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Uh oh, I accidentally fell asleep on the hamster and mouse and woke up to a dead mouse. No blood or signs of struggle tho. Very odd. Oh well next time I will be more careful  RIP mousey
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Sep 9, 2008 00:54
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Helanna posted:Recently a lot of moths have been coming into my appartment, via the balcony in the evenings. She may get an upset tummy if she eats too many. Moths are kind of fatty, so she's probably enjoying that.
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Sep 9, 2008 01:50
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Not really a question, but Gilbert for the first time went into his crate and laid down while I was playing video games. I praised the absolute poo poo out of him when he did that, I was so happy.
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Sep 9, 2008 02:11
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So I have learned a very important lesson: My roommate cannot be trusted with the most basic of tasks: feeding my single fish over a weekend. I asked her to drop in 5 pellets each day (I usually do 3 twice per day, but I figured it'd be okay to switch it a little for simplicity's sake), but came home to a very brown tank with about 30 pellets still stuck to the tank lid (it's a needlework canvas, so lots of holes to just let the food fall through... obviously WAY too much this time) Info: 1 female betta in an unfiltered 2.5 gallon. I did a near 100% water change and rinsed the gravel/decor. (Note: Yuck!) Is there anything else I should do to make sure she doesn't get sick or go belly up? Skip feedings for a day or two? Just continue as normal?
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Sep 9, 2008 03:32
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I'm going to re-ask here. My cat and kitten have been playing fine however my cat has started holding him down by the back of his neck by crawling on top of him until he meows, then usually she lets him go. He then usually flips onto his back and stares at her, bats at her a little or totters off not really looking like he cared. He'll still approach her, chase her, lay with her etc. My boyfriend reported seeing her do this last night but she wouldn't let go. Is this aggressive mean or just being to playful?
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Sep 9, 2008 06:16
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KilGrey posted:I'm going to re-ask here. My cat and kitten have been playing fine however my cat has started holding him down by the back of his neck by crawling on top of him until he meows, then usually she lets him go. He then usually flips onto his back and stares at her, bats at her a little or totters off not really looking like he cared. He'll still approach her, chase her, lay with her etc. My boyfriend reported seeing her do this last night but she wouldn't let go. Is this aggressive mean or just being to playful? It sounds like what my cats do occasionally; I'm never too concerned unless the one being pinned gets very distressed. Her pinning him until he cries and then rolls over in submission seems a way of establishing dominance, and it certainly seems to be the case in my household.
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Sep 9, 2008 11:14
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KilGrey posted:Is this aggressive mean or just being to playful? It sounds like a combo of being playful and your cat saying "I'm the one in charge" to me. Just asserting her dominance over the new kitten. I wouldn't really worry too much about it if it's happening without any other signs of aggression like hissing, growling, getting puffy, etc. If no one gets too upset about it, I wouldn't worry too much about it.
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Sep 9, 2008 14:05
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drat Bananas posted:Is there anything else I should do to make sure she doesn't get sick or go belly up? Skip feedings for a day or two? Just continue as normal?
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Sep 9, 2008 20:24
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Odd dog behavior quesstion here. Whenever my dog gets wet, be it from rain or a bath, she immediately runs all over the house and dives headfirst onto the carpet or my bed and starts rubbing her head on said surface and "paws" at the air. She's done this since I got her as a 8 week old puppy and I finally decided to just ask if it was a common behavior or she's just weird. She also does the pawing thing for a couple minutes when I get home from work in the morning and she's in bed with me.
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Sep 10, 2008 09:36
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SpazmasterX posted:Odd dog behavior quesstion here. Whenever my dog gets wet, be it from rain or a bath, she immediately runs all over the house and dives headfirst onto the carpet or my bed and starts rubbing her head on said surface and "paws" at the air. She's done this since I got her as a 8 week old puppy and I finally decided to just ask if it was a common behavior or she's just weird. Hehehe, all my dogs have done this. My pekingese was the worst.. she would rub/scoot her head and the entire front half of her body along the wall, and then flop down in the middle of the floor and start going to town rubbing her back on the carpet, and pawing the air. She didn't mind the bath, or rain, or snow which got her wet.. but she had a ball drying off. Cats will lick themselves dry, dogs rub themselves dry. Its common, every dog I've ever had has done it. Its funny as hell though, they look like they are going nuts! I so miss getting to watch a dog do that! Just keep your dog inside after a bath, because I made the mistake of letting my Pekingese outside (I thought she would like to dry in the sun.. I was about 10 at the time), and she did the exact same behavior.. but in the dirt. Which = muddy pup. So another bath happened, but I was SMART enough to keep her inside after it until she dried off. Even if I tried to stop her from doing this, and dried her off with towels and a warm blow dryer.. she would take off, even if she was dry, and go nuts on the carpet and walls.
