While Joel and his family were on extended vacation, I took care of their cat, Sprocket.
He used to be 25 pounds (from the previous owner who overfed him) but slimmed down to around 14 or 15, I’d say. You can tell he used to be much bigger; if you run your hand down the length of his body, you can feel the bones on his frame sticking out prominently, and there’s a fair amount of extra skin hanging from the belly.
He never got along with Dolly. For the entire time he was with me, which was just under two months, they got in about two dozen fights. Every now and then, there would be a tremendous cacophony of hissing, growling, meowing, and running from one end of the house to the other. I’d say that Sprocket was more often the aggressor, but Dolly started her share of fights. Even though she still has her back claws (Sprocket is completely de-clawed), he had a large weight and size advantage. His bite is also very strong (which I found out from feeding him treats1), I’m guessing from all the practice he got from eating.
It made me re-think getting a second cat while Dolly’s still alive. Two cats can fill a house nicely, but she didn’t get along with him at all. Since they don’t know how old Sprocket is, the aggressiveness may simply be due to his age, but I’m not sure I want to take the chance.
In any case, I can tell he enjoyed the change of pace, which was living in a house with two parents, two kids, and two dogs, to just me and a cat. He’s a sucker for treats, meowing quietly as a “reminder” to give him one. One funny thing I noticed is that he seemed to have harder-than-average paws. When pacing around on the kitchen tiles before being fed, it would sound like a horse trot.
Sprocket also loves attention. No matter what I was doing — cooking breakfast, playing games upstairs, writing downstairs — he would follow me around. It did make my Tai Chi practice more difficult, as he’d spread out on the open carpet and roll around under my feet.
He loves to sleep on blankets, and would always fall asleep on my sheets when I was under them, most commonly near the feet. He got along especially well with Bronwen. When she stayed the night, he would keep her up by constantly walking over her body, looking for a warm place to nestle.
I’ll certainly miss him. Hopefully, he’ll remember me the next time I go over to Joel’s house.
- I don’t think he was ever fed by hand; he would always nip my fingers when giving him a treat. Dolly is the opposite. She very delicately moves towards the treat with her mouth, and snatches the treat with her tongue. [↑]
If you want a second cat, having a kitten usually is the best way. Also, the SPCA here lets you kind of have a sleepover with a potential pet you want to adopt so that you can get an idea of how they’d get along. Bringing in a second pet is hard, you have to deal with the jealousy ;)
Love that purr engine! I tried to record mine, my cat’s that is, but my camera couldn’t pick it up. Our cats got along famously, codependantly, at first but they had a falling out and staked out the house into territories eventually. We thought ours would be lonely being the only cat but she loves having sole queen rule.
@Sophia — I was thinking about a kitten too. And a male to balance out Dolly being a female. She may still feel threatened though; I don’t think it’s so much of an intimidation and size issue as it is an attention issue (the jealousy, as you mention). That sleepover idea is amazing, but it must be for dogs mainly. Cats can get along, but it’s not often that it’s right away, since a gradual introduction is the most important part.
@Pearl — You need a somewhat omni-directional microphone to capture a purr, which isn’t always easy to find. I can’t believe your cats got worse together as time went on. In my experience, it’s the complete opposite, and they’re hissing, growling, and sticking their backs up in the beginning. It would be interesting to see a social structure such as that in a household.
You should ask, they might do it for cats too because I know that the adoption process here is SO hard and such a pain that people end up getting pets elsewhere. They really want to make sure that you’ll be a permanent owner. Have you ever thought about fostering? I couldn’t do it, I wouldn’t be able to let go.
That’s a good point…the animal shelters here are pretty good about trying to match people up with the right pets. It’s funny cause I just thought about fostering the other day, but I think it’d just be too much of a commitment for me at the moment. It would be awesome to get tons of new kitten pictures though!
After battling ubiquitous fur and peeing wars amongst my sister’s 7 cats and two dogs, and after the fur and clambering and clawing of my mothers’ 5 cats, I can truthfully say I am OD’d on felines.
However, I know you need to bring over and try out kitties together when deciding on a cohabitant cat. Some bond very closely and some just get territorial. Each one is different, and inexplicable.
Blasphemy! One can never OD on felines!
But yeah, cat’s have as many personalities as people. One can never tell which ones will get along, and how.