My New Kitten!

my mother isnt an animal lover either and really hates cats - she says its because someone threw one at her as a child and naturally it scratched her badly. Personally I don't see why that would make you hate a cat, just the person who threw it! I've always loved all animals, and the first thing I did when I got my own place (that's 30 years ago now) was get kittens - ended up with a houseful, and no visits from mother! What a shame! Then at a later date I owned dogs, beautiful Afghan hounds, not easy dogs to own at all. Now I am unplanned Mum to two maine coon kittens. I like both, dogs and cats - maine coons are definitely easier than Afghans! The Afghans wrecked the house when they were puppies - it was ok because we were in the process of re-doing the downstairs, but they chewed absolutely everything - I remember one evening coming downstairs to find them with a curtain each in their mouths just pulling. Compared to that the kittens are a doddle - the only thing we are having a problem with is clawing at one wall and me covered in scratches from being jumped on.
I would still love another pair of Afghans though - but I probably don't have the energy now and my inability to have any animal unless they come in twos would probably make my husband say - noooooooooooo!

We've been pretty lucky on the damage front too - a few scratches on the leather couch but mainly caused during that mad hour they have in the evening - ours like to do a couple of laps of the lounge and that means hurtling across the backs of the sofa's at a million miles an hour! No clawing though - always the scratching posts (or our cheap fake leather ikea office chairs). We got cats knowing it was risky with the leather stuff so eyes were wide open, and to be honest we've fared better than we expected. Aside from that, I've lost one pair of earphones as Wicca decided they'd work better if they were no longer attached to the jack plug (she has much to learn about audio equipment...). And we've lost two vases of fake flowers - Freyja wrecked the first one by trying to prise a well-jammed fake carnation out of the vase; vase was replaced with flowers that were glued into it, and OH thought he'd outsmarted Freyja by using adhesive stickers to stick the vase to the window ledge. Then Wicca moved in, and after a great boxing match with the aforementioned fake flowers, the adhesive waved a White flag and the vase hurled itself to the floor! Oh, and freyja's jumping confidence has recently reached new heights - literally - and she's discovered that she can jump onto the mantlepiece from the floor, so an empty tee light holder met an untimely demise. We now have a very bland mantlepiece...

Wouldn't change a thing though. And HB you're right - they give you a very different perspective on things :smile:

Luv it can just imagine the chaos caused by Freyja & Wicka
Has anyone on here outwitted their MC yet without having to suffer big pay back at some point...!

Just goes to show how much it doesn't bother me - I'd completely forgotten about the scratched leather chairs, probably because that happens as a result of chasing and climbing and my husband's 5 pairs of earphones, well he shouldn't go to sleep wearing them, should he?

I filled my house with scratching posts before Simba arrived cos my mum told me he would ruin my carpets if I didn't. Well my capets are fine but I do have a few scratches on the leather sofas - this was done when he was a kitten and wasn't allowed outside and used to fly around the house like one of those balloons which you let go without tying the end. He also used to run up my curtains and when he got heavier he pulled one of them down. He used to over do the burying poo in the litter tray bit and would throw it around all over the place often going back in for round two. This has all pretty much settled down now he is allowed outside but a few bad habits remain. He keeps pinching the kids toothbrushes from the shelf in the bathroom (I can't count how many times I have had to buy new ones) - he seems to have a fondness for them and will often be seen sitting at the top of the stairs with one sticking out the end of his mouth - the other thing is things keep disappearing from my dressing table - he likes small shiney objects like jewellery, which I later find in odd places- think he may have some Magpie in him:LOL:

My dogs which we had from 8 weeks never put a foot wrong and even now if they see Simba misbehaving they run out the room in fear of being blamed for it:LOL:

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Originally Posted by Karena

He keeps pinching the kids toothbrushes from the shelf in the bathroom (I can't count how many times I have had to buy new ones) - he seems to have a fondness for them and will often be seen sitting at the top of the stairs with one sticking out the end of his mouth - the other thing is things keep disappearing from my dressing table - he likes small shiney objects like jewellery, which I later find in odd places- think he may have some Magpie in him:LOL:

:LOL:

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Would love to see a picture of him sitting there with a toothbrush so next time one of the childrens goes AWOL camera at the ready please.
Think you are right about the magpie bit , I have always found odd bits picked up & moved from the dressing table but were always left where I could see them,Welly goes one further & hides them,thats when I said to hubby he must be a magpie,his favourite was my watch,its been down the bed,under the pillow,in a shoe,bottom of their toy box,under his bedding,up the corner behind a set of drawers but the last time it went astray it took us five months to find it,we have a heavy pine unit in the hall & yes I do clean under it because besides the usual whirls of cat furr toys go under as well but being a good girl one day got hubby to pull it all out so I could do a proper job & there tucked neatly behind one leg was my watch,have learnt my lesson now,its not left out when not being worn....

