its 6 weeks old any tips to keep it happy, :D?

No pics? What is wrong with you?

Lot's of attention and playing.

What he said.

Keep it happy, and everything will go fine. If it's an indoor cat, then get it declawed.

Play with it, get us pics now!

Don't get the poor thing declawed, that is screwed up.

Anyway, the only thing, and I mean ONLY thing, that will make that cat happy is if you take pictures of it and post them in this thread.

A website's god, AND a master of animal caretaking. I think I picked the wrong sexuality...

Buy it lots of those Whiskas wet cat treat packages. My cats love'em. Also, some cosmic catnip. Fun for the whole family:D

Give it kisses.

I remember I found these two kittens on my back porch, and i named em Gonk and Sine.

Let mice loose in your house so it has something to chase.

Name it Fish to confuse it maybe? That or Shaun >.>

Vinny, I am hurt.. I DEMAND that if you find anymore kittens that you name one Spiral..

Say his/her name a lot so he/she will learn to recognize it. Litty box training is going to be necesary as well.

And the next one Marty!

Followed by Shaun... I want sometihng named after me!

This is literally a critical period when you will either get it to love you for the rest of its life or to resent you for the rest of its life. Establish yourself as a friend (play with it a lot), feed it. Male and female cats behave differently. You can also set yourself up as a mother figure and it'll show you a lot of affection for the rest of its life. However, this may very well be quite empty. It may be all licks and cuddles, but it's probably just using you to get food. What do you want? Empty affection or respectful playfulness maybe...?

its hiding behind my monitor checking out the heat exhausts :p

i dont have a camera or digital camera my friend will come over tommorow and we can get some pics ;p

I second that motion....

RARHGh! GOD DAMN DEJA VU. STOP DOING THIS TO ME!


Seriously, declawing a cat is NOT cruel if it isn't going to be outside. Our cat is the happiest thing in the world, and he's declawed. They get used to not being able to ruin furnature and such.

Agreed and ditto.

Because taking away an animals defense mechanisms is making them 'housebroken.'

NO. I've had this discussion on this forum a million times. You don't DETOOTH your dog? Do you put a rubber stopper on your parrots beak? Do you fuse your gerbil's back so it can't roll up in fear as a defense? NO. That's horrible! You're taking your cat's power away from it. My cat hasn't clawed the furniture since the first time it did she was put into the basement and yelled at furiously. Instead of taking away their power, establish your own. I consider it cruelty to animals to take away their ability to defend themselves.

JediKirby

neither of my cats are declawed, they're both indoor, and neither of them really ruin furniture... they mostly just stick to their scratching posts

It's like saying removing a mans testicles isn't crule if he isn't going to meet women anytime soon. Cats can be trained pretty easy. Give them a nice pole to scratch on and you'll never need to worry about furniture again.

Except there are cats with their claws that hate being outside anyway.

Because housecats need to be able to defend themselves? I suppose neutering your pet is cruel as well?

While we're at it, let's protest against gun laws and permits. All they do is keep people from being able to easily get a gun and defend themselves.

Sorry, we prefer not to get clawed up when our cat is showing affection.

Also, trust me. Cat's bite. They also use their hind claws. Indoors cat's do not need defense, as long as the owner is actually responsible.

Why not detooth a dog? Then they can't eat.

Parrots beak? Same issue. Can't eat.

Gerbil's back? Why the hell would you?

A cat that is kept indoors AWAY from danger dosen't need 'defense', when it still has sharp pointy objects in it's face. Might as well not injure your self when it wants to make itself comfortable, might as well not tear the stuffing out of pillows and other stuffed objects. In fact, I think my mom lost her favorite bear (Which was 60 years old) to the cat before we declawed it. Seriously, it's up to the owner, but if you do, it isn't making much of a difference unless it's going outside and there are many other animals around.


Also JK: Wouldn't cruelty to animals be locking them in the basement and yelling at them when they just try to defend themselves against a vicious couch?

My cat has never once bit or scratched a single person. Just because one or two cats bite or scratch, doesn't mean they all do. My cat will rub against my legs and follow me around, roll on its back to get it's stomache rubbed, all kinds of things, but it's never ever bit or scratched a single person. Train your cat, don't declaw it.

You don't hurt an animal by yelling at it and locking it in the basement. We still fed it, we still comforted it. What we DIDN'T do was take away it's power.

I think the cutting off a man's testical's bit was perfect. You're taking away the power of a cat when you declaw it, EVEN if it's an indoor cat.

