Talk me down from a feline infatuation!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Today, I browsed thru this thread and discovered 1-800-Save-A-Pet.com.

Curious, I entered our zip code and did a search for cats and discovered Anastasia. She is beautiful.

My beloved Jake has been ill for months. I’ve had him for over ten years and he was an adult when I caught him in a live trap on a Baton Rouge levee. When I felt like the whole world had abandoned me, he was there. (Whenever someone asked how long I’ve had Jake, I’d joke “Two boyfriends and an ex-husband.”) Sadly, Jake doesn’t have much time left, he’s wasting away and I worry about him silently suffering.

We also have Elwood the Three-Legged Cat and Astrix the cell phone thief.
Pointless background: I found Elwood as a kitten in the same area I caught Jake; I suspect they’re related. That’s my cell phone next to Astrix. This little bastard can pick it up and carry it!

I feel bad about looking at other cats before Jake has moved on. On the other hand, Elwood HATES Astrix. Finding a playmate for Astrix - he’s a very playful two year old - would be a good idea.

Please talk me out of this!

2

You’re about to bring a Mouseling into the world and you’re considering getting a cat? :eek:

3

I’m trying to keep a level head about this. *We don’t need another cat. There’s enough going on right now. Astix and Elwood will have to sort things out. *

I’ll have to stay away from pet stores and kitty pics for awhile. :stuck_out_tongue:

4

I’d be more worried about the poor Mouseling getting eaten. :wink:

5

I’ll push the other way, then…
Go ahead. Get the kitty. You get a kitty AND a Mouseling. They can’t both eat each other. Worst case scenario, you get one out of the two.
That’s not bad.

In closing, Anastasia is a very pretty kitty in a no-kill shelter. I say to give it a week (okay, tomorrow) and see if you feel the same way. Go see Anastasia at the shelter and see if she’s as sweet as she looks. Just, give her a little scritch behind the ear and let her play with some string…
A little scritch never killed anyone, right, Mousie?

6

Heh. I’m worried that I’ll eat the Mouseling. :smiley:

7

I love that website, it’s how we found the organization that we adopted Mara from.
It is pretty dangerous, lucky for me they keep most of the cats in my area at foster homes so I can’t “randomly” drop by and “fall in love spontaneously” again.
-foxy, who never does anything spontaneously :wink:

8

This is a good idea. I think I’ll take your advise.

She is soooooo cute. sigh Being sensible isn’t always fun.

(I lived in a house with 16, including my one and three-quarters. Mouse_Spouse has made it clear that 3 is my max on cats.)

9

I’ll talk you down if you talk my fiance down. I have 5 freakin’ cats already and was done getting new kitties. He has one, swore we’d get down to 3 before we’d get another one. Then we visited the shelter where I volunteer and he saw Pinball. His head is turned sideways because his inner ear was permanently damaged, so he always sorta has a sideways head. He’s very playful, sweet, and weird, likes other cats…

:smack:

We do not need another cat. Someone else will want him since he’s so cool. It’s a no-kill shelter. Wait a while. Don’t rush into things. If you still want him in a week/two weeks/ some arbitrary date, then go back and get him.

Right? RIGHT?!?

10

Another person with too many cats who just can’t look at that site.

Mouse, are you sure that Jake would not be upset by another new cat in the house?

11

We’ve got one of those, too. Dickens nearly always has her head tilted, and she has some definite balance issues.

He’s adorable.

Wait. Um. You don’t need another cat! Trust meeee! (We have eight. Our highest was 11. It was scary.)

12

We had to give up a cat when our kids were little.

The cat had some personality “issues.” Then the kids arrived.

Litterbox avoidance. Peeing in our bed. And, once the kids got mobile, scratching and biting the kids. My son has a scar near his eye from a cat scratch.

(Now, I’ve had the world’s worst luck with cats - mine have all been total bitches. I know there are sweetheart cats that let toddlers carry them around (we had one of those, too) and cats that deal with new additions by becoming unseen - mine got aggressive).

