I was just like you, convinced I was a dog person who was simply to lazy to have a dog. Turns out I'm a cat person who just never had a cat. Now we have two adorable ginger kitties. I recommend a ginger and white tabby cat. Obviously.
You know that stray aren't necessarily wild/street cats. Strays are the mixed races and can be foun in shelters and pet shops
Ok, this is my basic advise as an owner of 5 lovely cats. Raising a cat is not a hard job if you know the right tricks. It's not cost a lot of money if you raise it well from the start. Which mean you don't need to think about expensive vet cost, multivitamins, or whatever. But 1st IMPORTANT step before you decide to raise a cat indoor, you should research how to renovate a little bit of your house space so your cat can live comfortably and do their favorite activities. IF the environment not suitable for the cat, then you gonna face a lot... of problems. When a cat start feelings depression, they tend to sick, do anything that might test your patient like peeing, scratching, etc. Cats' natures are, they like to climbing, running, jumping, playing, etc. Just imagine yourself in a prison. You can see the outside a little, but you are lock inside. How do you feel? Depressed? That's how an indoor cat will feel if you just prepare a litter box, a comfortable basket to sleep and unhealthy commercial foods. Talking about foods, if you want to feed a cat with milk, never give cows milk. Get a can, pure of powder goat milk. Cat really appreciated it if you give them a warm, wet foods than the dry one. Commercial foods are expensive, unhealthy and they like to add salt. READ the list of ingredients on the label. You MUST remember SALT is cat worst enemy. Salt can damage the cat kidneys, make them shed their furs a lot, deteriorating their health, etc. Make your own cat food mix. It's not hard at all. Just imitate their favorite food, mouse or birds. A complete, balance diet for them. When a cat eat a mouse, they will eat everything including the bones, heart and liver. You must have a food processor. Buy chicken thighs with bones because you need to grind the bones finely. The bones is rich with calcium that is very important for the cat. The liver (chicken liver or cow liver), red meat (for example: cow meat) should be roughly chop. Never grind them to paste inside the food processor. Search foods that rich with taurine. Very, very important! It's important to know if you cook the cat foods, the high heat will destroy the taurine. Serve clean, raw food only. Lack of taurine, a disaster will come to the cat. Buy unrefined, cold pressed virgin coconut oil. It's very good for your cat health. Feed the cat a teaspoon (5ml) of coconut oil. Some cat like to lick it directly. Some cat hate it. If your cat don't like to lick it, mix it in the food or feed it directly to their mouth. For the 1st time, some cat will have a different body reaction when consume the virgin coconut oil. Some cat might have a fever and some not. If your cat have a fever and lose their appetite, don't worry. Make sure you feed the cat with fish broth to prevent dehydration. To make the broth, put a fish in a small pot. Add water just enough to cover the fish. Let it simmer until the broth left half from the original quantity. Cool it down and serve warm to the cat. (The right temperature is like human body temperature.) One of my cat have a fever and not eating for 2 days. Anyway I found out the problem is, she got worms in her stomach. The feces contains dead worms. Arghhh.... It's so disgusting. Rules to feed the cat of virgin coconut oil for killing the unwanted worms: 3 consecutive days, 1 teaspoon (5ml) in the morning and 1 teaspoon in the afternoon. Remember, 3 days!! If your cat have worms, it will kill the worms and flush out with their feces. If your cat healthy and have no worms, then just be happy. On 2nd, 3rd and 4th week, feed the virgin coconut oil ONCE a week. For example, in Monday morning, give the cat a teaspoon of the oil. At the afternoon, no need to feed the coconut oil. And on 3rd and 4th week, do the same. Then you can stop give the cat the coconut oil. Repeat every 6 months. The virgin coconut oil works wonder to me. When I saw my cat have a fever, flu, and keep sneezing, I will feed them the virgin coconut oil for 3 consecutive days. Then my cats will be healthy again. Honestly, I never send my cats to see the vets. They are healthy and have shiny coat. The conclusion is, good diets and environment = healthy and happy cat. If you think you can't play with the cat 1/2 hour daily or cuddle them, cannot provide healthy foods and suitable environment for the cat, PLEASE..... never adopt a cat.
I think you should try raising either a bunny or a hamster first since having a cat is much harder for a first timer o.o
I’ve had a hamster and two rabbits in the past, and I’ve never felt that they had the same level of interaction with me as cats and dogs. I pretty much just fed them and cleaned up after them. With the cats that I’ve had I have always felt that they were happy to see me. One of my outdoor cats used to shadow me darting from bush to bush when I walked around the neighborhood. When I called out to him at dusk, he would come running. I would call “Mao~”, and he would be like “Miao!” Almost like saying “I am here!” We would repeat this back and forth until he reached the door. The funny thing is that once inside the house he would completely ignore me when I called out to him. I assume he was thinking “What are you? An idiot? I’m right here.”
I know that cats can't compare to having a rabbit ..what I was saying was their responsibility is lesser ...so if you don't know if taking care of a pet is for you or not then it's better to start with something easier to deal with first
I recommend it, but try to get one that's still young so that it grows up to love you and want to snuggle and cuddle to an extent (as long as you're not mean) instead of stereotypical indifference that is expected by people who have never had a cat. Not that older cats are unable to grow to love their owner, but its always faster and easier when they're young...
