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mistaya posted:Make sure to treat your other cat for fleas if the kitten has them, fleas loving suck. Still dealing with them from this summer. Well, the kitten is in quarantine in the bathroom so it should be easy to control. I treated her with prescription kitten-safe drops that also have an environmental effect, we'll still wash her bedding and probably need Katya to get back on her regimen just in case though. MarcusSA posted:My kittens just knocked over the Christmas tree. Mom is not going to be happy when she hears about this. I've given up on christmas trees, I have enough house-plants to protect.
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Dec 5, 2020 00:58
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We have a tiny christmas tree on the way and plan on hanging only non-breakable stuff on it since this is the first year we have had a cat. He is a little destroyer, so I am sure it will go down a few times. He has already batted at the string of lights we have on the wall a couple times. At the request of my kid, I made him a "matching" christmas sweater to the one my dog has. I only had a minty color, but might dye it darker green. And unfortunately I ran out of yarn before it got super long, so it is like a cat halter top. He tolerated it. You can see neither is super excited about the wardrobe. We did not make them suffer it for long. 
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Dec 5, 2020 03:29
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If I tried to put a costume on Boo, she'd eat me. (Luna would just discorporate and reform outside the sweater, then pee on the floor out of hate.)
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Dec 5, 2020 09:09
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Marcie is tolerating her cat jacket pretty well! Initially there was a bit of flopping over and only being able to walk sideways but she has got the hang of it now. We went outside for a walk on the leash which also didn't go terribly. There is about 30cm snow outside but that didn't faze her much. 
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Dec 6, 2020 17:33
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knox_harrington posted:Marcie is tolerating her cat jacket pretty well! Initially there was a bit of flopping over and only being able to walk sideways but she has got the hang of it now. Where did you get that from?
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Dec 6, 2020 17:57
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MarcusSA posted:Where did you get that from? I got a couple of them from Etsy, this houndstooth one and a plain red one. They are really good and very cute. https://www.etsy.com/shop/ButterflyCatJackets It sounds like the woman who makes them is completely snowed under with orders so they took a few weeks to arrive.
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Dec 6, 2020 18:22
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knox_harrington posted:I got a couple of them from Etsy, this houndstooth one and a plain red one. They are really good and very cute. Perfect thanks!
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Dec 6, 2020 18:28
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So me and my wife finally gave into to our 4 years olds demands and got a kitten from the shelter. She’s a pretty good girl but I had a few things I was wondering about. First I need to get her a pair of Clippers and was wondering if ones from like a Walmart will suffice or if I should look for certain ones? Also she loves to obviously zoom through the house using all of our furniture as a scratching post. We bought her a scratching post the first day and whenever she starts scratching the couch or chair we redirect her to post but she has no interest at all in it, I’ve tried moving it a few times the month she has been here so far to no avail. Is there some things we can do to entice her to use the post? Also here’s some photos of the litter cutie sleeping and relaxing.  
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Dec 6, 2020 18:33
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Rad Valtar posted:So me and my wife finally gave into to our 4 years olds demands and got a kitten from the shelter. She’s a pretty good girl but I had a few things I was wondering about. First I need to get her a pair of Clippers and was wondering if ones from like a Walmart will suffice or if I should look for certain ones? Also she loves to obviously zoom through the house using all of our furniture as a scratching post. We bought her a scratching post the first day and whenever she starts scratching the couch or chair we redirect her to post but she has no interest at all in it, I’ve tried moving it a few times the month she has been here so far to no avail. Is there some things we can do to entice her to use the post? Re: clippers, generally the scissor kind are easiest to use. If your cat is real squirmy, the electric grinder may work better - either way I'd suggest having 2 people work together when cutting nails. As for scratching... That's tougher. The honest answer is if you have a cat house, you need to accept that your furniture is going to get scratched. We only buy Ikea furniture that doesn't have much upholstery aside from the cushions, so there's nothing really to scratch aside from the posts. When we were at my parent's house, covering all the couches with a thick sheet seemed to do the trick - they would still scratch, but usually couldn't get through to damage the upholstery. You want to give your cats lots of better options, though. Just one post won't do it. Get multiple scratching posts, cardboard floor scratchers, and a nice big cat tree. Rotten Red Rod fucked around with this message at 18:47 on Dec 6, 2020 |
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Dec 6, 2020 18:44
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Thank you for your response, we really want to get her a cat tree house once we have the money for it. I also had another question I completely forgot to ask. My wife thinks I’m being completely paranoid but the cat seems to have one eye that doesn’t open as far. It’s hard to explain but when she squints it definitely closes before the other. I am worried that there’s something wrong with the eye but I checked and there is nothing in the eye and there has been no discharge from it. It this something that is normal? I’m sorry if this seems like a crazy question but this is our first cat so I’m new to this. I tried taking a picture of it, it’s her left eye.
