# Calling all cat people! Top tips?



## shadeofshyness (17 March 2017)

Me and OH are looking into adopting two cats from the Cats Protection or a local rescue as soon as building work on our new kitchen is complete  Thinking of two so they have company when we're not in and the local rescue seems to rehome a lot of bonded pairs. We're looking at older cats not kittens - hopefully able to take some who have been waiting longest and need a nice home with no busy road or children.

I'm picking the brains of all the cat owners I know in real life but thought I'd ask on here too. Neither of us have had cats before so want to do our research. Any tips on catflaps, food, getting them settled in, anything else we should know... much appreciated x


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## HufflyPuffly (17 March 2017)

Cats are mental.

You will never pee alone again.

You will never eat alone.

A water bowl is a useless piece of equipment (even a fancy fountain fresh water type one) as the tap and sink are the only place water is drinkable.

No piece of clothing/ fabric will ever be clear of cat hair, this might also apply to your food/bedding/furniture as well. 

They will avoid all easy clean areas and throw up grass where you sit and then cover it with your blanket.

Cat beds are for losers.

They will look you in the eye before shredding/scratching/destroying things.

They will come and sit on you, fart and then walk off.

If they sit on you, you must wait until they want to move.

They will chat to you about everything.

They will cry to go out and one minute later cry to come in.

Cats ARE mental, or is it just mine I was a first time owner too :lol:.


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## pixie27 (17 March 2017)

Eeek how exciting! When OH and I were looking to rehome a cat, so many of the rescues we went to had pairs - so it's lovely that you'll be able to take two home 

Cat flaps: we just have a standard one, nothing fancy at all! There are loads of cats in our area, and no one else has tried to come in through ours. But a friend down the road had to put a microchip scanner one in, as other cats kept coming in. She's had it for a while, but her cat still looks quite confused when it doesn't scan and he can't get in. Personally I'd worry that if mine was trying to get away from something, it might not scan and open quick enough...

Food: we used to feed Felix/Whiskas but after a 6-month long skin issue and lots of research, we realised how crap it was for him. Now he's on Encore wet food and Harrington biscuits (wheat/grain free stuff is best for our sensitive skinned long hair!). He also gets a portion of Dreamies every day. 

Settling in: well, we tried to do this by the book. We only had three rooms in our flat at the time, so didn't bother putting him in one room, but we did let him 'be' when he moved in, and didn't crowd round him or anything. We both said we'd give him lots of space, and only interact when/if he was ready. Within about 5 minutes of being out of the cat carrier, he was sat kneading on my lap in a little purring trance. We kept him in for about 6 weeks, but when we've moved it's been 4 weeks. He only had to stay in so long for vaccinations and neutering. When we let him out the first time, we let him out before breakfast (without feeding him), and went and sat in the garden while he explored. We also left shoes etc. out in the garden and in the field next to our house so he could sniff his way back if needed!

We got ours a covered cat bed, but he's never used it. Much prefers my expensive throws from Next... he's allowed in our room and sleeps on our bed. We also got him a covered cat litter tray, which is great. He barely uses it, and it's more for just in case he has to stay in - but having a covered one means we don't have to worry about cat litter etc. being on show.

I was a first time cat owner, and was a bit nervous, but ours is so easy. And Dreamies will be your new best friends! Stock up on a year's supply! Ours can be bribed to do ANYTHING with a Dreamie haha.

And don't forget to post lots of pictures when you get them!


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## ycbm (17 March 2017)

I'm a catflap buff 

If you live in an area with a lot of cats you'll need a door that only responds to a transponder on the collar or a microchip in the cat, otherwise you'll be feeding neighbourhood cats as well.

If you live in a very windy area like me, there's only one cat flap that is guaranteed to shut in a strong wind and we have to import it from America to get it, but it's worth every penny.

I would  always give a litter tray in really foul weather, otherwise you risk puddles on the carpet.

Cats can be very inventive in finding place to hide having weed the house. They will sneak behind boilers into the back of cupboards, go in shoes or on piles of washing. If you think you can smell wee, you can, you just need to find it!

Dead mice in inaccessible places dry out in a few days and the smell goes.


Some people say all cats are loners. This isn't true, I know several pairs of cats, related and unrelated,  which like to share the same bed.

Some cats like strokes, some don't. Some cats adore a back rub rather than a stroke.

For settling in, I would recommend Felleway of there is a hint of any difficulty. It worked marvelously for one of mine when we introduced a new kitten that he hated.


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## LD&S (17 March 2017)

I don't have cats but I know some are house cats and never go out though not sure if that is the cat or the owners choice.
I have read recently of a cat flap that responds to the microchip as cats and collars don't always work, hopefully some cat people will be able to provide lots of info.


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## ycbm (17 March 2017)

Alex your sounds like a Bengal.

OP, quite seriously, I would avoid Bengal or Bengal crosses as first cats, they are very demanding creatures!

Get a very deep or a covered litter tray otherwise you will have litter chucked all over the floor.

