Genuine question;
What do people get out of cat ownership?
Even though I don’t have any pets I can see why people might want a dog - exercise, loyalty, companionship etc - but I’ve never understood what people get out of cats. Is it the cute and cuddly factor or is there more? It seems like a one way street in terms of attention and love.
Am not anti-cat, just genuinely baffled.
(I would ask Tricky in the pub but he’ll answer and I only have a spare hour)
-
-
I'm in it for the shiting in Russ' garden.
-
I imagine it's different for every human, and cat. Let's not forget, a cat broadly chooses to stay with you...for reasons. You don't necessarily know what those are (it's the food).
My first cat chose not to be wherever it had been before. It pitched up outside my door, quite peckish. So I fed it. She stayed. We never really explored our reasons for forming a bond. She used to wait for me to come back from the pub, and we would then do this thing where we checked out her territory. She would run somewhere, and wait for me. Then when I caught up it was my turn to run somewhere. She would wait until I did. Then she would go. Repeat until I couldn't do that any more, and had to go to bed.
It was jolly good fun crashing around the gardens in her territory, being led around by a fucking cat.
This is perhaps not coherent reasoning, but it's what I've got. I suppose the point is that you form a relationship and do stuff with them. Just feeding them so that they can shit in my house isn't my sort of thing...but who am I to judge.
-
I’m thinking Shrek and Donkey
-
I'm thinking this is where the puddle drinking started.
-
Of course you shouldn't keep a cat indoors. They're only vaguely domesticated when they can be arsed. And they're a bit of nature which does some bloody stuff now and again. Don't like it in your sanitised world, don't get one.
-
I don't have one and don't want one but I still have to clear up their shit and the dead birds.
It just seems an anti social pet
-
We adopted Bumble from a rescue centre aged about 6 months. Mrs Rave found Gary dumped in a clothes recycling bin aged about 9 months. Ludo came from Chesterfield RSPCA at 9 weeks. All have remained indoor cats. Mainly due to main roads and other neighbourhood animals in London and we saw no need to change that in Bozza (where according to the local FB group a lot of cats go missing). They don't know any different. Of course not getting outside to exercise means they do it inside and we've had mad kitten moments with all three, but you just need to spend some time playing with them, just as you'd take a dog for a walk.
As for the litter tray - we remove and flush any poo straight away and change the litter every 3-4 days. I don't think the house smells of wee - not that we get many visitors - and we wash fairly regularly.
If you've successfully raised a human you can raise a cat. There's not that much difference. Though there's no need for nappies. Or breastfeeding. -
The whole one-way street thing is a mixture of what people who don’t like cats say about cats, and what people who do like cats joke about. It’s not that at all. We remark all the time that the cat doesn’t care if we live or die… but we know that’s not true. She loves and trusts us and that means a lot… but we did have to earn that.
I’m relatively new to cat ownership.. but even in a short time I’m blown away by how much fun it is having them about. They are weird and funny, absolutely untrainable, and very sweet and loving. The one we lost at Christmas was an absolute nonsense and he made us laugh every day with his bullshit. The survivor who’s still truckin’ is a totally different character.. but also ridiculous, she’s smart, affectionate, and an absolute ninja (especially when she knows it’s time for meds).
They know their humans really well. Both of ours were/are huge comfort to Ms noodlé with her health bollocks. They’ve a knack of knowing just when to go and cuddle up and ramp up the purring.
Cats are all running their own game, no doubt, but I’ve found them to be great company.
-
Yep. There are medical reasons for keeping cats indoors and other very good ones like if you live on a busy road, but in our 20-odd year experience of looking after them, they do tend to prefer to go outside and tend to be calmer as a result.
Ours have always (to the best of my knowledge) shit in our garden, which I know to me true as I clear enough of it up before mowing the lawns and see them occasionally. We also have foxes and hedgehogs shitting in our garden too, which is fine. I presume Russ shoots them on site or sets his hounds on them.
For Jimbo, I'd concur with the advice from others to adopt a rescue - we took two from Chesterfield RSPCA earlier in the year and they were great to deal with (close-ish to Sheffield, too). And let Little Miss Shady own the process (choosing the cat, picking the name, selecting toys, etc) - it will be a childhood memory she'll cherish when she's older.
-
Thanks for all the advice everyone.
I will be letting our cat go outdoors, it feels weird to keep them inside. We live on a terrace street and there are multiple cats within the houses surrounding us, often in our garden along with foxes and badgers, so well ... sod it. We'll be letting it outside.
-
We have a cunty fox that shits right outside the front door, very dangerous on sleepy early starts.
-
If you don't want a cat shitting in your garden, get a cat. They're territorial, they'll stop other cats coming into your garden and shitting. And as long as they're aggressive arseholes, they'll build their territory, and shit in its furthest points, which won't be your garden. Brett's cat is clearly a pussy and can't build territory outside his garden.
All this cat talk is making me want a cat.
-
Celebrating the upcoming new manager bounce by descaling the espresso machine
-
Back from a couple of days out.
Anything happened?
-
Chic did a whole bunch of spunking. Not much else
