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You did a good thing and that kitten was lucky you were the person who found her.
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# ? Sep 17, 2018 12:08 |
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# ? Jun 13, 2024 05:31 |
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You gave her a safe, quiet, warm place to rest. Her chances and comfort were multiplied by your kindness, thank you for caring for her.
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# ? Sep 17, 2018 12:26 |
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Thank you for helping her. If an animal is just not meant to be, what a gift it is to go with someone to see you off gently and with love and warmth.
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# ? Sep 17, 2018 12:59 |
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Thank you for being there. I'm so sorry. You did everything you could. Never doubt that.
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# ? Sep 17, 2018 15:23 |
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sorry things didn't work out in a more ideal way, but you are still a great person.
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# ? Sep 17, 2018 15:27 |
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I'm going to be moving in a few months and losing the cats I've taken care of for a few years. Because of this, I'm trying to decide whether or not I should start fostering or re-adopt the cat that I rehomed a couple of years ago with my mom. I would like to know if it is a stupid idea to try to do both. The reason why I think it might be a good idea is that the cat, Konstantina/Little Bit/the baby cat, gets along very well with other cats. She grew up with her mother and sister before she was rehomed, and has been consistently trying to make friends with my mom's cat. My mom's cat is more solitary, so that's why I want to take her, and I want to make sure that she has friends. However, I don't want to permanently adopt a cat without having some adjustment period. Though I think I might be coming at this with ignorance, I also think that if the cats didn't get along then I could at least be safe in the knowledge that the cat got a home that agreed with them. I can work from home. There are obvious flaws in this, and I want to know if they're as bad as I think they are. - I'm going to be living in a 1BR, though I would definitely have two litter boxes. - I can only home cats that can deal with other cats. This would limit me to adults, though I have impossible fantasies of the baby cat becoming the baby foster mom. - What if I find the baby cat a best friend and foster fail? What other issues am I not considering? Picture tax, baby cat:
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# ? Sep 19, 2018 03:08 |
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Crossposting from the Cat FAQ/Megathread.Dr. Gitmo Moneyson posted:The kittens have both been caught and are in a pet carrier with food, water, litter, and towels for bedding. They’re still scared but we’re hoping they’ll settle down soon. btw there’s now three kittens. also Dr. Gitmo Moneyson posted:Third kitten has been found and is now safe with its siblings. So I guess I’m looking for advice on adoption, finding good shelters, and how to make these little guys happy, healthy, and comfortable while they’re here. Also whether or not to catch the rest of the litter plus the mother before we take them all to a shelter, or if it’s okay to take them in separately. I. M. Gei fucked around with this message at 22:43 on Sep 21, 2018 |
# ? Sep 21, 2018 22:39 |
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hi you are doing fine how feral are they?
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# ? Sep 21, 2018 23:45 |
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Hi, I initially posted this in the cat faq thread but then I noticed on the newest page that there was a link to this thread and this thread seems like it'd be a better fit for this kind of question (my apologies if it isn't, though). Just gonna crosspost it. FirstAidKite posted:I apologize if this isn't really the right thread for this, but this is the only thread I could think of to ask this kind of question. I personally don't really know what else can be done outside of putting up some signs and eventually putting them up at a shelter if nobody asks about them, but I'd might as well ask some people who know what they're doing for advice instead of sitting around twiddling my thumbs.
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# ? Sep 22, 2018 07:18 |
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Dr. Gitmo Moneyson posted:So I guess I’m looking for advice on adoption, finding good shelters, and how to make these little guys happy, healthy, and comfortable while they’re here. Also whether or not to catch the rest of the litter plus the mother before we take them all to a shelter, or if it’s okay to take them in separately. It's actually better to keep them separated from their mom so they can be properly socialized in preparation for getting a new home. Google your nearest major city and either TNR, feral cats, or outdoor cats, and you should be able to find a group that'll help you find foster homes for them if you don't feel comfortable doing so yourself. PM me if you have trouble and I'll help look. Alternately, looking for no-kill rescues or cat-only rescues could help you find support. Any sort of rabbit hutch, dog crate, or small animal home can work to house them but even a large cardboard box will work if you don't have access or funds for the others. While you have them, get yourself some kitten chow and leave it and water available for them at all times. A quarter to half a can of wet food daily will help especially if they're not fully weaned yet. Clumping litter can be dangerous for small kittens, so give them a small box of the non-clumping kind -- they look old enough to know how to use it. Ideally, you would weigh them every day or two to make sure they're growing and if you're in touch with a rescue, they can be spayed/neutered when they weigh 2 pounds/1kg depending on your country. Debating making an effortpost for "help! I found kittens" to get linked around as needed. FirstAidKite posted:I apologize if this isn't really the right thread for this, but this is the only thread I could think of to ask this kind of question. No-kill and cat-only rescues will be your best bet since they're going to have experience with bonded groups. While it would be ideal for all three to go together, if they have to be split into 2+1 or by themselves, they will adjust with time and love in their new homes. Thank you for knowing your limits on how many you can afford to take care of at once.
