Cat owners of Tildes, what are your tips & tricks?

Nail trimming

Trimming the nails of my first cat (Linda you are sorely missed), was hell. Albeit she came into my life even I was 5, but by the time I was her main carer, nail trimming was something I feared.

When my next two cats came into my life, I started consistently touching their paws every chance I got. I started gently, only for a few seconds and when they were calm or sleeping. I also left the nail trimmer by the food bowl so it wasn't an unfamiliar object, and it had some association with a positive action (eating).

Trimming their nails is so easy that even after three years I'm still excited about it :).

Again, emphasis on consistency. In my experience with cats consistency for weeks if not months is key, tough but so worth it.

Respect what they are "saying". If they don't want interaction such as petting, don't force it.

Playing and other exercise is good. Depending on the cat, you can get then into a harness and meander outside. They don't walk like dogs but my cats enjoyed outdoor time.

They probably will enjoy the free toys such as boxes or paper bags over expensive toys.

Remember every cat will be different and enjoy different things.

Good luck!

I’m by no means an expert on cats, but my advice would be if a cat comes to your back door, looking underweight and seemingly crying for food, don’t feed it unless you’re prepared to adopt it permanently. I’m definitely not complaining, but that’s exactly what happened to me last year and I appear to have been claimed by her.

I did recently watch this interesting documentary about cats and found it a great help to understand how to take better care of them.

Do NOT let cats play with string, yarn, rubber bands, or other things they can swallow. It can get impacted in their intestines and either kill them or result in a multi-thousand dollar surgery. My "whoopsie" was $3500 in 2011 dollars.

Adopting in Pairs

I've been a cat-person my whole life. Growing up, my mom could never resist adopting a stray in need of a home, so we always get cats one one-at-a-time.

A few years ago, when my household made the decision that it was time for a cat, the shelter that that we went to required (or at least strongly preferred) that people adopt kittens in pairs. We ended up adopting two torties who were sisters from the same litter.

Best. Decision. Ever.

As young kittens, they would play together and keep each other occupied. Sometimes at night, but at least they weren't pouncing on us to try to get us to play. I'm also told that by playing together, they better learn the limits for claws, teeth, and aggression. I believe it. if one gets too rough she'll get a swift reprisal from her sister.

As adults, they still love to play chase, pounce on, and wrestle each other. But they will also sleep side-by-side (sometimes), help each other groom tough spots, bird watch together, hunt insects in the house together, and generally keep each other company when we humans are out.

A more unexpected benefit has been occasionally having one calling out when the other needs help. This has happened when the braver one managed to slip past us and get out the front door without anyone noticing. Or the times when one of the kids shut the door to a room and accidentally trapped a cat in there. They really don't like to be separated, and I've learned to identify and pay attention when one's calls to the other go on for too long.

Speaking of separation, the one real downside is that I dread the day when the inevitable parting in this world happens. I can't imagine them apart. But seeing them together in the here and now makes it all worth it.

(As yet another Redditfugee, this is my first post on Tildes. Thanks for having me here!)

I've had cats for 30+ years off and on. My three big things that maybe haven't been mentioned yet:

Diet: Wet food over Dry. After having cats on what we believed to be high-quality kibble for a long time, one of them became diabetic and needed daily insulin shots. We contacted Dr. Lisa Pierson, a California veterinarian who specializes in feline nutrition, who advised us to that switching to wet food was an imperative. After a few weeks, our cat went into remission and no longer needed insulin. Of course, it's a hell of a lot less convenient than having dry food, especially in a timed dispenser, but I believe it leads to improved health. There's also little evidence that dry cat food cleans their teeth any better than us eating a cookie would clean ours.

Indoor/Outdoor cats: Indoor only plz. The modern urban world is no place for cats to be roaming freely.

Litterboxes: I've had a number of automatic and semi-automatic contraptions, including two Litter Robots, but realistically the best option I've found is an open-topped litterbox with high walls, which is cleaned frequently. The closed-top ones promote an out-of-sight, out-of-mind attitude, which doesn't work well since the smells will just drift out anyway, and by the time you notice them you've got a real horrorshow on your hands. The Litter Robots are convenient at first, but within a short amount of time, all the internal surfaces will be coated with cat piss and need regular deep cleaning. It is a massive hassle compared to just keeping the box clean regularly and eventually they reach a point where they're just going to stink regardless of how well you clean it, and then you're out another $300 $600 to replace it. Just use a box.