If the cat starts to throw up, freeze. If you disturb it or try to pick the cat up, you will only end up with sick distributed over a much larger area!  Wet wipes are great for clean up. Bio laundry spray does a good job with smell removal on wee and sick.


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## pixie27 (17 March 2017)

AlexHyde said:



			They will look you in the eye before shredding/scratching/destroying things.

They will come and sit on you, fart and then walk off.

If they sit on you, you must wait until they want to move.
		
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OH and don't forget that they will only come and give you a cuddle JUST at the moment you need a wee/have to go to work/need to leave - despite the fact you've been trying to tempt them over for the previous 4 hours...

Scratching posts are useless, a good sofa/chair leg will do.

Water is only acceptable if it's poured into a human drinking glass, and only if the human has poured it for themselves.

Clips of birds and squirrels on YouTube provide endless hours of fun.

You'll get many presents in the forms of: dirty tissues, long-dead animals, food wrappers, scraps of food (bread, BBQ remnants). If you're lucky, you might end up with a cat who breaks into people's flats to steal frozen chicken breasts...

Food that costs £10 a box will be left uneaten. An empty chicken breast wrapper in the bin is a great source of food.


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## ycbm (17 March 2017)

Feeding. I feed a choice of tinned or dry, ad lib. They regulate themselves and I've never had an issue. Our current female puts on weight in winter but takes it all off again come spring.

If they are fed ad lib and you want to go away for a night, all you have to do is leave them more food, instead of getting someone in to feed them.

I hope you like black or black and white. Apparently these are the hardest to rehome.


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## HufflyPuffly (17 March 2017)

ycbm said:



			Alex your sounds like a Bengal.

OP, quite seriously, I would avoid Bengal or Bengal crosses as first cats, they are very demanding creatures!
		
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Surprisingly no they are just 'normal' farm  tortoiseshell and white moggies  just very noisy demanding ones...
They were so cute at this age :lol:


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## ycbm (17 March 2017)

Awe, what a lovely pair of girls!  I've got a naughty Tortie too, they are so pretty!

My pair of 'cats are loners and only sleep together for warmth' cats. 


http://s40.photobucket.com/user/cpt..._20141125_125819_zpscw4eass9.jpg.html?filters[user]=142053578&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=9


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## MotherOfChickens (17 March 2017)

mine brought in a rabbit last night-be prepared for that!


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## Exploding Chestnuts (17 March 2017)

Agree about Feliway, just take the cats you feel will be benefit from your home, it will all be OK.
One cat poop house per cat, provide nice raw steak mince, and raw chicken wings, and rice based dry food, and plain, unchlorinated water, and some sardines in oil. tiny portions in several saucers.
Refresh the food every four hours, tiny meals, and leave them alone for about a week.
They will find loads of beds, then one day they will jump on to your duvet, and you have a new friend .
Best toy is a fishing line toy, and a tunnel, they love to run around and wake you up at 2.00 am.


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## Meowy Catkin (17 March 2017)

Lovely cats! 

I think that the main points have been covered. Definitely give them time to settle in and don't crowd them. Generally with cats it's best to let them come to you in their own time. Loud noises can upset them. Don't tiptoe around them, but try not to slam doors etc...

My boy invariably comes over to *help* if I'm doing something.  







He was probably trying to tell me that my electric fence was wonky (it was ).


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## ycbm (17 March 2017)

MotherOfChickens said:



			mine brought in a rabbit last night-be prepared for that!
		
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I'm sad to say that ours have had two larks in the last year     I've tried explaining that they are a threatened species, but they aren't listening.

Over the years we've had one adult live rabbit, many dead baby rabbits (nothing but good news, I'm afraid, rabbit holes and horse fields don't mix!), shrews and mice (alive and dead), two rats (dead), pink tiny baby mice (alive), one stoat (vicious!!!) , three moles (two alive one dead:, one dead squirrel hoping with fleas and several birds shredded too far to identify but not before they flew around putting blood on the walls. One of ours once traveled half a mile and crossed two fast roads to kill eleven ducklings around a neighbours pond. Oops.

Cats really are horrible hunters ....


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## ycbm (17 March 2017)

MotherOfChickens said:



			mine brought in a rabbit last night-be prepared for that!
		
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Or did you mean 'make sure you have the carrots, potatoes and stock pot ready  ?'


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## ycbm (17 March 2017)

Exploding Chestnuts said:



			One cat poop house per cat,
		
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I've never done this. I've always had one large deep plastic box between three cats. But I never leave it if I know they've used it. I always scoop it out.

OP, you'll have a choice between clumping and non clumping cat litter. Clumping works better if you do a spot muck-out instead of a full tray empty.


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## Exploding Chestnuts (17 March 2017)

AlexHyde said:



			Cats are mental.

You will never pee alone again.

You will never eat alone.

A water bowl is a useless piece of equipment (even a fancy fountain fresh water type one) as the tap and sink are the only place water is drinkable.

No piece of clothing/ fabric will ever be clear of cat hair, this might also apply to your food/bedding/furniture as well. 

