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Do Owners Of indoor cats become sick from the cat or do they just adapt so they limit risk?


Spacescifi

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Just curious.

 

Cat's lick their own... parts. Both of them.

So I presume:

Owners don't let the cat's mouth touch their face (since it's been unclean places including dead or dying life or it's own excrement)

If the cat grabs your food with it's paw the cat more or less can keep it since owners are scared about cat germs on their food.

 

Cat's are not aware of these reasons, but are aware that they can use the situation to their advantage to steal and run off with your food if you're not looking.

 

Thoughts? Facts?

No I don't have a cat, so I don't know how safe owners actually need to be.

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cats are actually very clean most of the time. unless you have a really old cat, or a really fat cat (and i have one of each, the old kitty always smells bad, and the fat kitty sometimes gets stuff stuck in her fur). cleanliness is a stealth feature that help make cats good hunters as most prey species can detect predators by smell alone. so they will keep their fur very clean. cats also have fewer mouth germs than humans, you are probibly better off kissing your kitty than your girlfriend. cat saliva is known to be a natural antibacterial agent and the fact that cats do not really eat sweet things keeps the germ count low. 

most of the reason humans consider cats gross is the litter box and the occasional hairball. the former is more a problem if you are lazy with the cleaning. keeping the litter clean with 3 cats can be a daily chore. giving the box a good scrubdown every month will keep down any harmful bacteria (though these are only harmful to pregnant women). the former really depends on the cat breed. a long hear cat will produce more hairballs than a short hair cat. regular grooming can help reduce it further. my old cat and the younger kitty have very easy to manage fur and so i let them groom themselves. picking up the occasional hairball is easier than trying to brush a cat that doesnt want to be brushed. the fat cat who also is a long hair breed absolutely needs it because her fur will mat otherwise, but fortunately she actually seems to enjoy being brushed. also the usual vaccinations and preventions for fleas and ear mites is a good idea for outdoor cats. you also tend to have a problem with shedding, but that's a problem you have with any pet with fur.  the general rule of thumb is if you dont put the work in you are going to have gross pets. ymmv. 

i for one have no problems kissing my kitties on the top of their heads or letting them sleep next to me and steal my pillow. provided they don't have fleas at the time (those things caused the black death, so its a good idea to deal with them as they come).

Edited by Nuke
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She-cats are clean. Except the mating season outdoors. Which happens often. Unless she spawns subcats and sits with them. Then she's dirty because too tired to clean.

And "sterilized" he-cats, too. They don't have the mating season. They are fancy guys.

He-cats are lazy pigs by their nature.
Dirty lazy pigs in case if they have a chance to stay outdoors as long as they want.
Usually in scars.
Happily, they don't like beer, otherwise they would be also burping.

Of course, an indoor cat is clean because it has not so much entertainments, and self-licking is one of them.
But very soon you realize that a scary dirty lazy catpig is not worse than heartbreaking screams and marked... everything. They can stand for their rights very well.

A cat licks its (donkey), then your face. Or vice versa, they anyway don't see any difference between these parts.
It's normal. It allows you to get your portion of the cat midichlorians which helps you to establish more friendly and close relations to the catkind.

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58 minutes ago, Nuke said:

cats also have fewer mouth germs than humans, you are probibly better off kissing your kitty than your girlfriend. cat saliva is known to be a natural antibacterial agent and the fact that cats do not really eat sweet things keeps the germ count low.

 

I dunno man... if I found out my future potential wife used her mouth to.... clean.... I would dump her right then and there LOL.

 

No I am not getting graphic.... since you know what I mean about cats.

 

Suffice to say I read an article where an owner saved a runt of the litter (mom left it to die). Cat likes being cared for and alive, yet momma cat evidently never taught him how to clean thy self... since the cat tries but does not get all the uh... gunk.

Thus cat runs around with a dirty posterior that the owner has taken to cleaning... against the cat's wishes. Lately the owner says he figured wiping a fish meat on the cat's rear is the only way the cat will be clean itself thoroughly... because fish they like.

Thus cat is happy and so is the owner.

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1 hour ago, kerbiloid said:

She-cats are clean. Except the mating season outdoors. Which happens often. Unless she spawns subcats and sits with them. Then she's dirty because too tired to clean.

And "sterilized" he-cats, too. They don't have the mating season. They are fancy guys.

He-cats are lazy pigs by their nature.
Dirty lazy pigs in case if they have a chance to stay outdoors as long as they want.
Usually in scars.
Happily, they don't like beer, otherwise they would be also burping.

Of course, an indoor cat is clean because it has not so much entertainments, and self-licking is one of them.
But very soon you realize that a scary dirty lazy catpig is not worse than heartbreaking screams and marked... everything. They can stand for their rights very well.