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# ? Sep 23, 2018 07:13 |
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sneakyfrog posted:hi I’m not really sure. They were born outside; their parents are part of a group of stray (maybe feral or semi-feral?) cats that’ve taken up residence in our backyard. There’ve been stray cats living out there and having kittens for a few years now (we feed them and leave our garage open for them), but recently we heard a rumor that somebody in our neighborhood is trapping and shooting kitties, so now we’re trying to catch as many of them as we can to take them to shelters (or at least have them spayed/neutered). Anyway the kittens are all venturing out of their carrier now, they’re eating the food we’ve been giving them (both wet and dry, though they seem to prefer the wet) and using the makeshift litter box we made for them, but they’re still terrified of people. Any time I try to touch them they run, and at least one of them hisses at me whenever I get too close. I’m not sure how much longer they’ll be here but hopefully not too long. There’s a few more kittens outside that we’re still working on catching, but we’re not really sure how to do that since Mom caught these three by grabbing them off the kitchen windowsill and I don’t think the others have ever been up there. If anybody has any tips for trapping/catching kittens, I’m all ears. Lord Zedd-Repulsa posted:It's actually better to keep them separated from their mom so they can be properly socialized in preparation for getting a new home. Google your nearest major city and either TNR, feral cats, or outdoor cats, and you should be able to find a group that'll help you find foster homes for them if you don't feel comfortable doing so yourself. PM me if you have trouble and I'll help look. Alternately, looking for no-kill rescues or cat-only rescues could help you find support. We don’t have any Kitten Chow. We’ve been feeding them the same wet and dry food we feed our other cats because it’s what we have. We also don’t have any non-clumping litter, although our cats never had any problems with the clumping litter we buy when they were kittens. How is clumping litter dangerous for kittens? I’d love to read that effortpost if you ever get around to writing it. I need all the advice I can get. I. M. Gei fucked around with this message at 19:20 on Sep 24, 2018 |
# ? Sep 23, 2018 23:19 |
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Dr. Gitmo Moneyson posted:I’m not really sure. They were born outside; their parents are part of a group of stray (maybe feral or semi-feral?) cats that’ve taken up residence in our backyard. There’ve been stray cats living out there and having kittens for a few years now (we feed them and leave our garage open for them), but recently we heard a rumor that somebody in our neighborhood is trapping and shooting kitties, so now we’re trying to catch as many of them as we can to take them to shelters (or at least have them spayed/neutered). Ask at your local vet if there are any trap and release rescues in your area? If they are not able to come catch the colony they can probably loan you a humane trap to try for the kittens. Or you can buy them at places like Tractor Supply Company for not too much money.
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# ? Sep 24, 2018 00:59 |
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EDIT: Nevermind
I. M. Gei fucked around with this message at 08:56 on Sep 24, 2018 |
# ? Sep 24, 2018 08:46 |
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they sound pretty feral from your description. humane traps like for raccoons are your best bet canned tuna is a good bait. domesticating ferals is tricky but it can be done, it just takes a lot of time. the one we had that was feral is pretty friendly now but still will bolt at any sudden movements or loud noises, and will be basically invisible if anyone but me and the lady are around. Again with any rescue/shelter animal I recommend just occupying their space with a book and mostly ignoring them unless they start paying attention to you. maybe put the food bowl reasonably close to yourself just so they get used to your presence and that you are not a threat. don't try to grab them or pick them up or pet them until they express curiosity with you being calm and quiet around them.
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# ? Sep 24, 2018 15:02 |
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Kitten food is best because it has high protein to support their growth, but higher-quality adult food should work well enough. I believe the litter danger is that clumping litter can cause intestinal blockages if kittens accidentally eat some. I've only heard the warning from the people who ran the local TNR group that I helped out so I'm not 100% sure on the reasoning there. My wife is going to be out of town this weekend so I'll write up as much as I can then.
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# ? Sep 25, 2018 01:52 |
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My understanding is that a lil kitten is much closer to the litter material, so if it's very dusty (as clumping tends to be), they're at risk of inhaling more of it. This can be particularly bad for a kitten already struggling with any number of common respiratory ailments they tend to pick up.
