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Fire In The Disco posted:Couple of questions. Does the cat go outside? Have you changed the cat's food any time in the recent past? No and no. He's an indoor cat and has eaten the same brand of food for the past few years.
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Jul 7, 2010 03:50
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Hoping this is the right thread to ask this in, I searched for similar posts and had no luck. This is partly a feral cat question, but mostly a kitten question. Also, before I start, I guess I should mention that I've been a cat owner for years and did a lot of reading this afternoon concerning my problem and tried to educate myself as best as I could, but I really have never had any experience with kittens in particular so I'm sorry if I ask anything really stupid.  Apologies for the wall of text! (And thanks in advance) I'm currently visiting a friend for a few weeks in South LA and her neighborhood has a severe feral cat overpopulation. She lives in a small, gated apartment complex and the place is choked with stray cats (not just her apartment complex, but the whole street and the surrounding area too). They're all feral and bolt at the sight of people. To make a long story a tiny bit shorter: a pregnant calico wandered in on Sunday, made a nest in our back alley between some hedges and a chain link fence and had a litter of kittens sometime between Sunday and yesterday morning. I let my friend know right away and we started looking up shelters and info about local animal control, to no avail. Most of the places we asked don't even want to seem to bother with feral cats since the problem is so overwhelming already. So, we talked about it, did a lot of reading on nursing kittens and my friend is basically thinking this: considering how bad the stray cat problem already is in her neighborhood/apartments, she'd like to take the kittens, bottle feed them herself, humanely trap the mother and have her spayed and released. She's had experience bottle feeding 2-3 week old kittens and doesn't have any job obligations for the remainder of the summer, so she'd be fine with staying home all day to look after them. We're both willing to buy all the necessary supplies (bottles, formula, flea spray, heat lamp, etc.), pay the vet bills and focus on nothing but taking care of these kittens. However, we have some concerns: 1. The nest: I'm afraid I could have scared her when I checked on her the few times that I did. I've backed off now, but I'm scared she might feel like I'm lurking and move somewhere else where we can't find her. Also, the nest is just in a really gross, cramped, dirty and bug-filled spot in a busy area and it's probably not the best place for the kittens in the long run. But on the other hand, we don't necessarily want her to relocate to someplace we can't find. 2. Abandoning the kittens: the calico was kind of ratty and didn't look much older than a kitten herself, and after reading about feral cats it seems like less experienced or sick mothers are more likely to abandon their babies. It's hard to check and see if she's still there without sticking my head in there and potentially disturbing her if she still is, and like I said, we're really hoping that she doesn't get freaked out and move. 3. And the most important question, separating the kittens too early: because of the stuff I mentioned up there, we're wondering if it'd be better to bring in the kittens sooner than later. We were already aware that the standard age for separating kittens from their mother is ideally anywhere from 4-8 weeks, 4 being the earliest. But we did find some sites that said that it was possible to bottle-feed kittens as young as 1-2 weeks old if you also were especially careful to wash them, keep them warm, stimulate their digestion and just be extremely attentive. I know that raising kittens that young mustn't be completely unheard of, since people sometimes care for abandoned newborns... But we couldn't really find any more information. We're just trying to prepare ourselves for whatever might happen, so I guess the big question here is if the mother cat leaves these kittens or we separate them after a week or two and take them in, are they doomed no matter what we do? We're prepared for the huge amount of work and know that it would be a round-the-clock responsibility, and we're willing to give it 200%, but we don't want any kittens to die on account of our ignorance or impatience. Currently I've left the mama cat some food and water by the bushes, which she's been eating, and occasionally listen to see if the babies are crying any more than normal. I haven't looked into the hedge for a while, I don't want to frighten her. Tomorrow we're going to sit outside at a safe distance and just wait and see if she leaves/goes into the nest, just to make sure she's still there. Again, sorry for the wall of text. I just wanted to ask here first before we made any plans. I figured you guys might have some firsthand experience with nursing very young kittens and whether or not it's possible or impossible. I really appreciate it, so thanks.
