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I have one cat, and will be fostering (and possibly adopting if everyone gets along) another two soon. I've been feeding Yori the Wellness Core kibble and Blue Wilderness wet food for the last two years and she seems to love it and hasn't become a big fat lump (I wish I had her restraint and discipline in regards to eating an exercise.) I read something recently about some controversy about the Blue Buffalo brands being not what is advertised. Is it just a slap fight between food brands, or is Blue Buffalo genuinely not great at the Meow Mix level? And if the Blue Buffalo food isn't great, what is a better brand for wet food (particularly one that has salmon flavor as that is apparently the bomb?)
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Jan 13, 2016 05:38
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Section 9 posted:I have one cat, and will be fostering (and possibly adopting if everyone gets along) another two soon. I've been feeding Yori the Wellness Core kibble and Blue Wilderness wet food for the last two years and she seems to love it and hasn't become a big fat lump (I wish I had her restraint and discipline in regards to eating an exercise.) I read something recently about some controversy about the Blue Buffalo brands being not what is advertised. Is it just a slap fight between food brands, or is Blue Buffalo genuinely not great at the Meow Mix level? And if the Blue Buffalo food isn't great, what is a better brand for wet food (particularly one that has salmon flavor as that is apparently the bomb?) It's all a slap fight. There are far fewer actual differences between cat foods than advertisers would like you to think. Buy whatever your cat likes.
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Jan 13, 2016 06:18
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So this feral cat mom and her kittens were hanging around my place for months since my roommate was feeding them every day. Not a great idea imo, but what's done is done. I'd hang out with them occasionally and play with some cat toys, so I grew slightly attached. Unfortunately over time, the kittens started disappearing one-by-one, almost certainly eaten by the high coyote population around here. Eventually there was only one left, and between the coyote situation + his inability to hunt food for himself due to the feeding, I figured there was no way he'd survive. Ended up catching him about a month ago. He adjusted pretty quickly for the most part. Within ~5 days he was very comfortable. He sleeps on my bed with me, has no problem walking across my lap or touching me in general, eats out of my hand, wants to hang out as close as possible most of the time, and will run towards me when something scares him. Unfortunately he freaks out and hisses/scratches if he even catches a hint that you're about to touch him. You can tap his back, pull away, and he'll go so far as to run towards you in order to smack you in retaliation. I can put my fingers within an inch of him no problem, but any further than that and he figures out what's going on. Time to add some brand new bloody clawmarks to the collection that my hands have accumulated. He has a weird, similar relationship with my other cat. The kitten feels fairly comfortable around him and will even fall asleep a foot or two away from my adult cat. He's constantly rolling around cooing when they're around each other, trying to entice the adult cat to play. He meows to get his attention, and desperately wants to be around him. But as soon as they're within about 6 inches of each other, the kitten goes berserk and starts hissing and scratching violently. This even happens when the kitten is the one approaching my cat, which is 95% of the time since my cat has the patience and understanding of a saint and doesn't make any aggressive moves towards him at all, no matter what. Similarly, I don't ever do anything aggressive, even when he's tearing me to pieces. Just kinda back away. I'm not really sure what to do about it. I wanted to tame this kitten and find a home for him since he was hosed otherwise, but I can't give someone an animal that rips people apart if they make physical contact. It's super frustrating because he's pretty cool with humans aside from that, but I feel like I'm stalling out with him and not making progress anymore. And honestly, it's easy to get resentful towards the little dude when he pulls this stuff. Is it worth noting that momcat didn't seem to ever touch her kittens? We never once noticed her grooming or carrying them, even when they were younger. Maybe that's why he's so uncomfortable with it. What a bad cat mom.
