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My first thought would be fleas, not allergies. Or possibly a reaction to some kind of flea-killing solution or shampoo that may remain on the cat after a recent treatment. I might suggest trying a bath (for both you and kitty) before asking for a refund/exchange.
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Mar 14, 2010 07:20
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Billy Black posted:The other cat is currently upstairs and seems curious about the new animal, but is mostly leaving him alone. Should I just let him be? I assume he'll come out on his own, I just don't understand why he won't budge. He doesn't seem too terribly scared of me if he lets me pet him just fine. Plus, cats have different personalities. My mother has two cats that still run and hide when a stranger comes over and one who still won't let you touch him a year later.
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Mar 14, 2010 13:57
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I have a 6 months old kitten who loves to cause trouble at night. Climbing up things, tipping baskets and shelves over, pushing things off of ledges, etc. She's a real loveable cat to me and is generally pretty good unless she's left unattended for a while. For reasons not worth explaining, I moved back in with my mother who has two birds. They live in a cage on a nightstand in the living room. Kitty is fascinated with them. She's always watching them, but she never puts her paws in or try to jump in there or anything. She just seemed curious. Last night when I was asleep, I heard a giant boom. I ran out into the living and the bird cage was on the ground. Kitty was nowhere to be seen. After retrieving the birds, cleaning up the bird food, and making sure everything was safe, I put Kitty in the bedroom with me and vowed not to let her roam the house at night. Now, when I leave her in the room, she scratches at the door, and the door kinda latches looses, so it makes the whole thing bang up against the frame and its terribly annoying, especially when trying to sleep. What can I do to make my bad kitty be good? It'd be much easier for me to just leave her in the room at night, so how can I make her stop banging the door?
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Mar 15, 2010 10:21
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Doctor Claw posted:Now, when I leave her in the room, she scratches at the door, and the door kinda latches looses, so it makes the whole thing bang up against the frame and its terribly annoying, especially when trying to sleep. 1) Double-sided tape or tin foil on the door. They don't like the texture and will leave the door alone. 2) (If that doesn't work) Upside down plastic mat, like the ones for under desks and office chairs, with the little plastic nubbins facing up. Again, cats don't like the texture and will stay off it. Combine that with something to mess with in the room - add a cardboard scratcher and a quiet toy or two.
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Mar 15, 2010 11:44
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Doctor Claw posted:
I have a cat who does this exact thing with our closet door. We got this: http://www.amazon.com/Contech-StayAway-Motion-Activated-Pet-Deterrent/dp/B000DZFFN4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1268664723&sr=8-1 Worked like a charm. It only took a few sprays for him to stop.
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Mar 15, 2010 15:53
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Also, Doctor Claw, be sure you're really wearing her out before bed. Actively play with her until she can't play anymore. If she starts panting, stop for a minute, let her catch her breath, then start up again until she's not interested anymore. It works pretty well for wearing out my high energy 1 year old cat, it's what I've been doing since she was a teeny 5 week old baby.
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Mar 15, 2010 16:33
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I don't know if this has already been answered because this is a pretty long thread, so sorry if it has, but what do I do with an apparently stray cat that seems to want to adopt me and my flatmate? The cat is very friendly, and I've been seeing it wandering around in the street we live on since I moved in last September. Today it was outside our door, meowing so sadly that my flatmate let it in - the weather's still pretty cold here (UK) and we've both seen it shivering. When it came in, we noticed that under its longish fur, it's a bit matted and very thin. It also seemed to really want some company. We got it a tin of cheap food and it's eaten half of it, and had some water. Now it's following me around the house and currently, sleeping curled up next to me. It has a collar on with a bell, but no ID tag or anything to indicate where it's from. I'm not sure how to tell what sex it is, as I don't have much experience with cats and it's very fluffy. A concern is that it may belong to our upstairs neighbours, as we know they have about three cats. However, said neighbours are, to put it nicely, gigantic assholes. They constantly fight and we've heard one of them yelling about how he hates the cats. It's not really possible to go and ask if it's theirs, as they tend not to open the door to us, and are rude if we see them in passing or god forbid, politely ask if they could keep the noise down at 4am. So, there's the problem. I feel like the cat should be taken care of, but I don't want to steal it. It's not in good shape right now, and as my flatmate and I are pretty broke university students, we don't have much money to take it to the vet right away. However, we could afford to feed and look after a cat, and take it to the vet once I get paid. What should we do, PI goons?
