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You can have mine, I'm sick of the furry bastard

Author Topic: The Chronicles of Pete  (Read 72135 times)

Eccentrica Gallumbits

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The Chronicles of Pete
« on: 02 July, 2014, 12:34:11 pm »
More and more lately, I've been thinking about getting a cat. In particular, Pete as featured here http://www.lothiancatrescue.org/featured-cats.html . Look at his lovely face!

Cons
- I'm allergic (but I am changing to soft contact lenses, and I don't always die when I go to bobb's and cuddle Boris)
- second floor flat (but could put catflap in my door and there is already catflap in door to back green)
- expense, commitment, risk of decapitated wildlife

Pros
- would help to keep the bastard mice away
http://www.lothiancatrescue.org/featured-cats.html - look at his lovely face!
- it would make bobb happy cos he misses Boris when he's with me
My feminist marxist dialectic brings all the boys to the yard.


Jaded

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Re: Shall I get a cat?
« Reply #1 on: 02 July, 2014, 12:42:20 pm »
Look at his lovely face!

Look at all their lovely faces!

Except Lenny - he looks scary.
It is simpler than it looks.

tiermat

  • According to Jane, I'm a Unisex SpaceAdmin
Re: Shall I get a cat?
« Reply #2 on: 02 July, 2014, 12:43:48 pm »
YES!

Poody looks like our Oreo, Pete like our Twix.

Go for it, you won't regret it.  Though, TBH, if you are allergic you might want to go for a long hair rather than your normal common or garden "short hair" variety, people tend to react less to them (I had no reaction to Lord Dashworth, but if either of ours sit next to me I start sneezing very soon after)
I feel like Captain Kirk, on a brand new planet every day, a little like King Kong on top of the Empire State

Julian

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Re: Shall I get a cat?
« Reply #3 on: 02 July, 2014, 12:47:09 pm »
Cat allergies can fade as you get used to the cat in question.

Kim

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Re: Shall I get a cat?
« Reply #4 on: 02 July, 2014, 12:49:03 pm »
Cat allergies can fade as you get used to the cat in question.

..but don't bank on it.


Anyway, things are always better when there's a cat.

Eccentrica Gallumbits

  • Rock 'n' roll and brew, rock 'n' roll and brew...
Re: Shall I get a cat?
« Reply #5 on: 02 July, 2014, 01:23:00 pm »
Look at his lovely face!

Look at all their lovely faces!

Except Lenny - he looks scary.
My colleague Jane and I are pissing ourselves laughing at Fluffy. That is one cat who didn't want his photo taken.  ;D

Jane is very sad today because her cat, Felix, will be taking his final trip to the vet tomorrow.   :'(


What do you reckon the running costs of a cat are? £50 for food and insurance per month?
My feminist marxist dialectic brings all the boys to the yard.


Re: Shall I get a cat?
« Reply #6 on: 02 July, 2014, 01:57:11 pm »
One other (major) con: Everything you ever own, from your clothes to your refrigerator air-intake to your TV cooling vents, will become coated in cat fur. But the layer of cat fur does protect the carpet from small squeaky bloodstains and regurgitated kibble.  ::-)

As for costs, our vet lets us pay for vaccinations etc by DD throughout the year. It works out at about £13 per month per cat, and gives us a 10% discount on other treatments. Add to that the insurance (£18 per cat per month, but ours are rather old so their insurance is more expensive - and I recommend Pet Plan as they are far more likely to pay out) plus kibble (maybe £10 per cat per month? More if I'm treating them) plus miscellaneous toys that you see in the pet shop and simply MUST buy and then you take home for it to be ignored like all the other toys while the cats play with a bike light instead, plus treats and catnip that you buy to encourage the ungrateful buggers to play with the stash of expensive ignored toys...
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T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Shall I get a cat?
« Reply #7 on: 02 July, 2014, 02:04:28 pm »
Cat allergies can fade as you get used to the cat in question.

Operative word "can".  Neighbour's cat elected domicile with us a few years back and every day turned into a nightmare of itching sinuses, streaming nose & eyes and eventually asthma.  I put up with it for a month or two but in the end I had to resort to staring at it with bared teeth and hissing as viciously as I could every time I saw it. It buggered off.

