Oh, those look like sweet fellas, Alpha Twit!
I’m gone fairly long days, and my two do well. I just had Velcro for about 3 years and last fall adopted Rocket. They mostly do well, and Velcro’s often less needy when I get home at the end of the day. But sometimes Rocket is a complete pest to him (Rocket LOVES Velcro and would like to groom him. Velcro doesn’t yet allow that, though to assert his dominance, he will groom Rocket).
Here’s a neural net giving names to cats up for adoption in Philadelphia.
This.
Just had a belated thought: if you’re getting kittens, and are going to be away all day, unplug lamps and appliances before leaving – anything that could be knocked over or could be turned on by stepping on or leaning against.
brussel and sprout are young, so they are going to be active, so be ready for it. get those scratchers so your furniture doesn’t get ruined, and watch out for window blinds being attacked, as well as your back, ankles, and who knows what else. Of course, all these things will be quickly forgiven, as you will be madly in love with them. Good luck. They will make you happy.
So…did you get the kittens?
Not yet. Somehow, word got out among my extended family about my interest in adopting a cat. Within half a day, I had e-mails from four cousins, two aunts, one niece and one ex-brother-in-law offering their fuzzy critters. The very idea that I would pay money to adopt a stranger’s cat from a shelter rather than solve their excess feline problem is just madness to them. Infighting quickly got fierce and ugly.
I’m waiting a couple of months for the heat to die down. At that time, I’ll quietly start looking again and I’ll make sure to keep the family out of it.
IMHO, if you want to keep fertile feline around your home, that’s your business and I’m not going to tell you you’re wrong for making that choice. The thing is though, fertile cats…make more cats. They’re good at it. They figured it out a long time ago and they don’t really give a damn what we think of it. Have a plan for dealing with the kittens that doesn’t involve guilt tripping your family and friends with vague comments about bags and rivers.
Per my local cat shelter: if you get a bonded pair, get a male and female, as they’re more likely to bond with you and not just with each other. I’m not an expert in this area, but my cat-owning friends, even those with same-sex bonded sibling cats, agree a male-female pair (neutered and spayed, of course) is a good bet.
Sorry to hear that, Alpha Twit. Out of curiosity, not that you owe me or anyone an explanation, but is there a reason you wouldn’t want a kitten or two from a relative? My cat was one of my aunt’s cat’s kittens, though she didn’t bully me into taking him; I wanted a cat, she had some she was prepared to either keep forever or give to a good home, everybody won. But if you just don’t want to deal with them, that’s fair.
I had no real issue with taking a cat from a relative except that several of them tried to pressure and bully me into taking their cat instead of someone else’s. If I take a kitten from Aunt Sally, Aunt Deb asks why I hate her? If I look at cousin Bob’s crop of kittens, cousin Fred shoots out Bob’s porchlight.
I love them but I’m better off skipping the family drama for this kind of thing.
Sounds like you need to get your relatives onto some low-cost spay/neuter mailing lists. This kind fo irresponsibility really pisses me off.
Good luck in your future cat search!
Spay/neuter for my relatives or their cats. I’m good either way but I suspect it’s going to be a tough sell no matter how much sense it makes.
I don’t have cats myself but this basically can describe many of my friends who do have cats. So I say what not? If you’re not allergic and you can deal with them in your home then do it.
I am now imagining you winding up not with two kittens but with five or six, one from each branch of the family which has kittens.
The kittens would probably get along better than the family, from the sounds of it; but might also be too overwhelming to deal with.
Imo, those are long hours to have a pet, whether it be one or two cats.
This gives me the opportunity to ask if I should get one. I want to, but I live in an efficiency, I don’t want to make the little guy bored by having such a small territory.
I have no set work schedule; I am essentially freelance. When I do work, it isn’t unusual for my day to start at 8am and end at midnight, sometimes for a week or more at a time. I also travel for work and am gone from home for 7-15 days at a stretch (friends come over and change litter, etc. during long stretches).
I have two healthy, happy cats that have lived with me for all 10 years of their lives except for the first 8 weeks or so.
Cats do need love and attention, but they don’t freak out if they don’t see you for a day or two. Remember that cats sleep like 12-16 hours of the day; they prolly don’t even realize that people are gone for the 8 or 10 hours on most workdays.
I think indoor cats are probably bored with even a McMansion-sized territory. I saw a post once by some guy who put GPS trackers on his indoor-outdoor cats’ collars and was surprised to learn how far they roamed around the neighborhood. I’m not advocating for letting your cat out; mine has to content himself with 700 square feet plus a tiny balcony. Being bored isn’t the worst thing in the world. Get him a cat tree and some toys, and maybe hang a bird feeder outside your window for some kitty TV.
Or put something like this on your TV before you leave. And while you’re home - it’s a riot to watch the cats. Especially if your screen is big.
Depends on the cat, I think. I have DogTV for the dog (yes, he’s spoiled, but he looooves television), and the cat is indifferent to it. They have segments were it’s basically a lava lamp, or screensaver type thing with a laser pointer moving across the screen, and ones that are birds, ducks, bunnies etc, and she ignores it all.