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Alternatively stick the post right next to the chair, like 3 in away instead of 3 ft, and treat him for using the post. Scoot the chair away when he tries to scratch it, and either cover the chair with something or move it to a room he can't get to when you're not around to supervise. He may eventually settle on the post alone since that's what gets him treats. He however may also decide that no gently caress you I wanna scratch that drat chair and there's not a drat thing you can do to stop me, and if that's the case than there really isn't a drat thing you can do to stop him. Cats are assholes.
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Aug 15, 2018 19:16
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Any advice for getting my cat to stop freaking the hell out every time I try to put her in her harness? I'm getting sick of having to close every possible escape avenue and backing her into a corner to force it on through scratching and hissing. Some background, I've had her for about two years now. She was a stray when the shelter picked her up, but she was sweet with the handlers so instead of releasing her after being fixed they kept her for adoption (hence the clipped ear). She's warmed up to me a lot and loves pets and treats and play, but she absolutely refuses to be handled beyond simple petting. She throws a fit if I pick her up. Throws a fit if I even touch her belly in any fashion. I've entirely given up on brushing her teeth, because all the treats and petting and patience in the world has done nothing to stop her from hissing and biting the poo poo out of me if I try to manipulate her mouth to brush. Thing is I live in a fairly small place and I can tell she's starting to get pretty bored, so I want to get her on a harness so I can take her outside into the yard for small bursts so she has some outdoor time. Every time I try to get her into the harness though it's loving agony. She's not afraid of the harness itself: I've conditioned her to like it via treats and she'll walk up to it and sniff it and even rub against it. The second I try to put it on her though, she slinks away to the nearest hiding spot, which again plays back into the "refuses to be handled in any fashion" problem I guess. Cat tax for my rant:    
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Oct 19, 2018 17:52
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Well at a minimum I still need to stick her in the harness once a year when I take her to my parents' place for Christmas, since TSA insists on making me take her out of the carrier so they X-Ray it.  The cycling toys thing sort of works and sort of doesn't, but she's mesmerized by string so as long as I swap out the color/texture of said string occasionally she chases it a lot. It seems like a lot of toys are predicated on being catnip infused, but as far as I can tell she's not affected by the stuff at all. She seems to like silvervine but it's still not that strong a reaction. Also she has a bird feeder outside my bedroom window. She likes to sit in the windowsill and chirp at them. 
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Oct 19, 2018 18:15
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Organza Quiz posted:Is it the strappy kind of harness or a coat kind of harness? If it's the former, try one of the latter, it's much more pleasant for them to wear. Not sure what you mean by a coat kind. This is the one I got her.
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Oct 20, 2018 22:49
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Deviant posted:aint no way i'm risking buying a $200 cat wheel and having them not use it Yeah I've already been burned to the tune of a couple hundred dollars on cat things the cat was either completely uninterested in or was only interested in for like 5 minutes before being bored with it forever. All she gets now are cheap toys, lots of string, and the occasional DIY project for her to climb on.
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Oct 22, 2018 21:14
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My cat is 100% indoors and that didn't stop her from getting absolutely infested with fleas early last year, something I as a new pet owner didn't really understand was happening until they were all over the house and my ankles were a mess of bites. Took a solid 3 months to fully get them out of the house, and my cat was miserable the whole time. Fleas are assholes and they can get into your house in a ton of ways and spread like wildfire, so a topical is a good idea. FWIW my vet recommended me Paradyne as a better (and less risky for the Cat's health) alternative to Revolution, and it's been phenomenal in the going on two years I've been applying it now. It's a little expensive though: about $135 for a six month's supply. That said you only have to apply it once a month, it's pretty quick and painless to do so yourself, and it's kept my house flea free to date.
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Oct 31, 2018 18:43
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a) Try changing the litter. The thread commonly recommends Cat Attract as magical fairy dust that cats literally cannot resist pooping on, give it a whirl. b) If the spots she's pooping in are consistent, clean them thoroughly with an enzyme cleaner. Sometimes even if nothing is wrong once a place smells like a nice place to relieve, cats will continue to do so there. c) Take her to a vet and explain what's happening. They can run tests and see if something is genuinely wrong. Cats are loving stupid and if it hurts to piss/poop they'll assume it's the place and not them, and go try elsewhere until the pain stops. Brain the size of a walnut, etc.