They will avoid all easy clean areas and throw up grass where you sit and then cover it with your blanket.

Cat beds are for losers.

They will look you in the eye before shredding/scratching/destroying things.

They will come and sit on you, fart and then walk off.

If they sit on you, you must wait until they want to move.

They will chat to you about everything.

They will cry to go out and one minute later cry to come in.

Cats ARE mental, or is it just mine I was a first time owner too :lol:.
		
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No way: my cats do not fart.
They may cough up hairball, but only on the laminate, and they are a bit tricky to understand sometimes, when you are doing something important, they interrrupt you, that is what cats do.
I always make sure cat is busy if I want to pee in peace, does it matter?................ get over it.


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## Exploding Chestnuts (17 March 2017)

One poop house per cat when they arrive, kitties will be OK, I am thinking to give best case scenario for two mature newbies from rescue, normal cats will not be so much of a faff.
you do not want any pee/****, in random places.


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## HufflyPuffly (17 March 2017)

ycbm said:



			Cats really are horrible hunters ....
		
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Mine are useless, Lilly wouldn't be seen dead with anything icky , and the best thing Tiger has brought me is a very old/dead mouse and  earth worms, yep no legs mean they cannot run away :lol:.


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## MotherOfChickens (17 March 2017)

ycbm said:



			Or did you mean 'make sure you have the carrots, potatoes and stock pot ready  ?'
		
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lol-I dont mind them taking rabbits. I did have words when they got a hare though.


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## HufflyPuffly (17 March 2017)

MotherOfChickens said:



			lol-I dont mind them taking rabbits. I did have words when they got a hare though.
		
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Blooming nora :eek3: how big are your cats!


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## MotherOfChickens (17 March 2017)

AlexHyde said:



			Blooming nora :eek3: how big are your cats!
		
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actually the one that took the hare (RIP Syrio) was a good 6kg and solid muscle-it wasn't full grown but a good bit bigger than a rabbit. He used to take himself off for pigeon hunting every few weeks. My cats are all good old fashioned male farm cats. The current ginger boy is 4kg and often takes field rats. I have a tabby kitten who's dad apparently is a good ratter too-not all cats will take them.


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## HufflyPuffly (17 March 2017)

Ah mine are a dainty circa 3kg lady cats, think a rat would have them .


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## shadeofshyness (17 March 2017)

Ah this is all fantastic, thank you so much! And you all have such beautiful kitties.

Have any of you used pet sitters when you go on holiday - the people who come in twice a day or whatever to feed and check them? 

A colleague in work said catteries aren't ideal and this is a much better set up. We have no family or friends near enough to where we live for anyone to pop in, and don't really know our neighbours well enough to ask, so we'd probably go down that route. We go away quite a bit so this is my main concern - and maybe another reason to get two so if we have to keep them in with a visitor coming, they'd at least have each other.


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## HufflyPuffly (17 March 2017)

I have a friend who comes and house/cat sits for me, I'm not sure mine would like a cattery either, if/when I move away from my lovely friend I would look at a pet sitter .


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## Peregrine Falcon (17 March 2017)

We've rehomed 4 via CP.  Had two brothers as kittens, got a third as they were too anti-social.  Stayed out all hours and just came in for food, ungrateful *******.  Maisie joined them and was accepted with no trouble.

Lost both of the brothers now, so gave Pusskins a home.  She's a norty torty!!!  Mostly live mice released in the house.  Great fun with the kids, they love her to pieces.  

We have had a family of baby bunnies shrewn over the lawn.  I've always hated the idea of catteries.  Cats are very territorial so to take them out of their home I think disturbs them too much.  Pusskins was very stressed in there when we went to view her.  We are very lucky that our neighbours are happy to look after ours when we are away.  I'd use a cat sitting service if we didn't have friends nearby that would oblige otherwise.  

Please make sure that you post lots of pics once you get said cats.  











*sneaks off to find box and courier.  Faracat, I will get him this time! *


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## ycbm (17 March 2017)

I used to put them in catteries before we had the horses at home. I didn't like it. I called it putting them in prison!


I need a new house/horse sitter. If anyone likes being out in the country and isolated, let me know. Peak Park, western edge, absolutely beautiful.


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## LovesCobs (17 March 2017)

mine dont bring me rabbits they eat them in full view and leave the bits they dont want for the dogs 
mice they give me, they mustn't be as tasty ...


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## Lacuna (17 March 2017)

quite seriously - it is well worth investingin a chip-reading cat flap like Pet Porte (the one we have). 

It scans the microchip of a cat attempting to access the flap and will audibly click when it unlocked - they soon learn how it works.

We had serious problems years ago with an old cat that got majorly stressed when a neighbourhood tom kept coming into the house, the new flap meant that ours could feel secure indoors and escape the harassing ******. Used it for all my cats since .


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## ycbm (17 March 2017)

LovesCobs said:



			mine dont bring me rabbits they eat them in full view and leave the bits they dont want for the dogs 
mice they give me, they mustn't be as tasty ...
		
