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Enelrahc posted:Wow I sure did spell kitties wrong. Yeah, those are a little ridiculous in regards to price. I could probably swing one of the $400 ones but I'm not paying that much money for something my cats are going to tear up and sleep on. That's what my couch is for  I'm sure I'll just end up getting one of the armakat ones since the ones that petsmart carry are stupid expensive as well.
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| # ? Jan 18, 2012 02:37 |
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| # ? May 19, 2013 20:34 |
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fknlo posted:Yeah, those are a little ridiculous in regards to price. I could probably swing one of the $400 ones but I'm not paying that much money for something my cats are going to tear up and sleep on. That's what my couch is for If you have amazon prime, Armarkat trees qualify. Free 2-day shipping.
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| # ? Jan 18, 2012 02:57 |
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kaworu posted:I've never subject my lovely princess to that and I fear it may harm our wonderful relationship. Do I have any other options? My cat did this alllll the time when I was trying to study, so I figured I'd just clip one nail each time he jumped on my books. He still jumps on my books, but now he is really good about having his nails done, hahaha.
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| # ? Jan 18, 2012 03:09 |
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Serella posted:How frequently does it seem to be happening? I occasionally find poops on the floor, and my cat is diligent about using the litter box. He is not, however, diligent about not eating hairs that cause his poops to dangle from his butt and "chase" him around the house as he tries to escape from it. Probably every two-to-three weeks. Sometimes I think they're danglers like you mention, but the latest was on a plastic bag on the floor. They're never in the same place, and it's infrequent enough that I'm not sure it signifies any serious issue. It just gets annoying/disgusting.
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| # ? Jan 18, 2012 11:49 |
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2508084 posted:If you have amazon prime, Armarkat trees qualify. Free 2-day shipping. I just bought one from amazon! Was 30$ less than on their website too which was really nice. It doesn't take long to put together, it's pretty sturdy and the cats were already playing on it while we were trying to put it together. 
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| # ? Jan 18, 2012 15:05 |
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Are the round twine covered poles made of solid wood or another material? I'm building a cat tree of my own and was wondering about it.
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| # ? Jan 18, 2012 18:38 |
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I have an eleven-year-old female cat who will not pee in a litter box. She never has, and I've had her since November of 2001. She has no problem pooping in the litter box, however. No matter where she lives, she will choose a place to be designated as her peeing place, and will go in that place. In our current house, it's a corner in the dining room. We have dealt with it for years by (1) not having carpet; and (2) using puppy pads, which she will fortunately pee on. If I put a litter box in her peeing place, she will actually pee beside the litter box. Other facts which might be relevant:
Anyone have any thoughts? It's weird having to explain to guests why I have to change the cat's puppy pad. It's probably a lost cause at this point, but every once in a while, I ask the internet for help just to see if anyone else might have an idea.
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| # ? Jan 18, 2012 21:12 |
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You could try to clean the corner as thoroughly as possible with enzymatic cleaner to remove all cat pee smells and marking sprays which is probably fixing your cat to that location, then block access to that area so she has to try a new spot; then encourage her to use a litter box. But then you might just end up with two places to put puppy pads instead of one. I've recently picked up a toilet training system for my cats, and I think a lot of the training principles could transfer over to training your cat to pee in the litter box. The guiding principle of the system are extremely slow (two weeks per change sort of slow), gradual changes that your cat wouldn't object to since they are so small. You can slowly "build" a litter box around your puppy pad, and if a step fails, fall back to the previous step where she's still comfortable. It may also work to gradually add litter on the pads without needing the makeshift litter box.
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| # ? Jan 18, 2012 22:20 |
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King of the Cows posted:Anyone have any thoughts? It's weird having to explain to guests why I have to change the cat's puppy pad. It's probably a lost cause at this point, but every once in a while, I ask the internet for help just to see if anyone else might have an idea. What happens if you put a puppy pad inside a litterbox? Are the litterboxes all of the same type? (covered, not covered, large, small, round, rectangle, etc)
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| # ? Jan 18, 2012 22:28 |
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Deadlysherpa posted:I've recently picked up a toilet training system for my cats, and I think a lot of the training principles could transfer over to training your cat to pee in the litter box.  I couldn't stay angry at her though: 
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| # ? Jan 18, 2012 23:57 |
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Aelia posted:If it's something they've never eaten, or something they sniff and decide they don't even want a little taste, then they may be objecting to the smell. If it's something they have eaten, or would normally eat, then they're probably burying it to protect it from others. Thanks; my cats seem to like their food okay, so it must be just their "savin' dis for laters" mode. Is it just me, or does cat behavior pretty much always come down to: "It usually means this...except when it means the exact opposite"?
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| # ? Jan 19, 2012 01:45 |
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benjai posted:Including a picture of the girl I'm crushing on. That fuckin' cat right there is the essence of  personified.
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| # ? Jan 19, 2012 03:52 |
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Deadlysherpa posted:You could try to clean the corner as thoroughly as possible with enzymatic cleaner to remove all cat pee smells and marking sprays which is probably fixing your cat to that location, then block access to that area so she has to try a new spot; then encourage her to use a litter box. But then you might just end up with two places to put puppy pads instead of one. Yeah, tried that with exactly that result. quote:I've recently picked up a toilet training system for my cats, and I think a lot of the training principles could transfer over to training your cat to pee in the litter box. Now that's an interesting idea. I'll see what happens. Topoisomerase posted:What happens if you put a puppy pad inside a litterbox? You just blew my mind. Let's find out. I'll try this, too. quote:Are the litterboxes all of the same type? (covered, not covered, large, small, round, rectangle, etc) I've tried different boxes, it doesn't matter. Thanks to both of you, by the way. I never would have thought of those ideas on my own. King of the Cows fucked around with this message at Jan 19, 2012 around 15:18 |
| # ? Jan 19, 2012 04:02 |
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It seems that my cats hate each other. I have a 3 year old tabby, Rocky, who was pretty much the ruler of the house until I found a kitten at work. I brought her home and we adopted her back in November. We took her to the vet and everything is fine healthwise, but it seems like Rocky is none too happy with the kitten. He doesn't cuddle with her, runs away from her and always hisses at her when she gets near him. After they finish beating each other up (it really just seems like play, it's not rough) they lick each other. What is going on here?
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| # ? Jan 20, 2012 11:53 |
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Mobius1B7R posted:It seems that my cats hate each other. I have a 3 year old tabby, Rocky, who was pretty much the ruler of the house until I found a kitten at work. I brought her home and we adopted her back in November. We took her to the vet and everything is fine healthwise, but it seems like Rocky is none too happy with the kitten. He doesn't cuddle with her, runs away from her and always hisses at her when she gets near him. After they finish beating each other up (it really just seems like play, it's not rough) they lick each other. What is going on here? When we adopted a kitten in December (to hang out with our ~2 year old cat), I found this site to be incredibly helpful: http://wvcats.com/integrating_kittens_with_cats.htm Some of it is probably repetitious to people that read PI all the time, but it's still nice to have in your arsenal of information. Cats do tend to play a bit rough, or at least sound terrible while playing. There is a definite difference in sounds from play to actual injury, though.
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| # ? Jan 20, 2012 16:15 |
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Hey cat thread! I have an indirectly related cat question. I recently moved with my little girl from SC to Texas, from a townhouse to an apartment. She usually handles new spaces really well - we used to take her to our parents and she was great. However, we just noticed spray spots all over one of the walls. So far attempts to remove the spray stains have been unsuccessful. It's only a faint odor but those stains have got to go and I'm worried about messing up the paint! Any apartment dwelling cat owners have suggestions?