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Jul 7, 2010 12:13
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Is it possible you'll end up with some dead kittens if you take them in at 1-2 weeks? Absolutely. Is it possible some of the kittens will die whether you mess with them or not, living on the street with an inexperienced mother? Sure. If you take them in closer to 4 weeks, they will still be extremely easy to socialize. You just run the risk that she will move them before then. The best way to ensure she doesn't leave to start feeding her stinky canned food twice a day. She is probably desperate for some good nutrition to nurse those babies. What the feral group I worked with used to do in this situation: trap the mom in a humane trap, round up the babies, and put the whole happy family in a big dog crate (covered up) or a bathroom. Let her nurse them instead of your friend bottle feeding every two hours. That way you can make sure everyone is eating and healthy, but basically just leave them alone to avoid stressing out the mom (other than providing food, water, litter). When the babies are mobile and older, you can start socializing them by just hanging out in the bathroom, or by separating them from mom if she's in a dog crate, and taking her in to get spayed. Personally I would not take them from mom at 1-2 weeks if she is caring for them. They are better off with her until they're a little older. I would trap the whole family. Google around for a TNR group in LA because there have to be a few at least. They can probably hook you up with a loaner trap and dog crate, and may ever know where to get you some discounted vet care. edit: If you do the above, don't let the mom get loose in the apartment or it will be bad. If you put a cozy cat carrier in the dog crate or bathroom, she will probably opt to hide in it, making it easy to capture her. Also, sometimes adult cats turn out to be a lot less feral than you think once their trapped. Crooked Booty fucked around with this message at 12:53 on Jul 7, 2010 |
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Jul 7, 2010 12:48
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Thanks, I just read your post to my friend and went looking for some TNR stuff. Unfortunately according to this site http://www.alleycat.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=722 Los Angeles no longer has any city-funded TNR programs, but I followed the links for privately funded places they gave and found FixNation which seems like a good organization. The only issue I can see is that there's an application process and a waiting period of 48-72 hours before they'll even loan you a trap. Hopefully she wouldn't have already moved by then. Bringing the whole family into her apartment would really be ideal, but my friend's big concern is her own female cat. There is a second room/bathroom where we could keep them, but the idea of keeping a feral cat in her apartment intimidates her, especially because of the risk of FeLV. Even if we keep mama cat and babies in a crate in a closed-off room, give them all a flea spray and use brand-new food bowls and a litterbox, would there still be a risk? I would feel so horrendously guilty if something happened to my friend's cat. She seems pretty disinterested in bringing another cat into the house, but I really don't know what else we could do. If we wait 4 weeks, we may have already missed our opportunity and she may have already moved, so we need to talk about this and figure something out. I'm going to go to the store and pick up some canned cat food. Unfortunately when I left the dry stuff out this morning I had to shoo away another cat (this place is seriously crawling with them, which is another risk to the kittens, especially if I leave food nearby the nest that would attract other strays), so maybe the mama cat hasn't been eating it after all. Either way, she's still in there and I can still hear the kittens. Sorry if my typing is all jumbled, I'm still kind of sleepy and I'll give another update once we've tried to intelligently discuss our options - it'd be best to bring everybody inside but unfortunately that decision is ultimately up to my friend, and she seems pretty against the idea. Thank you tons for the information, I'm relieved that we have the name of a TNR place now. Hopefully we can come to a reasonable decision. Edit: To give a better idea of where the mama cat has made her nest:  Click here for the full 1024x768 image. In the little hole at the bottom-left of the hedge. It would be easier to check on her if she were right in there, but she actually made more of a path and is lying about 2-3 feet to the left. There is no hedge behind her, just the concrete wall in the parking lot next door, and as far as I can tell there is no other way to get in or out of the nest. When I went out there to refill her water and take this picture I could hear them mewing in there, which makes me all  but I really didn't want to stick my head in there and freak them out. Thanks for all the help, I know this situation is complicated and silly and unfortunate. If my friend lived in a quieter area then the cat might be more likely to stick around for 4+ weeks, but I don't think we can bring mom in here either. But at the same time we still really want to do this and take care of these babies if we can. Bleh. I would hate to have them end up being like the 4 older kittens that go through the dumpster and sleep in a huddle in the parking garage next door.
