Do cats get along with tortoises

[Candy]

I was just wondering since I do have 4 cats do they get along with tortoises? You see I've only taken Dale outside a couple of times (actually about 5 times) since we got him at Christmas and he's only 6 inches long so although my cats were interested in this little creature I wouldn't let them get too close because I wasn't sure. My 22 year old son laughed at me because he says that a tortoise has natural protection he has a shell, but I thought I would ask the experts for their advice. Candy

 

[Yvonne G]

This was just posted a couple days ago:

http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-6003.html?highlight=terrible+story

Yvonne

 

[Candy]

You know I saw that post the other day, but it seemed that I was not in the mood for something sad and do to the post subject I knew it was going to be so I didn't read it. Thank you for letting me know about it and I will defintely turn this information over to my 22 year old son. Dale's just too little to take any chances with. Candy

 

[Maggie Cummings]

BUT...then there's me and my 2 cats. Big Bubba can't be bothered about the tortoises as long as they don't eat his food and Lil Roxie loves to sleep with the babies under the basking lights. So in defense of cats, I think every cat is different and it all depends on how you introduce the torts to the cats...I think cats mostly don't care about torts.

 

[Jacqui]

I agree that normally cats get along rather well with the torts. A hatchling, in my mind isn't safe with anything. Didn't you say your tort was 6"? It should be pretty safe at that size. Cats do sometimes paw at a tort, especially when it moves. The claw could scratch and cause harm, but normally I don't see mine really using claws. Mine more do soft paw touches on them. They could easily flip a tort and unless it ended up in the water or under the lamps, that too probably won't do serious damage.

That being said, I cover all my inside enclosures. Not so much because of the cats hurting the torts, but because cats do sometimes think substrate is a nice place to go to the bathroom. Another worry I have is with the heat lamps. My cats loved it when they could sneak into the tort pens and get under those lights. They would sleep side by side with the basking torts, until they were caught doing it and removed. One day, I saw my long haired cat stretch up into the light. To the smell of burning hair, I grabbed the smoking cat out of harm's way. She never realized the danger she was in. Worse was the potential for her to start really burning, panicking and running through the house setting it on fire.

 

[Candy]

That is something to think about. I have two older cats and two younger ones. One is really mean and she loves to kill the fruit rats that come next door and across the back alley. In fact I just saved one from her a couple of months ago (I can't stand to see something tortured or trapped with no way out). Which makes me think of something just as important as the cats hurting Dale would be the fruit rats outside. That just came into my mind. I had asked before about using a dog run for his outside enclosure so that he's safe when he's outside, but I remember now reading a posting about a rat chewing on a torts leg and hurting him very badly here not to long ago. A rat could get to Dale easily if he was in a dog run. Maybe we should think twice about that. Any suggestions on this ongoing thread? Candy

 

[jmelyn20]

Here is my cat with my tortoise I think the cats age (16) may have much to do with why shes so gentle with whompas my little leopard. They just lay together and sometimes whomas will get cozy with my cat and she doesnt care.

 

[galvinkaos]

That is something to think about. I have two older cats and two younger ones. One is really mean and she loves to kill the fruit rats that come next door and across the back alley. In fact I just saved one from her a couple of months ago (I can't stand to see something tortured or trapped with no way out). Which makes me think of something just as important as the cats hurting Dale would be the fruit rats outside. That just came into my mind. I had asked before about using a dog run for his outside enclosure so that he's safe when he's outside, but I remember now reading a posting about a rat chewing on a torts leg and hurting him very badly here not to long ago. A rat could get to Dale easily if he was in a dog run. Maybe we should think twice about that. Any suggestions on this ongoing thread? Candy

Rats are nocturnal. If they are active during the day that means the population is high and they are having to hunt food during the day due to the competition for food at night. Keep any food and water sources in your yard picked up and your doors and access points closed they need the same things as other living things - food, shelter, water. Remove one side of the triangle and they will move on. Some areas have higher rodent populations than others. There was a news story about a year ago about the rats running the streets of Beverly Hills during the day and we see them at dusk running the power lines once in a while (and I don't live near BH). I have a really good mouser and I "saved" a baby rat she was tiring out before she killed it. I couldn't stand her torturing and terrifying the baby. The funny thing is I am in pest control, so we kill rats in homes and businesses all the time. I went to the neighbors tonight and got rid of a rat that she had trapped in her bathroom. She was terrified (the neighbor not the rat). Tomorrow in the daylight I am going to try to figure out how it got in. As far as housing outside, you would need to reduce the rodent population or have a secure enclosure (holes smaller than a dime) to feel safe.

Dawna

sorry I was long winded

---

Hey Candy, I forgot you live near me. Other issues with a chainlink run is raccoons and oppossums (sp?). Both live around here and can squeeze through chainlink.

 

[Yvonne G]

Here is my cat with my tortoise I think the cats age (16) may have much to do with why shes so gentle with whompas my little leopard.

Hi Jmelyn20: I don't remember if I welcomed you to the Forum...so: "Welcome to the forum!!!" I love your little leopard tortoise. He's very pretty (and smooth). Cat's not bad either!