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| # ? Jan 20, 2012 18:27 |
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Fifteen of Many posted:Hey cat thread! I have an indirectly related cat question. I recently moved with my little girl from SC to Texas, from a townhouse to an apartment. She usually handles new spaces really well - we used to take her to our parents and she was great. However, we just noticed spray spots all over one of the walls. So far attempts to remove the spray stains have been unsuccessful. It's only a faint odor but those stains have got to go and I'm worried about messing up the paint! Any apartment dwelling cat owners have suggestions? I'm sure you've seen them mention "Enzymatic Cleaner" dozens of times by now, but that's really, really what you need. It won't mess up the paint, hasn't messed up our carpet, and is generally the most amazing thing ever because it kills the cat pee smell. It should be paint safe, but even if it isn't*, it's probably better for the wall than the cat pee. We use Nature's Miracle brand, which is available at pretty much every pet supply store I've checked out, or on the internet. *You could probably get a small container of paint that matches for a couple dollars and re-paint the area if needed before you move out. EDIT: Esplanade posted:Thanks; my cats seem to like their food okay, so it must be just their "savin' dis for laters" mode. Aelia fucked around with this message at Jan 20, 2012 around 19:03 |
| # ? Jan 20, 2012 18:55 |
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Aelia posted:It all goes back to "Cats Are Weird" I think. Because they are. But that's what makes them so awesome. How do I know this? I was in the shower at the time. Why did he do this? Because he's a cat.
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| # ? Jan 20, 2012 20:12 |
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Esmerelda posted:You know those little plastic blade covers that come with disposable razors? This morning my cat Watson decided he wanted one. To get to it he pushed the shower curtain aside, jumped up on the side of the tub and then moved across to the other side to get it before happily running off with his prize. My cat did the same thing with my makeup brush this morning. Ran out of nowhere, jumped up on my desk, grabbed it, and ran off to the other end of the house with it. Why? Who knows. He's batted at it when I was using it before but this time I was just checkin' my email. He has never done this before and when I retrieved it he looked at it like he had never seen it before and was surprised that he was sitting on top of it. 
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| # ? Jan 20, 2012 20:32 |
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Mobius1B7R posted:It seems that my cats hate each other. I have a 3 year old tabby, Rocky, who was pretty much the ruler of the house until I found a kitten at work. I brought her home and we adopted her back in November. We took her to the vet and everything is fine healthwise, but it seems like Rocky is none too happy with the kitten. He doesn't cuddle with her, runs away from her and always hisses at her when she gets near him. After they finish beating each other up (it really just seems like play, it's not rough) they lick each other. What is going on here? If they're grooming each other, then they like each other. My cats play very rough too but they absolutely adore one another and you could think that they hate each other, except they cuddle and groom together all the time.
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| # ? Jan 20, 2012 21:31 |
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Esmerelda posted:You know those little plastic blade covers that come with disposable razors? This morning my cat Watson decided he wanted one. To get to it he pushed the shower curtain aside, jumped up on the side of the tub and then moved across to the other side to get it before happily running off with his prize. We have shower doors, but Patrick trips the gently caress out when we turn on the bathtub or shower. He wants to know what's going on, and will stare at it for ages if we let him. Usually we kick him out and shower, then rinse it, because he likes to investigate while it's wet, too. We've got this little doodad that goes over the drain, it's meant to keep hair out, I think. Anyway, he's figured out how to fish it out, and thinks its the greatest toy ever, because whenever he bats it, the curved sides of the tub send it back to him. Isobel, however decided that playing with it *in* the tub was not enough, and when she finds him playing with it, will steal it and run away with it. Or my tweezers, if I leave them out. It wasn't fun losing those for two days.
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| # ? Jan 20, 2012 23:13 |
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MY GIRLFRIEND is moving in with me and that means that I'll also be taking on her adorable cat as a roommate as well. He has been both an indoor and outdoor cat in the past, but most recently, he's had the pleasure of roaming outside and getting into all the trouble he wants. He's gonna be an inside cat now, and my girlfriend is going to be out of town for the first month of the adjustment, so I'm gonna be taking care of him. I don't want to stress the poor little dude out. We currently get along really well. Is there anything I can do to make this transition easier for him? He's about to turn 4. Additionally, any recommendations for a good toy or toys I can get him? I would want 1) something to keep him occupied when I'm at work, and 2) something I can use to play with him when he gets home. I really don't want him to stress out about all this change at once. Maybe he'll be totally fine, but I don't want to risk it.
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| # ? Jan 21, 2012 18:45 |
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E-Money posted:MY GIRLFRIEND is moving in with me and that means that I'll also be taking on her adorable cat as a roommate as well. He has been both an indoor and outdoor cat in the past, but most recently, he's had the pleasure of roaming outside and getting into all the trouble he wants. He's gonna be an inside cat now, and my girlfriend is going to be out of town for the first month of the adjustment, so I'm gonna be taking care of him. Best thing you can do is just let him be for a few days to get his bearings, unless he wants to come to you. Generally, they hide for the first few days and start slowly exploring the place. As far as toys go, it can vary from cat to cat, but most people here recommend Da Bird as a toy you and the cat can play with. It's a wand-dangler toy with a feather lure on the end that most cats go apeshit for. My cat could give zero fucks about the feathers, he just wants that sweet delicious string, but it seems to work for most cats. I also recommend hitting up the bins of cheapy toys at the local pet store. My fat, lazy cat loves the rattly feather toys and will play with them on his own. Try a few different kinds and even if he doesn't like those, at least you didn't spend too much. Laser pointers are also good (unless your cat is as dumb as mine), and you can never go wrong with string or ribbon, as long as you never leave the cat alone with it.
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| # ? Jan 21, 2012 20:50 |
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My cat is so weird, sometimes. She gets in these mode where she just turns into a total space cadet, and zones out. She is currently catloafing on my lap and in one of those modes. She is not moving a muscle, not purring, not doing anything - but she's not sleeping, either. Her eyes are open, but even those don't move. I pet her, nothing. I say her name affectionately and her ears quiver VERY slightly. She might occasionally move her head a tiny bit. She's also looking right at me most of the time when she does this. It's so funny. I really haven't known another cat who behaves like that. Honestly, it's so far beyond mellow. She's pretty much always somewhat like this, in that she's relatively slow to react to things, especially for a cat. It's one of the many reasons why I would never, ever let her outside. She's such a space case, I could see her leisurely sitting in the middle of the street as an oncoming car comes down the hill, and she just slowly blinks and starts to stand up as it hits her  Yeah, Jackie, you're staying inside.
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| # ? Jan 22, 2012 03:29 |
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E-Money posted:MY GIRLFRIEND is moving in with me and that means that I'll also be taking on her adorable cat as a roommate as well. He has been both an indoor and outdoor cat in the past, but most recently, he's had the pleasure of roaming outside and getting into all the trouble he wants. He's gonna be an inside cat now, and my girlfriend is going to be out of town for the first month of the adjustment, so I'm gonna be taking care of him. I got a frolicat for PISSmas and its pretty great. As far as going from indoor/outdoor to completely indoor.. good luck. I have no advice. I tried to do that with one of mine and he just outright would not tolerate it. I found leash walking him with a harness has been a good compromise. He gets two 15-30 minute walks a day and seems pretty pleased with the arrangement (or at least he stopped peeing on everything so long as I dont forget a walk )
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| # ? Jan 22, 2012 03:51 |
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2508084 posted:I got a frolicat for PISSmas and its pretty great. As far as going from indoor/outdoor to completely indoor.. good luck. I have no advice. I tried to do that with one of mine and he just outright would not tolerate it. I found leash walking him with a harness has been a good compromise. He gets two 15-30 minute walks a day and seems pretty pleased with the arrangement (or at least he stopped peeing on everything so long as I dont forget a walk Good call on the frolicat. Right now he splits his time between outdoor and indoor, and goes in the litter box, so unless the peeing everywhere is a retaliation, I'm not too worried about that happening. Just hoping that he doesn't get too lonely having much less space than usual, adjusting to the change in location, and not having my girlfriend around for the initial part.
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| # ? Jan 22, 2012 05:42 |
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I've had my kittens for 5 months now, and when I came home tonight after spending the whole day out, I noticed a distinct smell of "catness". Just now, after spending a few hours in bed with me, I noticed the comforter had that smell too. I'm wondering if I should give them a bath?
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| # ? Jan 22, 2012 07:49 |
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Josh Lyman posted:I've had my kittens for 5 months now, and when I came home tonight after spending the whole day out, I noticed a distinct smell of "catness". Just now, after spending a few hours in bed with me, I noticed the comforter had that smell too. I'm wondering if I should give them a bath? A lot of people say you don't need to give cats baths but I always give new kittens one when they're adopted, and then anytime they smell bad or get so dirty that I worry about them licking themselves clean (I once had a cat roll around in some mildly toxic paint pigment powder that definitely got more than a rinse). Just make sure you have a warm area for them to curl up in after. My boyfriend is really allergic to cats, but I still want him to come over and not have to deal with terrible allergies all the time - What should I do, cleaning-wise, to make it suck less for him? I'm pretty tidy but I'm wondering what I should be paying attention to specifically to cut down on allergens.
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| # ? Jan 23, 2012 16:53 |
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I have a question for those of you with kitties with CRF. Gus was diagnosed at the beginning of the month. He is responding well to fluids and the prescription food (after trying a couple of brands). Now that he is feeling better, he doesn't really want to sit still for me while getting the subq fluids every day. He is currently getting 150 ml/day. That's down from 300 ml/day that he was getting for the first 2 weeks. What I have set up now is the bottom half of the cat carrier, lined with towels, to corral him. I put this up on the kitchen counter to make him less likely to jump off (he's never been a big jumper). This works to a degree but he is getting really squirmy. I live alone so there isn't someone who can help out everyday. So does anyone have any tips or tricks to make him sit still while he's getting his fluids? Here's a picture in exchange for suggestions....... 
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| # ? Jan 23, 2012 21:41 |
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kaworu posted:The thing about that stuff is that I think it's basically like junk food for cats - it's really greasy and stinky and gooey and all that stuff, so cats are always like "OMG SO DELICIOUS OMNOMNOMOM!!" But at the same time I don't think it's exactly the healthiest thing in the world to feed them on a regular basis, especially in comparison to the higher-quality grain-free organic stuff and whatnot. So... yeah, it probably is great as a treat, though Today wasn't her "official" birthday, but I gave her one of the cans of this stuff anyway. This sounds about right - I have not seen her dig into a can of wet food this single-mindedly since we first adopter her as a half-starved street cat. Now I'm just hoping she doesn't leave us a cheese-flavored surprise on the rug tonight. We normally feed her really high quality no-grain natural foods like Blue Buffalo, so I'm not too worried about giving her the occasional kitty-equivalent of a bacon-flavored chocolate cake.
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| # ? Jan 23, 2012 23:05 |
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I would absolutely decorate it with some of her favorite treats and/or some scraps of human-quality meat if she favors that sort of thing.
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Ugh, Watson started sneezing. A lot. He's not eating nearly as much either (not a bad thing, he's rather tubby) but it's obvious he's not 100%. I think I brought something home with me from the animal shelter. I guess I get to call my vet today to see if he wants me to bring Watson in. Watson had a URI when I brought him home initially and it never went beyond sneezing but Figaro was wrecked by it for a week and a half. I hope I don't get to go through that again. Or that Figaro does for that matter.
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| # ? Jan 24, 2012 18:54 |
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Esmerelda posted:Ugh, Watson started sneezing. A lot. He's not eating nearly as much either (not a bad thing, he's rather tubby) but it's obvious he's not 100%. I think I brought something home with me from the animal shelter. I guess I get to call my vet today to see if he wants me to bring Watson in. Decreased appetite is a real bad thing, especially in fatter cats, they can get liver damage pretty quick. You need to get him to the vet for some antibiotics and until then you need to focus on getting him to eat. It's probably because he is so stuffy and can't smell the food. Try: - putting him it he bathroom with a steamy shower - heating up wet smelly food - elevating is food bowl on some books so that he doesn't have to lean over to eat and have the congestion stop up his nose more. It is definitely vet time. I would also go on and separate him from Figaro, or it will spread. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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| # ? Jan 24, 2012 23:22 |
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What exactly is the point of telling someone "vet time" when their post said they were calling their vet?