shark farts fucked around with this message at 18:04 on Jul 7, 2010 |
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Jul 7, 2010 16:52
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FeLV and FIV are both near-zero risks if they're not coming into contact with each other or sharing food/water bowls, but there are definitely other risks. The most common contagious things would be stuff like fleas or upper respiratory infections. A good handwashing and separate food/water/litter will prevent most other stuff. I can totally understand your friend not wanting a feral cat in her apartment, and of course her own cat's well-being should come first. I would call FixNation and any other TNR or cat rescue groups you can find and tell them the situation. Explain that she has the kittens in a bad spot, and you're really afraid she's going to move them. There may be someone who would be willing to foster the whole family. You may also be able to find someone fostering a tame mom cat with kittens around the same size who could "adopt" those babies as her own.
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Jul 8, 2010 00:14
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I didn't see this discussed in the first, or last few pages. I have a 12 year old American Short Hair cat. For about the past month he has been pooping outside of his litter box. At first I thought he was just getting some dingleberries stuck to his butt, but lately it has been happening more. Last night there were 4 spots where he had pooped on the carpet and kitchen. They aren't giant massive poops, but they were poop all the same. I am not sure what is wrong with him, he has never had this problem in the entire 12 years I have had him. Other than that he has been acting perfectly normal, no problems with eating or anything. I know he is getting on in years, but he isn't ancient yet, so I am at a loss for what to do. Should I take him to the vet?
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Jul 8, 2010 01:19
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Yes. It could be a lot of things but it is definitely a reason to take him to the vet.
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Jul 8, 2010 01:27
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Crooked Booty posted:FeLV and FIV are both near-zero risks if they're not coming into contact with each other or sharing food/water bowls, but there are definitely other risks. The most common contagious things would be stuff like fleas or upper respiratory infections. A good handwashing and separate food/water/litter will prevent most other stuff. Okay, we called some local vets and asked if they knew of anyone who would be willing to foster the whole family. No luck there. I didn't call FixNation but I took a good look at their website, read their FAQ and downloaded their application. It seems like a really good organization but we'd run into a couple of issues. The one big problem is that if you have multiple feral cats in your area, they want you to catch all of them and bring them in around the same time. We'd be willing to do this later, since there are at least 5 other cats wandering around here, but we just can't do it right now. Taking care of the mother and the babies is our priority at the moment. There's some good news though! We're still worried that the mama cat isn't in the best of spots, but it doesn't seem too likely that she's going to move. I think she's getting used to me popping my head in and checking on her, but I only ever do it when I'm leaving food in her bowl. She seems to be making the connection between me looking into the nest and new food being left out, since this morning she came out to eat almost immediately after I looked inside and opened a can of cat food. Anyway, now that we're a little bit more confident about her sticking around, we're not too anxious about getting the kittens out of there. She's taking good care of them and never spends too much time out of the nest. Yesterday we went to Petco and stockpiled some kitten supplies. As long as we think she's going to stay, we're willing to wait. I'm only visiting here, but I may be able to stay longer to help out, which is important since I'm the only one here who's willing and able to go into the hedge. Our general plan is that we'll wait until the kittens are at least two and a half/three weeks old, since the nest is in a really cramped space and she might move if the kittens get too big, and around week 4 they might be mobile enough to hide out of reach when we try to catch them (this is all speculation though, if I'm wrong please let me know). We'll wait until the mother comes out to eat and go to the bathroom, and one of us will try to chase her from the area and keep watch long enough for the other two of us to take the kittens. We'd trap the mother and get her spayed within the next week or so. Thinking about the mother searching for her kittens in the meantime makes me feel evil, but I don't know what else we could do. We could try to get FixNation to loan us a trap for the mom so we can get to the kittens but they might not agree to it since they wouldn't have reached the 4-week mark. Now our second-biggest obstacle is the manager of the apartments. We went to his office today just to let him know about the situation and inform him of our intentions, and ask permission to feed the mom/bring the kittens inside for a week or two until we can get them adopted. He was appreciative of us trying to take care of the problem but basically said "absolutely not" to bringing the kittens inside, because he doesn't want fleas. It's a legitimate concern, and my friend doesn't want to get in trouble, but we don't really have any other options. Even if we went through FixNation and captured the whole family, they require that you bring them inside for a night. So now I guess our main question (aside from whether or not our plan is a bad idea) is if there are any more precautionary measures we can take to avoid fleas, besides giving the kittens baths right away and using the flea spray we bought. (This kind) I've seen stuff you can spray around the house to prevent them, but is it effective? We hate to be dishonest to the manager but we're running out of options. We know that the consequences could be serious if we did get fleas, so we're willing to go nuts flea-proofing this place if it'd make the chances near-zero. We have some friends who live in divey-er places where the owners don't really care, but they probably wouldn't be willing to babysit the kittens in between feedings. We realize that it'd be ideal to find someone to foster the kittens who isn't concerned about fleas, but is anyone ever really okay with knowingly bringing in fleas? If that's our biggest obstacle, we'd feel like it'd be silly to bail on this whole thing because of it. Apologies again for the giant wall of text. I don't mean to junk up the thread but I really appreciate the advice I've been given so far, it really makes me feel better to know that there are people here I can ask instead of just going on internet searches alone. 
