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Am I crazy?

Am I Crazy?

  • No, they do much better in pairs

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • No, have all the cats!

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    5

Gisele

Lairian
Joined
Apr 17, 2018
Messages
41
Points
44
We adopted Alaska from a local shelter in May, she is coming up to 6 years old and came with significant eye problems due to herpes virus being left untreated. Since we've had her she's had to have her eye removed due to the state it was in. She's also partially sighted in the remaining eye, but this doesn't stop her from climbing on doors and killing bugs. Honestly, I think i'd be a little scared if she could fully see!

Alaska has quickly become my best friend, she cries for me when i'm not home and spends most of her time snuggled up to me when I am around. It's a good thing too because she has also been single handedly responsible for the destruction of 90% of my glassware and holding us hostage in our own home.

Alaska does this brilliant trick at food time that she came to us with; if she is crying for food for more than 10 minutes without human cooperation, she smashes things. I've watched her smash drinking glasses, glass bottles, she has thrown a jar of oats across our kitchen like a poltergeist, playstation controllers and the playstation (while i was sat on the toilet helpless!). I have even watched her attempt to murder my mother when she came to stay by throwing a glass candle onto her pillow while she was sleeping. This behaviour means that I lay in bed in the middle of the night weighing up the risks of going to the bathroom and disturbing her sleep! She's a loveable dictator.

All this to say, prior to Alaska we were on a waiting list for a kitten with a brilliant breeder. The kittens were born on the 4th of July and we are due to collect our new child in October. Part of me thinks this may help keep her company and get some of her energy out. The other part of me fears that I will have no home left and all our guests will be drinking out of sippy cups.

Is 4 pets in a one bedroom apartment insane? (We have a catio built and cat trees and shelves for them to get around), We also have two house rabbits, that are very tolerant and unbothered by the cats. (They are locked in the kitchen when we are not here to supervise).

Am I crazy for getting another one?


is anyone else being held hostage in their own homes?

This is the perpetrator in question:
 

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Yoda mom

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 23, 2012
Messages
26,190
Points
653
(@Gisele
(hugs))) I feel for you... have my little zoo of 4 nakid adoptees and pups (the 2 extra pups were not planned on , I make it work . always keep me on my toes. it is what you can handle in the long run.. go with your gut. hugs n head smooches.
 

Gisele

Lairian
Joined
Apr 17, 2018
Messages
41
Points
44
(@Gisele
(hugs))) I feel for you... have my little zoo of 4 nakid adoptees and pups (the 2 extra pups were not planned on , I make it work . always keep me on my toes. it is what you can handle in the long run.. go with your gut. hugs n head smooches.

Thanks haha, she's lucky she's so cute!
part of me feels that a friend would be good for her, especially as my neighbour says he can hear her crying when we are out. Even though I come home on my lunch breaks every day it's still not enough for her.

Our last little Sphynx was very different, she was a lot more relaxed, would just sleep for most of the day when i was at work and she was younger than Alaska. I'm now thinking that this was probably due to her HCM and maybe Alaska is more of an accurate representation of what we have in store for us lol!
 

Condo commando

Gold Lairian
Notable Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2014
Messages
4,070
Points
568
@Gisele I laughed so hard at everything you said because it's so familiar. There's a product that some people call museum putty and other people call quake putty that you can use to tack things down. It's removable and not damaging to surfaces. For example, I use it in my bathroom to tack down my toothbrush holder and liquid soap pump.

The good news is not all Sphynxes are little tornadoes. My "problem child" is my first Sphynx but I have 3 now in total and the other 2 are like normal cats. What's really funny is when I got my 2nd Sphynx EVEN SHE was driven crazy by Sphynx #1. Then Sphynx #3 came along and since he was younger I thought he would be a playmate to Sphynx #1, but nope! Sphynx #3 would rather chill with #2 than go hog wild with Sphynx #1.

