Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler OT: New Kitten

Well, my girlfriend and I just bought a 3 month old kitten. It is a grey/white tabby that runs around all day as if on speed... Currently she is sleeping on my lap (not trying to help me type or eat the cursor anymore) and listening to the Beatles with me. We are thinking of naming her Alexia (I wanted to call her Lexx, but that is not a very girlish name and Cyndi (my gf) wanted to call her Lexus which I think is silly, so Alexia it is!)

Any other cat lovers here?

where are the pictures???

I like cats -- have three of them. I love dogs -- have one of them. Go figure.

I want a 25lb kitty like this one...



...but Roger isn't so keen on the idea.

Ha, again I would post pics but I do not have a digital camera...actually I don't think that I even have a regular camera. Although, I probably could have bought a digital camera with the money I used to buy the cat and all the things you need for a cat (litter box, toys, carrier, etc) as well as the bills soon to come for spaying, shots etc.

hey spiff-kiss your speaker grills goodbye if you get that one-and many other things i would imagine

Danm thats a beautiful creature.Cats are cool,but dogs rule this house 3 of them.I wouldn't have those if it weren't for the wife.

The only pets I have are 2 tarantulas.One is a green bottle blue the other ir a curly hair.They don't eat much and I don't have to take them for walks

Lexxen,

You're not geting out of it that easy. Draw us a picture!

I've got two. I never thought I'd be a cat person, but my ex-girlfriend moved to the UK and they have one of the longest quarantine periods of any country. The thought of these two idiots locked in a travel cage in a warehouse out by the airport somewhere just wasn't okay with me. So she's long gone, and I've got the kids.

Lily turned four this year. She's broken, I think. There was no warranty, so we were forced to keep her. We politely asked the people at the humane society for a cat, but I think they gave us a porpoise or a small baboon instead. She's deeply, deeply troubled.

Miller turns 10 in January. Weighing in at a daunting 17 pounds, she lets Lily walk all over her. She's irritable, but far too gentle to deal with my problem child.

Like I said, I never thought I'd be a cat person. I grew up with dogs, and always saw myself with a "guy's dog". I wouldn't trade these two for the world, though. They're hilarious, and they keep me sane.

Lexx, is this your first time owning a kitten? The next 12-14 months of your life are going to be utter hell.

If I got a dog, I'd love one of these...but alas they can be quite destructive too...


Basenji

Based on temperment, and where I live this is likely the best pet for me...


The whippet. Yeah...it's the same dog the Simpsons have/had. They're friendly, and calm. A perfect dog for a city dweller.

Maybe I should just get a fish bowl.

Horribly cute, ain't they? But they stiiiink.... Sometimes I wish our cats were kittens, but then I remember dealing with the various kittens we've taken care of and had... You're lucky she likes you. I wish our current kitten did, but she's scared to death of us.

Then there's my cat, Kali the Destroyer. All too aptly named, although now Jabba the Hutt would also fit. She's probably pushing about 18 pounds.

My wife's cats (the designations are pre-marriage; two years last week!) are Gypsy, who is a horrendously cute tuxedo cat who loves glaring at people, and Sprite, a black cat who probably weighs almost as much as Kali but is, um, not quite as smart. OK, well, not smart at all. She's also more muscle, where Kali is more blob.

Then there's The Kitten. Who was feral when we caught her, and also way, way underweight. She's maintained her fear of humans, which means that she lets us get close enough to feed her, but that's about it.

Gypsy's the one on my shoulders in my avatar.

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which means that she lets us get close enough to feed her, but that's about it.

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That's the #1 reason why I hesitat to get a cat. Who wants a pet that's not friendly. Some friends of ours have two cats, that they spoil beyond imagination. (It's really sick) But the damn cats won't let anyone touch them. They'll show up for dinner, and then that's it. What's the point?

I had a cat when I was a kid that was awesome. He was 1/2 siamese and 1/2 Maine Coon. Smartest cat I've ever known. Loved affection. The best part was he'd play fetch! (Hell I've never even had a dog that liked to play fetch!)

Ah, ah, ah! That's taking things out of context!

The other 3 cats are very affectionate, and don't even bite or scratch. It's only the ex-feral cat, who was probably 3-4 months old when we got her. We also took away her brother, and we never made a real effort to socialize her. Two of our cats were lab cats, so they were raised with lots of human interaction and other cats. They're very affectionate. The other was an SPCA rescue.

>>I wanted to call her Lexx, but that is not a very girlish name...

So call her Xev. Duhh !!!



or Zev :

OK...this thread just took a turn for the worse.

re: mean cats...hey, no offense to your kitties. My family has owned it's fair share of mean cats too. It just seems like luck of the draw sometimes when it comes to cat personalities. Not sure I want to take that chance.

None taken, I forgot the smiley!

There are ways to get nice cats, is all I'm saying. For one, don't let your roomate stick yogurt cups on their faces. Oh wait, that seemed to work out fine... other than the fact that she's FAT!

>>OK...this thread just took a turn for the worse.

