Pet Cat

Hi. My daughter had been begging for a pet for so long that I finally gave in. We didn't want a dog because we're all out of the house for too long. So, we figured a cat.

I gotta admit, that I am really skeeved by the whole concept of an animal walking throughout my house -- especially the kitchen and dining room!

The house is a split, so the layout is such that I can block the cat into the basement and family room. She's about 2 years old; we got her from a shelter. For the first week, she was pretty scared and really didn't wander out of those spaces. But, last night, we didn't have the barrier up by the family room and she got out to the other part of the house. Will we have to ALWAYS have the barrier up (right now it's a big piece of cardboard, but we would probably have to build an actual door). Or, could the cat somehow be trained to not leave the area?

I have never been an animal lover and I don't see myself becoming one, so I'm trying to limit its areas!

Any advice?

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Cats can get around pretty much anything unless you lock them behind a door.
My one cat even knew how to open doors.

It's not going to be easy to confine a cat.

I'm not sure what's so skeevy about them? They are super clean animals.

Pet Cat

What's the reason for confining the cat? I'm not sure I understand. Kids are messy and you don't confine them. Your pet is part of the family and should be treated as such.

I don't think its really fair to the cat. Plus, I think if you start locking it in a restricted area, it will start damaging the area out of spite.

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Cats are hard to train, and it takes a lot of contact and time with them to even try.
Cats can leap over just about any obstacle, unless it's a solid floor to ceiling door. Cats love high places, and exploring, so they will definitely get over any obstacle that you can see over.

Pet Cat

We wound up getting baby gates for the parts of the house we didn't want the cat in. But over a year later she still tries her darnedest to get in! ps My husband HATED cats but reluctantly agreed because of my DD and now he is in love with the cat. He skeeves on her being in a couple different spaces though, hence the gates. I can't say this will happen to you but a nice pet has a way of worming its way into your heart. I would've laughed in your face if you told me my life long cat hating husband would be playing with and petting a cat one day.

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Our bedroom is the only place that DH insisted be off limits to our cats. We keep our bedroom door closed and that's it.
Lately we've been letting her in there during the day here and there, if I am in there working (I work in my bedroom when I work from home most times) and she'll come and hang out with me, explore a bit. Before the other one passed away we never let him in there because he was sick and vomited A LOT.
Now that he is gone and she is still healthy, I let her in here and there, but she doesn't sleep in there with us.
At night we keep our door shut.

Other than that she has the run of the house and nobody has gotten any diseases yet.

Honestly, she's cleaner than my DD.

Message edited 9/20/2018 3:50:03 PM.

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If you did it for your DD, try to have an open attitude towards having a pet. After many years of DS begging for a cat, we got him one about 18 months ago. I didn't like cats, and now I love them... not only mine, but all of them. They are very special pets. Don't confine her. As others said, she might start doing things like scratching or peeing out of the litter box, etc.

Pet Cat

You can not confine a cat and really shouldn't. It is extremely hard to train them. Maybe you should rehome the cat if you are not up to it for yours and the cat's sake.

Pet Cat

My cat has free reign of the house, but she mostly likes to just sit on the back of my reclining chair and look out the window all day. I really have no issues with her climbing onto the counters, etc. The fur is a pain, but I lint roll the couch, chair, etc. and sometimes HER! She actually loves the lint roller though LOL. I wasn't 100% sold on a cat either, but my DD wanted her when she was 4, and here she is 7 years later and we can't imagine our lives without her!

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I’m a huge animal lover, especially cats and I really feel like if you don’t really want the cat, you should give it a new home. The cat should be able to freely roam the house. If it’s confined to a small space, it’s just as bad as a cage.

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Pet Cat

And in response to another comment you made, any cat I have had is way cleaner than any child I have ever come in contact with! I clean them, they are fastidiously clean by nature, and live in a clean house. So if your pet is dirty, well that's a problem.

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You can’t contain a cat in a space.

I can say that I have trained my cats really well. They do not jump up on countors (can’t spell today) or tables. They understand a certain language that I speak. That language is “good girl/boy.” They also understand headpats. That is something that the mother cat does to them. It’s a firm hand on the head (no hitting). They usually do something else after that, and I give positive reinforcement after when they do the right thing. A simple pet works best.

They understand the word no, but you have to say it a lot. They totally get that. I have my cats trained to make sure they do all the things necessary.

The most important thing is to do positive reinforcement. By that I mean, is if they do something that you do not want, then wait a few minutes, say OK, give them a pet (maybe a treat), then say good girl/boy.

I have my cats trained very well. They know they should not cry and they know what to do if something goes wrong. It takes a bit of work, but they know.

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