Advice on kitty proofing house..

Re: Advice on kitty proofing house..

The most obvious thing would be to also have them declawed because your beloved speaker grills, curtains, furniture legs, or anything hanging is going to get scratched all to hell. Get used to the smell of cat urine as well, i've never owned inside cats but know people who do.

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I'm not really sure you have to worry about them choking on small objects. I've never heard of a kitten choking on anything, that seems limited to children and turkeys.

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I've had a lot of cats, and never has choking on small items been a problem. I think the Animal ER show was going for the sensationalist angle. Now they do eat plants and throw the stuff back up.

All of them will claw to some degree (to stretch maybe?); but the problem comes in when they destructively claw things. Having them declawed is pretty cruel. It involves cutting off the bone; the same as cutting off the ends of your fingers so your nails won't grow.

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I've only had one cat, but everything I read said that as long as the cat is trained to use a scratching post it won't go for other things in the house. My experience supports this, but what my cat would often do is chew on things. This includes speaker cables, plants, etc. Not sure of the remedy for that.

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Get them declawed. It is utter nonsense when people claim it is cruel. All of my cats have been declawed with absolutely ZERO problems. Animals adapt better than humans. and cats are much more fun to play with when you have no fear of claws digging into your skin

What i find sort of cruel are cats who are allowed outside. Too many end up hit by vehicles, killed by other animals, contracting diseases, etc. Keep your cats in the house.

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You are so wrong. Ask a vet, they are amputating part of digit when they do this. It is cruel. Just because a vet is willing to do it, doesn't mean it's not cruel. You will not find any humane organization that approves of declawing.

Make sure you provide a scratching post and keep a squirt bottle handy. When you see them scratching something they shouldn't give them a brief squirt with a firm "no". Than take them to the scratching post and talk soothingly and petting them.

Something else to remember, which I think many people forget. You've invited another species into your house to live with you. The cats won't always do what you want. Remember, they are not little humans.

Always keep the litter box clean. Use clumping litter and scoop it daily. Cats are fastidious and don't like smelly litter boxes. When you use the clumping litter and scoop out the clumps you are removing the urine and the smell. You and the cats will appreciate it. Be leary of those automatic boxes. The noise and movement may scare the cats and turn them off of using the box.

These are kittens so play with them a lot. I've always had fun with the feather on a string attached to a pole. They are always available at pet stores.

My vet prefers I feed our cats a quality dry food as opposed to wet. Their teeth will stay cleaner with less buildup of plaque. Science Diet, Eukanuba, and Iams come to mind.

This is the formative stage of their life. Do a lot of petting and holding now, while they are kids and you will reap the rewards as they mature.

Aw, one is black, I'm a sucker for black cats.

They should go to the vet once a year for a checkup and vaccinations. You are going to have them spayed/neutered I presume? Intact males will start spraying inside your house and females will start screaming for a man. If either gets outside, they will reproduce. If you've got a male and female, they don't need to go outside to reproduce.

On their first vet visit, have them tested for FELV/FIV (feline leukemia/feline aids). If positive for either have them retested again 2 months later. It may be a false positive because they have their mother's antibodies in them and she was exposed. I've seen this happen often, so don't assume they've got it.

If positive for felv, that cat will not have a long life. Talk to your vet about it. An fiv positive cat can live a long, healthy, happy life. There is little chance the cat will pass it on to the other.

If expense is an issue, talk to local humane organizations. Often they provide low-cost spay/neuter services which may also include testing and vaccinations. Remember these organizations depend solely on donations. They also may be able to point you to a vet whose rates are low.

To sex them, lift the tail and look at the rear. If you see an upside down exclmation point! it's a girl.

I hope you have 20 wonderful years with them.

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Do you know of any cats that truly suffer from being declawed? i don't.

I'm not saying the act itself, when presented in all of its grisly manner by some people, doesn't indeed sound cruel, but it causes no long term negative effects on any of the cats i have owned or any that my friends and family own.

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I've had two cats for about 10 years now. Here are some of the things I've learned.

Cats will use the scratching post and leave your stuff alone if properly trained. I find a battery-powered water pistol (range about 25 feet) to be the ideal training device.

I also used a little battery-powered motion sensor, the kind design to secure windows, to be a great way to train them to stay off my dining room table when I was at work. I aimed it diagonally across the table, facing away from the front door. Whenever one of them jumped up there the alarm would scare him and he'd jump back down. It didn't take long before they gave up entirely.