Don't much like cats anyway. Self-serving and insincere.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Kim

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Re: Shall I get a cat?
« Reply #8 on: 02 July, 2014, 02:06:37 pm »
You just listed two of their best features  :)

Re: Shall I get a cat?
« Reply #9 on: 02 July, 2014, 02:32:44 pm »
Yes. Get a cat  :) And I'll build a massive cat ladder for it  ;D
Those wonderful norks are never far from my thoughts, oh yeah!

Re: Shall I get a cat?
« Reply #10 on: 02 July, 2014, 03:28:50 pm »
One other (major) con: Everything you ever own, from your clothes to your refrigerator air-intake to your TV cooling vents, will become coated in cat fur. But the layer of cat fur does protect the carpet from small squeaky bloodstains and regurgitated kibble.  ::-)

As for costs, our vet lets us pay for vaccinations etc by DD throughout the year. It works out at about £13 per month per cat, and gives us a 10% discount on other treatments. Add to that the insurance (£18 per cat per month, but ours are rather old so their insurance is more expensive - and I recommend Pet Plan as they are far more likely to pay out) plus kibble (maybe £10 per cat per month? More if I'm treating them) plus miscellaneous toys that you see in the pet shop and simply MUST buy and then you take home for it to be ignored like all the other toys while the cats play with a bike light instead, plus treats and catnip that you buy to encourage the ungrateful buggers to play with the stash of expensive ignored toys...

We've not had a cat hair problem - and ours is semi-longhair. Furball and subsequent ejection thereof - oh yes  :sick:

Insurance - we don't bother, harsh though it may seem. Cat cost £50 from RSPCA. We get the annual service and inoculations for the cattery (about £50)  and the occasional toenail clip (I'm too scared to do it) even though ours is out more than in. Anything too major, it's sleepy-bye pussycat  :'(  and off to the RSPCA for another.

We alternate food now - was all dried (Pets @ Home have a decent variety) but now she's older she get a wet food pouch in the morning (currently Whiskas on offer at Tesco) and dry stuff in the afternoon.

Biggest expense is cattery at £10/night (well it IS Buckinghamshire) but we have a good network of feeders for short trips.
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Re: Shall I get a cat?
« Reply #11 on: 02 July, 2014, 06:14:37 pm »
No just get another bike  ;)

Mrs Pingu

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Re: Shall I get a cat?
« Reply #12 on: 02 July, 2014, 09:07:01 pm »
I was allergic to cats but I dosed myself up to the eyeballs and got a tolerance after a bit. Still come up in a big itchy lump if I get scratched though.
We also have long haired cats and I find the hair less irritating - it seems more float felty and less of a cloud of pointy hairs trying to get up my nose.
And yes, of course you should get a cat - a house without a cat is not a home :)
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

Pingu

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Re: Shall I get a cat?
« Reply #13 on: 02 July, 2014, 10:30:15 pm »
Get the one called Bob.

Re: Shall I get a cat?
« Reply #14 on: 02 July, 2014, 11:17:01 pm »
Dammit! Want to stroke & tickle all of them  :D

I'd love one, but I'm at work all day & live on the 4th floor , so have never thought it right to acquire a furry owner  :(
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Re: Shall I get a cat?
« Reply #15 on: 03 July, 2014, 12:04:44 am »
Kirst obviously needs to follow @EmrgencyKittens on Twitter
Not fast & rarely furious

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Re: Shall I get a cat?
« Reply #16 on: 03 July, 2014, 08:01:30 am »
hmm.  Now I love the fluffy, spiky little bastards that MrsMike insisted on but my allergies have got steadily worse.... 

I'm now on antihistamines 365 days a year (and now need prescription ones, not the cheap ones from te*co)  and the doc always sighs when I tell him we've still got them.

red marley

Re: Shall I get a cat?
« Reply #17 on: 03 July, 2014, 08:23:59 am »
Dammit! Want to stroke & tickle all of them  :D

What, even Nami, who appears to be doing a sick?

And is Lenny 8 feet tall?

Eccentrica Gallumbits

  • Rock 'n' roll and brew, rock 'n' roll and brew...
Re: Shall I get a cat?
« Reply #18 on: 03 July, 2014, 08:25:44 am »
hmm.  Now I love the fluffy, spiky little bastards that MrsMike insisted on but my allergies have got steadily worse.... 