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Jan 13, 2016 09:07
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How long has it been? It will take some time for a relatively feral cat to be properly socialized. Keep playing with him using interactive toys, make sure you never use your hands. If he has a 6 inch bubble let him have a 6 inch bubble, just keep up with the positive interaction and eventually he'll come around. EDIT: Just dropped one of our cats off at the vet for teeth cleaning. That look he gave me when I left. I'm a monster. Edit2: Just heard from the vet, I'm going to pick our cat up in a little bit, but they said it looks like he has Stomatitis and early stage Kidney Disease. We originally thought he was only 3 or so but they're thinking he's closer to 6. I plan on getting as much information from the vet as I can when I go in but I'm freaking out. The lady was pretty casual about it just saying we'd put him on a new diet but as far as I can tell kidney disease is just something that will eventually get worse and kill him. Any of you guys familiar with either of these? Even if we take the appropriate measures is it something that's going to significantly reduce his lifespan? Edit3: Talked to the vet, only his creatine level was elevated (2.4) and they're thinking it might be due to the high protein diet he's on. Any recommendations for a food designed to help improve kidney function? Reik fucked around with this message at 23:58 on Jan 14, 2016 |
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Jan 13, 2016 17:51
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Sorry for the frantic post, but my wife and I had our cat in for teeth cleaning and 2 tooth extraction. It's been like 30 hours and she's doesn't seemed drugged anymore but is having trouble walking. Almost like her back hips are bothering her? She responds really well to pets and was even playing while laying down and could push her back legs petty well against my hand. But she basically won't walk at all. Anyone have any ideas?
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Jan 15, 2016 06:58
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Both of you call your vets. 
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Jan 15, 2016 07:02
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SynthOrange posted:Both of you call your vets. I spoke with our vet today, about 10 hours ago. She said keep an eye on it and let her know if it persists or gets worse. It's midnight now and has persisted but not gotten worse. I'm just concerned about it and can't exactly call my vet at this hour. Of course I Googled it and all I see are links to certain anesthesia drugs and them causing neurological disorders that can leave cats crippled.
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Jan 15, 2016 07:09
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We spoke to our vet and they seem to think it may be a byproduct of the pain meds we are giving her (buprenorphine). Seems like this is pretty strong stuff, but she does not seem loopy otherwise. The vet recommended we stop giving her the pain meds and go from there.
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Jan 15, 2016 17:34
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It's been a few months since my last kitten, Bao Bao (who inspired the "Poop on her poop to show her who's really the boss" quote) passed away from an allergic reaction to anesthetic during her spaying, and I decided I was ready to adopt another cat. My family fell in love with an eight week-old kitten. I felt a little guilty about picking him up since he was so young, but I gave in to social pressure. He's sleepy here, but he's extremely playful and likes to bite at my hands. How do I get him to quit that? I know an older cat who likes to bite at hands when playing, and I don't want Boba Tea to grow up to be like him. Second question: He's super young. Like, 9 weeks old. Before adopting him, I was strongly leaning towards a three year old lady cat who had recently weaned a litter, who's been described as extremely affectionate and mellow. I think that Boba would be much happier and well-adjusted if he had another cat around to serve as a mother figure. Am I off here? I've done a lot of reading, but I'm not going to pretend any of that serves as a substitute for practical cat experience. I know I'm supposed to introduce them gradually through closed doors over a week or so, then give them daily supervised time together for another week, but I'm hoping that a kitten with no mom and a recent mom without her kittens will be able to bond smoothly.
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Jan 15, 2016 17:54
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demota posted:He's sleepy here, but he's extremely playful and likes to bite at my hands. How do I get him to quit that? I know an older cat who likes to bite at hands when playing, and I don't want Boba Tea to grow up to be like him. Channel the biting into other toys, like a mouse on a stick, or something appropriate for him to bite that isn't your hands and can be played with out of bite distance.
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Jan 15, 2016 18:05
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demota posted:It's been a few months since my last kitten, Bao Bao (who inspired the "Poop on her poop to show her who's really the boss" quote) passed away from an allergic reaction to anesthetic during her spaying, and I decided I was ready to adopt another cat. My family fell in love with an eight week-old kitten. I felt a little guilty about picking him up since he was so young, but I gave in to social pressure. Seconding Iron Crowned, get him interactive toys like Da Bird or the Go Cat Cat Catcher and have him channel his play in to those. When he does bite your hand pretend like it hurts, pull it away and make a pathetic cat whimper sound. A second cat would be incredibly helpful with socialization. When it comes to the introduction I'd feel it out before going the standard two adult cat route, it's very possible she'll just go in to full mom mode and treat him like one of her own kittens with no introduction required.
