The whole gang

[Lilbet]

In addition to the lovely Lavender, a dove female Syrian, I have five cats and four male betta fish. All rescues to a certain extent. Charisse and Olive came from the same foster situation. Charisse I got about two years ago and due to her treatment for mycoplasma, has ended up having to have all but one of her teeth removed. She's the grey and white and is the sweetest cat that makes everyone fall in love with her.

Olive (the tabby and white) I only recently adopted. The woman who was fostering them all had a series of strokes the past year and essentially lost all memory of the cats. Meaning, Olive has some work to go until she is back to her full glory-weight, skin, coat. She is tiny compared to the rest of my fatties. She is also semi-feral, but has decided I'm alright.

Kuro and Nera, their names are Japanese and Italian for black, are brother and sister. I got them as kittens from a pregnant stray my mom took in. Kuro is my little shadow and stalker, Nera is my gentle, quiet one who loves butt scratches. I have no problem telling them apart, but I usually tell new people that Kuro is the one with the mostly black nose and Nera is the one with the mostly pink nose.

Rio is the feisty calico I rescued at 6 weeks old. She was full of worms and the runt. She has pica and is very bossy, but we put up with her. She had a weird shaped head when I got her, but it seems to have grown out as she's gotten older. She is NOT named after the parrot! lol I get that all the time, but I definitely named her after the Duran Duran song.

Then there are the betta boys as I call them. Zulu is a blue copper double tail, with his own five gallon and heater; he would rather hang out with me than eat, which is saying a lot for a betta fish. Yankee is a marble double tail, with his own five gallon too; typical betta-loves his food, his hideouts, and sleeping in the plants. Victor is a gold plakat and shares a divided five gallon with Echo, a stunted (he's perpetual baby sized) cambodian halfmoon who I saved from severe fin rot. Echo gets depressed if he is too far from Victor. And that is the whole zoo

[Thin Lizzy]

You're cats are so adorable!
How do you manage cats, fish and a hamster?
It must get crazy sometimes lol!

[Lilbet]

Thank you! Ha ha, yeah they can be a handful. My family and friends say that if they could come back as an animal, they would want to be one of my pets. I grew up with cats, so I have a natural affinity to them. lol One of my former roommates called me the cat whisperer because I would pick up and cuddle random cats we came across on the street. The cats get a high protein diet, Acana dry and Wellness canned, but I'm looking into a raw diet for them. I also make knitted cat toys that I sell via a local pet store. So, yeah, I'm a crazy cat lady And I rant and rave about how poorly betta fish are treated in general. The cats mostly ignore the fish and are either curious about the hamster or terrified of her (when she's in her ball).

[Thin Lizzy]

Sounds like you're purrfectly organised meow!

[Lilbet]

Oh, and if anyone has any questions on betta fish and their care, I would be happy to help! They are a lot like syrians in my opinion. Little characters with lots of personality and very territorial. Here's Echo when I first got him, half dead from fin rot and who knows what else, and now, still working on growing his fins back. He's my tiny dancer, flutters all over his tank. He also is a huge bubble nest maker, which is his way of saying he's happy.

[BrainGirl]

Ha, you sound like me! Only instead of 5 cats I have 5 chinchillas Plus 4 bettas (3 male, 1 female), 2 hamsters, and 1 cat. I think she'd leave home if I brought another cat in the house. As it is she's terrified of my rodents. I totally agree with your assessment of betta personalities And wow at those pictures of Echo! What a difference you've made in his life. Lucky boy

[Lilbet]

Thanks, I saw him in the store and I knew if I left him he would be dead by that night. I got him home, put him in a 1 gallon hospital tank with a heater, and added some salt and antibiotics to his water. I thought he was going to die for a couple of days, since his fin rot looked worse and really sore. But, he pulled through and he is such a funny little thing.

I think my first cat would have been happy if I had stopped at number two and three. lol But, they do well with each other. The calico causes the most upsets, which is typical. Mine are a little afraid of the hamster as well, but only when she is tearing around the apartment in her ball. I've heard chinchillas are even more aloof than cats, is that true?

