A terrible day.

[captmarga]

Cats are cats. It could have been mom's china, or the automatic coffeemaker, or who-knows what else that the cat knocked over. I deal with cats knocking stuff over all the time. I love my cats, but hate that they will find a way to destroy things no matter what. Locking them out of my rooms and making sure the Ts are elsewhere has been my only recourse.

It sounds as if this is just the last straw. I understand that completely.

I have friends where the hubby is terribly allergic to cats. They sacrificed a bedroom in their house for the cats. Not saying that that is THE solution, but I know it has worked for some people.

However, your house, your rules, and if you made an exception to the rules for the cat, and the destruction and bargaining has reached an end, it might be time to step back and rethink things.

Relationships are hard - they are a delicate balance!

Good luck in whichever direction you decide to go.

Marga (who wishes she had someone who understood her obsession with Ts!)

 

[Drakk]

Personally I dont own any cats but the cat of the house has a certain room with ourside access to stay in....but my tanks are secured anyway...after all who knows what could happen...freak earthquake?
But yeah if my dog got into my T cages or cat got out and did id have to only blame myself....cats are cats and dogs are dogs...and girls are girls.
If she is cool with your T's then that's something...in itself?
I find most aren't tho i cant speak for dudes im sure its similar.
I personally would agree with everyone els basically i guess.

 

[AbraxasComplex]

Thankfully I'll never have to choose between a girl and my tarantulas.

 

[Bumblingbear]

Is "accidentally" leaving a window open a possibility?

This made me laugh. LOL!

No... I hate the cat. However, I am not willing to let something like that happen to him or my gf to go through that.

As it turns out, some of the other posters in this thread were correct.

I talked to my gf about it, and she told me I was being totally unreasonable. She also pointed out that she and I are the only two people on the planet that this cat feels comfortable around. She proved this by putting him on me... and he promptly started snuggling.

She didn't argue that her cat doesn't suck - he does. But she pointed out that I have a dog that sucks too. I do.

It sucks, but I feel like I have a responsibility to the cat. /wrists.

We also agreed that she will secure my T cages to be cat-proof.

I am agreeing to the compromise. Still don't like the cat, but my gf made excellent points and pretty much pwned me in conversation.

/sigh

 

[OphidianDelight]

My dad told me the secret to marriage. You can be happy or you can be right.

 

[Moonface]

The cats I've lived with are never given the opportunity to get at my tarantulas. They're cats. You can't trust them.

The absolute worst cat I've lived with was an orange tabby named Pumpkin...he had a bad track record for eating other pets and destroying everything. It didn't come as a surprise when my roommate found his fish tank knocked over one day and couldn't find his fish anywhere.

A few weeks later, we were studying for exams. My roommate was flipping through his vertebrate zoology notes, and found his wrinkled up, dessicated fish stuck between the papers. I don't know how he didn't smell it sooner.

Conclusion: cats are evil.

 

[Croaton]

Is your GF ugly ?
No I never lost a relationship because of my T.(s) . I would suggest you rethink this but if you don't, send pics of ex GF with cat and possible rehoming fee.

LMAO!!! too funny man

 

[zosimos]

Maybe get a small standing bookshelf, and cut some plywood then nail it to the outside/front of the shelves so that they can't fall off the shelf. Then you can organize your T's if you have enough and the cat can't knock them over.

I was thinking of doing something like that, but with only an inch or 2 of plywood to ensure that the can't come out of the shelf unless I lift them myself.

 

[Bill S]

Life is too short to be spineless. This is my home and I want peace. I should not have to secure my enclosures in my own home.

There's a difference between spineless and arrogantly self-centered. But... you also have a right to find peace in your own home. That means deciding whether the girlfriend with the cat is compatible with your life. But once you accepted the cat into your house, the responsibility for protecting your tarantulas from it is yours. They are your tarantulas, you have a resposibility to protect them, and you are fully aware of the hazard that exists. If you can get your girlfriend to help out with the issue, all the better - but the responsibility to do so is yours.

Beyond that - I am not fond of cats either, and my wife loves them. She has one (which, being a typical cat, follows ME around everywhere), and it takes constant vigilance and discussions to keep that number from increasing. On the good side, the cat does not bother the tarantulas and can be allowed into the tarantula room without worries. And my tarantulas will never be a divider between my wife and I - she's got her own arachnid collection. Plus she's the woman who recently found a recluse spider in a box that she was preparing to ship some mites in - so she caught it and released it behind a cabinet in the kitchen "where it might do some good".

 

[Formerphobe]

I've thought about setting up one of those free standing metal shelving units and attaching plexiglass to create an enclosed cabinet. My aim was to be able to better monitor/control temp and humidity for my Ts. Something like that would also be essentially cat-proof. (And would hold more tarantulas than the desk where they currently reside...)