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Jan 15, 2016 18:12
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Reik posted:Seconding Iron Crowned, get him interactive toys like Da Bird or the Go Cat Cat Catcher and have him channel his play in to those. When he does bite your hand pretend like it hurts, pull it away and make a pathetic cat whimper sound. A second cat would be incredibly helpful with socialization. When it comes to the introduction I'd feel it out before going the standard two adult cat route, it's very possible she'll just go in to full mom mode and treat him like one of her own kittens with no introduction required. Oh, that's a good idea. I picked up Da Bird for Bao Bao, but it's just kind of been sitting around since I figured it was too big for him. Considering how hyper he's being, maybe he's old enough to play with it. Fun fact: He used to wake me up by using his tongue to sand off my eyelids, but he seems to have quit that.
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Jan 15, 2016 18:17
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SynthOrange posted:Both of you call your vets. Yeah, talked to the vet. Creatinine is higher than normal, but it could be his diet not necessarily early signs of kidney disease. We feed our cats Innova Evo dry formula and it has a lot of protein so we're gonna switch them all to wet food and get him on some lower protein, low phosphate, low sodium food. Does anyone have any experience with the Castor & Pollux Organix line? Their Turkey & Spinach seems to have a lot of the traits for kidney-friendly food. demota posted:Oh, that's a good idea. I picked up Da Bird for Bao Bao, but it's just kind of been sitting around since I figured it was too big for him. Considering how hyper he's being, maybe he's old enough to play with it. If he isn't that interested in da bird, try a mouse lure instead. Our older male Rodney goes nuts for mouse toys but doesn't care too much for birds.
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Jan 15, 2016 18:17
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 And one more for the road. He likes hunting, so I figured maybe he'd be into Bloodborne, but he doesn't really have the parry timing down yet.
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Jan 15, 2016 18:21
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Is it normal that my cat hasnt ever really drank much water? He's nearly four years old, indoor and has dry food and water available with a small amount of wet food through the day. Am I just being silly because he's always been like this and isnt a new thing?
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Jan 16, 2016 12:39
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Cats biting: they're bitey shitheads til 1, so enjoy yelling and acting hurt when they do bite so they get the idea. Yeah most cats are bad about drinking water, getting water from their food. Water fountains supposedly help their drinking instinct.
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Jan 16, 2016 12:58
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SynthOrange posted:Cats biting: they're bitey shitheads til 1, so enjoy yelling and acting hurt when they do bite so they get the idea. Mine never got that memo.... they all are water babies  But they only drink water out of the sinks/faucets. All of them HATE the water fountains with a passions....I have never figured out why. Of course, my youngest, Finbarr, has decided that is too tame and would rather drink out of the shower while its running He is so weird.....
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Jan 17, 2016 05:27
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MisterGBH posted:Is it normal that my cat hasnt ever really drank much water? He's nearly four years old, indoor and has dry food and water available with a small amount of wet food through the day. Am I just being silly because he's always been like this and isnt a new thing? It's nothing to be worried about but it would probably be a good idea to try to encourage him to drink more. Male cats are really vulnerable to kidney stones and UTI-type things which are less likely to develop when they're more hydrated. Try putting water out away from his food area, if you aren't doing that already. I read that advice in this thread and I've since seen my cat drinking water a lot more often.
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Jan 17, 2016 05:35
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toe knee hand posted:Try putting water out away from his food area, if you aren't doing that already. I read that advice in this thread and I've since seen my cat drinking water a lot more often. I discovered this by accident, but boy does it ever work. Cats are weird!
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Jan 17, 2016 05:48
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Hi fellow cat My dear Maine Coon passed away six months ago and I'm starting to look for a new buddy. I recently went to see a sweet adult kitty who by all accounts will be happy being a single indoor cat (I live in an apartment in NYC with two roommates, and they're only allowing me one furball). Here's the catch: she has no teeth due to an infection she caught when she was living as a feral. Does anyone here have experience with toothless cats? Am I setting myself up for even more major health problems down the line? Some material I read says "they get strong gums don't worry about it and they'll eat wet food fine". Is that true?
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Jan 18, 2016 04:35
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TheSwingLord posted:Hi fellow cat Yeah, we had a cat who lost most of her teeth and she lived for years on canned food. She'd even gum some crunchies once in a while. Just get the paté type that doesn't have to be chewed, rather than the chunks in gravy style.
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Jan 18, 2016 04:57
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No teeth = no dental bills holy poo poo you hit the jackpot. You're going to be feeding that cat wet food the whole time though which may be a tiny bit costlier? Also antagonize that cat and report back on how it feels to be gummed by a cat.
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Jan 18, 2016 04:59
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Right now she's a slip of a thing, so she wouldn't eat much. Of course, after I turn her into a big beefy girl... Bonus picture because why not  she's in a foster situation with two other cats and a dog and that's why she's grumpy
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Jan 18, 2016 05:11
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Update on the two-cat situation. The lady cat is acclimating to her new room, but she was definitely afraid for a while. The boy kitten managed to slip into the room and the lady cat hissed at him when he got close. This is on the first day. How screwed am I if this is their first impression?
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Jan 18, 2016 06:17
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Does anyone else's cat pee on their own tail? My old lady cat (~14-16 years old) has peed on her tail twice in the past two months. It's a pretty nasty surprise... Is this just a weird quirk? Should I be especially concerned about this?
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Jan 18, 2016 06:17
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demota posted:Update on the two-cat situation. dopaMEAN posted:Does anyone else's cat pee on their own tail? My old lady cat (~14-16 years old) has peed on her tail twice in the past two months.
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Jan 18, 2016 06:24
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SynthOrange posted:Should be fine. Expect more hisses in the future. Just keep most interactions at a distance at first but one or two slip ups isnt going to ruin everything. I've had her for about 13 years. She just walked back onto the bed with an even wetter tail. This time it definitely wasn't pee. I think she's trolling us. It was definitely pee last month, but since she just returned 5 minutes later with a wet tail again we think this time she's dunking it in the toilet or something. I like the balance theory. We treat her for arthritis and lately she's been more careful/hesitant about relatively easy jumps.
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Jan 18, 2016 06:40
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If her balance is off, it might be worth ruling out any ear issues as well since that can affect it.
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Jan 18, 2016 06:48
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I got my two new fosters on Wednesday and they are both awesome. They are super chill and were comfortable around me in a day or so. I'm really hoping things work out with introducing them to my resident cat in a week or two. My big concern is that they don't seem to be eating a lot. I wrote it off to nerves at first, but it has been a couple days and the two of them have finished off about 50% of what my other, much smaller, cat eats in 2 days, and they are both easily twice her size. They both seem happy when I am with them, and they have been eating some. The wet food goes quickly, but they don't seem very interested in the dry food. I don't know what they were used to eating before, so I guess it could be that they were primarily wet food eaters and don't recognize kibble as food? Should I try different flavors of kibble, plan on just feeding them wet food mostly, or is this sort of normal for young cats that have been recently moved and they will start eating the kibble when they get hungry?
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Jan 18, 2016 08:10
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Kittens eat buckets as they're growing, so if they'll be going through a poo poo-tonne of wet food if that's all they're eating. Personally I have found it easier with my own cats and with fosters to have them free feeding dry food and supplementing with wet. Try to find out what they were eating earlier, and bear in mind that a rapid change in diet can turn their guts to liquid. My cats were fussy shits that turned their nose up at any number of brands of food, so it could just be an aversion to the new food rather than dry food in general. You might have some success mixing the dry food with a little bit of wet food.
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Jan 18, 2016 10:47
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Any advice on getting rid of a box that has been claimed by a cat? I bought a cat tree last year, and my cat claimed the box nearly immediately, I kinda want to get rid of it, but she's camping out in it for a couple of hours almost every night.