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What IS that bit they never eat?? Looks like a stomach, but why do they leave it?

PS just picked up half a mouse from the carpet, back end.


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## Meowy Catkin (17 March 2017)

Gall bladder?


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## ycbm (17 March 2017)

Ah, that would be bitter, wouldn't it? Good thought.


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## Spottyappy (17 March 2017)

ycbm said:



			What IS that bit they never eat?? Looks like a stomach, but why do they leave it?

PS just picked up half a mouse from the carpet, back end.
		
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Was always told it was the gizzard that is unpalatable.
One of mine did a great act of bringing home a rabbit while we were outside having a BBQ. Proceeded to munch it vigorously in front of us, then spat the gizzard out just as my late mil arrived. Right at her feet!


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## duckling (19 March 2017)

shadeofshyness said:



			Ah this is all fantastic, thank you so much! And you all have such beautiful kitties.

Have any of you used pet sitters when you go on holiday - the people who come in twice a day or whatever to feed and check them? 

A colleague in work said catteries aren't ideal and this is a much better set up. We have no family or friends near enough to where we live for anyone to pop in, and don't really know our neighbours well enough to ask, so we'd probably go down that route. We go away quite a bit so this is my main concern - and maybe another reason to get two so if we have to keep them in with a visitor coming, they'd at least have each other.
		
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Good choice in getting 2 together! My 2 are brothers, got them as kittens, and they're best pals.

Mine definitely can't be fed ad lib, they're greedy and pile on the pounds, so I weigh out their recommended food allowance and they get that (mix of dry and wet, James Wellbeloved). 

We use a microchip cat flap, works brilliantly, and I shut them in at night. 

I have a cat sitter - she comes in twice a day when I'm away and is a star, I can text her at really late notice if I find I'm stuck with work and she'll always be there! I pay £7 a visit. She'll do food, water, litter tray and shut or open cat flap depending on the time of day. She's also cleaned up a few presents! 

That said, I do use a Cattery when I'm away for longer stints, like over a week. I looked round a few and picked one with large modern pens that allow the cats a run round the corridor, one pen at a time, to stretch their legs and have a play. My boys always come back looking happy and healthy.


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## Clodagh (19 March 2017)

Spottyappy said:



			Was always told it was the gizzard that is unpalatable.
One of mine did a great act of bringing home a rabbit while we were outside having a BBQ. Proceeded to munch it vigorously in front of us, then spat the gizzard out just as my late mil arrived. Right at her feet!
		
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I think it is only birds that have gizzards, so mice probably gall bladder.


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## Destario (19 March 2017)

Microchip catflap are a must. 

Good quality food. Look at ingredients and % breakdown. I use a mix of dry iams and wet forthglade. 

Cat bed wise, some use them some don't. Handy one I have is a collapsible igloo, so it can be igloo or normal bed. One cat loved the igloo set up, one loved the normal bed set up. 

Cats are wonderful. A neighbour feeds ours when away. But they have free access to house and outdoors so it's just feeding them.


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## ycbm (19 March 2017)

Clodagh said:



			I think it is only birds that have gizzards, so mice probably gall bladder.
		
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I've been researching!  The commonest view is that is the caecum, the first part of the intestine, that's full of bugs to break down the fibre. 

Whatever, I find them everywhere in various states of mummification. The drier, the better, for me!


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## Clodagh (19 March 2017)

ycbm said:



			I've been researching!  The commonest view is that is the caecum, the first part of the intestine, that's full of bugs to break down the fibre. 

Whatever, I find them everywhere in various states of mummification. The drier, the better, for me!
		
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You need a labrador. Ours eat the bits of rabbits even the fox leaves.


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## Umbongo (19 March 2017)

Definitely look into the microchip cat flaps.
If you are having a litter tray inside then have 1 each.
Most cats love cardboard boxes....I don't bother with actual cat beds anymore.
Get a scratching post.

This is a great website: 

https://icatcare.org/advice

My cat is basically a small dog, follows me everywhere. Wouldn't be without him!


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## HashRouge (19 March 2017)

I love cats!

We have a microchip cat flap too - before that we used to get the neighbour's cats in all the time, which our little female hated. Our female is a dreadful hunter, never catches anything, but our male cat is pretty good. Fortunately he is slowing down a bit now as he's getting on a bit. There were a few years where we got used to finding dead and/ or live animals in the house fairly frequently. There have been some memorable animal rescues carried out in our house before now! I've encountered a young rabbit hiding in the shoe rack, a starling sitting on the kitchen work surface looking very pissed off, and an absolutely beautiful harvest mouse taking refuge behind the fire guard. We also had a vole of some kind living in our kitchen for some time because the cat brought it in, let go and then we couldn't find it. No idea what happened to it in the end!

As other people have said, don't bother with cat beds. They like cardboard boxes, preferably lined with newspaper, but will happily sleep almost anywhere. We tend to give them those fruit and veg boxes you get from greengrocers. They are a great size and a bit more robust than a shoe box! If you have cushions on your kitchen/ dining room chairs, get used to vacuuming them before you have visitors as they make great cat beds!