I grew up with cats and they are my favorite companions. My wife and I currently have four that we love dearly. Some observations from a crazy cat guy:

Many plants/flowers are toxic to cats, especially lilies. I learned this the hard way with our guy Duke (he's fine). A romantic gesture to my wife turned into a very sick cat and a $5000 vet bill. He currently is in early stage renal failure that may unfortunately be related to this.

Cats love to be talked to. I use what we call "pillow talk" ("You're so sweet," "I love you," etc. in a slow, low voice - this seems very creepy to write this and I apologize) with them and they will sometimes literally fall over and present their belly (a sign of trust). What you'll find is the more you talk to them the more they talk to you.

They can be very misunderstood by people with little experience with them. One misunderstanding is that they are not affectionate like dogs. While it is true that cats won't jump all over you when you get home from work (or a two week vacation), what you'll notice is once you've settled (or unpacked) and sat down on the couch - here they come. Signs of affection can include rubbing up against your legs, head-butting you, "marking" you with the sides of their mouths, "twerking" (vibrating tail), slow-blinks, and falling over and showing the belly.

It's been said but cats are hunters and they (especially the females) seem to need to feel like they are contributing to the pack. That's why we'll have toys lined up outside our bedroom in the morning or one will come bounding down the stairs with a fake mouse in her mouth making ungodly sounds - they are bringing us food. I used to think they wanted to play and would pick up the mouse and throw it. In hindsight, this seems so completely rude. Is it like going to a restaurant and throwing the plate that was brought to you across the room?

Because cats are hunters they need lots of stimulating playtime. We play with our cats daily and they especially like toys that are some variation of string on a stick or bird on a string on a stick. My wife will sometimes swing it around predictably and they will get bored. I try to mimic a bird or a mouse by varying the "behavior" and it seems to keep them more engaged. It's also good to have small mouse-size toys around for them to hunt. Each night I'll throw them into a different room.

We spent a year getting them used to wearing a harness and walking them around our fenced-in backyard, and now will take them outside without harnesses for 30 minutes-1 hour most days. They love to eat grass (careful with chemicals), watch the birds land on the ELEVATED feeder, and zoom across the yard. Only a few times has one of them tried to jump the fence, but we still keep an eye on them and won't let them out unattended. They're very good about staying in the yard and will usually ask to come inside when they're done.

Cats are very clean animals and their litter boxes need to be scooped daily. We do a deep clean of the boxes (Clorox bleach, new litter) every few months. It is recommended to have one litter box per cat - we have three litter boxes and it hasn't been an issue. It's not a good idea to put litter boxes in the same room their food is in.

Don't feed cats out of plastic bowls/containers, it can make their skin break out. Use metal, ceramic, etc.

Cats all have very different personalities. And just like people, you have to treat/approach each one differently. It's hard not to anthropomorphize when describing non-human companions that you know and love so much. Currently we have:
Duke - Male, outgoing, jealous, the alpha.
Chet - Male, sensitive, quirky, extremely intelligent.
Kacey - Female, laid-back, affectionate, curious.
Nina - Female, the wallflower, sweet, playful. She is the one that I'd like to highlight for this discussion. She would likely be feral if we didn't adopt her from a shelter. We wonder if she was abused. We've had her for nine years and she will still run away from us if she feels unsure. The most important thing that I've learned about her is that she needs to trust you. She does not like to be approached, so I sit down on the floor and let her come to me. She does not like to be reached for, so I walk by her throughout the day, talk sweetly to her, and let her be. She is the sweetest and most playful cat we have, but you wouldn't know it if you didn't understand her. She will let me pick her up and hold her on her back, she will let me pet her belly, she will let me put a collar on her when she goes outside, and it's taken years to get to this point. She will never sit on our laps or cuddle with us, and that's OK. She is perfect, just like the rest of them.

• I had great luck in keeping the transport boxes in the house at all times. Perfect for when one cat wants to sleep undisturbed and also for not being a completely strange contraption when it's time for the veterinary. Never had to wrangle my cats into a box, unlike my two sisters who have a battle on their hands every year when it's time for vaccinations and checkups.