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Jan 18, 2016 14:44
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Does anyone have the troubleshooting section of the manual on cats? So we normally lock the cats in the bedroom with us at night- keeps them from running amok in the house and waking us up with them knocking the pots out of the drying rack at 3am (NOT FUN!) Generally its not a big deal, pick up Isaac, pop him in the bedroom with a few treats, hes happy as Larry. Smudge is a bit more difficult, gotta go grab her and catch her most of the time, which isnt hard. Except today, holy hell I dont know what happened today? She was running around the whole house yowling at "SOMETHING" and I have NFI what it was, but it was loud enough to keep me awake and hadnt stopped for 30 mins. Went to grab her- 10 min chase around the house until i tackled her. Popped her into the bedroom, she took two running steps, shat on the carpet, twice, jumped onto the bed and shat on that before hiding in a kitty hutch? I have absolutely no idea- Isaacs been fine all evening, only thing thats gotten his attention was a moth he hunted for a few hours, but other than that, nada? Bloody cats.
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Jan 18, 2016 15:27
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Iron Crowned posted:Any advice on getting rid of a box that has been claimed by a cat? Just throw the box away? I'm not seeing what the problem is here. Or put it somewhere less in the way, although that probably guarantees the cat will never touch it again.
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Jan 18, 2016 15:28
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Insanity cat source found: heard a fox yowl outside the house- found fox poo poo out the back before but we've got the entire house wide open for the night breeze and a fox yowled close to the house and Isaac Lost. His. poo poo. That explains it... Gonna be a pain in the dick to trap a fox without resorting to the more agricultural methods we use on the farm!
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Jan 18, 2016 16:05
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demota posted:Update on the two-cat situation. Hisses are fine. Just let them feel each other out and try to do positive reinforcement when the other cat is around. Only feed them their nice food next to each other so they associate the food with the other cat, stuff like that.
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Jan 18, 2016 17:28
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Iron Crowned posted:Any advice on getting rid of a box that has been claimed by a cat? Grab box, turn box upside down so cat falls out.
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Jan 19, 2016 02:44
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I am thinking of getting a rescue cat in the near future - any advise on what to get/look for? Should I aim for a younger or older cat as a first timer?
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Jan 19, 2016 03:39
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Thunder Moose posted:I am thinking of getting a rescue cat in the near future - any advise on what to get/look for? Should I aim for a younger or older cat as a first timer? Like 2-8 years is good! Senior cats are wonderful but are more likely to develop health problems etc and won't be with you as long. Cats under 2 years old may still be in the rear end in a top hat kitten stage or may not have fully settled on a personality yet so you're not so sure what you're getting.
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Jan 19, 2016 03:43
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Thunder Moose posted:I am thinking of getting a rescue cat in the near future - any advise on what to get/look for? Should I aim for a younger or older cat as a first timer? Cats are pretty easy compared to most other pets and chances are you'll be completely fine whatever you choose, but easiest mode is to get a bonded pair of adult cats somewhere around 2-5 years old. That way they're well out of kitten energy but also young enough that you have a good chance of having them for quite a while before their health starts to go, and they can keep each other occupied and generally be cute together. One cat is a significantly more effort than no cats, but two cats is not much more effort than one cat. Adult cats don't get adopted as easily as kittens so you'll be doing a good thing, and you have a much better chance of being able to know their particular quirks in advance than with kittens. Of course, on the other hand, kittens are really loving cute.
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Jan 19, 2016 03:46
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Thunder Moose posted:I am thinking of getting a rescue cat in the near future - any advise on what to get/look for? Should I aim for a younger or older cat as a first timer? If you'd consider adopting more than one cat, look for paired cats (such as siblings). Cat pairs are even harder to adopt out than single adult cats, and these are pairs that are close enough to be inseparable, so they also sit in foster care or shelters for ages. As for cat maintenance issues... I don't really think there's much difference. The younger the cat the more likely they're going to want to play and need exercise, and the older the more likely they'll just want to cuddle and chill (or just chill by themselves), so in that respect a younger cat would be more demanding. Cats are pretty low maintenance really.
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Jan 19, 2016 03:46
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