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Sep 10, 2008 11:23
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Okay this may seem like a really weird thing to ask about, but I always get nervous whenever any change in the cats occurs...good or bad. Over the last week and a half or so, Poko's fur has suddenly become very soft and very shiny. There's been no change in his diet (California Natural, which he's been on for about 3 years now), no supplements have been added, and he doesn't get any treats. He doesn't eat people food, as I don't share with the cats when I'm eating and any leftovers get put away or dumped safely out of kitty reach. He's 13 years old and has been fixed since forever so I don't think that hormones would be playing any role in it. I suppose I shouldn't complain, but I'm just curious as to why all of a sudden he'd have such nice looking fur. He has terrible eyesight and has some sort of neurological condition that makes it hard for him to groom hiimself since he has almost zero balance, so I'm used to him having slightly greasy fur...hell I kind of miss it.
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Sep 10, 2008 15:19
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Women's Rights? posted:I suppose I shouldn't complain, but I'm just curious as to why all of a sudden he'd have such nice looking fur. He has terrible eyesight and has some sort of neurological condition that makes it hard for him to groom hiimself since he has almost zero balance, so I'm used to him having slightly greasy fur...hell I kind of miss it. Maybe one of the other cats is grooming him more?
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Sep 10, 2008 16:00
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Okay! Well we have an appointment on Thursday with the Humane Society to visit with a kitten, who is 4 months old and will be spayed on Wednesday, to see if we are a match. But I have two questions, that I've noted mentioned here on PI.. but not really discussed too in depth. 1. How old should a cat be, before you can use clumping kitty litter? I've noted that people here on PI have told people with very young kittens to not use clumping kitty litter, because they might eat it, but I've not seen an age range when you can start using clumping kitty litter. 2. What should a 4 month old kitten be fed? I've seen mentioned that people feed their kittens a mixture of dry and wet food a couple times a day. At 4 months is dry cat food okay to give exclusively, or is it too soon? The "Barkery" next door to the humane society sells Solid Gold, so we'll be feeding the kitten either Indigo Moon, or Katz in Flocken. Any other advice?
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Sep 16, 2008 20:42
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C.TheRaven posted:Okay! Well we have an appointment on Thursday with the Humane Society to visit with a kitten, who is 4 months old and will be spayed on Wednesday, to see if we are a match. But I have two questions, that I've noted mentioned here on PI.. but not really discussed too in depth. Your kitty should be fine to use clumping litter at 4 months. Ours was about the same age when we got her, and she never once tried to eat any or do anything with it other than poo/pee in it. C.TheRaven posted:2. What should a 4 month old kitten be fed? You might want to start off with a mixture of dry and wet. At 4 months, your kitten probably won't yet have all of her molars which means she won't really be able to crunch the food. Most likely she'll swallow the kibbles whole after gumming them a bit (which isn't really a big problem but her gums might be sore from teething). Until your cat is about a year old, you should free feed dry food since kittens need lots of protein and calories, and as you mentioned give her some wet food a couple of times a day.
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Sep 16, 2008 21:15
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When I petting my dogs or rubbing their stomachs, my dogs bare their teeth a little bit. When one of them really wants attention, they will come up to me, bare her teeth, and snort. What does this mean in doggy body language? I've only ever heard of teeth bearing in the context of "holy poo poo this dog's about to bite me".
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Sep 16, 2008 21:57
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Berri posted:When I petting my dogs or rubbing their stomachs, my dogs bare their teeth a little bit. When one of them really wants attention, they will come up to me, bare her teeth, and snort. What does this mean in doggy body language? I've only ever heard of teeth bearing in the context of "holy poo poo this dog's about to bite me". The teeth baring they're doing could be what I've seen called a "submissive smile", especially since the dogs seem to be doing it while they're in a submissive posture (on their back). A lot of people can misinterpert it, since it can look intimidating, though it means the opposite in doggy body language. Snorting can be a lot of different things, but my dogs most often use that as a submissive gesture as well; they usually do it when their playfighting gets really intense and then both dogs will back off, snort and fake sneeze and generally make it clear that they're being playful rather than getting agitated.
