Letters to the Editor
Anne in NYC
Published Letters: 342 Editor's Choice: 38
-
I won’t be watching this show
[Read the article: The cat whisperer]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Contrary to this article I do not find all cats to be solitary. In my life I’ve owned maybe 15 cats and only one of them would I describe as truly solitary – the rest were very social. I even remember a BBC documentary from years ago that supported the idea that housecats will naturally form prides just like lions.
And forget this self esteem nonsense. When you get a kitten you must play with it. All. The. Time. You must tire the little guy out (and that feather on a fishing pole is really the best – my young guy will do 5 foot back flips over it and I get the best kick out of playing with him). If you don’t have time for that it’s best to get two kittens and they’ll tire each other out. Pairs of cats groom and play and stalk and teach each other biting boundaries – lots of private shelters won’t even adopt out single kittens because they get lonely and messed up on their own.
Even older cats need play and exercise – you can’t just expect it to sleep all the time. Of course a cat with a ton of energy is going to go looking for trouble. I feel like I could have stopped by the author’s house and say, ‘play with your cat’ and I’d have solved all her problems without the crazy cat lady talk.
-
Two cats are best - but...
[Read the article: The cat whisperer]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It can be really, really difficult to introduce a new cat to an existing cat. It makes it easier when one of the cats is a kitten and a breeze if they both are - but even that takes some time to get everyone on friendly terms and sometimes that relationship never clicks the way you’d want it to. I would NOT recommend introducing a new cat as a quick fix to your existing problems as it could very easily make matters worse.
Its way, way easier to adopt two cats you know get along (littermates, a mom and its young kitten, shelter roommates who get along, etc) then it is to introduce a new cat to an un-socialized animal with aggression problems.
-
@ DurianJoe
[Read the article: The cat whisperer]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I’ve introduced new cats too and while it’s rewarding it’s not for the faint of heart (mostly I’ve introduced kittens to older cats). At the beginning it’s a bit like Wild Kingdom with the spitting, the hissing, the puffed coat, the racing around the house and the hiding under the bed. If you don’t know a bit about cats it’s easy to get really freaked out by that sort of thing. I just didn’t want to give the impression that introducing two strange cats of various ages is a magic fix to an existing problem cat. Really it’s best for a new cat owner to start out with two cats/kittens they know get along.
And de-clawing. Yikes. That is a hot debate topic. In my admittedly limited experience de-clawed cats have biting and social problems. The also can’t run (no traction) or climb – but most importantly scratching is cat behavior. It’s how they stretch and spread their scent and get their cat on. And as others have pointed out you can train a cat not to scratch your furniture – I’ve done it with all of mine without exception – and that’s a much nicer solution then cutting the tops of their fingertips off.
-
Re: Lynx
[Read the article: The cat whisperer]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Well I’m happy to hear it! You didn’t actually think I’d be happy to hear your cat is sick and anit-social – did you?
Honestly I’ve only known a few de-clawed cats and, with the single exception of a Rag Doll that was abandoned or lost to the great outdoors (a very sad story), I’ve known them to be sulky, distant, violent and in once case sick to the point that the surgery almost killed her (and once that cat got better she became an awful biter).
I will say that it’s incredibly irresponsible of you to let a de-clawed cat outside – if you’d have seen that Rag Doll when I found him you’d know why. I realize your cat still has its back claws (most vets only do the front or your cat couldn’t walk without slipping) but that’s simply not enough to protect itself. You may think it can run and climb – but it’s not nearly as fast and agile as an animal with all its claws.
-
Less is More
[Read the article: Are urbane tomboys truer feminists?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]So, right now I’m wearing the expensive jeans, a black top, trendy sneakers and hardly any make-up. And yeah – I can roll my own and I really do prefer bourbon (straight up, please) to a Cosmo. I don’t even carry a purse. Welcome to New York. ‘Sex and the City’ was just a TV show and not at all based on real life. The crazy fashionists, silly heiresses, velvet rope clingers and stiletto balancers are a very small portion of this city. Cheers that someone finally noticed.
But I don’t consider my look tom-boyish. If you’re paying $200 for a pair of jeans you come out of that shop looking damn good. And my love for jeans dosen’t mean I don’t love simple skirts and Capri pants and dress pants too – a skirt with some nice movement and a crisp, clean t-shirt is a favorite look for me. And if you wear these classic looks in black you will invoke Audrey Hepburn without having to think about it too much.