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We have recently moved to an apartment, and Artemis and Hestia have become mostly-indoor cats (with outdoors only on leashes) as opposed to mostly-outdoor cats with limited indoor privileges. Aside from their newfound hatred of harnesses and constant begging to go outdoors, and their brief discovery of the top of the table (previously forbidden) when we went away for a short vacation, this transition has gone better than expected.

The biggest change for us is that they used to be kicked outside when we were cooking. Now they have learned that kitchen sounds occasionally lead to nice food: tin can sounds are always good (sometimes it is actually for them) and chopping sounds could lead to dropped chicken or cheese. Tin cans are mostly ok, but spouse takes a salad to work almost every day, and the start of the salad preparations now initiates a lively dialogue every morning, which consists mainly of pitiful miaous interspersed with "but you don't like lettuce!" Even letting them sniff a little of the vegetables doesn't work: they are convinced that we are holding out on them.

AR.

Quote from: AvidReader on September 06, 2023, 03:49:59 AMWe have recently moved to an apartment, and Artemis and Hestia have become mostly-indoor cats (with outdoors only on leashes) as opposed to mostly-outdoor cats with limited indoor privileges. Aside from their newfound hatred of harnesses and constant begging to go outdoors, and their brief discovery of the top of the table (previously forbidden) when we went away for a short vacation, this transition has gone better than expected.

The biggest change for us is that they used to be kicked outside when we were cooking. Now they have learned that kitchen sounds occasionally lead to nice food: tin can sounds are always good (sometimes it is actually for them) and chopping sounds could lead to dropped chicken or cheese. Tin cans are mostly ok, but spouse takes a salad to work almost every day, and the start of the salad preparations now initiates a lively dialogue every morning, which consists mainly of pitiful miaous interspersed with "but you don't like lettuce!" Even letting them sniff a little of the vegetables doesn't work: they are convinced that we are holding out on them.

AR.

Glad they've mostly transitioned OK! If you have a patio or balcony at your new place, you might want to consider getting a catio (you can get a kit for a few hundred dollars). I have a house, but don't let the cats out on their own (one loves to go out in a harness, the other rejected that idea), so I put a catio in the back yard they can go into through a cat door installed in a window and they absolutely love being out there.

Quote from: Puget on September 06, 2023, 06:28:07 AMGlad they've mostly transitioned OK! If you have a patio or balcony at your new place, you might want to consider getting a catio (you can get a kit for a few hundred dollars). I have a house, but don't let the cats out on their own (one loves to go out in a harness, the other rejected that idea), so I put a catio in the back yard they can go into through a cat door installed in a window and they absolutely love being out there.

Oh, I'd LOVE that, and they would too. We are renting, and the complex is pretty fussy about anything that goes on patios/balconies (they even have an approval process for actual patio furniture) so I don't think that is an option till we move.

. . . I say hatred of harnesses, but we do a leash walk every evening (works best if spouse and I each take one, as they never want to go in the same direction) and try to let them out to sit on the patio when we have coffee in the mornings. We are ground floor, so that makes quick jaunts easy, and sometimes I sit out with my laptop and they lounge at my feet. Apparently our harnessed cats on walks were the talk of the neighborhood right after we arrived!

I don't think they would ever come back in if we had a catio! I keep wishing I had ways to let them sit out for longer. So glad yours can.

AR.

AR, there's a young couple in our neighborhood this summer who have been walking their kitten on a leash and/or pushing her in a baby (not cat) stroller. The kitten also sits and shakes hands on command. (Far better trained than our puppy!)

AmLitHist, that's AMAZING! Ours will both tap a closed fist with a gentle paw to see if there is a treat inside, but that's not as fun as shaking hands. I want to teach Hestia to play "fetch" but she hasn't figured out that she can walk or run if she has a toy in her mouth. But if she's on a walk and is in sight of our house, if we show her a treat and say "Home!" she will run home at top speed and wait for the treat, which is really nice because it sort of doubles as a safety measure.

AR.

That's clever! I'll have to see if Panther Boy can be taught to do that. Currently, I carry him inside when outside time is over- he sometimes complains if he thinks it was too short, but never struggles in my arms, so that's good. He does know he gets dinner when he goes in. His only other trick is to sit (usually after several tries) in order get me to throw a crunchy treat for him to chase across the room.

Little Calico is much less food motivated, and will just wait for me to hand her treats while her brother is chasing them down.

Little Orange Man has been f*cking with youngest evil cat HARD. Cat politics. I suppose they're sorting out who's in charge? He likes to chase her around the tv room and she likes to slap him in the head (repeatedly). I don't know who's winning the race over here.

I'm taking care of the neighbors' 20 year old (!) cat for the weekend. She is a crotchety old lady, and they warned she might not want pets, but she requested and got an extended head scratching and petting session this evening and even purred for me, so I'm putting that on my CV.

So far, mine have not objected to me coming home smelling of another cat.

Izzy kitten (ok, she's 3, but still the youngest), will play a game I call "hockey goalie cat".  She waits in the door to the hall and I toss treats across the floor.  If the treat hits the wall, it's a goal.  She's very good - can catch 2 treats at once and her feet are so floofy that she can smack a treat and pick it up in her toes.

Quote from: AvidReader on September 06, 2023, 03:49:59 AMThe biggest change for us is that they used to be kicked outside when we were cooking. Now they have learned that kitchen sounds occasionally lead to nice food: tin can sounds are always good (sometimes it is actually for them) and chopping sounds could lead to dropped chicken or cheese. Tin cans are mostly ok, but spouse takes a salad to work almost every day, and the start of the salad preparations now initiates a lively dialogue every morning, which consists mainly of pitiful miaous interspersed with "but you don't like lettuce!" Even letting them sniff a little of the vegetables doesn't work: they are convinced that we are holding out on them.

One of ours is very food-focused.  He'll twine around underfoot, meow pitiably, and reach up as high as he can (almost high enough) whenever we're cooking.  A happy compromise can be reached if one of us picks him up so that he can watch what we're doing, and be available for sniff-testing.

Last Thanksgiving, a family member thought we were kidding when we said her job was to hold the cat while we cooked.

We have a kitchen cart that has been commandeered by Sir Puck and Lady Jane. She likes to sit in a peach basket and observe us while we cook.  She also demands to be petted during the observation.  We joke that whoever isn't cooking is on "Jane duty".

Quote from: the_geneticist on September 19, 2023, 12:14:15 PMWe have a kitchen cart that has been commandeered by Sir Puck and Lady Jane. She likes to sit in a peach basket and observe us while we cook.  She also demands to be petted during the observation.  We joke that whoever isn't cooking is on "Jane duty".

Panther Boy uses the top of the microwave (which is on a small cart) for this purpose. He also likes to lie there in general. Weird cat!

HerMajesty's reign has ended. She had to be put down Monday night. She'd been ill and not eating for over a week, and neither our regular vet nor the local ER vet could figure out what was wrong. We drove over an hour to take HerMajesty to another emergency vet that a friend recommended in our state capital. They offered to do some high tech fancy expensive tests that would give more information, but said that no matter what the tests showed, the situation would not be good. There's a bit more to the story that I'm leaving out, but it came down to the best we could do was let her go. We are devastated, and the other kitties are wondering what happened.

Oh, Larimar, I am so sorry. (I fear similar is coming for our Little Cat, sooner rather than later.) You did right by her, but I know that doesn't help in the moment. Sending hugs from here, and head bumps from LC, too.

Oh, Larimar, that's an awful choice to have to make. I'm so glad HerMajesty is out of her pain or discomfort, but so sorry you will be without her.
AR.