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My old man cat (~16y) is still going strong, but he's got in the habit of cleaning excessively around the base of his tail on both side. This is causing clumps and mats to form. He's perfectly fine letting me untangle him with the furminator or my hands, but I'm thinking what he really needs is a shave. Any thoughts why I shouldn't? He's indoor only and the temp is always between 71º-76º, so he's not going to freeze or anything.
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Dec 15, 2020 23:38
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Jayne Doe posted:Oh man, I'm such a rule-following dweeb that this honestly never occurred to me. They wouldn't even know that it was my doing, because the building changed owners while I was living here and (a) the first owner never did a written condition report and (b) the current owner didn't bother inspecting the occupied units. So they'd just assume it was some hacked together maintenance from the first owner, as usual. What I'm hearing is that the current owners have no way to prove it was you that installed a hot tub in every room of your apartment. Go hog wild
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Dec 16, 2020 01:28
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poolside toaster posted:My old man cat (~16y) is still going strong, but he's got in the habit of cleaning excessively around the base of his tail on both side. This is causing clumps and mats to form.
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Dec 16, 2020 15:59
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 countdown until Katya hisses Kimchi away, but omg
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Dec 16, 2020 18:41
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Hello Sailor posted:What I'm hearing is that the current owners have no way to prove it was you that installed a hot tub in every room of your apartment. Go hog wild Katya and Kimchi are SO CUTE together. 
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Dec 16, 2020 21:48
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So my black, furry, evil cat has adopted another family and apparently had no interest in returning home, happy enough to see me but went back to their house immediately when she was able to. Meaning I am now seeking a kitten or two in order to keep her sister company and... Wow, apparently cats are in SUPER high demand right now. There are literally no kittens available in shelters and regular random moggies sell for at minimum £250 online. I am going to try to get maine coons or something because if I am going to have to pay out hundreds for a cat I might as well get cool giant cats.
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Dec 17, 2020 16:32
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Ever had a cat suddenly become averse to a food they've been eating for months? I took in a stray in October and he's been eating Royal Canin dry with the other cats just fine. Last night I'm trying to go to sleep and hear a weird noise and he's batting at the food bowl like there's a bug in it, so I get up to look and there's nothing. Figured "Whatever, cats are weird man" and went to sleep. Woke up today and he was still doing it, so I washed all the bowls and put fresh food in them. He turns his nose up and meows at me. He's clearly got an appetite. He's eaten wet food, Greenies, and some old Acana I had in the closet. He just suddenly hates the food he's been eating for two months? Edit: Well I saw him eat a piece of it off the floor so I put a few more pieces on the floor that he ate and then he just started chowing out of the bowl. So I guess my initial assessment was correct. Cats are loving weird, man. Shroomie fucked around with this message at 05:56 on Dec 18, 2020 |
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Dec 17, 2020 19:13
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Patrat posted:So my black, furry, evil cat has adopted another family and apparently had no interest in returning home, happy enough to see me but went back to their house immediately when she was able to. Please send your demand our way, we want to find our guys homes but nobody is interested by the time you change over from "weeks" of age to "months" or "years". The sad reality of shelters I guess.
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Dec 18, 2020 00:15
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Shroomie posted:Ever had a cat suddenly become averse to a food they've been eating for months? Unrelated: does anyone have a specific laser pointer they'd recommend that can be purchased online? All the ones on Amazon have terrible reviews or have "ULTRA-TACTICAL WARRIOR LASER" marketing.
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Dec 18, 2020 05:11
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Patrat posted:So my black, furry, evil cat has adopted another family and apparently had no interest in returning home, happy enough to see me but went back to their house immediately when she was able to. I think it might be easier to find a kitten in summer, because that's when cats have lots of kittens. The people who sell kittens online might also be trying to market them as a Christmas gift right now and have a higher price for that reason. In my experience, in spring cats were rare and pricy, and in summer the number of people advertising their accidental kittens shot up by a lot.
