If you had cats as a child, how were your cats taken care of?

[lonelocust]

My mother really didn't want a pet even though my brother and I very much wanted a cat. However, when a sweet cat wandered up to our back porch and wouldn't go away, she let us keep her. (And we were so happy.) That said, my mother just doesn't like animals, so Sam was mostly an outdoor cat. She was indoor/outdoor in that she came in a lot, but she was usually put out for the night, and she didn't have a cat door. She only stayed inside and got a litterbox if it was close to or below freezing outside. She had a cat bed and in the garage, which IIRC she used most of the time during her outside cat sleeping time. She had a smallish cat hotel/scratching post combo and another inside cat bed for winter. My mother was always trying to get my dad to build a heated insulated cat house for her so that we wouldn't have to bring her in in the winter, but the rest of us wanted her inside.

She got common brand but not absolute bottom-shelf dry food (Purina or something similar) and one can of wet food a day (I believe it was Friskies). 

We took her to the vet right after we decided to keep her but found she was already spayed, but got her vaccinations again just in case. Other than that I don't recall ever taking her to the vet again, but she never had any illnesses or injuries. And she wore flea collars. I'm not sure if alternative flea-control methods were available at the time (in the 80s-early 90s). She lived to be 17.

 

[cassiopea]

Started having our own cats when I was around preteen age - a barn cat, it was left behind by the previous owner when we purchased and moved into the new farm! Since I was always around equestrian stables was frequently around their stable cats too, but this was our first owned kitty.



She was a sweet thing, named her Patches, and she enjoyed the company of the new horses. She later became pregnant and had kittens. So, we set up a private area in the stable that can be closed in for safety, with blankets and a gentle heater for warmth since the weather was still cool (We raised a lot of other animal babies, like hens, ducks, sheep etc, thus had a variety of specialized heating systems) I was lucky since my mom really liked cats so we tried our best to take really good care of them, given what we knew at the time. We even made them special, fresh, real meat meals. They never went to an actual vet hospital, but they did get vaccinated at a special clinic that was offered to people with farm dogs/cats, and had the odd visit for little checkups when the vet came to see the horses. 


We would have brought them in the house, but at the time I had a young Jack Russel and my parents had their German Shepard. Don't think I need to remind anyone on how JRT's are with cats! And since they were all born and raised in the barn, we thought it was alright anyhow.


Still, I wished we could have found a way to bring them in. After a number of years, the first cat Patches disappeared.  Her three kids, later on in adulthood, eventually disappeared too. 


Ugh, never again! Felt like way too many lost lives, and could still have given them something way better in terms of quality of life, low risk and no awful ends. 




Now all kitties are completely indoor. Have no barn cats whatsoever, no going outside in general whatsoever. My beloved JRT lived until almost 16 years of age, and the GS passed as well, and my current Great Pyrenees loves the cats, so everything in the home is in comfy harmony with all the animals - and from now on will always consider a dog that will be fine with cats. Enjoying the company of everyone full time is just too awesome! 

 

[dbljj]

Back in the day it was much the same for us as well. We never bought catfood or saw vets, we had kittens in the barn. I was a real cat person always have been. They caught mice rats rabbits etc, plus I always snuck milk out to the barn and tried to teach the babies to drink, out of a pie pan when they were a couple months old, they would step in it but learned. Our mama cats always came to the house crying when it was time to birth kittens, and we would get some old clothes or blankets, and take mama cat back to the barn, and I would make her a nice soft bed and sit with her until she cried real long and loud. I remember giving her her privacy going downstairs then climbing back into the loft finding mama cat cleaning up her first born, then when she meowed long and loud again I would hustle back downstairs and climb back up again to see the second kitten getting cleaned and the first born suckling mama cat..

         I remember my mom asking me if I ever saw a kitten born and I said "no' it seemed like a private thing and I always left mama cat to it, then when she got quiet I scrambled back up into the loft to see the babies.After she had them all I would hold them in my hands always right in front of her and tell her what pretty babies she had. Our cats and kittens always looked fat and healthy. I remember at one time I could tell Black Diamond had children, and grandchildren at our house and then great grands. She probably lived about 15-16 years with us before she got deaf and one time in a foot of snow she was in my tire tracks, and my mom saw from the house when I backed over her, and she ran for the woods. Cats outdoors used to run off to die, we searched and searched but never found her nor a body. I was about 17 and cried for days.Black Diamond always came around corner of the house and ran to meet me everyday as I got off the school bus, I would pick her up and carry her back to the back porch with me. Sometimes as the kittens got older we would give some away.: farmers around there were always looking for a good mouser for their barns, we usually always kept one of each litter. Most I ever remember us having at one time was 9 cats.... I used to say we had the best Cathouse around, and my mom was never too pleased when I said that .( had no clue at that time what it meant)

           mom always threw out our scraps and leftovers and they ate everything pretty much, including chicken bones and beef bones, etc....Never had but one that got really really sick and my dad took it off and shot it, and buried it. It really tore him up, but back then that was how it was done.Never even heard of a vet until I was a about 21, brought home a puppy, got him fixed and dipped in flea meds cause he had the mange and was half bald..