Yvonne

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I made an exercising area by my computer so I could watch my babies while I was on the computer and I felt it was good for them to get out of their habitats when stuck inside. Lil Roxie is a kitty that was being carried off to be euthanized because her former owner didn't want to pay for medical treatment. I wasn't looking for a cat but she was too pretty to be put to death, and she wasn't even a year old. She LOVES baby tortoises. If one gets tipped upside down she has a fit and would come running and meowing (well, squeaking actually)...when I was involved in rescue if a turtle escaped from a temporary container she always found it. There's nothing she likes better than to bask with the babies...I wish I had a better shot of her because is is too pretty...

 

[Jacqui]

What a wonderful story Maggie. Looks like she has certainly repaid you many times over for giving her a chance. Sounds like she is a rescue who now does rescue work herself.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

What a wonderful story Maggie. Looks like she has certainly repaid you many times over for giving her a chance. Sounds like she is a rescue who now does rescue work herself.

In Fresno the SPCA was always wanting old newspapers to line their cages. I read the paper everyday and then just throw it out, so I started saving them instead, then when I had enough I would take them to the SPCA, so that's all I was doing there, taking newspapers. While I was standing by the door one of the workers walked by carrying this pretty little kittie. I made some comment about her being so pretty and that's when the guy told me he was carrying her to the back room to be euthanized...right then! He says she was about 3 minutes from being injected, that he had already filled the syringe!!! I was stunned that such a young pretty kittie would be killed. I didn't want another cat. Big Bubba doesn't like other cats...
She was just awful at first and it soon became obvious that she had been badly abused. It's now about 6 years since then. I took her in my semi-truck while I was working and she has just always been afraid of everything and she actually screams if you try to touch her around her back legs. Like I said it's been about 6 years and I still can't hold her. If I don't try to hold her or touch her in some places, she is a pretty nutty space cadet, she is sweet and loves to have her belly rubbed...I just have to be careful where I touch or pet her...I named her Lil Roxie after a blonde spacey character on one of my soaps...oh! I didn't mean to talk so much...I'm sorry, but I got talking about her and just went on...

 

[Crazy1]

Maggie that is perfectly fine. I loved Lil Roxie's story. Thanks for sharing it with us.

 

[Candy]

Great story Maggie thanks for telling it. You sound like on special person for the animal world (and the humane one as well). Thanks for caring so much and for the pictures that you guys sent they're wonderful thanks for sharing. Candy

 

[Jacqui]

Hey I love it when somebody runs on. Usually that's when you learn little special things about a person that makes for a more complete picture of them. Roxie sounds a bit like my Starr cat. She too was adopted from a rescue. We have had her for over ten years and she still doesn't allow us to pick her up. Petting is very welcomed (and expected) by her, but start to pick her up and she goes ballistic.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Great story Maggie thanks for telling it. You sound like on special person for the animal world (and the humane one as well). Thanks for caring so much and for the pictures that you guys sent they're wonderful thanks for sharing. Candy

Thanks for saying that...but it really isn't true. I didn't adopt Roxie out of being kind-hearted...I just thought it was wrong to kill that pretty kitty. Especially after finding out that she wasn't even a year old...and it just makes me wonder what the heck could anyone have done to her that the imprint of that abuse has lasted for 6 years??? She's laying right next to my chair now sleeping under the basking light...here's the very best kitty picture ever taken. It wasn't posed...she was staring at me trying to make me get off the computer and give her a treat...so I snatched up the camera and to this day I don't think I've ever seen such a pretty un-posed kitty picture...

 

[Crazy1]

Maggie she is G-o-r-g-e-o-u-s ! Great pic.

 

[Yvonne G]

In case you all didn't recognize it, Roxie is sitting in the Dale Earnhardt Memorial Worship Room!!!

Yvonne

 

[Candy]

My son would love that room. I was reading your post about how she doesn't like to be touched thinking that she had been abused and it made me want to tell you about my two sister cats that I rescued from Target 5 years ago. I was in line at Target (garden section) and one of the employees brought in a box and said to another employee " You won't believe what I found in the trash can outside and there inside the box were 5 little kittens not 3 days old. Now I live in California and this was in August and the weather on that day was 103 degrees. I couldn't believe someone would do that. Well long story short I took two of the kittens and another lady took two and another lady took one (that ended going to Germany with her son). I didn't think that they would make it but they did. I couldn't get rid of them because they're grey tabbies and nobody wanted them. So one is now my son's (Alexander). She is the sweetest thing possible. The other kitten nobody would claim because she turned out to be the meanest, weirdest cat possible. I mean she will only let you touch her a little and then she'll scratch or hiss at you for no reason at all. I raised them both the same with a lot of hugs and kisses and she still turned out that way. Both of them don't like strangers although I thought I had raised them around a lot of people. So you never know. If you were to find my cat you would think she probably was somehow abused too. Candy

 

[Maggie Cummings]

It's just amazing to me how people don't realize that these are living thinking feeling beings with intellect. It's so easy to drop them off someplace where they can be cared for safely...SPCA or rescues or the fire dept...grr!!!