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how much time does your cat get out of your day

post #1 of 24
Thread Starter 
I couldn't quite think of how to ask, but how much dedicated time does your cat get from you a day? What is "enough"?

Naturally I love my cat, but days like today where I was gone more than normal I feel he is shortchanged. (He is sitting on my lap purring - so I think he has forgiven me, but . . . )

I am counting petting, grooming, playing, but not the feeding/litter or the walk thru the room quick scratch.
post #2 of 24
Quote:
Originally Posted by catsnotkids View Post
Naturally I love my cat, but days like today where I was gone more than normal I feel he is shortchanged. (He is sitting on my lap purring - so I think he has forgiven me, but . . . )
We understand. But you can make up for it on weekends. Some people get a 2nd cat -but it's important to note it doesn't always work out and must be given a lot of analysis beforehand. (It's only fair to you, current cat and potential cat #2) Daisy was adopted to be Penny's "friend" but they are not exactly friends. Your username is hilarious!
post #3 of 24
I love your username! I wish I'd thought of that!!
I'm at work 10 hours a day, but when I get home it's Emmy-time. I think it's quality time. There's playing and petting and even when she's asleep next to me I stroke her and talk to her. She knows I'm there because she puts her little paw on my leg while she naps. She sleeps so much during the day, that on my day off I feel neglected!
post #4 of 24
I'm honestly not sure. With seven of them in the house, and two outside, there's quite a few to take care of. We try to give the outdoor cats at least half an hour a day, which I know isn't enough. During the summer and nicer days we'll visit with them longer. Boo only likes a little petting and being talked to since he's semi feral.

The indoor cats include themselves in most things. Try to sleep? You'll wake up and find yourself surrounded by them. Sho is more of DH's cat and after DH gets home from work Sho sits on him as much as he's allowed to.
The others take turns on my lap, occasionally two at a time, and I always give them some pettings.

They also (aside from Boo) get their teeth brushed, get groomed and claws check/trimmed (MewMew doesn't get brushed in cold weather since she needs her coat to stay thick, and I leave her claws alone because she has a big tree she likes to climb).

I really couldn't put an actual time on it.


I'm sure your kitty is fine catsnotkids. Some will act like they don't get enough attention even if you're home all day with them. As long as he gets whatever you can give him when you get home and all of his other basic necessities taken care of he'll be ok.
post #5 of 24
I work full-time, too, and then we usually have something going on at night. Right now, things are a little hectic. But we always try to find time for the cats. The older ones spend a lot of their time sleeping. Even Amber, at 7 years old, seems to enjoy sleeping. Mollipop, on the other hand, may sleep during the day when we're not home, but at night, she's ready to play.

I may spend 30 minutes a night playing with Molli with Da Bird or a similar toy. Sometimes I'll throw a meece and she'll go after it.....she doesn't bring them back though and I have to chase it down and then throw it again. She likes ice cubes, too, so I'll get a cube out of the freezer and we'll chase it around the kitchen for awhile. Sometimes Amber will come out to play with us, but more often the other cats are happy to nap on the electric blanket in the bedroom.

A long, long time ago, I started taking one cat a night and grooming her or him. I'll get the brushes and the comb out of the bathroom closet, pick a cat, and we'll spend about 30 minutes with each other. They love being brushed and that seems to be "our time". It's a good way to check them out, too, for lumps, or anything that might feel funky. One cat a night for six nights.....and on the seventh night? I rest!

When I am home during the day, BooBoo seeks me out about every two hours. He has a bottomless pit for a tummy and bottomless paws to match, so he likes a snack about every two hours. Not much of one, just enough to curb his appetite, I guess. I can pretty much tell the time by when BooBoo comes looking for me.

So while the older cats are content to sleep (and they're geriatric cats, so they're allowed to do whatever they want), they do get their share of attention. Mollipop does get a little more attention, but she's also younger and doesn't sleep as much. So she and I seem to spend more time together as she likes to be in the same room with me.
post #6 of 24
My cats don't get any of my time a day im lucky if I see them once a month because I dont live with my cats at the moment they live with my partner at his mams house they get plenty time with him though
post #7 of 24
Having 4 cats and a dog they all take up my day non stop. Ramsie a little more than normal because she is only 8 weeks old and she will curl up on my shoulder for a nap. Hercules is always in the window or on the back of the couch so he gets lots of random pets and scritches. Gigi is a bathroom kitty, shes always in the tub or sleeping on the laundry basket or sink so everytime someone has to potty Gigi gets lotsa pets and scritches. Bacon isnt a very affectionate cat so she gets attention on her terms which usually means she wants attention when its bedtime or if your busy doing something.
post #8 of 24
Abby gets lots and lots of my time. She snuggles with me in bed for about 1/2 an hour before I get up. She also gets about the same or more before bed. If she is feeling cuddly in the morning after I'm out of bed and I have time, she gets about another 10 minutes or so.

