cause the chemicals in litter can cause pregnant woman illness and can spread to the unborn child(ren) and being a 1st-timer I didn't want to take any chances...my next cat has to be at least a yr old...that way he won't scratch the crap out of the kids and will have enuf sense to run and hide when they drive him/her crazy (and they will!!!)
melange: she's one part american shorthair, one part siamese, and one part abyssinian...
dangerouscurves: when you get another cat, a baby may be best, since you can raise her from the start... (that way, any bad habits are your fault, not her's) also, you can buy nail clippers for the cat... just make sure you only clip the clear portion of the nail, or you end up cutting the vein... cats don't like having their nails clipped, but as long as you don't hit the vein, and you do this from the time they're about 2 months old, they know you aren't going to hurt them... i also give mine a treat when i'm done (only have to do it about once every 2 weeks)
would i ever get her declawed? hell no... that's bordering on abuse. sure, you don't have to worry about something getting shredded, but you're also taking away one of the things that make up their personality... clipping my cats claws a millimeter or 2 every 2 weeks she's still able to use her claws, but without doing damage to skin or curtains...
thanks for the advice...i was thinking of getting something older about a year or two ....i had my last cat declawed 'cause he kept clawing up the furniture, but a friend of mine yelled at me...she felt the same way about that as you do...as for the fault thing, that's cool,it'll just be adding to the list of pets/people that i've turned into delinquents ok,now i'll stop rambling....
dangerouscurves: I remembered toxoplasmosis from the time (long ago) when my wife was pregnant. Actually, the problem is an organism that's usually found in the soil, or in meat or wild animals. Cats ingest the organism when feeding on wild animals or digging in the soil outside. The best solution is keeping the cat indoors and feeding it dry or canned cat food, not eating raw meat and washing your hands after handling raw meat. To be even more careful, some other adult should change the cat litter, and it should be changed every three days, because it takes the toxoplasma three days to become infections after being shed in cat feces.
ok,now i'll stop rambling....