Should we get a kitten?

[ilvs]

My husband really wants to get a kitten, and I have some concerns so I'd like advice from kitten/cat owners on the following:

1) Does the kitty litter stink up the house? I'm a little bit of a neat freak, and I've never owned a four-legged pet. I feel like most dog owners say that their dog doesn't smell, but they've just gotten used to it, and when you go to their house, it definitely smells. So I'd like to ask this more to cat owners who never had a pet before and are kind of neat freaks.

2) What are the worst problems you've run into with a new four-legged pet?

3) What's the approximate monthly cost that a cat runs up in your experience?

Yes I realize I am going to get made fun of for certain aspects of this post, but I thought I might get some useful advice! Thanks!!

 

[HamburgerBoy]

If you're worried about the cost, you can't afford it. Give it to alkemyst instead.

 

[shortylickens]

:awe:

 

[rudeguy]

Monthly cost for my 2 cats is about $50. That's one giant bag of cat food and 2 big things of litter. I change the litter very often, so the litter actually makes the house smell better.

Cats are assholes. You have been warned.

 

[lxskllr]

Cats are assholes. You have been warned.

 

[nickbits]

My wife can smell the litter if my cat recently took a dump. I don't because I can't really smell. It really depends on where it will be in your house.

My cat had to have a few teeth removed that cost about $300 I think. That was the biggest unplanned expense. I don't remember what it cost to get him neutered.

A bag of food and a box of litter cost probably $20 and I think they last about a month.

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

My husband really wants to get a kitten, and I have some concerns so I'd like advice from kitten/cat owners on the following:

1) Does the kitty litter stink up the house? I'm a little bit of a neat freak, and I've never owned a four-legged pet. I feel like most dog owners say that their dog doesn't smell, but they've just gotten used to it, and when you go to their house, it definitely smells. So I'd like to ask this more to cat owners who never had a pet before and are kind of neat freaks.

2) What are the worst problems you've run into with a new four-legged pet?

3) What's the approximate monthly cost that a cat runs up in your experience?

Yes I realize I am going to get made fun of for certain aspects of this post, but I thought I might get some useful advice! Thanks!!

I don't own a cat at the moment, although I'm contemplating getting two. I have owned cats before, however. I have a female friend that has just taken a kitten in recently, also.

1.) The magnitude of the litter aroma is inversely proportional to the frequency of you cleaning it. Scoopable litter and some forethought with regard to the destination trash receptacle makes this matter somewhat trivial on a day to day basis, especially with only 1 cat. Periodic "deep cleans" or "full changes" of litter are advisable. All in all, it isn't a lot of work, IMO. My female friend mentioned above is MUCH more of a neat freak than me, and she isn't bothered by it.

Also, I used to own 2 ferrets, and I chose to do full litter changes every day with those things, so keeping up with a cat sounds like a walk in the park to me.

2.) You pull the veterinarian bill slot machine handle every time you get a new pet. Assuming yours isn't unusually unhealthy, you'll have shots, de-worming, and spaying or neutering. I've never had any extraordinary problems with a new pet, but I'd make sure things like dangerous chemicals or fragile items are stored securely or out of reach.

3.) After that, it's just food and litter, and toys if you want. It's a gamble with the toys, too. A lot of cats I've known will turn their noses up to store-bought toys and would rather play with the milk jug bottlecap or the ring that goes around it.

 

[0___________0]

If the smell bothers you that much you can do what we did, train it to a litter box, then put the litter box outside. Cat just goes outside now. In 2 years we've only had 1 infraction for each cat. Although, one time, I was vacuuming, and didn't realize the cat had taken a dump underneath a table... Crap everywhere, inside of the vacuum was disgusting. Carpet reeked as well.

 

[Newbian]

Just a word of warning but kitten claws are the sharpest thing you will feel so if you get a person climber enjoy all the holes you will get in your skin.

 

[Mixolydian]

My cat's litter never smells. I've always used Fresh Step brand with the carbon molecules or whatever. It costs very little to maintain her. She gets 1/4 cup of Iams food 2x/day. Vet checkup once a year with vaccines ~$300. Never had any health problems with her other than the occasional puke.

Monthly cost for mine I'd say no more than $20.

 

[IronWing]

Cost: About $45/month per cat averaged over the life of the cat. Estimate includes food, litter, vet bills.

 

[Arik5405]

20 posts in about 4 years. Starts a kitten thread. Not bad. Just need pics of kittens. Thank you.

