I allow my kittens to sit on me (don’t even go there!) - why wouldn’t I allow them sit on my couch? I can’t even imagine trying to stop my kittens from getting on the furniture. That would be a losing battle seeing as how they are home alone for eight hours while I’m at work.
Warning…this is a “Meeee Toooo” post.
First of all, cats clean their OWN butts, they don’t need any help from you, and as already stated, their butts are almost certainly cleaner than yours.
Second of all, I don’t allow my cat on the furniture…she very graciously allows me on HER furniture. She also very graciously stays off the countertops…mostly, I think, because they are hard surfaces and hard surfaces aren’t very comfortable. If they were, I doubt I could keep her off, since I am at work a great deal and cats are not into training the way dogs are. Sure, they can be trained to not do stuff WHILE YOU ARE THERE…when you aren’t, all bets are off. (All my cats have been VERY intelligent, and from what I can tell, they all knew the difference between keeping me happy by abiding by my rules when I was home but doing whatever they wanted when I was gone) Of course, maybe some people have cats more “trainable” than mine, but…no one I know has one of those.
Third of all, if you can’t stand your GF’S baby, you might want to find a new GF. Unless she is unlike any “cat person” I have ever met, it is a case of “Love me, love my cat.” And don’t plan on future life without cat when this one goes to heaven, either…once a cat person, always a cat person. So even if this one is ever gone, she will get another one. YMMV, but that has been my experience. You might have to decide whether you want to accept things as they are or move on.
All furniture, but no counters or kitchen table, though since our kitchen table is rarely in the kitchen, we don’t worry about that one too much. I have a cat that can sleep on my desk while I’m eating (I eat a lot of meals at my computer desk) and not bother me. My other cat usually ends up sleeping under my blanket in the crook of my arm most mornings.
At my parents place, the pets have the run of the house, except for my brothers room, since he just plain doesnt want them in there (my cat is trying to catch my typing fingers as I write this - cute, but painful). Anyways, the dog is allowed on the couches and my sister’s bed (although that tends to mean that her boyfriend gets relegated to the couch in her room 
). The cats are allowed EVERYWHERE, even the kitchen counter, since that is where their food bowls are to prevent the dog from eating their food. They do “know” that they must stay at the end where their food is, and not travel to the other side of the sink, but in practise…well, the cats like people food, and sometimes that makes them “forget” the rules They are allowed on the tables (jumping from the kitchen table to the counter is the only way the StupidCat can get to her food), but now when we are eating, and they “know” not to touch anything thats left out.
In my apartment, things are still in the training phase, but the kitten is allowed on all furniture except dining room table and chairs, and kitchen counter. We are discouraging use of the chairs mainly to discourage her getting onto the table at all, although when she’s a bit older, it wouldn’t bother me if she sat at a chair while we ate. She also sleeps (read: attacks my feet) on the bed, but thats cuz I can’t bear to lock her out at night! Since she’s not an outdoor cat, I like giving her the freedom to run around and climb as much as she likes.
Everywhere. Yes, even counters and tables. They eat on the kitchen or dining room tables. We used to NOT let them on the counter or tables, but when Fluffy was alive, and she was getting older, my mother started letting her sleep on the kitchen table-as that was the coolest spot before we had air conditioning, and the poor thing was 14 years old. So, it sort of snow-balled from there.
The laundry room is THEIR room. The washer and dryer are covered with a foam pad inside an old quilt, there’s a little ledge we put on the back of each so that they can get on the window sill easier. Then, right by the dryer is back door, that we don’t use anymore, so my mom had my dad attach a sort of perch to it, that she upholstered and put a blanket on. They love it-they can sit on it and look out the window.
But yeah, they’re allowed everywhere. Well, except for the attic or the basement. Other than that, anything goes.
Two cats here.
The couch is fine, beds are fine, tables are fine so long as there is no food on them at the time. Counters are a no no.
I’ve currently got three kitties and they are allowed most places except the kitchen table and counter-tops. They obey the rules very nicely…while I’m at home anyway. I usually keep my bedroom door closed most of the time just to keep the excess cat hair off the bedspread but on weekends when I’m off I let them pile into bed with me and we all watch cartoons. Well, I watch, they sleep usually. All my cats are strictly indoor animals and very clean barring the occasional hairball. I alway wash down the countertops before I cook just in case. Anyway, my kitchen probably has fewer microbes than the pathology lab where I work.
The fuzzy ones are my friends and I have them so I can be around them, for companionship. Why then wouldn’t I let them be where I am?
I have a studio apartment. If I didn’t let the cat on the furniture, table, countertops, he’d have a miserable existence hanging out on the floor all day. Besides, there are few things in life more satisfying than snuggling with a soft, toasty kitty.
As far as the OP’s mention of “skid marks” goes, there IS a condition with cats (long hairs especially), known as “Poopytail” in which a cat doesn’t get as clean as they’d like back there - because they’ve got a little “something” hanging off their fur. My brother’s Maine Coon has this problem from time to time (it’s very embarassing for her and you can tell she absolutely hates when it happens). Maybe your SO’s cats have this problem?
I’m playing “Smokie-ball” as I type this–she loves to play fetch with the plunger caps from my insulin syringes. I’m thinking of asking the Diamondbacks if they want her: she’s a great outfielder.
I’ve had multiple cats all my life and the rule has always been, anywhere but kitchen counters and the kitchen table. A chair with a cat in it is a happy chair. I’m downright disappointed now that my bf and I live together and there’s not enough room on the bed for the cats to sleep with us (bf is a tall man and it’s only a double bed).
