How is your cat affecting your life?

shesty

You can't train cats.

They train you.😁

I don't have a cat but my mother has one and I visit my mother every week. I absolutely love the cat. She's so calming if work has been stressful. Just stroking that velvety fur and hearing her purrs is wonderfully soothing. She's a very sweet, affectionate, happy cat, and hilarious to watch also, the way she rubs against everything and rolls back and forth on the ground.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117942973#Comment_117942973

Prepare for mania! Kittens - gorgeous, adorable, hilarious - are nutcases! The amount of energy they have is something else. 😊

Capt'n Midnight

https://i.imgur.com/Yj0mOwm.mp4

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117940997#Comment_117940997

You really think that cat owners should be taking advice from someone who threatens to abduct cats?

Sonics2k

I just got my first cat in about 20 years, had her with me for a little over a week.

I would kill everyone for this cat. She's so calming, a little kitten, that is surprisingly affectionate and playful. Apparently she wasn't really taking to people at the Vet she was dropped off at, but the moment I got her in my arms she was clung to me. Adopted her the next day.

The dog I have is very cautious around her, and while I wouldn't leave them alone together she's very affectionate to him and he's just interested in sniffing her.

PsychoPete

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117949220#Comment_117949220

One of my kittens used to sleep on one of the dogs, there was never a problem with them but as soon as she got older the dog was having absolutely none of her

BlockPartee

My cat enriches my life so much. He is a gentle boy who just wants love and attention. He is great company and I can't imagine my life without him.

Dog people can be overbearing and irritating coming onto cat threads and declaring dogs are superior. Give us cat people our time to shine/ talk about our cats.

PsychoPete

I came home from work to find one of the cats sitting on top of the curtain rail in the living room, she looked at me like what the f*** is your problem

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117951668#Comment_117951668

Hilarious when they do that. That really is the look in their eyes. "Problem?"

My cat is highly socially intelligent. Could buy and sell me in an instant. He recognises names in an instant, looks at the door and expects known individuals to pop in when named. Otherwise he looks blankly at me if I mention a name he hasn’t met personally.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117943392#Comment_117943392

Well I visited today. In five days she has become a bit of a chubster. There, I've bodyshamed her. Must be the crap weather, stopping her burning off the calories. She was outdoors all summer. Seeing her little arse waddle a bit is cute and funny 😊 but that's enough. Can't stand seeing very overweight pets and all the health issues this brings.

Dramatik

Cats can be great companions, although you need to set boundaries for them or they tend to take advantage of you. I had the same as a lot of people here where the cat wanted to be fed at like 5 or 6am. Unfortunately the only way to solve this is to ignore the cat and put up with the incessant meowing. This can last for a few hours before the cat gets bored but after a few days of doing this the cat will eventually get the message and wait for you to get up.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117956844#Comment_117956844

Not pregnant. Fixed.

looksee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117964061#Comment_117964061

True, that. If either of mine come demanding food at early o'clock they are offered the opportunity to go out, which they generally take. They do not get fed though. Once you fall for that you are a slave at all hours 😀

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117964061#Comment_117964061

I agree with this.

I also don't agree that cats can't be trained. They most definitley can.

My older cat never crossed the threshold into my bedroom because she knew she wasn't allowed. From the day I got her as a kitten if she tried to enter my bedroom I clapped my hands and said firmly "Out!" and she learned very quickly. I had her for 18 years and I can count on one hand the number of times she entered my bedroom.

My two new adoptees have arrived and I will be using the same methods on them. Already they are recognising that a clap of my hands means "stop!"

I've had two for 15 years. Recently, have had some medical issues that has taken its toll on me. They are a great comfort and know when I've had a crap day. You get what you give with a cat. 😄

YellowFeather

Cats are brilliant! Have two of the little beautiful headcases, and wouldn’t be without them. Adopted the two of them when they were three years old. That was six months ago. Brother and sister - although they don’t look alike at all, except for their faces when they are disgusted at the wrong food!