A cat licks its (donkey), then your face. Or vice versa, they anyway don't see any difference between these parts.
It's normal. It allows you to get your portion of the cat midichlorians which helps you to establish more friendly and close relations to the catkind.

marking is easily delt with by spay/neuter. just be sure you get it done before they reach puberty. because once they get into the habbit of marking, they never stop. like i couldn't get a vet appointment with my youngest kitty until a month after she went into heat for the first time, now its an acquired behavior. so once a month i go through the house with a black light and a mop. its one of the few legit chores that has to be done at 1 am. 

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1 hour ago, Spacescifi said:

 

I dunno man... if I found out my future potential wife used her mouth to.... clean.... I would dump her right then and there LOL.

 

No I am not getting graphic.... since you know what I mean about cats.

 

Suffice to say I read an article where an owner saved a runt of the litter (mom left it to die). Cat likes being cared for and alive, yet momma cat evidently never taught him how to clean thy self... since the cat tries but does not get all the uh... gunk.

Thus cat runs around with a dirty posterior that the owner has taken to cleaning... against the cat's wishes. Lately the owner says he figured wiping a fish meat on the cat's rear is the only way the cat will be clean itself thoroughly... because fish they like.

Thus cat is happy and so is the owner.

people like to get rid of kittens way too early. anything before 8 weeks is too early. i mean they are cute at 6 weeks and its easy to find homes for them. ive heard more reputable cat breeders prefer closer to 4 months. i once acquired an entire litter of week old kittens from a mother that died and i had to bottle feed them. its one of those things thats cute for the first couple days before the sleep deprivation kicks in. but because i could control their interactions with humans they turned out to be pretty good pets. the worst ones are the ones that haven't been socialized by humans. when picking a kitten out of a free kittens box, try to find one that melts into you. if they seem tense or fearful in any way, you might have problems later on down the line. its back to that spay/neuter thing, because you could be up to your eyeballs in kittens if you let it get out of hand. you can (and should) get a shelter cat, but sometimes they are so bureaucratic and it takes forever to get approved for a kitty when the pet store will just hand one to you for a nominal fee, and there are always free kittens that end up in the shelter system anyway.

my old kitty is gross and will never not be gross. he is in the process of deteriorating, literally rotting from the inside out and i dont think he can reach anymore. i should give him a bath but i think that might kill him hes so frail. but he can still chase a dog out of his territory so i dont want to put him down. i also have a fat cat that has difficulty sometimes. water makes the fur mat up, so i just tend to use the clippers periodically to keep the fur under control. i suspect feline diabetes, though i dont think i can afford the treatment for that. will probibly restrict her diet more when the old kitty kicks the bucket. if i tried to do that now the other kitties would bully him to death to steal his food. 

Edited by Nuke
the kitty made me do it.
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On 9/1/2021 at 12:11 AM, Spacescifi said:

Owners don't let the cat's mouth touch their face

The cat will not ask for permission.

On 9/1/2021 at 10:21 PM, Nuke said:

cats are actually very clean most of the time. unless you have a really old cat, or a really fat cat (and i have one of each, the old kitty always smells bad, and the fat kitty sometimes gets stuff stuck in her fur).

It can be a problem with hair around the backside, too.

On 9/1/2021 at 10:21 PM, Nuke said:

keeping the litter clean with 3 cats can be a daily chore

I've been drilled to do it semi-daily.

On 9/1/2021 at 11:25 PM, kerbiloid said:

A cat licks its (donkey), then your face. Or vice versa, they anyway don't see any difference between these parts.
It's normal. It allows you to get your portion of the cat midichlorians which helps you to establish more friendly and close relations to the catkind.

AFAIK the refuse only becomes infectious after a day, which can be negated with frequent tending to the litterbox, as above.

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For what this is worth since 1996 I have had 3 indoor cats. My first was a long haired orange tabby. i got her as a 2 month old kitten. Had her for  the majority of her (save for her first 2 month of life) 19 years 305 days. Never sick from her. My second cat was a brown and white short hair tabby. Got her when she was 2 or 3 years old. Had her until she died just shy of her 18th birth day. Even after sticking myself on accident a time or two with her needles near her end of life (sub cu fluid treatments for the final 355 days of her life) she never made me sick. My 3rd cat is just past 4 and a half years and is a calico short hair currently running around like a furry lunatic. Shes not yet made me sick either. All indoor, all females, all fixed. Between them all not once have they made me sick. They have ALL made me question their respective sanity in one way or another by being general goofballs, but no, never made me sick.  MOST cats know how to well be a cat and are generally clean animals. As long as you keep the box they restroom in clean and are not allergic you should be good. YMMV.