Whenever you have that many critters you will need to be around to supervise but you already know that. Cheers.
 

guinnesspop

Lairian
Joined
Nov 24, 2020
Messages
45
Points
29
You do make it work. At one point, pre-Sphynx, I had six rats, a rabbit and a cat, all in a tiny two bed room apartment. I wouldn't do that many again--I spent a lot of time cleaning and making sure everyone got proper enrichment--but there was a comfort to the chaos. Now that I've just got Em things do feel kind of lonely, especially since Em's a pretty independent little thing. If you can take care of all the animals, and can continue to do so as they get older and their needs change, it's nicer to have more I think. There's definitely a plateau for that, but you definitely don't seem crazy for having four!
 

Gisele

Lairian
Joined
Apr 17, 2018
Messages
41
Points
44
I always say trust your gut. If you are concerned about the size of your apartment, think of how you can extend vertical space with cat trees, wall climbers etc.
Yeah, That’s kind of where I’m at with creating more room, and ‘Catifying’.
We are already in the process of putting up cat shelves for her so she can get around the place without touching the floor if she wants. Also thinking of to trying to figure out areas that may cause conflict and see if we can create multiple ways of them getting around without getting cornered at any point.
We’ve got a tall cat tree in every room. Feliway plug ins, also 2 large litter trays around the house, we will have 3 if we decide to have the kitten.

My partner has also built a catio for her so she can sit outside and we just need to put up multiple levels on that too. We also play with her daily.

I just hope it will be enough.

This is the catio:
7B60FDDD-0042-4C60-856E-CBAAA1F4F5F2.jpeg
 

Sheldon13

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Sep 2, 2014
Messages
9,901
Points
613
Oh wow that catio is gorgeous!

Have you ever tried a form fitting shirt on your girl? It calms mine down. Good to have on hand if there is something making them upset or scared. It’s like a security blanket. (You never want to leave them on unsupervised of course)


Love and Sphynx ~ It’s all you need
 

Gisele

Lairian
Joined
Apr 17, 2018
Messages
41
Points
44
Oh wow that catio is gorgeous!

Have you ever tried a form fitting shirt on your girl? It calms mine down. Good to have on hand if there is something making them upset or scared. It’s like a security blanket. (You never want to leave them on unsupervised of course)


Love and Sphynx ~ It’s all you need
No I haven’t actually! I will have to try it with her, she has clothes but none form
Fitting. Thank you for the suggestion
 

Beckinboots

V.I.P Lairian
V.I.P Lairian
Joined
Dec 22, 2018
Messages
1,999
Points
318
Wearing jumpers definitely helps to calm Rankle down. He's a very high energy cat and drives me potty but whacking a jumper on him makes him bearable.

We have 14 permanent animal residents and a varying number of bats (I do bat rescue) in our house and it's hard work but I love each and every one of them and wouldn't be without them for the world. All of them are rescues and have come to us because their previous humans couldn't care for them any more. It wasn't a choice to go looking for them but they found us and we make sure they have everything they need. Only you can decide whether you have the time, space and money to welcome another animal into your home. If you think you can offer a good quality of life and your existing animals will be OK with it, then go for it.
 

Cleopatra Beers

Gold Lairian
Notable Member
Joined
Dec 24, 2011
Messages
5,542
Points
643
First of all, tell your guests that sippy cups are the new crystal. They’ll think you’re just way ahead of the trends. My lovely Cleopatra destroyed a fairly rare ceramic jewelry box one day when i went out to lunch and didn’t take her. Then, when Marcus was about a year old, he opened an upper kitchen cupboard, pulled out and smashed 2 of our then-new china bowls. We never replaced them, because they cost $80.00 apiece. So now I use museum putty on any and all breakables that are out on tables and we had baby locks on all the kitchen cupboards in our last house. Fortunately, Marcus doesn’t do stuff like that any more, but Cleo still pushes stuff off tables all the time.

Next, your Alaska probably will love having company, once she acclimates to the new one. I think only you can decide if you will have too many animals in your home. If you have the time to do the care and cleaning, and can give them enough attention, then you should be okay. BUT, if you are not sure about it, I wouldn’t get the kItten. Rehoming a pet because you have too many is painful, and very hard on the pet. Good luck to you.
 