I keep gravity-fed water and dry food dispensers available for them 24/7 and keep them filled. The two of them split a can of Fancy Feast every night when I get home from work. (And on weekends. If I haven't fed them by about 5:30 they come and find me and meow loudly until I come up with a can of food.)

I also have a Littermaid self-cleaning litter box. This is actually my fourth unit in 10 years. (It really isn't that they break a lot, either. I shorted my first one out by getting water in the wrong place without realizing it, then turning it on before it all evaporated. The second was killed by my dad, who had stopped in to check on the boys while I was on a business trip and found the rake apparently stuck. He tried to "fix" it. Scratch one Littermaid. The third one was still working fine after about 7 years when they came out with a really improved version and I just decided to upgrade and give the old one away to a friend.)

There are a couple of other brands of self-cleaning litterboxes these days, which I can't comment on because I haven't used any of them. But trust me, if you decide to keep the cats there is no better investment you can make. The litter is always clean, waste disposal is much easier and the cats tend to be happier. I keep mine behind the shower curtain, inside the tub of the guest bathroom. As long as I keep up with the occasional mistakes (litter and other things projected outside the box), stick to my regular cleaning schedule and use good quality clumping and deodorizing litter, you can hardly notice that the thing is there unless you pull the curtain aside and take a deep breath. (And no, my condo doesn't smell of cat urine, thank you very much. The only time my guys have ever peed on the rug or anything else has been when they've been trying to send a message to me - once when I was out of town even the Littermaid got a little nasty, once when I got a new bed, and twice when I've moved. Cats do not handle change well. In every case one of several commercial pet-urine neutralizers took care of the problem.)

When I'm done rennovating my condo (assuming I live that long ) I plan to move the litterbox out to the screened balcony. I have a molded Rubbermaid patio storage box that I'm going to install a kitty door in, then drill a hole for the power cord. They'll have a nice private latrine, the containment will keep things neat and I'll have easy access for emptying and cleaning through the top of the box.

Littermaids cost anywhere from $100 to about $170 depending on the features and model, and I'd imagine comparable units are about the same. I think the things are worth every penny. YMMV.

Regards,

Joe

Re: Advice on kitty proofing house..

I have had many cats through out my life. I currently have 2 inside cats. I had 3 but one did not like my new house and moved to my mothers. If they are outside cats, I don't get them declawed. They need their claws for defence. Inside cats I get declawed, they can tear up far too much furniture. Even by jumping on the furniture just to sit on your lap. I don't see that it is any more cruel than spay or neutering them. Both are operations and they recover quickly.
Keep the litter box clean and they will use it. We have an automatic one that works fine. It waits a few minutes after the cat leaves before it cycles.
Enjoy them and be sure to post pictures of your new family members.

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We had two cats from the same litter for 17 years (got them as kittens). A couple of things:

You may want to have two litter boxes. When they were younger, the female decided to use a rug in the entry way to do her business occasionally. We added a 2nd litter box, and the problem was solved. As said above, always keep the litter boxes clean.

The squirt bottle can be an effective training device, but it depends on the cat. It always worked on our male, but the female loved water for some strange reason (she would walk into the shower with one of us after we were done, and I found her under a running faucet in the sink of my apartment one day when I came home), so it was not as effective on her. Fortunately, she was a very well-behaved cat, so a simple, firm "no" usually worked on her.

We did have a few problems with the male chewing cords and speaker wire when he was younger. I tried to block entry to the area behind the sound system, and used the squirt bottle approach to training him. The female never was interested in the cords.

I know people have different feelings on indoor-only cats, but personally I think you should keep them indoors. The cats will be healthier, and you will not subject your neighbors to having your pet use their yard as a litter box. Our cats never went outside, and they lived 17+ healthy, happy years. Unfortunately, they ended up passing away within about 6 months of each other. I think the female really missed her brother after he died.

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A century ago when I got my first cat, 6 months was the approved age for spay/neuter. That has been decreasing and some vets will do the procedure at 8 weeks. It has been my experience the more recently the vet has graduated from college, the younger he/she will do the s/n.

Personally, I think 3-4 months is a good age. I would not wait later than 6 months. You want to do it before the first heat for the female and before the male starts spraying. BTW, kittens shots are given in a series of 3, about a month apart, I think. Since they are kittens, the vaccinations are not full strength. After that they will be yearly.

You might find that after a couple of years and if they are totally indoors, your vet might recommend some of the vaccinations not be yearly. They will still get some yearly, but not every one. Many local governments require rabies shots yearly.

