How do you take care of a cat?

[chesty]

Thanks for the help everyone. I had him spayed and what not on Saturday, now he's laying on the pillow on the right side of my bed. It seems to be his favorite place to sleep since he's there every night when I go to bed and when I wake up in the morning.
I think I might have to get a second mattress, so any lady friends that may want to spend the night have a place th sleep. :3

I not going to get him declawed since I really don't own any "nice" furniture, I have gotten him a scratching post thing though. As a plus I learned that my couch is so bad that not even a cat can lay on it. ;)
For everyone that doesn't know (so just about everyone other then Del) I have the worlds worst couch. It's very comfortable to sit on, and when you do you think "Man! I bet it feels even better if you lie down on it !!" then you do... You lay their for a few seconds or so then you feel some thing just go utterly wrong with your back. After the first time I layed on it I had to go the Chiropractor for six mouths, not a fun thing to do when you're 18 and just want to go out and do things. :(

Lets see, about the cat box and where to feed the cat, that was really helpful. I never really Thought to put the litter box in a closet, it makes the house smell much nicer so thanks for that tip. :D

[Del Stimpson]

I demand you tell us some cat storys, and I know that you have some. And if you don't tell us some then your mouse is doomed.

[Stan]

The scene: Christmas morning, gathered around the tree. My older brother is into fish in a big way, so he got a 55 gallon tank (4 feet wide, about 2 high), which was naturally in the middle of the room (on the floor) rather than under the tree. (His birthday is right around the corner from Christmas, so the stand for the tank would be his next gift.)

Aaanyway, you know how cats sometimes just go crazy? Well, our crazy cat came tearing through the room at mach 2, and -- you guessed it -- WHAM! Right into the tank. Bounced off of it, and kept going.

(This is also the cat that would quite frequently leave us dead animals on our porch, even with a rather loud bell around its neck. That guy knew how to stalk.)

[SkyeWelse]

Let's see, my two cats are very different from one another but one, Sakura really enjoys shadow puppets and she cannot seem to distinguish between what causes the shadow and if the shadow can actually be caught. She's a very sweet natured cat, however when she gets into a playful mood of chasing something like a shadow puppet or a laser pointer, she becomes a demon. Even our other cat, Nyausicca backs off when she happens to be in Sakura's path of destruction of going after whatever she has in her sights. We adopted Sakura and we know that she used to grow up on a farm somewhere, so we think that she used to be quite the huntress and that's why she's about thrice as fast and quick natured to strike at her prey than our other cat who simply grew up in an apartment community.

Our other cat, Nyausicaa - Nausicaa + Nya (Japanese cat sound for Meow) is pretty attached to me and she pretty much follows me around from room to room whenever I move around in the apartment. When she wants to play with her toy, she'll drag it from one room to the other with her mouth and make a caterwaul sound. She'll usually drop it at her feet and look at me with the most obvious expression in mind "Play with me!". She has an uncanny ability to merge with furnature. When I mean merge, I mean literally relax her muscles to the point of becoming completely flat with an object, kinda like a bear rug would look like. She'll sometimes merge with the couch arm or perhaps become the chair headrest when I'm sitting in my computer chair. (She makes a nice pillow. : ) ) Nyausicaa also managed to find a way to unlock my girlfriend's cell phone one day and call me from it. I got a call from her while she was in the same room and after investigating we found out she had pressed some buttons on it to allow it to dial out.

Other than that, they both make quite a bit of interesting poses. We call this one the "Homeless Cat" pose, which I suppose is accurate enough as Nyausicca was a rescue as a four month year old kitten that we found at 2 a.m outside of our apartment in the middle of a hurricane storm.

This other one was something we caught Sakura doing one day when we were clearing the dinner table. Hehe.


-SkyeWelse

[chesty]

Your cat makes a very proper looking headrest.

Okay story time. Over the short time that I've had him turtle has shown quite a hatred for my vacuum cleaner. The first time I used it when he was about, I had just simply turned it on, this caused him to fall off the computer seeing as my vacuum is is from 1991 and very loud. After that day every time I vacuum he starts hunt for it, which sometimes means jumping off of or from behind something. Needless to say I fear for the good health of my vacuum and so I will turn the hose on him, ( I keep it about a foot and a half away so I don't hurt him) he then proceeds to leave for a little while only to strike again in half an hour or so when I've already turned it off. Though as of late he has learned that the hose doesn't attack him when the noise stops, so he now takes to sleeping on top of the vacuum when it's off.

Edit: As of today he rides it. I just turned it on while he was sleeping on it and he just went along for the ride. (to lazy to get up I guess) By the time I was almost done he was sitting up with with his chest puffed out, like he had just tamed a cow or something.

[Del Stimpson]

The picture of the Nyausicaa on the computer chair is just precious.
-----

Deuce You're just a slave to the kitties aren't you?
-----

Chesty I think Turtle has finally shown you how to love something other then you self, I'm very proud of you.

