Want to add to the menagerie
Discussion
Right then.
I've got 3 cats, all indoor cats, and I live in a reasonably roomy 2 bedroom bungalow.
Is there any small critter AT ALL that I can consider bringing into my home that won't be caused intolerable stress by living with cats? I'm wondering about any novice keeper-friendly reptile or amphibian species in particular.
I don't have a huge amount of disposable income but would be happy to put what I do have towards making a rescued animal comfortable and well cared-for.
Not interested in supporting the pet shop trade so it'd be somewhat a question of what's around in local shelters etc that needs a home.
I've got 3 cats, all indoor cats, and I live in a reasonably roomy 2 bedroom bungalow.
Is there any small critter AT ALL that I can consider bringing into my home that won't be caused intolerable stress by living with cats? I'm wondering about any novice keeper-friendly reptile or amphibian species in particular.
I don't have a huge amount of disposable income but would be happy to put what I do have towards making a rescued animal comfortable and well cared-for.
Not interested in supporting the pet shop trade so it'd be somewhat a question of what's around in local shelters etc that needs a home.
If we were closer, I'd genuinely offer you one of our cats. We took one of ours in several years ago (she was freezing and starving to death in the snow) but we've been having difficulties with one of our neighbours who recently had a baby.
A lovely cat but trying too hard to make friends with our neighbours.
A lovely cat but trying too hard to make friends with our neighbours.
Pints said:
If we were closer, I'd genuinely offer you one of our cats. We took one of ours in several years ago (she was freezing and starving to death in the snow) but we've been having difficulties with one of our neighbours who recently had a baby.
A lovely cat but trying too hard to make friends with our neighbours.
That's v kind but I don't think I reasonably have room for another mog - as mentioned they're indoor cats so while I'd take one in if it were unsafe where it was, it'd be seriously non-ideal. A lovely cat but trying too hard to make friends with our neighbours.
Is keeping your cat in while neighbour gets settled with their baby an option? Or offer of getting a few window screens for them or something?
Keeping moggy indoors is not an option. They also have a cat, so can't offer to get anything to block windows either.
She seems to go over to theirs because they've got more interesting food on offer. So I've been making sure we constantly change the food we give ours, just to keep her interested. Seems to be working.
It's not the end of the world for us, but I thought if you were desperate for another feline companion...
She seems to go over to theirs because they've got more interesting food on offer. So I've been making sure we constantly change the food we give ours, just to keep her interested. Seems to be working.
It's not the end of the world for us, but I thought if you were desperate for another feline companion...
It's tricky. Is there a room which the cats would be preventing from going into? I mean, a bearded dragon or similar can live in a 5ft vivarium or so quite happily but will like to come out for a stroll around as well. Something like a Gecko IMHO will be too fast and run up the walls and the cats will go nuts.
Snakes, if you are ok with them will be ok but the same goes in terms of not letting the cats in the room with them as they might get hurt...
Snakes, if you are ok with them will be ok but the same goes in terms of not letting the cats in the room with them as they might get hurt...
rats! we have 2 cats as well as rabbits, rats and hamsters, and they are all perfectly fine with each other, obviously you close the room doors and close the cats out of the room while you get the rats out but thats no hardship really for them to be closed off for a short while.
Our cats sit on top of our cages and dont give them a second look, after the first week of being curious to the wandering around animal in the cage they soon lose all interest! the very most mine do is sit and look in from time to time, and like i said one actually sleeps on top of the rat cage and the rats try and play with her! lol anyway the cat cant get its paws through the cage bars and rat is not daft enough to stick its nose out!
i hated rats a few years back but genuinely think they are the best social critters and want to be with you not scurry away, and so friendly, cheap enough to care for, and great fun!