      Ok now you guys know I am OLD OLD .....but a real cat lover. 

 

[dbljj]

my son had a pair of great pyranese (brother and sister) the female was albino with health problems she passed away and the other one took up with a white cat of theirs and they are best buds now. They love and rub all over each other take naps together,m etc. so sweet to watch them

 

[dbljj]

forgot to say when I was young I was always sneaking kitties in the house. Mom and Dad would let me play with them for a while in the kitchen only but they always had to go back out. The barn was great, and we had places made up downstairs and in the loft for them to sleep when it got really cold.Also I would mix up Pet condensed milk with regular milk, warm it and take it to the stable when it was super cold and snow was deep.They lapped that up as a real treat...It was nothing to see a pile of cats in the covers when it was really cold and I would climb up into the loft to check on them..rarely ever got    -20 with windchill where we lived.. 

 

[roobear]

My mum already had two cats when I was born. I can't think of anything particularly unusual about our cats they were mother and son, Bourney only had half a tail, she had lost it on a train line nearby to where she lived when she was much younger, had been rescued by a lady who took her to the vet and put up found posters. Bourney had seven kittens only one of which survived so instead of having him adopted we kept him and he was named Badger. Both were indoor and outdoor cats. they ate mainly canned wet food but sometimes had biscuits too Bourney was hit by a car when I was about 9 and I was devastated. Badger was not a very well cat for most of his life going to the vet didn't help cos he used to get travel sick, but held on and was eventually put to sleep when I was 13.

We didn't have another cat for few months when my mum saw an advert in the local paper for a vocal 2-year-old ginger male cat in our area, Mum had always wanted a ginger cat, so we rang the lady and she lived just down the road, we went straight there and came home with Frank

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• roobear
• Dec 24, 2015

Frank was very loving cat to Mum and me but it took him a long while to get comfortable with my brother and Dad, as a rescue cat who had been abandoned we think he may have been mistreated by men in the past, he was also terrified of suitcases and black bin bags possibly from the memory of abandonment. We had some trouble with him when a traveller lady came by, saw him in the window and was convinced he was her missing cat and was furious that we had had him neutered, she kicked up a huge fuss and eventually had to be taken away by a friend of hers and told well maybe he is not your cat after the lady we got him from explained that he couldn't possibly be her cat as he was found in Cheddar and after examination had none of the scars she claimed he had. He was also and a indoor/outdoor cat. We started him on cans, then switched to pouches, then the vet recommended dry food so we had him on these very expensive dental health biscuits. A few years later I mentioned that i'd never had a kitten (both Bourney and Badger had been grown up when I arrived and as I said Frank was already two when we got him) so we phoned the lady who gave us Frank and she said she didn't have any kittens but she was visiting a friend in Dulverton who did and would I like to come along. So i went all the way to Dulverton and came home with Max.

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• roobear
• Nov 1, 2011

As you can see Max settled in quickly. I was on study leave during my GCSE's when we got him so I spent lots of time playing with him and bonding with him. He was my baby,  Frank was not best pleased about the new arrival but Max worshiped Frank and used to follow him around (when he wasn't cuddled up with me). We kept him in for a little while and then started letting him out supervised until we felt we could let him out and find his way home by himself. Max tried the wet food but preferred dry so we gave him dry food mostly, he also had expensive vet biscuits but his were the weight control ones. Later Frank was diagnosed with FIV and was allowed out supervised on his harness so he wouldn't go around fighting and infecting other cats. He was quite old by this time and didn't really want to go far, he just wanted to spray the garden and sit under his favourite bush or in the sun. Max rarely left the garden anyway. He was also diagnosed with diabetes towards the end and had to be injected with insulin twice a day Frank was put sleep about a year ago.

