And I should let a WHAT in the house?

On Mon, 07 Mar 2005 04:02:08 GMT, "Stormin Mormon"
yodeled:

I wasn't all that happy with the gal at PetNot So Smart, and so wrote a
message to describe it.

Wel, after the very poor experience with the PestStupid people, then I go to
dinner with friends. One friend of mine spent an hour or so telling me all
the abuse the cats have dumped on him. From eating his food, drinking out of
his glass, waking him at 6 AM, scratching his face, and jumping on counters
and such. Cat litter stink. And then descriptions of kitty farts, and
graphic descriptions of Kitty Turd Supreme.

I spent the drive home remembering all the various problems I had with
Ruffus. Mealworms in the catfood (lost a LOT of food to mealworms; many
boxes of dry food, macaroni, and many boxes of breakfast cereal). Used to
sit on my chest at night. Jumping on things. Knocking things off. On the
counter. On the TV. On the copier. Knocking stuff off the surfaces. Defiant,
on top of the copier while my back is turned and a blur of fur coming down
off when I turn around.

I'm quite seriously turned off about the concept of getting a cat.

You're right. What a pain in the @ss.



Theresa
Stinky Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/125591586JWEFwh
My Blog: http://www.humanitas.blogspot.com

Ohhhhh. I never buy cheap food.

"Stormin Mormon" wrote in message
.. .
As I understand, it was "indian mealworms" in cheap dry catfood.

--

Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
www.mormons.com


"Karen" wrote in message
...

Hmmm. Never had any trouble with worms at all. Not with 18+ cats through
all
my years. So I'm not sure at all what that has to do with cats. But yeah,
some of this is par for the course and if that is a concern, you are
probably right in thinking about not going down that road.

"KellyH" wrote in message
...
"Stormin Mormon" wrote in message
.. .
As I understand, it was "indian mealworms" in cheap dry catfood.

And that was the cat's fault how? Could have happened in a sack of flour,
too.


I would have to buy smaller bags of food more often.

On Mon, 07 Mar 2005 07:57:45 -0600, Karen wrote:

in article , Karen AKA Kajikit at
wrote on 3/7/05 7:11AM:

I had no idea that cats could be so much work... I've never had one
before, and then we got two at once. One of the first things they did
once we got them into the house was to break John's boat ornament and
make me cry... they make messes, they run across your tummies and feet
at 3am and wake you up, they pee in inappropriate places and demand
gourmet kitty treats, they protest vigorously if you have to try to
give them any medication... for a little while I wondered if I was cut
out to be a meowmie because they kept making me cry... but I love them
to bits and I wouldn't give them up for the world.

Well, kittens, like babies are particularly a lot of work (although I never
ever had problems with inappropriate peeing - did they have an infection? I
find this highly unusual). And the main "break" I remember is Pearl jumping
up on my laptop and snapping off the T key, which I had to order a
replacement for. Other than demanding a lot of attention and being picky
about food, I haven't found (especially with adults) anything that comes
close to really annoying me. Certainly nothing like many of my coworkers
(whom I really do like) and their behaviours. So I think they are pretty
much a bargain.

We bought them a covered litterbox... only Silver decided that she
wouldn't use it! She'd wait till I took the cover off to scoop it and
then she'd jump in and do her business... then a few days later she
decided that I wasn't getting the message fast enough, so she looked
for other places to go (ie, anything soft and absorbant-looking left
lying on the floor...) I was very concerned about her health but the
vet said she was fine. We went back to open litterboxes and the
trouble stopped immediately.

Scout's also trying to teach us a 'lesson'... we tried changing their
catfood to a slightly cheaper version last week, and it took a few
days to realise that she wasn't eating it! Silver is such a greedyguts
that she was eating a double share, and Scout was only nibbling enough
to keep from starving We got more Science Diet yesterday...

~Karen aka Kajikit
Crafts, cats, and chocolate - the three essentials of life
http://www.kajikitscorner.com
*remove 'nospam' to reply

Karen wrote in message
...
in article , Stormin Mormon at
wrote on 3/6/05 10:02 PM:

I wasn't all that happy with the gal at PetNot So Smart, and so wrote a
message to describe it.

