Cats are assholes - get two. The cat FAQ/megathread.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Pet Island > Cats are assholes - get two. The cat FAQ/megathread.

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

My ex had a cat. That was awesome.

We housesat a cat for a friend last year for 6 months while he was doing study abraod. That was awesome.

My roommate (and house owner) talks about how cats are best to adopt in pairs, especially if they're siblings.

On a whim, I ran a search and came across these cuties: http://www.petango.com/webservices/...spx?id=13661237
and
http://www.petango.com/webservices/...spx?id=13661311

I'd totally adopt them today. My only concern is that as a 4th year grad student, I'll graduate in May 2013 and I don't know where I'll end up. Surely cats are less of an issue that dogs with respect to the apartment I'd eventually move into?

# ¿ Aug 18, 2011 18:20

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# ¿ May 19, 2013 13:28

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

traveling midget posted:

I'm not sure if you're asking whether it'll be hard to find an apartment that'll allow cats, or if it'll be hard on your cats to move.

Either way, you'll be fine.

Cats take a little getting used to a new place but in general it's much less of a challenge than acclimating a kitten to your house. Invest in some feliway and consider introducing them to different areas separately if it's a big place.

Make sure they know where litter boxes are.

My girlfriend's Maine Coon was 4 when we moved her into our apartment and she was immediately fine.

The house has 2 floors, so they would be staying on my floor which is about the size of a large 1 bedroom apartment.

Would it be okay to start out with just 1 litter box for both of them?

Apparently, the Atlanta Humane Society has an Amazon wishlist, and if we buy something off the wishlist, we get 2x the cost in credit toward the adoption, so basically I could adopt them for 50% off. Alas, it only works if we adopt on a Wednesday, and there's no telling if those kitties will be around next week!

# ¿ Aug 18, 2011 18:39

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

traveling midget posted:

The 'standard' is (number of cats + 1) = number of litterboxes.

You can start them off with one for the sake of 'training', and expand from there. If they're really good about the box, you can get away with 2. More = better.

How do you plan on keeping them only on your floor?

The floors are connected by a flight of stairs which terminates at a door. The door is closed 99% of the time as is.

Ok, so if we get them today, do we need anything right away other than a litter box, litter, and dry food? What kind of food for 5 month olds?

edit: NOOOOO one of the siblings just got adopted.

Plan has been foiled.

Josh Lyman fucked around with this message at Aug 18, 2011 around 18:49

# ¿ Aug 18, 2011 18:45

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

traveling midget posted:

Find another lonely kitty and give him a new friend in your sibling who's still there! Bring happiness!

How different is it to have siblings vs non-siblings? It seems like siblings would definitely get along, but non-siblings might not.

# ¿ Aug 18, 2011 20:30

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

Radio! posted:

Wouldn't most shelters have at least some idea of which cats got along with each other? If so, you might be able to ask them which cat your kitten is most friendly with already.

Yeah, my roommate seems receptive to the idea.

We're looking to pair up orange sibling left to rot with single kitteh.

Josh Lyman fucked around with this message at Aug 19, 2011 around 03:10

# ¿ Aug 18, 2011 23:25

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

2508084 posted:

Those are the same link. I thought I was tripping out for a minute.

Woops! Let's try this again: orange sibling left to rot with single kitteh.

# ¿ Aug 19, 2011 03:10

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

Radio! posted:

Please tell me you're going to keep his name Mr. Mittens

Mr. Mittens got adopted away before we could get to it. I'm so depressed about the whole situation that I don't even want to get kittens anymore.

I had already been imagining myself calling out to him, "Mister Miiiiiittennnnnns!"

Josh Lyman fucked around with this message at Aug 22, 2011 around 20:59

# ¿ Aug 22, 2011 20:24

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

Both of my new 3 month old kittens got fixed on Monday (I got them yesterday night) but when I took them home, they pooped in the fireplace after one/both had peed in the box of shredded newspaper. I ended up giving in and getting some Tidy Cats litter, which they have taken to. I hope they don't get infections.

# ¿ Aug 26, 2011 14:17

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

Vaccination questions!