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Mar 15, 2010 19:40
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Teatime Prize posted:I don't know if this has already been answered because this is a pretty long thread, so sorry if it has, but what do I do with an apparently stray cat that seems to want to adopt me and my flatmate? It's a shame you can't talk to your neighbours. If you ever see them in the hall or whatever, try a "Is that fluffy cat yours? It's so pretty, if you ever need to unload it, let us know." But also, if you can't afford to go to a vet at a moments notice, you absolutely cannot afford a cat. A pet needs much more than food and love.
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Mar 15, 2010 20:57
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Meow Cadet posted:Some people have had success by putting tag on the collar that says "Do I have a home? If so, call XXXXXXX." That way, you can get in touch with the owners, (and perhaps offer to take over the cat's care), or never hear from anyone, and you'll be able to take over guilt-free. The only reason we can't afford a vet right now is because of an unexpected bill knocking out half my savings account. Once things are back to normal, which will be by April 1st, we'll be able to. I see the neighbours quite rarely (they're busy fighting each other, no time to chat!) but next time I see them I'll ask. They'll almost certainly advise me to piss off. Putting a tag on the collar sounds like a good idea. Should we keep it in at night? It's been roaming around freely as far as I can tell, but the weather's cold and windy and there's not much good shelter.
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Mar 15, 2010 21:07
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Teatime Prize posted:The only reason we can't afford a vet right now is because of an unexpected bill knocking out half my savings account. Once things are back to normal, which will be by April 1st, we'll be able to. Meow Cadet fucked around with this message at 21:24 on Mar 15, 2010 |
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Mar 15, 2010 21:22
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Meow Cadet posted:Well, we've got the UK/USA barrier thing going on here. Over here, we'd say keep the cat indoors 24/7. But that doesn't seem to fly in your neck of the woods. You might think of making a shelter for the cat (or any other roaming cats) out of a few rubbermaid bins and some hay for insulation. http://www.urbancatleague.org/Shelters.html http://www.pacthumanesociety.org/core/WinterShelter.htm Okay, I've conferenced with the flatmate and he says he can pay for taking it to the vet, at least for a checkup and to look for microchips. We're pretty sure it's a castrated male, and it's been cared for at some point. We're also going to keep it in tonight because of the cold, but put a tag on its collar and put it out during the day when we're both at class, and see if it comes back or if we get any phonecalls.  I'll make a shelter for the other roaming cats around the area, we've got a small yard to put it in.
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Mar 15, 2010 21:34
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WHEN DO THEY STOP BEING ASSHOLES!!?? 
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Mar 16, 2010 21:14
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Abbeh posted:WHEN DO THEY STOP BEING ASSHOLES!!?? Around a year
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Mar 16, 2010 21:41
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ChairmanMeow posted:Around a year I thought that somehow maybe I lucked out and my kittens were missing the rear end in a top hat gene. They really weren't that bad (although I can't imagine having just 1). But then at around 10 months that assholeness started showing. They're knocking poo poo off the shelves, chewing through books, flinging poo poo out of their box while digging, breaking glasses, hoarding toys under the table where it's hard to reach, all that good assholeness I was expecting but wasn't getting when they were younger. I'm actually quite relieved. I'm thinking they'll chill out around 2ish.
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Mar 16, 2010 21:50
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I have a random question that popped into my mind earlier. I turned to Google first, but it didn't return anything that actually answered my question. Why do cats get a little pouch of fat after being fixed/spayed/neutered? I've never seen a fixed cat that DIDN'T have a fatty pouch. Forgive me if this has been asked and answered before (I tried using forum search too just to make sure, but I didn't get anything similar to my question).
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Mar 17, 2010 01:59
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ChairmanMeow posted:Around a year I've always found it to be closer to two years. After a year, they're still hyper like they were as kittens, but now they're bigger and can actually break poo poo...
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Mar 17, 2010 03:02
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My found-cat has an unusual condition. The hair on his nose, for about a fingertip's length, comes and goes. It's white and stubbly when there and then the next day fades, fades to nothing over a couple, then returns for a few. What the hell is up with my cat's nose? He doesn't seem to be scratching at it or anything.
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Mar 17, 2010 03:10
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I'm not sure if this requires its own thread, if so I'll make one, but I thought I'd ask in here first. Me and my fiance are about to move to a larger flat that allows pets. The lady who was in there previously had two cats, so the size of the place is right. Now, we're in England, and if you try to adopt from a shelter, they'll want to make sure the cats have access to the outdoors- This flat is a town centre type one, not much traffic, but certainly not a good place for kitties. We have no desire to get an outdoor cat and make it an indoor cat, and no actual way of getting one, considering the regulations, and I really don't want any arguments on this point since it's not really relevant or at all changeable, England is different to the US, blahblah. I was looking at some shelter pages to basically torture myself, and I noticed one place had a section for older, FIV positive or otherwise disabled cats that had to be kept indoors. I thought it would be a nice idea to look at fostering one of these cats, since I imagine everyone heads directly for the little kittens and overlooks some lovely older cats on the way. What all this rambling amounts to is- Does anyone have experience with looking after an FIV positive cat? Are vet bills that much higher, is there a problem with regards them staying in shelters when we go on holidays, that sort of thing? This is all still a notion at this point, as much as I'd love to dash out and take home a fluffy fluffball I'd really rather be 100% ready for everything. Any information would be greatly appreciated
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Mar 17, 2010 16:22
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Kojiro posted:FIV positive cat I've never had one but I've read about them. It's not a huge deal, you just have to take extra-good care of them to help keep their immune systems strong. By that I mean that it's best to keep them fairly stress-free, have a good diet, make sure they get regular vet checkups, etc. I don't know if being boarded while you go on vacation would count as too much stress, it probably depends on the cat. Other than that, FIV isn't a terribly big deal. It doesn't infect humans, it's pretty difficult to pass between cats and it causes no pain or anything on its own. Most people avoid cats with FIV because they don't know the facts and they don't want a "broken" pet. quote:My found-cat has an unusual condition. The hair on his nose, for about a fingertip's length, comes and goes. It's white and stubbly when there and then the next day fades, fades to nothing over a couple, then returns for a few. I'm not too sure . . . does it look red or infected or anything? It sounds a bit strange though, I'd probably just have a vet look at it.
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Mar 17, 2010 18:56
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Triangle Head posted:I have a random question that popped into my mind earlier. I turned to Google first, but it didn't return anything that actually answered my question. I teach comparative anatomy and one of the primary dissection animals is cats. I have dissected a LOT of cats (several hundred at least by now) and I can tell you two things about that fat pad. 1) ALL cats carry fat in that area, fixed or not. Even cats that are very skinny have some fat here. Including the ones that are fixed. It's just one of their primary fat storage areas. 2) The average housecat is pretty drat fat. What you likely think of as a normal weight cat is disgustingly fat when you open them up. This means they are carrying even more fat on their belly. A healthy weight cat will often not have an obvious dangly fat pad on their belly though, even if neutered. Cats with certain body types are more prone to having one, and it will be more obvious on older cats (think about how the chest of an old man looks compared to that of a young man, even when they are the same weight). There are a couple of reasons that this fat pad tends to be larger and more obvious in neutered kitties. The first is that neutering tends to reduce the metabolism somewhat, which results in weight gain if the owner doesn't adjust how much food the animal is getting (and many don't). The second is that the metabolism naturally starts to slow down around the same time most people get their animal fixed (6-12 months). So you won't see an intact cat with a big fat pad because they aren't old enough to have lost their kitten figure yet. And once kitties get fat they tend to always retain loose skin and some fat in that region even if they've lost weight (same thing happens a lot of people when they lose weight). Of the cats I've owned, one had a bit of a dangly belly, despite never being especially overweight. He just had the body type for it. The other doesn't have one, and she was fixed years ago.
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Mar 18, 2010 04:27
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ChairmanMeow posted:Around a year Hopefully he doesn't get much heavier before then. Right now his favorite thing to do is take a running lunge at the front door and hang from the (very thin) curtain while howling like a banshee. Last night he tore the whole thing down on himself and then went tearing back into the bedroom with curtain, curtain rod and water dish in tow. That's still better than smearing himself with poo poo and jumping on ever surface in the house (bed included) two days ago. On a completely unrelated note, anyone have a good recipe for kitten pie?
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Mar 18, 2010 22:05
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Abbeh posted:On a completely unrelated note, anyone have a good recipe for kitten pie? Microwave on high for approx. 7 minutes. I intend to have some myself later; I kind of have to since the fat little poo poo ate my bread
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Mar 19, 2010 00:39
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Rev. Bleech_ posted:Microwave on high for approx. 7 minutes. You ought to be pleased since he saved you the trouble of stuffing him.
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Mar 19, 2010 01:03
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ChairmanMeow posted:Around a year Does this eventually happen to all cats? Mine is about a year and two months old and over the past few months he's been more energetic, loud, and violent if anything. I took him to the vet and he appears to be fine physically, but lately he's been completely ignoring his toys and destroying furniture, smashing anything made of glass, hurling himself into windows, and howling constantly at night.
