through a door. They then end up getting shut IN to the room you were trying to keep them out of, and may well do a wet or dirty protest when they can't get out (voice of experience!)

If the cat is to be indoors, I would definitely suggest 2 preferably a bonded pair. If it's going to be allowed out, then either way shouldn't matter.

This sums up our cat & dog pretty much

Thanks for the comments. It/they wouldn't be in order cats but yes had rather a lot of people mention that the cats would rule the house far more than the dog did!

I only have one cat. She's queen of the house. She's out whenever I'm out, and during the night either shut in the kitchen (and has never shown any interest in kitchen surfaces) or else demands to spend the night outside. She is excellent company. The only downside I can think of is that she's long haired and black/white - her black hairs are attracted to light surfaces and her white hairs obviously to dark.

She enjoys watching programmes about birds.

I've had cats all my life and have never had csys that climbed on tables or worksurfaces. It is purely due to persistent removal of them squirting with water pistol etc up learn. Now i have2 burmese tjatxare a nightmare, nothing i can do transpires it's part of their nature to want to sit on high surfaces. If you want cats off your bed shut them out the room. They really lile their creatire comforts, chsirs to sit on etc so If you make a cat too uncomfortable by always kicking it off it might decide to upsticks and find another owner though!

I got one cat but should have got two (twice the fun, twice the cuddles) depends on the temperament but some cats can be taught not to jump up but given a chance, they will jump up. Only thing you can do is shut them out but my cat lives in our house and has a right to be in it as much as we do. She is told off for jumping on kitchen sides and does it very rarely because she knows she will be told off for doing it. She does react to a raised voice. Also reacts to her first and last name said together!

She is the most wonderful company and quite a home body so she is around a lot. She brings me s lot of joy and I would be lost without her.

Yup. The cat definitely owns you.

I have a cat and he rarely, if ever, has jumped on the worktop. I shut him out of the bedroom at night most if the time, othewise he keeps me awake.

Only one of our cats really jumps up on the counter, and that's because he is in the food business

In all seriousness, it depends on the cat. We have another cat who doesn't eat human food. He's too fat to get up on the cupboard anyway, but even if he could, I don't think he would do it. It holds no interest for him.

As far as the bedroom, you can simply close the door.

We have three cats and they bring us a lot of joy (and confusion, and occasional piles of sick) . We had a water spray which we used a lot when they were tiny to discourage them from going on the kitchen work surfaces so that is not an issue. We also shut them downstairs at night. No way I would want to wake up and find a cat sitting on my head!

It’s lovely to come home to little purry bodies in the house, they are hilarious at times, affectionate and friendly, I would never live without a cat. Ours have a cat flap so they can come and go as they please but we choose to keep them in at night and so they have a litter tray then.
When we go away, our neighbour feeds them. Two of the three are fine with us being away, the third one tries to move in with another one of our neighbours as she is very affectionate and misses the attention .

Apart from the bringing of dead bodies I think they are the perfect pet.

Oh and yes, definitely two.

Hahahahahahaahahaaahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaa!

Don’t get feral ones, that’s my only advice.

Cats do what they want when they want. Mine doesn’t get on the surfaces but sleeps wherever he likes. I can’t imagine closing off rooms to him. He’s a bugger but he’s mine

My cats never go on the kitchen surfaces, except when we are on holiday (they give themselves away with their paw prints!) but I think that's just because they can't go out then and the kitchen window is the only one they can look out of. They have tried once or twice and we've shouted at them furiously, and they definitely know it's not allowed now and don't even seem to want to anyway. They do sleep on the bed but I actively encourage that! Cats do rule the house, but you can train them to some extent not to do things at least while you're looking, by water spraying or even just clapping at them, as we do. Keeping them off the bed I can imagine would be more difficult though, you might need to shut the door for that.
I actually don't think most adult cats benefit that much from being in a pair, unless they already like each other. They're solitary animals by nature and generally don't mind being home alone during the day, though of course some need more attention than others. My two are brother and sister and whilst as kittens they did play and cuddle, now they tolerate each other at best and fight quite a bit.