Rad Valtar fucked around with this message at 19:39 on Dec 6, 2020 |
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Dec 6, 2020 19:28
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Rotten Red Rod posted:You want to give your cats lots of better options, though. Just one post won't do it. Get multiple scratching posts, cardboard floor scratchers, and a nice big cat tree. Yeah I think this fits into the general principle of "if you want your cat to use a thing, buy several things so they can turn their nose up at several". We got a cylindrical cat tower with scratching surface, which Peanut occasionally used, and Maple still ignores. They go to town on the cardboard floor ones though. Links to examples of the sort of thing from Europe. The all-cardboard ones are great, because you can just throw the whole thing in the paper recycling once it's fully destroyed. https://www.amazon.co.uk/PetzTrendz...7279448&sr=8-29 https://www.zooplus.nl/shop/katten/krabpaal_krabmeubels/krabplanken_sisalspeelgoed/krabmeubels/747884
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Dec 6, 2020 19:32
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Rad Valtar posted:Thank you for your response, we really want to get her a cat tree house once we have the money for it. I also had another question I completely forgot to ask. My wife thinks I’m being completely paranoid but the cat seems to have one eye that doesn’t open as far. It’s hard to explain but when she squints it definitely closes before the other. I am worried that there’s something wrong with the eye but I checked and there is nothing in the eye and there has been no discharge from it. It this something that is normal? I’m sorry if this seems like a crazy question but this is our first cat so I’m new to this. I tried taking a picture of it, it’s her left eye. Ours has the same thing, one eye is a little more squinty and it's noticeable when she slow-blinks. I just chalk it up to asymmetry since her eyes are otherwise fine, I'm not a vet tho so you could ask one about it at her next visit. We also provide multiple scratching options, she likes corrugated cardboard the best but we left her tree at the old place (I made a custom built-in and the new renters also have a cat so it made more sense), we have a nice minimal wall-mounted carpeted scratch-board now so she can stretch and scratch vertically too. You just need to figure what she prefers so I would provide her with lots of options until you figure that out. The rest is training, which is notoriously hard to do with some, if not most, cats. v  v
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Dec 6, 2020 20:37
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One of our cats does something similar with his eyes, and he's perfectly fine. It's worth asking about when you're next at the vet, but unless you see any irritation or discharge, it's probably nothing.
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Dec 6, 2020 20:47
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I'm losing it. We finally bought furniture (I haven't had a couch in three years) and upgraded the cat castle. Aleta HISSED at me, which she has never done, and is now pouting nonstop. I'm afraid I ruined her personality and also we're not speaking. Thoughts??
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Dec 6, 2020 21:21
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Fleta Mcgurn posted:I'm losing it. We finally bought furniture (I haven't had a couch in three years) and upgraded the cat castle. Aleta HISSED at me, which she has never done, and is now pouting nonstop. I'm afraid I ruined her personality and also we're not speaking. Thoughts?? Diagnosis: your cat is being a cat. Cats don't like change. She'll get over it.
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Dec 7, 2020 00:50
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Fleta Mcgurn posted:I'm losing it. We finally bought furniture (I haven't had a couch in three years) and upgraded the cat castle. Aleta HISSED at me, which she has never done, and is now pouting nonstop. I'm afraid I ruined her personality and also we're not speaking. Thoughts?? Wait 3 days. She'll probably get over it. Some cats HATE CHANGE and love drama. Be thankful she's just pouting and not screaming. 