Then the evening is all hers! We sit on the couch together and much of the time she is sitting up on top of me near my face while I watch TV. Weekends and days off are even more!
post #9 of 24
Oh! I forgot! BooBoo, our resident male, loves to Bounce! Even at 14 years old, that boy is still up for a good Bouncing in the morning. I get out of the shower, towel off, and slip into my tee shirt. Open the door and Boo comes strolling into the bathroom, jumps on the toilet and reaches up for me to pick him up. I throw him over my left shoulder (always the left shoulder), like a sack of potatoes, actually, and away we go. I bounce with him throughout the entire house, singing to him while he plays with my wet hair and that boy just purrs and purrs and purrs. We'll spend ten minutes sometimes, just bouncing through the house. Then I'll take him back to the bedroom and he'll jump on the bed, curl up and nap. Or if he feels he's not Bounced enough, he run back into the bathroom and we'll do it all over again!

He doesn't do it as often as he used to, but he's still up for a good Bouncing session about once or twice a week.
post #10 of 24
Well, since I've been pregnant, they've been getting a lot more time, lol. We generally play with them when they're up and moving in the evenings, but they do sleep a lot.

Now, I spend time in the recliner because of my back, and I usually have both of them snuggling with me, lol.
post #11 of 24
About half of the week I'll work from home, which the kitties LOVE! It's hard to use a laptop when the kitties want my lap, but it always works out. The evenings I usually spend a lot of time with the fosters, especially the ferals.
post #12 of 24
I don't really know, but it's a lot. I spend a lot of time at home since I don't have a lot of classes now, and when I'm at home almost every second of the day Jake has my attention, either just talking to him, or sometimes petting him if he will let me, playing a whole lot...
post #13 of 24
I'm lucky to be home all day since my retirement so Autumn can have me any time she wants, yeah I'm easy While doing housework she follows me around just to check out what I'm doing. She also knows exactly what time she gets her treats and makes sure I remember it. When I sit down she is right there on my lap or if I'm reading she sits on the top pillows of the couch, I have to pet her while reading.

When I leave the house to run errands she doesn't seem to mind too much. When I am gone overnight, she's not too happy though.

Autumn is still timid in many ways though, I guess she will always be this way. She has come a long way but still has a little mistrust.
post #14 of 24
I spend time with Wessie just if he's around and I feel like it. He usually gets a LOT of time with me! When he was outside, I would usually go out during the evenings, or daytime, and just hang out with him going about his business. Sometimes he would come over, sometimes not.

Just hang out with your kitty when you can, but remember, sometimes cats don't want to be around people! Or at least sometimes Wessie gets mad when I bother him.

Hope this helped,

Eileen
post #15 of 24
I don't work and don't really have anything to do, so I spend most of my day at my computer with Nora at my lap. That's where she is right now. Occasionally she'll go off for a nap on our bed, but usually she prefers to nap on my lap.
post #16 of 24
OP, I am sure your cat is fine. You could always consider getting a second cat. If you had a dog my recommendations would be different because dogs differ from cats.
I don't have kids yet but I am totally a soccer mom when it comes to the dogs. They take up a ton of my time and we are very involved in training and have a lot of fun. I also spend lots of time with my spoiled kitty!
post #17 of 24
I work quite a bit (I'm a trucker) but all the spare time I have is either spent with the kitties or writing/playing music, or a combination (a cat walking on a fretboard can produce some pretty obscure chords). And when I'm gone, they seem to be pretty happy. If I'm going to be gone for a while, I have my neighbor look after them, but for the most part they're ok with just the 3 of them.
post #18 of 24
My furbabies get quite a lot of attention per day, but its more of a constant and random affection vs. set time of play. We do have some routines that must not be forgotten: Daisy sleeps with me in bed after Dave gets up, then plays with me in the bathtub for vigourous rubbing. Manytoes mostly ignores me in the morning, but in the evening, he MUST knead me sometime between 8 and 9, and I MUST assume the correct position (cross legged on the couch) otherwise he becomes upset (meows, walks around, looks forlorn, etc).