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# ? Sep 25, 2018 02:41 |
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I'm cross-posting from the Cat FAQ Megathread to try to get as much info as possible. My 2-year-old rescue cat Henry is at the emergency vet for the 2nd time with a bladder blockage. He's doing okay but the doc raised the possibility of doing a Perineal Urethrostomy. I'm researching it to get more info. If anyone has had a cat who got this surgery, can you tell me how your cat did? How old was he when he had the surgery, how well did he tolerate the recovery, does/did he have good quality of life after? And if you also have/had other cats at the same time, did they get along afterwards or did they treat him differently? Thank you!
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# ? Sep 25, 2018 12:26 |
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I am also crossposting from the Cat FAQ/Megathread because this thread may be better equipped to deal with feral stuff. My dumbass idiot dad left a door open, and now our 3 feral kittens have escaped from the room we were temporarily keeping them in into the much larger adjacent room. This is a problem because that adjacent room is big and has a toooooooooon of good hiding places for scared kittens, which makes the task of scooping them up to take them to a shelter much more difficult (the room we were keeping them in has almost no hiding places for exactly this reason). Please tell me how to lure scared feral kittens out of hiding so we can catch them. Somebody in the other thread said “food and time,” but I don’t know if that’s gonna work in this case because this is a seldom-used room that we’re not likely to be in when the kittens come out to eat. Plus, y’know, it’s big and full of hiding places. Am I gonna need a trap or something for this?
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# ? Sep 25, 2018 21:34 |
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Dr. Gitmo Moneyson posted:I am also crossposting from the Cat FAQ/Megathread because this thread may be better equipped to deal with feral stuff. lol. you better start photo taxing this thread or better video better just use food and psychology put a litter box in a nice dark place and food in a different nice dark place. put a blanket all close, electric if you have one then read a book and half pay attention.
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# ? Sep 25, 2018 21:41 |
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is the megacat thread that dead?
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# ? Sep 25, 2018 21:42 |
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sneakyfrog posted:lol. This is the only other good photo I have of them. I’ve been meaning to take more, but it’s hard to get one where they’re not hiding or cowering in fear. sneakyfrog posted:better just use food and psychology put a litter box in a nice dark place and food in a different nice dark place. put a blanket all close, electric if you have one There wouldn’t happen to be a faster way, would there? I was hoping to take these guys to a shelter before this weekend. I’m not sure they’re gonna warm up to people enough to come out of hiding around me by then (especially that siamese-looking one; it hisses anytime someone gets close to it). I. M. Gei fucked around with this message at 23:05 on Sep 25, 2018 |
# ? Sep 25, 2018 21:58 |
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you just have a cat infestation. you can use humane traps if you just want em out.. peanut butter or smelly tuna something that stinks is good. or you can feral animal magnet your way out through absorbing the tribe
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# ? Sep 25, 2018 22:02 |
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ZoeDomingo posted:I'm cross-posting from the Cat FAQ Megathread to try to get as much info as possible. My coworker's cat, an orange male named Ron Burgundy, had this procedure and his life greatly improved and no more blockage issues. I don't know much about the recovery time or how easy/hard it was, but I can definitely ask her. His feline buddy, Chazz Michael Michaels, does not treat him any differently.
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# ? Sep 25, 2018 23:37 |
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ZoeDomingo posted:I'm cross-posting from the Cat FAQ Megathread to try to get as much info as possible. I used to work as a veterinary assistant and helped on two of those surgeries. In both cases, it was a life-or-death situation, as the blockages on the male cats had been there for a while by the time the owners took them in. They were both considered emergencies and both cats recovered from the surgery well. Given the situation, both bounced back much happier now that they could pass urine. Both cats recovered fully from the procedure and continued on with their lives as normal. The first cat was around 7 and the second closer to 10, if I recall correctly. The younger Tom seemed to have a little aiming trouble in the litter box at first, but otherwise was fine behaviorally. Unfortunately I cannot report on how other cats treated them, as I do not know. It didn't come up, so there either were no other cats in each family or it wasn't a problem. As a side note, that was one of the more interesting surgeries we performed.
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# ? Sep 25, 2018 23:53 |
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Geolicious posted:Ron Burgundy Chaosfeather posted:I used to work as a veterinary assistant and helped on two of those surgeries... As a side note, that was one of the more interesting surgeries we performed. Thank you both! He's doing better now, but I'm still discussing the surgery option with the vet. One weird thing: the first time he had this blockage, the urine test showed very few crystals. The vet recommended I put him on the prescription diet anyway, and I did. This time the urine test showed that he had tons of struvite crystals, which the diet was supposed to prevent. I don't get it. The vet doesn't either.