• Insure your cats! Veterinary bills can become HUGE and it sucks to sit there with a sick cat and not being able to do anything due to the cost. But be prepared for that even if your insurance covers the costs, it might not be enough. Which leads to my third point

• I want to caveat this with English not being my maiden language. So this might not come out as nuanced as I intend it. Please let me know if it's way too harsh, tone-deaf or such... You will outlive your cats. It's just how it is. Prepare for the fact that you will have to euthanize your best friend eventually. It will suck big time and even though you might prepare for it it will break your heart when the time comes. But when the time comes it's good if you can be as level headed as you can be since it's usually a matter between not wanting to let go for a couple of weeks or end the suffering there and then.

There's a lot of advice I could give new cat owners, but the most basic would be to learn cats' body language. Cats are a little more complicated than dogs, and their body language isn't always easy to interpret.

For example, you've probably heard that tail twitching has the opposite meaning for cats and dogs: it doesn't mean happy, it means angry. That's not entirely wrong, but it's more complicated than that. It would be more accurate to say tail twitching means agitation, which could be getting upset or angry, but it could also be excitement and readiness to play. These kind of miscommunications are how people mistake play behavior for aggression; did you cat attack your hand because they wanted to be left alone, or were they over-stimulated and trying to play with you?

How cats carry their tails, what they're doing with their ears, and even how blink will give you a ton of information on what's on their mind. To someone who doesn't understand cats, their behavior can seem very opaque, but once you get to know them you can read them as easily as you would a person.

There’s this divisive subject with cats that I wish I had an answer to, and that’s letting them free roam outside.

I had a cat that went from neurotic and needy to happy and independent once it gained access to the outdoors. Indoor litter boxes rarely if ever got used as well. The cat lived quite a full life, despite enduring a coyote attack.

Which leads into the drawbacks. The cat is exposed to all sorts of nasty business. Disease, other cats and predators. They also kill any birds they can get their hands on, as well as small rodents. As happy as the cat is, you just know it knocks years off their expected life span. It also seems like once they’re an outdoor cat there’s no going back to indoor.

I was under the impression a 6 foot privacy fence could keep a cat in. It was a complete non-obstacle. Not only could the cat climb the fence, they could just outright jump to the top in a single jump. Apparently you need a full on aviary to contain a cat outdoors.

treats

If you buy treats, give them to your cats for rewards only, or on a purely ad hoc and very occasional basis. I've lived with a cat where I wasn't responsible for it, and the person who was started to feed it treats every morning because the cat loved them so much. These are highly processed dry treats, and I told them it was like feeding the cat fast food every day, but they didn't care. Sadly, the cat's mood and behavior changed significantly - it started to whine a lot and badger everyone, and would wake up every day in anticipation of the treats, and as soon as the person opened their door it would sprint through the house to await them. It also rejected a lot of its 'normal' food and would only eat treats in the morning. The cat became fully dependent on those treats for its wellbeing, and you don't want that!

This should be obvious, but people underestimate how important it is to spay or neuter your cat. If you won't be able to afford spay or neuter for a while, then wait awhile to get a cat or find one already fixed. This is for both the health and safety of the cat, but also your own sanity.

Unfixed cats are at higher risk for health problems, such as cancers and pyometra in female cats. They also have hormones coursing through their bodies that can make them more aggressive, cause them to mark, become easily overstimulated, and make them more prone to escaping. An unfixed cat is not living a happy life with all those hormones and no release, and no that doesn't mean you should breed as a solution. There are more than enough cats in the world, and backyard breeders, no matter how ethical they claim to be are terrible. No, one litter will not make your cat happier before you spay, no you don't need to breed because your cat is pure bred or the cutest cat in the world. I heard these excuses and more while working in shelters and vet clinics, but what it comes down to is that there are enough cats in the world without good homes and many are put down because there aren't enough homes and too many people breeding without a care.