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Dec 18, 2020 09:23
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There's a kitten shortage in my area because so many people have been getting pets to give for Christmas. A KITTEN SHORTAGE.
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Dec 18, 2020 10:32
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How do I tell if my long hair cat is fat or just fluffy? When I look at her she's certainly a 7+ on the fat cat chart, but when I pat her hair down she's much smaller.
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Dec 18, 2020 12:20
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pidan posted:I think it might be easier to find a kitten in summer, because that's when cats have lots of kittens. The people who sell kittens online might also be trying to market them as a Christmas gift right now and have a higher price for that reason. This sounds accurate but I ideally want a kitten or two in the next few weeks because Artemis is getting desperately lonely every time I leave the house and basically spends most of the time she cannot be sat directly atop of me crying. That... Kind of works right now given with Covid I am working from home, but even then she gets super distressed even when I go shopping for an hour. Unfortunately she is also a complete coward and I am fairly sure that if I were to bring in an adult cat she would just hide atop the wardrobe in terror 24/7. Fortunately I can afford it but I suspect a lot of the 'price hike' is due to Covid and people finding that they now work from home and similar, dogs in particular have literally tripled in price compared to a year ago.
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Dec 18, 2020 13:33
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Fleta Mcgurn posted:There's a kitten shortage in my area because so many people have been getting pets to give for Christmas. A KITTEN SHORTAGE. That may well be a phrase I've never heard before. Patrat posted:This sounds accurate but I ideally want a kitten or two in the next few weeks because Artemis is getting desperately lonely every time I leave the house and basically spends most of the time she cannot be sat directly atop of me crying. That... Kind of works right now given with Covid I am working from home, but even then she gets super distressed even when I go shopping for an hour. Unfortunately she is also a complete coward and I am fairly sure that if I were to bring in an adult cat she would just hide atop the wardrobe in terror 24/7. Where on earth are you guys going that adoption costs have spiked? Breeders? Ours haven't changed at all and we're getting more adoptions the past few months than any other time since I've started working with this shelter. $75 flat fee, $25 for a companion with them, includes all the vet coverage. As far as I was aware this is pretty standard for shelters and none of the others we occasionally work with/direct people to have reported fee increases. (Except the Humane Society, and gently caress the Humane Society at least in my region, no empathy for the animals in their care in the slightest.) Kitten tax, newcomers not yet spayed/neutered and already lined up for adoption before they even made it back to the cat rooms. (edit: before "wow kittens in cages cruel" that I've seen elsewhere, under normal circumstances kittens go into cat condos with 2-3 separate rooms and the crates are treated as overflow. Ongoing remodeling has a few hall cats in condos instead and several of the large ones are in use for medical issues that need monitoring and/or isolation, so we hit overflow early. Kittens spend a couple of weeks in these tops and only if they don't have foster lined up.) 
SkyeAuroline fucked around with this message at 16:38 on Dec 18, 2020 |
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Dec 18, 2020 16:34
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We adopted from a municipal shelter in the boonies and they were still doing their 2-for-1 adoption deal so we got our two kittens for $60. As of a couple months ago they had plenty of kittens up for adoption and plenty of adult cats as well, but this was an area with a cat surplus due to it being rural and everyone having unfixed barn cats running around. Seems that purebred kittens are in high demand and up in price. My sister and her boyfriend are interested in golden British shorthairs and she was shocked by how expensive they were. Also there has been a huge uptick in scams around the purchase of kittens and puppies - read an article about it the other day. Takeaway is to carefully vet the breeder/seller and not agree to pay in full until the kitten is delivered. Unrelated, but I think I’m going to take the plunge and buy a Litter Robot. I am tired of the kittens taking atomic shits, not burying them, and then stepping in them and getting poop on the carpet. Yes, there was an incident yesterday. Would anyone like to share a referral code?