I'm glad your keeping your kids inside. Indoor cats, overall, live longer and healthier lives. BTW, that healthier translates to fewer vet visits.

As far as declawing goes, here is a link to just one site discussing declawing: http://www.declawing.com/


Declawing can introduce behavioral problems, the most common being in-appropriate urination. I.E. going outside of the box. I strongly recommend you do not declaw, but if you must, do it while they are young, have it done when the s/n is done. Declawing an adult cat increases the possibility of behavior problems.

Also consider that once this behavior has been introduced, it's difficult to control. Now you've got a cat peeing indoors outside the box. I'll bet you don't want that cat anymore and who will? You've now got an unadoptable cat, and because its declawed, it needs to stay indoors.

For those who might say "I've had my cat declawed and he didn't show any sign of pain" I will pass on what my vet has told me more than once: cats can be difficult to treat because they are stoic. They can be in pain and not show it. My wife and I have welcomed many cats into our family and I don't remember one crying in pain from an illness. I once had a cat with a broken leg and she wasn't crying in pain. I noticed she wasn't putting weight on that leg so off to the vet and xrays showed the problem.

Along that line, it's important to observe your cats behavior and note any changes, they may be a signal of an illness or injury.

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I bought one of the automatic litter cleaners (littermaid) for my daughter's cat and it is the only way to go as far as I can tell. Seriously.

Her cat has never had an issue with using it and it really makes the cleaning job about a thousand times easier.

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We have identical twin brother cats, and we probaboy waited a bit too long to get them neutered. When they were about 10 months old, one of the cats tried to "mount" his brother. We made an appointment with the Vet the very next day.

We have not gotten the cats declawed and I have had run into a little problem with them clawing at my speaker grills. I put the scratching post next to the speaker and sprinkled the post with catnip. They are pretty much cured now. The key is dilligence. If you catch them going toward the speaker, put their claws on the scratching post.

As a matter of fact, my avatar is a picture of them when they were about 6 months old. Their names are Charlie and Jake.

Re: Advice on kitty proofing house..

Couple of ideas:

1 -- Cats can and will get just about anywhere. It will not take long for those little kittens to find their way on top of your kitchen counter, etc. One good way to prevent them from jumping on things that are high up is to use aluminum foil. Once they started jumping on these things spread out some aluminum foil. The cats cannot generally see it before they jump since it's up high and it really freaks them out when they land on it. Once they've done that a few times they will learn not to jump up there.

2 - I've always heard that sprinkling vinegar works to keep cats away from things. I've never tried it with my two cats, but apparently some people have pretty good success with it.

3 - If you ever plan to put your cats outside do not declaw them. They will need those claws for defense and escape (climbing trees). If they will always be inside then the choice is up to you. I would suggest going elsewhere to read about the pros and cons instead of everyone getting into a pissing fight over it here -- which happens in every time a thread like this comes up.

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If you have floor vents, be aware that cats tend to pee down them! If you don't have central air conditioning running through those vents right now, cover them over (stick cardboard under the lift-off grills) until the cat learns to pee in the litter box. If pee gets down them, the smell will be forever. Though there are some cleaning products designed to neutralize cat pee smell.

Once you uncover them for winter, hope and pray the cat won't decide they're new places to pee.

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Definitely. Ours decided to rip a hole in the dust cover underneath the box springs to our bed and crawl in there. We ended up laying paneling down on the bed frame to keep them out of there.

Another time, I was painting the spare bedroom and had removed the vent covering the cold air return. I opened the door for a minute to do something, noticed the male cat nearby, but didn't pay much attention. Going back in the room a few minutes later, and no cat. Yes, he had gone through the cold air return. Luckily, as I was contemplating how to get him out of there, he crawled out.

Re: Advice on kitty proofing house..

The best way to kitty proof a house is buy a pit bull

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Don't declaw the cats! It's cruel.............. not so much that it hurts the cat, but that it takes away their protection. They learn to be more efficient with biting, but they need to be able to climb, to get away from big, mean dogs. If they have claws, they can handle a small dog. Even if you plan on them being inside cats, you can't say they'll never get out. If they start to sharpen their claws on the furniture, squirt them with a water pistol, and they'll stop. It won't take too many times, before they learn not to do it. Get, or make them a scratching post to use instead. Cats aren't stupid.

