Besides, it is fun to watch them romp and play on the grass - and to see them interact with other cats.
Our little Miette is quite the naughty thing with the neighbour cats - both are male, and much larger, but put up with her antics. She jumps on them, takes their favorite lurking spots, follows them around, and is generally an annoyance. It is fun to watch from an upstairs balcony.
She has one nemisis cat, who sometimes comes into her territory and tries to beat her up - a nasty older female from down the street. But our Miette is a fast one, and simply dodges out of trouble.
I have never seen that particular problem, but maybe because my cats are all female - chosen because they don’t roam so much. Un-neutered males are the worst offenders in the roaming category.
Most outdoor cats I have seen are actually more social - and less nervous around people. I think going outside gives them confidence. They get to interact and socialize with other cats, they learn about danger, they have little adventures, they do a bit of hunting. Of course, the downside is that their first “adventure” with a car could be their last.
Many solely indoor cats I have known eventually go stir crazy - which is understandable. I would too, locked in a house for my entire life, never allowed out – and cats are half wild to begin with.
Thank you Bosda - and so we took your advice. Minmei is as happy as a a kitten could be. My wife finally left her to fend for herself at night in her little palace, and she is doing fine. We took her to the grocery store this weekend and ended up being there for 2 hours. So much for getting the bread and milk. Everybody had to know her name and touch her little head. it was cute but got old quick. soon it was “Lay off my cat I wanna get home!!” but luckily I supressed that urge and we made it home no worse for ware…
Congratulations on the new baby! Minmei is simply adorable!
Mr. nealla and I have 2 seven-year-old male (neutered) cats and 1 two-year-old female (spayed) siamese that are all exclusively indoor cats. They seem pretty happy to us.
Of course, we don’t get to see them playing on the grass, but then we don’t have to deal with worms, fleas, ticks, feline distemper, or fights with stray animals, etc. either. We play with them a lot, and I think that keeps them from getting bored/stir-crazy. Also, they keep each other company.
A vet once told me that the life-expectancy of outdoor cats was much shorter than that of indoor cats. That was good enough reason for me to keep my precious babies inside.
BTW: The best toy for a kitten is … another kitten. Seriously. They have similar energy levels, play in the “right” way, are always available, etc. Maybe your kitten can play with your dog, but I think that indoor cats (esp. those without a dog around) are probably much happier if they have another kitty for company.
I only see more termoil with the addition of another cat. My wife has had to use the net teice since kitty has taken a liking to our wooded home. She crawled up the wall yesterday, got stuck and “MEEEUW-MEEEUW-MEEUW” until I went up on the trelace off our room and scooped her up. She’s a strong thing. And I have claw marks all over my chest/arms/hands from her razor sharp talons. I think another cat would be pretty scary…I have not been able to send any recent pics to the woman we bought her from, but here is one of her with her brother before we picked her up…She’s on the right . Isn’t she cun’in…
I think Cobalt is right on this one, Phlosphr. I have generally found two kittens to be less work than one. And there is nothing as cute as two kittens playfighting and doing the “I’m a big scary cat” sideways pose at each other.
Are you trimming her claws yet? That should help somewhat with the claw marks, although scratches on the hands and arms seem to be inevitable with a young kitten. I think the scissors-style trimmers are easiest to use, but YMMV.
I still want to see a picture of her climbing the walls! (I would expect that that will abate as she grows up, just to reassure you).
I have a bunch of her climbing the walls, but the website I am posting them on is run by the woman in Oregon who send out the Queen to be sired here on the east coast. So it’s up to her. I’m sure she will and when she does I’ll post them. Mrs.Phlosphr and have thought about starting our own website, but lack the webdesign knowhow to do so. We’ll get some pics up soon.
Indoor vs. outdoor again: One of my cats we found abandoned on a town street, and he had obviously spent the first 4 weeks of his life in the outdoors. The necessary medical treatment & quarantine took about 2 months, until he was well enough to be allowed in the rest of the house where the other cats were. Since then he has always been AFRAID of the outdoors. He would run away from an opening door. If you held him in your arms & took him outside, he would tremble until taken back in where it’s safe. He’s now an elderly gentleman and has never had any wish to go into that scary place with no walls and no ceiling.
