Advice on getting a cat please

We only decided to insure our kitten just because when we got her she was quite young (7 weeks old) and we just did it to be safe just incase of the unlikely event if she has a serious accident like she breakes her leg or something like along the lines of that.

Liam
 
Get 2,

Company for each other, Brother and sister is good, make sure their neutered and chipped. Be prepaired to clean up after them, also expect dead prezzies, Had a pigeon the other morning :/

Their great company, and when your out they keep each other company.
 
Slinkie said:
Wow that's excellent advice everyone, thank you.

I can see that I was obviously wrong to want a cat (after having had one for 20 years I guess I don't really know what I am getting myself into). What I really want is a pet that can't look after itself, needs walks because it's too stupid to go out by itself, can't clean itself and so your house smells (or you spend a lot of your own time washing it, fun!)and is harder and more expensive to have someone to look after it when we are away on holiday (cats just need someone to feed them, don't need walks, to be let out for the toilet etc)

Thanks all, you've convinced me.
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Think you would be best off going to a pets forum for advice mate, because as you can see, threads like this descend into why dogs are better than cats etc. Pretty much what I expected when I went into this thread...no positive advice on cat ownership apart from 1 or 2 posts.
 
We got another cat yesterday from a rescue centre to go with our other cat... he's just settling in but with a kid around its much better to have cats than dogs :P

Get one, you wont regret it!
 
I have had dogs (Terrier/Border Collie cross and then 2x Samoyeds) and now i have a cat. Give me the cat anyday. She is gorgeous and very affectionate, spends half the time out roaming and the other half inside with us. At night she sleeps on the sideboard nest to my side of the bed. She does'nt wreck the house or go toilet in the house (apart from the odd wee in her litter tray) and is extremely quiet compared to a dog. She also does'nt hump your leg!! She is also more economic to own. She occasionally bring's home dead things, but most of the time drops them on the doorstep and then comes in to find me to show what she has "found" for me. Her kill rate is terrible though. I have saved quite a few things from her but most of the time they are dead. Her favouriets seem to be voles and shrews. She catches birds as well but never kills them. Instead she brings them in the house and let's them go. Chaos ensues then as the bird goes zooming around the house closely followed by me and a maniacal cat. It's like a scene from a Carry On film. She did this a couple of hours ago with a Blue Tit. Luckily i got to it first and let it go. Cat's are great.

OP. May i suggest that you check out your local Cat's Protection centre. It's where we got our baby from and they have all sorts of cats, from kittens to adult cat's. They are swamped with cats at the moment and they all come neutered, immunised and chipped. There will be a "donation" of £30 to pay but it would cost more than that to have all that done at a vets.
 
Datamonkey said:
Get 2,

Company for each other, Brother and sister is good, make sure their neutered and chipped. Be prepaired to clean up after them, also expect dead prezzies, Had a pigeon the other morning :/

Their great company, and when your out they keep each other company.
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Agree with this, I have a brother and a sister, coming up to 6 months old now, they are the best of friends and follow each other around, clean each other etc.

First vets bill was around £80, that included the first round of jabs, worming and a flea treatment. Second set of jabs was £60, they are going in to be speyed/neutered next week and chipped at the same time, that will cost £130 in total. I'm just in the process of trying to find a catflap which reads their RFID chips so I dont have to resort to collaring them.
 
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Marf said:
I'm just in the process of trying to find a catflap which reads their RFID chips so I dont have to resort to collaring them.
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Did'nt know you can get those. Only thought there were the ones that you clip a thingy onto their collar. Any chance you could post where to get one if you find any please?
 
pastymuncher said:
Did'nt know you can get those. Only thought there were the ones that you clip a thingy onto their collar. Any chance you could post where to get one if you find any please?
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Apparently they are just about to come on the market, I've seen the collar ones too, but that defeats the object.

The video I've seen shows the catflap, you press a button and it goes into "learn mode", you pop your cats through it and it remembers the number on the chip, and unlocks when it detects their chip.

edit: ahh here we go http://www.microchipcatflaps.co.uk/
 
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chaparral said:
No.....Get a cat & dog ;)
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poached from a pet thread on Pistonheads:-

PashaandSimba.jpg
 
I have never heard of cats smelling :confused:. Sure, thier breath stinks when they yawn near you and thier rear will if they haven't cleaned properly, but just in general? I have found them virtually odourless. Owned a cat for about 17 years btw. Dogs do smell, I can tell if a house owns a (big?) dog from the smell.
 
Dr.EM said:
I have never heard of cats smelling :confused:. Sure, thier breath stinks when they yawn near you and thier rear will if they haven't cleaned properly, but just in general? I have found them virtually odourless. Owned a cat for about 17 years btw. Dogs do smell, I can tell if a house owns a (big?) dog from the smell.
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Ditto
 
hey folks,

I've been out today to a large pet super store to ask some questions. They didnt sell cats there though so my next question is where is the best place to buy a kitten. I have looked into rescue centres and they have ample older cats but we want a kitten. Is it a good idea to get them from private sellers who's cats have had kittens? I'm not sure I want to spend ages driving round looking for cats. Do independant, smaller pet shops sell kittens? I'm going to have a ring round on Saturday but is it going to be a difficult task?

Thanks
 
I wouldnt get a cat from a pet store. Ideally you want a cat that has been socialised and been brought up in a home, with attention from its mother.

If you buy a pedigree then you will have to wait till the kitten is 3 months old.

Moggies are virtually free.

Pedigrees and Moggies can both be had from classifieds.

Some people on this thread are advocating a 2 cats from the same litter. I wouldnt strictly adhere to this idea. If you want convenience, then by all means get 2 from the same litter, but if you want variety, then its more fun to get 2 cats from different litters (with different physical characteristics). Of course, its entirely up to you, but dont think you are making life easier for yourself by getting 2 cats from the same litter. My friend did that and his neutered male is now spraying all over the house and making it stink. I on the other hand, bought 2 cats from different litters and have no problems with them.

Good luck in your cat hunt and I shall leave you with pics of my 2 (different breeds, 1 month age gap):

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