 

[Doppel]

Keeping litter clean you mostly won't smell it. That $50/month for two cars is fair and it changes based on whether you're getting good or low quality food and of course when the little fvckers get older you may put them on meds, plus geriatric cats are very commonly known to vomit all over the damn house.

In the grand scheme caring for them is about 1/10th as hard as a dog but they are 1/20th as rewarding. But, dogs are a pain in the ass unto themselves, certainly, and when they get old they age even less gracefully than a cat.

Cats are pretty easy really and until you have kids you'll actually love the thing, then it will just be a sh*ting teddy bear that gets in the way.

 

[Dirigible]

Cats are filthy disgusting animals.

 

[postmortemIA]

um, I don't feed our cat only with bagged dry food, we give it a can of food each day, which is approx $0.75 ea
once a year vet visit is in range $100 to $300, depending if it needs teeth cleaning or not.

 

[IronWing]

Worst problems (for indoor cats): cancer, pancreatitis, heart murmurs, diabetes.

Worst problems (for outdoor cats): cars, dogs, neighbors, feline leukemia, FIV, fleas, feline infectious paritonitis.

 

[Perknose]

Monthly cost for my 2 cats is about $50. That's one giant bag of cat food and 2 big things of litter. I change the litter very often, so the litter actually makes the house smell better.

Cats are assholes. You have been warned.

I have two cats as well. $50 sounds about right for their food and litter for a month.

Cats are certainly not as slavishly obedient as dogs, but you might be surprised how good a relationship you can establish with them if both you and they are more in the middle of the bell curve in temperament (i.e., not extreme.)

Have patience, they adapt over time. You can't summarily order them around, but you can patiently inculcate some boundaries and expectations, like one does with young kids.

Vets have gotten a lot more expensive over the last 2-3 decades. This is a function both of the more advanced and more capable tech they have, and also their understanding that people will effing well pay.

If you're heartless, do everyone involved a favor and don't acquire a pet. If you're not, then you will have some expensive vet bills towards the last phase of their lives. Factor this in from the start or get a goldfish and call it a day.

As far as litter smell goes, telling you how you will react is akin to helping your grandma with her 'puter emergency over the phone w/o a remote client.

I have learned over time that each individual's sensitivity to odors covers a range wider than the Grand Canyon. So . . . your best bet is to go to as many other friends' houses with cats as you can and whiff it all up and in with your own proboscis.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

The biggest thing to accept is that cats can only hold one thought in their head at a time. You can't get mad at a cat for being a cat. Any critter will give you clues to their wants and frame of mind, you just have to be observant. They make me laugh and cheer me up when I come home. Different breeds have different tendencies. The more you know about your new housemate the better.

 

[Markbnj]

We have a cat. I don't like her, so this reply is biased. But the truth is there are some potential downsides to owning a cat.

First, they have a need to work the coating off their claws from time to time. They do this by shredding your furniture and whatever else they can get to. You can get your cat a scratching post, and likely she'll use it from time to time, but will she use it exclusively? Ours had an awesome scratching post, and she used it very energetically, as long as she happened to be in that room when she felt like scratching the crap out of something. When in other rooms she scratched whatever she damn well felt like scratching, and over the years has ruined a sofa, a loveseat, draperies, carpets, and who knows what else.

Second, urine. Cats are pretty clean animals, and in general your cat will use the litter box. But if your cat decides not to, then the result is bad. Our cat has always been good about the litterbox, but I am not able to get three teenaged girls to stop throwing their clothes on the floor, and I guess every now and then the cat feels like a pile of soft cloth on the floor is as good as a box of granulated clay crap. You don't want cat pee in the house. You don't want it anywhere in the house. If a dog pisses on the floor you clean it up. If a cat pisses on the floor you douse it in neutralizer and hope you don't have to haul the carpet to the curb on trash day.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

I'd take a cat over three teenage girls any time. I only had two and they made me insane.

 

[Auric]

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cat+toilet

 

[Agent11]

If you get the right cat litter it will not stink much at all if you clean it regularly.

The major concerns are :

Do you have time to give it attention, if not it won't like you much and will do it's own thing and not care what you have to say about it.
Especially if you just get one cat and it's inside all the time you need to play with it and give it attention or it will become neurotic, they are intelligent social animals.