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Sep 16, 2008 22:04
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Berri posted:When I petting my dogs or rubbing their stomachs, my dogs bare their teeth a little bit. When one of them really wants attention, they will come up to me, bare her teeth, and snort. What does this mean in doggy body language? I've only ever heard of teeth bearing in the context of "holy poo poo this dog's about to bite me". Mo nailed it. I've seen dobies and pits do this most for some reason. Most people poo poo when a doberman "smiles" at them, same for a pit bull, but my friend's dog did this a lot.
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Sep 16, 2008 22:10
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MoCookies posted:The teeth baring they're doing could be what I've seen called a "submissive smile", especially since the dogs seem to be doing it while they're in a submissive posture (on their back). A lot of people can misinterpert it, since it can look intimidating, though it means the opposite in doggy body language. Snorting can be a lot of different things, but my dogs most often use that as a submissive gesture as well; they usually do it when their playfighting gets really intense and then both dogs will back off, snort and fake sneeze and generally make it clear that they're being playful rather than getting agitated. Thanks! I figured it wasn't aggressive, but I didn't know it was submissive. Knowing what that means now makes them that much more adorable to me. 
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Sep 16, 2008 22:32
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How do some of you cat owners keep kitchen cupboards closed? Kiddy locks? Mine are all magnet-sealed (those tiny rectangular magnets) and I got home the other day from work and all but one cabinet door was wide open. I thought the house was haunted until 3 cats came out of different cabinets. Had to wash all of my plates! 
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Sep 17, 2008 01:41
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Yep, I use child safety locks. One of my cats is a jerk, and likes to knock everything out of the cabinets onto the floor. I finally got tired of it and installed the locks. Every now and again I hear a "thump...thump...thump" coming from the kitchen and I giggle-- he's trying to get in the cabinets, now unsuccessfully.
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Sep 17, 2008 05:20
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Quick question guys. Just been told my cat probably has cystitis by the vet, he gave her two weeks worth of antibiotic injections and said she'd be fine in a day or two. This was this morning at 9am. I realise it will take some time for the antibiotics to kick in but her latest output seemed to have a bit more blood in it than before so i'm kind of paranoid. Should I expect the blood to continue for a while yet and is she going to be ok?
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Sep 17, 2008 12:19
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Crazedscot posted:Quick question guys. Just been told my cat probably has cystitis by the vet, he gave her two weeks worth of antibiotic injections and said she'd be fine in a day or two. This was this morning at 9am. I realise it will take some time for the antibiotics to kick in but her latest output seemed to have a bit more blood in it than before so i'm kind of paranoid. Should I expect the blood to continue for a while yet and is she going to be ok? One of my bunch had a urinary tract infection recently, and following the antibiotic injection, he still peed on my stuff over the following 1-2 days, then it all cleared up. I expect your kitty is fine 
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Sep 17, 2008 14:03
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Crazedscot posted:I realise it will take some time for the antibiotics to kick in but her latest output seemed to have a bit more blood in it than before so i'm kind of paranoid. Should I expect the blood to continue for a while yet and is she going to be ok? You realize of course, that there is no harm in calling your vet with this question, and they will have the best insight on this, and if this is an issue they will probably want to see her again to be sure she is okay. You should keep in contact with your vet during her treatment if there is anything happening that doesn't seem right to you, because they will want to know and adjust any treatments. It does sound normal for a treatment of anything to take couple of days to see a change, so don't worry to much- but do call your vet if you are concerned at all, your vet knows what should be happening with your cat better than anyone else.
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Sep 17, 2008 14:21
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My little foster kitten is going to her new owner this coming Friday. Considering that all her medical bills and her rabies certificate are in my name, am I supposed to give the new owner some kind of transfer of ownership letter or something? Also, 5 months old and undergoing pseudopregnancy, what the hell. I thought I was going to pass out when the doctor told me; didn't know that was even possible.
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Sep 17, 2008 16:18
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Prune Juice posted:My little foster kitten is going to her new owner this coming Friday. Considering that all her medical bills and her rabies certificate are in my name, am I supposed to give the new owner some kind of transfer of ownership letter or something? They can get pregnant for REAL at 5 months old, actually. Just another reason to do spay and neuters early on kittens and most puppies.
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Sep 17, 2008 22:02
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MoCookies posted:They can get pregnant for REAL at 5 months old, actually. Just another reason to do spay and neuters early on kittens and most puppies. Yes, her new owner is going to take care of that right away. I was just shocked that this little cat who hasn't seen any other cat in almost 3 months could be going through something called fake pregnancy. She's still so small, it's madness!
