Reggie and the cat

Littlestmeagan

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Hi! My name is Meagan. I recently moved in with my partner and we now share a ~5 year old Hermann’s tortoise. His name is Colonel Reginald, Reggie for short. I have a 3 year old kitty, Berlioz, that loves him and being in his enclosure. She doesn’t attack him, or bother him at all but we are constantly chasing her out. We haven’t had the opportunity to buy new materials to adjust his enclosure to keep her out, which we will but I was wondering if anyone can tell me if her going to lay with him will make him sick or cause harm/health issues? He doesn’t seem to mind. I’ve found him laying next to her both asleep twice now but I worry her fur might cause respiratory issues? She doesn’t use the enclosure for a litter box she seems to only want to lay in the warmth and with him. Looking for advice for a first time tortoise owner. Thank you! ?
 

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ZEROPILOT

REDFOOT WRANGLER
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Tortoises can and do enjoy eating cat poop.
Things like heartworm medications can be fatal for your tortoise.
Cats also tend to knock over heat lamps and can cause a potential for a fire.
Otherwise, cats aren't usually much more than a nuisance for the tortoise.
On a side note, It's common for me to see feral cats sleeping inside my outdoors heated houses no matter what I've done to stop it.
But they've never harmed my tortoises.
 

Jan A

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Hi! My name is Meagan. I recently moved in with my partner and we now share a ~5 year old Hermann’s tortoise. His name is Colonel Reginald, Reggie for short. I have a 3 year old kitty, Berlioz, that loves him and being in his enclosure. She doesn’t attack him, or bother him at all but we are constantly chasing her out. We haven’t had the opportunity to buy new materials to adjust his enclosure to keep her out, which we will but I was wondering if anyone can tell me if her going to lay with him will make him sick or cause harm/health issues? He doesn’t seem to mind. I’ve found him laying next to her both asleep twice now but I worry her fur might cause respiratory issues? She doesn’t use the enclosure for a litter box she seems to only want to lay in the warmth and with him. Looking for advice for a first time tortoise owner. Thank you! ?
IMHAO, cats are curious. Eventually they will playfully or otherwise try to treat your tort like a play toy. The only question is will they do it with claws in or claws out, move it a couple of inches or lift it into the air 2 feet for a 6' drop off a table. If you've never seen a cat play with a LIVE mouse, I can understand why you're asking this question. It isn't pretty. But that's just my experience with 4 different cats.

Welcome to the forum, BTW. Cute tort!!
 

Maggie3fan

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IMHAO, cats are curious. Eventually they will playfully or otherwise try to treat your tort like a play toy. The only question is will they do it with claws in or claws out, move it a couple of inches or lift it into the air 2 feet for a 6' drop off a table. If you've never seen a cat play with a LIVE mouse, I can understand why you're asking this question. It isn't pretty. But that's just my experience with 4 different cats.

Welcome to the forum, BTW. Cute tort!!
So I'd be beating some cats up that's for sure! I have always had cats and torts, not quite 20 years for the torts. My cats are not allowed to look, play or harass my other animals, or my 17 birds. I had a very old Calico kitty named Lil Roxie. She had long beautiful hair and loved to lay under a basking light, but if the tort or turtle would start moving around Lil Roxie would move to another habitat. She was only 4 pounds so little and absolutely would not mind like every other cat, and she wanted to bask under a light. So I moved stuff around so Lil Roxie had her own reptile basking box. Nope, she wanted to be where I didn't want her to be...lol

oh...welcome!
 

queen koopa

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Hi! My name is Meagan. I recently moved in with my partner and we now share a ~5 year old Hermann’s tortoise. His name is Colonel Reginald, Reggie for short. I have a 3 year old kitty, Berlioz, that loves him and being in his enclosure. She doesn’t attack him, or bother him at all but we are constantly chasing her out. We haven’t had the opportunity to buy new materials to adjust his enclosure to keep her out, which we will but I was wondering if anyone can tell me if her going to lay with him will make him sick or cause harm/health issues? He doesn’t seem to mind. I’ve found him laying next to her both asleep twice now but I worry her fur might cause respiratory issues? She doesn’t use the enclosure for a litter box she seems to only want to lay in the warmth and with him. Looking for advice for a first time tortoise owner. Thank you! ?
Keep the cat out. Sadly tortoise do no want or need friends, especially mammals. The cat is an intruder in the tortoise mind.
 