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Dec 7, 2020 03:37
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Some cats just like to tell you their life stories and it's adorable don't hate
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Dec 7, 2020 04:06
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Len posted:Some cats just like to tell you their life stories and it's adorable don't hate When I was a kid we used to move pretty often, and each time this one kitty would wail almost non-stop for 1 to 3 days, until he tuckered himself out. Great way to make an impression on the new neighbours.
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Dec 7, 2020 04:11
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Facebook Aunt posted:Wait 3 days. She'll probably get over it. Some cats HATE CHANGE and love drama. Be thankful she's just pouting and not screaming. A good rule of thumb with cats is that if they're being dramatic it's nothing to worry about. Actual serious problems, cats usually try to hide and act like everything's normal.
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Dec 7, 2020 15:53
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Hi cat megathread, I have some questions. Posting background for laziness: Elviscat posted:So I posted about this kitty before, seems to be another stray. I'm looking for the best path forward with this kitty, basically I'm on the fence about if she's abandoned or just a neighborhood kitty mooching pets and chow off of me. If she is feral, I want to adopt her, full stop, she's been sitting on my shoulders grooming me for the past two hours, just an absolute sweetheart. I also don't want to scare her away by traumatizing her stuffing her in a carrier to get her chip read or putting a collar in her saying "if this is your cat, call me" I have room in the house to quarantine her from my cat until she can be tested for any transmittable diseases and whatnot. I've posted in all the local "found cat" groups and stuff, and searched the Humane society pages, but obviously if she lives elsewhere they're not looking for her. Trapping her won't be an issue, I spent an hour petting her, and went inside to get my burnt dinner and she trotted straight in the door after me. Any advice is appreciated!
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Dec 8, 2020 07:33
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I think you've already adopted her! Or the other way around. Thanks to everyone calming me down about the stupid cat castle. She pouted for three days, but I woke up this morning to see her back in bed with us, so it's pretty much back to normal. I'm so relieved. She's a malicious poop-holder and I don't have three hundred euros to get her unblocked at the e-vet again.
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Dec 8, 2020 09:35
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Collar is probably the best option - you aren't going to traumatise her with it, although if she doesn't like it it won't make it to whatever home she has. You might be able to get hold of a chip scanner yourself to check a chip?
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Dec 8, 2020 09:37
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Kitten-update: Kimchi is really coming out of her shell and we're still slowly introducing her to Katya. Tonight they ate dinner on opposite sides of the room while checking each other out in between bites, but I think we let them explore a little bit too much and Katya got upset and started hissing (no flat ears tho). Kimchi seemed unbothered and finished her food in the bathroom but Katya is now extremely confused and zooming all over the place refusing pets. Poor baby. 
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Dec 8, 2020 20:12
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 Kitten tax.
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Dec 8, 2020 20:13
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My cat has this weird rear end behavior where even if her bowl of food is full (food which she likes!), she will try to go after the bag instead. She has torn holes in SO many bags of cat food. It isn't a matter of "cat food stale", she will eat the bowl clean on a regular basis, and has gone after the bag SECONDS AFTER I POURED HER A BRAND NEW BOWL OF FOOD. I have learned to keep it in a plastic container and only open it to dispense food, but when I open the plastic container she runs up to that instead of the bowl hoping to get some straight from "the source". Is this just "cats are weird" or indicative of a different approach I should be taking? Does my cat abhor bowls? Are there different ways to dispense food? Should I start filling ziploc bags with food and leaving them around for her to tear open like a wild animal (this is mostly a joke)?
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Dec 9, 2020 00:32
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Many cats take an interest in their food security and will take steps to trace their food back to its "source". Mine doesn't tear open bags (yet), but she does get notably more anxious when the level of the kibble in the tower of her gravity feeder starts to get low.