The 3 month old kittens I adopted last Thursday, they've only had 1 FVRCP shot. I called the local clinic that everyone praises, and they suggested:

First visit
Booster 1 for FVRCP
FeLV

Second visit 3 weeks later
Booster 1 for FeLV

Some time later (5 months?)
Rabies

A friend with dogs recommended ProtectMyPet.com for affordable shots. Their schedule says:

First round
FVRCP

Second round
Booster 1 for FVRCP
FeLV

Third round
Booster 2 for FVRCP
Booster 1 for FeLV
Rabies

Combining the information from both, it seems like we could just get 1 FVRCP booster + FeLV, then 1 FeLV booster + rabies and we'd be done. Am I completely off-base here?

Josh Lyman fucked around with this message at Aug 31, 2011 around 21:00

# ¿ Aug 31, 2011 20:56

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

RheaConfused posted:

Josh Lyman

Initial FVRCP vaccs require 1 shot and 2 boosters, no way around it.

That's fine. It's not much more.

Another question: the Atlanta Humane Society says they got their FVRCP on 8/22 but then says they should get a booster on 9/6, only 15 days later. This contradicts everything I've ever read that says 3 weeks - 1 month between shots. We have the option of getting FVRCP booster + first FeLV shot on either 9/3 or 9/8. Thoughts?

Josh Lyman fucked around with this message at Aug 31, 2011 around 22:57

# ¿ Aug 31, 2011 22:38

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

edit

Josh Lyman fucked around with this message at Sep 8, 2011 around 21:02

# ¿ Sep 8, 2011 05:34

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

I've decided it's time to toilet train my 4 month old kitties. I bought the Litter Kwitter on sale and while they seem to be okay with using the first insert, litter is just getting everywhere when they try to bury their stuff.

# ¿ Sep 29, 2011 18:43

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

I switched from the first insert for my Litter Kwitter to the first insert with a hole last night, and when I came home today, there were two poop piles on the bathroom floor. We had also switched to flushable litter last night, so we've gone back to the first insert and put mixed clay/Swheat Scoop in. Once they get used to Swheat Scoop only we'll try to switch inserts again.

# ¿ Oct 6, 2011 04:37

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

Cryptic Edge posted:

I still have to mix a little clay in and it's been almost a month since I tried to switch to flushable. You have more than one cat. If so, get the multicat pack, and use stage 1.5 to push them quicker, as it'll get them used to the hole.

You should also never change inserts on days you won't be home all day. When I changed my insert last time I had to show them a few times what was going on before they had no issue with it.

We switched back to the first insert and the girl cat still pooped on the floor. The plan now is to go back to the litter box and get them accustomed to Swheat Scoop 100% before returning to the Litter Kwitter.

# ¿ Oct 8, 2011 00:17

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

Earlier this week, Tuesday I think, I started the 5 month olds on the Litter Kwitter (again). This time, I gave them 2 weeks with Swheat Scoop in the litter box and it went well. Since Tuesday, it seemed like both of the kitties had pooped in the Litter Kwitter. However, it might have only been one of them, because I walked into the bathroom this morning to find a present on my bathmat. I know at least one of them is pooping properly, and I'm not really sure what to do now.

The bathmat was 3 years old anyway so I ended up throwing it out.

# ¿ Oct 28, 2011 12:03

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

If I get a space heater for my bedroom, what are the chances my kittens will be dumb and accidentally burn themselves/their tails?

# ¿ Nov 17, 2011 13:26

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

Aelia posted:

So, I'm getting a pair of older kittens(~6 mo.) from a foster/rescue. I've been warned that they (or some of their siblings) seem to enjoy unrolling & shredding the hell out of toilet paper. I intend to just put it away for now, but is there something which can be done to either break the habit, or to block them from the toilet paper while still leaving it on the holder?

Couldn't you just keep them out of the bathroom while you're using it and keep the bathroom door closed the rest of the time?

# ¿ Nov 19, 2011 15:42

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

This will be my first holiday season with my kittens, so I have no idea about this, but is there much in the way of discounts on pet stuff? I'm thinking of getting a fancy covered litter box for the kitties, a poop shack, as it were.