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Nov 1, 2018 04:29
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LifeLynx posted:I'm surprised at my cat's memory. I neglected his flea medicine for a few months and he got fleas, so I put some flea medicine on him. Of course it didn't eliminate the fleas, but it stopped them from living on him. A month later (and after a few goes with the scary vacuum) I go to put it on him again, and as soon as he sees the silver wrapper he starts flinching and backing away. My poor feline son, too smart to live in blissful ignorance. At least he's good about me putting it on him. Procedure for giving my cat her topical flea medication: 1. Lead her into my bedroom. 2. Close all doors leading out of the bedroom. 3. Close the closet doors. 4. Fold up her cat tube and put it somewhere out of reach. 5. Put pillow up on her cat shelves so she can't jump up there. 6. Grab the topical, at which point she runs away into a corner. 7. Ignore her hissing and scratching and apply. Half the time she runs away to another part of the room and I have to apply it in two doses. 8. Undo everything and shower her with treats that she ignores for 30 minutes to an hour before she gets over her grudge and trusts me again. loving cats.
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Nov 6, 2018 06:15
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Boogalo posted:Sadly, the Pawbot is not available yet lol that thing is 100% guaranteed to break in a week.
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Nov 15, 2018 19:32
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Yay  Is he responding to visual stimuli again? It looks like it in the video but cats gonna cat and for all I know he's still just following his nose.
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Nov 30, 2018 22:51
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Organza Quiz posted:Leave the carrier out somewhere frequented by cat, give her treats in it, play with her around it and in it, then when you need her to go in you just throw a treat in there and done.  Mel is going coming with me to my parent's place for Christmas, so a few days I ago I put out the carrier so I could begin the weeks long process of getting her to trust it again. She's still suspcisous and will only enter it to get treats if I'm far enough away that she knows I can't zip it up on her, but we'll get there. Every year she finally chills out just in time for me to stuff her in it and make her hate it again for another year.
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Dec 7, 2018 16:29
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FlyTB20C posted:How does Mel handle being at an unfamiliar house for the trip? My boyfriend has it in his head that we'll just take Kits with us to his parents but a) it's a 7 hour drive; and b) I don't want her to get all freaked out being thrown in an unfamiliar house for a week [and secret c) I'm pretty sure someone will let her out of the house and I'll never see her again]. The first year she was very scared: spent almost a full week hiding in the room I slept in at my parent's place and only venturing out from under the covers to eat/use the litter box in short bursts at night when my family was asleep and not making noise. She finally got brave enough to venture out of the room after that, and by the time I left she was wandering around as normal. The next year she was scared for maybe only a day, but seemed to remember both the house and my family and so she quickly went back to being her usual self. Hoping for similar long term memory gains this year. As for traveling, you're somewhat lucky in that you're driving. You can put her carrier in the trunk with a small litter box and a bit of food, and once she's in unzip it so she can use them as needed. She still probably isn't going to be thrilled, but that's just cats catting. They hate any kind of change to their environment so travel is always a pain unless you do it very regularly. One thing I've definitely noticed helps me when flying with my cat is bringing a towel to throw over her carrier once I'm seated, which removes the stress of unfamiliar visual stimuli and seems to calm her somewhat.