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Sep 17, 2008 22:09
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MoCookies posted:You'd be better off with a dematting comb than the thing you listed- something like this http://grooming.petedge.com/Bernina...bCategoryId=479 Your cat will be far less stressed if you're the one dematting rather than the groomer. Do be careful though, those combs are razors (sharp!) and you can hurt yourself and/or the cat. If you can keep up with the brushing daily, especially in the areas that rub when she walks then it'll go a long way towards keeping her free of mats. Any sort of dematting is painful, and having to shave down a matted animal also sucks for everyone involved. Consider getting a Furminator to help reduce the amount of fluff that the cat has, too. This post is several pages back but I just wanted to report back that I got a hold of a matting comb like the one you posted. I've been working on her a little bit every day since I can barely get her to sit still for more than 2 seconds while I try to work out one of the mats with this thing - not that I can blame her. I'm making progress but the poor cat's going to look like the Before picture from a Rogaine ad when I finally get all the mats out.
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Sep 18, 2008 22:20
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My one cat, Willow, has a hairball problem. Right now she's shedding like crazy so the problem is even bigger than normal. Plus she has a pretty weak stomach as it is. Every three or so days now I come to find a nice pile of undigested food on the carpet and a white blob hidden within. She's a shorthair cat and my other shorthair, who has a much thicker coat, never had a problem with hairballs. I brush her like mad and the problem persists. I have tried two different over-the-counter hairball remedies with little luck. Mostly because little Willow is a picky eater and will not eat the goo, even though it's molasses flavor and smells like pancake syrup. When I do get some in her, they help very minimally and she will still have atleast one hairball a week. Is there any home-remedy that is good for hairballs? Or is there a particualry good brand of over-the-counter stuff? She's currently eating Blue Buffalo Indoor formula. I don't think Blue makes a hairball formula, but are there similar premium foods with a hairball formula? She'll be going to the vet in the next few weeks to get her yearly vaccinations, so I'll run this by the vet. I just wanted to see if there was something I could do before hand.
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Sep 20, 2008 06:30
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Lava Lamp Goddess posted:Is there any home-remedy that is good for hairballs? Or is there a particualry good brand of over-the-counter stuff? Have you tried petroleum jelly <aka as Vaseline>? My sister had a cat with that problem and she tried Vaseline on the cat and it worked wonders. The only problem was the cat liked it so much that it figured out how to open the jars. And if the cat isn't taking its vomit meds on its own you can rub it into its fur on its front leg and it will get it when cleans it off.
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Sep 20, 2008 08:54
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If your cat won't take the goo in a tube, try getting some fish oil and drizzling it on their food. Or, you can also buy tuna packed in oil and put that oil on the food. Most cats go nuts for it (you can have a sandwich out of the deal too).
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Sep 20, 2008 16:45
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Kind of a specific question: I'm interested in getting a couple of African dwarf frogs, but the only pet shop nearby that I've been able to find them in is Petco. There were 4 of them in a 2.5 gallon tank with a bunch of fish and they looked terrified. Since I know Petco doesn't have a great reputation for having healthy aquatic animals, I'd like to find another place to get them. Basically that was a lot of words to lead into me asking if anyone knows a good pet/fish shop in NYC that would be likely to have ADFs. The nearer to Morningside Heights/upper west side, the better.
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Sep 20, 2008 20:16
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I went to the humane society yesterday, and they said that the kittens there were too young for FIV testing. The kittens I was looking at were around 4-6 months old. I had never heard of this. I got a kitten about 3 months ago from a different shelter, and they had tested for FIV. What's the deal?
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Sep 21, 2008 17:15
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I think at a young age the test isn't 100%? I had a little Siamese kitten that I bought (from a byb but this was before I knew better...) and when I took her to a vet after a week since she seems sick, she came up positive after a blood test. She was promptly given to a friend to take care of, to avoid her giving anything to my other cats, but when we re-tested her a month later, the test came up negative, as have subsequent tests. The vet told me that it can happen with kittens. Perhaps they just mean that testing the kittens now isn't completely reliable?
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Sep 21, 2008 20:27
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Any tips for keeping a cat off from my desk? She's constantly jumping up and attacking my LCD screen, or knocking stuff off. I tried a water bottle... She likes it. Someone also told me to put tinfoil on my desk, but she seems to like that too.