Our cats sit on top of our cages and dont give them a second look, after the first week of being curious to the wandering around animal in the cage they soon lose all interest! the very most mine do is sit and look in from time to time, and like i said one actually sleeps on top of the rat cage and the rats try and play with her! lol anyway the cat cant get its paws through the cage bars and rat is not daft enough to stick its nose out!
i hated rats a few years back but genuinely think they are the best social critters and want to be with you not scurry away, and so friendly, cheap enough to care for, and great fun!
Mubby said:
rats! we have 2 cats as well as rabbits, rats and hamsters, and they are all perfectly fine with each other, obviously you close the room doors and close the cats out of the room while you get the rats out but thats no hardship really for them to be closed off for a short while.
Our cats sit on top of our cages and dont give them a second look, after the first week of being curious to the wandering around animal in the cage they soon lose all interest! the very most mine do is sit and look in from time to time, and like i said one actually sleeps on top of the rat cage and the rats try and play with her! lol anyway the cat cant get its paws through the cage bars and rat is not daft enough to stick its nose out!
i hated rats a few years back but genuinely think they are the best social critters and want to be with you not scurry away, and so friendly, cheap enough to care for, and great fun!
A note of caution - this may be ok if you have the rodents in small box-type cages, which doesn't seem very fair to them, however we have had hamsters in a big run with tunnels, pipes, several sections to it which meant they didn't go stir crazy. Problem is, with so many joints/junctions/hatches, an enterprising hamster will escape occasionally - cats around will mean the end of poor hammy! Our cats sit on top of our cages and dont give them a second look, after the first week of being curious to the wandering around animal in the cage they soon lose all interest! the very most mine do is sit and look in from time to time, and like i said one actually sleeps on top of the rat cage and the rats try and play with her! lol anyway the cat cant get its paws through the cage bars and rat is not daft enough to stick its nose out!
i hated rats a few years back but genuinely think they are the best social critters and want to be with you not scurry away, and so friendly, cheap enough to care for, and great fun!
66comanche said:
A note of caution - this may be ok if you have the rodents in small box-type cages, which doesn't seem very fair to them,
our cages are perfectly OK! and certainly are not small boxes! our rats live in large parrot cages as they are larger than standard rat cages, and have plenty of ropes, hammocks, beds, houses and stimulation! and our hammies have large cages too! agree the rotastak type cages would be a no no as come apart way too easily!
Mubby said:
rats! we have 2 cats as well as rabbits, rats and hamsters, and they are all perfectly fine with each other, obviously you close the room doors and close the cats out of the room while you get the rats out but thats no hardship really for them to be closed off for a short while.
Our cats sit on top of our cages and dont give them a second look, after the first week of being curious to the wandering around animal in the cage they soon lose all interest! the very most mine do is sit and look in from time to time, and like i said one actually sleeps on top of the rat cage and the rats try and play with her! lol anyway the cat cant get its paws through the cage bars and rat is not daft enough to stick its nose out!
i hated rats a few years back but genuinely think they are the best social critters and want to be with you not scurry away, and so friendly, cheap enough to care for, and great fun!
Our cats sit on top of our cages and dont give them a second look, after the first week of being curious to the wandering around animal in the cage they soon lose all interest! the very most mine do is sit and look in from time to time, and like i said one actually sleeps on top of the rat cage and the rats try and play with her! lol anyway the cat cant get its paws through the cage bars and rat is not daft enough to stick its nose out!
i hated rats a few years back but genuinely think they are the best social critters and want to be with you not scurry away, and so friendly, cheap enough to care for, and great fun!
Mubby - I had assumed that rat moves in cage, cat pounces, rat gets horribly stressed and is a sad and miserable ratty... one of my cats in particular is a VERY 'catty' cat with a high prey drive, I had assumed that any rodent would be out of the question because of the stress she'd cause it.J&J - It could be in a no-cats room but they'd probably slip in occasionally at least. Certainly easy to lock them out in order to let whatever it was out for a stretch as appropriate.