If you end up getting more than one and at different times they may seem to hate each other at first. Just show each of them attention and they will come around. . .
Also they like to play rough sometimes and will seem to be fighting when they are actually playing. As long as there isn't any blood it's all good.

Scratching doorjams, jumping on counters. Have a spray bottle to squirt it with to stop this sort of behavior. It would be a good idea to get a scratching post as well.

Spay or neutoring. Males will spray a musky odor if you don't and both will get horny and loud when mating season comes around.

 

[makken]

We had 2 cats. One died of cancer, the other is still alive and well.

On smell, I don't know how sensitive your nose is, but I can definitely smell the litterbox about ~1 room away. We put it in the corner of our house that gets lots of ventilation so its not that bad usually. We do daily scoopings of litter every night.

The worst problem we had was the cancer treatment for the second cat. Eventually we just had to put her down. Other than that, issues we've had include:
1) She will occasionally leave us a present by the cat door, and by present I mean a dead lizard/mouse/bird. There have been instances where shes brought in a live mouse to play with.
2) Shes generally good about using the litterbox, but sometimes we still get shit/piss/barf on carpet. Oh, and she'll cough up hairballs all over the place. If you are a clean freak, this WILL be an issue.
3) Your. Furniture. Will. Be. Ruined. We've lost 2 sofas to her scratching. Shes had a scratching post all her life, but its a crapshoot on whether or not she will use it.

On Cost, I'll agree with everyone else on ~50/month.

 

[Northern Lawn]

I have two cats and one dog. I can make a $7 giant bag of cat litter last a month, got to clean out the clumps everyday. Sometimes when I let it go a few days they will piss in my gym bag...assholes.

Edit: I also had to spend $600 on the male when he was about 1 or 2 years old because he got crystals in his urine. Couldn't pee, ever since then he's had to be on extra expensive food that you can only buy at the vet, and of course they both want to eat the expensive stuff.

When they were kittens they destroyed 6 pairs of head phones including friends headphones that I borrowed because mine were destroyed. The 6th pair was actually cordless head phones. They can't destroy cordless headphones can they? I was shifting my head back and forth and discovered that they had static when I did that, I decided to take them back.

Then all of a sudden they stopped working and a fricken cat comes running out from behind the stereo. It chewed threw the electric adapter for the headphones while it was plugged it...asshole.

But they are 12 yos old now and seem to be going strong.

 

[Red Squirrel]

1: I find when my cat goes for a poop it smells horrible at first but once she burries it, the smell goes away. Maybe 10 minutes max, and it does not always smell, it seems to very, or maybe it's just because I'm not always around when she does it. You can even get away with not emptying the litter box for a few days and it's fine, though it's best to do it often enough as the cat will enjoy a clean litter box more.

2: Worse issue is puking, but this varies by cat. My cat likes to puke a lot. I avoid leaving my bedroom door opened since it's a real pain when she does it on the bed. I can't fit my top spread in my washer so I end up having to haul it to my mom's to wash it there. And if she does it when I'm not home it seeps through and gets to the matress then I'm dumping lyson and other disinfectant to try to kill it all. I just lave my door closed at all times to avoid that. My couch is faux leather and all my floors are hard so the bed is only really the biggest issue. That and my computer chair, but last time she puked on it I threw it out and bought a leather one. So it wipes off easily now. Of course my cat is the exception, most cats don't puke that much.

3: I've never really sat down to calculate it, but it's not much. I buy a bag of cat food maybe every 6 months. It's the high end vet grade stuff, around 60 bucks a bag. You can get the cheap Iam's stuff at walmart for much less, but it's best to feed them a premium food. Litter I change out completely maybe every month or so.

Oh another thing I find hard now is finding the draw string litter liner bags. They seem to be very hard to come by these days for some reason. I don't even know if they still make them. One time I went to walmart and they had completely stopped selling the "medium" liners at all, only the very small ones and very big ones. The pet stores did not have them either. Ended up making one out of two small ones and vapor barrier tape. True story. Went to walmart months later and I found the right size, but not draw string. you'll want draw string as it goes on the litter box better without falling. Unfortunately I just cant find those anymore so I had to settle for the regular ones. Since there's nothing holding them into place they tend to fall and lot of the litter makes it in the box itself. Just have to clean the box itself more often. So that said, when you buy a litter box, consider it's size and make sure the liners for that size are easy to come by. The extra large ones seem to be the easiest. Guess lot of people have multiple cats so they're more popular.