Any REALLY good cats out there?

Of the four cats I have/had the closest one to perfect was Sphinx - my RB kitty. All he ever had was health issues. Otherwise he was wonderful. Our other 'perfect' kitty is Kuce. She's an angel in every way once she settled into the household (other than a couple of health issues as well).

Luvbug and Lil' Jag - well, we're still working with them but at least they haven't hurt any people. They have come a long way though. (Of course these two were stray kitties and had issues when they came to us).

My cats are my children. They have their playful times and sometimes they squabble. They have to go to the doctor just like we do. How can they not be perfect when they look at you with unconditional love in their hearts.

Zoey is an for being a semi feral ... I have learned to adapt and also teach her like a dog ...lol.. her nick name is little red dog ...

Kandie is a true princess and only health issues due to age cause issue..

I have learned to adapt and also teach her like a dog

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How do you do that? What have you taught her?

Its good to hear about all the good cats out there, I was starting to get worried that all cats had problem behavior.

Radar is a complete little horror who just pounced on my leg and play-bit me. I wouldn't change him for the world though, to me he is perfect! Although there are times when I feel like having his teeth removed, try gumming me to death you little monster

I don't believe in perfection, at least not on this earth. Gizmo is not perfect. But she is a delightful companion who has given very little trouble in the year and two months she's been with me. I can't see how she could have offended her previous owners either--but they gave her up. Their loss.
Gizmo has knocked a few things over, but they were accidents. She never intentionally destroys or breaks anything.
She is intelligent, playful and easy to train--about the same as a dog.

How do you train a cat? Congratulations when they do something you want, a "NO" when they do something you DON'T WANT, and immediate congratulations after you put them where you DO want.

I think mine have had good points, even if they weren't what some people would think were good!! I think the best cat had to be Ginger though - his only bad points were the fact he could never forget his street days, and getting him in at night could be a nightmare, plus he never got out of the habit of finding houses to use!! But the one irritating thing was actually my neighbours fault for not thinking of bringing him home rahter than his fault!!

Originally Posted by Ashley45

Yeah, I understand that, and that's why this is such a great site. I don't have a cat, but am thinking of getting one and I'm just worried that I'll end up with one that goes to the bathroom all over and gets into stuff.

Its good to hear that there are problem-free cats. For those of you who have them, do you think its just their nature, or something that you did in raising them that made them be so well-behaved?

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I got my first 2 cats 9 years ago - Jaffa and his brother Magpie - and had absolutely no probems with them whatsoever. No medical problems other than the very occasional minor ailment, no behavioural problems, eat anything I give them etc. Magpie died suddenly just over a year ago and I got Mosi as a kitten last April. Introductions went fine and although Jaffa still hisses at him when he goes too far (just wanting to play most of the time) and they are both dominant cats things are pretty good between them and there are no problems with fighting, peeing outside the litter tray etc. The only hiccup was when Mosi came back from the vets having been neutered and stinking of disinfectant. Jaffa growled and hissed for a while before he realised it was the same little kitten who had been around previously!

Mosi is very lively and tends to wake me up in the night or early morning a lot but I don't see that as a problem. I chose a breed that was quite lively (Somali) and I chose Mosi knowing he was a particularly lively individual. Jaffa and Magpie were always shut out of the bedroom at night and were good as gold.

None have ever peed or pooped outside the litter tray until last week when Jaffa started to pee in a carrier bag on the bedroom floor! I was a bit shocked but am convinced it was because Mosi was using the litter tray (I only have 1) and Jaffa thought a large plastic bag would be a good substitute That's the first time in 9 1/2 years he's done anything like that and he hasn't done it again so I think it was just a one off and not an indicator of anything serious.