I feel sorry for that poor traumatized kitty. What about your other cats?
Most cats I have known really want to go outside as they grow up- if you keep them indoors, they gradually get used to it, and some eventually grow afraid of the outdoors (having never experienced it during their growing up and learning phase).
Personally, I think it unhealthy to stunt a cat’s growth and experience like that - but I aknowledge that outdoors has more physical risks. A shorter life, but a freer and saner.
I would choose freedom over safety for myself, so I do the same for my cats.
What Cervaise didn’t mention, and for me this was the final straw, was the fact that the window our darling kitty figured out how to open was the one in the kitchen that looked over the bottom of the basement stairs. That meant he had something like a 15-foot drop, onto cement, if he didn’t manage to clear the width of the stairs when he jumped out the window. Of course, this was a strange top-opening window with no sill to jump from or anything. Just 1/4 inch of metal to grip with all 4 feet while he nudged the window open. I have no idea how he managed it, but he did.
So we gave up. Since then he has shredded screens and jumped off of roofs and squeezed through mouse-sized openings to GET OUT at every house we have taken him to visit (fortunately, not many). But he always comes back when I call him.
Shredding screens? Jumping out of windows? I’ve been tricked!! you all know something that I don’t!! You have pulled the wool over my eyes haven’t you. THE LOT OF YOU!! I know my little snow angel is going to shred the house with her talons huh?! if she ever stops climbing the damn walls that is…
“snow angel?” my, but how far we have come from “that thing.” Don’t fret, Phlosphr, you can get those little surgically sharp WMD trimmed when you and mama take her for her next set of shots. And keep urging her on the scratching posts.
I was reading some earlier posts, though, and I was a little concerned. They were suggesting catnip around the scratching post, and this will make her lethargic. Catnip is made from hemp, the male cannibis plant. My full grown kitty LOVED her plastic catnip ball. She’d lay full length, with the ball between her front paws and rest her chin on it, eyes half open. I didn’t know what the stuff was til my BF at the time told me.
Yes, he was a real mess when my husband and daughter found him, just sitting in the middle of the street, eyes too infected to see, and too weak to cry. I think for what we spent on vet bills we could probably have bought a fancy pure-bred kitten, but he turned out to be a handsome and affectionate friend.
Actually, up until then we had let our cats go outside. Previously we’d had 2 Siamese cats; they got Feline Leukemia and we lost them early. We waited a couple of years to be sure the virus was out of the house and then we got 2 rescue cats. They were also in/outdoor cats. They were about 5+ years old, I think, when we found the poor abandoned baby on the street.
A couple of years after that, one (the absolutely sweetest & most beautiful cat I ever had) got FIV (Feline AIDS). I nursed him through that for several years, but he finally succumbed. Then the other remaining older cat developed one of those thyroid problems that older cats sometimes do. We had to give him meds every day, and he was not as sturdy as he once had been. Anyway, we decided we were not going to have outdoor cats any more because we could not deal with the heartbreak. But this one was already accustomed to going out every day, and he would yell literally for hours, so we resigned ourselves that we would have to let him out anyway. One day he did not come back. We looked everywhere, offered a reward, but we never saw any sign of him. We figure he got hurt and was unable to return, and without his meds became too weak.
We have since then adopted two rescued kittens from an animal rescue group. We have never let them outside and they do not seem to miss it. They have lots of big window sills, and a big elaborate scratching post. We also have a large screened-in porch, which they enjoy very much in the summer.
I hope they’re both with us for a long, long time!
Don’t worry, Phlosphr, I’m sure your beautiful little snow angel will be nothing like our handsome black panther devil kitty. She will find new and entirely unique ways to make you crazy. <snicker>
My best guess, based on the siamese-looking heritage combined with the wall-climbing behavior is some sort of combination banshee-love-yowl and drop-from-above onto your shoulder. I’m sure it will be very endearing. <double snicker>