# ¿ Nov 22, 2011 22:23

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

What do you guys think of this for my 2 kittens? If it's no good, I'll just get a giant Van Ness enclosed little box.

http://www.amazon.com/Omega-Paw-Sel.../dp/B005E2S77C/

# ¿ Nov 26, 2011 04:13

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

Uh oh! One of my kitties started drooling a few days ago. It's not like a constant stream of liquid, but a little bit in the way a baby will do. They're inside kitties only, so I can't imagine what it might be.

# ¿ Dec 4, 2011 20:16

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

Josh Lyman posted:

Uh oh! One of my kitties started drooling a few days ago. It's not like a constant stream of liquid, but a little bit in the way a baby will do. They're inside kitties only, so I can't imagine what it might be.

Leo appears to have stopped drooling, but CJ dropped some pure diarrhea in my bedroom today. Later on, I found some semi-dried diarrhea on my luggage, presumably from before when I caught CJ pooping, and even worse, it has white strands in it, likely worms.

The kitties don't go outside, so it only seems possible that they got fleas from our piece of poo poo roommate and his Australian shepherd who's supposed to be on flea medication but he's a piece of poo poo roommate who doesn't keep up with it.

Vet appointment made, plenty of money to be wasted. God drat it.

# ¿ Dec 7, 2011 11:15

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

Josh Lyman posted:

Leo appears to have stopped drooling, but CJ dropped some pure diarrhea in my bedroom today. Later on, I found some semi-dried diarrhea on my luggage, presumably from before when I caught CJ pooping, and even worse, it has white strands in it, likely worms.

The kitties don't go outside, so it only seems possible that they got fleas from our piece of poo poo roommate and his Australian shepherd who's supposed to be on flea medication but he's a piece of poo poo roommate who doesn't keep up with it.

Vet appointment made, plenty of money to be wasted. God drat it.

Well, it turns out both kitties have worms, as well as earmites and of course fleas. We got some de-worming tablets to give them, plus ear drops, and we've started them on monthly Revolution.

As suspected, piece of poo poo roommate stopped giving his dog Frontline about 3 weeks ago, and even if my kitties are free of ear mites, his dog will undoubtedly infect them again later on, though supposedly Revolution will help with that.

Total bill: $278.

So really, moral of the story, don't have piece of poo poo roommates that don't take care of their pets.

# ¿ Dec 8, 2011 15:13

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

How quickly does Revolution expire? I'm thinking of buying a multipack from 1800PetMeds.

# ¿ Dec 11, 2011 17:39

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

We gave our kitties Revolution last Thursday, but we're still finding fleas here and there on them. It's their first time on flea control; should this be happening?

# ¿ Dec 15, 2011 08:45

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

The internet talks about treating their environment, but we live in a 2 story house so it's not great.

# ¿ Dec 15, 2011 11:45

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

So we're still finding a few fleas each day when we comb our kittens, which means there are still eggs hatching, which means the Revolution isn't work. Should we try giving them a bath with flea medication?

# ¿ Dec 18, 2011 22:08

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

Braki posted:

Treating the environment is a very important process of getting rid of fleas. Most of the flea population isn't going to be on your cat; it's going to be in the environment. I know it's a huge pain, but you need to do a thorough cleaning of the house if you really want to get rid of them.

The floors are hardwood. I've vacuumed the downstairs, and my roommates have vacuumed the upstairs. They usually stay on a microfiber couch on the downstairs, which has also been vacuumed. I'm not sure if we're missing something obvious.

# ¿ Dec 19, 2011 15:04

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

Droid Washington posted:

He came with a free bag of "food" which, after reading the nutrition thread, is terrible. So we canned it and got him some grain-free Buffalo cans. The lady at the adoption agency said Purina dry was some of the best food for a cat. Right.

I saw an old lady driving a Buick loading Kroger brand cat food into her trunk the other day. Not even normal Kroger brand, but the cheapest poo poo possible. So compared to that, I suppose Purina is quite good.

# ¿ Dec 27, 2011 01:17

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

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.

Oh man, I tried the Litter Kwitter and while Leo was okay with the change, CJ would have none of it. What a prima donna.

I couldn't stay angry at her though:

# ¿ Jan 18, 2012 23:57

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

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?

# ¿ Jan 22, 2012 07:49

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

My kittens were playing with me in bed this morning, and I found this "residue" on my sheets. I've seen it before. I would think they're flea eggs, but the sheer quantity of them

's me out. Plus, Google seems to say flea eggs are transparent.