Max still lived with Mum when I left home, it wasn't fair to move him and I live in a very unsuitable a place for cat. Unfortunately after Dad died and Mum got new boyfriend Max took a disliking to him and bit him twice so when they wanted to move in together he refused to have Max. Mum was at a loss as to what to do, she knew I would never forgive her if she gave him away or put him in a rescue when my Nana offered to have him. This was perfect as Nana had had a cat years ago so I knew she could look after him and I can still see him plus she is retired so can lavish affection and attention on him as much as he liked. Max still lives with Nana and she adores him, (I doubt I'll be getting him back) I miss him greatly but he is very happy with Nana which of course the most important thing.

 

[fyllis]

My Mom had cats since she was a child so, inevitably, there was a cat in the house when I was born. He was a black Persian (the second one my Mom owned). He was spoiled rotten and, even though he was Mom's cat, I claimed him as my own. Later, after he passed at age 19, Mom got a seal-point Himalayan who was also spoiled beyond repair! They were strictly indoor cats, but were neutered, well vetted, constantly groomed (being long-haired breeds, that was a given!) and fed only the best of the best. Meerschaum (the Himalayan) was extremely persnickety and Mom would treat him with fresh raw food that had to be minced and warmed or he wouldn't eat it. All of her cats had beds, toys galore, and were loved beyond belief! And each one was buried outside her bedroom window next to the Koi pond in hand-made cedar boxes lined with satin pillows. Dad made all of them except the last one, which my brother made, because Dad has passed by then. 

Dad was not a 'cat person' and I remember one night soon after Mom got Meerschaum, as everyone was going to bed, Dad told Mom that 'he bought that bed and he was NOT going to share it with another cat'! Mom looked at him as she carried the kitten toward the bedroom and said, "You also bought the couch. Sleep well!". Needless to say, Dad got very accustomed to sleeping with the cat between his feet! LOL Over the years, he became an avid cat lover and they would draw closer to him than anyone else!

Like many here, I grew up 'in the country' and we also had a slew of barn cats. They were a mixture of semi-domesticated strays and a few ferals from neighboring farms that would come and go from barn to barn. Missy ( a little calico medium hair) was the Matriarch and she stayed with us for ... 20 years? God only knows how she lived that long as she had had multiple litters year after year. All of her kittens were caught young and vetted. They were all vaccinated, dewormed, and desexed and most were very friendly and often came to the house and interacted well with people. Of course, Mom had a lot to do with that! She was always going to the barn and playing with them and feeding them. They were given food daily, but always during the day to avoid attracting racoons and other night predators. Their food bowls were picked up and taken in and washed every single day! They got kibbles, wet food and occasionally table scraps and gravy. I'm sure it was the less expensive cat foods, but I don't recall the brand. During the winter months, Mom would always make sure they were given warm milk to drink - she used the powdered milk and, from the best of my knowledge, they all tolerated it well. Of course, these were barn cats and they grew up on cow and sheep milk, so maybe they developed a genetic tolerance for it? Being barn cats, they also fed on mice, rats, chipmunks, moles, birds and a variety of other small prey caught in the wild. 

Usually in the Spring when we knew the vet was coming to see the new calves and lambs, and vaccinate the dogs, the cats that could be easily caught by hand and the ones we used Haveahart traps to catch were also seen by the vet about once a year. Of course, we never got all of them, but we did our best to get the majority checked. 

Also, throughout the winter, when the weather got severe and drastically below zero temps, Mom always made sure the cats had protection from the elements. Most often they would make nests up in the hayloft, but she always made sure there were cardboard boxes draped with tarps and filled with straw placed strategically in empty stalls and nooks in the barn for the wandering strays.Years later, when the farm was downsized and the need for barn cats was diminished, the clowder grew small and the few cats that remained were mostly domesticated. Mom (now being in her 70's) often brought the cats in the house during inclement weather. We had Dad's company office in the home with a separate door, so that is where they stayed until morning. They had beds, food, water, litter boxes - the works!

There came the time when we all married and moved out and the farm became 'just land' and all the livestock ceased to exist. There was one last remaining outdoor cat named Smokey. After Dad passed away, Mom started keeping Smokey indoors more and more and she eventually spent her life sleeping in bed with Mom and her last remaining 'house cat', Georgie.  Mom passed away in March of 2011 and by then Georgie was well up in her years and we had considered having her PTS a few times, but we knew that to do so would devastate Mom, so we kept Georgie comfortable until the end. Anyway, when we were at Mom's viewing we were talking about Georgie and we all agreed that it was time to put her down. She was 18 years old, wasn't eating hardly at all, had lost a huge amount of weight, and basically only moved when she had to use the litter box (which she usually went next to instead of in it). The funeral director was a friend of the family (Mom and Dad went to grade school with his father) and he pulled my sister and me aside and told us that - omg! this was so illegal! - if we could have Georgie at the funeral home before the burial in the morning, he would assure us that she would be nestled in Mom's arms inside the coffin!  And that is where Georgie is right now! With her Mommy! (and I have tears running down my face right now!).