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Mar 20, 2010 20:23
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Augmented Dickey posted:Does this eventually happen to all cats? Mine is about a year and two months old and over the past few months he's been more energetic, loud, and violent if anything. I took him to the vet and he appears to be fine physically, but lately he's been completely ignoring his toys and destroying furniture, smashing anything made of glass, hurling himself into windows, and howling constantly at night. Fire In The Disco posted:I've always found it to be closer to two years. After a year, they're still hyper like they were as kittens, but now they're bigger and can actually break poo poo... This has always been my experience.
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Mar 20, 2010 23:27
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Okay, so it turns out, the cat belongs to the rear end in a top hat upstairs neighbours. I had to go back to my parents' house for a few days and only got back this afternoon, but flatmate texted me to say they'd come down to look for the cat, saw him and demanded him back. Blamed his condition on being "old and ill". I don't know of any illness that causes matts like the ones he has, or any old cat with the teeth of a young cat, which he seems to have - they're smallish and very white and clean-looking. Also if he's ill, surely they shouldn't be sending him outside all the time? Anyway, I was back home for a couple of hours and then, what do I hear but the cat meowing outside my door. He'd got out of their flat and come back, and he's still here now. I fed and watered him, and he's still just as skinny, matted and generally shabby-looking. I called the RSPCA, but they said it could take up to 28 days to send someone over here and investigate, though it'll hopefully be within the next week or so. My question is, what do I do now? The upstairs people obviously don't care for this cat, but they wanted him back apparently just for the sake of it. I can't reason with them and in the meantime, the cat is out freezing and starving unless I let him in, in which case they'll probably get annoyed with me. poo poo. To cheer this up, here's a picture of the cat: 
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Mar 21, 2010 02:23
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Teatime Prize posted:Okay, so it turns out, the cat belongs to the rear end in a top hat upstairs neighbours. I had to go back to my parents' house for a few days and only got back this afternoon, but flatmate texted me to say they'd come down to look for the cat, saw him and demanded him back. Blamed his condition on being "old and ill". I don't know of any illness that causes matts like the ones he has, or any old cat with the teeth of a young cat, which he seems to have - they're smallish and very white and clean-looking. Also if he's ill, surely they shouldn't be sending him outside all the time? So what if the neighbors are annoyed with you? I'd say if you're willing to take care of him go ahead and let him in. What are they going to do, call the cops on you for taking in their horribly negected animal?
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Mar 21, 2010 03:30
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Teatime Prize posted:He looks underweight, and the weight loss is probably from a health problem, but there is no way to say that he's not being treated for something. As for the matting, some cats simply won't tolerate grooming. They may be neglecting him, but I've seem cats who are loved and well taken care of looking worse than he does. I don't think there's anything wrong with giving him food and hanging out with him, but I don't think it's logical to assume he's being mistreated just based on how he looks. Why don't you try chatting with them and ask what he's sick with, or how old he is? If they won't give you any information, I'd see if the RSPCA has any better luck.
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Mar 21, 2010 04:00
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Crooked Booty posted:As for the matting, some cats simply won't tolerate grooming. This isn't really an acceptable excuse, though. Animals can be stubborn about things like medicine or grooming, but that doesn't give anyone a license to just let their neglect their pet's well-being. If your cat won't let you brush him and it gets to the point where his fur starts to mat, you should take him to a groomer to have professionals handle it, not just let it happen because the cat is being difficult. There's no point in making excuses for something as easily remedied as matted fur. It does bring up the suspicion that the level of care is quite likely below par, but I agree that the best course of action would be for Teatime Prize to talk to the owners and then go to the RSPCA if he/she still has serious concerns after that.
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Mar 21, 2010 08:54
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Crooked Booty posted:As for the matting, some cats simply won't tolerate grooming. He's fine with grooming. I've taken some of the looser matts out myself, EXTREMELY carefully, with a comb and some tiny scissors, and he was absolutely cool with that. He rolled over on his side and stretched out to let me get some off his belly. Serella posted:There's no point in making excuses for something as easily remedied as matted fur. It does bring up the suspicion that the level of care is quite likely below par, but I agree that the best course of action would be for Teatime Prize to talk to the owners and then go to the RSPCA if she still has serious concerns after that. I really wish I could talk to the owners. Really. I'd like to do this the nicest possible way. I've had to call the police on the owners before for unrelated stuff and they refused to open the door to the police and just yelled at them to gently caress off. I mean, if they're not going to be reasonable with the cops, they're hardly going to let me talk them down. I'm not a physically imposing person and I don't have any authority over them at all. I'd contact their landlord for this ongoing poo poo but I don't know who the landlord is, it's not the same one as mine. Either way, I've called the RSPCA like I said, and they should be able to give me a better idea what's going on. Incidentally, the neighbours seem to have another cat, a grey one, that is also skinny and matted. It doesn't hang around as much though, so I haven't been able to feed it or get a really good look at it. I'll carry on feeding the one that comes back.