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Dec 7, 2018 17:14
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Meanwhile Mel refuses to have a permanent sleeping space and flat out ignored the cat beds I've variously tried to get her to use. Instead whenever she wants to sleep she apparently rolls some dice to determine between: 1. Her old carrier 2. The cardboard box in my room with a blanket laid in it. 3. The cardboard box in the living room without a blanket laid in it. 4. My bed, she'll curl up with me if I'm sleeping but if not and she decides she wants to sleep there, she meows nonstop until I wrap her up in the blankets 5. Her cat shelf 6. One specific chair under the dining room table, no other chair will do and it specifically has to be pushed in, otherwise commence the meowing 7. In front of the vent, either if I have the heat on or she's cold and wants me to turn the heat on 8. In front of the master bedroom closet, no idea why this spot specifically but she'll just splay out on the carpet and sleep for hours Cats are weird. Cat tax of scenario 4b: 
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Dec 11, 2018 21:11
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Any advice on helping cats get over their idiot grudges? Two of my heaviest workload toys: the cat fishing rod and cat charmer, have been all but shelved since across two freak days of play Mel managed to: 1. Get herself tied up in her fishing rod, at which point she tore rear end through the house trying to dislodge it, making things worse until after about an hour I was finally able to get to her hiding spot deep under the couch and get it off her. 2. While playing with the cat charmer, spin around without looking and smack her head right into the side of the entertainment center. Took her to the vet immediately after Annath's horror stories about cat head trauma and she's fine, but apparently the whole episode is the cat charmer's fault in her book. Now if I bring either toy out, she immediately bolts to her designated scaredy cat spot and won't come out for 20-30 minutes. I have other toys, but these two were relatively easy methods of giving her a quality workout and it would be nice to have them back. Would leaving them laying out with treats around them eventually work? I'm just afraid as soon as I actually try to use either for play she'd just go back to running away.
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Dec 17, 2018 19:04
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DrHammond posted:All the high tech gizmos and gadgets, spinny butterflies, automated string flickers, IOT laser pointers, motorized mice...
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Dec 18, 2018 02:14
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I'm envious, my cat would claw the poo poo out of me if I so much as tried to hold one of her paws, let alone kneed the claws out and put poo poo on them. The joys of having an ex-stray who didn't get comfortable with being handled as a kitten.
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Dec 19, 2018 18:45
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My cat hates soft things. If given a choice between a box with a soft blanket in it, or a plain box, she sleeps in the box. I have an old blanket made out of rough/scratchy cloth, and she loving loves it and constantly cuddles up with it. It's made it impossible to find a cat bed for her, because they're all made to be as warm and soft as possible and she hates that poo poo. Cats.txt
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Jan 4, 2019 00:14
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If I've learned anything in three years of cat ownership, it is that there is no stronger cat attraction material on the planet than an empty cardboard box. I'm at work but otherwise I'd post a dozen pictures of Mel in a dozen different boxes throughout the house. I bought a new pair of running shoes over the weekend and sure enough this morning I got up and there she is sleeping in the still tissue-paper lined shoebox.
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Jan 23, 2019 23:37
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Jan 24, 2019 03:40
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Mel had her annual checkup, informed she is chunky enough that I need to help her lose some weight. Was also told that to facilitate this, I should switch her back to wet food. The search begins for a wet food she'll actually loving eat. I've tried all the tricks (microwaving, mixing a little dry in) and several different brands but all she does is sniff it, lick up the liquid on top, and then meow at me to feed her something she actually wants. Cats. 
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Jan 31, 2019 04:55
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ILL Machina posted:Once she figures out it's edible (forced tasting, eventual giving in) it's just a matter of starving her until she caves, honestly. That or she starts to eat you in your sleep. Switching food is hard, though, and gradually mixing during a slow transition is a good strat. Good luck! I had her on wet food a little over a year ago, but switched her to dry for a variety of reasons. Mostly because it was easier/cheaper. She obviously started to fatten up as a result though. She's not happy about transitioning back to wet food and is apparently giving my roommate hell when I'm at work trying to coerce him into giving her dry food and/or treats. The other problem is that she really wants to graze. Even when I was regularly feeding her wet food, she'd eat a couple mouthfuls when I fed her, then leave the wet food in her bowl for hours to occasionally snack on. If I cleaned out her bowl to try and prevent this, she'd just stand by her bowl and meow sadly for loving hours. Once again, cats. I probably shouldn't be surprised given how independent-minded she is as a former stray, but it bugs me when it becomes something that's actively impeding her health.
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Jan 31, 2019 08:37
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Ditto. I keep Mel's food in a cabinet under my bathroom sink, and if I so much as bump the door she comes dashing over from wherever she is to jump up on the counter and do her "feed me!" routine. When I'm actually feeding her she also really likes to nuzzle the food cans, which actually delays the process of feeding her because I can't open the drat can and pour it in her bowl when she's too busy cuddling it. Wet food update: finally found a food she seems to really like and is also relatively cheap on Amazon, so I'll go with it for now. Wet is still a huge pain in the rear end compared to dry and it means I have to deal with her fits of hunger at the bowl instead of just letting her graze, but doctor's order and all.