So, all-in-all, our cats were all very well taken care of, whether they were house cats or barn cats. They might not have gotten the very best of food, but they got food. And each and every one of them was truly loved. Fifty years ago, things were a bit different and surely, living on a farm was the 'norm' for a lot of people here in the mid-west. I am just SO grateful I had that experience and that I was taught how to care for and respect ALL animals to the best of my ability!  

 

[dbljj]

"Fifty years ago, things were a bit different and surely, living on a farm was the 'norm' for a lot of people here in the mid-west. I am just SO grateful I had that experience and that I was taught how to care for and respect ALL animals to the best of my ability!"

Amen!!

     I loved everything but spiders and reptiles. I remember bringing a mole in the house and my dad said  OMG get that thing out of here you will be lucky not to get bit. I howled before I reached the barn and that thing clamped down on my middle finger making 2 holes. Lucky I never got rabies or anything. I petted anything I could get close to, dogs that other folks were afraid of I could get to come to me and petted them...I remember holding a funeral for a chipmunk that my cat had killed, read the Bible and everything....(I was a strange child)  lol

 

[elliot]

I'm 15 and we just got our first kitty a few months ago! We adopted a second kitten a month ago and now they are best friends!

I consider them my children despite being a child myself lol. My parents feed them in the morning when I'm asleep since I do online school and sleep in. They also sometimes scoop the box and usually pay for the vet bills but that's it. The rest of it is up to me, and I am happy with that. I clean their boxes, feed them, groom them, train them, play with them, do the research, and pay half of the expenses. My brother pays the other half.

They are both indoor cats. I feed them wet food and put down Nutro Natural Choice dry for them to eat all day since they are still kittens. Their wet food rotation consists of Fancy Feast, Merrick, NutroMax, etc. They will NOT be declawed. Both are spayed/neutered, since it's a law here, but I'm glad it is. They get the vet care they need. The cats get plenty of treats and toys. They will go with me when I move out. Pretty much, whatever I decide about the cats is what happens. My parents think it's a little silly that I care so much about my cats, but they are my babies.

I cringed reading this back to myself. I know I sound really bratty and spoiled. I know that as a minor, these cats are legally not mine yet. I know that I should listen to my parents about most things.
But if I weren't so bratty about my cats, they would be on a diet of rice and cooked fish and they'd be outdoor cats and probably wouldn't see the vet. So uh. Yeah.

 

[ginny]

We had Corky and then Samantha as a child.  I was too young to care for either of them.  Both of them lived out doors period.  The only exception was when Samantha had her kittens in the garage once.  As soon as the kittens were running around they went outside.  They were never spayed/neutered and never went to the vet.  This was the 60's.  I think they got wet food but I don't know for sure because I didn't feed them.  I was too little.  

 

[wa2ise]

My family has had cats more or less continuously since I was born.  Silky, a cat from the 1950's we took her to the vet and was spayed, vaccinations and such.  Pretty much modern cat care.  Though she had free run outdoors, something we stopped allowing years later.  

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• wa2ise
• Sep 21, 2015

cricket.jpg

• wa2ise
• Sep 21, 2015

We got Cricket when I was in high school.   Had him neutered, vaccinated and such, again modern cat care. 

 

[kittyluv387]

I'm 15 and we just got our first kitty a few months ago! We adopted a second kitten a month ago and now they are best friends!

I consider them my children despite being a child myself lol. My parents feed them in the morning when I'm asleep since I do online school and sleep in. They also sometimes scoop the box and usually pay for the vet bills but that's it. The rest of it is up to me, and I am happy with that. I clean their boxes, feed them, groom them, train them, play with them, do the research, and pay half of the expenses. My brother pays the other half.

They are both indoor cats. I feed them wet food and put down Nutro Natural Choice dry for them to eat all day since they are still kittens. Their wet food rotation consists of Fancy Feast, Merrick, NutroMax, etc. They will NOT be declawed. Both are spayed/neutered, since it's a law here, but I'm glad it is. They get the vet care they need. The cats get plenty of treats and toys. They will go with me when I move out. Pretty much, whatever I decide about the cats is what happens. My parents think it's a little silly that I care so much about my cats, but they are my babies.