Our male cat gets abscesses on his face fairly frequently. If you have a confrontational sort of cat it's something to look out for. They often look like ordinary cuts at first and scab over, but then burst spectacularly after a day or two. Apparently it's often caused by a claw getting stuck in the skin after a fight. They look absolutely gross while they're healing - I've got a picture of our cat looking like an extra in the Walking Dead as half his face is missing! But they heal up fine and you can't tell after.


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## ycbm (19 March 2017)

Clodagh said:



			You need a labrador. Ours eat the bits of rabbits even the fox leaves.
		
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I really didn't need that picture in my head thank you 

Best description I ever read of a Labrador - 'a life support system for a stomach'.


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## shadeofshyness (20 March 2017)

Thank you so much, cat HHOers! I'm loving all this info. Less so the intestines part...

A pet sitter sounds like the way to go for when we're away. We go away about every 3 months, usually for 3-5 nights. We have a 2-week holiday once a year too which would obviously be more disruptive for the cats and more reliant on the sitter! Is it normally once or twice a day you'd need the sitter to come in? I know my mum feeds a neighbour's cat when they're away but it's only once a day.

We will definitely be getting a microchip cat flap. We have two back doors - one goes through into our utility room which isn't a proper room then the second goes into the garden... so might need to get two... is this a thing? Or can you put them in the wall? Also the doors are all glass, I'm guessing you can't just pop a hole in so we'll need the entire sheet replacing? Sorry for the daft questions.

Are there any brands of food you recommend? I'm guessing a lot of them are rubbish much like commercial dog foods?

@Umbongo - what a handsome kitty!


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## ycbm (20 March 2017)

You can put a cat flap in a single pane of glass (OH did, once)  but not, I think, in double glazing.

We have one through a wall. The wall is so thick that we have a cat flap on each end of the tunnel!


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## SEL (20 March 2017)

My parents have one in a double glazed door - think it required specialist fitting.

When we moved to the current house we got a microchip cat flap because I was worried about my little girl cat getting bullied. It turns out she is In Charge of the road and every other feline scarpers when she's around. She was a stray who turned up in my garden so she's tougher than she looks I think!

We've also had to get used to being brought mice to play with in this house. Never had it in the old house, but this one comes with a hedge and that appears to be good hunting territory. I got a text at work from the OH asking how to go about catching a live mouse that was under the sofa. I think the cat thought they'd had a great day playing together because every time he worked from home he got a present. We now have mouse traps (the ones that catch & don't kill - he's squeamish!).


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## Ormsweird (20 March 2017)

We have a cat flap in our french doors and got a glazing firm in to come, take the door away, fit the flap and put it all back up again. Works very well! But yes, cat flaps can go up in most situations. 

Food wise? My bunch of prima donnas turn their noses up at anything but Felix. No matter if it costs more, it must be felix! But we do at least convince them to Royal Canin for bikkits. Norwegian forest cat ones in our case, as that's what the boys are. Oldie has high protein, no carbs bikkits as she's had odd bouts of pancreatitis. 

Ours like water fountains, so with four cats we maintain two of those. And three super large litter trays.


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## MotherOfChickens (20 March 2017)

mine get felix/whiskas pouches plus a bit of the RAW minces the dogs have-plus the odd raw egg or pilchard or chickens foot. I've never had a cat turn their nose up at anything I've given them. No dry food although they sometimes get Dreamies as a treat/bribery! we have a bog standard cat flap-one in the utility room and one into the hay shed-we've no other cats near but I treat with Advantage monthly for fleas and worm every other month in the summer as they hunt so much. They have two boxes with fleece blankets in and a wide radiator bed each.
 I have a house sitter as we have loads of other animals to look after as well. No litter trays unless we have a big storm come in the winter.


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## duckling (20 March 2017)

Our cat flap is in a double glazed french door - I bought the cat flap and called the glazing company who came out to measure the door and check what height to put the hole, then cut a new pane in their workshop and brought it round to fit. They helped me fit the cat flap in it too - depending on how far apart the 2 panes are, you might need a tunnel extender. Still got the intact pane in the garage in case we ever want to remove cat flap.

Food - I like James Wellbeloved, it's grain free and my 2 never smell unlike most cats I know who get fed cheaper stuff, definitely a price worth paying!


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## ycbm (20 March 2017)

Mine get Tesco own brand,  and their cheapest kibble that they adore.

I haven't paid a vet bill for anything except neutering and PTS for ten years or more. I keep three cats and in twenty five years have had one uti in a young male, one weepy eye in a kitten that had flu before she came to me, and one toxoplasmosis, which is just a risk you can't avoid in farm cats that hunt.  So I think they've been pretty healthy on a low cost diet. I feed ad lib and they regulate themselves.


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## Crazy_cat_lady (20 March 2017)

You will soon learn that the cat is in charge of the house and you are it's slave there to tend it's every request!