As for the ‘butt’ issue–if the cat is ‘scooting’ her butt, she may have worms or stool that is stuck in her fur. Other than that, cats are fastidiously clean!
Spot the Wonderpup is allowed on all the furniture. He cleans his own butt (yuk) so I don’t worry about poo on the furniture.
My long-haired cat did get poo-balls caught in her fur, but she doesn’t now that I just keep her butt hair cut short (which has lead to many slow chases around the house- she moves just fast enough to stay out of my reach, while I follow her with scissors wailing, “Come back! I just want to trim your ass hairs!”)
So she is allowed on the dressers, shelves, desk, bed, chairs, and couch. She is not allowed on the counters or the kitchen table. At least not in theory. When the two of us lived in a certain apartment that featured a nice big gap underneath the door, I would come home to find certain objects that had been left on my kitchen table- pens, barrettes, change- outside of the apartment on the hall floor. Although I never saw her on the table, when I was safely out of the house, she would jump up, bat whatever she wanted off, and push it under the door. When I was dating my husband, he occasionally would stop by my place while I was out, and she would be sitting on the table, squinting at him. As if she were saying, “Don’t tell sugaree.” That stopped when we moved in together, and he became her father figure.
But here’s a cat-on-furniture horror story: we lay on the floor watching television while candles burned on the end tables and the cat jumped up on the arm of the couch. Yes, her tail caught on fire! Fortunately, we saw it in time to beat it out before it even burned through her pounds of fur to her tail-skin (and before it burned down the house and everything in it). In fact, we were up beating her on the tail before she herself realized that she was on fire. She must have thought it was just more psycho irrational human behavior, like always snipping at her prized butt hairs.
2 dogs and a cat here. They have the run of the house except my bedroom when I’m not around. Morphy, the cat, must be allowed on counters/tables because otherwise the dogs will chase him mercilessly and he doesn’t fight back. He just cowers until I come rescue him or the dogs get bored slobbering all over him.
The only reason I keep the dogs out of the bedroom when I’m not around is because they like tearing my fluffy pillows up and throwing the stuffing all over the place. They do sleep in my bedroom at night though but they have their own beds so they don’t need to use mine. I have tried unsuccessfully to train my cat to stay off the pool table but since I’m gone 8 hours/day, it was easier just to invest in a good cover.
I’ve been a cat person my whole life, my parents were breeding siamese when I was a wee tot so that probably has something to do with not being worried about their germs. I’m almost never sick and I haven’t had a cold in years so I guess I’m doing all right.
Animal lovers don’t worry about these things for the same reason that parents don’t worry about their kid’s drool/snot/poop.
If your SO is an animal lover, you better get used to this unless you want a new SO.
I think most cat or pet owners allow their pets full access to furniture beds and may draw the line with respect to places they eat or prepare food. The replies here seem to reflect that. I use to have a girlfriend that let her cat have the run of the house and when I suggested that she not allow the cat in the bedroom, by closing the door, when I spent the night with her, she acted as if I asked her to cut off her arm. Needless to say, that relationship is done. I personally don’t want pets in my bed. I don’t care if cats clean their butts, they don’t clean their paws! All of the dirt and grime that accumulates on their paws, goes right on the furniture, bed linen, etcetera, I might as well sleep in my bed with my shoes on. The other problem with the old girlfriend’s cat, is that it would disturb my sleep, by walking on you at odd times of the night. I would never get a good nights sleep, whenever I slept there, no matter how good the sex was. I feel for you Surreal, you’re either going to have to get used the idea or find another girlfriend.
WTF?! Of course they do! You mean to tell me, honestly, that you’ve never seen a cat bathe? I don’t know how you could miss it, as they seem to take a bath almost hourly.
Before my boyfriend and I moved in together we usually had sex at his place. The first time we did it at mine, Queenie jumped up on the bed and batted at his back, meowing as if to say, “Hey! What are you doing to my human?” He didn’t yell or freak out, he just shooed her and said, “Get off, Queenie.”
That’s when I knew he was worth keeping. (Now she just loftily ignores us… although I’ve seen her afterwards sniff at the wet spot and shake her paw in that “eeewwww! gross!” manner cats have… )
I’m familiar with how cats clean themselves, there are two of them here in the house that I live in, though they are excluded from every room I have except the bathroom which is in the hallway. I’ve watched cats do the cleaning thing, licking the tops of their paws to wipe their eyes and face, though, I haven’t seen them licking the bottoms of their paws.
Our two cats do pretty much what they want. Since we really don’t mind cat hair, this isn’t much of a problem. There is one old chair that one of the cats took to using as a urinal for a while; I keep it around because I’m afraid if I take it away she’ll start using the good furniture.
The dog, on the other hand, is strictly forbidden from being on the couch, bed, etc. Why the double standard? Mostly because Dolly is much bigger than the cats, and she also smells like a dog, and I would rather not have our couch smell likewise. If the furniture were not brand new and fairly nice, I wouldn’t mind so much.
Dr. J
You know surreal that cats do clean themselves and the only time you should avoid a domesticated cat is when your pregnant. I have 2 cats and they are allowed in more places than i am for gods sake. imho cats are very clean animals , I mean they clean themselves and they bury their nasties what else do you need?
<shrug> What can I say? I’ve seen cats clean the bottoms of their paws, in between the pads, and even chewing on the fur between their pads to get it clean.
The peanut gallery at la casa Julia, Littlebastard, Vandamme, Tigger, Oreo and Katiepuppy are allowed on the furntire,
and the beds. Sometimes we have to spray the cats wtih a waterbottle to get them off of the counters.
Before one condemns pets, perhaps a look at oneself is in order.