I cringed reading this back to myself. I know I sound really bratty and spoiled. I know that as a minor, these cats are legally not mine yet. I know that I should listen to my parents about most things.
But if I weren't so bratty about my cats, they would be on a diet of rice and cooked fish and they'd be outdoor cats and probably wouldn't see the vet. So uh. Yeah.

Youre actually very mature for taking such good care of your cats at a young age!

 

[stewball]

I'm 15 and we just got our first kitty a few months ago! We adopted a second kitten a month ago and now they are best friends!

I consider them my children despite being a child myself lol. My parents feed them in the morning when I'm asleep since I do online school and sleep in. They also sometimes scoop the box and usually pay for the vet bills but that's it. The rest of it is up to me, and I am happy with that. I clean their boxes, feed them, groom them, train them, play with them, do the research, and pay half of the expenses. My brother pays the other half.

They are both indoor cats. I feed them wet food and put down Nutro Natural Choice dry for them to eat all day since they are still kittens. Their wet food rotation consists of Fancy Feast, Merrick, NutroMax, etc. They will NOT be declawed. Both are spayed/neutered, since it's a law here, but I'm glad it is. They get the vet care they need. The cats get plenty of treats and toys. They will go with me when I move out. Pretty much, whatever I decide about the cats is what happens. My parents think it's a little silly that I care so much about my cats, but they are my babies.

I cringed reading this back to myself. I know I sound really bratty and spoiled. I know that as a minor, these cats are legally not mine yet. I know that I should listen to my parents about most things.
But if I weren't so bratty about my cats, they would be on a diet of rice and cooked fish and they'd be outdoor cats and probably wouldn't see the vet. So uh. Yeah.

You don't sound very bratty to me. Don't worry about it.

 

[lykakitty]

My cats I grew up with were indoor-outdoor. Only one was fixed, only because she got pregnant and almost died due to complications giving birth. They ate fairly cheap dry food and only went to the vet when necessary, though I believe my first cat of my own at least got her kitten shots, probably only because she went to the vet when we found her as a 3-week-old stray and they told us she needed them. One was declawed as a kitten. Now that I know what I do I wish I could go back and fix it. My first 2 cats passed away close together and in unpleasant ways because of the way we took care of them.

I had a few too many heartbreaks during my childhood for my girls now not to get the absolute best. All spays and no declaws, only the highest quality grain free food, top vet care, and no unsupervised outside time.

 

[DreamerRose]

I grew up in the 1950s, and looking back, I think my mother took miserable care of our cats, but as some of you have already said, it probably was normal for the time. All of our cats were indoor-outdoor cats, and all of them were either killed by cars (we lived on a busy street) or in a cat fight. One of them was a nursing mom, and we were left with her four kittens. The only thing I knew as a child that a vet did was put cats to sleep, and I cringed when she said she was taking a cat to the vet. The litter box she put in the basement was a cigar box  filled with sand. We left them outside for a week when we went on vacation. She fed them leftovers, including cooked chicken bones, which stuck in their throats, or canned cat food. I remember begging her not to give them the chicken bones.

I don't treat my cats that way. As an adult, I've had three cats: two died of old age and the third is still with me, a constant companion. They were/are all indoor cats, and they always have had all their shots. I've discovered that vets will do more than put them to sleep. And I would never expose my cats to unnecessary danger.

 

[laura h]

My parents hit and beat her and my brother sacrifized her to Satan. (not lying)

Not good. Not good at all. I learned how to care for animals by watching friends, and through the shelter.

 

[margd]

My parents hit and beat her and my brother sacrifized her to Satan. (not lying)

Not good. Not good at all. I learned how to care for animals by watching friends, and through the shelter.

Good Lord. How absolutely horrible beyond words. I just don't know what to say - this makes me so sad for that lost innocent one. And really angry. I'm glad you got away.

 

[ginny]

Good Lord. How absolutely horrible beyond words. I just don't know what to say - this makes me so sad for that lost innocent one. And really angry. I'm glad you got away.

Makes me angry as well.  I'm at a loss for words.  

 

[bonepicker]

They were fed dry food and both died prematurely, one from a blockage and one from diabetes. No one knew the importance of proper nutrition back then

 

[DreamerRose]

 
My parents hit and beat her and my brother sacrifized her to Satan. (not lying)

Not good. Not good at all. I learned how to care for animals by watching friends, and through the shelter.

Laura, I agree with Ginny and Margd. What happened to your cat is unspeakable. I'm so glad you've learned to take care of and treasure your animals.