Absolutely love cats and couldn't not have cats. Really not a dog person at all I find cats have so much more personality. 

Ours have applawse wet food in the morning and evening it has a really good natural percentage. They also have ad lib renal food as the older girl has kidney disease but the vet has said it's also fine for the Ragdoll to eat as well he loves it which brings me on to my next point- one day a flavour of food will be absolutely the best thing ever. The next day he especially will dig at the floor next to it and refuse to eat it as it is clearly s*** that is there to poison him. Yet the next day it will be back to being wonderful. Yet when we had a hedgehog visit and gave it Felix he would scream for it as apparently cheap food is better than posh food.

The best cat toys are ones they find themselves. His favourite is a piece of plastic outer wire that he found when we had the old bath taken out. Older girl found one of my old playmobil horse buckets and would carry it around. Yet they won't even look at the expensive cat specific toys. Though the Ragdoll loves his tunnel and "wiffle" (a feathery thing on a stick)

You will quickly become accustomed to the sound of cat sick and it is usually also found when you come home on the bed or you will hear it at night and proceed to tread in it the next morning. 

We just have the one "potty" but it's a big one. It is skipped out each time poop is seen in it. We have catsan litter which they love to kick all over the house but it definitely has less smell than other brands. 

As people say you will never pee alone. Mine also likes to watch me in the bath. 

They will finally sit on your lap right as tea is ready or you need a wee!

They like to wake you up at their time usually about 4am

It is very true what they say that cats come running for dreamies! Ours have a portion each night.

Depending on the cat furniture is a far better scratching post than a proper expensive cat scratcher especially if you are a Ragdoll despite knowing it's very naughty.  Yet older girl won't touch the furniture and loves her post. My parents now have a designer bed crafted by loving Ragdoll feet!

Ours are allowed on the bed. You can forget cat beds! 

One thing lillies are highly poisonous to cats even just the pollen oh never knew this despite his family having cats at ours we don't even have them in the house as both ours counter surf even though they know it's not allowed so far too much risk 



Definitely need photos of them when you get them &#128522;


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## HashRouge (20 March 2017)

Crazy_cat_lady said:



			Ours are allowed on the bed. You can forget cat beds!
		
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Mine's allowed in the bed 

I know people say cats aren't affectionate, but our male cat gives the best "cuddles" ever! He will put a paw on either side of your neck and snuggle his nose under your chin, and then purr and purr and purr. Love that cat!


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## Northern (30 March 2017)

ycbm said:



			I used to put them in catteries before we had the horses at home. I didn't like it. I called it putting them in prison!


I need a new house/horse sitter. If anyone likes being out in the country and isolated, let me know. Peak Park, western edge, absolutely beautiful.
		
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I do a heap of house sitting and would LOVE this! Alas I am on the other side of the world...


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## Northern (30 March 2017)

Great decision getting cats! The only thing better than a cat, is more than one!

My two are now 13 years old, we got them as 8 week old kittens from the local shelter. Be aware that sometimes the two may not get along (as in my case), after about 3 years they had a "falling out" and now just tolerate each other. It doesn't cause a problem 99% of the time, they just avoid each other. 

They really do rule the household. They like to sleep wherever the want to, whether under the bed, on the bed or on a freshly washed human blanket. Mine are fed ad lib dry food (I use the dental Royal Canin food, but it did take a good few years to find the right type for them), they are also fed fresh meat mince at night.

They are both outside cats and are usually too lazy for serious hunting, though we do get the odd mouse after a rainstorm. My female (who is the smarter one) figured out our cat flap pretty quickly (+ live mice  ), but my male really doesn't like using it and will go to great lengths to avoid it. To be fair, it's a pretty heavy one and really hurts when they get their tail caught! For this reason I would be choosing the flap pretty carefully, making sure it won't do too much damage to them if they accidentally get caught.

I work at a cattery and in general the cats do very well in there. Even the shyest cats come around eventually! If you go down the cattery path, do go and view and visit potential catteries and ask questions such as how often they are cleaned/fed and what they are fed. Some catteries have a basic range of food only, so you may need to bring your own food for the duration of the stay. Most will also allow you to bring the cats own beds and bedding, this helps keep the calmer in a strange place. I house sit a lot, and if you can find someone you can trust and who is reliable, that would be preferable to the cattery.

Pictures!

Roccy







Kandis


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## ycbm (30 March 2017)

Roccy odd the spot of my Bobby, including the behaviour!


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## SEL (30 March 2017)

Mine is fluff with claws.


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## Tyssandi (30 March 2017)

shadeofshyness said:



			Me and OH are looking into adopting two cats from the Cats Protection or a local rescue as soon as building work on our new kitchen is complete  Thinking of two so they have company when we're not in and the local rescue seems to rehome a lot of bonded pairs. We're looking at older cats not kittens - hopefully able to take some who have been waiting longest and need a nice home with no busy road or children.

