The Cat Thread

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Sad news; Gin (the mum we adopted) is having to be separated from her kitten tomorrow.

A couple of days after they arrived, she rejected the kitten entirely and has been attacking her with increasing ferocity since then. It's stressing them both out and they can't be in the same room.

Luckily it looks like she already has a new home to go to which is great.

In order to keep Tonic company, we will be adopting a new kitten at the same time. She's roughly the same age so they have an excellent chance of being friends.

It's really sad as, on her own, she's a really lovely cat but she just can't handle having the kitten around and we want two cats as we both work long hours.

Is the 2nd cat for the cats benefit or yours? Why does working long hours mean 2 cats?

Surely it'd be happier living on its own.

Both.

Young cats require a lot of attention and so having a playmate benefits them. It stops them from being lonely (the part where it benefits them) and stops a single cat from being too needy and requiring attention late at night / early in the morning (benefiting us).

Here is an article (patronising as it is) giving a few good reasons: http://www.companionanimalpsychology.com/2012/06/one-kitten-or-two.html?m=1

Finally Celia Hammond also make it a key policy to try to home kittens in pairs whenever possible:

http://www.celiahammond.org/index.php/faqs/homing-a-cat#six

As some who have good memory would remember I thought about have a 2nd cat over and over again when Patch was still kitten-ish... My only concern is that what if that 2nd cat doesn't get on with Patch? or in your case, your kitten? Who would you give up then? And woud it then be fair for that cat to have to go back to CHAT or whatever home there might be?

I am not going to doubt or disagree what CHAT believe as a charity, but I am always under the impression that charity pairs cats after they believe that can get on and will have tried and tested the pairing before rehoming them.

Do what you feel it's best, but it would pain me to see you coming back here in a few weeks time to say the 2nd cat doesn't get on with your kitten and you are left in an impossible situation.

It's at best 10/90 that non familial cats will become siblings and cuddle up together.

Why not watch the BBC cat program as it was very informative on how cats living together territorialise (is that a word?) the area they live in.

You are the cat's mother ;)

At the best of time, in fact, all the time, I am the cat's slave. Mother gets thank and mother's day card and brithday present now and again. I. Get. Nothing.

Little shitbag keeps meowing at the walls every night around 10pm, usually just when something interesting happens in The Walking Dead.

No ammount of dreamies or balls of tin foil will shut the fucker up.

We did move recently but he's settled in now, although he is slowly becoming an outdoor cat - he has less space and does pace around a bit like the caged animal he is.

I probably shouldn't have kids.

Interesting fact: that cat is actually jumping backwards.

@Soul - this is something that comes up in our house a lot: does Pip need a little playmate. We've read contradictory stuff about it. Current thinking Chez Sparkes is that there's too much of a risk that they won't get on. When we have a house with a catflap and a garden then we'll risk it for a biscuit and get ALL THE CATS.

When we have a house with a catflap and a garden then we'll risk it for a biscuit and get ALL THE CATS.

Pop over one day and find out what that's really like D:

I did. It seemed very nice to me. I had three when I was a kid; named 'mummy cat' and 'baby cats' collectively. But we lived on the marshes and they were basically feral. Would disappear for days then emerge like Rambo out of the jungle with blood and guts and bodies of various mammals. My grandfather always like to give them a stroke when he came over and they'd tear his elderly skin to ribbons with impunity.

As both are ~12 weeks old, there's a much higher chance (probably 75%) that they'll end up good friends and probably a further 15% chance they'll tolerate each other without fighting. I'll take a 1 in 10 that they wont get on at all.

First signs are already positive in the 3 introductions they've had since yesterday.

Older cats, however, have a much lower chance of accepting another cat as they're much more territorial. Having said this, it totally depends on the cats.

We had a single cat for ~7 years, when i was young, before we got another cat and they ended up good friends.

Our cats hated each other (we got them a year apart) but eventually became friends after we moved house. I'm guessing it was the change of territory.

As seen in the funny thread -

Twinkle Tush is an accessory that lets everyone know that you are a crazy person that should not be inflicted upon animals.

Cat likes to see what i am doing.

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I decided it was time to lube the chain.
Cat decided it was the exact right time for me to open a door as this door was closer than the cat flap.
2 goes before cat went out into the windy rainy garden.

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Slack chain?

16 and 22t freewheels fitted, so slack until flipped back to 22t. Toying with running 16 or 18 fixed and free so will cut down chain then as it's unlikely i will be offroading this bike for a while.

Now we own a flat my girlfriend and I are thinking of getting a kitten. Thing is, we are in a top floor flat so it wouldn't have any outside space. I've had cats before but they've always had a garden to roam around.

I'm not sure whether this a bad idea.

Thoughts?

Was a joke sorry.

Maybe teach cat to lube chain?

Older house cat or maybe younger that has had an injury?