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Jul 9, 2010 07:44
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Why are you planning on not taking the mom cat in at the same time? If you plan on taking her in the next week anyway scaring her away from the kittens and separating them seems like it might be counterproductive. Feeding and eliminating wise it will be tons easier with a food and bath factory, plus she won't be making a new litter in that week. It's fantastic that you are doing this and I hope it goes great.
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Jul 9, 2010 07:51
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It would be ideal if we could bring them all inside together before we take the mother to get spayed, it'd really make this whole thing so much simpler. The problem is that my friend has her own cat living in here and doesn't feel comfortable bringing in an adult feral cat. I told her what Crooked Booty said about the chances of transmitting FeLV/FIV being drastically reduced if we're careful to isolate the cats, give them flea baths and use new food dishes/litter boxes, but her answer was still no. Before we came up with our current plan I tried to nudge her a bit and told her that if we brought the mom inside with the babies then we'd have a much easier time getting a TNR place to loan us a trap. She was probably getting a little impatient with me at that point and said, "No, the mother cat is where I draw the line. It is a firm wall of NO, I am not bringing her in here." Even with a significantly lower risk of transmitted diseases, I think her other concerns are simply disrupting her own cat, handling a possibly hostile mother cat and having a feral cat in the apartment that might not know how to use a litter box. From what I've seen of the mother, I personally doubt she would be hostile, and I honestly don't think the other two potential problems would end up being as awful as they seem. The issue with her own cat reacting badly is simply a "keep the room with the cats shut off, just ride it out" kind of thing and as long as the mom and babies would be locked in the bathroom I don't really see the problem with some possible accidents on the floor. If this were happening at my house, I wouldn't hesitate to bring them all inside. Unfortunately, this is her place and I'm a guest, so what she says goes. If bringing mama cat in makes her uncomfortable, then I should just respect her wishes and not push the issue, even though keeping the family together would be worlds easier in the long run. Our second option was/is to find someone willing to foster the whole family, but it's not looking too likely. The places we called in Los Angeles said that any potential foster-ers were already too swamped with feral cats, and the vet we called in Santa Barbara (where my friend's parents live) kinda tiptoed around it and basically said that they didn't know of anyone locally who would feel comfortable dealing with cats that might have fleas or transmittable diseases. (After rereading this I've realized that that pretty much answers your question and the rest of this is me just thinking out loud, so you don't have to keep reading, haha.) The real roadblock, aside from being able to bring mom inside, is just the location and size of the nest. We're fine with waiting until they're about 3 weeks old (maybe a day or two before), but four weeks might be too late. Mama cat will hopefully stick around for a couple of weeks just because of the food I'm leaving for her, but I can't imagine that she'll stay in there much longer after the kittens are big since the area is barely wide enough for her. I'm still not even sure how I'll reach the kittens myself when the time comes, it's a thin space that's about 10+ feet long, 1 foot wide and she's about 5 feet in. If the kittens are old enough to walk, I'm scared that they'd scuttle to the end of the "tunnel" where it'd REALLY be impossible to reach them. Now that I'm writing this, I'm thinking that contacting FixNation might still be a good idea if I could call them and get someone who would be hopefully have the time to listen to our situation. Their policy is that they'll only take mother cats after their kittens are 4 weeks old, but maybe if I explain the circumstances, tell them that we'd be doing it at 3 weeks instead of 4 and are prepared to bottle-feed the kittens right away, then maybe they'd make an exception and loan us a trap? That way we could capture the mom and get the kittens on the same day and not worry about trapping her later (and listening to her cry for her kittens in the meantime ). It's not as ideal as simply capturing her and keeping them all together, but it's at least a bit more ideal than chasing her off and and scrambling to grab the kittens. Blah, I know I keep apologizing for the length of these messages but I just end up totally wordbarfing about this. It's been a stressful few days and I've been anxious and thinking about these cats nonstop, so when I sit down to type it's hard to keep it short. Thank you though, I hope it works out too! I need to stop thinking about kittens and go to bed now.