Wel, after the very poor experience with the PestStupid people, then I
go to
dinner with friends. One friend of mine spent an hour or so telling me
all
the abuse the cats have dumped on him. From eating his food, drinking
out of
his glass, waking him at 6 AM, scratching his face, and jumping on
counters
and such. Cat litter stink. And then descriptions of kitty farts, and
graphic descriptions of Kitty Turd Supreme.

I spent the drive home remembering all the various problems I had with
Ruffus. Mealworms in the catfood (lost a LOT of food to mealworms; many
boxes of dry food, macaroni, and many boxes of breakfast cereal). Used
to
sit on my chest at night. Jumping on things. Knocking things off. On the
counter. On the TV. On the copier. Knocking stuff off the surfaces.
Defiant,
on top of the copier while my back is turned and a blur of fur coming
down
off when I turn around.

I'm quite seriously turned off about the concept of getting a cat.

I think you have reached a wise decision. It sounds as if neither you nor
the cat would be very happy, together if you were to get one right now.
Yes, there are drawbacks to cat ownership, such as those you list above. If
all you can see in owning a cat is smelly litterboxes, getting scratched and
bad behavior (Cats can be trained with consistent negative and positive
reinforcement.)

I'll only say I couldn't imagine my home without the companionship and
comedy of having cats around, even when Nina turns my toilet paper into
confetti. Unconditional love, and beautiful living creatures greeting me at
the door when I come home from work, being two of the greatest assets. For
me, that more than balances out the disadvantages.

Melissa

Stormin Mormon wrote:
From eating his food, drinking out of
his glass, waking him at 6 AM, scratching his face, and jumping on
counters
and such. Cat litter stink. And then descriptions of kitty farts,
and
graphic descriptions of Kitty Turd Supreme.///

Normal conditions of being owned by a cat. You need to be able to deal
with those before you consider getting another cat into your life. To
me, the advantages/pleasure far outweighs the "nasties".

Used to sit on my chest at night.///

Now to me, that is a great priviledge. I consider that a BENEFIT of
owning a cat.

Jumping on things. Knocking things off. On the
counter. On the TV. On the copier. Knocking stuff off the surfaces.
Defiant,
on top of the copier while my back is turned and a blur of fur coming
down
off when I turn around.///

I like it. It reminds me I'm not the only one in the universe and that
I'm the bottom of the pecking order! ;o)

I'm quite seriously turned off about the concept of getting a cat.///

Then maybe you should rethink whether it is the pet for you. ) Being
owned by a cat is a wonderful priviledge, but also a very great
responsibility.

Helen M

"Melissa Houle" wrote in message
...

Karen wrote in message
...
in article , Stormin Mormon at
wrote on 3/6/05 10:02 PM:

I wasn't all that happy with the gal at PetNot So Smart, and so wrote
a
message to describe it.

Wel, after the very poor experience with the PestStupid people, then I
go to
dinner with friends. One friend of mine spent an hour or so telling
me
all
the abuse the cats have dumped on him. From eating his food, drinking
out of
his glass, waking him at 6 AM, scratching his face, and jumping on
counters
and such. Cat litter stink. And then descriptions of kitty farts, and
graphic descriptions of Kitty Turd Supreme.

I spent the drive home remembering all the various problems I had with
Ruffus. Mealworms in the catfood (lost a LOT of food to mealworms;
many
boxes of dry food, macaroni, and many boxes of breakfast cereal). Used
to
sit on my chest at night. Jumping on things. Knocking things off. On
the
counter. On the TV. On the copier. Knocking stuff off the surfaces.
Defiant,
on top of the copier while my back is turned and a blur of fur coming
down
off when I turn around.

I'm quite seriously turned off about the concept of getting a cat.