Hmmm, obviously Lexx isn't on TV down there. I was expecting more along the lines of "of course... Xev... what a perfect name for a new kitten".

Never mind ;(

WEll, there are so many posts to reply to. I think this is my most successful thread yet

Picture: well, I'll try with the text thing...here goes


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HA! I think I'm getting better! (simplicity is the key)

This is not the first kitten I've had (the first one I ever paid $180CAD for, though) I grew up on a farm and we were the strange-cat-lady farm... also, I've very impressed with this kitten. She is the most social cat I've ever met and came pre-trained for the litter box. (although she likes to eat plants, cords, feet, etc.) She does seem to have a problem with eye-goobers, though and she needs booster shots on the 12th.

BTW, when I lived with my parents in Highschool my neighbour had a 28lb cat. It was like a large fluffy keg with feet...


oh, also I always thought Kai was kind of a girl name...especially for an asassan which a cool blade thing that comes out of his (it's?) arm.
Man, I should start watching Lexx again... such a good Canadian show (read: such a weird show)

I think it's an adorable kitten. My wife says that you need to feed that cat.

Men discussing cats? What is this, an episode of "The View"?

Sorry, had to do that, especially since I'm a big dog person...

What's wrong with having both?


edit - what's up with image posting? [img] tags aren't working anymore?

re: eye goobers -- one of my dogs had the same problem, turned out to be a dry eye. Drops helped a bit but not completely -- the goobers come because the eye gets a bit inflamed and puts out some mucousy stuff.

He's on an ointment called "optimmune" now which seems to work great -- a little bit in the eye each day and it seems to stimulate the natural tear production; no more goobers. Not sure your cat has the same issue, of course, but wouldn't hurt to ask.

>>The best part was he'd play fetch!

I had a burmese/siamese back in university days, raised with dogs, loved to fetch. The whole litter turned out to be a bit brain-damaged (started walking into walls etc... at a couple of years old), most of them didn't make it past 6-7 years but this guy made it to 19 living with friends out in Portland and only passed away very recently.

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as well as the bills soon to come for spaying, shots etc.

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Lexxen, My wife works in the veterinary field. Let me know when your cat is due for shots and I will see what I can do about getting you a deal...............and enough with the cat talk already! Real men have dog's, snakes etc but kittens?

lol Can you tell I'm not a cat person!

i am late, and the conversation has changed several times, but i will chime in anyway.
i dont like cats. we had one when our first son was born, and he went wacko.. i dont know if the baby scared him, or if he was jealous of the lack of attention, but he just went crazy. he started attacking peoples feet when they walked in the door, he would jump on peoples head when they sat on the couch, and he started pooping on himself, then rubbing it on the walls and door jams.. needless to say, he was gone not too long after that.

now we have a chocolate lab named 'mocha'. she is great. super calm, and lets the kids climb all over her.

spiff- i used to have a whippit when i lived in memphis back in the early 90's. they are great urban dogs. very calm, no shedding, and very obedient. and fast. i have never seen a dog run like that, except when i was betting on them

bigjohn

bigJ, your post helped me more then you know. My kids have been all over me to get them a dog and the wife is pushing hard for a Chocolate Lab. I'm glad to hear they are good with kids. You may have just made it on to my kids Christmas card list!...........Dad may be leaving a little puppy under the tree this year!

labs are really great. they have an awesome temperment with children. i can only think of three downsides.

1- they do shed, but not bad. if it will be an inside/outside dog, expect light shedding year round, with it being a little heavier when the seasons change. we always pick up big clumps of hair in the spring as she gets rid of the winter coat. but if you vacuum regilarly, and keep a clean house, it wont be a pbob.

2- they will BARK, but no bite. i call it the 'whos there' syndrome. if there is a commotion outside the fence, or in the alley, she will give a few yelps, but not the constant yapping like german sheppards do. but, once she knows it is safe, she lets it go, and calms quickly.

3- and last.. they are diggers and chewers. you can count on during the first year of life, that they will dig multiple holes and chew multiple things. the digging will be less if you play with them alot. i think they do it cause they are bored. if you have three kids to keep him company, i reckon you wont have a prob with this. and they LOVE to chew as puppiues, even more so than most other breed of puppies. so have LOTS of jerky, and pig ear treats. chew bones, and other various tough, long lasting chewables. trust me, they are worth it. if not, the dog will chew your kids toys, shoes, table and chair legs, and just about any stick of wood or piece of paper thay can get their paws on. this WILL pass with age and maturity, but you can help by offering the dog alternatives to chew on.

mocha is now 7, and she is super great. one of the better dogs i have ever owned.

bigjohn

Yeah, and I've known dogs that can't be controlled and attack children. There are bad animals of all kinds...

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Yeah, and I've known dogs that can't be controlled and attack children. There are bad animals of all kinds...

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............and the cat lovers come out, hair up and claws ready to go!

Pit bulls are cool. Mine's actually a pit-lab mix (a.k.a. "Pitrador Bulliever"). She's super gentle with Steven, and basically thinks he's a puppy.

I'm just sayin'....