I've got two really awesome jewellery stands which I'm pretty sure will become victims of Teddy! The one with earrings on spins which I'm sure he'll find very amusing. Dave's already toppled them though so I think I know how to deal with it! Haha!

I'm also a bit worried that he has a thing for undoing bedding - as in, scratiching and pulling on the corners until the blankets are all over the place. I have a minor obsession with having a neat bed...I'll maybe have to let that go...

In other news, we're going to see two flats today so fingers crossed one of them will suit us! Only problem...one is right beside and the other is just across the road from Dave's sister. ARGH!!! Just our luck, eh?

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Originally Posted by Stacey

I've got two really awesome jewellery stands which I'm pretty sure will become victims of Teddy! The one with earrings on spins which I'm sure he'll find very amusing. Dave's already toppled them though so I think I know how to deal with it! Haha!

I'm also a bit worried that he has a thing for undoing bedding - as in, scratiching and pulling on the corners until the blankets are all over the place. I have a minor obsession with having a neat bed...I'll maybe have to let that go...

In other news, we're going to see two flats today so fingers crossed one of them will suit us! Only problem...one is right beside and the other is just across the road from Dave's sister. ARGH!!! Just our luck, eh?

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Hope the viewings went well - given Dave's sisters attitude, what on earth made you choose to look at them? You are a very patient creature, Stacey :smile: Freyja loves to claw at our bedding, and once we let her into the bedroom there was no going back; now we've learnt to ignore the mouthful of cat fur you sometimes discover when you plump your pillow at night, or the foul smelling toy you find nestled just under the top of the duvet. Stick something in the middle of the duvet - even if it's a hanky, I guarantee that Teddy will want to squeeze his little butt on anything that's not meant to be sat on (clean washing, gym bag, ipad (my fault, I downloaded a gold fish for Freyja and forgot I'd left it running...) so it could be a good way to distract him from the corners!

I can vouch for the iPad issue! Moto is forever messing with my posts by padding about on it :rofl:

Neither Moshi nor Moto mess with the bed, they just lie on it. They've both tried exploring underneath, but I think they get too hot and so just stretch out on top. Even during the day when I'm not here, they don't mess with it.

Think it's just about the personality :-) Maybe Teddy won't want to?

How did the viewings go? As for the sister, well, if you live close she won't be able to resist coming over to see him - just wait and see ;-)

Sian
xx

We liked both the flats :) one was more of a two bed/no lounge which didn't really suit us but we could have adapted it if we had to.

The other is the one we've decided to go for. It has a bedroom, massive lounge (including a huuuuge storage cupboard which fits a double bed and has a window...make of this what you will! Maybe Teds can have his own bedroom!) and a big kitchen with space for a wee sofa and table and chairs. It's on the 3rd floor so Teddy will have plenty to see. it's pretty well kept but the current tenants clearly haven't cleaned in years (kinda embarassing for them, eh?!). The landlords are lovely - it's a letting agency we're dealing with and they were recommended to us by others. They've said they'll probably replace carpets and furniture for us :)

Dave's sister lives....directly across the way. Haha!! She can see our living room from her bedroom. I'm sure Teddy will give her a wave!

It's also right beside a pet shop and the vets we've decided to use for Teddy.

The reason we've ended up so close to Dave's sister is because there are only certain areas we feel comfortable living in. We have to walk to university so the closer the better, basically! Some areas which are close feel a bit scary so students here are a wee bit limited as to where we look for flats.

I'm a tiny bit worried about something though. When I first spoke to the letting agent (she's really lovely - not a typical letting agent at all!) I told her about Teddy as I did with every landlord because obviously if they don't allow pets, we won't consider it. She said it was fine but that was back a month or two ago so when we called her today to say we wanted the flat I just asked if she was still okay about the cat. She said it was fine as long as she didn't know...apparently the owner of the flat would prefer no pets but she's kind of using her discretion to let us have Teddy there. She said the flat owner would never visit the flat because everything is carried out through them and that they're responsible for managing everything in the flat - the owner basically just gets paid a sum every month. Obviously we're responsible if he causes any damage (as we would be if any visitor or one of us caused damage) and as long as he's just an indoor cat, it's fine. She said it was good to know he would be there in case we needed to call in a plumber or something when we were out (unlikely!) but that on the lease it would probably say 'no pets' or something. She said she has other tenants with pets in the same circumstances.