[BrainGirl]

Originally Posted by Lilbet

I've heard chinchillas are even more aloof than cats, is that true?

That seemingly simple question requires a very complex answer

It's true that they aren't usually as willing to cuddle as other pets, or at least less willing to be held, but since they have the densest fur in the animal kingdom they probably just don't want to overheat. What others would call "aloof" though I would say is just down to independence. Think of them as being like toddlers at the age at which they no longer want to be carried around by mommy but want to run and explore everything they probably shouldn't

I can't compare them to cats at all, especially not my cat. She is very much an "in the moment" kitty and responds to her internal desires without knowing how to ask for them to be satiated. She feels hungry, she screams at us because we're the ones who have always "fixed" that problem. She doesn't go to her food bowl to give us the clue, she just follows us around screaming. She needs to use the toilet but can't for some reason, she follows us around and screams at us. She doesn't like her water, she...well, you get the idea. Heck, if it's raining outside she screams at us!

She also doesn't hold grudges. Chinchillas do. I have never had a dirty look from my cat. She screams when she needs something, but stops as soon as we've figured out what is wrong in her (very small) world. Displease a chinchilla though and prepare to be raked over the coals of their displeasure...for eternity

[Lilbet]

They sound like awesome personalities, lol. I've seen them in the pet store and they just look sad there, much like the ferrets. I'm thinking probably not enough room to run around which means their minds probably don't get any exercise either. Are they rodents or some other classification? They are cute, but I think people tend to underestimate them because of that.

I've had cats that held grudges too. It depends on the intelligence level I've found. I've had ones like yours that are all about the here and now and I hope it doesn't offend you, but my family usually called these ones the dumb ones. Some of our best cats were the dumb ones though.

Then I've had cats, most notably a mean calico growing up, that remembered every little slight. She was smart to the point of conniving and she bit, a lot. We had to warn visitors to be nice to her, because she would wait until they weren't paying attention and attack. We once had people over for a get-together and one girl was teasing her constantly. Eventually we all settled down in the living room and Lisa, the devil cat came and sat next to me. The girl sat across the room and continued to comment on how mean Lisa was. Lisa just sat there, staring at her, until I told her, "You don't have to put up with that. Go on over and bite her." As a joke, but she did it! We were all in shock. She strolled over to the girl, gave her a good bite, and ran from the room.

[BrainGirl]

Exactly right, they are underestimated. I would say that most pets are underestimated as evidenced by the teeny hamster cages and miniscule betta bowls pet shops sell. Chinchillas I would say are a special case though. They need their minds kept busy or they become listless and depressed. They need change and adventure and excitement!

There are a couple of chinchillas in one of my local pet stores that have been there for months. They're kept in just about the most boring cage I have ever seen and after this much time they probably won't make good pets, especially since the person most likely to buy them will be a first-timer. They're not going to know how to deal with the issues caused by zero handling and boredom and they're going to dump them in a shelter or even outside to fend for themselves and that's just beyond sad. I've been through it with a few rescues and it can take a good couple of years to reach them and in the worst cases I have needed unlimited patience and bandages. They've all come around though and even my worst is getting better. Still neurotic but getting there...

The other problem is that people will pay about $200 for pet shop chinchillas which come from unknown sources when they could buy a pedigreed chin with a health guarantee for half that from a reputable breeder. It might sound odd coming from me but I really have a problem with chinchillas being kept as pets. I love them but they're just too smart

They are in the Order Rodentia but separated from most of the other species by millions of years.

I've met smart cats too and always wanted a Siamese for that reason, but I really do love mine. She's sweet and loves to be close to her people. So what if she can't do complex math equations? On the other hand, she has some good sense. She used to go for walks with us around the block when we lived in town. She wouldn't walk on a leash but she would follow us at a discreet distance on quiet nights. I was terrified that she would cross the road and get run over if a car turned suddenly onto the street but she could hear them coming. Any sign of a car and she would refuse to move until it was far away.

I LOL'd at your calico story. That must have been a shock! And funny. I would have loved to have seen that. I bet the visitor never underestimated a cat again