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Dec 9, 2020 01:01
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You clearly killed that bag of cat food yourself and are only doling out the parts you don't like to her, she wants her turn at the corpse to eat your favorite bits
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Dec 9, 2020 01:50
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One of my cats walks away after taking a few bites of wet food like she's disinterested in it but if I follow her and put the bowl down in front of her wherever she walks off to she eats it, usually finishing the bowl at that point.  I've started to refer to it as her second course, like "I'll have my second course under the dining room table in the next room, thank you"
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Dec 9, 2020 02:09
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Thanks for the insights! It's a little strange because I raised her from kittenhood and I've never stiffed her on food. She's young and trim so I just fill the bowl whenever I see it even half-empty. She gets wet food and stuff too. Food security has for sure never been an issue, but I guess she's just being proactive about it? Maybe I'll start filling the bowl out of a much smaller container and "accidentally" leave it open for her to loot 
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Dec 9, 2020 02:55
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Irukandji Syndrome posted:Thanks for the insights! It's a little strange because I raised her from kittenhood and I've never stiffed her on food. She's young and trim so I just fill the bowl whenever I see it even half-empty. She gets wet food and stuff too. Food security has for sure never been an issue, but I guess she's just being proactive about it? It may be that she doesn't like the bowl. If it's literally a bowl, you could try a flatter plate. Some cats don't like having their whiskers touch the bowl. If it's already an ergonomic cat plate, I'd file it under "is cat".
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Dec 9, 2020 04:04
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I recently got a child safety lock for my pantry and started keeping the dry food in there, after one of the cats chewed a hole in the bag. Also, look who decided to jump up on my back again and plonk down for some furious purring  
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Dec 9, 2020 04:38
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I keep my bag of cat food inside a large airtight plastic bin - prevents any worry about it going stale and keeps my cat from getting into it. She's very curious and will chew open almost any plastic bag / etc of food that you leave out, so pretty much any food product I buy goes inside something airtight or a cabinet now. I even have to decant those cardboard tubes of oatmeal into other containers or she'll gnaw them open to eat raw oats. (God help me when/if she learns how to open cabinet doors) I say "curious" instead of "food-motivated" because I think her primary objective is more "what is this thing? Can I eat it?" than being hungry - when she's gotten things open in the past, she just eats little bits rather than trying to eat as much as she can.
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Dec 9, 2020 07:21
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My girls seem to know the bag contains food, but only enough for them to get interested when they see it coming. They have the exact same reaction to the bag of litter. Wet food is different. Usually what happens is I set the food down and Luna sticks her face in it and goes to town. Aleta will take two bites before running away trilling to go poop. Sometimes she comes back and gets trilled at by Luna until she abandons her food. Aleta seems to prefer the dried-out bits, anyways, so she hides chunks under the rug and waits.
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Dec 9, 2020 08:29
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My kitty Rosie will meow at her food bowl no matter what. I even got her a special whisker-stress-free bowl, turned out she just wants butt scratches while she eats. I lured the stay in tonight, she was howling from under my truck in the pouring rain, I figure there's no way she has a nice dry home to go to if that's what she's doing. So she's downstairs, the baby gate didn't do poo poo to keep her contained, so my bedroom door is "locked" for now, which will drive Rosie crazy. Rosie is an A+ rear end in a top hat who won't socialize with anyone without trying to tear their eyeballs out. So this is going to be fun. Seriously, Rosie spent 2 years with my roomate's cats and dogs and refused to socialize, I don't know how she's gonna accept a stray. And my house is a torn apart shitheap that's barely habitable. Guess I'll manage? The stray is so affectionate, she was standing on the patio table, and every few minutes of petting she'd bat at my hand until I lowered my face to hers and let her scratch her cheeks on and lick my chin. E: here's a picture of Rosie. 
