Cats and rodents...

[JosephineS]

Can they get along? I just adopted a 1 year old cat that is such a darling - loving and affectionate. I also have a 2 1/2 year old guinea pig and a bit over 2 year old hamster. My hamster is getting old so I know that he will likely only live a maximum of 6 months, based on my past experiences. My guinea pig on the other hand will live probably another 3 years or so.

I thought and thought about getting a cat before adopting the cat. One consideration was my other animals and I was least concerned about my guinea pig as they are on the large end of the rodent list. However, after bringing my cat home and letting her "meet" the other 2 pets, I now feel that I may have reason to be concerned for my rodents. The rodents are in my computer room, to which I now have the door closed so that I don't run into an incident with them and the cat.

I can't and don't want to have to leave my computer room door closed forever and therefore isolating my rodents (my guinea pig is VERY social). I'm scared that if I leave the door open, my cat will try to attack the rodents. The guinea pig's cage bars are big enough that my cat can stick her paw in there. My cat has claws and I don't want her to hurt my piggy.

The only thing that I can think of to solve the problem is to declaw her so that she can't hurt my animals. I also don't want to wait for something bad to happen before taking action. Please, please, please don't attack me for bringing up the declawing issue. If that's not an option, then I will have to make the decision to return her to the Humane Society (I get another 9 more days to do this). Any suggestions or opinions on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[brandy pup]

I have cats dogs and gerbils. The cats find the gerbils entertaining. I have to keep a tight lid very secured for them.

My friend has 6 cats and a rat. My cat recently met her rat and got punshed by the rat right in the noes. :) (thru the cage)

[JosephineS]

I wish my guinea pig would punish the cat in the noes if she got too close but guinea pigs are so gentle that she's not likely to do that. My hamster on the other hand, I'm sure that he would bite the cat if he felt threatened!

[misslyss]

I have two guinea pigs and a kitten, which I adopted in March. As long as you raise the kitten around the pig and hamster, all should be fine. I let my pigs run around now with my cat with no worries, but I started off really slow. I would bring my pigs out and hold the cat, let them sniff, etc. If she swatted at them or tried to attack, I sprayed her with a bottle, firmly said NO, and put the pigs back into their cage. Moe is still nervous around Meko (the kitten) but Weeone will run for her to cuddle or play and Meko is actaully scared of HIM!! Lol, it's so funny :) If I were you, I would let them get to know eachother before you made any assumptions.

[AllAnimalLover]

My cat charlie is not declawed and my rabbit rules the roost. The pigs have teeth and claws as well. The hamster is fine. i had three mice with my 19 lb cat sitting on their cage...it was fine. I would just have to keep an eye on them. I'm sure that if the cat sticks it paws in the cage, the gp will go to the other end, or come close enough to sniff but not get hurt. I'm sure everything will work out. Please don't declaw

[Jennicat]

Oi, poor Loki (our cat) I'll bet he wishes he lives with your pigs. Gizmo and Mogwai run at him, rumblestrut at him, and try to eat his tail. He's afraid of the pigs.

[CTChin]

I've always had several cats and small pets (rodents). My experience over time has been that the cats gradually lose interest especially if the animal is in it's cage.

Declawing won't help because cats still have teeth.

[daddysgurl9245]

Why not get soft paws for your cat?

[cavakitkat]

i agree with all the other posts. I have 2 large cats, with both their claws, and a chinchilla. The cats love to sit on top of the chinchilla cage, and are very interested in her, but do not try and hurt her. They act like they are tough, but if she even wiggles her whiskers, they go running! Be carefull, make sure the cages are secured, but don't give up!

[JosephineS]

To all those with the rodents and chinchillas, is there access to the room(s) with the caged animals pretty much all the time? Like I said, my door is still closed right now to prevent umm, unauthorized access to the other pets.

At the present time it seems that the cat's interest is more in my hamster than the piggy. She tried to swipe at the hamster when he was in the cage yesterday night. And today she tried to paw at my piggy when she was inside her cage. :mad:

I really don't want to declaw the cat because first of all, she's not scratching my furniture (I have leather couches). When she scratches my carpet, I am training her to use the post instead. So in my mind, it's not necessary to put her through declawing. BUT, if she stays around these animals and keeps her behaviour up either the cat goes or her claws go. I really DO want this to work out for all the pets.

[Jennicat]

I would never declaw a cat for threatening a prey animal. Not only won't it affect anything (she'll just bite it instead, or use her back feet to shred it), it's ridiculous to declaw a cat for doing something completely natural.