I actually have a friend who got a kitten from a backyard breeder because it was cheaper and easier than shelters. Now that kitten is 8 months and in puberty mode, and he's aggressive and pees on everything. They have a bunch of expensive hobby items in their house that they've had to move and hide because their cat has ruined them. He runs through the house yowling and attacking anyone that comes near but they can't afford his neuter yet. My point to this story is this: it's cheaper to get a cat or kitten from a good rescue than a free one from elsewhere. A good rescue will always spay and neuter before adopting, give vaccinations, and deworm. The neuter alone can cost $100-$400 depending on your location, with spays costing more. You may also have to pay extra for complications like infections. If you look at that alone, most shelters fees are more than worth it especially once you factor in time and energy spent at vet appointments.

If your potty trained cat starts peeing outside of it's litter box, get it to the vet immediately. Some cats can develop a sensitivity to regular cat food, causing the growth of crystals in their bladder making it painful to pee. They'll associate the litter box with the pain and look elsewhere to go instead. It often first presents as excessive licking of the private parts.

It happened to our cat, we took him into the vet after he peed on our couch a couple times. Now he's on more expensive dietary vet food and the crystals no longer form.

Heat your wet food! Cats rely on smell to know what's safe to eat and warming up their food helps it smell stronger. Also if they were catching their prey naturally it would be warm most of the time while eating it fresh and they just seem to enjoy that more.

Also on the topic of food, keep their water dish away from where they eat! This is another contamination instinct for them.

I know it's really convenient and inexpensive but cats don't do well on a lifetime diet of kibble. I've learned this the hard way, unfortunately.

Cats are desert animals and have very little thirst sensation, so a cat fed only on dry kibble will be chronically dehydrated, which leads to kidney and urinary issues down the road. Kibble is also full of vegetable "fillers" and carbohydrates which cats can't digest properly, even the no-grain high protein ones, which can lead to obesity and diabetes. If you must feed kibble regularly to a cat, let it soak in a bit of warm water first for 10min to make it a soggy cereal texture. Try to supplement it with real meat or wet food. If you can afford it, canned wet food really is the best marriage of convenience and complete nutrition. Your cat will live longer and be healthier for it.

Playing with cats is as important as walking a dog.

Mix up their food options for some variety.

Place hidden treats around the house to encourage and reward their natural curiosity.

Give them something fabric or soft to leave their scent on, preferably something that also has your scent on it.

Give them cat TV, like a window view to a bird feeder or buzzing bees on flowers, or a fish tank (that they can't jump in or turn over).

1 litter box per cat, plus 1. So if you have 3 cats, get 4 boxes. If you have 10 cats, get 11 boxes. Place them in areas where people are likely to be, not under the sink or in the corner of the garage.

Do not let them outside. There is nothing outside that they can't get inside. Exercise? Playtime with solo toys or your favorite interactive wand toy. Fresh air and sunshine? Open a window, or let them out on a screened in porch. Exploration and curiosity? Again, place treats around the house. There are many more downsides/risks to letting them go outside than keeping them inside.

DO NOT DECLAW THEM (aka de-knuckle them).

One thing I haven’t seen mentioned is insurance for your cat. Currently we pay for accident/illness which doesn’t cover annual checkups and flea meds. The math roughly works out if they don’t need major medicines in our case.

Be especially concerned about indoor/outdoor cats. As a community cat dad of 30 or so, we’ve taken cats in for:
(1) broken leg
(2) limping feet
(1) abscess that needed surgery and 7 stitches
(1) eye infection
(1) broken tail (amputated)
(1) half dollar sized, 7mm deep wound

Additionally, one that we formally adopted was picked up by what we suspect to be a hawk, as it had puncture wounds that are consistent with that. It’s in a bad way currently. Fortunately we did opt for insurance for her, and it’s allowing us to afford her hospitalization.

Most of these required after care when being discharged, pain meds and antibiotics.

Granted, we do have quite a pool of cats, but all of this is all in a 2.5 year period. Cats do get hurt and they do get sick. They fight and transmit diseases between themselves. Insurance is very much worth considering.

For context: we have three cats currently, and have had many others over my life. These are what I could think of off the top of my head.

Echoing some of the advice already given, make sure to care for their teeth -- either through brushing (if the cat will allow it), or from the vet each year.

In my experience, while cats aren't social in the same way dogs are, they can be very affectionate with some encouragement. Walking in front of you or between your legs can often be a sign that they need something, either attention, food, etc.