My cat scratches and bites, but only because we want it to. She doesn't scratch to where she actually pierces, only enough to hang onto you. She doesn't bite hard unless you're wearing a protective glove. She's NEVER scratched or bitten a child that has attacked her or pushed or prodded her, and she doesn't attack other animals unless they attack her. She tends to kill anything that DOES attack her, though. My cat is proud of being capable of protecting herself, even if she doesn't need to. At the same time, she's proud of being able to show effection to us and children without hurting them.

JediKirby

Wow. A lot of you people need to die. (For the record, this is my last post and I am leaving Massassi forever. It has been fun, but I have to move on with my life. I was going to start a whole good-bye thread, but it is more important that I voice my opinion to the ****ing morons posting in this thread.) Declawing and neutering cats is WRONG. If you can't live with the fact that cats SCRATCH AND BITE **** AND HAVE SEX WITH EACH OTHER AND MASTURBATE ON STUFFED ANIMALS, THEN DON'T GET A ****ING CAT YOU STUPID MORONS. I have had a cat and have been scratched to **** (my arms and legs are covered in scars). I've even almost lost one of my eyes. I've been bitten, our couches and wooden furniture has been scratched up, and our cat "marks his territory" all over the place. This is what it means to LIVE WITH A NON-HUMAN LIVING THING. If you can't accept that, either don't get a cat, or die. Idiots.

—Master Tonberry, logging off.

Well, I can't say that I'll be missing you.

Bye.

Same here. Saying people need to die because they have their pets fixed is just absurd.

Getting pets fixed saves a lot of baby pets from being euthanized at the local animal shelter. Unless you're breeding them, there is no need for them to be reproducing.

And for you people whoi think your cats are trained, I laugh at you. I really do. You can "train" them to a certain point, but hat's because cats are smart. They just wait until people aren't around to do what they want. If your cat doesn't scratch or bite, that's not because of anything you did, but rather they jsut aren't scratchers or biters, becuase if they were, you'd certainly know it.

Goodbye Master Tonberry. You'll be sorely missed.

Not.

Anyway, I've always been generally against the idea of declawing cats. In our case we have a cat that when he goes outside will destroy our screens and weather-stripping because he wants in. Will scratch at the carpet in the early morning because he wants some fresh food (even though there may be plenty in his bowl), scratch speakers, etc. The vet says with modern laser technology there is much less trauma to cats when declawed.

Now, what is more cruel? The least traumatic method of amputating the animals claws or allowing them to run the streets, subjected to disease and predators or passing them on to another home that may not care as much for the animal? I had a really awesome cat. He enjoyed outdoor life and was perfect inside. He was quite large. Despite his street smarts my wife woke me up late one night and the cat was dead in the road in front of my house. What is more cruel? Allowing a cat to live to a ripe, pampered old age inside or allowing it to run the risks they all face outside?

I don't like declawing but I think it can be done humanely and that the cat ultimately benefits from it. I may cave and allow my wife to declaw our cat.

Now, whatever morron boy thinks is cruel about neutering animals maybe he should look at how many suffer because of unchecked breeding. Even funnier is I bet he's pro-abortion.

you better have pictures by tommrow.... i'm watching you

de-clawing is not cruel, nor is spaying and nutering.

will be declawing the cat most likely

I shared the same house for years with a cat a bit like jEDIkIRBY described. He never bit and scratched if I played with him with bare hands, but when I put on heavy leather gauntlets, he bit and scratched gleefully (in vain, but it was clearly joyous for the cat, because they are natural born killers, after all). And that cat never scratched or broke a single item of furniture or decoration.

Yet during summer times he spent a good long while at our summer cottage and hunted and killed not only the usual moles and mice and little birds but also lots of vipers, ducks, rabbits and what ever... A real killer with teeth and claw like a decent cat should be.

Can't we all just jump off the back of this Cruelty bandwagon and get back to niceities?

Woah, no "I hate cats and kill them for fun" posts like usual.

I could be impressed.

But will you get predictable?

I don't find spaying and neutering cruel.

I wholly endorse spaying and neutering (people).

Also, I'm focusing all of my efforts to killing your kitten.

Amen.

Spaying and Neutering animals is only applicable when it's needed. Some people snip off the balls when their animals are BORN. That makes no sense to me. You don't let a dog outside without a leash, therefore no unwanted breeds end out. Cats don't really have this problem, since very few house cats are purebread anyway. The only reasoning behind spaying or neutering your cat is AFTER they've had a litter or 2, or if they constantly run away in an attempt to get tail. Otherwise, there's not really a reason at all. I don't find it cruel, I just find it sensless to cut an animal's baby making parts off unless they've actually been able to... make a few babies. That IS their major goal in life.

JediKirby

Male cats, when not fixed, tend to mark their territory and piss on just about everything. Females cats go into heat, crying out every night, bleeding kitty menstrual blood over the place and being unfriendly towards other female cats.