As to whether it's down to nature or nurture - I think it's a bit of both. If a cat is well socialised as a small kitten (esp between 2 and 7 weeks) and exposed to a variety of people, sounds etc. I think they are much less likely to have behavioural problems when they are older. A cat with an outgoing, confident personality is also less likely to have problems than one that is timid or highly strung. Problems can also occur where there are too many cats in too small a space. Sometimes you can have lots of cats living together in harmony - many people on here can testify to that - but when you have a multi cat household there is always the chance that some won't get on and there will be tensions which can result in spraying/peeing outside the litter box, aggression etc.

There's no reason at all why the cat you get need have any problems at all. Just read and learn all you can and remember that we are all hear to provide what advice we can should you have any problems.

With my current crew, Muddy is about the closest to perfect. His only sometimes annoying habit is to stand on his back legs to be picked up and demand love and he's quite persistent about that. He doesn't know about discipline because frankly he doesn't mis-behave.

For my OTB cats, Bogart (my avatar), and Hippocrates were perfect cats. I call them that because they were highly social and I never had to discipline them.

But I've had a lot of cats that I loved as much as these, they just liked to get into trouble at times.

I would say that behaviorally all of ours are perfect, and well behaved, when it comes to medically speaking-we have the island of misfit toys. I am currently in the running for adopting a little 9 week old kitten, so we will see if we have problems after that, but all mine have their own, very cool personalities. And yes, we do occasionally have a soiling problem, but when they are perfect in your eyes, you tend to overlook it and not get soo mad, because the love for them overwhelms you!

Originally Posted by Ashley45

Has anyone had a perfect cat that had no issues?

This site is full of lots of questions about problem behavior, but I was just wondering how many of you have had a cat who never had any problems?

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This is a forum people come to when they have problems for answers. I am also a member of an auto forum. That is where people go to talk about their auto problems and get answers. I have commented many times before that the vast majority of cats are GOOD cats, but like most people I just do not sit down and tell people what a great cat I have or people would think I was some kind of jerk. But why not just get on and tell every body how great your cat is? It's not that all cars are broke all the time and it is not that all cats are broke all the time. I have had an issue the last nine days I have been crying about here on this forum and it is all working out and after it has all worked out I think I will just get on here every now and then to tell everybody what perfect angel cats I have. Now that I think about it, when at work, I hear people complaining about something their kids did this weekend that was bad. Nobody has ever came in and told people their kids were perfect angels all weekend. It's just not done. But by golly, maybe we should have another forum category where people are not looking for answers but just to say how great their cats are.

Originally Posted by Ashley45

How do you do that? What have you taught her?

Its good to hear about all the good cats out there, I was starting to get worried that all cats had problem behavior.

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She knows sit , stay , get down , come , give it ...I did it the same as dog training ... repeeation and a treat ..

mine is perfect for me. she comes when i call. understands "no" and "go get it" and "good girl" and lots of other things. She is quiet and non destructive or aggressive and gives her love lavishly. so she vomits on the rug and shreds paperback book covers... big deal.

We've been blessed with Bijou and Mika, they have been healthy and both have an amazingingly excellent disposition.

Sneakers has not had any medical problems but she was a "rescue" so her behavior was not perfect... It wasn't her fault though... When I got her she would bite if you touched her back at all, but that was because she had painful mats on her back (she's a shorthaired cat btw) which her last owners ignored so I am sure it hurt to touch them! She was also pretty quick to bite if you moved her on did anything she did not like, but she learned quickly that biting would not work on us and now she only tries to bite if she is really really upset. The only other problem we've had with her is she was using the bathtub as a litterbox, but we realized that was because her litterbox was all the way upstairs which she could not always get to quickly (she is overweight and needs help through the cat door to the upstairs) so we just put a litterbox on the main floor and have not had any problems with that since then...

I believe everyone will have a different definition of what a perfect cat is. I am very happy with both of my cats. Yes, Charlotte has issues with being held and hisses at strangers when they try to pet her. But I am not the type of person who needs a "lap" cat and she allows me to pet her without any problems. She's rather affectionate with me. I did have litter box issues with Charlotte, but her "problem" only started with the adoptive parent (meaning ME) changed her litter to a texture she disliked which caused her to find elsewhere to do her "business". I was a new to the cat world so I take the blame for not knowing what my cat likes or dislikes.