I think you have reached a wise decision. It sounds as if neither you nor
the cat would be very happy, together if you were to get one right now.
Yes, there are drawbacks to cat ownership, such as those you list above.
If
all you can see in owning a cat is smelly litterboxes, getting scratched
and
bad behavior (Cats can be trained with consistent negative and positive
reinforcement.)

I'll only say I couldn't imagine my home without the companionship and
comedy of having cats around, even when Nina turns my toilet paper into
confetti. Unconditional love, and beautiful living creatures greeting me
at
the door when I come home from work, being two of the greatest assets.
For
me, that more than balances out the disadvantages.

Melissa



Beautifully put, Melissa. BTW, I have a toilet paper and paper towel
shredder too!

On 2005-03-07, Melissa Houle penned:

I'll only say I couldn't imagine my home without the companionship and
comedy of having cats around, even when Nina turns my toilet paper into
confetti. Unconditional love, and beautiful living creatures greeting me at
the door when I come home from work, being two of the greatest assets. For
me, that more than balances out the disadvantages.


I can't remember a time when I didn't have a pet, but I don't think it would
have to be a cat.

Even my fish and my hamsters cheered me up when I entered my dorm room in
college.

Hamsters have the upside of being furry, but they have a pernicious tendency
to escape and get into things ... fish are beautiful, but especially in the
swampy climate of Williamsburg (no A/C units in dorms without doctor's note),
they seemed to succumb to the ick all too easily. I did love those bettas ...
so beautiful, and I always kept them in a large aquarium. Couldn't stand to
see them in those tiny globes they have at the store.

--
monique, who spoils Oscar unmercifully

pictures: http://www.bounceswoosh.org/rpca

"Monique Y. Mudama" wrote:

On 2005-03-07, Stormin Mormon penned:

I'm quite seriously turned off about the concept of getting a cat.

If you're concerned that having a cat will be too much work, you probably
shouldn't get one. They're enough work that you want to be really sure about
it. Kinda like having kids.

I haven't personally found having cats to involve a lot of work.
There's hardly a single aspect of my life that Betty hasn't
influenced, but so far it's been all pros and no significant cons.
Part of that may be that I didn't get Betty as a kitten, and she
hasn't had any major illnesses.

On 2005-03-08, Takayuki penned:
"Monique Y. Mudama" wrote:

On 2005-03-07, Stormin Mormon penned:

I'm quite seriously turned off about the concept of getting a cat.

If you're concerned that having a cat will be too much work, you probably
shouldn't get one. They're enough work that you want to be really sure
about it. Kinda like having kids.

I haven't personally found having cats to involve a lot of work. There's
hardly a single aspect of my life that Betty hasn't influenced, but so far
it's been all pros and no significant cons. Part of that may be that I
didn't get Betty as a kitten, and she hasn't had any major illnesses.

I can't speak to illnesses (knock on wood), but I can speak to
hoolikittens! Oscar tore down, beyond repair, every set of blinds in my
apartment. I ended up having absolutely no privacy unless I hid in the
bathroom, because all of my windows were wide open to the world. I
couldn't have open containers of water (like vases) around, because
she'd knock them over. The one time she didn't make it to the litter
box, it STANK to high heaven and the smell never got out of that corner.
I had to take down the fun christmas lights in my office because she was
threatening to bite into them, not to mention worry about broken
mini-lightbulbs. I'm still finding toothmarks in various electrical
cords. She knocked anything light enough to be bapped off any surface
more than two feet off the ground. She declared my computer desk (which I
used constantly) her domain and hissed, bit and scratched at me when I removed
her because my typing scared her and she would bite and scratch me for using
the keyboard or mouse. She liked reaching up and clawing at holes just
*slightly* taller than her stretched-out body, so that I had to rescue her
from both my computer's vents and the A/C vent on the wall.

..... man, do I miss having a kitten. But I think I'd have to rent an
apartment again if I had one. Some place that doesn't mind ripping up all the
carpets between tenants and has really cheap blinds.

--
monique, who spoils Oscar unmercifully

pictures: http://www.bounceswoosh.org/rpca