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Feb 4, 2019 20:25
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Only advice I've seen that sounded sensible was to make sure the puppy is leashed during early introductions. The puppy will more likely than not be curious and want to get up in your cats' business, while your cats will probably be very leery and might freak out if they feel like they can't get away from the dog. Let them approach the pup on their own terms.
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Feb 8, 2019 22:36
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https://i.imgur.com/5ILYqC9.mp4
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Feb 12, 2019 19:32
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Infinitum posted:Have you tried investing in a red dot? My cat refuses to chase a laser pointer for more than a couple seconds. She sees the dot and goes straight for it, but once I move it she just kinda stares at it from a distance and refuses to do anything but half-heartedly swat at it if I bring it close to her again. I've tried waiting her out but she just loses all interest after the initial spotting. She loving loves string though. Of course that love extends to actively trying to eat it if I leave her alone with it for even a nano second, and I've had a few scares where I've realized she'd managed to eat some string while my back was turned and I had to watch her like a hawk for the rest of the day for signs of intestinal blockage. Cats are lucky they're cute because they're a pain in the rear end.
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Feb 21, 2019 19:14
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So the caveat to all of this is that sometimes, cats are just going to cat. If the cat wants to scream its head off at 5AM on the regular, sometimes there's just not much you can do. With that in mind, here's some common stuff the thread generally recommends: 1. Get an automatic feeder. The cat will learn pretty quickly that the feeder controls meal times, not you, and so will stop trying to wake you up for food. 2. Don't let the cat associate humans waking up with getting food immediately, or even soonish after. Get up, brush your teeth, make some coffee, etc. Go through your entire morning routine, and then just as you're about to walk out the door for work, feed the cat. This works even better if there's something you always do prior to feeding the cat, so she associates that activity with getting fed instead of you waking up. What I've done is made it so she knows she doesn't get fed until I've finished making a cup of coffee, which is about ~15-20 minutes after I've woken up. Mel will sit patiently in the corner as I fade through other morning stuff, but as soon as I've got coffee in hand and am walking back in from the kitchen she's all over me and circling her food bowl like a shark. 3. Assuming you have the time, exercise the poo poo out of your cat before you go to bed. Chase her around, make her run a lot chasing toys, etc. If you exhaust her just before bed time, and occasionally interrupt her daytime naps to play, she'll sleep through more the night and may be less hyper around dawn. 4. If all else fails, you can forego meal times entirely and just let her be a grazer, so there's never a need to beg. Be really careful with this one though, since grazing isn't particularly good for cat health in general and, if you're not careful, your cat can get overweight in a hurry if you fall in to letting them dictate the pace at which their bowl is refilled.
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Feb 22, 2019 16:00
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Beo posted:Hey guys I went to the shelter today and adopted a cat and I am setting up my house for when it comes home next week after being spayed. This was my exact situation when I adopted mine. Eventually settled on bedroom + providing a nice dark space in the form of an empty lower shelf on the TV stand for her to hide in until she was ready to venture out. Just make sure she's got a place to hide and is in close proximity to food/water/litterbox, preferably in visual range. Also don't leave the cat around unsupervised with the door to the wider house open. e. Mel under the shelf day one, it would only be a few hours later that I'd be trying to sleep and she'd be curiously wandering around my bedroom knocking poo poo over and waking me up. 
Sydin fucked around with this message at 02:10 on Feb 24, 2019 |
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Feb 24, 2019 02:06
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Dry food is incredibly calorie dense. My general advice is that if you're going to feed dry, then don't trust the portion instructions on the package at all. If it says your cat needs a 1/2 cup, they probably need close to 1/3 or even 1/4. Also be really careful about letting cats graze on dry; it's really easy to just fall into a habit of filling the bowl up whenever it's empty and losing track of how much your cats are really eating per day, which can lead to obesity in a hurry. I did this with Mel for a little under two years, and it got to the point that at her annual vet visit I was told she'd gotten too chunky. I've since switched back to wet which is far more annoying for me personally, but easier to control the cat's weight.