Cats don’t necessarily react well to toddlers. And toddlers don’t necessarily react well to cats. You have two - hopefully both of them will be fine once the baby comes. With each additional cat, you risk the chance that a cat will act out - and if it acts out near the toddler, you’ll have to figure out something.

In the interest of talking you out of it, I’ll add that cats aren’t free. And babies aren’t free. Vet bills, more food, more litter - its going to stress a budget that (as I understand it) is already a little stressed and will get more stressed when the baby arrives.

13

Talk you down from getting a cat? OK…

  • Carry 2 COSTCO 40-lb cat-litter buckets out of the store, to your car. Then from your car to your basement. Repeat once a month.

*Shovel 10+ pounds of crap & pee into a bag every morning and carry it out to the garbage. For the rest of your life.

*Wake up every morning to tuna-breath (if your lucky; the other end is fragrant too, but even less pleasant.)

*Go to sleep every night with something chasing and biting your toes through your quilt & blanket. (You’ll find yourself shopping for replacement bedclothes in terms of “What won’t his teeth get through, what won’t he eat & barf up on my shoes?” instead of “What matches my bedroom?”

*Get ready for your carpet to change colors. Barf-up spots, pee & crap spots, or just plain shedding, it will change color.

*Realize that you can’t reason with an animal at 6AM that is knocking your things off your dresser because its hungry and you’re ‘late’. Saturday? Screw Saturday. Its FeedMeDay. Learn it, Human.

*Because you only bought that Cashmere sweater to be a scratching post.

*Clean laundry? What’s that? The only laundry coming out of this basket has a fat lazy belly print on top of it and is covered in shed fur.

*Learn how to ‘Guard the Table’. Its that situation where once you have food on the table it can’t ever be let out of your site for any reason or it will become cat-sniffed, cat-licked, cat-eaten. Thirsty? Shoulda thought of that before you put food on the table. I sure hope ‘Beau Geste’ isn’t on TV…

*Because your hands never looked prettier, covered with red rips, welts, and dotted-line scabs.

*Because you like itching in bed & suddenly realizing that Mittens brought home her own ‘pets’.

*Because you like disproving that there’s any health risk to unborn children from a pregnant mother shoveling dirty cat litter.

*Because 3AM is a good time for you to have 30-lbs of cat walk across you and sit on your chest, watching you breathe.

*Because you didn’t really like that wedding band; you know the one that makes a cool ‘skitch’ sound when its knocked around the floor like a hockey-puck?

*Because stepping in cat-vomit barefoot will wake you up faster than coffee.

*Because getting Mittens in the carrier for her Vet appointment is a lot harder & more challenging than MarioParty8.

*Because you like waking up in the middle of the night to the sound of horses galloping up and down your stairs.

Lets face it, having a cat is like giving birth to a teenager: they don’t listen to you, they use your stuff without asking and with no respect, they push your buttons just to get a rise out of you, and their entire focus never shifts beyond their immediate needs. Hell, they only rub against your legs to help themselves shed. Why get a cat?

Count Blucher: cat owner/enabler/victim

14

Emergency backup cat! That’s what my Rio was. I got him about a year before Trouble actually died, knowing that he didn’t have long. Having a young, active snuggly cat helped fill the hole left by old, sickly snuggly cat.

15

So…how is Anastasia? She she purdy in real life? Did you give her a quick little scritch?

16

Mouse_Maven, I really think you’re posting on the wrong board for this kind of help. The SDMB cat-slave population runs MUCH higher than average.

(Mrs. Bookkeeper has adamantly refused for years to allow any more cats in the house. She must mean it, as she only brings them home one at a time, now.)

17

Heerrreee kitty! kitty! kitty! Mouse_Maven has a home for you! :smiley:
I’ve seen 2 or 3 I’d take home!

18

Toxoplasmosis.

Hey, you asked.

19

Yeah, but if Mouse_Spouse does the litterbox, no worries!
(Can you tell which side I’m on?)

20

You know you want the kitty, you know you’ll end up with the kitty. Just go get the kitty already. And then post some pics. :wink: