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[Zaffre]

I'm not sure what I should do with it. I've heard about cats being undesirable but I'm not exactly sure why. Do I keep it in the pasture with my horses or do I let it die?

I just started playing today and this is my first fort. I've read a little bit on the wiki and I think I got lucky; I settled in a cliff face and nothing hostile has come my way. I've heard about cat populations exploding but I don't know what it means for my fort.

[Clover Magic]

Cats are really only undesirable if you get a large population and a dwarf that likes cats.  The cats will adopt the dwarf and thus cannot be butchered, leading to more and more cats.  As they roam freely if they are not caged or pastured, following their master or hunting vermin or just inspecting new rooms, this will eventually kill your FPS unless you murder all the cats - however, since they are pets, this leads to a very unhappy dwarf and a possible tantrum spiral.

If you just have a single kitten, you actually have a resource, however.  Cats, even as pets, can be pastured, so simply pasture it over your food stockpiles.  The cat will not leave the pasture, and will hunt any vermin inside, thus eliminating your vermin without a curious cat pathing everywhere and possibly getting stuck in your magma pipes.

[nbp]

There are two potential downsides to cats.  One is that from time to time, cats will choose to adopt a dwarf, after which if the cat is killed, the dwarf will become upset.  If your dwarves are already near the brink, mentally speaking, this can push them over the edge into a tantrum, potentially setting off a tantrum spiral.  The second potential downside to cats is that they can breed up to large numbers, and may eventually reduce the performance of your game as a result of the extra cat-related simulations that the game needs to perform.

Cats also have productive uses.  They hunt vermin.  They roam around, potentially acting as good decoys for goblin ambushers while your woodcutter, woodhaulers, hunters, and miscellaneous other outdoorsy dwarves scramble for safety.  You can use them as lookouts and the like, imprisoning them into glass towers on the surface.  You can chain them up a bait, to lure goblins into nefarious traps.  And, if you find yourself in dire straights, running out of food, you can always butcher and eat some of them.

Overall, I think they're worth having around.  That said, you don't need to do any work to cultivate a cat population.  Just ignore them until you have a specific need for one.  They'll take care of themselves.

[Mimidormi]

Welcome to the forum From the description, you are most likely safe. Cat populations exploding are only a trouble for your FPS when there's someone that loves cats among your dwarves, and gets 'adopted' by a breeding couple of them, thus making them pets, unfit for slaughter, which end up birthing kittens that in turn will adopt that (or another) cat-lover, and so on; hence why so many players opt to butcher them as soon as possible. If they belong to someone they can still be killed through normal means, just not butchered.

[misko27]

Yes, cats aren't inherently dangerous, there just cats. In nuumbers they are annoying, but not terribly so. The only problem is the same you have in RL, except without the FPS drop, and the fact they do not require nourishment. Just keep it reasonable, and you'll be fine. Hell, they are a necesity for early forts, hunt the vermins.

[Scow2]

...Can you sell cats?

[Zaffre]

Thanks for the help. I've kept the cat in the pasture and he isn't causing a lot of harm. Thanks again.

[GhostDwemer]

Kittens aren't for pastures. Kittens are for dropping from a great height into your dining room, so they explode into kitten goo, to emotionally toughen up your dwarves, so they won't care so much when a goblin murders their whole family.

No, I am not kidding. Welcome to Dwarf Fortress.

[JimboM12]

Kittens aren't for pastures. Kittens are for dropping from a great height into your dining room, so they explode into kitten goo, to emotionally toughen up your dwarves, so they won't care so much when a goblin murders their whole family.

No, I am not kidding. Welcome to Dwarf Fortress.

lol, This. Bay12 logic at its finest.
Other then the mer-person farm and other horrible machinations in the name of !!science!!.

[hops]

Don't worry about cats, just cage the females up if things get out of hand.

[misko27]

Don't worry about cats, just cage the females up if things get out of hand.

On ther other hand...

Kill them. Kill them all Urist.

[GoombaGeek]

I like cats. They're expendable common animals that don't graze. If you have sand and magma (or trees -> charcoal/lignite/coal), you can make glass blocks. If you build lookout towers with glass windows everywhere around your map filled with a breeding pair of cats (and sealed shut), you have self-sufficient lookout towers that will detect pretty much every kobold or goblin babysnatcher before they get a chance to steal a stack of +steel bolts+ or Urist McBaby, respectively (they'll turn and flee).

[hops]

Don't worry about cats, just cage the females up if things get out of hand.

On ther other hand...

Kill them. Kill them all Urist.

My strategy is to kill all the kittens while leaving pets intact. That way I get food and the dwarves don't get upset.

[Mr Space Cat]

I prefer caging all kittens except for the 2 male cats I embarked with and the 2 female breeding cats I have chained up.  the cage is set up pretty close to a butcher's shop, so when kittens "come of age" then they'll be harvested for meat and leather quickly before they could be adopted.

two lone cats wondering the fort are usually enough to dissuade vermin, and if one dies from a siege or something I can just set one of the many cats stored in the quantum cage to take its place.

[Gentlefish]

Oh my god I just thought of the strangest megaproject ever.

It's a giant grid 1 z-level above the flat ground. Basically runways for the cats. It covers enough space so as the cats multiply and path, they will cover the entire map with vision, revealling ambushes and sneaks and necromancers.