So i'm thinking of getting a cat

[Catfood220]

I'd advise you to try and get a tabby, I may be completely wrong here, but tabbies are the most well-natured and friendly cats you can find.

And be careful with tortoise shell cats, they can tend to be very tempermental. I had one when I was very young that was pure evil. You could be stroking her and it would all be very friendly until you would lose a hand.

In addition, I'd chip my cat. I don't know if they do this everywhere, but where I live it's possible to get a tiny chip implanted just underneath the skin of your cat. This way, if it ever gets lost, a vet can track you down as its owner.

If you have a cat that is allowed to go outside, please keep in mind that they might bring home the occasional dead animal. For some reason I totally forgot about that part when adopting my cat. The result? 1 dead pigeon, 1 dead common blackbird and a dead bird that was only about 2 weeks old. And all that in a single month. You can't punish them for it, it's a totally natural thing, but the animal lover in you might not like cleaning up the bloody remains of a bird. Which leads me to my final tip: get it a collar with a little bell on it ;-) I know opinions on these bells differ and it won't stop your cat from killing animals entirely (some learn how to sneak so it doesn't make any noise at all) but it might help

The thing about having your cat or any pet for that matter chipped is a good one, looking into pet insurance is also a good idea, this will become very very useful when it comes to dealing with huge vet bills should anything unexpected happen, it should be quite cheap to insure your pet so it is worth it.

As for hunting, cats will hunt, it is in their nature. My cats, when they were just learning to hunt were very cute, they would bring in twigs and bits of grass as their tropheys. It starts to be less cute when they are bringing in live rats. Thankfully that doesn't happen very often but half eaten rats are even less fun to clean up. My cats also tend to bring in live mice, which they let go, the mice then run behind something and the cats stalk them for about half hour before they get bored/tired/hungry and give up. I have so far lost a printer to this behaviour when a mouse that escaped them decided to make a home in it. So mouse traps maybe a good idea if your cat does the same thing.

As for collars, I would be careful, they may seem like a good idea but when they were younger, I tried the collar thing and they would always somehow lose them and one time, one of my cats came in with his front paw tangled up in the collar. No idea how he managed that, but I gave up on them after that and decided to deal with whatever death they bring into the house.

Also, despite the cliche that cats love milk, don't give it to them. Cats are lactose intolerant so they can't actually digest it. You can buy special cat milk, but its expensive.

Also, this.

http://www.cracked.com/article/226_6-adorable-cat-behaviors-with-shockingly-evil-explanations/

 

[NorthernStar]

As for collars, I would be careful, they may seem like a good idea but when they were younger, I tried the collar thing and they would always somehow lose them and one time, one of my cats came in with his front paw tangled up in the collar. No idea how he managed that, but I gave up on them after that and decided to deal with whatever death they bring into the house.

Also, despite the cliche that cats love milk, don't give it to them. Cats are lactose intolerant so they can't actually digest it. You can buy special cat milk, but its expensive.

Oh yeah, good point about the milk. Which reminds me, at the pet shelter they advised me to not give my cat anything but dry food of a good quality. Non dry catfood (like whiskas and other brands) tends to be too high in fat and salt. In fact, they had reason to believe that some cats might even get urinary tract disease from it, causing them to lose control over their bladder. Many cats get brought into the shelter with these symptoms. In the end, it turns out that they were just given the wrong kind of food. It's okay to give it to them every once in a while, but you run the risk of them liking it so much they'll refuse to eat their normal food.

About the collars; my cat has a collar with an elastic band that is tied very, very loosely. I can easily put a couple of fingers between the cat and the collar. That way, he won't hang himself as he'll always be able to escape. Of course, some cats are just extremely klutzy. Anyway; if you get a new cat, you're supposed to keep him inside for at least two months to allow him to get used to his new environment, which is a perfect time to try and see how he handles the collar.

 

[])rStrangelove]

I saw a cute kitten turning into a nightmare for everyone in a whole flat.

Cats are predators, they're constantly searching for anything suspicious within their local area. They need to be constantly on patrol. If you can't allow them to do this, DONT GET A CAT!

Trouble is that over the years a cat develops a bigger understanding of what their 'local patrol area' is:

- your bathroom (esp when its used by someone)
- any window sill (esp where lots of small things stand and can break)
- your balcony (5 times a day)
- any room with a closed door (counts for small sideroom for the dustdevil too)
- stairs (esp 4 o'clock in the morning)
- 3m outside of the front door (just to see if its raining)

Seriously, be prepared to open doors for them for the next decade or otherwise be driven into madness by an evergrowing concert of the cutiest calls ever.

If you think you get a cat to watch it and have fun while doing it you're mistaken: you're being watched and your stress level (until you show a reaction) is constantly tested. They even change the tone and level of their calls until they find the volume and frequency where you show the quickest reaction.

No joke. I saw this happening.

Or get rid of all doors lol.