Automatic litter boxes are great, but not perfect. We have had issues with both the Litter Robots we've bought. Still worth it, despite the frustration; your cat will thank you for an always clean litter box. Modkat sells excellent scratchers that the cat can relax on. I've never had a cat that didn't love them. Can find some that are less expensive on Amazon, too.

Flea medication is important, even if you don't anticipate the cat going outside. Microchipping is too (most cats you buy will already be microchipped).

1. Get an automated or slow feeder. It can feed them in such a way to maximize your sleep which will drop precipitously.

2. Play with them at least 10 minutes a day. Also helps with getting sleep.

3. Give them high spots to hide out on. May be a cat tree or an alcove in your house. They need their space.

4. Skip clay litter and go to dried corn or pine. Also keep litter boxes automated (Litter Robot), big, or open. All About Cats is a good website to consult.

Rescues

I can't emphasize enough that cat genetics haven't been as reliably selected for domesticated tameness as dogs have been. I've lived with a number of cats over my lifetime, but nearly all of them were kittens from a barn colony where I had the chance to start handling them and getting them familiarized with my scent even before they could open their eyes. [This presumes a good relationship with Mama Cat, but the mothers in that colony were hyper-social with humans to begin with.] Even with that effort at taming and their common lineage, there was a great deal of variation in how bold/timid or affectionate/distant those cats became over time - their personalities and behaviors remained very distinct.

So when I adopted a couple of rescued Siamese-mix young cats during the pandemic, I was startled by the work it takes to socialize kittens after the magic window (usually up to 16 weeks, when they cease nursing and become completely independent of their mothers).

One of them was so shy of humans at 5 months old that the rescue believed she was unadoptable. Some stupid human tricks succeeded...

I confined her in a single room, with lots of toys, hiding, and climbing places. I placed pieces of my used clothing and bath towels near her hiding spots. I'd spend quiet time there working on a computer or reading for the first two weeks. I left treats closer and closer to me when she started venturing out. When she started to come out of hiding reliably, I read aloud for about 15 min. twice a day to accustom her to human voices.

Discovering that she loved human food (cooked meat) was the trick to getting her to tolerate petting. [In general, cats respond best to positive reinforcement only. Give them something they want when they behave as you wish, rather than punishing them for undesired behavior.] When Lilly was comfortable being petted and held for short periods, and playing interactively with feather/string toys, I let her start exploring the house. That took about a month of dedicated effort from the date of her adoption. Once she was confident with the indoor space, she started sleeping on the bed with us, and we were able to begin clicker training so she'd come when called.

Lilly is now an indoor/outdoor cat who'll demand attention from me and the spouse, and sleeps on my feet every night. She continues to vanish into hiding when strangers are around. Still not a lap cat, but she'll tolerate handling for vet visits, etc. and we're feeling like she's happy in her life. If we'd gotten Lilly at a younger age, I'm sure we could have socialized her into a contented lap cat. But she's very determined to be her own girl, to the point that she'll open the outside door handle by herself if we leave the lock undone.

Dash, short for Dashiell, may have been around the 16 week mark (the shelter thought he was 5 months, but he's turned out to be a very large cat...) when we adopted him. He was social enough to run right up to people, wagging his tail, bumping ankles, and purring like a tiny prop engine when stroked. But Dash didn't have the clawing and biting discipline that comes from being raised with littermates. He'd clearly gotten used to treating humans as chew toys and scratching posts, which is the kind of behavior that gets adult cats euthanized.

It took a few months of patient training (and plenty of swats and chomps from the older cat) before he stopped turning into an attack cactus and could be handled in confident safety. At one year old, he's now mastered climbing to laps and shoulders without causing puncture wounds.

But in the context of cat behavioral diversity, Dash is also one of the most fearless, confident, and social cats I've ever seen, a Golden Lab dog in a cat suit. He's not stupid/carelessly unafraid, but he's intensely curious about everything. Dash will hang out watching the visiting plumber and electrician, demands attention from guests, and will get into anything. He's on our shoulders when we're cooking. He's seduced my spouse (who is otherwise somewhat cat-indifferent) into providing a cozy lap. Dash managed to get Lilly to tolerate playing and curling up together through sheer persistence and hours of love-blinks [we were initially terrified that she'd be an only-cat permanently]. He's taken to harness/leash training (once we get past the few minutes of leash = toy) easily because he's so excited to be out with his humans in the Big Smells Room. [Dash will never be an independent indoor/outdoor cat if we can help it - he looks purebred Siamese enough that we fear he'd be a target for theft. But he also needs the exercise and stimulation.]