If you keep the litter box clean, you shouldn't smell anything. I know people that have cats, and when you go in their house, you don't know it until you see them, because there's no smell. Litter that clumps when it's wet, is easy to find and remove from the litter box. When you go in someone's house, and smell cats, it's because they don't clean the litter box well enough, or often enough. That's also why cats dump on the floor..............they can't find a clean spot in the litter box. Do you sit on a filthy toilet, and use it?

There is nothing on the planet, any cuter, or more fun to watch, than a kitten. Especially two kittens! When they start to play, hilarity can and will ensue, in a lot of cases. Take lots of pictures! Here is a cute one:



Cats are much more independent than dogs. They'll only be petted, when they want to be. Not necessarily when you want to pet them. They may not come when you call them, unless it's time to eat. Their independence is why some people don't like them. Some people can't handle interaction with cats, being on the cat's terms. But that's the way it will be, whether you like it or not.

BTW........
Yes, there is a certain age to fix an animal. Ask a vet when to have it done. It costs more to spay a female, than to neuter a male.
Good luck, and enjoy the kitties!

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Agree with all this. However if you play with them now, pet them as much as you can, do all you can to encourage closeness with you while they are young, you will be surprised how much they will crave affection as adults.

Spaying a cat costs more than a neuter because a neuter surgery is all external to the main body cavity. Each scrotum sack is simply cut open and the testes removed and cords are tied off. Stitches are usually not used to close up the cut. From the moment the cutting starts, it takes less than 5 minutes. A female's abdomen must be opened up and internal organs removed, it is more significant surgery.

As for the automatic boxes, obviously a lot of people have had success with them. In my volunteering I have run across people who have had cats who were scared by the box and wouldn't use it. So if you have an automatic box and the cat is not using it, consider trying out a standard box.

Also, if either cat starts peeing in multiple places outside the box, get thee to a vettery, since the cat probably has a urinary tract infection.

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I can't believe we have a thread about kittens with out a "Fluffy Pumpkin" appearance .
Let me introduce you to "Princess Furby":


Here she is doing "cute kitty move #28" The up-side-down-through-the-back-of-the-chair-roll

Re: Advice on kitty proofing house..

1. please do not declaw your cats. There are other things that can be done that are just as effective and do not damage the cats digits. Like soft Paws. www.softpaws.com . You just apply them once a month or so. And if you get a kitten use to cutting their nails...it will become easier the older they get. Just don't cut into the quick (the pink part seen inside the nail). That is very painful if you do and it will bleed.

2. A burst of the compressed air can will work about as well as a squirt bottle. You don't have to burst air on or at the cat, just the loud sudden sound near by will make them stop the offending behavior. My cat got to the point where I no longer had to use the can but just made a quick hissing sound with my mouth and it had the same effect. Now that she is older...she does not get into trouble too often. She is more concerned about sleeping than anything else.

3. Dry food is best. Once she became an adult, I feed her one can of soft a morning (she picks at it throughout the day)...and she has dry food out 24/7...and water of course.

4. Try to make barriors behind and under applicances and such where you do not want them to go. They are very curious kittens when they start waking. So...make a barrior so they won't go under the stove/oven...or under or behind the refrigerator...washer & dryer, etc...Maybe even behind your home theatre system area where all the cables are. I made my barriors by cutting out long sheets of foam core board, etc...

5. Provide a place for them to scratch and they will soon learn that is the only place to scratch. Get one of those carpeted kitty play trees or at least a scratching post. If they start scratching on furniture or go places where you don't want them, there are sprays you can buy (they taste bitter to them) to spray on cables and things so they won't chew on them or you can lay out some alum foil around an area where you do not want them to go. They hate foil usually. Unless you get an adventurous one like mine who decided to just jump over it.

6. Buy tape rollers in bulk at Cosco and keep them handy so you can get all the pet hair from a loving cat off you and your guests at a moments notice. :-)