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Mar 21, 2010 13:08
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Serella posted:This isn't really an acceptable excuse, though. Animals can be stubborn about things like medicine or grooming, but that doesn't give anyone a license to just let their neglect their pet's well-being. If your cat won't let you brush him and it gets to the point where his fur starts to mat, you should take him to a groomer to have professionals handle it, not just let it happen because the cat is being difficult. If that's not the case with this cat, then definitely call in the RSPCA. Edit: Serella - that's what I was talking about. A lot of cats have to be sedated to be shaved. Whatever, this is totally irrelevant. Crooked Booty fucked around with this message at 18:24 on Mar 21, 2010 |
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Mar 21, 2010 15:14
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Teatime Prize, sounds like you're doing all you can do. In situations like this, usually all you can do is sit back and wait for the authorities to come out and hope it changes the situation. Crooked Booty, I figure it would just be more humane to shave a cat like that.
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Mar 21, 2010 18:13
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Ceridwen posted:I teach comparative anatomy and one of the primary dissection animals is cats. I have dissected a LOT of cats (several hundred at least by now) and I can tell you two things about that fat pad. Thanks much for the reply! This is much more helpful than the results I've been getting through Google.
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Mar 22, 2010 20:12
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I feed my cats (8mo Bengal and 3year Maine Coon) Taste of the Wild, feline formula obviously. I ended up with a 15lb bag of TotW Canine formula.. would it hurt them to feed it?
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Mar 23, 2010 19:38
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traveling midget posted:I feed my cats (8mo Bengal and 3year Maine Coon) Taste of the Wild, feline formula obviously. I ended up with a 15lb bag of TotW Canine formula.. would it hurt them to feed it? If they accidentally get a few bites, no it won't hurt. But if that's all they eat, yes it will. Cats cannot survive on dog food alone. Chances are good that you can return your TotW to the store you got it from.
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Mar 23, 2010 21:19
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We adopted a cat about a month and a half ago and bought one of the collars from the shelter pet store. In the last couple weeks though it's started to get really frayed, I think because she scratches it. I don't think the integrity of the collar is compromised (yet) but it sure looks ugly. Are there any collars out there that are scratch resistant or fray resistant?
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Mar 24, 2010 07:41
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Just recently got a kitten. She is long haired and very fuzzy. Despite eating the same diet our other cat eats (Taste of the wild) She has very runny poop. Sometimes I'll notice a streak of brown on her butt fur. Should I shave her? Should I change her diet?
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Mar 24, 2010 08:08
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How long ago is "just recently"? Kittens notoriously have more...interesting digestive systems than adults. If you want to keep trying TotW with her (and this is probably the first time I've heard of TotW giving anyone the runs, so I would stick with it for a bit at least), try mixing a bit of canned pumpkin-- not pumpkin pie filling; no spices for kitty-- in with her food. It's basically pure fiber and should help pull things together. You can then gradually start weaning her off of it after a couple of weeks, or just keep doing it if it seems to be working for her.
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Mar 24, 2010 12:26
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Dancingthroughlife posted:Just recently got a kitten. She is long haired and very fuzzy. Despite eating the same diet our other cat eats (Taste of the wild) She has very runny poop. Sometimes I'll notice a streak of brown on her butt fur. Should I shave her? Should I change her diet? Kittens have awful poop for a loooong time. It's probably that you switched her to a much better food than she was on before. Have you had her checked out by a vet? Sometimes kittens come with nasty things like coccidia. But it's probably just that her digestive system is shocked by better food. Also, you might consider putting her on a kitten specific food, kittens have higher caloric requirements that grown cats. Not that it would help THIS problem.
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Mar 24, 2010 12:52
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justFaye posted:We adopted a cat about a month and a half ago and bought one of the collars from the shelter pet store. In the last couple weeks though it's started to get really frayed, I think because she scratches it. I don't think the integrity of the collar is compromised (yet) but it sure looks ugly. Are there any collars out there that are scratch resistant or fray resistant? 
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Mar 24, 2010 13:05
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