Product Recommendations

Unlike dogs, cats have some behavioral needs that come from being in the middle of the food chain. They feel safest when they have hunting blinds and perches at heights that potential predators can't reach.

Cats also need to exercise their claws, shed their outgrown claw sheaths, and mark territory with the scent glands in their paws and faces.

Others have mentioned their sensitivity to odors, and the need to have [n+1] litter boxes for n cats.

Finally, flea/tick/worm treatments.

These are modestly priced ways we've found to accommodate them:

Window perches that are sturdy enough for two large cats, paintable/stainable, with washable/replaceable fleece pads, non-permanent mounting. We did wind up nailing a narrow firring strip to our shallow windowsills to improve stability and accommodate closing or opening the windows more easily.

Lilly's favorite cat tree. Unfortunately, the price has more than doubled since we got it. The box has been her preferred place to sleep and birdwatch during the day since she was a kitten. She can see out of both sides and the washable fleece pads are very cozy. I've been able to rewrap the jute cord on the posts as both cats actively scratch it, but the post parts are replaceable.

This is the big, sturdy scratching post we got for big, sturdy Dash when he grew too long to stretch out on the standard 30" carpeted post, and started working on the counter-height kitchen chair upholstery, sofa, etc. Problem solved; he can also zoom up it like a tree.

Stashable cat litter boxes. These plastic litter boxes are sturdy, the tops are easy to remove and replace. The ridged tops help reduce (but not eliminate) litter tracking. They're compact (I can hide one next to the desk in my office where it looks like a trash basket, and another in the cleaning supply closet) but deep enough for small-medium sized cats. Dash will use them for the brief time it takes to urinate. He's got a clear preference for the more spacious litter box furniture below, though.

Litter box bench. Again, the price has gone up significantly. And it's really badly made - I had to re-drill some holes, and re-nail/re-glue the decorative slats in front. But it's got plenty of room for bigger cats and may be more accessible for elderly/disabled ones. The entrance is large enough to hold a litter-catching mat to minimize tracking. This box is attractive enough to use in open spaces in an apartment, living room or entry, possibly with a bench pad.

Odor control: Even with once-daily or more frequent litter scooping, sometimes the little ones' butts unleash a mephitic stench that fells the human giants. Febreze "Small Spaces" pucks seem to control this, to the point where guests have said "I didn't realize you had a cat". I try to get whatever I think is the least-perfumed scent, but the cats aren't disturbed by any of them.

Pest control: Frontline Plus (vet prescription required) is an expensive but necessary remedy for most of the year. I don't love the idea of a persistent pesticide treatment. But both cats came from their respective shelters with roundworms, requiring repeated dewormings and tests, extensive housecleaning, replacement toys, etc. Roundworms are so endemic in the area that indoor cats get them from tracked-in dirt. As are deer and other ticks, fleas, mange mites... Neither cat has had any noticeable problems with the treatment.

Cats are pretty simple pets to keep. Just let them out and feed them whenever they want and give them lots of snuggles, and you're a pretty good cat owner :)

If you have a cyclical flea problem in your house, nothing works better for exterminating them than Program, and you can find generics of it for a much lower price than the mainstream products.

I have 2 female cats, and love them.
First I'd like to thank every tip posted here.
I'll just recommend this guy on YouTube I've found that has a lot of experience with cats and is, imo anyway, pretty entertaining. He's called Jackson Galaxy.
Look him up. He's great.

Skip clay litter and go to dried corn or pine. Also keep litter boxes automated (Litter Robot), big, or open. All About Cats is a good website to consult.

Explain.

-Someone who hates the dusty mess of traditional litter that sticks to paws and gets everywhere.

When investing: time in the market beats timing the market.

You're much more likely, on average, to come out far ahead by simply investing in index funds or a wide variety of sectors or companies you know about.

Then just wait patiently for multiple decades as your investments grow.

Also don't let your cat roam the city limits because they decimate bird populations.