Do cats ruin your furniture, doors and kitchen cabinets?
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Anonymous
| We just moved into a new build townhouse and I am worried about damage. The furniture is new and I haven't even paid it off yet. It's nothing fancy but I would hate for it to get damaged. The cabinets are also new and I would really hate to get those damaged as it cost so much money to fix. I have two kids, aged 3 and 7. Husband doesn't clean up around the house. We don't have an evenly split division of labor. I work part-time and do all the cooking and cleaning. I didn't grow up with pets. Dh had a cat growing up. We found a cat at pets smart that we like. Do you have to choose between nice things or a cat? |
Anonymous
| Your house will smell like cat. The kitty litter smell is horrid. |
Anonymous
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Haha my wife is a crazy cat lover and we have three and I often joke we can’t have nice things bc of the cats. You might be OK with just one. Our cats scratch our cheap upholstered living room chairs but leave our nicer velvet couch alone (we read cats don’t like to scratch velvet so got that on purpose). That said we’ve had the chairs four years ago and the damage is minor. They leave our nicer living room curtains alone but scratch and chew our sheer white bedroom curtains. We don’t have issues with them messing w the cabinets or any wood. Their hair is everywhere and I feel like I’m always cleaning that. Roomba helps. And again, one might not be too bad. But then you have to worry about the one getting lonely and bored and causing more mischief as a result.
Re kitty litter smell - that only happens very occasionally when wife takes too long between cleans (I refuse to clean it). But we have an unfinished basement that we keep it in, far enough away from everything. |
Anonymous
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In my experience they damage some furniture, and others not. You can mitigate against that by giving them lots of things they can scratch - and discouraging them from scratching anything you don't want them doing that to.
As for the smell - clean the box every day. Vacuum every day or every couple of days. We have three cats and our house does not smell. (I know DCUM's pet haters will disagree, despite not having been to our house, but it doesn't.) |
Anonymous
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A stray cat adopted us. He’s indoor/outdoor so I believe he causes less damage than he would if we were entirely indoor. He’s ruined some cabinets by using them as a scratch pad, despite having an actual scratch he also uses.
My sister also has a cat that adopted them. Her cat has ruined all of their dining room chairs. |
Anonymous
| Remove their front claws and you won’t have any issues. |
Anonymous
Do not do this, it is very cruel and painful to the cat. |
Anonymous
| Your 3 and 7 year olds will spill, smear and make more mess than the cat. Except the litter and possible cat pee which will smell u less you are on it. Wait to get a cat until kids are older. Why do you want more stuff to clean up. |
Anonymous
? My parents had the vet do this and their cat lived a very happy and long life (nearly 20 years) as a spoiled indoor cat. I’m sure the vet did something to mitigate any pain. |
Anonymous
| If you’re not 💯 sold on a cat, it’s a wait. Once your youngest is in kindergarten, you’ll know how much bandwidth you’ll have. I desperately want a cat, and we don’t have one because my special needs child is too much work. |
Anonymous
Declawing cats is far less common nowadays and is commonly considered cruel. There can be nasty complications from the procedure and cats can’t climb as well and can’t defend themselves very well. Are vets even willing to do it routinely anymore? |
Anonymous
NEVER declaw a cat. It is the same as cutting off your fingers at the first knuckle. It is cruel and can be painful for the cat's entire life. Most states do not permit declawing and most vets will not perform that surgery. I've had cats (and dogs) for decades. Only my current cat was problematic with upholstery -- and I got that under control. You've got to provide scratching alternatives if you want them to ignore furniture. I've never had a problem with doors or kitchen cabinets. As for cat odor, that's on the owner. I clean the litter box twice each day and try to do it as soon after use as possible. My close friends tell me there is no cat odor in my home. It is a myth that cats require less work than dogs; it's just a different kind of work. |
Anonymous
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My (indoor) cats were fine, but then some other neighborhood cats started taunting them from outside and it upset one of my cats so much she started attacking our other cat.
The attacked cat started peeing on our furniture and we ended up having to throw away some chairs (they were new and quite expensive.) I wrote about it here a few months ago on the pet forum. https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1113317.page They haven't done anything to cabinets or other wood furniture/fixtures though. |
Anonymous
| The cabinets? It’s a cat not a bear! |
Anonymous
Fwiw, it was a kitten they rescued. It was 20+ years ago. But the kitten didn’t seem to suffer or have any adverse effects. I can’t imagine dealing with the damage of a cat with claws. |