Cats are a great invention. They keep us humble by constantly reminding us that we are not the centre of the universe.

>I've witnessed the bad attitude first hand. Luckily it wasn't expressed vocally. Once I got the cats I stopped going to the gym at nite. So I was typically home by 7pm at the latest.
>
>One nite I went to a user group meeting. Had to leave straight from work. I didn't get home till 10pm that day. Wilshire was meowing like crazy, but once I fed him, all was normal as far as he was concerned. But Korkie, on the other hand.....After eating his late dinner he ignored me completely. I sat down on a chair close to where he was sitting on the floor. He kept on attacking my ankles, teeth and claws extended. He didn't sleep on the bed that nite and didn't come into the bedroom at all, even after he woke up. It took till the next nite for him to calm down.
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>>If you're willing to put up with a lot of bad attitude. My latest cat (Charlie - named for Charlie Chaplin, the little tramp) was a feral (different from a stray in that he never had a home). He was so beat up and mauled that I thought he was going to lose an eye. I kept putting food out for him unil he started trusting me. He even started to come inside as I moved the food bowl deeper and deeper into the house.
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>>Eventually, wearing oven mitts, I got him into a carrier and got him to the vet where he was neutered and had some bad teeth pulled, and had his eyes looked after etc. One of his ears still looks a little odd.
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>>After that, I didn't let him go outside at all. I had to wear ear plugs trying to sleep for about a month and a half - even with a closed bedroom door. After that, as he began to quiet down a little, I started to let him come into the bedroom and he began to quiet down more. But I still didn't let him outside.
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>>After maybe 3 months or so, I began to let him out on a tether. I gave him about 10 metres (a little over 30 feet), but I had to stay handy because he would walk around plants and get stuck. On Monday I was off work, so I let him out for the 1st time without the tether, and he stayed around the house. This is now almost a year after I took him in.
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>>So, they can be kept inside and they will get used to it, but like I said, for a while it might take some real patience on your part.
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>>Both Charlie and my other cat, 'Highway Seven', only go outside really, when I'm not going to work, so they're in the house pretty much completely for 5 days out of 7, and they seem to be ok with it now.
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>>>Alan,
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>>>Do you supervise outside time? I have 2 cats, one of whom wants to be outside a lot. I'm scared to let him outside by himself. He's learned to stay close to the house. Typically he goes outside and decides which bush to stay under. But he's friendly towards dogs and occassionally just walks up to them. Last week a hugh great dane came up and actually put Korkie's head in his mouth.
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>>>Is there a good way to tone down their desire to go outside?
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>>>>>I just wrote a long message about cats with lots of questions, etc. It was blown away because UT just dropped out from under me. >:-(
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>>>>>So, here's the gist of it...
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>>>>>I now have 3 kittens. Pros/cons, good/bad, etc. If you have cats, I would like to hear back from you on any aspect of them.
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>>>>I have 2 cats currently. I've had more and less at one time or another. My cats have always been strays I've pulled off the streets.
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>>>>As long as they are kittens now and will grow up together they should end up getting along fine. It's trying to make adult cats who don't know each other get along that is a problem. It sometimes works out ok, but sometimes it's a real headache.
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>>>>Make sure you have them fixed as soon as you can. I think about 8 weeks old is optimum.
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>>>>Humane societies will tell you not to allow the cats outside, but I'm not a humane society. I allow mine outside, but only when I'm home, and only if it's still light out and will be for at least a couple of hours. They are in at night always.
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>>>>Don't have them declawed; it's cruel. If you don't want them scratching things up, get those cardboard scratch thingies that lie on the floor. They can make a bit of a mess with bits of cardboard strewn around, but ever since I started investing in those things, my cats absolutely leave the furniture alone. My cats love them. They scratch on them, sleep on them, and just generally use them as lounging sites.
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>>>>If you don't use those, then you have to live with the old saying that Cats are nature's way of telling you that your furniture is too nice.
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>>>>Do you have any specific questions?