24 replies to this topic

[glad2Bme]

Ok, cat lovers, who will give me a tutorial on taking care of our cat? (We're novice cat owners).

I had a little book, but when I got to the part about, "Clip your cat's claws once a week" I decided the author was smoking something and tossed the book away.

Let's just say our cat decides who touches him, when, and for what purpose. He's nice enough, as long as you deal with him on his terms. Truthfully, the idea of getting him in a cat carrier and taking him to the vet terrifies me.

What are the basics that I really need to do?

Wow, clipping once a week? Nah!!! Funny how cats are so different from each other! Jazmine loves to be with people......she follows me everywhere (she can be a pest about it!), she comes running when I call her and as soon as I stir early in the morning, she thinks I must be awake and ready to pet her so she jumps on my stomach! She is so affectionate.

Whenever she hears the can opener, she comes running, even if she's all the way upstairs (that's how I know she's got great hearing still) I can hear her jump off the bed and gallop across the hall and down the stairs; of course she's hoping it's tuna that I'm opening so she can have a little. It's gotten so bad, that I always go "la la la la la" while I'm opening cans so she doesn't get her hopes up and pester me half the day.

She hates her cat carrier and will run and hide if she sees it.......I have to put the carrier in the bathroom, bring her in there with me, and close the door with my foot. I place the carrier on it's side so that I'm lowering her into it, back legs first, otherwise she'll hang on to the sides with her front claws making it impossible to push her in. You may want to try lowering your cat into the carrier next time.

She does let me trim her claws a little....

If you need to give your kitty a bath (mine HATES the water) you can put a hand towel down in the tub or on the shower floor so that the cat has something to cling on to....this calms my cat.....she only whines, instead of clawing and trying to get out in a panic.

The great thing about having a cat is that you won't have rodent problems. At least we haven't with Jazmine around. All the places we've ever moved from developed mouse issues once we left, our last place within 5 months of our moving!

Lastly, when we go away for a few days, we set out extra food, water, and a 2nd litter box....she prefers being home alone than going to the kennel.....boy do we hear about it when we get back though.....she follows me for about and hour meowing like crazy and begging for attention or perhaps a treat to make it up to her.

Anyway, enjoy your kitty, they are characters!!!!

[mac_convert]

I have two cats, Munchkin and Tigger. They are orange cats. Not sure the breed since they were strays I adopted. They are wonderful kitties!!! I clip my cats claws with toe nail clippers about once or twice a month. They don't like it but they don't get a choice! They are love bugs in the morning and late at night. They don't like to be picked up and carried around, but they love to cuddle with you most of the time. I think pets make a great addition to life.

[legofamily]

 Midnight.jpg   70.65K   8 downloads  midnighteaster.jpg   84.99K   8 downloadsMy cat's name is Midnight. She is a beautiful black medium short hair. We think she is about 8-9 years old now. She became part of our family six years ago. Midnight was a stray that needed a home. We had just lost a cat and took her in. She is a real sweetie and kind of a lap cat. Midnight's favorite past times are licking faces, hunting and sleeping.

[glad2Bme]

 Midnight.jpg   70.65K   8 downloads  midnighteaster.jpg   84.99K   8 downloadsMy cat's name is Midnight. She is a beautiful black medium short hair. We think she is about 8-9 years old now. She became part of our family six years ago. Midnight was a stray that needed a home. We had just lost a cat and took her in. She is a real sweetie and kind of a lap cat. Midnight's favorite past times are licking faces, hunting and sleeping.

What a beautiful cat.....she looks like our Jazmine too! I've seen many black cats and they all seem to be sweet.....I would get another when our Jazz leaves us....

[legofamily]

What a beautiful cat.....she looks like our Jazmine too! I've seen many black cats and they all seem to be sweet.....I would get another when our Jazz leaves us....

Thank you! I bet your Jazmine is a beautiful cat. I haven't met a black cat yet that wasn't a sweetie. Midnight is and I had one years ago that was a sweetie too.

[Fan4Ricci]

ok, must chime in.

I have 3 kit-tens!
Zoom - 14 - all white - got his name Zoom as he can't walk anywhere - it's zoom here and zoom there! If the door bell rings - you won't see him for a day... Stays up all night and sleeps under the covers all day... Seems he doesn't like the light too much.

Cheddar - 12 - ok so she got her name from her color! She's a lover, talker, snuggler and lover of all food.... She wakes me up at 1:00am every morning to feed her.. Like I said she's a talker and won't stop until I get up. Yes, I am controlled by my kitty!

Rio - 8 - just adopted her 2 years ago from ths Sacramento SPCA - she was brought in to be put to sleep because the previous owners had a baby and she got upset and pooped outside her litter box! I picked her because she was older and got along with dogs (as I have 2 of them!) She is named after my favorite Duran Duran song... She's a big girl and has decided she is the boss of everyone else!


I only had 1 picture at work.. It's Rio... I'll find pictures of Zoom and Cheddar and post them later.

[thememories]

That was a great story!
Our cats Skeeter is about 10 at this point, and our other cat Kiwi is around 7.
My dad's fiancee's cat is I would assume 7 as well, and is a BLOB of a cat. All of our cats are in very good health, and all of our previous cats have lived to be around 15 years old. My mom and I are actually looking into adopting a mother and daughter from the SPCA, a 9 year old and a 10 year old Persian. We like older cats, much calmer, etc. They have to have somewhere to live out their golden years!

[EAH]

We like older cats, much calmer, etc. They have to have somewhere to live out their golden years!

This is a great philosophy and a wondeful gift to give these cats

[junior22]

Our cat is currently 4 years old. He too decides who will and will not touch him. Usually it's just my husband and me. He will tolerate outsiders for a period but then decides to box them (without the claws out) to let them know he's seen enough of them and it's time for them to go. Just recently my friends and I found a little black kitten on the side of our house. He, I guess I should she we thought it was a boy, had caught a mole and was crying (which is how we discovered her) she was very friendly and didn't mind leaving her prey. This tipped us off that she was not a wild cat. Her fur was still soft and she wasn't extremely skinny so she hadn't been out long. I was not able to keep her with us because my cat would not have let the poor thing live til morning. Between the four girls my friend Melissa ended up taking her home. The vet said she is extremely healthy and other than some ear mites perfectly fine. The vet said that she is 17 weeks. I wish that we could have kept her with us. My mom told me to late kittens are ususally given a free pass by olders cat b/c they try to take care of them. I guess if I would have know that and that he was a she it may have been more feasible to keep her. But she has a good home and we get visitations, after all she does live at our friends house. I have attached a picture of the little one in case anyone wanted to she her. The quality is not the greatest it was taken on her iphone. She is the black one.  black_kitten.jpg   135.4K   3 downloads

[thememories]

^She's so cute!