Pros and cons of having a kitten

We have a chocolate colour point (looks a bit like a persian) called santa who is afraid of the wind so he stays in the house pretty much all year round. he's about 14 now and has suddenly realised that if he bugs me enoughi will get him water.

Aero
 
goldilocks said:
also: consider the cost!
other than the initial costs of buying the kitten and all of the stuff it'll need (iirc bed, litter trays, bowls, scratching poles, crate etc etc came to about £100)
food / litter (decent food = £10 ish per week, litter £5 per bag every few weeks)
we pay £9ish pcm insurance
flea treatment is £17 every couple of months
neutering (£75 for our little girl) and vet checks / jabs aren't covered by insurance (£40/year)
i know the rspca take in a lot more pets when 'times are hard' as people don't realise how much it costs to really care for an animal!

changes to lifestyle will include getting up when the cat wants you to (ours likes to be up at 6ish) she gets on hubbys chest and meaows till he gets up!
they will claw at carpets / furniture / curtains (may be an issue if you are in rented / care about how your stuff looks)
you can't really leave a house cat for any length of time (i.e nights away)
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Why bother with flea treatment for an indoor cat in this climate? I've had indoor cats for 5 years and they've never had fleas. They get wormed every 6 months but it's about £5 for both cats.

Getting woken by a cat isn't an issue if you don't let them in the bedroom at night. My cats sleep when I do and never wake me up in the middle of the night.

It's ok to leave them for up to 24 hours at a time so long as they have access to food, fresh water and litter but don't do it regularly. Some cats will require more human attention than others, and that will limit how long you can leave them alone for.
 
I guess the biggest con is damage. Kittens get into everything you don't want them to. As long as you're not too attached to your furniture, curtains etc you'll be ok :)

If you choose a long haired breed then bare in mind fur. It will get everywhere, on your clothes and in your food. You'll wake up in the night with it in your mouth and you'll be forever hoovering. I know this from experience as our cat is long haired.

Our cat is an indoor cat, you just need to give them plenty to occupy them so they don't get bored.

If you've never had a cat before you might not realise how much it will impact your life, especially an indoor cat. If you think it's still the right choice then that's fine but otherwise have you considered something that doesn't have free roam of the place to tear it apart? e.g. lizards, snakes, frogs etc etc.
 
Get pygmy hedgehogs! Damn they're cute.

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Vixen said:
Why bother with flea treatment for an indoor cat in this climate? I've had indoor cats for 5 years and they've never had fleas.
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Our cat has had fleas this summer because we have people round to our house who have outdoor cats!!
I can't imagine leaving her for a whole 24hrs, but I guess it's all down to the owners preference.
 
Dj_Jestar said:
Only if you are incapable of toilet training the cat (which involves just showing it the litter tray,) and have a tom that you don't get spayed.
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Unfortunately, they can still do it when trained and and even when neutered toms can still be territorial enough to do this and roam around looking for fights all the time.

goldilocks said:
also: consider the cost!
other than the initial costs of buying the kitten and all of the stuff it'll need (iirc bed, litter trays, bowls, scratching poles, crate etc etc came to about £100)
food / litter (decent food = £10 ish per week, litter £5 per bag every few weeks)
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£100 is clearly only if you get a pocket sprung memory foam silent night bed for it ;)

Chopping the sirloin steak and cinaird l'orange off the menu brings it to about £1 a week per cat on something like Whiskas dry food and maybe a treat of something like tuna on top once or twice a week.

we pay £9ish pcm insurance
flea treatment is £17 every couple of months
neutering (£75 for our little girl) and vet checks / jabs aren't covered by insurance (£40/year)
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Our vet charges £28 for vaccination boosters. Neutering/speying is £45-50 odd so we are lucky I guess.

Also, cat and dog owners should check out chemists for flea drops and worm tablets. We were getting charged £20 from the vet for 3 frontline portions (the ones that do ticks as well) and its £14 in the chemist. Also it was £5 odd per worm tablet instead of the £3.50 odd the chemists were charging.
 
DominicStar said:
Chopping the sirloin steak and cinaird l'orange off the menu brings it to about £1 a week per cat on something like Whiskas dry food and maybe a treat of something like tuna on top once or twice a week.
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what? you seriously spend £1 per week?!

the way I worked it out was considering 3 pouches of decent food and a bowl of biscuits per day at a cost of:
12 pouches (gourmet perle / sheba gold / oh so fishy etc) £5ish (we usually buy whatever decent food is on offer)
small box of 'indoor cat' biscuits £1 (lasts a week ish at a bowl a day)
even a single tin of tuna is over £1!!

where do you do your shopping?! we obviously need to look elsewhere!!
 
goldilocks said:
Our cat has had fleas this summer because we have people round to our house who have outdoor cats!!
I can't imagine leaving her for a whole 24hrs, but I guess it's all down to the owners preference.
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There's very little difference between 24 hours alone and 16 hours alone while you're at work/sleeping. It is a lot more stressful on our cats to be moved around for one night than to stay at home alone.

I spend closer to DominicStar as far as food is concerned. A 2kg bag of decent quality kibble costs around £12 and lasts maybe 3 weeks. They only get wet food as a treat, getting it more regularly made one of our cats really fat.
 
Cat's aren't any trouble really. If you treat them right from kitten to adult, they will trust you and be very affectionate. They will greet you everymorning by shoving their arse in your face and dribbling in your eye whilst you lie in bed.
If you scare them bad just once, it takes an age to get that trust back and they won't let you near them so if you lose your temper quick, then don't get a cat.

They also malt quite a lot so make sure you don't have any black carpet in your flat. They will claw their sleeping pads everyday, so you will need a few scratching posts dotted around the flat for them to scratch. Use a lemon zest spray to deter them from scratching your sofa etc etc.
 
Pros

Affectionate.
Unpredictable humorous antics.
They generally look after themselves.
They Eat vermin and SPIDERS!
More intelligent than a dog:p.

Cons

Food bills, my two will only eat the expensive stuff or they puke:(.
Vet bills, best to get pet insurance.
Claws!
They can be destructive but then again so can dogs.
 
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We have three indoor cats (Siamese) they are perfectly happy if a bit mental.. :)

First thing you should consider is definitely cost / month I would guess we spend the following:

1. Insurance: £30
2. Cat Food + Litter: £50 - £75

Also you have vets bills which probably is around £20 - £40 / year for each cat

I have to say ours are totally worth every penny, hours of entertainment, endless companionship and we have a totally bug free house :)

Indoor cats need stimulation especially when they are young, this doesn't have to be expensive; boxes and box tunnels are favourite in our house.. along with the normal cat toys and of course they amuse each other.

Obligatory kitten photo:

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Saw a little boy cat called Bugsy last night, he was very sweet. We are seriously considering getting him, another thing to consider though is that in three weeks time we'll be off on holiday for a few days, and then 6-7 weeks after that we'll be going on a 3 week holiday.

So would it be wise to wait until after all our hols? Hmmmm
 
Pros:

Kittens – cute
Cats – awesome

Cons:

Cost of running them or is that the cost of them running you ;)
 
Get a bear, take it to the door with you when someone knocks on it, say TV liscensing. Have the bear stand on its hind legs as you open the door whilst hiding behind it.

Remember to upload to Youtube.

Another reason for getting a bear as a pet:

I was stopped once for speeding in my pickup truck. As the highway patrol officer wrote me a ticket, our pet, Buffy, poked his head out the open window, grabbed the ticket pad from the officer's hand and ate it.

The officer stared, speechless, then drove away and totally forgot my citation.

You would too. Buffy is a 7-foot, 700-pound black bear.
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:)
 
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