They are housecats, which I wouldn’t really agree with, but this is how they were raised, and they aren’t equipped for the outside world now. They were found on the side of the road as kittens, with injuries, by the people that we adopted them from.

First month or so, the girl cat was pretty sure that I had murdered her parents or something equally devious, but now she only thinks this 10% of the time, and will spend the rest of her non-sleeping time just hanging out nearby and meeping when she wants to be petted. She likes me the most, although it took a while!

The boy cat just wants to be cuddled (when not sleeping). He prefers my OH, and actually prioritises a piece of my OH’s clothes over me. But, I’m more of a night owl, and he will sit there purring on my lap if I’m working late at night (boycat, not the boyfriend..)!

After only six months, and seeing how scared they were when we adopted them, they are doing different things every month or so, and getting more comfortable every day. They are fuzzy little alarm clocks. They do their tappa-tappa foot thing when they settle down on top of one of us. They’ve got a bit more vocal - himself (cat, not boyfriend) has the most particular meow when he’s getting off his perch and wants a cuddle. And herself either meeps or just opens her mouth and pretends to meep when she wants me to follow her for petting/food/LETMETOTHEBALCONYNOWHOOOOOOOMAN.

I would have been more of a dog person, but this isn’t practicable with work and stuff, but these guys have stolen my heart.

Edit - they are normally less sideways, but they do not obey the rules of gravity at the best of times anyway.

D6E6BB27-2015-4DD6-A50A-8AF410901535.jpeg

Montage of Feck

Don't cats eat their dead owners?

looksee

YF you have the same combination of cats that I do, a black and a tabby, though not related. The tabby is the vocal one and has opinions on everything.

MoF They probably do, but once you are dead, why would you care? Though their degree of fussiness over food leads me to suppose you would want to be very tender and tasty before they would bother.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117967535#Comment_117967535

They can be great nurses!

PsychoPete

One of my cats normally sleeps on the back of couch, yesterday I was sitting on the couch drinking tea. She jumps up on the back of the couch, licks my face and just runs off. Shes definitely plotting to do away with me

Mr. CooL ICE

I am also someone who used to be a dog person that hated cats. But when we first got a kitten, I realised I didn't hate them; I just misunderstood them.

Girlfriend got a kitten and it was to be her cat and she was going to do all the looking after and it was her problem, bla bla bla. My first day WFH with the kitten and I wore baggy jeans and a thick hoody so that the kitten wouldn't scratch me. As soon as I sat down at the laptop, she crawled up my jeans and curled into a ball on my lap and fell asleep. From that moment on, I was in love.

I’m getting passed continuously in the evening, and delighted to be so! A year and a half ago my cat had to have a rear leg radically amputated with hip bone due to osteosarcoma. Expert orthopaedic surgeon estimated a good prognosis if she performed as radical surgery as she had performed. He not alone survived but has thrived.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117979362#Comment_117979362

❤😍

fun loving criminal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117978668#Comment_117978668

Their purrs can have a healing action. Wasn't feeling too good during the week and my cat sat on me purring, which she never does. She was trying to make me better.

Recently my mental health has been totally down the can, and I started to find everything irritating, including the poor cat. Things are better, the poor cat is giving me due nips to remind me of his entirely justifiable dominance in my life!

I was feeling a bit down about something and paid a visit to my folks earlier. The soft, purring cat who wanted endless rubs really did make me feel better. 😍🥰

Hadn't seen her in two weeks and she genuinely seemed pleased to see me. Usually I think that's because she wants a treat, but no... happy with rubs!

magicbastarder

our last cat, Mina, had a happy knack of finding the visitor most likely to say 'oh, i'm not really a cat person', and would just sit on them until they relented.

My cat continues his relatively new habit of tapping my arm from below with his claw/paw as I typically lounge on my Jeff side on my sofa. It’s very endearing, but a little bit irritating when in an irritable mood. I try to sooth him somewhat no matter what, but he really detects my more negative moods.