Actually, my cat is mostly an indoor cat. I let her out when I'm at home and she usually stayed in the yard. She used to go across the street.
Keep them around by feeding them! Hehehe. Seriesly, I got my cat secondhand when she was 6 and she was an all-indoor cat so I didn't have any problem keeping her around. My sister keeps her adopted stray around by feeding him.
Guess you could always get one of those Littermaid things to scoop litter for you.
I suppose that cats have their favorite scratching surfaces. Mine never scratches wood, she likes clawing carpet and uses a carpeted scratching post or a little floor mat.
seems like all the cats I ever had as pets looked at me like I was crazy when I tried to train them on the scratching post. Does anyone know anything about rabbits as housepets????