[Cyhirae]

You've some lovely cats, Duece. I'm sorry to hear about the one you lost- my family lost three to FIP once. It's a sad thing to see.

---

Hehe..sounds like you've got a pretty brave cat, Chesty. Most never seem to adjust to a vac if it startles them the first time they run into it.

[SkyeWelse]

Hehe, I never figured Deuce for a cat person let alone a 7 cat person. : ) Your cats look precious and very sweet natured. I especially like the features that Oreo has. Very interesting.

-SkyeWelse

[Musa-Revived]

Sigh, I envy all those who own cats. I got no time to take care of one, and my mom hates them. The only times I enjoyed the company of cats were while I was a student and strays visited my dorm room.

[chesty]

It is official that I have to get a second mattress for lady friends and the like to sleep on.

He really didn't mind that I had a lady friend over, or that he had to wait for a while before he could go to sleep. The thing that he did mind was when my lady friend deiced to remain in the bed, he really didn't like that. things wouldn't have been that bad if she hadn't had to sleep on the floor next to the bed.

[Falcom Director of Fanservice]

I had been pondering giving this thread a prod. :]

What does your cat do when finding his spot taken?

[chesty]

Well she said that he bite her ear, I was busy in the kitchen baking bread so I didn't see it. I was just kneading my dough when she let out a very unpleasant scream. I started for the bedroom, but by the time I got out of the kitchen she was already in the living room nursing her ear. I took a look at it, and the bite was pretty deep and she had a good stream of blood going so I took her to the hospital. When we got back she went back to bed on the other side but he came at her again, so I ended up having to throw every blanket and sleeping bag I had on the floor for her to sleep on. Once she was off the bed everything was fine though.

And yes, I did finally finish making my bread.

[rocket]

now wait a minute. let me get this strait... The cat took top priorty of the bed and the lady friend got kicked to the sack by the cat? Oh that is sooooo Coool! That is inspiring to get a cat again.

[chesty]

Well of course the cat takes top priority, I know he's going to be there every night. I can't say the same for her if her past actions mean anything.

[Alphelia]

My first cat would push something down or jump onto my dad's belly early in the morning to wake him up and get food. : /

Now we have a mother cat and a baby cat , they are mild and sweet:) But my father pampers them and just feed them with what they like. Now they even don't want to eat cat food...Mom has complained for several times but dad just won't listen so I guess I should do something after I go back home in summer vacation.

Is there any efficient way to change my cats' eating habit??

[Musa-Revived]

chesty said:

Well of course the cat takes top priority, I know he's going to be there every night. I can't say the same for her if her past actions mean anything.

Yeah, Cats are the Supreme Rulers! Learn from the Ancient Egyptians! That's why they are the most advanced civilization of their time!

Oh and erm I hope you're not bringing stuff from a certain thread into this one. I like my soapies to stay in one channel

alphelia said:

Is there any efficient way to change my cats' eating habit??

Do it the hard way, just make sure they have access to ONLY cat food. Hunger will make them eat it.
I've never owned any cats, but that's what I did to a regular stray at my hostel. Unless some experienced owner can give u a more informed option.

[Cyhirae]

alphelia said:

Is there any efficient way to change my cats' eating habit??

It honestly depends on the cat. Usually if you cut them back to just the cat food and deny them all other food- they'll start eating the cat food again.

To make it easier though - you may want to offer a tiny bit of moist alongside dry. The reason for this: the softer food will remind them of the table scraps. The scent, however, is closer to that of the dry food.

Just make sure it's not enough moist food to actually satisfy their hunger and that it's on/in the same dish as the dry food. That way the scents will fully mingle and the cat will start to look to the dry food again as a natural extension of the meal.

This is also good for the cat because the dry food will scrape the moist food clean from their teeth.

If push comes to shove- inform your father he's likely ruining their teeth. Unless your cats have had bones or the like to chew on- and you should never give an animal any kind of cooked bone, regardless of what it's from- all of that food's been gathering about their gumline. They don't gnaw on bones and such in nature just because they like the taste- it's how they clean their teeth of meat scraps.

Dry cat food doesn't present this problem as it's hard and crumbly enough that a few tongue licks is generally enough to clear it away. Moist and table food, however, clings to the gum and can rot their teeth just like in any human who doesn't brush properly.

[Shigure]

is it true that fish really makes the cat's hair fall ??

[Cyhirae]

It can, but only if it's:

1) A type of fish very unhealthy for the cat. Usually sudden and excessive shedding is a sign of allergic reaction if it's in response to food.

2) A very sudden change in diet. House cats are creatures of habit and tend not to take well to something at first, even if they plainly like the flavor. Their stomachs and bodies tend not to be quite so ready to change and slightly worse shedding than usual is generally one of the more common side effects for a day or two.

[chesty]

New subject!

Dose anyone know how to take care of a crippled parrot?
She can't fly and and has a messed up leg.