What do you allow your cat to do?

[Champagneforeveryone]

Growing up (in the 80's) we had a cat who never went upstairs or on the furniture. He was fed from specific bowls which were washed up separately using a separate cloth, because of the "germs".

I suppose times were different, flea and worm treatment wasn't so prevalent or effective.

We have recently rescued ChampagneCat from the RSPCA. It has to be said that DH is the biggest culprit and is utterly besotted with her. However as a family we allow her upstairs as well as down (we have dogs and initially this was her safe space), have no issues with her sleeping in our beds, have never prevented her from walking across the dining table or the windowsills, and (to my mother's utmost horror) feed her on the kitchen worktop so she's out the dogs way.

DH works in a lot of houses and seems to think this is totally normal. I have no huge issues (though I hope she's smart enough not to walk across the hob) As previously mentioned DM is silently scandalised.

So who is right?!

We have three cats, they have access to the lounge, garage and outside. I don't allow them in the kitchen and upstairs. This is mainly due to cat fluff issues, I'm asthmatic and don't want cat fluff in my bed. They have their own feeding dishes which we wash in the dishwasher. They are not allowed on the tables (although we know it happens).

We happen to live in DCats house. They do whatever they want whenever they want with the exception of mooching. They walk on the counters, we just wipe them down before we prepare food etc. They can sleep on our bed they just don't because we fidget too much. They have their own bedroom with a sofa and an armchair of their own.

Dcat sleeps in dd's room by choice. Goes out most of the morning and back for a snack at lunch. He knows which cupboard his snacks live in and camps out on that bit of bench only. Separate from rest of the kitchen work tops. He sits on the table at dc's teatime and steals vegetables....
He makes too much noise if locked out when food is on the go.
He had more rules but his db died in April and he has become very needy.

I've got a 14 week old kitten and before we got him I was very clear on the fact that he wasn't allowed on our bed to sleep with us and wasn't allowed on tables etc. Oh god that's all out the window! I really really don't want him on the kitchen counters but I know once he's big enough to get up there he will be. He's always constantly drinking from our glass as his 2 bowls aren't enough

Ours cats have access to most of the house (not the bathrooms) all day. If it’s raining, I shut the door to a room with furniture I don’t want them to go on, or I put a towel over the furniture. At night, they are shut downstairs in the kitchen/utility/diner/family room. They both sleep on the huge corner sofa we have in there and have cat blankets on there that we remove when we have guests.

They are not allowed on surfaces such as the kitchen side and we trained them as such when they were kittens. However, I’m sure they disobey this rule overnight so surfaces always get cleaned before use.

I like to maintain a nice clean home but it’s their home too!

As if we can ever tell our cats what to do....I often think they own us, rather than the other way around....

A more pertinent question would be, what do my cats allow me to do?

I agree that it’s what the cat allows it’s slaves to do and not the other way round. Ours have free run of the house except when we are sleeping, and can do whatever they like.

Only place she isn’t allowed is the kitchen counters.

The one my mum can’t get over is that we let her scratch the sofa/bed etc.

For me, furniture is for living and she isn’t destroying it just using it in her own way although yes it will no longer be pristine. Whatever, she’s a member of our family!

Leroy does in the house whatever the fuck Leroy wants to do in the house. And bollocks to the rest of us.

But he's so cute and fluffy 🤷🏼‍♀️

Growing up was the same for me OP, God knows how my mother stopped him from going upstairs or on the kitchen side. My cats do whatever the hell they like...

4 cats, no restrictions on where they can and can’t go. I’ve never seen an issue with it, my house is clean and we’re all happy with it. At any rate two of them can open the doors

I try to not let him go on the kitchen counters, and to be honest he has only ever tried if I'm opening his wet food, or tuna, over there. His food is on the dining room table though, to keep it away from the dog. And he goes anywhere and does anything, because he is the alpha of the house...

Mine does as he wishes. I can't see the point having pets who aren't part of the household, they aren't ornaments. We shut both cat & dog out of bedrooms overnight now but only because I'm pregnant & we'll need to when baby is here, during the day they go where ever. I'm not germaphobic at all, although I've avoided handling cat poo during pregnancy. Having pets around is good for kids immune systems, so I plan to let the free roaming continue! Just hope old man cat accepts the baby...

Missy does whatever Missy wants to do.

My cat rules the house, me dh and dd are essentially slaves.
He does what he wants, goes where he wants. He also eats on my kitchen counter though on a side I don't prepare food as it gives us both space to do what we gotta do. The only bed he isn't allowed to sleep in is dd (2 in dec) and that's mostly because the few times he goes in her room at night time he meows at her until she wakes up and thinks it's play time 😂

I’m out numbered. They do what they want. Although I do employ distraction techniques - throw the toy mouse that way so I can make my lunch in peace, for example.

It seems ChampagneCat is in the majority then

Prior to her we had our old boy who did go upstairs and definitely did sleep on our beds but never went on the worktops or dining tables. He just seemed to have more manners than ChampagneCat

Mine are not allowed on the kitchen top where food is prepared, apart from that it's their territory (house) and we are tolerated, if we behave ❤️.

Mines allowed in 1 bedroom freely which is husband's. Me and son are mildly allergic so keep the doors shut, but I'll let her inspect each room as it's still her territory. She's just not allowed to sleep in there. Plus she likes to walk up my body and jump off on repeat in the middle of the night which is well irritating. Another bedroom is full of plants in big pots which she'll crap in if allowed. She's not allowed in the living room if nobody is about as she thinks jumping up onto the thinnest telly in creation is some sort of a game . She doesn't go on the kitchen counters when I'm around but I'm not stupid.

Our cat has free reign as he’s an indoor cat and basically rules us not the other way around 😂 but we love him so it’s fine! At night he does go in the kitchen though as he snores incredibly loud and we would get no sleep otherwise!

My cat has free reign of the whole house except the kitchen worktops. He sleeps downstairs at night with the door closed, otherwise he'd be in my bed all night, being a pain and keeping me awake!

He's allowed everywhere except DS's room (door often gets shut when we go out and I don't want him locked in there) and kitchen counters. Not sure I could stop him going upstairs even if I wanted to

I no longer have any 😢 and this house is on a main road that attracts cats! So will NOT be getting any while we're here

They had their own bowls, I find anything stomach churning.

They were allowed in all the rooms & to sleep on the beds/with us - whatever.

They were encouraged to sleep on their blankets on the sofas, but not removed if they were on the other places.

They were NOT allowed on the work surfaces or dining table & soon understood this rule & didn't bother.

When we were there. Surfaces always cleaned before using them, just in case their self control had been lacking!!

When my girl had kidney problems, I'd trick her into drinking by pretending a drink was mine and letting her drink it. I miss that girl SO much.

As a child our cat wasn't allowed upstairs, nor were those of family/friends. It makes sense, but I'm too much of a softie!!

We tell them off if they get on the kitchen worktops and have stopped this - at least when we are around. And we try to stop them scratching things that are not their scratch post. But otherwise it's a free for all.