Re: Getting a cat
 

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We are the cat people of our town.

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All of the indoor cats are declawed

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Re: Getting a cat
 

XXX - I'm also circumcised, and haven't experienced any degradation in my quality of life.

Re: Getting a cat
 

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XXX - I'm also circumcised, and haven't experienced any degradation in my quality of life.

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Cut off the last joint of your fingers and toes.

Has anyone used these?

http://www.softpaws.com/colors.html

Re: Getting a cat
 

I think it might be more technically 'cruel' to spay or neuter the cat than to declaw it. But I am in favor of doing that too.

I really don't think that declawing the front paws is that big a deal.

Re: Getting a cat
 

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XXX - I'm also circumcised, and haven't experienced any degradation in my quality of life.

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?

I've always thought declawing is kinda cruel, especially since things like Softclaws which get great reviews are out there.

For those that don't know, cat's claws are not toenails. When they remove them, they cut the bone to the first knuckle.

Diagram of declawing

Re: Getting a cat
 

What if I adopt an adult that is already declawed. Seems like I get the benefits of a clawless cat without the detriment of doign somethign immoral

Re: Getting a cat
 

actually, declawing is illegal in most of Europe and a bunch of other countries:

England
Scotland
Wales
Italy
France
Germany
Austria
Switzerland
Norway
Sweden
Netherlands
Northern Ireland
Ireland
Denmark
Finland
Slovenia
Portugal
Belgium
Brazil
Australia
New Zealand
Yugoslavia
Japan

Here (Belgium) it's classified as animal torture.
just a fyi.

Re: Getting a cat
 

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food - get a good quality food - better quality equals less poop to clean - I like Science diet, but Eukanuba (Iams) and Purina make some good foods too.

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Doc - As i mentioned in my last post, my sister is a vet too (in Florida).
For years she has sworn by the healthier cat-foods and really despises the cheapo varieties.
I think she saw that whole pet-food contamination fiasco coming for a long time now.

She had done some research on some of this stuff and thinks that Iams is 'okay' but you can do even better (can't recall the brand-names off the top of my head)

Overall she is somewhat appalled at the lack of nutrition and unhealthiness of 9 Lives and other cat foods.
Basically she equates it to feeding your cat nothing but Big Macs or something like that.

Healthier cat food, if you can get your cat to eat it, should also help give your cat more energy and be more playful and they will generally be happier.

A couple of her clients who were concerned about their dog/cat's lack of energy have reported significant improvement after a couple weeks of healthier food.
This could be their own wishful observations playing a role too of course, but it certainly seems reasonable to think that eating healthier can lead to more energy.

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Rats and Mice are a good supplement to my cats diet. It is an excellent hunter. It has a bell on its collar to stop it killing song birds (birds can hear it, vermin cant), the one time it got it off, it caught a bird in about 5 minutes and dragged it in the house. The cries of the bird and the unfolding scene that involved me having to bash it to death still give me the shudders.

In short get a bell on your cats collar if you dont want to bash song birds to death with a saucepan.

Re: Getting a cat
 

I'm not a vet, but declawing seems totally unnecessary. We have two cats, and while they _very_ occasionally scratch the furniture, having a _good_ scratching post, preferrably a bigger one they can play around on, will reduce the furniture damage to a minimum.

Also, I have no idea why people recommend males over females. Ours are females, several friends of ours have two females. No probs whatsoever. What's the deal people?

Dean, to be totally subjective: if you're interested in getting bred cats, I suggest Burmese as a good alternative. My gf has had tons of cats, and she swears she's never seen a cat as insanely affectionate and special as the Burmese we have. They tolerate being indoor cats very well. They require a mate though; they're very social [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: Getting a cat
 

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I definitely recommend getting two. I have a relatively small studio apartment, and it doesn't seem too small or crowded at all. The apartment never smells at all as long as you get one of those igloo litter boxes with a flap door and you clean it out a lot.

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How often is alot? My girlfriend has been pressuing me to get a kitten lately. I live in a 3rd floor apartment and have been using the smell of a litter box as an excuse not to.

Also, what does everyone do about cat hair? I've been to people's homes where you can't sit on the furniture without being covered in hair. I find this terribly annoying. How often does one need to vacuum to keep the living room 'livable'?