I do love snakes
but have never owned a non-mammal apart from a magnificent house spider I had for 6 months as a kid. I learn fast and take my responsibility to my animals VERY seriously so would need to think carefully about what costs would be involved in giving them the best possible quality of life - so anything that would eventually want an 8ft vivarium probably a bad idea!BlackVanDyke said:
Mubby - I had assumed that rat moves in cage, cat pounces, rat gets horribly stressed and is a sad and miserable ratty... one of my cats in particular is a VERY 'catty' cat with a high prey drive, I had assumed that any rodent would be out of the question because of the stress she'd cause it. I do take the extra measures to cat proof the cages, cable ties are used alot!! 
if i thought my rats were at all stressed id put them in one of the spare rooms but I honestly dont! (trust me my animals mean alot to me and I would not have them stressed)ok so what about a tortoise??? boring to some i guess but really fascinating to watch! and more hardy for a cat to do any damage to!!
initially quite expensive, but live like forever and great fun to just let wander about the house / garden for a few hours a day... Edited by Mubby on Tuesday 16th August 18:37
tortoise would be entertaining...though again i think a cat [i]might[i/] spend ages poking paws into the shell to see whats there?
dragon...dont think so.....mine noticeably reacts to stresses (it caught site of one of the big pythons once and had an absolute fit). and like the rats they're relatively social - which would mean you'd have to ensure the cats were shut out the room etc and I dunno how practical that would be
Snakes on the other hand appear to notice toss all.
My cat used to sit outside my corns snakes tank for HOURS. she was really interested in the idea but couldnt ever get in so not a worry and seemed to entertain her at least! The snake really didnt care - cat too big for food and just not interested otherwise
dragon...dont think so.....mine noticeably reacts to stresses (it caught site of one of the big pythons once and had an absolute fit). and like the rats they're relatively social - which would mean you'd have to ensure the cats were shut out the room etc and I dunno how practical that would be
Snakes on the other hand appear to notice toss all.
My cat used to sit outside my corns snakes tank for HOURS. she was really interested in the idea but couldnt ever get in so not a worry and seemed to entertain her at least! The snake really didnt care - cat too big for food and just not interested otherwise
Nightmare]tortoise would be entertaining...though again i think a cat [i]might[i/ said:
spend ages poking paws into the shell to see whats there?
dragon...dont think so.....mine noticeably reacts to stresses (it caught site of one of the big pythons once and had an absolute fit). and like the rats they're relatively social - which would mean you'd have to ensure the cats were shut out the room etc and I dunno how practical that would be
Snakes on the other hand appear to notice toss all.
My cat used to sit outside my corns snakes tank for HOURS. she was really interested in the idea but couldnt ever get in so not a worry and seemed to entertain her at least! The snake really didnt care - cat too big for food and just not interested otherwise
LOVE the idea of tortoise, my granny has a very independent c. 60 yr old female living in her garden, hibernates herself, digs a hole in a bank, the whole caboodle. She's great! dragon...dont think so.....mine noticeably reacts to stresses (it caught site of one of the big pythons once and had an absolute fit). and like the rats they're relatively social - which would mean you'd have to ensure the cats were shut out the room etc and I dunno how practical that would be
Snakes on the other hand appear to notice toss all.
My cat used to sit outside my corns snakes tank for HOURS. she was really interested in the idea but couldnt ever get in so not a worry and seemed to entertain her at least! The snake really didnt care - cat too big for food and just not interested otherwise
The picture doesn't really show it clearly but she's HUGE.
Presumably some smaller species would do okay on a tortoise table? I'd want to make sure that I wasn't making a committment to anything that would need more than I can provide for it when it's bigger.
yeah you can a fair few species captive bred in the UK now and some are small enough to be house tortoises/tank tortoises. that said, if you want a re-home you're far more likely to get the standard garden giant id have thought?
thinking more, I actually think that they're as likely to give a cat a nip as get damaged - they're pretty damn hardy.
thinking more, I actually think that they're as likely to give a cat a nip as get damaged - they're pretty damn hardy.
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