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Jul 9, 2010 11:16
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My cat just had kittens and I'm freaking out. Actual background: she was clearly an abandoned housecat. We couldn't find her previous owners, so two months ago we adopted her. The area she was abandoned in has a lot of barn cats, though, and clearly she ran into at least one of them, because she was pregnant when we got her. She's been given a clean bill of health by the vet - not even any fleas. Last night she went into labour, and this morning she was in my shoe closet with three kittens. Everything seems to be going fine - the kittens are nursing, she's eating and drinking and purring - but I was wondering if there was any advice to be had or anything in particular I should watch out for. She's about a year old, but since we got her second-hand it's hard to tell for sure. We're feeding her on an assortment of wet kitten foods, with Purina One Kitten dry food for snacking on between meals. Last vet visit was two weeks ago. She's entirely an indoor cat, there's one litterbox, and the only other pets are the hermit crabs, which she cultivates an ostentatious disinterest in.
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Jul 9, 2010 13:33
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Keep lots of food on hand for her, as she might start to amp up how much she eats now that she's nursing her kittens. Don't try to take the kittens or play with them any time soon; most (though not all) mama cats will be pretty aggressive if you mess with them. Once they're old enough, probably something like 4-6 weeks, take them all in at once to the vet, where mama can get spayed and the kittens can get shots and checkups. This is based on raising 3 litters of kittens when I was growing up. I may have left out stuff since it's been a long time, so maybe someone with more recent experience or one of our awesome PI vets/vet techs can chime in?
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Jul 9, 2010 13:37
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More kittens! Since I'm here asking for newborn kitten advice too, I don't have much to offer. Just seconding to feed her more often, I try to leave my mama cat more food than she needs and then I just put the rest in the fridge for later, so I know she's had her fill. Good luck! Don't freak out, it sounds like you're already doing well. As for the kitten situation over here, I think things might be looking a bit more promising? I called FixNation this morning but when I finally reached an operator she just told me to send them an email instead. I sent them a message explaining everything and asked them if they would be able to make an exception for us and loan us a trap even though the kittens would be 3 weeks old instead of 4. I got a response pretty quickly! My super-long email probably freaked her out a little, but I'm just glad she took the time to reply and that I didn't get an auto-response. I got the feeling that she didn't read my whole message, and I can't blame her, since it was huge and I wasn't as clear as I should have been. I shouldn't write when I'm panicky.  Thankfully she seemed really nice, and while she didn't flat-out say "yes, we can make an exception" she did tell me to fill out an application so they'd have our information, and that they could lend us traps after we make appointments to bring the cat/s into the clinic to be fixed. So I guess that's a yes, but I'm not positive that she actually read everything I wrote, since she didn't really address anything else that I said. She may have just kept it short, who knows. It's okay though, I'll just have to send in an application wait and see. In definitely-good news though, we went back to the manager's office to let them know that we'd contacted an organization that might be able to help. We got to talking and the guy said that he'd be fine with us bringing the kittens into the apartment if we would be willing to get a veterinarian to de-flea them before we brought them inside. We'd have to pay more (I'm not sure how much) but at least we'd be able to bring them into the apartment without sneaking around. Edit: Nevermind, as far as I can tell it's likely that anything a vet would use for a flea treatment is way too harsh for kittens this young. We'd probably be able to do a better, safer job just giving them a bath using dawn soap and spraying some flea stuff around the apartment beforehand, but I don't think management would believe that we're capable of doing it ourselves. Hrmm. shark farts fucked around with this message at 08:07 on Jul 10, 2010 |
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Jul 10, 2010 06:14
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shark farts posted:Edit: Nevermind, as far as I can tell it's likely that anything a vet would use for a flea treatment is way too harsh for kittens this young. We'd probably be able to do a better, safer job just giving them a bath using dawn soap and spraying some flea stuff around the apartment beforehand, but I don't think management would believe that we're capable of doing it ourselves. Hrmm.
