Gosh...I don't know if I can do "flying kittens" and I really would like to have only one. How long does it take them to get out of the flying, tearing up curtains stage?
Maybe a year but they always have that crazy hour if I remember right. All of a sudden, it's like something spooks them and they're off, lol. Puppies aren't a picnic either. The training to pee outside, the stopping the chewing on everything especially your socks. Nipping at your feet every time you pass, the crying at night.
I know what to expect from puppies..having had dogs all my life. But I have never had a cat so that's why I'm trying to find out everything I can to make the best decision for a pet for us
Not all cats are created equal either. We've had a few crazy ones. My sister who is a real cat lover has one now, lol. When I visit, I make sure that I close my suitcase because "Buddy" likes to pee in them, also laundry baskets. It's not because his litter box is dirty, my sister is the cleanest woman on the planet, it's just his thing and nothing will change it. You have to change and make sure the door to the laundry room is closed.
Definately choose a shorthaired cat. Long haired cats get fur balls in their throat and yak it up where ever they happen to be (the floor, the bed, the carpet). You also have more shedding and have to brush a longhaired cat.
Even though I get along great with cats, my wife is allergic to their hair. In fact, my favorite old cartoon was Garfield. Love a cat with an attitude (LOL). But, since we can't have a cat, a pup will be coming later........after we move. Had a Shih Tzu pup all picked out and then I decided not to get it. She was a cutie and we were going to name her Daisy, but, since we will be moving in a year or so, it's much easier to move without a pet. We bought a number of things for her, but returned half of the stuff. Still have some essentials though (leash, collar, play pen and some grooming things.
That's hard to tell. I think that cats might be happier if they have a feline friend, particularly if you were to get both of them as kittens at the same time. Adding a new cat can be a problem. The feral cat that we had was with us for about eighteen years after we took her in, and she visited for a few years before that, since I was feeding her, and my two sisters always treated her like an outsider. She would bring them birds and toys, and seemed to be doing her best to make friends with her but they never liked her. They did get so that they tolerated one another and when it was cold in the house, they might even let her cuddle together with them under a blanket but she was always an outsider. She was pregnant when we took her in though, and we kept one of her daughters; they accepted her daughter as if she were their own. Her daughter came to side with the others against her own mother sometimes. On the other hand, the young one we have now -- Ella -- was an excellent politician. While she was young, she seemed to give them just the right amount of space, while inserting herself into the family and, after the first couple of months, when they wanted to kill her, they came to accept her fully. It's funny to watch Cutie, one of my twenty-six year-old cats, running around the house playing with Ella, who isn't quite three yet. On Cutie's part, once she figured out that I wasn't going to let her kill her, and that Ella could get to high spaces that she couldn't reach, she started to mother her, probably as a way of asserting her place as the Alpha female. Now, Ella lets Cutie be in charge unless she really wants something, that is. For much of my life I had only one cat at a time, but I think they're happier when there are two, particularly if they are going to be left alone at times. Some people have said that cats are more lovable to people when they are only cats, and that might be -- largely because they don't have a choice. One cat will probably spend most of the night sleeping with you. We have three now and, with more than one cat, they begin to realize that they are supposed to be nocturnal, and they spend a large part of the night playing with one another. I'd hardly know it though, because both Cutie and Ella will come to bed with us and usually stay there until we fall asleep, and they are often there when we get up in the morning, so it might seem as if they were there with us all night. But I have wildlife cameras and have set them up around the house a few times and it's amazing how these cats get around the house during the night while we're sleeping, carrying toys around the house, fighting with one another, tearing up rolls of toilet paper, and getting into everything that the know that they can get to. Then by the time we start moving around in the morning, they are back in bed as if they'd been there all night. Lydia, on the other hand, is about as unsociable a cat as you can get. Although most people can't tell her apart from her sister, Cutie, in twenty-six years, I can think of only about three times that she actually came when I called her, and two of them were this year. Although she sleeps in her cat bed next to my desk, begs for treats, and loves to be petted while she is in her safe place, she acts like I'm going to kill her when I come across her anywhere else. She's been with my her whole life, but her personality is the opposite of her sister's.
Cats absolutely have to scratch on something and, at some point in time, most every cat is going to view your furniture as a scratching post. Provide them with more than one type of scratcher and that problem will be alleviated considerably, although you're almost certain to have your furniture tested. Double sided tape is a good discouragement. I have one bookcase that I have had since I was eighteen, and I have allowed generations of cats to use it as a scratching post. It has a gouge in it more than an inch deep as every cat tries to reach higher than the last. I have also had curtain shredded but the good news is that they pretty much quit climbing curtains when they get into their twenties.
I also had 'only' cats most of the time, until I got this bunch. I got Seamus, and then 3 months later, took in his litter mate/sister Shannon, who I still have. I lost another in between, and now have Ryan and Kelly, as well as Shannon. If you get a book about cats, be sure to read up on the different personality characteristics of the different breeds, if you're looking for particular traits. I just like cats in general, and never realized what a difference there is. I always get rescues, so I don't select a breed. They seem to find me, rather than me seeking them out. I've never had a cat that needed to be groomed. Shannon's fur is longer, so she needs to be brushed more, and she sheds a lot. Siamese cats can be a bit high strung. Kelly is a flame point, even though she's another rescue, and she's my most high maintenance cat right now. She's a definite talker, and enjoys being on my lap/chest/head/wherever on me.