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Dec 18, 2020 17:02
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Fleta Mcgurn posted:There's a kitten shortage in my area because so many people have been getting pets to give for Christmas. A KITTEN SHORTAGE. I'm sure a week after Christmas there will be a lot of gently used kittens back up for adoption. 
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Dec 18, 2020 18:01
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Queen Victorian posted:
Here ya go http://share.litter-robot.com/TFnCs
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Dec 18, 2020 18:07
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They're stupid expensive but I haven't had to scoop poop in months, my apartment smells better, and the cats have a better quality of life
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Dec 18, 2020 18:24
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i want a litter robot, but when you start talking about cats + 1 boxes it becomes ooof
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Dec 18, 2020 18:30
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I couldn't find any kittens in the shelters either, it's not kitten season anyway but I've heard similar things about puppy-training classes being full up because of Covid. In the end I waded through a lot of horrible gumtree/craig's list-esque ads for expensive home-bred cats until I found a farmer family with one last kitten up for adoption. We would have given up until spring/summer otherwise, I don't want to support breeders but a kitten just seemed like the right choice for our resident cat.  Baby Kimchi is turning into a sassy little girl and tonight will be the first night she sleeps outside of her safe room, fingers crossed!
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Dec 18, 2020 18:58
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Deviant posted:i want a litter robot, but when you start talking about cats + 1 boxes it becomes ooof I thought one litter robot was enough for like 3 cats since it's always clean? Now that we have two cats and I've already painstakingly hid and built 2 non-intrusive litter-boxes, I'm also biding my time until I can convince my partner to get a litter robot tbh.
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Dec 18, 2020 19:00
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Deviant posted:i want a litter robot, but when you start talking about cats + 1 boxes it becomes ooof We have one for 3 cats and it works fantastic. We empty the tray about every 4 days.
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Dec 18, 2020 19:11
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It should be easy to sell someone on a litter robot. Imagine how many times you've scooped poo poo into a bag over the years. Now imagine never having to do that ever again. If you can hack the $500 its a deal, IMO. 1 for 2-3 cats should be fine. I have 2 small idiots and empty it once a week+ or so. I finally got one recently after injuring myself and not being able to physically scoop poop. I'm better now and the box is great. Get the wifi one it'll ping your phone when its full so you can just completely forget the thing exists for days to a week at a time. The big accessory bundle was a pretty good deal on sale
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Dec 18, 2020 19:15
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Coming up on 2 years since I've owned the litter robot, it's still the best cat-related purchase I've ever made (not counting the adoption fee!)
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Dec 18, 2020 19:17
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Just two and ours is fine. It usually needs emptied on Saturday or Sunday
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Dec 18, 2020 20:06
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How much vertical clearance does it need? I've thought about getting one but the place where Sweetheart's box is right now is basically like half an inch taller than the listed dimensions on the website and I worry.
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Dec 18, 2020 20:14
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Thanks!
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Dec 18, 2020 21:01
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Kyrosiris posted:How much vertical clearance does it need? I've thought about getting one but the place where Sweetheart's box is right now is basically like half an inch taller than the listed dimensions on the website and I worry. It’s just about 31 inches. It’s literally the best thing ever. Except that one of my cats likes to watch it every drat time and will on occasion swipe poop out as it’s falling down the chute...
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Dec 18, 2020 21:35
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The shortage of kittens is due to COVID, not Christmas. Fosters keep running out of inventory, which is great
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Dec 19, 2020 07:07
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I blame the chickens.