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Jul 10, 2010 14:41
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Darn, I had a bad feeling that the flea stuff we bought wouldn't work. I guess it doesn't hurt to keep it around if we ask a vet if it's safe and we just want to use it as an extra measure. I looked up Capstar, apparently it's safe for kittens over 4 weeks. These guys would be 3 weeks, so I suppose we'd just ask the vet if we could give them a smaller dosage. Thanks for telling me about it! Either way, the guy at management said "just give us a receipt from the vet or something," so we're thinking that we can take the kittens in for a checkup when they're a week or two older and just tell the guy that a flea bath was included. Edit: Or duh, just buy some Capstar from the vet and give them that receipt, if a smaller dose of Capstar would be safe for these guys. Again, I don't wanna be dishonest but I doubt that they'll be coming to our door asking for anything, or calling to see if we've done anything yet. This is the same guy that asked us "can't you just take the kittens out today?" the first time we saw him so I don't really think he knows what's what. shark farts fucked around with this message at 23:19 on Jul 10, 2010 |
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Jul 10, 2010 20:02
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I have a pair of 7 or 8 week old kittens with fleas. They don't seem to be absolutely covered or crawling with them, so I'm hoping it won't take too many treatments to get rid of them for good. I have some Advantage for the kittens themselves, but I'm not sure what kind of carpet/furniture spray is out there. We picked up a can of BioSpot, but I found a biospotvictims site after following a Hartz victims link in another thread. Is this stuff safe to use near cats, guinea pigs, and hamsters, or should I just return it? If it's terrible, any recommendations for kill-the-egg sprays? If it's decent, how long should I wait before letting the animals back onto the carpet/furniture it's used on? Thank you for any advice, I hope this is the right place to ask!
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Jul 10, 2010 22:01
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Hey guys, any advice for getting my little dummies used to their harnesses? I've let them get away with being big babies about it for long enough. They act like they're crippled when they wear them and run off when we try to put them on. Should I just make them wear them for short periods every day? Give them treats while they wear them? Any other ideas that worked for you guys?
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Jul 10, 2010 22:15
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HondaCivet posted:Hey guys, any advice for getting my little dummies used to their harnesses? I've let them get away with being big babies about it for long enough. They act like they're crippled when they wear them and run off when we try to put them on. Should I just make them wear them for short periods every day? Give them treats while they wear them? Any other ideas that worked for you guys? When my little princess had hers put on for the first time, she flopped over and pretended she could no longer walk. I took her outside in her harness and she completely forgot she was pissed off at it. Since she only gets to go outside when its on, it only took a few days for her to see it as a super awesome thing and she'll drag it to us now when she wants a walk. Another one of our cats loves freeze-dried liver, and he only got it when he was in the harness.
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Jul 11, 2010 14:02
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Does anybody have good suggestions for teething kittens? So far he likes chewing on: a soft blanket, me, foam wings on my cthulhu plush. He doesn't like chewing on: any of the toys I've gotten him, any of the toys I've smeared his food all over, some of the same foam not attached to something.
