Need some insight please

linthat22

Regular
okay, the misses and I were going to get us a cat today, but every place we went to (pet adoption centers) either have the animals chipped or have to ship it before they give it to you.

That irks me, I don't want my pet lowjacked. But anway....

The cat we liked was crawling all over my wife and it left little puncture marks on the back of her neck and they've swollen all up. So she took her benadryl and I put some clay on her punctures and stuff and she's getting better, so on to my question.......

She's allergic to cats and dogs and we've been told that if we get a short haired kitten and we brush it regularly then the dander will be so minimal that my wife will eventually not be allergic to the cat, is that true? Any recommendations?
 
A chip is not comparible to a lojack device.

Its an RFID tag that somebody with a scanner, in close proximity to the animal (i.e. inches), can read its ID from. They then can look up the owner in a database and call you to come get kitty.

A lojack device is an active device that begins pinging when activated. The pinging can be picked up at a range of several miles.
 
RussSchultz said:
A chip is not comparible to a lojack device.

Its an RFID tag that somebody with a scanner, in close proximity to the animal (i.e. inches), can read its ID from. They then can look up the owner in a database and call you to come get kitty.

A lojack device is an active device that begins pinging when activated. The pinging can be picked up at a range of several miles.

Doesn't matter, I'm more worried about the allergies than the RIFD tag. Cause I won't be getting a cat with an RFID tag. Thanks though bro. :)
 
I think some of the short-haired dogs are less likely to inflame an allergic reaction than cats. For example, the miniature schnauzer is a fairly intelligent, very friendly breed that doesn't shed, and would be unlikely to inflame allegies (particularly if you bathe the animal frequently). They also don't suffer from the "small dog complex" quite as much as other small dogs, like chihuahuas (who are very noisy).

You could go for a hairless cat, but those things are ugly....
 
Why are you against the idea of an RFID tag in your cat, are you worried it'd invade your cat's personal privacy man? :LOL::LOL:

I wouldn't even consider buying a pet without a tag in it, especially cats which are very prone to walking off/running away/taking another person's home as their own. FFS, get a tag man... And put an ID necklace on it too, along with a little bell so that it can't go hunt and kill wildlife (particulary birds) for no reason other than its own pleasure.

The allergy aspect... I'm not so sure that brushing it actually works. It wouldn't help with those itty bitty skin flakes practically everything living (of any substantial size anyway) gives off, which I imagine would be as allergenic as any hair... Maybe if you bathed or vacuumed the cat on a regular daily basis, but I imagine it might take a dim view of that practice. ;)
 
Guden Oden said:
I wouldn't even consider buying a pet without a tag in it, especially cats which are very prone to walking off/running away/taking another person's home as their own. FFS, get a tag man... And put an ID necklace on it too, along with a little bell so that it can't go hunt and kill wildlife (particulary birds) for no reason other than its own pleasure.
Oh, come on. Cats are great pest control :) Why would you want to deprive them of all that fun?

The allergy aspect... I'm not so sure that brushing it actually works. It wouldn't help with those itty bitty skin flakes practically everything living (of any substantial size anyway) gives off, which I imagine would be as allergenic as any hair... Maybe if you bathed or vacuumed the cat on a regular daily basis, but I imagine it might take a dim view of that practice. ;)
Yeah, bathing is what's really important, but people usually don't bathe cats very often. The short hair helps too because it's easier to keep the skin clean with shorter hair (cleaner skin doesn't flake as much....see dandruff).
 
All shelter animals get chips, period. It's just how they do it anymore.

All my pups are chipped, but they never gave me the damned remote control for it... :???:
 
Chalnoth said:
Oh, come on. Cats are great pest control :) Why would you want to deprive them of all that fun?
Cats kill millions of birds per year just in sweden alone, for no reason. They get food back home, so they don't need 'em to eat. They just kill them, because that's what cats do when left unsupervised.

Free-ranging cats are total murder machines. Besides, it's not as if I'm suggesting jamming a couple electrodes up their butts and shocking them unconscious as soon as their hunter instinct kicks in, they can still stalk prey of course, but as soon as they try to pounce, that bell's gonna start jingling, giving the prey some more time to escape. :p
 
I find the idea of chipping a cat stupid. Or even buying one, there's no shortage of cat either and you're doing a great favor to someone when you take one of his kittens :)

no need for these expensive vaccines, chip, tatooing. it's not like a cat has trouble living without these things. and a cat is less of a property than a dog.

A male will probably go away when sexually mature, he mays come back or not. solution is to castrate him (much cheaper than a female, castrating a female is delicate surgery, whereas for a male, well.. let's not think too much about it :p ). Females stay at home.

as for allergies I'm clueless. glad to be allergic to pretty much nothing, I have long haired cats at home, so much nicer :)
Recently a genetically engineered hypoallergenic cat was invented but it'll cost you in the tens of thousands dollars.
 
Thank you all for the replies, looks like we may be up shit creek with wanting a pet. She mentioned being put on shots to combat her allergies, but I'm so against it.

Thanks everyone again!!
 
If you aren't responsible enough to get the chip'n'snip (and the jabs, but I couldn't make that rhyme), you don't deserve to own a pet. End of story.
 
Fodder said:
If you aren't responsible enough to get the chip'n'snip (and the jabs, but I couldn't make that rhyme), you don't deserve to own a pet. End of story.

:rolleyes:
(I agree with the snipping though)
 
Lost pets frequently have to be put to sleep after being caught because they have no form of identification. An implant is the more sure form.
 
You might want to google for breeds better for allergy sufferers. My wife and I were looking at breeds of cats, and I do remember at least 2 that were mentioned as better for allergy sufferers. I cant remember the breeds names but I trust your Google Kung Fu is strong.
 
I'd want to give a more detailed answer about chipping, but I first have to register each of my 50000 ants in the garden :)


well, I'd chip a dog afterall. A cat is a semi-wild animal that lives with you, can return to wild life/live on its own and doesn't ring a bell if you see it alone in the street, a dog is more like a five-year-old kid.
 
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Quick update, instead of getting just a cat, we're getting 2 kittens. Yea, we're both suckers for the "well the one kitten has a friend and they do everything together" stories so we decided on 2 instead of one. I'm kinda excited, but then I deflated my wife a bit this morning saying, "You know, when they're older and one dies, the other will miss it." She didn't like that too much.

*edit* oh yea, no chippies in either one, oh yea!!!
 
Heh, that's what you're supposed to do with dogs :) Cats typically don't care if they're alone. But still, two is really not significantly more work than one, so it should be good :) Just make damned sure they're spayed/neutered young. If one's male, you do not want to have to deal with him spraying (which some will do their entire lives if you neuter them too late). If one's female, you don't want her getting pregnant (which can happen within 6-8 months).
 
Blitzkrieg said:
You might want to google for breeds better for allergy sufferers. My wife and I were looking at breeds of cats, and I do remember at least 2 that were mentioned as better for allergy sufferers. I cant remember the breeds names but I trust your Google Kung Fu is strong.

Should be Siberian cat, Birmania Sacred and those furless (almost or completely) like Devon Rex...
 
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linthat22 said:
Quick update, instead of getting just a cat, we're getting 2 kittens. Yea, we're both suckers for the "well the one kitten has a friend and they do everything together" stories so we decided on 2 instead of one. I'm kinda excited, but then I deflated my wife a bit this morning saying, "You know, when they're older and one dies, the other will miss it." She didn't like that too much.

*edit* oh yea, no chippies in either one, oh yea!!!

Out of curiosity, what kind/breed of cats did you guys get?
 
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