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Mar 4, 2019 19:20
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Here are a couple grain cat foods that are also good for urinary tract health. DISCLAIMER: Health > Dandruff, and if the current food was prescribed by your vet then make sure you double check with them before switching to anything else.
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Mar 10, 2019 03:23
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Might be worth a shot then. Foods with high amounts of grain filler absolutely play hell with cat skin health, so even if it's not the only cause the dandruff should go way down with a grain free diet. Also do you brush your cat regularly? The Furminator is a goddamn miracle device.
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Mar 10, 2019 03:28
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Also if you haven't already call up every animal shelter and cat adoption org in the area. My next door neighbor's cat got out somehow last year and subsequently turned up at a nearby shelter because somebody found him and dropped him off.
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Mar 11, 2019 17:56
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Those are some cute as gently caress kittens InvisibleMonkey posted:Mine will sit in front of the door looking forlorn when I leave for work and runs squeaking when one of us returns. It worried us at first, even though we haven't been gone longer than a day so far, but I think the toys and treat-ball help a lot. It's probably different when you have multiple cats tho, we're already planning on getting her a buddy when we move to a bigger place someday. This is my life. Sad stare every morning when I leave for work, as soon as I walk in the door coming home Mel is right there, leads me to the couch in my bedroom, jumps on top of it, and starts relentlessly headbutting me until I pet and treat her. Not that I mind.
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Mar 15, 2019 00:02
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pahuyuth posted:Well you will be happy to know that at present they are not biting her and are in fact sleepinz in a cute little cuddle puddle smile pile
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Mar 17, 2019 09:06
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Cats smell. Their food smells. Their breath smells. Their poo poo smells. Sometimes they fart and that smells. They also intentionally produce scent pheromones that they rub on anything they consider theirs, which is about 99.95% of the things in your house including you. If you don't want your house to smell like cat, don't own a cat.
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Mar 21, 2019 17:47
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I'm so numb to it at this point that I don't even notice it after being away all day for work. It's only after I'm out of the house for a week or more that I actually notice a big ol' wiff of cat stink upon entering the house. Oh, and when Mel farts. She doesn't do it often but holy poo poo when she does the room is essentially uninhabitable for an hour.
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Mar 21, 2019 18:35
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InvisibleMonkey posted:Update: she's got ear-mites. Probably from the shelter or the Romanian garbage-dump she was living in before that. She got some ear-drops that she HATED and we have to administer them two more times, not looking forward to that but I hope it kills them because seeing her all uncomfortable and itchy breaks my heart. Haha, I know that feeling. I give Mel a topical flea treatment every month after she got completely infested in 2017 despite being a 100% indoor cat, and turned my house into a flea nest for a couple months. You'd think after almost two years of it she'd get used to it, but no: every month it's the same hissing and scratching and running away routine. I essentially have to get her into a room, close off all exits and potential hiding spots, chase her into a corner, and firmly hold her in place for the oh-so-painful three second process of sticking a dropper up to the back of her neck and squeezing. 
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Mar 22, 2019 19:10
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Just call your vet and ask about it. If it's a problem that it appears to be opening they'll tell you.
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Apr 4, 2019 22:17
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GenericGirlName posted:My cat would probably have a meltdown if he couldn't dig all the way to the plastic before peeing.
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Apr 9, 2019 19:54
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Maybe I'm just broken but I don't understand spending hundreds of dollars to save myself 2-3 minutes a day. Scooping the box twice a day is just part of my routine now and it's not even that intrusive of a part. 
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Apr 25, 2019 18:33
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| # ¿ Apr 19, 2024 17:57 |
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Ah, that's not fun then. My cat isn't particularly picky about the conditions of the litter box. The only time was when I was bedridden for a couple days with the flu and kept forgetting to scoop the box, but even then she didn't just go on the floor. Instead she came over and meowed at me incessantly a led me over to her box, then plopped down and meowed more. Soon as I scooped it she jumped in and used it. 
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Apr 25, 2019 19:03
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