Kitty Kat

Jen

Jen

I’ve got it into my head I’d like to rescue a cat.

OH doesn’t think it’s a very good idea, he thinks Stanley and the cat won’t get on and he’s concerned about the litter tray.

I don’t see the big deal - we have babygates on the kitchen and the stairs and the litter tray can go upstairs.

Anyone who has cats is it a huge problem? I have visions of Axel and Gizmo @Kelsey&Axel

I know that’s probably not going to happen but I’m sort of like what’s the worst that can happen?! Is this a bad idea?
 
JES72

JES72

Location
SW London UK
I grew up with cats and dogs and we never had a problem. However My mother tells the story of how when I was 5 I demanded a kitten. We had an Airedale Terrier called Sadie at the time who chased all the neighbourhood cats. Mum eventually gave in and home came a little kitten called Whinny. Mum put both the dog and the kitten into the bathroom and closed the door... when everything was eventually quiet for a while she cautiously opened the door to find the kitten soaking wet from dog slobber in Sadie's mouth. Sadie had realised that the kitten was a baby, Sadie and the kitten were inseparable from then on.
 
Xena Dog Princess

Xena Dog Princess

Location
Wellington, NZ
I'll give you the same advice I gave Kelsey - you want/need a staunch cat, a cat who holds his ground. A cat who'll look at your dog with its wagging tail/cries of excitement/zoomies around the room, and just...stalks out of the room with disgust. These are the exceptional cats, but they do exist and it'll make your life 100x easier. You do not want a timid cat in any shape or form. Even if you didn't have Stanley, you wouldn't want a timid cat. I speak from experience. So I would worry less about how the cat looks, and more about how the cat behaves. Our litter tray is kept behind gates, but you'd better believe that if the gate is open that Xena's in there rooting around.
 
Jen

Jen

Apparently the cat currently lives with 4 dogs (one of which is a lab and another one that’s a Dottie) and is fine but will give them a smack if they push their luck!
 
Xena Dog Princess

Xena Dog Princess

Location
Wellington, NZ
In my experience, commercial litter trays are way too small for cats. We've got one of those plastic under the bed storage containers (obviously not under the bed) for our cats - yep, it's big, but they need the space. We used to have one with a cat flap, but they'd constantly push their butts against the lid/cover and get poop on the lid...which means you've got to clean the lid. Ugh, it was a nightmare. My cats are admittedly stupid, but we got rid of the lidded box pretty quickly. They are good for containing smell, but if you get a good charcoal-based clumping litter the smell isn't bad at all. The only time it smells is when they don't cover up a poo.
 
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SwampDonkey

SwampDonkey

I had cats and don't like enclosed litter boxes at all they are bacterial hot spots and they coat cats in their own poop . I keep the litter tray upstairs and clean out daily. If a cat poops it get cleaned up if you're careful and vigilant it's fine. You want a stroppy cat like Sophie says. One that would spit in the devil's eye? cats and dogs get on fine if you are careful. I I bed having both and really miss mine.
 
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Charlie

Charlie

Location
Argyll & Bute, Scotland
Hattie lived with a cat called Felix when she was a puppy. He would sit on the stairs and swipe her as she walked past. She got over excited with him a few times wanting to play, he let her know in no uncertain terms who was boss and they lived happily together until he passed away aged somewhere betwee 24 and 27 years old. He was a great cat. I don't do litter boxes :sick: x
 
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Lab_adore

Lab_adore

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Sydney, Australia
I had a Himalayan Persian cat called Oscar. He was 1 when we got our first dog Benson (this was in 1993! No wonder we can't remember Benson's puppy years). After an initial period of cat firmly telling dog who was boss they got along like a house on fire. Oscar would walk around the house with Benson's stuffed animals in his mouth and poor Bens would just look on in utter horror, but never would he try and take them off him.

Saturday mornings trying to have a sleep-in were classic. We would hear scuffling outside the bedroom door
'Miaow'
'Pant pant'
'MIAOW!!'

It was the cat telling the dog to bust in and wake us up so they could have breakfast. Sure enough, soon the door would slam open and the dog would bound in all excited and the cat would grandly stalk in, tail high, loudly demanding food.

I miss them both :cry:
 
Xena Dog Princess

Xena Dog Princess

Location
Wellington, NZ
Jen said:
Are cats cheaper to feed than dogs?
Click to expand...
Not if you're feeding premium (at least not with NZ prices). 5kg of Acana is $76 (it doesn't come in bigger bags) vs 15kg Black Hawk $152. I wanted to feed my kitties Black Hawk too but the prices were astronomical. Obviously their daily ration is a lot smaller so a bag lasts a lot longer, but that's something to keep in mind. Plus good quality litter is quite expensive, but with one cat you'll get more mileage out of it. And if you're lucky your cat will prefer to poo in the garden (mine are too timid for that so litter box it is).
 
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Kelsey

Kelsey

Oh I think a cat is a fabulous idea! As @Xena Dog Princess said, you want a very confident cat. We fostered one if you remember who was very timid. That did not go well! But Gizmo from day one was very confident and would hiss and charge Axel and Odie, even though Axel tried eating Gizmo the first two weeks he was here, Gizmo showed no fear.

Of course Axel and Gizmo are best friends now and still chase each other and play bitey face, they sleep together when I’m not home, and they curl up on my lap on the couch. I really like knowing they have each other as company when I’m not home. Plus I just think a dog and a cat as besties is super cute.

We have a litter box with a lid, but no door on it as the restricted air flow grossed me out. The litter box is downstairs completely in the open, but in the corner of a room, very close to Axel’s bed downstairs actually. Axel has never once put his head in there, not even when I am cleaning the box out, or when Gizmo pops in there to do his business. Maybe I’m just really lucky? But if Stanley was interested then you at least have options to keep him away.

My biggest issue is actually cat toys. Axel thinks these are great and especially the catnip filled ones, and they are so small I worry of him swallowing them whole. So I leave the toys out during the middle of the night and when ever Axel isn’t home I leave them out too.

Gizmo eats 1/2 cup of food a day, compared to Axel’s 5 and a half cups. So much cheaper! I feed them both Acana.
 
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SteffiS

SteffiS

Location
Norfolk
My cat which got on really well with my previous lab has taken over 2 years to get on with Ripple - I guess because Ripple is so over the top. And my younger cat, which came to me 2 weeks before Ripple (as a rescue that had 'supposedly' lived with dogs) still runs away from him all the time :rolleyes:.
As for feeding, in my experience, just when you think you've got your cat food sorted and buy a couple of months supply, they go off of it and would rather starve to death than eat it :D.
I don't do litter trays either.
 
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Jen

Jen

When you say you don’t do litter trays do your cats just go outside?

My MIL’s cat goes outside and there’s never anything in the litter tray. Stanley never bothers the litter tray at their house, I think he’d just nab the poo out if there was any which I realllllyyyy don’t want!

OH really isn’t keep on the idea. He says we spend so much time worrying about Stanley and he causes us so much stress he doesn’t think he can do it with another animal. He’s probably got a point, I would like another pet though and a cat seems like the ideal as it doesn’t need walking or anything so it’s not putting on anyone else.
 
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