Citra

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My Russian George chases my cat Shiva everywhere. He is obsessed with her. The minute we brought Shiva home, George was in love. He also loves to play with her toys. Shiva has these jingle bell fuzzy balls and George will chase them, almost leaping at them to get them to roll. It's the craziest thing. Life with a tortoise never gets old....
 

ZEROPILOT

REDFOOT WRANGLER
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Tortoises can and do enjoy eating cat poop.
Things like heartworm medications can be fatal for your tortoise.
Cats also tend to knock over heat lamps and can cause a potential for a fire.
Otherwise, cats aren't usually much more than a nuisance for the tortoise.
On a side note, It's common for me to see feral cats sleeping inside my outdoors heated houses no matter what I've done to stop it.
But they've never harmed my tortoises.
I have at least one Redfoot that has eaten large rats and birds killed by feral cats and I honestly wouldn't be too shocked if she chomped on a slow moving cat as well
 

Jan A

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I have at least one Redfoot that has eaten large rats and birds killed by feral cats and I honestly wouldn't be too shocked if she chomped on a slow moving cat as well
Cats, even fat cats, still have more weapons than any tort. Do you think your red foot(s) killed the bird or rat or just came across dying/dead meat?
 

queen koopa

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My Russian George chases my cat Shiva everywhere. He is obsessed with her. The minute we brought Shiva home, George was in love. He also loves to play with her toys. Shiva has these jingle bell fuzzy balls and George will chase them, almost leaping at them to get them to roll. It's the craziest thing. Life with a tortoise never gets old....
?? thats the opposite, it hates the cat. Still funny though
 

wellington

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As was already told to Citra on their own thread. Keep the cat away from the tortoise and for sure out of its home before you all become a statistic for the fire department.
 

Tom

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Hi! My name is Meagan. I recently moved in with my partner and we now share a ~5 year old Hermann’s tortoise. His name is Colonel Reginald, Reggie for short. I have a 3 year old kitty, Berlioz, that loves him and being in his enclosure. She doesn’t attack him, or bother him at all but we are constantly chasing her out. We haven’t had the opportunity to buy new materials to adjust his enclosure to keep her out, which we will but I was wondering if anyone can tell me if her going to lay with him will make him sick or cause harm/health issues? He doesn’t seem to mind. I’ve found him laying next to her both asleep twice now but I worry her fur might cause respiratory issues? She doesn’t use the enclosure for a litter box she seems to only want to lay in the warmth and with him. Looking for advice for a first time tortoise owner. Thank you! ?
You need a large closed chamber. This will make it much easier and more efficient to heat and keep humidity where you want it. It will keep the cat out and also use a fraction of the electricity.

Here is more info. Looks like you need a much bigger enclosure and some different substrate:
 

ZEROPILOT

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Cats, even fat cats, still have more weapons than any tort. Do you think your red foot(s) killed the bird or rat or just came across dying/dead meat?
No.
I'm pretty sure that one of the many neighborhood cats carried them into the pen area.
Aside from the two rats that were caught in snap traps and then fell into the enclosure.
That female routinely tries to take a chunk out of me. I wouldn't put anything past her.
 

Maggie3fan

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No.
I'm pretty sure that one of the many neighborhood cats carried them into the pen area.
Aside from the two rats that were caught in snap traps and then fell into the enclosure.
That female routinely tries to take a chunk out of me. I wouldn't put anything past her.
I had a CDT, about 4-5 lbs. Mild mannered, an easy keeper, and I adore him. He likes blue-belly's. They like to bask on the warm cinder blocks, this tortoise would walk right up to them and bite as quick as a snake, and eat the lizards completely. He's a good hunter...lol
 
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