If you get a cat, consider making it a house cat and don't let it go outside. Cats can pick up toxoplasmosis and bartonella (from fleas) diseases. Toxo is bad if you get pregnant one day. Bartonella is bad if you have young children around that easily get scratched. Also cats can get run over by cars, and they bring back things they kill.
Declawing is considered animal abuse in many countries, and should be in all, as it is done by cutting off the last joint in the cat's toes.
Also, you should be careful - if your house is too small, the cat might get bored. Depending on where you live, letting it out is not a good idea. Also, if you're away for a long time everyday, the cat will get lonely and stuff. And keep in mind that cats (and animals overall) need company - preferably of other animals. That's why I said you should get two cats. The cost of keeping them gets somewhat higher, but the cats will be happier
I’ve had two outdoor cats, and now I have an indoor cat that I got from a shelter. Thought I knew a lot about cat behavior after 16 years but the cat from the shelter is very different from the ones I had before. First of all she is extremely curious but is a complete klutz. I’ve seen her fall into the fish tank while trying to drink from it. She doesn’t seem to be afraid of getting her paws wet, and seems to enjoy putting dry cat food and drinking straws into the water bowl before fishing them out. Two annoying habits she has is that she likes to push things off tables including mugs and bowls, and likes to stalk you when you are not looking. I typically always have scratches on my legs or even lower back because she likes to pounce, hug and bite. She’s a friendly cat otherwise so it seems to be just play. This is kind of surprising because she’s around 7 years old now. I guess cats are like people in that they are individuals so YMMV.
statistically, indoor cats live a lot longer than outdoor kitties so you might be looking at having your cat for anywhere from 10-20yrs, depending on their health and the age they are when you get it. outdoor cats have an average lifespan of 5 years. also personalities are wide-ranging and it's kind of a guess as to what you get. the cat i have now is and Alpha and can be aggressive as hell (i trained him out of it, mostly, but he still scratches and bites when he's sick). he's also possessive and a one person kitty, always stays close and is always watching me. be prepared to lose your privacy. i can't even pee without him either pushing open the door or scraping his paws under the edge if it's closed all the way. as for litter boxes, those automated boxes work well for me and you only need to change them every couple of weeks. the amount of food depends on the cats age and weight, it should tell you how much to feed on the package. also, declawing is very painful and even cruel towards your cat, please don't do it if at all possible. training is effective.
I would say yes if you're prepared to spend hours with the cat on a daily basis.. cause feeding, playing, cleaning, grooming, etc.. Takes a lot of time. Also, you'll end up worrying about them everytime you go on a vacation or leave your house for an extended amount of time.. Also some of my dogs rather laze around in his place rather than walking outside.. so you don't need to limit yourself to only cats. Just prepare a place big enough for them to run around so they don't feel cooped up
I had a cat that died recently he was a stray. Maybe because of it my recommendation is to get a stray. Seriously stray are cheaper , hsve less diseases ( genetic diseases. .) and they are cute. Now some care recommendation : If you can brush your cat everyday. If not try at least up to 3 days. This avoid fur everywhere and fur ball and is easy and fun. The litterbox: you don't need to clean every day just once you see that it full. However cats are clean animals so if their toilet is full ...... they totally will use something else .... like a clean shirt, coat and etc. So it is in your best interest to keep their toilet clean. Scratching furniture can be a problem depending of the cat while he is young (0-7 years). However you can try a couple of easy fix: 1- cut the nails 2- if you have a furniture that you absolutely dont want scratched there are some products in pet shops that you can spray in them periodically to make the cat avoid it. 3- simply don't care. Well i hope this helps and enjoy your cat.
Ah. I didn’t know that. My grandma was the one who decided to get our cat declawed, and that was ten or so years ago, so I was too young to know.
lol, I'm not saying you should sleep with him, but having a boyfriend (one that doesnt bang you before you guys are married) would help your loneliness issues. Guys who wont date you coz you dont want to have sex is not worth the effort imo.
Strays might not have genetic diseases but you may never know what diseases you might get from them instead...