You could also send the M. balfouri to me and I could foster it for you... I no longer have any cats and my dogs do not have access to the T room

 

[malhomme]

Arachnos before Hoes.

Seriously, I would focus on the similarities between T's and cats. It would help you both see how much youbhave in common and begin a path to resposibly keeping each.

 

[Anastasia]

Thankfully I'll never have to choose between a girl and my tarantulas.

then your boyfriend is a lucky one

but on the other note, I have spiders everywhere, its just my lifestyle
My BF got use to it so is my cat, my cat have no interest it tarantulas whatsoever she is a great cat
My BF always trap any spider he find loose and TXT me 'honey look under the cup it might be one of yours..'
Sometimes you have to make it work and have to compromise and deal with it
otherwise prepare to be all by yourself, some folks just like that option

 

[campj]

This forum is for scientific questions and discussions pertaining to Tarantulas and discussing items with widespread repercussions to the hobby.

 

[Bumblingbear]

This forum is for scientific questions and discussions pertaining to Tarantulas and discussing items with widespread repercussions to the hobby.

I fail to see how the issue of keeping tarantulas with a significant other and the problems this can bring up is not a significant issue to the hobby.

We have enough drama on the boards these days. Let's not add to it.

 

[AbraxasComplex]

then your boyfriend is a lucky one

but on the other note, I have spiders everywhere, its just my lifestyle
My BF got use to it so is my cat, my cat have no interest it tarantulas whatsoever she is a great cat
My BF always trap any spider he find loose and TXT me 'honey look under the cup it might be one of yours..'
Sometimes you have to make it work and have to compromise and deal with it
otherwise prepare to be all by yourself, some folks just like that option

My prospective bf is a horticulturalist... showed him my tarantulas last night and he was more enamored with all the tropical plants that occupy their enclosures. He also wanted to grab cuttings and some red wiggler worms. I may have found a winner.

As for cats, mine likes to watch my tarantulas from time to time, but he never touches their cages or goes near them. He's quite well behaved and I'm overly thankful for that.

 

[Bumblingbear]

My prospective bf is a horticulturalist... showed him my tarantulas last night and he was more enamored with all the tropical plants that occupy their enclosures. He also wanted to grab cuttings and some red wiggler worms. I may have found a winner.

As for cats, mine likes to watch my tarantulas from time to time, but he never touches their cages or goes near them. He's quite well behaved and I'm overly thankful for that.

I enjoy a good cat, but they are hard to come by.

Seriously - cats are wild animals. Having a "good" one seems to result in a cat with a more pleasant or well mannered than usual personality.

These types of cats would probably mercifully kill their food quickly if they were outside or wild....

Nah, who am I kidding? All the little bastards are sadistic and like to torture their food.

I always say, if I were to shrink down 4 inches tall, my dog would still listen to me, love me, and protect me. To the cat... I'd be a torture victim and then dinner.

 

[Najakeeper]

I don't know about the ultimatum thing, I had to get rid of my entire venomous snake collection after getting bitten, almost dying and getting the ultimatum from the wife. But I know this much, anything that gets close to my M.balfouri cages is in serious trouble!

 

[Bumblingbear]

I'm a little irritated that this thread got moved.

There was a 20 page hate fest in the discussion forum about a guy brownboxing spiders into the states (which I really don't care about and doesn't affect me)...

It didn't get moved - just closed.

But this conversation which is just as relevant to the hobbyist if not more so is moved.

WTF?

 

[Formerphobe]

I didn't notice that it got moved, but I'm not surprised. It does, IMO, fall under 'chat', not 'discussion', and is not too far from falling into the Watering Hole.

Definitions:
Tarantula Chat
This forum is for anything about tarantulas that is not "scientific" in nature.

Tarantula Questions & Discussions
This forum is for scientific questions and discussions pertaining to Tarantulas and discussing items with widespread repercussions to the hobby.

The Watering Hole
This is the forum for you to just chat about anything Off-Topic.

The other thread you mentioned covered possible widespread repercussions to the hobby. Your issue with your girlfriend and her cat is neither scientific nor does it affect the hobby in general.

 

[xhexdx]

Anyway...better edit the 'F' out of that, Bumblingbear, before you get infractified.

I used to have two cats in my house. After replacing about 700 square feet of carpet with tile and laminate flooring because one wouldn't stop pissing on the carpet, the cats went bye-bye.

Oddly enough, neither cat cared much about the spiders.

I'm glad you guys found a compromise. Don't worry, the cat will die before the spiders do.