Elviscat fucked around with this message at 08:50 on Dec 9, 2020 |
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Dec 9, 2020 08:42
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cat bowl snuggles incoming https://twitter.com/VargatronXIV/status/1336454873273995265/photo/1
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Dec 9, 2020 21:29
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Hey all, I've been looking to adopt an older cat as a first time owner and heard back about a senior (9yrs) that seemed like a good fit from the listing. They called me today and had a talk about its health and there were a few important things they didn't put on the listing. Basically 3 things: he's obese (22.5 lbs when he should be 15-16), FIV+, and has mild arthritis which they're prescribing some 2x daily pain meds and joint supplements. In the vet notes I also saw he's got some dental disease but I don't know to what extent. I guess the plus side is that they noted he's extremely friendly, so probably not in too much pain. I'm talking to the shelter's vet on the 15th but the dental exam is only on the 16th. I'm no stranger to weight loss and calorie counting so the obesity isn't that big of a deal to me (I figure 1 lb a month which is about 1-2% body weight / week). My concerns are the arthritis and FIV. I live alone and would be keeping the cat indoors only, but I'm still worried about him getting sick in the long term anyways and it getting very costly. Second is the arthritis pain meds he will already get, though I'm not sure if they need will go away when he's at a healthy weight. Am I in over my head with considering this kind of cat? I'm figuring that the arthritis is pretty common in older cats, obesity can be fixed, and FIV isn't a death sentence, but the combo of all three may just not be a good idea for me. I'm not sure if I need a push to go for it or if these are all red flags. After all it's not as if I'm caring for the cat already, I can just choose to adopt a different cat instead.
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Dec 12, 2020 09:58
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I'd suggest going for a younger adult without many health problems if this is your first time, especially if you didn't grow up with cats or don't have much experience living with one. Maybe like between 3-5? That way they're calmed down from kitten arsehole stage but you'll have a chance to get to know them properly before they start needing serious senior cat care. You might be discounting the amount of effort involved in dealing with those kinds of problems - the first things that spring to mind are that obese cats on a diet can be extremely food-obsessed which leads to attention-seeking behaviour, waking you up at all hours, yelling at you when you're trying to relax, stealing everything edible they can reach etc and most cats can be difficult to give pills to without experience. It is also all going to be expensive. So I dunno, nothing wrong with meeting the cat (pandemic permitting) or at least asking a few more questions about how he is to live with, but if I were a cat beginner I'd want to go for an easier first cat.
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Dec 12, 2020 12:04
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 Kimchi & Katya update: they’re not quite relaxed around each other but supervised feeding and play-time is going well, I think. They are definitely testing each other’s boundaries by chasing and pouncing which occasionally ends with someone getting upset and hissing/puffing up. We’re giving them as much time as they need though.
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Dec 12, 2020 13:41
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Organza Quiz posted:I'd suggest going for a younger adult without many health problems if this is your first time, especially if you didn't grow up with cats or don't have much experience living with one. Maybe like between 3-5? That way they're calmed down from kitten arsehole stage but you'll have a chance to get to know them properly before they start needing serious senior cat care. You might be discounting the amount of effort involved in dealing with those kinds of problems - the first things that spring to mind are that obese cats on a diet can be extremely food-obsessed which leads to attention-seeking behaviour, waking you up at all hours, yelling at you when you're trying to relax, stealing everything edible they can reach etc and most cats can be difficult to give pills to without experience. It is also all going to be expensive. I concurr. Its awesome you're willing to take in an older kitty but your concerns are very valid. As a first timer myself, I was adopted by a 3 year old and it has been very great. Its good to cut your teeth on a lower maintenance pet. The young adult spot is very good for first time butlers since by that point their personality is mostly set, and as said, they're out of the kitten stage so chilled out a bit. If you possibly can, look into bonded pairs since they're harder for shelters to adopt out. You get 2 kitties who are already superfriends and play with each other and taking care of two is not much more work than one, other than double the vet bills. Even with one, pet insurance is recommended and as an aside, it never covers pre-existing conditions so even if you got it for older cat, they would hardly cover anything.
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Dec 12, 2020 18:09
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Thanks for the input. That's kind of what I've been figuring. I figure I can just wait and talk to the vet and see if there are any more surprises as well first too. I don't feel too bad about potentially saying no to this cat since after all none of these medical issues (except maybe the weight, though he didn't look that yuge in the pictures) were disclosed on the initial listing. Can't exactly meet the cat before unfortunately due to the pandemic - basically no shelters/rescues around here are allowing in-person visits unless it's somewhere like a Petco adoption.
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Dec 12, 2020 19:12
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