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Dec 19, 2020 07:23
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My white cat found some white tissue paper and thinks it makes him invisible. He has been using it as his base of operations for hunting us
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Dec 19, 2020 14:46
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I made the mistake of showing my partner the litter robot on their euro site and he saw the price and shut it down, lol. Tbf, it's like a 100 dollars more expensive. 😬
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Dec 19, 2020 15:44
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So here we have exhibit a, aka Bug. Cy-Bug to be precise. Disney princess white fluffy kitten-sized cat of six years. Has enough behavior issues to give Nat geo a run for their money (she peed to mark her territory in a lot of the house; after some expensive vet visits, they determined she in fact was fine, no UTI, nothing bad in bloodwork, etc). A week ago she got a bit of a wet eye, so we got her the eye drops from the vet, and a few days later the ointment, since the drops sent her into a screaming panic. All things okay. And then there was a smudge of runny poop by the litter boxes in the living room. Okay, sometimes someone has a little left over. But then today, and two days ago, the runny soft-serve was just in my room, where I gated Bug in there only (after she got nasty with another cat). So it's clearly her doing it. But I don't know why. her diet hasn't changed, the cats in the house have not changed (the cat she attacked is actually a foster kitten who is not allowed in 'her' room, my bedroom), and she is acting fine, other than what appeared to be a bad litter box trip where she needed a bath Thursday night. Her eyes are clear, she's sassy and wanting to play, but the vet is full for the next few days, and while there were no messes overnight, today she had two small melted soft serve drops on the towels I put down. No signs of worms or anything in the poop. Usually for a cat like this, we'd mix pumpkin in with their wet food, but Bug only eats dry kibble. She refuses all wet food, all treats, anything but kibble, so I'm not sure if syringe-feeding some watery pumpkin will do any good.
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Dec 20, 2020 02:08
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I had to go on a trip to winterize a house for winter, I brought my fuzzball. She cried the entire way, seemed she hated the moving of the car. She was afraid at first, and hid She tried to hide more because more space=scary  Then she started to get used to The Couch  She discovered the window, but shunned the polyester bed I got her  When she found the bed, she finally settled in  She really got used to things after a week  Going home she really cried a lot and I had to pull over at a pitstop so she could stretch her legs.  So trip report. Cat cried the entire way, loves big new space. She ate all the bugs, spiders, and cobwebs. Gaj fucked around with this message at 02:51 on Dec 21, 2020 |
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Dec 21, 2020 02:45
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She was singing you the song of her people. It's a long sad song
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Dec 21, 2020 02:58
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Double post, I took this week off work 
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Dec 21, 2020 16:38
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kw0134 posted:Excessive grooming is a problem in of itself. There's no real problem with shaving a cat for grooming reasons, but you should address why he's going nuts there if you haven't already talked to your vet. Thanks, that's a great point! He's always been fastidious about his fur. In the past year or so, though, his fur has definitely changed texture and his coloring is fading... he's now a visibly older cat. My guess is that the texture change is really the cause of the increase in matting.
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Dec 21, 2020 18:31
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So I'm in a bit of a pickle, and I would like some advice from someone who isn't biased on the situation. My Sister and my Brother-in-Law got a cat two years ago. Actually, they had two and adopted two more, so this cat came with another from the shelter. Let's call him Muffin because I don't like the name they gave this cat. Muffin is a sweet and affectionate cat. However, he has some issues. He's declawed in the front for god knows what reason, I am led to believe he came this way from the shelter. He's 3 years old now, I believe, and he was adopted as a 1 year old catte with this other, younger kitten from the shelter. My sister has had cats her whole life. She's not an expert in their care, as most of the cats she has owned have been very low maintenance critters. That's fine, that's not a critique. Muffin is not a low maintenance cat. He frequently picked fights with other cats, so they locked him up in the baby's room. Oh, she has a 1 year old child at this point, but his room was converted to the cat's room. Now that the cat is out of the house, the kid has his room. We'll get back to that. Muffin needs