I'm now on antihistamines 365 days a year (and now need prescription ones, not the cheap ones from te*co)  and the doc always sighs when I tell him we've still got them.
I've been on prescription anti-histamines for the last 20 years just to stop me clawing my own skin off  :-[

Own up you lot. Who has voted that they want rid of their own cat?  :o
My feminist marxist dialectic brings all the boys to the yard.


Wombat

  • Is it supposed to hurt this much?
Re: Shall I get a cat?
« Reply #19 on: 03 July, 2014, 08:29:15 am »
Not me, I recently shocked my colleagues by making the observation that if my house was on fire I'd rescue him in preference to Mrs W.  I'd happily take them all home, but Baggins, who is a big, strong white and black (as opposed to black and white) would be a bit upset.  Dog would hide in the corner quivering....
Wombat

CrinklyLion

  • The one with devious, cake-pushing ways....
Re: Shall I get a cat?
« Reply #20 on: 03 July, 2014, 08:34:59 am »
hmm.  Now I love the fluffy, spiky little bastards that MrsMike insisted on but my allergies have got steadily worse.... 

I'm now on antihistamines 365 days a year (and now need prescription ones, not the cheap ones from te*co)  and the doc always sighs when I tell him we've still got them.
I've been on prescription anti-histamines for the last 20 years just to stop me clawing my own skin off  :-[

Own up you lot. Who has voted that they want rid of their own cat?  :o

Not me.

Mainly because I already gave 'my' two away to some forumites who were able to give 'em a fair better home than massively allergic me.  I still haven't got back into the habit of actually sitting on the sofa, which was damn near a no-go zone for years if I wanted to minimise the sneeze-fest.

Re: Shall I get a cat?
« Reply #21 on: 03 July, 2014, 12:02:33 pm »
Pete looks magnificent.

We have a black and white Rodney, who is a big strong boy on account of being neutered late. He's just a big amenable lump, very even tempered.

The late neutering doesn't seem to have done him any harm, though he really loves his blanket, which can be a bit grim when you've got visitors.

Eccentrica Gallumbits

  • Rock 'n' roll and brew, rock 'n' roll and brew...
Re: Shall I get a cat?
« Reply #22 on: 03 July, 2014, 12:37:03 pm »
I spoke to the cat rescuers yesterday and they said he's a nice boy, bit temperamental, and will let you know when he's had enough, but not nasty, and wouldn't be fazed by me being at work all day. They can't reserve him for me though, so I either have to take him asap and then find other arrangements for when I'm in Greece, or I have to hope nobody else picks him before mid-September.

I really don't want to get a rescue cat, spend 2 months getting him settled and used to me, then put him into a cattery or have someone come in to feed him for two weeks. So I won't be doing anything till at least mid-September, and I hope he's still there by then!

We have a black and white Rodney, who is a big strong boy on account of being neutered late. He's just a big amenable lump, very even tempered.

The late neutering doesn't seem to have done him any harm, though he really loves his blanket, which can be a bit grim when you've got visitors.
When I was a kid, we had Tiptoes, the best, but fiercest and frankly most psychopathic cat in the world. My parents didn't have him neutered - they were going to, but then my dad had the snip and decided it was unfair to put the cat through the pain when it had no way of understanding what was going on. I think they regretted that decision, because he was roughly the size of a tiger cub, extremely fierce, and sprayed a lot. But he was the most bestest cat ever, and is the reason I now can't resist a cat in dinner jacket.  ;D
My feminist marxist dialectic brings all the boys to the yard.


Wowbagger

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Re: Shall I get a cat?
« Reply #23 on: 03 July, 2014, 03:53:14 pm »
I voted for option 3, which is not strictly accurate because it's my daughter's cat. I don't mind when you go to the bog and it pongs of the last person to dump in there but the huge ammonia output from the cat litter tray lurking by the bath is unbearable on a hot July day.
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Mrs Pingu

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Re: Shall I get a cat?
« Reply #24 on: 03 July, 2014, 05:58:21 pm »
If the smell is that bad a) it's not being cleaned out often enough and b) think how bad it smells to the cat!
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.