It sure is~ I mean~ People say that cats are individualistic animals~ But that is not true~ I have 2 cats right now (used to have another one but he died >_<) And they always come to sleep together with me~ And like to spend time with me~ You can even play with them using any thread you have XD So you don't need to spend lots of money with toys and such~ Also unlike dogs, cats almost doesn't give any work~ All you have to do is to give them food, water and once per day remove the dirty Sandy from their boxes. Cats are really hygienic animals, they rarely get bad smells, so you don't have to give them bath many times. They are usually silent so you don't need to worry about them making too much noise to your neighbors, but they may start to meowing if they aren't castrated or other cats come to your roof. In general they are a good company which doesn't give much work, and you can also spending some quality time with them since they are really fun and interesting to play with~ As bad points to them is that they will start to scratch things, but you can avoid having too much damage on your furniture if you pay attention to where they are usually scratching and place an scratcher there, because they will give priority to it. They like and will get on top of almost every they can, but if you teach them since they are kitties that they should not get on top of certain places they will not do it (example: my 2 cats don't get on top of my kitchen's table no matter what) They will throw things from the top of your furniture, and well to be since you will probably laugh a lot because of that XD And it's not as bad because when they grow older they normally stop doing it. And also they may get sad if you don't give them attention for a long time, as they like to play... For this reason I would recommend to get 2 kitties instead of 1. At first it may appear that it will give more work than having only 1 but it's actually the other way around. If you have only 1 he will go after you all the time because he is lonely, so if you have 2 they will play with one another and will not get as lonely. (Besides it's really funny to see them running after each other) and the work itself doesn't increase much beside the fact that you will have to remove the dirty Sandy of 1-2 more boxes when you will go do it.
Well, I think I'm gonna get a cat sooner or later; the people here have been quite persuasive regarding the advantages of having a cat... Also, I'm still gonna buy a few toys such as cat scratchers and the likes, in case my he/she gets bored when I'm not around or if I'm busy doing things... 2 cats? Hmmm... I'm gonna see if I can handle that, but I'm not too optimistic if I can handle two... But I guess it won't hurt to try?... I don't really need to worry about the cat if it starts taking my things; I usually place books, pens, and other small materials inside of glass encased cabinets, so no harm done. And I don't really care if it hops on top of things, I don't have much things it can hop on to of anyways... Also, I doubt it'll go on the apartment's top floor just to check if there are other cats on the roof... All in all, I think getting a cat's a good idea... Ps: condolence to your kitty cat... Edit: oh yeah, how frequent do I have to take him/her outside?...
Thanks~ But don't worry~ it has already been some years since he passed on~ ^^) Well as I said 2 don't give much more work than only 1 since what you have to do basically doesn't change. They are pretty cozy and fun to have around, I am pretty sure you will like ^^ Cats are being with habits, and giving sometime they will adapt to your routine. They will sleep on the time you are out and wake up when you arrive, and probably go to your bed when you go sleep (even if they will wake up again 30 minutes after that to go play XD). It's funny cause sometimes when it's holiday and decide to sleep more than I am used to, they try to wake me up because I am late for work XD *Laughs* They like windows and anything that gives them vision to the outside but that doesn't mean that they specifically want to go out. Also you need to take care because they get used to things fast and will probably start asking for things if they get used to it. (For example once when my sis stayed at my home for 15 days, she used to buy those snacks for cats, and give it for my cats everyday. And when she left they started to ask (meowning) everyday for it exactly on the same time my sis used to give it to them, and it was an headache till I manage to make them forgive about it. So take care to not created an habit on them which you don't want them to have) Also there is no need to buy beds for them like ppl like to buy for dogs, since cats like to change where they sleep. Mine for example choose an different place to sleep every week. Unlike ppl say cats doesn't particularly dislike water, some even like to take bath and will take any opportunity they have to enter below the shower and such things... My brother's cat learned that lowering the lever would open the bathroom's tap, so he loved to open the tap and sit below it XD My brother had to change the type of lever of the tap because of it XD They are pretty curious and smart animals and being sincere if you don't take them outside most of them also won't want to go out so you don't need to worry about having to take them out. But if you want them to wear something like collars or clothes you need to make them get used to it since they are small, because when they are adults some of them won't accept use it, and if you try to force them, they will probably hurt themselves trying to remove the collar...
Oh, there are HUGE windows in my place, so I guess I won't have a problem with it not getting enough fresh air and sunlight... Do you just place the Kitty on bathtub to wash it there? I checked some washing tutorials yesterday, that's how they did it. Also, how frequent do you need to brush him/her?... I think I'm just gonna give a cat a simple collar with his/her name on it ,that should be good enough... Thanks for the info...
You said in a earlier post that you live in the top floor. So a WARNING take care with open windows. The cat may jump after a bird or a insect. I dont need to say about the consequences of that..... So if you can afford you should think to install safety nets in your windows . If you cant try to only open windows when you are in the room to avoid accidents and close all windows before you leave. I say all because there was a really tiny window in my bathroom and one day i found my cat in the other side of it. I was scared to death.
My cat likes to climb on the window screens, and they don’t hold up so well against her 13lbs. She also likes to push them out so I try to only leave a sliver of the screen exposed.
That depends on who is hired to do the job. My 8kg - 18lbs +- cat did the same but the safety nets withstood for 15 years...