Gisele

Lairian
Joined
Apr 17, 2018
Messages
41
Points
44
First of all, tell your guests that sippy cups are the new crystal. They’ll think you’re just way ahead of the trends. My lovely Cleopatra destroyed a fairly rare ceramic jewelry box one day when i went out to lunch and didn’t take her. Then, when Marcus was about a year old, he opened an upper kitchen cupboard, pulled out and smashed 2 of our then-new china bowls. We never replaced them, because they cost $80.00 apiece. So now I use museum putty on any and all breakables that are out on tables and we had baby locks on all the kitchen cupboards in our last house. Fortunately, Marcus doesn’t do stuff like that any more, but Cleo still pushes stuff off tables all the time.

Next, your Alaska probably will love having company, once she acclimates to the new one. I think only you can decide if you will have too many animals in your home. If you have the time to do the care and cleaning, and can give them enough attention, then you should be okay. BUT, if you are not sure about it, I wouldn’t get the kItten. Rehoming a pet because you have too many is painful, and very hard on the pet. Good luck to you.
Thank you for this, it’s made me feel a lot better about my decision. I really would like a new baby and I know we can provide for one absolutely fine, I’m a nurse at a feline referral clinic so I’m in a lucky position where Ive always been able to do the most for my animals.

I think Alaska will love it too in the long term.

We’ve also ordered some museum putty thanks to you guys on here, fingers crossed it saves my glasses
 

Domino

Lairian
Joined
Jul 1, 2021
Messages
26
Points
14
We adopted Alaska from a local shelter in May, she is coming up to 6 years old and came with significant eye problems due to herpes virus being left untreated. Since we've had her she's had to have her eye removed due to the state it was in. She's also partially sighted in the remaining eye, but this doesn't stop her from climbing on doors and killing bugs. Honestly, I think i'd be a little scared if she could fully see!

Alaska has quickly become my best friend, she cries for me when i'm not home and spends most of her time snuggled up to me when I am around. It's a good thing too because she has also been single handedly responsible for the destruction of 90% of my glassware and holding us hostage in our own home.

Alaska does this brilliant trick at food time that she came to us with; if she is crying for food for more than 10 minutes without human cooperation, she smashes things. I've watched her smash drinking glasses, glass bottles, she has thrown a jar of oats across our kitchen like a poltergeist, playstation controllers and the playstation (while i was sat on the toilet helpless!). I have even watched her attempt to murder my mother when she came to stay by throwing a glass candle onto her pillow while she was sleeping. This behaviour means that I lay in bed in the middle of the night weighing up the risks of going to the bathroom and disturbing her sleep! She's a loveable dictator.

All this to say, prior to Alaska we were on a waiting list for a kitten with a brilliant breeder. The kittens were born on the 4th of July and we are due to collect our new child in October. Part of me thinks this may help keep her company and get some of her energy out. The other part of me fears that I will have no home left and all our guests will be drinking out of sippy cups.

Is 4 pets in a one bedroom apartment insane? (We have a catio built and cat trees and shelves for them to get around), We also have two house rabbits, that are very tolerant and unbothered by the cats. (They are locked in the kitchen when we are not here to supervise).

Am I crazy for getting another one?


is anyone else being held hostage in their own homes?

This is the perpetrator in question:
Personally I don't think you sound at all crazy, but then I have 4 cats and a 13yr old Teacup Chihuahua so... 2 of our cats were rescue and the dog was a Christmas present from a friend. If my daughter had her way we'd have at least another 3 cats by now, she keeps finding strays/unwanted ones and though my heart wants to take them all my house and pocket aren't large enough.
The way we introduce a new member is by showing the new one to the old ones and letting them check each out when they're ready, with us there of course to make sure the fur doesn't fly. After the first couple of days everybody seems to acquiesce to the new situation and finally, when they realize the situation is a permanent one, they start to get along fine usually emding up being partners in crime and sleeping together.
 
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