Hey! you're getting a lot of comments so IDK if you'll ever get to this one but I have a couple of things to say to you. First. Your cat is NOT a dog. I realize that you must know this already but cats are not meaner versions of dog (as my mom phrased it) If you're looking for an indoor cat I highly recommend just going to a shelter nearby and finding one (kitten or cat) that clicks with you. Most cats are supposed to stay indoors unless it's a barn cat. If you get an older cat you will NEVER have issues with litter. Meaning that they will not just stop peeing in the litter box (not that kittens always do but my mom managed to train my cat to not pee in the litter box and then retrained it into the litter box. Usually, they come litter trained). Second very important thing. (Honestly the most important one) PLEASE PLEASE do not get your cat declawed. If you have plans on doing it don't adopt or get a cat. Why? because declawing a cat isn't just ripping the nails out of the claw as you might (or might not) think it is. (what a surprise actually a torture method). A declawing is actually an amputation. It's the equivalent of cutting off the everything up to the first knuckle on every finger (and thumb) you might have. AND it causes litter problems and in the future, it can cause tuberculosis. Yeah, it's that bad. If you are worried about your furniture you can actually protect your furniture. It's not that hard and is pretty cheap. If you want your cat to stop clawing a particular piece of furniture place double sided tape on the furniture (JUST FOR ONE DAY) and place the scratching post near that piece of furniture. Despite popular opinion, cats CAN be trained. If you have further issues with cat behavior in general go to youtube and search up Jackson Galaxy and he has amazing vids on cat behavior and how to change it. (usually, it's a fix in the owner not in the cat) Finally, you asked about good indoor breeds. First, there aren't a lot of cats that MUST go outside every day. In fact, it's sorta recommended to keep them inside. Like I said NOT DOGS. They poop inside they pee inside (good litter gets rid of the bad smell) and they play and sleep inside. In case you didn't know adult cats can spend up to 16+ hrs sleeping. It's honestly enough to get envious of. You should adopt a cat from a government shelter (they are kill-shelters but just watch this you'll understand better ). The reason why I recommend this is because 1 they are cheaper and 2 they deserve a forever home. Not to say that cats that are purebred don't deserve a home but those cats do have a home and they are in HIGH demand due to their appearances. Shelter cats can be in there for YEARS in a cage smaller than an elementary schoolers cubby. The cats the breeders sell have homes (with the breeder) and even if they don't THEN they'll be put in shelters. While shelter cats, if left for too long in a shelter, WILL be killed if resources run too low. Also, I've gone through some of the comments and I've seen a lot of hate on hairless cats. Admittedly I don't like hairless cats they sorta scare me. But that doesn't mean that you can't come to love one. I'm a little disappointed to see so many people HATING hairless cats because of how they look and on top of that insulting them. I don't love them but I don't hate them and while I might avoid adopting one that doesn't mean that I won't if one of them click with me. You're gonna spend around 20 years with this cat (hopefully not less). Picking a cat is like picking someone to marry. It's a commitment AND if you marry someone you only like the face of (and not the personality or the synergy you have with them) you're doomed. I'm not saying that you have to pick a hairless cat (in fact in your case I would recommend against it seeing your insults against them is not exactly an encouraging sign of how you would treat one) but try not to rule out any breeds just because of their breed. Oh and info for when you get your cat. Toys are essential (so are scratching posts) you have to play with your cat every day for anywhere from 10-60 min depending on how high energy your cat is. If your cat isn't playing your toy is not interesting to them try to spice it up throw it hide it dangle it. My cat, for example, ignores a lot of the cat toys. But when I hide one of the teaser toys behind a wall or like between the poles in the handrail my cat goes INSANE. So yeah have fun. If you don't do it they MIGHT scratch up your furniture scratch up your feet or just extremely obese which is unhealthy (what a surprise).
If you are interested more in a lower maintenance pet, get an older cat (5+) from a humane society rather than getting a kitten. You would have to worry about bad habits possibly being already there, however, much of curtain-climbing and playing with ping-pong balls in the bathtub at midnight wouldn't happen. Also, definitely get a cat (if you get one) from a humane society type place rather than a pet store. There are always plenty of kitties needing adoption.
Don't worry, if I do get a cat, I'm not gonna plan on declawing my cat... Also, seeing as though multiple people in the thread encourage adopting from shelters, then I might as well do that if i'm looking for a cat (my mom also adopted a dog from a shelter when I was still living with them as a kid)... Also, I wasn't planning on getting an adult cat anyway. I prefer seeing kitten or puppies grow old, I don't mind training it to do its business in the litter box, that may be bothersome, but it sounds fun... I think I'm just gonna look for a non-energetic kitten, after all, I don't really have much free time cause most of it is invested in my studies, but don't worry, I still have just enough free time to tend for its basic needs and play with it for 30+ mins... Don't worry, I'm pretty picky with the people I choose... Oh... Sadly, that's illegal... The friend, who recommended me that I should get a cat, is a cat lady. She probably won't mind if I leave my Kitty cat with her when I'm away from home...