# ¿ Feb 18, 2012 16:41

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

Mocha Frost posted:

Thankfully, they don't seem to paw the water, a pint glass is just big enough for them to stick their heads in. But yeah, it's kinda gross and I won't drink after them usually, but I know the little assholes do it while I'm sleeping.

You almost certainly already have toxoplasmosis, so as long as it doesn't get out of hand and you don't have a compromised immune system, it may not be especially sanitary but it won't kill you either.

# ¿ Feb 20, 2012 21:27

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

We gave the kittens a bath tonight, and in the process, Leo took a poop in the shower stall. That in itself isn't so bad since they were otherwise cooperative during the bath, but we saw tapeworm segments in his poop.

Thing is, we checked his butt for dried tapeworm segments about a week ago when I posted this:

Josh Lyman posted:

My kittens were playing with me in bed this morning, and I found this "residue" on my sheets. I've seen it before. I would think they're flea eggs, but the sheer quantity of them 's me out. Plus, Google seems to say flea eggs are transparent.

...and his butt was clean. Furthermore, we've dosed them with Revolution 3 times since their last vet visit at the beginning of December. They had tapeworms at the time, but the vet gave us two doses of tablets for the tapeworms.

We haven't combed them for fleas in about a week, but all this time we've had them on Revolution, we've always combed out a few fleas.

Any thoughts on what we should do? Revolution is supposed to be the strongest med.

# ¿ Feb 26, 2012 06:34

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

Enelrahc posted:

Tapeworms take a couple of months to get big enough to have poop segments, so your cats probably ate a flea after they got their last praziquantel in the beginning of December. The flea doesn't even have to be alive to pass a tapeworm.

It sounds like you have a flea infestation. You probably need professional help either with extermination or carpet steam cleaning. Check the flea control megathread for more details.

Our problem roommate with his outdoor dog are moving out tomorrow, so now seems like a good time to try to clean the house.

I purchased these tapeworm tablets: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...x_ya_os_product and the Fleabusters: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...x_ya_os_product so hopefully we'll have the tools to deal.

Here's one thing: the house is entirely hardwood. There's one staircase with carpet, but other than that, nothing. What could be happening?

Josh Lyman fucked around with this message at Mar 1, 2012 around 04:20

# ¿ Mar 1, 2012 03:26

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

Any suggestions for the best ear mite drops I could get from Amazon or what not? Leo and CJ are on Revolution but apparently it's not preventing ear mites.

# ¿ Mar 11, 2012 18:44

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

Braki posted:

Why do you think it's not working? Can you give us some more details?

They still have ear mites so...

# ¿ Mar 11, 2012 19:15

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

Braki posted:

How do you know they still have ear mites? When did you use the Revolution? When my cat had ear mites, at first I thought the Revolution didn't work either because his ears were still really cruddy, but it did work (the crud was just stuff coming up from his ear canals) and his ears eventually resolved itself. As far as Pfizer knows, Revolution is extremely efficacious against ear mites. If you have an ear mite population that has become resistant, that is something that they would be extremely interested in knowing, so you should tell your vet and/or Pfizer.

Ah. They do still have crud in their ears. They've been on Revolution since mid-December, though there may have been 4.5 weeks before their last application 1.5 weeks ago.

Maybe we'll have to check more carefully.

# ¿ Mar 11, 2012 20:12

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

Leo and CJ's long hair is shedding like crazy since we're hitting 80*F here in Atlanta, and even though I try to comb them regularly, it doesn't seem to be enough. Are there any tools that might help with this?

# ¿ Mar 23, 2012 14:26

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

Welp, the problem roommate and his dog have been moved out for 4 weeks, and the kittens are flea free even though we didn't do any additional treatment to the house. Huzzah!

# ¿ Mar 28, 2012 16:36

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# ¿ May 19, 2013 13:28

Josh Lyman: May 24, 2009; What in God's name
is happening
right now?

Geno posted:

where's a good place/site to get a bowtie like this one?

The goon Funhilde sells them: http://www.etsy.com/shop/SewSmooth

# ¿ Apr 12, 2012 21:06

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