[Blarg]

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There are people here who will tell you that keeping them inside is cruel, I believe you MUST keep them inside. The life expectancy of indoor cats is much much longer than outdoor, and if you get them as kittens they won't know the difference.

You should still put collars and tags on them, though, in case they get outside. My cats also have microchips imbedded under their skin so they can be tracked if they ever get out. I don't think it was that expensive, maybe $75/cat.

I have only heard stories about un-fixed cats, but I'm told that if your cats are not fixed they go nuts when they are in heat and you'll have lots of gentleman callers. You should fix them unless you're going to be a breeder.

If you can stay in the habit of clipping their nails from the very beginning you'll be happier. We didn't do it regularly enough, so the cats hate it, so we don't do it, and they tear lots of stuff up. Do not declaw.

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I agree with this. THe lifespan of an outdoor cat is like a year and a half. Exposing your babies to that means they are subjected the violence a big nasty world can afflict on what are essentially prey animals. They're really not impressive compared to a dog, a hawk, a car, a coyote, or jerky kids. And just as bad, cat diseases are astoundingly quick and virulent. They can literally die in a couple of days after catching them.

Also agreed on the nail clipping. You should get them used to it very young. Even going so far as to touch and separate their claws when they don't need clipping. What you want is to have them habituated to your doing the deed and handling their body in intrusive ways in general.

This is very necessary for when they get injured or really need it.

Take your time and don't rush the clipping, because clipping the meat in their nails will freak them out for a long time to come. If they start squirm too much, discipline them by laying your finger down, with a little pressure, along the top of their nose up to the forehead. This works very well with cats to show them who is boss, yet is completely non-violent and low stress for both of you. Only clip when you can see that none of the nail bud is in the grip of the scissors. Use the special nail scissor device, not regular scissors. It's like a little guillotine.

This also goes for showers. Bathing a cat can be a violent and bloody nightmare if you don't get them used to it while young. But if you do, they'll trust you and let you do almost anything to them. I got mine so mellow that even the vet marveled at how docile and trusting they were. I built up that trust with frequent intrusive handling started when they were very young. When I bathed my cats, I would take them in the shower naked and sit cross legged, with one of those extended shower top hoses to do the rinsing and keep us warm. They were stepping around my nuts, but even when quite unhappy about the soaking and scrubbing, were docile enough to never scratch me even once, and completely trustworthy. This happens when you give your cats plenty of handling and reason to trust you. Putting off things like clipping nails and bathing them only makes doing it harder and harder and more of a battle between you. Start young, and they'll act toward you as if you were their loving mommy. They might not like what you're doing, but they'd never dream of giving you real trouble or trying to hurt you.