Izzie is a good cat too. Haven't really had an "issues" with her.

But perfect is so boring!!!

Fergus is really a good cat...he has his neurotic moments, and eccentricities, but overall, he's wonderful!

Ripley doesn't like men too much...she's getting better, and for the most part, is a perfect little lady.

Captain Steuben, my kitten, is a TERROR on 4 legs! He's adorable, and doesn't have any real "problem" behavior, per say, but has a TON of energy, can get a bit nippy (it's a kitten thing...he LOVES to stalk us...he's our little predator!), and over-stimulated. I do expect him to mellow out quite a bit...he's 10 months old, and simply enjoys hard play, and terrorizing everyone. This is not uncommon for kitties his age, and I'm not concerned!

My girls are really well behaved. I swear they know what is mine and what is theirs. I can leave my dinner sit, and they'd never touch it. They don't climb on countertops, knock things over, or scratch or bite....ever. Now I can't clip JinJin's nails (ex-feral), but Sabina will lay on her back on my lap & hold her paws up for me to clip them.

The same thoughts crossed my mind when I first thought about adopting -- what if I get a kitty with this problem or that problem, what will I do? I couldn't imagine "taking him back" as if he were just a blouse that didn't fit, y'know?

In the end, I started volunteering at a shelter, which gave me a chance to spend a lot of time with individual cats and kittens, getting to know them more deeply than is possible in the usual adoption setting.

Ultimately, one little Holstein kitten with sea-green eyes won my heart with his soft little nosekisses, and by the time I brought my Clydie home, I had no doubt in my mind that we were meant for each other.

Aww... and here he is, all grown up and nuzzling me to say it's time for bed. Adopting him was the best decision I ever made!

Does wanting to run outside all the time count as a problem behaviour? lol, then Buffy is absolutely perfect during winter (when she no longer cares to try sneaking outside in freezing cold temps, lol). She's still an active demon during winter, but in summer, she's a demon who cleverly and intellegently figures out how best to sneak outside. But aside from that, she's great, she doesn't poop or pee outside the box (except that one time she was locked in in a room all day without anyone knowing, and even then she tried to hold it until the last minute, but aside from that incident, she has NEVER gone outside of a box). She's friendly, has a bit of a temper, though.

Molly, temperment-wise, is the best of the 3. Like Buffy, she's friendly and loving, but she does NOT lose her temper, lol. She's an emotional girl, like when you're petting her, she keeps clenching and unclenching her paws, as if she's soooooo in the moment, lol. And she's just too darling; she has a new thing where when I start walking to her feeding area with her raw meat, she starts warbling and crying and trying to jump up and bring the plate down. She never used to do that, lol, but I think it's just so cute that I feel cheated when she calmly and quietly accepts the food, lol

Willow's the one that definitely has behaviour problems: she likes peeing in baskets and loads of laundry, and pooping in corners. She'll use her box, but if that option isn't available (or she has to poop now and doesn't feel like heading all the way to the box), then she'll squat and poop in the corner, lol. She only poops in certain corners, though, even though we used Nature's Miracle. And Willow is pretty skittish, she doesn't open up to you unless you have food (she loves my dad, though).

The above is what I took the OP to mean (Behaviour problems), but here are the other kind that others are talking about (attitude, possession problems, lol). All my girls are pretty good about it, but Buffy's the demon child. She's the one that likes pushing things over the edge of shelves, hopping on the counters and scrounging for fun stuff (especially if the fun stuff is just an empty cat food can, lol), sneak outside, taunting Jake by pretending she's being abused by him but really she keeps following him around everywhere, hollering at the top of her lungs until someone yells at Jake to leave Buffy alone, lol. But I love that about her, it makes life so exciting, and I'm glad I'll have (hopefully) at least 15 more years of it, because I can't bear the thought of the house suddenly being so quiet.