Thinking of getting a cat, some advice?

rexehuk said:
Lol? What is this in relation to?

I am currently trying to defend my cars from a huge party across the road... someone just threw something sounded like it hit one of the cars. Went out to a few of them sitting on my wall and inspected the car, one of them said what's that in my back pocked? "Best not be a tool man".

:| Unrelated but need to vent!



Some people have tested some of them sold as Ashera and have actually been the Savannah breed! And Savannah is a big deal as they are illegal in some parts of the world (Some US states especially)
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Glad they're not banned here as I'm looking into getting an F2/F3 Savannah.
 
I think whether you want outdoor or indoor is dependant on where you live, their safety when they are out and how you will treat the cat.

I kept mine indoor initially as the male cat used to go absolutely bonkers when we let him out, he would run around like a vlakvark, pick fights with other cats ( he was only around 4 months and the other cats were huge ) and would constantly mess around in our neighbours garden, they were too nice to make a fuss of it but when we moved I knew that wouldn't be the case. We also now live on a busy road with a bus route.
I also couldn't face them couped up in the house so built them a nice cat run outside to which they have access all the time, and I know they are safe ( aside from spiders and bees/wasps )
Personally, my 3 cats are part of my family and not just animals or accessories
 
Heres a pic of our latest addition. Apollo, Persian crossed with Norwegian Forest. This was when we 1st got him
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This was around 5 months ago.
 
rexehuk said:
Some people have tested some of them sold as Ashera and have actually been the Savannah breed! And Savannah is a big deal as they are illegal in some parts of the world (Some US states especially)
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Savannahs = illegal?
I've not read about this. Can you clarify which states in the USA this is true?

Also, true Ashera cats are not Savannah cats. They grow to a good size: 25lbs+, which is larger than the Savannah. http://www.lifestylepets.com/index.html

Savannah cats do look exotic (as do Bengals), but they look like domestic cats. If a fully grown Ashera cat wandered into your garden, you might call the RSPCA/Police, for fear of it being a wild/predator cat.
 
I suppose statistically indoor cats live longer since they're exposed to fewer dangers: disease, foxes, cars etc. But all three of my cats have lived to 18 years plus, one's still going, and they have always had outdoor access.

Some breeds of cat are more suited to indoor life, or require it, due to either: their inherant natures; long hair (persian + dirt = problems) or pure value of the animal as a pedigree. However I think in virtually all cases cats are outdoor animals and will always have a higher quality of life with freedom to roam, even if that means being exposing them to more possible risk.

Cleanliness isn't much of an issue.... cats are pretty well the cleanest mammal you could ever hope to share a house with... and I include humans in that statement.

If you do decide to have an indoor only cat then please consider getting two of them, ideally sisters from the same litter, though brothers will often be ok too in the absense of any females. Cats have a reputation as solitary animals but they can also keep each other company quite well. There's a definite pride instinct left over in them. I don't believe anyone who doesnt spend most of the day at home should have a single indoor cat personally.

If you have only one cat indoors then you may freely expect your furniture to suffer as a consequence, they will shred everything, and most likely spray it too. Having two of them decreases this problem a fair bit, but perhaps not altogether.


Whatever you decide I would urge you to consider adopting a cat from the rspca or cats protection league and making a donation as a "payment"
 
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sunama said:
Savannahs = illegal?
I've not read about this. Can you clarify which states in the USA this is true?

Also, true Ashera cats are not Savannah cats. They grow to a good size: 25lbs+, which is larger than the Savannah. http://www.lifestylepets.com/index.html

Savannah cats do look exotic (as do Bengals), but they look like domestic cats. If a fully grown Ashera cat wandered into your garden, you might call the RSPCA/Police, for fear of it being a wild/predator cat.
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Yeah Sunama matey, I was saying that cats have been SOLD as Ashera but actually turn out to be Savannah cats. The illegality is covered here a bit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savannah_cat#Ownership_laws

Hope this helps :) - I don't care if it's a Savannah or Ashera tbh, both cats sound very very good when you read about their habits.

ShaolinDreams said:
you could have worded "cat for decoration" differently as it makes me feel youre a plonker :);)
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Sorry about this... I am fairly bespoke with anything I design, so I meant like If I have a minimalist flat/house like I want the look / colours of the cat would matter to me.

Does that make sense? Id say I'm a perfectionist :D with OCD. So the cat would add to a "wow" factor if it was sitting on a sofa etc.
 
Jumpingmedic said:
If you do decide to have an indoor only cat then please consider getting two of them, ideally sisters from the same litter, though brothers will often be ok too in the absense of any females.
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I disagree. The 2 (or more) cats dont have to be from the same litter. In fact, I would say that getting 2 cats from the same litter is just being lazy (but thats me).

2 young cats from different litters and of wildly differing breeds can absolutely get along with eachother, though it is best if the breeds are similar. For example, my 2 cats (Bengal + Egyptian Mau) are both athletic cats, brought into my home 1 month apart, both at 3 months of age. For a 3-4 days there was a bit of fighting, where they sorted out who was going to be the most dominant, after which they were fine.

Jumpingmedic said:
...and most likely spray it [furniture] too. Having two of them decreases this problem a fair bit, but perhaps not altogether.
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I had my 2 males neutered at 3 months of age. No spraying from either cat. I was told that neutering the cats helps reduce the chance of spraying. My friend has 2 persian male cats; both neutered; no spraying.

Were the cats who were spraying neutered?
 
rexehuk said:
The illegality is covered here a bit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savannah_cat#Ownership_laws
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I'm quite surprised about this. Australia has banned the Savannah cat, too.

It must be noted that Savannah cats are very similar to "normal" cats, but they do look very exotic, just as Bengals do. For the record, my Egyptian Mau is a lot more "wild" in its behaviour than my Bengal, even though my Bengal is a hybrid, where early generations (f1), require licenses to keep. My Egyptian Mau has been domesticated over 1000s of years, dating back to when the Egyptian Pharaohs used to keep them as pets.

I think that these bans come down to fear of the unknown (bearing in mind that the Savannah breed is very new: roughly 2 decades old)
 
Since you are at work most of the day and the animal shut inside then it may be a good idea to get two cats so they are not lonely. Ideally, they should be allowed out imo.
 
Viper² said:
Where is there to get a cat from apart from the obvious rescue centres?
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If you want a pedigree cat you have to go to a breeder. Otherwise it's a case of rescues or adverts placed by people who were too stupid to neuter their cat before letting it outside ;).
 
I have an indoor cat. We chose to keep her indoors for several reasons.

First, we live quite near a main road and she does not in any way take notice of cars, which is clearly not good.

Second, we live near a large park which means there are lots of kids who might like to be nasty to her (had this with a previous cat) and many trees where she can chase birds and then get stuck because she is dumb like that.

Also she has a slight skin/fur problem that makes her get small bald patches, nothing major and you can't tell most of the time, but it is irritated by certain things, most of which are found outside.

And finally, she is totally stupid and has no sense of anything whatsoever, will attack anything that she thinks she can eat (including wasps/dogs/children/etc) and is just generally insane, seriously! So letting her out is probably not a good idea!

We do let her out on a lead in the garden from time to time and she is not sad or depressed in any way. Her quality of life is good and she is in generally good health.
 
ours 2 are out during the day but would never let them out over night, We work 9-5 as well and they really don't have a problem just doing catty things whilst we are out. They meet us at the gate though when we get in cause its food time :)
 
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