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Sep 22, 2008 23:44
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hitension posted:Uh oh, I accidentally fell asleep on the hamster and mouse and woke up to a dead mouse. No blood or signs of struggle tho. Very odd. Oh well next time I will be more careful Yeah, wow. I had a hamster and a mouse at one point...I thought it was a good idea (at the time) to introduce them to each other. Two seconds into the introduction, the hamster had the poor mouse in its mouth. The hamster was trying to store the mouse in its cheeks! =(
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Sep 23, 2008 01:00
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Handsome Wife posted:Kind of a specific question: I'm interested in getting a couple of African dwarf frogs, but the only pet shop nearby that I've been able to find them in is Petco. There were 4 of them in a 2.5 gallon tank with a bunch of fish and they looked terrified. Since I know Petco doesn't have a great reputation for having healthy aquatic animals, I'd like to find another place to get them. suggest you get them online.
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Sep 23, 2008 01:05
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Saphira posted:I went to the humane society yesterday, and they said that the kittens there were too young for FIV testing. The kittens I was looking at were around 4-6 months old. I had never heard of this. I got a kitten about 3 months ago from a different shelter, and they had tested for FIV. What's the deal? They can certainly test for FIV, but the test can take up to 6 months to show up as positive, so that's probably why they say that. A FIV test at 4 months is very unreliable. However, FeLV can be detected in kittens of that age, so they should have tested for that, at least.
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Sep 23, 2008 08:28
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Liar posted:Any tips for keeping a cat off from my desk? She's constantly jumping up and attacking my LCD screen, or knocking stuff off. I tried a water bottle... She likes it. Someone also told me to put tinfoil on my desk, but she seems to like that too. Get some double sided tape and put it around the edge of the desk and on the areas she tries to sit on the desk if it's not in your way. I've also seen at Office Max they have those little circles that are used to repair holes in notebook paper that come double sided, those can be used as well. They are a bit less obtrusive and can be used in smaller places with less effort than trying to cut up tape. Either way, your cat will jump up once and hate it. Sometimes it helps to move the tape strips back a few inches or so to surprise the kitty. My cat got used to it being on the edge and started jumping over the strips so I moved the strips back. Eventually she decided not to chance it. If you have space you could always start with two sections of tape. It can be annoying but after a week or so your cat should stop and you can remove the tape. Double sided tape also works well on the edges of couches if they try to scratch. KilGrey fucked around with this message at 08:52 on Sep 23, 2008 |
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Sep 23, 2008 08:49
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Last month one of my kitties had a urinary infection, which we took him to the vet for and treated for a week or so with meds. Everything seemed fine, until last week, when he started pissing on my stuff again. Straight back to the vets, only this time it's a new vet (my old one retired ) and I've yet to decide whether we'll stay at the same surgery or not. She seems nice but I'm reserving judgement for now. Anyway, she prescribed my kitty more meds (poor Crusha hates being pilled, and he now has a 20 day course of it...) and suggested that it may be a good idea to buy an electric thermometer to keep an eye and see if he gets a fever (both infections so far he's had a pretty high fever). However, she then said that I should put something on the thermometer to make it easier to put up Crusha's butt. Ok that sounds reasonable, but when I asked what I should use her answer was any cream I had handy, like moisturiser. I'm hesitant about this; I just have a feeling that putting Mango Body Butter up my cat's rear end isn't a great idea  Any suggestions for a kitty-safe lubricant? I really hope this is the last infection; if he gets another, the vet said its likely to be crystals and she wants to do a bunch more tests and put him on prescription food. drat hard when I free feed all 5 of my cats together
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Sep 23, 2008 09:14
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Helanna posted:I just have a feeling that putting Mango Body Butter up my cat's rear end isn't a great idea I know this is serious but I'm sorry, this sentence has me giggling.  I would just use Vaseline or even regular, non-fancy water based KY jelly. Are the pills okay to be crushed? I always ask my vet and if so I use a garlic press and mix it in with Gerber Baby food as a treat. They have pill crushers in the pharmacy too. To make sure they get it all I spoon feed it to them. My cats think the baby food is better than anything in the world. I get the kind for two month olds. They only get it if they have to take medicine and have become so accustomed to it they are actually easier to give meds to as they sit there obediently afterward because they know it's coming. Even if you could just cut the pill in half or smaller and put it in a big dab of baby food on the spoon they'll swallow it without chewing. Check with your vet first though because not all pills are okay to be cut up or smashed.
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Sep 23, 2008 10:13
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