We dont usually "let" the kids spend too much time in the other room from us without seeing what theyre up to and brining them back out with us So they dont get much "free time" when we are home. Im glad they have eachother throughout the day though, so they dont become lonesome!
post #19 of 24
I spend quite a bit of my time with Pixie. When I am not working, or at therapy or something of the like I am at home and it really depends on her when she gets attention she likes to nap in the basement sometimes and normally that is when I am trying to do something else. She takes days where she wants to be near me all the time and then days where she doesn't want to be bothered. She likes to lay in the living room floor near us but not on us at times. And I am about the only person she really wants to be with. But my dad isn't a cat person and so he doesn't really extend himself to her and his dog is really jealous and doesn't let any other animals near him if she is in his lap. My niece and nephew would love to give her attention but normally if they are here she hides.
post #20 of 24
We have 9 right now inside....I work from home, husband works outside the home about 9 hours a day. Each morning when we get up at 415am, they get wet food and some love. Husband leaves for work, I clean and get ready for daycare kids. Cats get random love while I am cleaning.
If I sit at the computer, I typically have Joey and Billy on the couch with me fighting over spots on my lap, while Toby sits next to me. Jake and Jane like to perch on the back of the couch although right now they are between husband and I curled up together. Henry waits upstairs alllll day until we go to bed and curls up under the covers with us. Punky is basically the same... Katie and Stray are both strays that we are fostering and they stay upstairs in the cat room most the day so when we go to bed we spend some time with them in there. They come out when we play with the laser pointer in the kitchen and at "treat time". We also spend some time with a couple neighborhood strays, feeding and trying to get them used to people.
At night we usually have a rotating number of cats vying for the space between us on the blankets. We make sure each day that ever cat is held & petted and played with for awhile. And they certainly seek us out when they want additional attention!
post #21 of 24
I work outside the home, and having 11 cats currently indoors (and three dogs) plus 7 outdoors, I spend a fair portion of my time home with them. A few of the outside cats only care that I feed them, if I never touch them they're quite happy w/ that (next best thing to feral). A few indoors are also very "independent" so don't want much attention - Gumby, Tab, Ophelia.... Some prefer me, some prefer other family members. And we religiously play with Da Bird every day, and man they know what time is playtime - I'm not allowed to forget!
post #22 of 24
A lot. With 8 in the RV, the key to making it work is lots of interactive play. We work from home, and I'm (now) great at using wand toys in both hands though I am FAR from ambidextrous. Thankfully they are all older now (our youngest is four), so they are GREAT about taking turns playing, and no one's a play hog. Unless we have to head out for work, they get a minimum of 1/2 hour of dedicated play in the morning and evening, usually 2x at night, and often in the afternoon.

Three of the kitties will play with each other at various points. Four of the others only play with the wand toys, and they really need it or they take out that pent up energy on other cats and get pissy and hissy. Skipping a day here and there doesn't seem to hurt when we've got long days... but thankfully those are at a minimum now.

We used to worry about them if we were gone for an 11 - 14 hour day (which happens rarely these days). But we always came home to them sleeping and not mad at us... so I no longer worry, but Gary frets about everything anyway.

Five of them are very demanding about pets, and it's just easier in the evenings to lie on the bed and watch TV or work on the laptops there, because then the kitties that like to lie on us can do so (after getting the requisite brushies), but there's still lap room for those that want to be on us being petted. We're usually ensconced in a few cats.

In about 1/2 an hour, Gary will be a kitty train - with Lazlo snuggled up on his ankles after being a total spaz while being brushed; Flowerbelle will be tucked in around his knees (and she's not big into pets on any kind of schedule), and Shelly will be on his lap demanding to be brushed (he's a brush hog). Spooky will be inbetween us, getting up THE MINUTE someone isn't petting her, though she prefers being brushed, and we coax her back with.. "Aw Spooky, c'mon!" Billy will run in and out, wanting brushes and pets for a few minutes here and there, and at some point Ming Loy will come barreling in here, and flop her way over to me and just bust her way through whatever it takes to get on my lap. WHY she won't use Gary's, I don't know, but I am insanely allergic to her drool.

Chumley needs dedicated play time. He gets at least an hour a day on his own, ranging from 5 minutes to about 20 minutes at a time.
post #23 of 24
I have no idea. I'm a stay-at-home mom; but I probably spend less time with a kitty in my lap than I did when I worked full time. Before my daughter was born I'd come home from work and lay on the couch with Mooch. I'd also fall asleep there with her. (Our 2 girls don't sleep in our bedroom because of DH's allergies.) Noodles will come for loving when she wants it.

Now that I have a little one, especially one who is mobile, they are hesitant to come near me where she can get to them. They will sit out of her reach though. We get toys out when the baby is napping or at night. I try to focus some attention on them; but it seems I'm always getting pulled in one direction or another. They still follow me to the bathroom; so they get loving there too. I definitely have less time for them; but it's not like I have none. It's more scattered and random I guess. It's been an adjustment for us all.
post #24 of 24
Thread Starter 
Somehow he does not understand the concept of I would like to pet you know and I will be gone long tomorrow so you should take advantage. I just wish I could explain but of course I know he is really okay.

I just love my cat. Getting him a friend would not be a good idea as I am allergic. He was a stray I could not let starve, but I don't want to get too crazy.
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