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# ? Sep 26, 2018 00:45 |
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ZoeDomingo posted:Thank you both! He's doing better now, but I'm still discussing the surgery option with the vet. One weird thing: the first time he had this blockage, the urine test showed very few crystals. The vet recommended I put him on the prescription diet anyway, and I did. This time the urine test showed that he had tons of struvite crystals, which the diet was supposed to prevent. I don't get it. The vet doesn't either. I was going to mention the diet and decided against it, as I'm not a professional and if he didn't mention it to you then it means he didn't think the kitty needed it. I don't want you questioning a doctor who has proven to be good based on the off-hand remark of an assistant. That being said, did he recommend distilled water, too? What kind of prescription diet? The Dr. I used to work for always prescribed distilled water for the rest of the cat's life, as well as Hill's prescription diet metabolic urinary, c/d or k/d depending on the specific diagnosis. There was also a ban on all fish, to prevent salt from getting into the cat whenever possible. Generally if the cat seemed to respond well to the diet, that was what they ate for life. You can always get a second opinion to see if you can talk to another doctor about the struvite crystals. Most of the time you can't just call them on the phone, as you aren't a client and they won't know your case personally. They will definitely want an exam, and you can have your current vet send over all the information on your case for them to review so you don't need to do all the labs and such that you've already taken care of. Edit: Royal Canin is fine, we just didn't stock it because the clinic wasn't big enough for two brands of various diets. I am of the opinion that a phone call can't hurt if the vet already knows the cat. It'd be more of a 'do you have any other advice?" sort of call instead of a 'please question the emergency personnel' deal. Like people doctors, vets will have various backgrounds, learning and experience. Your vet may happen to have picked up a tidbit of information over the years that the specific emergency vet hasn't encountered, or vice versa. Chaosfeather fucked around with this message at 03:01 on Sep 26, 2018 |
# ? Sep 26, 2018 01:20 |
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They gave me prescriptions for Hills c/d or Royal Canin SO. My cat seems to like the Royal Canin better, though he's never been a big eater. They didn't say anything about distilled water, though. I do have a regular vet (I took him to an emergency clinic because this happened on Sunday). But the last time they seemed to agree with what the emergency vet said. But I can certainly all them again.
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# ? Sep 26, 2018 02:20 |
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I have a feral cat story from thirteen years ago I never get tired of telling. A friend of mine had a colony of feral cats living by her dumpster. One day she stopped by the dumpster before coming over to my place and saw an orange and white kitten running around with a chicken bone in his mouth. So she grabbed him, shoved him in her purse, and brought him over to my house. When she got there, she told me she had a present for me and dumped him in my living room. I had two cats who were 2 years old at the time, so I had dry food out and a litter box in the other room. The little orange bastard immediately found and ate a bunch of food, then used the litter box. My gray boy cat thought this kitten was absolutely the best toy ever and they were immediately best friends. The gray cat has since died but I still have the smug orange bastard thirteen years later. I still have my black girl cat too, and she never stopped thinking he sucks. I think I've witnessed them kind of playing together twice. The follow up to the story is my friend wanted to catch the rest of the feral cats. We got in touch with an organization that does TNR and other stuff. They gave us some carriers to use and the vet to take them to, but all their traps were loaned out at the time. Our solution was to got to Walmart, buy some wet cat food, a six pack of tallboys, and a giant fishing net. We somehow managed to catch four or five cats, including the momma cat and the only other kitten we could find. We got them all to the vet, fixed and picked back up. I remember keeping an eye on them for a day or two, then bringing them to the lady who ran the organization. She was putting them in a van to take them to some sort of feral cat colony somewhere. I really wish I knew more about it but I guess it's lost to time. I'm pretty sure I ended up with the stupid one.
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# ? Sep 26, 2018 03:30 |
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ZoeDomingo posted:I'm cross-posting from the Cat FAQ Megathread to try to get as much info as possible. My cat Jinx had this last year. He was at the emergency vet for blockage 3 times in a 10 day period and 4 times in a year. The vet finally recommended the PU surgery and I got it. At the time he was 6 years old. The price wasn't as bad as I expected since a lot of the prep tests had been done by the emergency vet a day or 2 before the surgery. My opinion of it was...it went amazingly well. He had to be segregated from my other pets at first so I set up a bunch of tarps and an airbed down in my mostly finished basement so I could keep an eye on him at night for the first 2 or 3 nights. Once he got the cone off and went to town on the area he started to bleed a little, leaving drops around the basement and on my stairs. I freaked out and called the vet but he told me it was normal and ignore it unless it got bad. It did stop after a day or 2. Now we are about 10 months later and Jinx is doing great. He seems super healthy and hasn't had any more problems. He runs around, eats, plays with the other cats, and does all the normal cat stuff he did before he got sick. If anything he seems more active than before. The vet told me he should not be able to get crystals anymore but prescribed the special food for him anyway for the remainder of his life. crowbb fucked around with this message at 14:12 on Sep 27, 2018 |
# ? Sep 27, 2018 14:07 |
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crowbb posted:My cat Jinx had this last year. Thank you! I'm glad to hear that Jinx is doing so well.
