I'm not sure i have the color thingy on my tool bar. Well, anyways about the kitty thing if you can find someone who is giving one away or selling one that is already potty trained that's great! But if not it's very easy to litter train them. Ok well it was easy for us I can't say every cat will be as easy. I'd also definitely go with a medium or short haired cat unless you don't mind vacuuming every day. It'll also decrease the hair ball factor by quite a bit. Oh also check the cat food recall list because a lot of kitten food was included with it in fact it was the bulk of the recall. Goodness knows you don't want to get a kitten and then it get sick days later. I'll try to get you the link to the list.
I think that cats make a wonderful addition to the family!
My suggestion is to go to a shelter and adopt an adult cat. There are many wonderful kitty's out there needing homes. One of the advantages to adopting an adult cat is that the personality has already formed, and you will be able to see how the cat interacts with your daughter, which is really important given your daughters age. Adult cats are also less likely to scratch, than a kitten. Kittens can be wild, and because their claws are growing, they can tend to scratch everything in sight.
My first cat came to me from my mother's neighbor who passed away. Isabella was wonderful and was 13 when she joined us. We only had her brightening our lives for three years. When she passed away, I had her cremated, and I brought her ashes to her original owners grave, and burried them by the headstone. We thanked Louise for sharing Isabella with us, lighting our lives, and wanted the two of them to finally be back together like they were for 13 years.
My next kitty, Mr. Milo came to us from a no kill shelter, and he litterally picked my daughter and I out. He came home with us, became best friends with Dutchess my dachaund and brought incredible laughter to the house because he was forever talking to us, and even raised his chatter volume when he was not getting his way! We lost him five years ago.
I swore I would never get another cat after losing Mr. Milo, because he was the ultimate, along with Isabella, and losing them was to hard.
My daughter had a different opinion and she brought home Miss Kitty one day. She said she found her abandonded at her work place. She was a little ball of fluff. I relented. I even forgave her for the day when she turned into the mad kitten shredder and managed to decimate wallpaper and a living room set in the same two hour span that I was out of the house. Miss Kitty had some laser surgery a few days later, and lost her front claws. After that my belongings managed to remain intact and even though Miss Kitty goes wild trying to claw my current living room set, I laugh, because they're gone!
All of my cats were, and are, indoor cats. Miss Kitty runs out the door when the dogs go outside, but she hates the cold, and I have an air horn I go out and use when I can't get her back inside. That makes her run for the door, and it is not seriously loud enough to have my neighbors plotting for my move out of the neighborhood.
There are alot of wonderful animals sitting in shelters who need a home!
I have a litter maid. I purchased it four years ago, for around $100.00. I swear by it, because I hate cleaning the litter box, and the smell. Neither of those exist with my litter maid.
I was shocked the pet store wanted $85 to adopt a cat. I guess that includes shots and all, but what ever happened to those boxes of free kittens on the road side. I am nervous about the claws and our nice furniture, is the declawing process expensive?
Are there any breeds that are smarter, trainable? I'm used to dogs.
I think my daughter will just love a cat, she carries a stuffed one around everywhere. Something fluffy would be cute. I'll have to look into the local shelters and even check out the animal hospital, maybe someone is giving one away for free....
Most repuatable places charge for their cats, to cover the cost of the shelter, food and vacinations. There is also the thought that if someone pays an adoption fee, then they are serious, and unfortunately people are not so inclinded to throw away something that they have paid for......
An $85.00 adoption fee is about the same as the first visit to the vets office. I believe it was around $300.00 to have my cat declawed. The laser procedure is the way to go, it does not cause alot of pain, and it is far less brutal than the alternative. Also plan on a few hundred to have your cat spayed, or neutered.
For a cat to go in the litter box is their nature, so there really is no training involved, you just need to show them where it is. Regarding any other training, I have found that the only other training my cats ever put up with was when they trained me to respond to them, especially related to buying tasty food. Miss Kitty is a very picky eater, and currently will only eat the fancy feast goumet stuff, at .89 cents a can. Like I said, she has me very well trained!
Wow Tess they charged a lot for your declawing but you are in a different area. We just paid 89.90 for both neutering and declawing Sora. Roxas is up next when he's old enough.
I tried to get a dog from a shelter once and they make you jump through alot of hoops. Maybe some family is moving and wants to give away their cat, I'll check the signs at the local vet before I go to the shelter. Either way, I'm giving an animal a nice home. But I won't buy one at a pet store.
I still have to check the paper too. It's been a busy day
In a completely unrelated topic Lancome has a great little package of facial tanner, body tanner and body microdermabrasion for only $29 and they had a free gift today too! We're going to an indoor water park, and I want to look tan.
jessicad52178 wrote: Wow Tess they charged a lot for your declawing but you are in a different area. We just paid 89.90 for both neutering and declawing Sora. Roxas is up next when he's old enough.
Wow, that's inexpensive! The two times I have had cats declawed I have gone the laser route, instead of the amputation, although I don't think that the cost difference was anything like that. When I had Miss Kitty spayed I also opted for the laser surgery, because the healing and pain was significantly less. When Mr. Milo came to me from the shelter he was spayed there, it was included in his adoption fee of around $100.00. They actually had students from Tufts Vetinary Hospital who came out and did the procedures, which is pretty common for the shelters around here. Whe I adopted Tess, my german shepard, she was not spayed thought.
Everything up here in Massachusetts seems to be more expensive, don't even get me going about the cost of houses.
Declawing cats is a horrible idea. Believe, this is the one area that vets screw up a lot. And also causing trauma for the cat as it has to walk around on those harmed paws. Besides, it's not hard to take the cat and simply trim the claws down with nail clippers. But then again if you're worried about scratching, then maybe you shouldn't think about getting a cat. They're going to scratch. That's why they have all the scratching toys and posts and things.
__________________
"If you were looking for something clever or witty or funny here, you've come to the wrong place."
LOL that's what I keep telling my husband but he is so dead set on moving to Boston. Nothing wrong with the place but I looked at houses, condos, and appartments and it's crazy. We've got such low prices her it'd be stupid as all hell to move.
everbran wrote: Declawing cats is a horrible idea. Believe, this is the one area that vets screw up a lot. And also causing trauma for the cat as it has to walk around on those harmed paws. Besides, it's not hard to take the cat and simply trim the claws down with nail clippers. But then again if you're worried about scratching, then maybe you shouldn't think about getting a cat. They're going to scratch. That's why they have all the scratching toys and posts and things.
Not in the traditional sense. If they're mistreated ya, but normally they're more likely to run off with something shiny then to bite. Not to say you won't get the occassional nip, especially if you're wearing something shiny on your hands.
__________________
"If you were looking for something clever or witty or funny here, you've come to the wrong place."