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There are a lot of statements on this thread about declawing being "cruel". In all honesty, I never thought much about it until reading this thread. I do not want to turn this thread about a happy moment in Jay's life into a big debate. I have had cats, dogs, horses, sheep, chickens, ducks, turkeys, peacocks, hamsters, gerbils & fish as pets at some point in time during my life. Cats like people each have their own personality. Some are passive and some are aggressive, some are friendly some are not, some are smart and easy to train some are more difficult. So what works for one cat may not work for others. As I said, do not declaw an outside cat. Although all 3 of my cats are front declawed and have unlimited access to the outside. (Pet door) I live in a very rural area.
Sammy is 8 years old. He started out as an inside cat, but in the past year he has decided that he prefers the outside. Even with out front claws; he has no troubles climbing fence posts or catching birds, rabbits, etc. He has never come home injured from a fight that he lost.
Chump-o is a typical "Garfield" cat both in coloring and personality. He was very active as a kitten, but now he mainly eats & sleeps. I think a cow kicked him. He stops to rest on his way to the food dish. He is 70% inside cat.
Princess Furby pictured in previous posts has earned her title Princess. She is definitely an upper class personality and rarely goes outside.
For Fathers day I was given a chiwawa puppy all full of energy to play. Non of our declawed cats have had any issue taking on the puppy either as a group or one on one. As I am writing this "The Furbinator" (Furby's alter personality) has been chasing the puppy around the house and definately has the upper hand.
The only part about the "cruel" statement I may agree with, is the operation its self. But I don't see it any crueler that having a female cats plumbing removed. I would think that is a far more serious operation. If they are done both at once as a kitten, the kitten usually just lays around for a few days anyway. I can’t see this being any crueler than other things that humans do to animals:

* Riding horses - they do not allow us to ride them until their spirit is broken.
* When sheep are born their tail is over a foot long and is cut off for sanitary reasons.
* Domesticated birds have their wings clipped so they don't fly away.
* Many, many animals are taken out of their natural habitat for zoos or entertainment purposes.
* Cows and other animals are raised solely to be killed for food.
* Fishing is a sport where they are yanked out of the water by a hook in the mouth into the air where they can't breath, only to have their picture taken if they are worthy and then returned into the water.

Reasons for declawing include young children and babies. Even if the cat does not scratch them intentionally during play, there is always that kneading thing cats do before they sleep. Neutering or spaying a cat is "acceptable" because it is more humane than putting unwanted cats to death. How many more cats do you think would end up in shelters for tearing up expensive furniture or other house hold items if not declawed?
The reason I am writing this is because using the word "cruel" gives such a negative almost intentionally evil meaning to the act. I agree that any operation on any animal, even tagging wildlife, should be avoided, but declawing is no more cruel than a zillion other things that humans do to animals and wildlife. I would never do anything cruel to my pets. Heck I avoid swatting flys and misquotes if at all possible. Believe it or not most of the time I will try to catch a fly and let it outside if I can. Why should he be given the death sentence just because he found his way into my house and can't get out.
Like I said, I don't want to turn this thread into a debate that will not convince either side of the issue. I wanted to present another pint of view.
Jay - enjoy your kittens. You can decide if you want them declawed or not.
Johnny - Keep up the good work with the FuRR project.
Dave

Re: Advice on kitty proofing house..

I too will have said my peace about declawing, after this. Please, please do not compare declawing to sterilization. Millions of dogs and cats are euthanized each year and countless more live homeless lives wondering if they'll find something to eat or if they'll be attacked by another animal or human. Sterilization is the only solution to this. We can argue back and forth about declawing, but sterilization is on such a fundamentally different level, that I believe it is incorrect to argue because one is ok, so is the other.

'nuff said.

Re: Advice on kitty proofing house..

I can attest that squirt bottles/water pistols work very well to train cats. Dogs are clever (or merely socially different) enough to associate negative feedback -- like a squirt from a water pistol -- with the person doing the squirting. Consequently, they will see you reach for the squirt gun when you see them about to do something forbidden, and they will stop. But they also know that if you're not around, then forbidden activity goes unpunished.

No so with cats. They seem to associate negative reinforcement with geography, not at all with you. Consequently, and before they've learned their lesson, when they are about to engage in forbiden behavior (like scratching the sofa), they will not stop even if they see you reach for the water pistol and aim it at them. They're not being defiant; they truly don't know what you're about to do. When they engage in the behavior (and you should wait until they do), give them a squirt, and instead of associating the unpleasant squirt with you, they will (seemingly) associate the unpleasant squirt with where they were and what they were doing at the time they got wet. This means that, once they've learned their lesson, it will never occur to them that engaging in that behavior at that place when you're not around will go unpunished, which is a good thing.

This may seem to indicate that dogs are smarter than cats, but I don't think this is the case. Inter-species theory-of-mind is something only a handful of animals are capable of, domesticated dogs being one of them. It's a social thing, not an intelligence thing, and it makes dogs appear to be slightly less-intelligent versions of humans with very little anthropomorphism on our part. Cats, which are extremely smart in their own way, simply have brains that are wired so differently that they just cant be evaluated the way we tend to evaluate dogs and humans. But, just like dogs, they respond to affection, play, and other social activity, albeit a little differently.