Heh... speaking of that you should have seen how my gentlest cat, Gypsy, reacted to Peter's pit bull. Arched back, puffed up fur, hissing... slash slash! I've never seen her do anything similar.

Not the smartest cat is she?

Hey, Sunny backed off. She's probably the smartest one we've got.

Domestic animals don't seem to have a real good sense of "who's the boss" until they fight it out a bit. First time we took my Yorkies out to socialize they charged into a pack of big tundra shepherds, fortunately well trained ones. The leader put a big paw on Curly's back and pretty much flattened him into the ground, held him there for a few seconds then ignored him. I was humiliated, can't even imagine how the dogs felt

>>but if you vacuum regilarly...

The trick with labs is to vacuum the dogs directly, don't wait until they shed. Start them fairly young, scratch their backs then start doing it with the vacuum turned off and finally graduate to vacuum turned on.

Get them used to it and you will have almost no shed hair, but you will have a tough time vacuuming 'cause the &%^&%dog will follow you around the house wanting to be vacuumed again.

LOL! In short, you end up creating a monster.

Yes, but a very clean monster with a wonderful temperament.

Nothing against cats, but I've always been a big dog person. I've got a fun loving lab, not the smartest but still a great dog. We call him our 'C student'.

Now here's your challenge. I want to see this cat thread get bigger than the Politics thread...

heh, good luck :P

I like cats because they don't need as much attention as dogs and right now I don't have the time to walk/play with a dog all the time. I find that cats are often content with playing with a toy or sleeping on your lap. I like dogs as well, though (and I'm not trying to say that dogs always need attention -- it is probably different with all breeds)

How's the kitten doing?

pretty good. I think that the "eye goobers" were just due to a cold (she had started sneezing as well, but both symptoms seem to have dissapeared) We're takning her to the vet next wednesday to get her second set of shots, but she is driving my girlfriend crazy -- attacking feet in bed/while doing dishes... getting into everything... I think I may have to give up the girlfriend.

The poor little thing (kitten) will not sleep anywhere except on us or our pillows which is not good, as my girlfriend has a slight alergy (which becomes a little bit more than slight with the cat on her head...)

Yeah, we have to keep the cats out of the bedroom. They tend to want to sleep with us, but only if we're not sleeping at the same time...

Yeah we though of closing the door, but the poor thing just meews and meews... (meew is what a kitten does )

Yeah... but you're probably just going to have to let her do that. Then again, what do I know? I've never owned a people-person kitten. And you also won't get any sleep.

Be careful! When my cat was a kitten, she would always want to "sleep" under the covers. I say "sleep" because she wouldn't actually sit still much. She'd rub against my hands and demand to be scratched, then when I did scratch her, she'd want to knead my stomach with her paws. It was cute at first, but then she grew up and it got annoying.

We started kicking her out of the room before we went to bed, but she got smart and his under the bed until we turned the lights out. She still tries to weasel her way under the covers.

Big pic of my cat when she was young

Yeah, we don't have school tomorrow because of Rememberance Day so we are going to try locking her out tonight.

pmbuko -- that is almost what my cat looks like, only my cat has more grey and a few patches of brown (actually, it kind of looks like she has gotten into some chocolate).

Well I'm late, but I think this picture makes my position in all of this clear:

That's pretty cute. I'd never though of using a hood as a kitty pouch.

HA HA! Bump to the top!

Just writing to say that I will be borrowing a digital camera -- a very expensive on so I'd better not break it -- tomorrow. I will take pictures of both my kitty and my setup. possibly myself as well... scary.

Well, I've gotten some pictures and will hopefully have them edited enough to post them tonight after work.

Here they are, though

Cute little pussycat. I'd like to get a cat. Maybe someday.

That is a very cute kitten. Of course, that's kind of redundant sort of.

Very cute kitten indeed. Thanks for the pics.

Cute. A friend of mine recently lost his cat (of 9 years) to lymphoma (cancer) and between these pictures and his experience, I really wish I were NOT allergic to cats. I'd very seriously consider getting a kitten.

james

I'm allergic and have found that when you live with them you build a tollerance to the one you have. It is strange because if I go into another home with a cat a sneeze yet I don't with my cat.

My wife's the same way.

Interesting. I don't sneeze, but my throat closes a bit and my voice gets very scratchy, and my eyes get watery. Even if I'm just in the room (not petting or getting dander on my face). The biggest issue is I get very blood shot eyes and they get crusty.... Ick

jr

Mmm.. if you've got the throat closing up thing, I'd avoid it. My wife's allergies aren't that severe. You probably wouldn't be able to acclimate.

That, or get a cat and start smoking pot regularly. You'll be able to blame the bloodshot eyes on the pot, thereby mitigating the effects of the cat.

Don't worry James, you will never have to deal with millions of tiny little claw marks this way

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That, or get a cat and start smoking pot regularly. You'll be able to blame the bloodshot eyes on the pot, thereby mitigating the effects of the cat

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i was just thinkin the same thing!!

bigjohn

HA! I do live in California. I wonder if an allergy to cats would justify medicinal use....

jr