Settle this debate

[Biciclista]

I told my husband donkeys are good for protecting from coyotes (which incidentally he heard commuting home last night). His response? "And what are we protecting with your heard of little asses?" I replied "My goats I want for amusement and brush control and the chickens for eggs and they are keeping my alpaca I have for the wool company." I really don't think he gets the farm animal as pet reasoning, he thinks dogs (and not cats he is resisting adding one) can be our pets.

I'm sorry he's such a hard sell. And cats, people who have indoor cats never have mice in their homes!

[Aggie_Ama]

Stubborn. He hates the litter box, nothing against cats just the cat's potty. I want a particular type (Manx) and if I ever see it at the shelter I will sneak it home if I have to! Actually I am not giving him enough credit, he says yes we can have a cat when blind Maggie is gone. He thinks it is mean to expose her to a new pet she cannot see. He does say I will be cleaning the box.

[badger]

I just adopted a manx mix for my parents in December. He's got really long hind legs, and runs around like a speedster! He's quite sweet, very personable and friendly. Has the characteristic stump of a tail

I looked up Manx, and they just bascially said it's a genetic mutation of sorts that gives them short tails and long hind legs. Which makes me wonder if he isn't full manx? who knows. All I know is my parents adore him and that's all that matters.

I saw this thing on t.v. the other day. It's a self-cleaning litter box you attach to a tap and all the waste actually gets dissolved and flushed down the toilet or something of that kind. It looked interesting but my place isn't set up for that. Let me see if I can find a link for it.

[Zen]

I wouldn't flush that into my septic system. Clean the box once a day. I don't see the problem

[Aggie_Ama]

We had the most wonderful Manx growing up. Those powerful legs can be a handful and he was quite the fighter but so dang sweet. And what a hunter too, we only had one other (A petite siamese female) that brought home more kills. I told my husband my friend has the Littermaid that self cleans and likes it but he isn't budging. Trust me we have been married 6 years, I am fighting a losing battle on the cat. Oh and Zen- I have never lived with septic, we always flushed down the commode.

[badger]

this is it, the Cat Genie. Super pricey, but if you're not into cleaning up after your kitty, this would be good. They say it's environmentally safe.

[GLC1968]

Save your money! For like $30, you can just get a pet door and let the cat do it out in the yard. No litter box clean up for us!

(if you are going to have a yard anyway - obviously not a good idea if you live in the city, of course)

[Aggie_Ama]

We live in a suburb neighborhood but I have never had a completely indoor cat. I know, I know it is a big scary would but my cats lived to be older/middle aged. Including Spider, the siamese who hunted and roamed. She suffered the most tragic end, she was sleeping on top of the open garage door and got pinned breaking her back. My mom tearfully had to put my nearly 13 year old cat to sleep in late 2003. Sylvester vanished at 8 years old, he was so beautiful we have always assumed he was stolen because he had actually been taken and recovered once 6 months prior.

My husband's dad had a cat named Skitty that was indoor/outdoor. Lived to be dreadfully old at assumed age of 20.

[badger]

it probably depends on the savvy-ness of the cat, no? We've always had indoor/outdoor cats and they've all lived to about 15 years. I have one cat that I got from the SPCA after he was hit by a car. He's a tom through and through so he was hit by a car again before I moved into a condo where he's got hardly any outdoor access. I doubt he'd still be alive if I didn't move, he's not the brightest light on the street!

[GLC1968]

Ours is indoor/outdoor and will probably live to a ripe old age. He's totally a scaredy cat...never goes much futher than our yard (which still gives him plenty of things to get into, of course).

You should have seen how fast he ran under our bed the first night we all heard coyotes. I've never heard a cat make such pathetic noises before!

[Biciclista]

GLC that's a smart cat. Coyotes regularly snack on pet cats in the Seattle area. It's a rare cat that knows enough to be afraid of them, and still rarer he cats who manage to beat them off (I've heard of two now)