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| # ? Jan 24, 2012 23:29 |
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Can I get some help with eliminating the possibility of my Toby having allergies? Although he's been given a clean bill of health during each check up, and he's been absolutely normal with everything else so far, he's been sneezing multiple times a day, and I wanted to rule out allergies. So far, he's been tested negative for feline herpes, asthma, and URI (history of being treated last year with doxycycline). The vet recommended wiping him down, along with the other cat Cory, with distilled water and changing his diet to a hypoallergenic diet for 2 weeks because Toby could be allergic to fish. Currently we're feeding him Wellness (Chicken & Beef and Chicken & Lobster wet food) and Wellness Core dry food (fish & fowl). What am I supposed to feed him that's of high quality? The other option is to spend thousands of dollars for a bronchoscopy to check for polyps, but I figure I rule out allergies first.
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| # ? Jan 24, 2012 23:51 |
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RheaConfused posted:Decreased appetite is a real bad thing, especially in fatter cats, they can get liver damage pretty quick. You need to get him to the vet for some antibiotics and until then you need to focus on getting him to eat. It's probably because he is so stuffy and can't smell the food. Try: I can't separate the two, I'm in a large studio so no way to block them from each other. My vet is aware of that and I'll probably be sent home with enough of whatever for Figaro too. The part that's really irritating is that I can't keep him warm. My apartment has had heating issues all winter. I haven't had heat for more than 3 hours in a row in about a month. I haven't had heat more than three days in a row all winter. So when Watson jumps into the bathtub at 6am to investigate that the drain works properly he's getting all wet then having to dry off in a cold apartment - he's not overly smart.
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| # ? Jan 25, 2012 00:15 |
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El Gar posted:What exactly is the point of telling someone "vet time" when their post said they were calling their vet? To agree with their decision to call the vet?
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| # ? Jan 25, 2012 01:43 |
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So who here has a Litter Robot? Do you like it? I'm thinking of getting one, but not sure if it's worth the cost. I know they have a money-back guarantee but that's still a lot of hassle if I have to send it back. What litter do you guys use with it? We're on World's Best now but I'm hoping we could get something cheaper with the LR.
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| # ? Jan 25, 2012 15:10 |
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marshmallard posted:So who here has a Litter Robot? Do you like it?
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| # ? Jan 25, 2012 15:27 |
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There was heat when I got home! Pity there wasn't any when I woke up this morning. Watson is still sneezing. He makes this face, a combination of  and  shortly before he does, and I try not to laugh but he looks ridiculous. He's eating still, just not as much at one sitting. The food dishes on books didn't go over well, he knocked the dish off then looked at me like "what the hell is wrong with you?"The vet can't see him until tomorrow and really wasn't concerned with the delay. As long as he's still eating on his own (he is) and alert (he is) and there is no funky colored discharge anywhere (there isn't) then a day delay won't matter. I'm pretty damned paranoid about my cats and their health so if I start feeling uncomfortable then Watson gets to go to the emergency vet. At this point I'm concerned and want him to feel better but not freaking out about him.
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| # ? Jan 25, 2012 16:05 |
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| # ? May 19, 2013 20:34 |
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I currently use Swheat Scoop litter and it doesn't clump super hard, which means smaller pieces of the clumps will fall back into the box because they fit through the slats in the scoop. Is there a better scoop out there with smaller slats or holes? I've looked around and can't seem to find anything and am about ready to just buy a scoop strainer you get get for kitchens.
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| # ? Jan 25, 2012 16:10 |
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