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Jul 12, 2010 05:10
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Does anyone have any good advice for how to encourage my cat to stop becoming active the second I go to sleep? He sleeps during the day, occasionally getting up to eat/drink and use the litterbox. However, when I turn off the light to go to sleep he wakes up and starts playing with his toys, running around and generally making a lot of noise. It doesn't matter what time I try to go to sleep, he will "wake up" less than a minute after I turn off the light, get a drink and then unleash all hell on his furry little mouse-on-a-spring. I admit, he's pretty adorable when he's jumping around and pouncing on his mouse (he even uses the wall to rebound), but not at 2am! I've tried encouraging him to play during the day, but I can't really force him to play if he doesn't want to. I just want to sleep. He's about a year old and neutered.
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Jul 12, 2010 20:25
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Don't Ask posted:Does anyone have any good advice for how to encourage my cat to stop becoming active the second I go to sleep? Have you tried playing with him right before bed? He might be tired long enough for you to get to sleep at least. Also, are you letting him run around in the bedroom? Shutting the door and maybe turning on a fan might make things quiet enough for you. If he's not playing with you when you try to make him play . . . what toys are you using? If he's resisting something like Da Bird then you may have one strange cat on your hands.
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Jul 12, 2010 20:38
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Update: This is loving ridiculous. We should have never even been honest with management in the first place, I was naive to think that they'd give us their permission just because we were trying to do them a favor. We finally had a safe plan and had sent our application into the TNR place but now it's back to step one. This morning we got a voicemail from a different manager who seemed pretty cool and said "hey we're gonna ask that you stop feeding the cat since we got complaints about it attracting lots of new ones (not true), but we like the sound of this FixNation place and we think we'll use our own traps to catch the other cats nearby and take them there." Awesome! We called the guy back to tell him that we'd be happy to help and maybe we could team up and take the cats to the clinic together. Turns out that the guy didn't actually bother to look up FixNation and see what they actually did. He thought that it was a magical cat depository where you could literally just dump feral cats and the organization would keep them forever. When we told him that no, they fixed the cats for free and released them where they came from, he was incredulous. "Why would I do that? I don't want them here, I want them gone! Can't I just trap them and move them somewhere else?" We explained the whole deal about how feral cats who are moved or destroyed will eventually be replaced by new ones, and that the best thing to do is just fix them so they can't multiply. His response was pretty much "Okay cool thanks whatever, we're still going to trap them ourselves ASAP and let them out somewhere else, we can't have them here." Everything is hosed. If they trap the mama cat then I highly doubt they'd bother to get the kittens, since they're in a tricky spot and can't walk anyway. They'd just starve. We might just have to shell out the money for our own trap and try to beat them to it, but the kittens would barely be 2 weeks old. We'd do our best to care for them regardless, but they'd be so fragile and bringing mom inside is sadly not an option (still no luck finding someone who'd foster the whole family, either). We also don't know how it'd be possible to get her spayed on such short notice, and if we just trap and release her to get to the kittens but don't get her fixed, then we're just further adding to the overpopulation problem. I have no idea what to do anymore, we've used up almost all of our options. It's a longshot, but if there's anyone here who lives in the Los Angeles area, has experience caring for young kittens and would be willing to take in a feral cat and her babies for 3-4+ weeks (and could come and pick them up after we've trapped them), please let me know at sarsler@gmail.com. I just ask that you only send something if you're absolutely serious and you're sure you can do it, since we're running out of time and we can't afford to make any other plans that might fall through. I know it's unlikely, but I thought I'd just put it out there. We'll keep checking around and will continue to plan on nursing the kittens ourselves if it comes down to that. I know the managers are just trying to do their jobs, but I really hate people sometimes. I'm so exhausted
shark farts fucked around with this message at 06:42 on Jul 14, 2010 |
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Jul 13, 2010 03:51
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That sucks man. Most landlords/property managers that I've met are human garbage, I'm sure yours are no exception. You'll just have to stay on their asses until this thing is over.
