At war with the cat...

[Beekissed]

I'm in love with this cat. We've been really needing a good mouser around here and I sure miss having a cat, but now I miss it even more. I must find me a Bubbly cat now....thanks Monty!!!

Mutters to self while perusing the ads...cat, cat, kitten....no Bubbles.... dang it.

 

[Nyboy]

Bee around here rescue groups have what they call barn cats, they are cats that don't do well indoors. They even forgo the adoption fee on them. They are already spayed and have shots.

 

[canesisters]

We have those too. Call any shelter and tell them you want a couple of cats to be barn cats. They almost always have a few feral or nearly feral that they will give you.

 

[Nyboy]

Barn cats here are very tame and friendly, some cats just wouldn't use littler box indoor.

 

[bobm]

Sometimes that's just how cats show "love". We had a Tiger Bengal cat (bred 1/4th wild Asian leopard cat) and as much as I babied him, he still loved to ambush me and bite my ankle like being attacked by a rattlesnake. My FIL thought he was stuck up and picked on him just to get a rise out of him, and he would pick back, just like Monty's cat. After we moved and the cat stayed with them, he became my FIL's baby. They thoroughly enjoyed their little games and I do think it is a form of exercise, both physical and mental for an indoor cat who needs the stimulation and to exercise his wild instinct.

Loved your narrative, Monty. What a hoot! You could publish that as a short story.

ETA: Don't think I've ever heard tell of anyone being attacked and killed by a house cat, have you?

Yup !!! There was a tall, skinny , with a huge protruding adoms apple parish priest in a small town near where we lived that had a HUGE tom cat . One night when the priest was asleep ,the cat took a good hard bite of the priest's adom's apple . The priest did not survive.

 

[Nyboy]

I didn't think a house cat's jaws had that kind of power.

 

[Beekissed]

I'd like to have a friendly barn cat or two, but usually the shelters here only have feral cats....none too friendly and used to living in the city. They'd get eaten real quick out here in the country.

 

[Smart Red]

Bee, a city cat/inside cat can make a fine outside cat given a chance. We got Belle after a couple of thousand dollars was spent on Vet bills trying to find a cause for the cat not using the litter box. She was scheduled for euthanasia when we agreed to give her a chance.

Despite my efforts I couldn't get the cat civilized so she moved outside. She's at least 13 now and has thrived outside. She taught herself to hunt -- although she is handicapped by having had her front claws removed before coming here. That doesn't stop her from climbing trees when DS's dogs surprise her. Usually she just stands her ground and the dogs leave her alone.

With her advancing age (and mine) I have been allowing her limited inside priveleges. This started a couple of winters ago when the cold bothered me -- her being out in it bothered me even more. She stays in our bedroom and gets out every 2-3 hours or so except at night when she sleeps on the bed as long as she stays off people faces. I suspect she has learned to "speak to the face" when she needs to get out at night.

I am pleased to report the litterbox that has been unused for well over a year had a poop in it this weekend! Perhaps, as long as I keep the litterbox clean and available and I keep being my house training trips outside for her, she just might make a house cat yet.

DS has talked about building an egress/entrance door for the cat through a basement window. I'm still up in the air about that. At her age, I just might be building the door for nothing. Or else DS is preparing for his future ownership of the house and his own cats.

 

[curly_kate]

We have a cat who showed up at my door one day when she was about 6 months old. She's a great mouser (and has even caught a mole or two!) and the best thing is that she's housebroken. No litter box needed in this house! We had nothing to do with that, though. She came to us that way. Once or twice she's peed in the house, but she always has the courtesy to do it in the bathtub.

 

[pjn]

I have one "found" cat that won't use a litter box but will use a pee pee pad. Works well. Better that the accidents.