I've always been curious about how the cat owners keep their cats at home, especially those households with multiple cats. I mean:
1. Do you lock them up in a room when you're at work and there's nobody at home?
2. Do you keep them in a separate room at night when you're sleeping?
3. Are your cats ok with the arrangement?
4. Do your cats meow or make noise at night when everyone's asleep?
We usually keep our foster cat at home in the spare bedroom ("cat room") whenever we go to work or when we're asleep at night, because firstly, my hubby is quite concern about our sofa. To me, it's a sofa, and at most, we can chuck it out and get a new one, but he feels the heartpain somewhat. Secondly, it would be impossible for me to sleep well at night if the cat were to join me in bed, usually on my side of the bed, plus the night time meowing can be disturbing for light sleepers.
I know it's not ideal for the cat at all to be locked up alone for so many hours, and that's why I prefer to do only short-term fostering, but I'm wondering again, how you folks do it at home. So pray tell.
:)
ps: here's a blurp - Catdonna is organising a meeting for cat bloggers next Saturday, so do visit her blog to leave a comment if you would like to meet up.
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15 comments:
Dear auntie P, my cats have the whole house to themselves 24/7. They are not confined to any one room, unless 1) there is a fight between two toms 2) the cat needs to recuperate due to ops or injuries 3) there is a stranger in the house and the cats will feel better being secluded.
The cats don't make noises at night at all, and I hardly detect them when they join me on the bed. If one of them sing, it is normally at dawn when they want food or it is raining. Or they really want something important.
Thanks for sharing, cat aunty. :)
When I was single and had a whole queen-sized bed and the whole flat to myself, I, too let the 2 foster cats that I had roam everywhere. One of them would only sleep beside my low mattress, whereas Billy would join me on the bed quietly, or be playing with my blanket.
At times, it was really pleasant to wake up and find Billy lying on parts of my body or sharing my pillow, such that the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was this furry sweetie. Those were very joyful days for me. :)
We haf free run 24/7 as well, thou my man purrfurs privacy in the bafroom. I slept on my woman's feet or unner the bed until Victor came. Now he sleeps there an efun unner cover wif my woman. I don't like visitin grown-up beans, so I'm put behind a gate or efun shut in the bedroom fur that. Sum beans keep the bedroom door shut at nite, an if they're consistent bout it, the cats adjust. I banged the door too much an won my riteful place in the bedroom.
before : my cats share my bed while ripping up blankets
now : hubby shares my bed while snoring
my brood of 6 now have access to the whole house except our bedroom and my mother's bedroom (she stores a lot of keropok in her room and they have been stealing the keropok, tearing them to bits while snacking).
if i pick up a foster cat/kitten, will then use the computer room to house it. then slowly introduce him/her to the gang.
If there is no one at home or if it is sleep time, the 5 kitties have access to the living room and their room which stores their litter box. Big enough for all of them.
Kitchen is out of bounds since we are not there to supervise (lots of dangerous stuff there).
We can't have a good sleep if we let them come into the MBR at night. If not kneading on the blanket, they will be playing chase and stomping all over us.
But when we are home, they have access to the whole house.
KSN, your cats like keropok too? My XX likes fish keropok very much and will run from wherever she is when she hears the opening of a keropok bag.
Bonnie, aren't you a fiesty cat? Good on you.
ksn, I too, have a snoring husband. *Sigh* To get peaceful sleep, I sleep in the cat room sometimes. Keropok-stealing cats? So clever.
kxbc, it's good to keep the cats out of the kitchen. Perhaps I can use keropok as a cat bait in future.
* keropok = Malay term for crispy snacks, e.g. fish/prawn/curry flavoured crisp.
Dear KSN, why does mum store keropok in her room????
When I lived in an apartment, Zeus and Isis came and went as they pleased. They had full reign between the bedroom and main living quarters. They slept with me, and they were always near.
Now that I live in a house, things have changed slightly. At first, nothing was different: open doors, come and go as you please atmosphere. However, when I invited two girls in need of a home to my house, I had to start closing my bedroom door and have more privacy between rooms.
When I go to bed at night and close my door to my bedroom, it creates quite a pouting fit on Isis' part. She will not let me be in my bedroom without her so I will let her in, and amazingly enough, she will not go to the bathroom the entire night just so she can sleep with me on the bed. Zeus, on the other hand, prefers to watch over the house at night, and he will protest if caught in the bedroom with the door closed.
In two weeks, life will change again as the girls have finally found a place of their own to live. Perhaps it will return to how it was in the beginning, and life can regain some normalcy!
-Marina, Zeus and Isis' mom
My monsters can go anywhere in the house for most of the day. When bedtime comes they're put in the cat room. Sometimes they complain or scuffle a bit, but they settle down quickly.
The exceptions to this rule are Pip and Hazel, who have full house access 24/7. Not that I'm playing favourites, but Pip's way too protective of Hazel and placing them all in the same room would mean World War Three.
Pip and Hazel don't do too much when we're asleep. Hazel mostly plays in the bathroom and Pip watches. So we can get a good night's rest.
When no one is at home to supervise, the amigos will have the living room and my room. We close the sliding door to the kitchen (which I have specially installed to keep them out whenever the washing machine is on and my mom is cooking etc), the computer room and my mom's room.
If someone is in the house, they run through all of it. :) At night Akira sleeps in her night cage or else she whines endlessly in the living room and the boys sleep with me. They romp about a bit whne the light is on but when I switch off all the lights, they settle down. Toro sleeps under the bed or on the cover of his carrier and Bujang sleeps in his snugs. Sometimes Toro sleeps at my feet on the cat blanket. :) No noise at all.
When we have visitors everone except Bujang disappears into my room and I close the door slightly and they will only come out when the visitors leave.
It's so very interesting to read about your rooming arrangement with your cats! :)
Another thing - do your cats actually sleep at night, even after they've slept for most of the day?
Some of our foster cats were really nocturnal and hardly sleep at night. They might have taken short naps, but when I went to check on them, I'd find them very alert and already behind the door (of the cat room) waiting for me.
Yes bujang and Toro sleeps at night too as there is really nothing much to do then :) But I sometimes see them walking around in the dark when I wake up at about 3 or 4 am. They will all be awake at about 5 as my mom will be up and about. They wait for her to open the door for them.
If there's lite, I'm active at nite, but once it's dark, I'm quiet. I sleep wif Mom an Dad, comin an goin during the nite. Sumtimes I bring a toy to chase on the bed about 4 AM, but that seems to bug Mom. Bonnie snoozes the nite away in the puter room. Of course, we bof get up to asplore the counters an ofur stuff Mom doesn't want us to do.
cat aunty, my mum treats her room as her own private world. and she buys lots of tidbits for "personal consumption"!
kxbc, my brood will run to me if i am opening ANY plastic or aluminum bag or package!
Dear KSN, well, as long as mum is happy loh.
Dear auntie P, the cats at home do sleep at night, from 11pm until 4am. Max has a deeper sleep vs Spencer. Sometimes when I wake up in the morning to go toilet, Spencer would be sitting in the kitchen, alert. The strays tend to be roaming at night, and sleep during the day.
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