My cats never go on work surfaces. At night I shut my bedroom door so they don’t come in but one sleeps under my bed during the day. If we had doors downstairs we could shut them down there overnight but it’s open plan so we can’t. I’d get 2 as well especially if you’re getting kittens as they amuse each other so much.

I am a massive cat lover and have had them all my life they are the best animals ever!!! I have two cats who do sleep on our beds but not at night, they get shut downstairs at night and have done since they were kittens so are very happy to sleep down there one of our cats does occasionally jump on the kitchen surface and we do tell her off and get her down every time we catch her up there but I must admit I have had a lot of cats in my lifetime and she is the only cat I have ever known to jump up on the kitchen counter. Get a cat they are the best and will make you so happy 🥰🥰

Cats are much easier than dogs as they're much less demanding. Ours don't come upstairs and neither do they jump up on work surfaces - apart from one time when I'd left a cooked chicken up there! Get a cat flap and they let themselves in and out. No walks required.

We have 2. They very rarely jump up on the kitchen benches, and never when food is being prepped or cooked. They also never lie on the dining table, but often curl up on one of the seats.

Ours also have their own bedroom... they always have in the 3 houses we have lived in. It's a spare bedroom that has their cat trees, scratching toys, litter trays, water and food. They are "put to bed" when we go to bed (put in their beds on their cat tree) and the door is shut. They are then allowed out all day from when we get up and they have free run of the house. They've had this routine since the first day we got them so they're very used to it and will put themselves to bed when we head upstairs.

Ours are house cats though, and serious cats of routine, so they're used to it. I am currently pregnant and when we have a toddler, we will be putting a baby gate on the cats bedroom door, that's their safe space. Whenever we have visitors and the cats take off to their room, we don't allow anyone to hunt them out. If they want to be sociable, they'll come to where we are

Mine has no interest in human food apart from tuna so doesn't bother climbing on the work tops. She has however scaled all the blinds and has trashed 3 sets in one year! Water sprays do not deter her from anything she want to do. I have given up on having a Christmas tree.
She likes to wake me up by jumping on my stomach in the morning and will purr until I get up and feed her. Apart from that, she isn't at all cuddly. Some days are, but you can't guarantee it,so don't get one in the assumption they will sit on your lap and love you. Mine seems to like us - she often chooses to be close by and enjoys playing with us though

My two ( had them a fortnight now) are "Discusted" because we are vegetarian and DD & I use soya milk.
So no chance of food theft ( though DS isn't vegetarian but the cats aren't into chicken goujons)

Mine go where they like in the house (except the pantry and the utility because I don't want them getting behind the washing machine)

They are lovely , very clean apart from tracking litter but we're going to give them the cupboard under the stairs for their litter trays. They've taken a while to get used to us and the male is still shy but making huge improvements.

They like a mad half hour of chasing each other , scampering on the hard floor .
I have them tinned tuna last night , they loved it .

You'll be checking out all the food recommendations .

Looking at ingredients .
"Ooh, grain free, yes"
"Oh they don't like beef flavour"
"DH , what did they have for breakfast? They won't want chicken twice"

Under The Claw .

Thanks for all the comments everyone. May well be back on the thread introducing some kittens at some point in the not to distant future!

Mine decided he wanted to live with me. He looks at me with distain one min and love the next. He doesn’t get all excited when I get home. He will only eat cheap nasty food ( I have tried everything ) he doesn’t bring me dead animals. He loves to hide behind the drawers and get stuck.

I love him. I’m sad we only had him from now as he is 11 and doesn’t do much and would love to have seen him when he was little.

In my experience, cats will go into any room they have access to.

If they get into the habit of going into a room and you shut them out, they'll scratch at the door and eventually pull the carpet up, if there is a carpet.

If you keep the door shut from when you first bring the cat home and you are consistent, they won't try to get in.

From my experience:
They do get on work surfaces. You may think they don’t (as we did), but they wait til you’ve gone out then parade all over it 😂 - we came back early as we forgot something and caught her in the act! We scrub the surfaces before we do any food prep.

Shutting our cat out of rooms only makes her more determined to get in there.

She loves a particular brand of cat food and will eat nothing else, until the moment you decide to save money and buy it in bulk. That’s when she decides she’d rather starve than eat it.