New Friends

[c9]

- we went to a fun party last night, and we're starting to make friends -- yay!
- we're talking about adopting cats!

I would like these two cats:

	Neo
	Trinity

They're siblings, so adopting them together is of course best. Unfortunately there are two problems: they're not declawed, which is leapfish's preference to protect our couches (since a spray bottle is not quite as effective). Also (ssshhh, don't tell Vinny) they're named after characters from the Matrix.

Maybe we could rename them (to avoid the geekiness factor for Vinny) to slightly different names (to avoid confusion for them). Nemo? El Nino? Divinity? Salinity? I'd better stop now.

Comments

[simplisticton.livejournal.com]

Our girls (Shrodinger and Zoe) don't usually claw furniture -- if they do, a spray works well. The trick is consistent & quick punishment when they misbehave and lots of re-enforcement when they do right (scratch the scratching post). Dieter (the boy) is de-clawed, but only because of his bizarre love ritual with Jackie.

One other thing to consider is capping: just a nylon sheath that fits over the nail. We used caps on the girls for a couple of years and it works fairly well. It takes two people to get the caps on (since you have to crazy-glue them into place, but once on they last for 4-6 weeks (or longer) and totally prevent the cat from scratching. And the cats don't seem to mind them, either. Even Shrodinger, who's really skittish.

The biggest problem we have is the shedding, since Jackie & I are at *least* as lazy as you guys. We're lucky in that our cats are big sooks and if you sit down to watch TV, they're usually right there. Just keep a brush handy.

Now, the litter box -- that used to drive me crazy, but lately I've just been doing a complete dump and replace instead of scooping. It's a little more expensive in terms of cat litter, but totally worth it in terms of time and effort.

And finally, feeding: take my advice: feed them in carriers. Your vet will love you.

[c9.livejournal.com]

As in the bowls live in the carriers, so it's easier to lure them in there?

[simplisticton.livejournal.com]

That's one thing -- if they come to associate the carrier with food, it's easier to get them in and out. The other is that if they're fed alone they only eat what you put out for them; they don't get overweight, and that's the biggest health risk to indoor cats.

[c9.livejournal.com]

Also, I remember finding those bright red caps (it was like you had hooker cats) all over the place -- to me it seemed like they didn't stay on that long. I like the training and reinforcing methods, myself. Just have to trick Vinny into falling in love with a couple of clawed cats now. :-)

[simplisticton.livejournal.com]

Actually they stayed on plenty long -- it was just that when they came off, our cats liked to play with them and hide them on us :-)