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# ? Sep 27, 2018 17:36 |
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Those kittens, while probably not thrilled about it, are still young enough to be properly socialized. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gD4y99kBv0 Kitten Lady has a lot of resources on fostering kittens, including ferals. This video is probably a good start.
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# ? Sep 28, 2018 02:30 |
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Lead out in cuffs posted:This is actually sounding like the next step for our foster. This sounds so much like my cat Charlie. He's got a peeing problem, and we keep him in a cage while we're out. A very large cage, technically a crate made for a very large dog. This was our last resort, we'd tried Feliway diffusers and spray, we'd tried that cleaner that supposed to repel him, we tried the litter with catnip in it, we tried keeping his litter box meticulously clean, nothing worked. It was either this or get rid of him. He's got food, water, litter, bedding and we let him out for hours daily, but he's in there while we sleep and we're away. He still pees out the back of his cage, but we put down pee pads. We can't get rid of him. He belonged to my wife's aunt and we got him when she died. He's super sweet, and very friendly to everyone. He's also 11 or so years old and quite fat, so he may not be a problem for much longer. Here's the picture tax:
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# ? Sep 28, 2018 02:56 |
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Forest pup update: The shelter said his lame leg was a minor injury, and he is getting all of the parasites taken care of. He is expected to make a full recovery and will be put up for adoption soon!
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# ? Sep 28, 2018 18:57 |
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Chaosfeather posted:Forest pup update: The shelter said his lame leg was a minor injury, and he is getting all of the parasites taken care of. He is expected to make a full recovery and will be put up for adoption soon! Yay! I was doing my weekly kitty volunteer shift at PetSmart and a young woman brought in a 4 week old kitty. After getting over the initial I went out the adoption room I was in to get its picture and ask about it. Friends of hers found it abandoned in a tire, and she was taking it to the vet inside PetSmart to get it looked at. Lots of crusty eye goop, and wasn't gaining weight after a few days of heavy eating (worms almost certainly). Thanked her for helping the lil fella out. Good people helping kittens is the best Tax of said kitten: While I'm at it, here's Oliver. His eyes should get him adopted soon, he's freaking entrancing.
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# ? Sep 28, 2018 22:53 |
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We have a new foster! Her name is Mika, and she is a sweetheart. She was surrendered by someone via Craigslist (the shelter we volunteer for trawls Craigslist looking for those kind of ads). She's quite young, but has had one litter. She also still needs to be spayed, which will likely happen in the next week or two. She's very chill, though, and I doubt there will be much trouble getting her adopted.
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# ? Sep 28, 2018 23:27 |
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Why would someone give up such a sweetheart?
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# ? Sep 29, 2018 01:42 |
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people suck
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# ? Sep 29, 2018 01:48 |
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Yeah, considering they'd already managed to let her have one litter of kittens, it's probably general shittiness about knowing how to care for cats (or caring enough to find out). Also in Vancouver it can be super-hard to find a rental that allows pets, so that's the more charitable explanation. She's settling in well, though. We let her out of the bedroom last night and moved the cat tree to a window. She's soooo lanky. That cat tree has a scratch post 33 inches off the ground, and she can touch the top of it with her front paws.
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# ? Sep 29, 2018 02:13 |
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She's such a pretty kitty! I hope the 4 week old puts on some good weight. They grow so insanely fast. Tuesday the kitten has already hit 6 lbs.
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# ? Sep 29, 2018 02:20 |
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# ? Jun 13, 2024 05:31 |
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Pander posted:While I'm at it, here's Oliver. His eyes should get him adopted soon, he's freaking entrancing. Oliver looks like the spitting image of a cat I had when I was 12. My mom found him at a bank during a power outage and brought him home. I don't think I can live without a black cat in my life. We had a couple of indoor/outdoor cats when I was growing up and mine was always the black one. I've had my current black cat for 15 years now and she's definitely the best thing any of friends have found in an apartment complex parking lot. I just got her a new cardboard scratcher today and she's thrilled with it. She's getting wet food tonight so I'm sure that will be new best thing ever.
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# ? Sep 29, 2018 02:22 |