I'm picking the brains of all the cat owners I know in real life but thought I'd ask on here too. Neither of us have had cats before so want to do our research. Any tips on catflaps, food, getting them settled in, anything else we should know... much appreciated x
		
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Make sure you have two litter trays one for each cat, make sure you know what your going to do when you go away as they will ask you..  Will you get someone in or will you board them, you will need to keep them in the house for tree weeks so  make plans what to do with the litter waste.

Where will they sleep at night, what vets will you use,  you will get 4 weeks insurance and after that  it is up to you who you insure with if you go down that route.

leave them alone for the first week or so till they start venturing out round the house of their own accord.   Make sure your fencing is high enough  and secure enough if neighbours have dogs.

They will ask you alot of questions in the form you need to fill in and email back to the local branch. Fill that form in so the CP can asses the area and business of the roads etc.


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## ycbm (30 March 2017)

I've always had multiple cats, never had more than one large litter tray if the cat flap has to be closed for some reason or if the weather is exceptionally bad. I've never had a problem , but this may be because I muck it out every time I see that it has been used.


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## sandi_84 (31 March 2017)

For my tuppence worth I read a lot about cats before getting my little girl and was fully prepared to leave her in her own room (with visits!) for a week or two until she had settled but as soon as we got her home she just wanted to be with us. So the rule book went out the window and she had the run of the house pretty much from day one. She was already litter trained mind you! 

She's an odd little thing though, she likes a proper belly rub, foot massages and getting right in her ears for a rub - only by OH for this though my fingernails are too scratchy! She climbs me and perches on my shoulder whenever I am doing something interesting... like the dishes or trying to leave the house ha ha! She likes to climb anything be it the curtains, wall hangings or just the door frame which she can hang on to halfway up! She does this when I leave the house at the door to the hall too, it has a big glass window and she can do pull ups where the wood meets the glass and gives you the puss in boots style big sad eyes that you are leaving her  She's due for being spayed soon so she'll be going into the big wide world soon!


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## Britestar (31 March 2017)

I have 7 :/

No cat flap - its far much more fun running to open the doors for them. in out, in out ad ifinitum!

 The pretty much eat anything, including dog and horse food. I but the Asda own wet food, and Go cat in 10kg bags. They get munchies at breakfast, wet food at supper time and a few munchies at 11pm when I come in from horses.

They are banned from lounge and dining room during the day. They used to be banned from bedrooms too, but that's gone by the wayside. 

One leaves home regularly and goes to a farm up the road. I don't know why, but after 3-4 days I go up and fetch her, she jumps in the car and then stays home for 3-4 day then goes off again. Its a routine now.

We get a variety of corpses and occasional live one I the house. 

I love them to bits, even though they have trashed my furniture, carpet and wall paper.


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## Tyssandi (1 April 2017)

ycbm said:



			I've always had multiple cats, never had more than one large litter tray if the cat flap has to be closed for some reason or if the weather is exceptionally bad. I've never had a problem , but this may be because I muck it out every time I see that it has been used.
		
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You must have got lucky then, sometimes even if you clean it out, the smell of one cat can and does put another off using it.   


With cats Protection you have two have to trays one for each cat, as sometimes cats wont use a tray if other cats use it so pee elsewhere in the house. Jackson Galaxy proved this point many times in his programes and You Tube clips.



I do Home checks and this is one thing we insist on,  Just like some cats only like one type of litter or type of litter tray. We found that in our household in the past So put two out and each cat uses their own


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## ycbm (1 April 2017)

Lucky for thirty years with ten different cats in fifteen different combinations?


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## HashRouge (1 April 2017)

ycbm said:



			Lucky for thirty years with ten different cats in fifteen different combinations?
		
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We've never had multiple trays either, and our cats tolerate each other rather than actually liking each other! Our litter tray only ever comes out if one of the cats has to be confined to the house for a period of time. Usually it's the big cat with an abscess or something like that. He resents having to use the tray and hates being confined to the house, but the little cat loves it and is always furious when the litter tray is taken away and she has to go outside again! They've never had a problem using the same tray.

Even if you have two trays, how do you stop one cat using both trays? I don't necessarily see that it would solve the problem.


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## rara007 (1 April 2017)

CPLs professional behaviourist recommends the number of cats +1. For the sake of a tray even if they don't use it I'd follow this line  it's an easy box to tick.


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## Sussexbythesea (2 April 2017)

I used two trays for my elderly cats to stop accidents - that worked really well. They had an upstairs and downstairs loo! One of them always used the upstairs one. 

I've got two boys a year old now they had two trays to start and they definitely had a preference but they never use their tray now unless they're shut in for some reason they prefer to go outside. If you're out all day then if one has done a big stinky poo at least there is an alternative  

I wish mine would eat anything! The skinny ginger is very fussy but the black one is a bit of a fat pudding. I was determined to not go down the pouches route and steadfastly gave them tinned. They wouldn't touch Felix, they ate Whiskas for about 4 months then totally refused to contemplate it at all. Now they're on Felix AGAIL pouches range as they won't eat anything else! 