093409062021

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exposure to critters is a good work out for the immune system. id actually say its a bigger risk long term not to have cats. humans were never meant to live sterile lives. 

Edited by Nuke
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No one at home has ever gotten sick that can be traced back to our cats. All 3 that we've had were 100% indoor.

My wife is the gentle caregiver to the cats. I'm the rough-player to exhaust them so they sleep through the night. I get frequent scratches. I used to disinfect the scratches, now I just let them go because either my cats are safe or I have a good immune system against whatever they might have on their claws.

We've never had a problem of cats going after food on our plates. Kittens used to be curious about our food, I would offer them the least appealing thing on my plate, they eventually lost interest (my cats all hated cinnamon, which is good because it's unhealthy for them). One cat developed a taste for lettuce and pumpkin, though. The most timid cat I had loved turkey but was too shy to get near our plates; she'd just sit on the floor and stare until we gave her a few pieces.

On 9/5/2021 at 2:14 PM, DDE said:

I've been drilled to do it semi-daily.

When we had 3 cats, we kept 2 boxes and cleaned them every other day. We're down to 1 cat by attrition, 1 box, and this last cat is content with a weekly cleaning of the box. The box is in the cool basement with good litter and doesn't get smelly.

 

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2 hours ago, DeadJohn said:

One cat developed a taste for lettuce and pumpkin, though.

Pumpkin is good for pets, lots of fiber. Recommended for both cats and dogs!

While our dearly departed cat didn't care for any human food except fish, our new kitty is all over any human food. Loves popcorn and steals it out of the bowl.

We need more little squirt bottles around the house. Kitty is going to learn the meaning of NO! very quickly.

A cat I had ages ago knew the sound of the squirt gun pumping up and left the area very quickly...

And no, I haven't encountered any illness due to cats, but those teeth punctures need to be bled out to prevent infection...

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I have lots of cats and I don't get sick from them. I've never even come down with so-called cat scratch fever and I have on average five new scratches every day. (five at least and that's just how many fresh ones I wake up  with every morning)

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On 9/7/2021 at 3:33 AM, Starwaster said:

I have lots of cats and I don't get sick from them. I've never even come down with so-called cat scratch fever and I have on average five new scratches every day. (five at least and that's just how many fresh ones I wake up  with every morning)

What about cat bite fever? Definitely saw my dad get hit when his hand got badly chewed. I didn't have it even when my ankle got a similar perforation.

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2 hours ago, DDE said:

What about cat bite fever? Definitely saw my dad get hit when his hand got badly chewed. I didn't have it even when my ankle got a similar perforation.

I’ve only ever had localized swelling due to bites being crush injuries. Then again we keep antibiotics on hand and I probably took some just after. (I say probably because I don’t remember but if I get bitten with a deep puncture then I usually take some amoxicillin for a few days)

I should mention I work/live at a cat sanctuary so these things do happen. More often than if I was just a guy who had a few cats as pets. 

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i think a lot of that is secondary infections caused by other bacteria. but ymmv. i get bites and scratches all the time, and they usually heal up pretty fast. cats usually tone it down a bit with people they like if they are just playing. but if they feel threatened the will unleash their full feline fury. usually that only happens to people who mistreat the cats, people they dont know, or if they are in a bad mood and you didn't notice and give them space.  that said a little iodine or peroxide goes a long way if the cat did any major damage.

cat scratch fever is a myth at worst, and a good motorhead cover at best. 

 

Edited by Nuke
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10 hours ago, Nuke said:

but if they feel threatened the will unleash their full feline fury. usually that only happens to people who mistreat the cats, people they dont know, or if they are in a bad mood and you didn't notice and give them space. 

I.e. it doesn't happen, when you are staying away from a familiar cat which is in good mood, and even better is sleeping.

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1 hour ago, kerbiloid said:

I.e. it doesn't happen, when you are staying away from a familiar cat which is in good mood, and even better is sleeping.

i do have a cat that gives me drama when i dont pet her enough.  she will give love lacerations when she wants attention.

Edited by Nuke
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3 hours ago, Nuke said:

i do have a cat that gives me drama when i dont pet her enough.  she will give love lacerations when she wants attention.

"Your hand. Give it to me."

Yeah, I know that act. Even one of our two outdoor strays tries to catch my hand at the first opportunity.

Edited by DDE
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now that im down to 2 i find them a lot less tiresome. i have a theory that the amount of work you have to put into your cats is the number of cats, squared. same holds true for the amount of cat food and litter you have to buy.

Edited by Nuke
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