attention badly, from people. But because of his unknown past and being locked up in a room for two years, he's incredibly shy and scared. Sister and Brother-in-Law are good-hearted people and love the cat, but could not get him to integrate at all with the other cats. They appealed to me for help, and after trying some feliway, re-introducing him to the other cats and more playtime with him alone there still wasn't a good solution. Muffin also bites. I'm not talking love nips or warning bites. I'm talking full-on, chomping bites with deep punctures that draw a lot of blood. He does this not when upset, but when he wants something, like food or attention. If you're not giving him what he wants, he bites hard, and then has learned he gets what he wants that way. This led to my Sister being afraid that he will bite her baby, and thus won't let him anywhere near the child. As such, I said if she has four cats and one isn't a good fit for their family, maybe they should rehome him. Sister and Brother-in-Law weren't happy with this, but reluctantly agreed to the idea. Recently my elderly Mother's cat passed away recently. That cat was also a shy shithead of a boy, and she helped him come out of his shell over the years and he led a really good life. Because Mom's experience with shy and shelter cats, I suggested that Sister ask if Mom will take in the cat. Mom reluctantly agreed. It's been about half a year now. At first things looked pretty swell. Mom's remaining cat bossed around Muffin, but outside of being shy and hiding in one room most of the time and being scared of my stepfather he seemed to be settling in well. Mom mentioned that he 'gets bitey' and she didn't like it but she seemed to be willing to work with him. Last week Muffin bit Mom hard enough in the leg and drew enough blood to have her bleed all over the floor, her clothes and take a while to bandage the wound with Stepdad's help. She was evidently on the toilet when Muffin came up to her, asked for attention and she refused, so he bit her. Mom is old, frail and still has a large wound from this encounter. Mom's established that she hates the cat, is terrified of him and purposefully hangs around Stepdad all the time now because Muffin is terrified of Stepdad, and that keeps her safe. She's expressed wanting to rehome him but Sister and Brother-in-Law are very upset about this and have come to me asking me to convince Mom to keep Muffin. I think Mom is in the right, but unfortunately they are pressuring me to Find The Solution since I was the one who suggested Mom take him in. This is partially why I feel bad - my solution has hurt my mother, and is not actually a solution. My suggestion was to take the cat back to the shelter he was adopted from but Mom refused, because she feels bad for my Sister. The family is calling for me to find him a good home and not a shelter (not even a great, no-kill shelter) and I am at a loss. I told my sister to stop pressuring Mom to keep a cat that she hates and is scared of, but Sister can't/won't take him back. I live in a small apartment with my roommate and we cannot take the cat in. Does anyone have any advice or ideas on how to handle this situation? I feel like the family is forcing me to find an answer to something that is ultimately something I cannot control, and the people who are in the position to do so simply will not because of family politics, and not based on what is good for the cat. I think the cat needs clicker training or bite training, and Mom is not strong-willed enough to do either. But I also don't want to appeal to my roommate to spend months on a cat for training only to give the cat back and have him be un-trained by Mom who will give in immediately if he fights back. Part of me is saying that I need to just remove myself from the situation, but another part of me is saying that I made this situation worse. I want to stand in for what's right for Muffin, who despite being a bitey piece of poo poo is a pretty swell cat when he isn't doing that one thing. What says the cat experts? Edit: I am correcting this to say these are not full deep puncture wounds as I originally stated. Upon reviewing the one bite I got from the cat and talking to family members, it's typically enough to draw blood, but not enough for hospital-level treatment. Chaosfeather fucked around with this message at 03:15 on Dec 22, 2020 |
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Dec 21, 2020 22:32
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That's rough, and an unfortunately predictable outcome when declawing a cat. The best recommendation I have is to find a home with a patient person where he'll be an only cat.
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Dec 21, 2020 22:43
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Rotten Red Rod posted:That's rough, and an unfortunately predictable outcome when declawing a cat. The best recommendation I have is to find a home with a patient person where he'll be an only cat. Alright, thank you for the advice. I didn't realize that declawing had yet another reason to be on my poo poo list, but I'll add it on there. I'll get to looking for a good home for Muffin that meets the criteria.
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Dec 21, 2020 23:16
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