I've discovered they don't like Lily or her kitchen even the one who is a greedy git wouldn't touch it. I don't like just feeding dry as I think it can cause urinary tract issues.


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## Northern (3 April 2017)

ycbm said:



			Roccy odd the spot of my Bobby, including the behaviour!
		
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He can be the biggest smoocher in the world! There are a couple of Roccy doubles here too! When we adopted him, he was one of 8 little identical male clones from his litter


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## wispagold (3 April 2017)

I have 2 cats which are meant to be brother and sister but they couldn't be more different! 

One is a proper hunter, he probably averages 1 dead/ half dead thing a day through the summer. We have had to start shutting him in just the kitchen over night and when we are out as my husband is not a fan of finding decomposing rodents all over the house! They tend to run under heavy pieces of furniture and then die! The other one loves carrying toy mice round the house but wouldn't have a clue what to do with a real one. I have watched a live mouse walk right round her and she didn't even notice!

I would suggest getting your cats insured. I didn't bother to start with but found my male cat one morning trying to pee in various different places and ended up rushing him to the vets. his urethra had gone into spasm - that was a hefty £500 to sort out. Now they are both insured and last year the female was diagnosed with a heart murmur and is now on an ACE inhibitor. I use to feed them James Wellbeloved dry food but now I use Royal Canin Urinary S/O LP 34 as suggested by my vets - ad lib. Plus a small amount of Whiskers pouches as bribe to get Dobby to eat her tablets!

Very friendly, cuddly cats - one does like to watch people showering. They have a cat water fountain but insist on drinking out of the kitchen tap. One has a habit of scratching all wooden furniture, doors, door frames etc. the other attacks carpet. I would suggest living in an entirely tiled house with plastic furniture!

We are going to NZ for 3 weeks this November if anyone can recommend a cat sitter in Staffordshire!


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## Buddy'sMum (4 April 2017)

kaufen said:



			Are there any brands of food you recommend?
		
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Science Plan kibble. I remember thinking "HOW MUCH????" the first time I bought it but a bag lasts forever so it works out much cheaper than wet food. And it's much better for their teeth (which is why we swapped our cat over).


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## horselady (4 April 2017)

Leave the cats in the carrier when you get them home but don't actively take them out. Put said carrier in the room where they will be sleeping. Do not try and cuddle, hold, stroke or call them the first day just let them settle in. If they come up to you let them get used to you and stay quite still. hooded basket type beds work best for cats and ask if you can have a piece of their original bedding to put in their new bed.


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## horselady (4 April 2017)

kaufen said:



			Are there any brands of food you recommend?
		
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Supa cat.


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## ycbm (4 April 2017)

I fed wet and dry ad lib and they eat both. Cats without kibble do have stinky breath, I've found.

I don't think I'd recommend it as such, but I fed Tesco tins and Tesco Value kibble. They prefer the value kibble to Go Cat or the more expensive own brands.


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## Destario (5 April 2017)

Mine have wet and dry ad lib. Iams senior kibble and forthglade cat pate stuff. Cat loves it but is a picker and getting on a bit so he always has food to nibble if he fancies. Even when we had multiple cats they had ad lib wet and dry.


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## Supertrooper (22 April 2017)

AlexHyde said:



			Cats are mental.

You will never pee alone again.

You will never eat alone.

A water bowl is a useless piece of equipment (even a fancy fountain fresh water type one) as the tap and sink are the only place water is drinkable.

No piece of clothing/ fabric will ever be clear of cat hair, this might also apply to your food/bedding/furniture as well. 

They will avoid all easy clean areas and throw up grass where you sit and then cover it with your blanket.

Cat beds are for losers.

They will look you in the eye before shredding/scratching/destroying things.

They will come and sit on you, fart and then walk off.

If they sit on you, you must wait until they want to move.

They will chat to you about everything.

They will cry to go out and one minute later cry to come in.

Cats ARE mental, or is it just mine I was a first time owner too :lol:.
		
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This!!!! I thought I knew cats being a vet nurse, being a slave to one is very different sometimes you will just need to leave the house for no reason to save your sanity. They are bonkers &#128514;&#10084;&#65039; Good luck!!


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## hackneylass2 (23 April 2017)

Great advice already, but I would say that number of litter trays is trial and error, whenI had 6 indoor only  cats I had 2 litter trays and all was well. Lots of scooping and emptying (I prefer wood pellets) but no accidents. Luckily I worked from home so no 8 hours of stinkiness for them.
As for food, mine always have got sick of one brand after being fed it fo a while so ring the changes.  Mine preferred the 'supermeat' type wet food over chunks.  Butchers brand was good but its hard to find their non chunk brand now and they are in a Coshida chunks stage at the mo, cheap from Lidl!  Dreamies are an essential for bribery...we have a Siamese who will not go to bed and hides in unaccessible places as soon as we even think about retiring. Dreamies are the only thing to get him available for his nightly combing.  Great advice about freezing if cat is honking. Alex has pretty much summed it all up too.  Good luck with your kitties.


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