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Jul 13, 2010 05:12
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Hi Pet Island. Tomorrow, I will be acquiring a kitty.  To be specific, I am adopting a 5-year old neutered male from a friend of mine; he wandered into her garage (totally healthy, vet gave him a clean bill of health; she checked around at local vets/shelters/etc. and couldn't find any potential owners), but she can't keep him because her roommate is deathly allergic. So I am taking him! This will be my first time owning a cat on my own; my family had one when I was young, but I didn't have anything to do with his upkeep. My main question is, I currently work the overnight shift (10pm - 6am) and sleep more or less when I get home (usually about 7am - 2pm). Will this be compatible with a cat? I've read that they're usually most awake at dawn and dusk, which sounds pretty okay; I would love to add some kitty playtime into my wind-down-from-work routine, and I'm usually around my apartment at dusk. Is my sleep schedule going to confuse the cat, though? Also, I've seen recommendations of toys and such, but a lot of them seem aimed at kittens, not big mature men like this guy. From what my friend has told me, he's pretty chill, not too crazy or anything. What should I be looking for? Also of note, I have a pretty small apartment, so while I'd like to get some sort of tree I can't get anything too huge. I don't know anything about his food/litter/etc, she's bringing all of that over; I'll check the brands and consult this thread again. I will also provide pics, of course. Thanks!
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Jul 14, 2010 06:39
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He'll probably love your sleep schedule actually. Cats actually wake up and then go back to sleep several times every day, but they seem to be more active and wild at night. Cats and kittens generally play with the same things, they're not like people in that way, haha. For toys, you should probably get some stuff that's safe for him to play with by himself, and then some stuff that you can play with together. Cats tend to like different sizes, textures, etc. so just go to a pet store, grab a handful of random little toys and see what he likes. You can just make him some toys too, cats will play with any dumb thing. Just tie an old shoelace or a ripped sock into a big knotted ball, give it a toss and see what he thinks. To play together, you'd both probably enjoy a fishing-pole type toy like Da Bird. (Don't leave out stuff with long strings or anything else he could swallow or choke on while you're gone though.) A lot of cats also go crazy over laser pointer toys. Maybe you already have a laser pointer laying around? You'll also almost certainly want to try some catnip on him. Some cats don't react to it but most do, with amusing results! The fresher the better. If you can find a cool local non-chain pet store they'll probably have some awesome fresh local catnip for you, definitely try some of that. There's also a goon that sells homegrown catnip in SA Mart. You can get toys filled with catnip too although I think they're kind of a waste of catnip as they lose their impact pretty quickly due to the catnip losing its freshness out in the open air. Catnip keeps a lot better if you refrigerate or freeze it. As for a cat tree, cats mostly value vertical space, not horizontal, so you can definitely get a nice tall tree with a small footprint that won't encroach on your space too much. A lot of goons love Armarkat trees, they are available online and on eBay and are apparently very good quality for the money. Also look on Craigslist and stuff to see if anyone's getting rid of one. I hope that helps, feel free to hit the thread up with more questions (and pics).
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Jul 14, 2010 06:59
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HondaCivet posted:You can get toys filled with catnip too although I think they're kind of a waste of catnip as they lose their impact pretty quickly due to the catnip losing its freshness out in the open air. Catnip keeps a lot better if you refrigerate or freeze it. Tell that to my cats who still go crazy over the catnip filled bat toy that dee eight sold me in February. Also, I have had just success just keeping dee eights catnip in a ziploc bag which I then placed in one of those ziploc plastic containers and then in a dark cabinet. I forgot I had it in there and found it over a year later and it was still potent as hell. I highly recommend getting it from him.
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Jul 14, 2010 09:15
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TMMadman posted:Tell that to my cats who still go crazy over the catnip filled bat toy that dee eight sold me in February. Also, I have had just success just keeping dee eights catnip in a ziploc bag which I then placed in one of those ziploc plastic containers and then in a dark cabinet. I forgot I had it in there and found it over a year later and it was still potent as hell. I highly recommend getting it from him. That's true, his stuff is really fresh and high-quality so I'm not surprised it stays good for that long. I guess the moral of the story is that quality makes a big difference in the potency and longevity of catnip.
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Jul 14, 2010 15:44
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You rang? Anyway, for quality catnip the drying process is key. I've had catnip in an unsealed container that was about 5 or more years old and it still had plenty of kick. Badly dried catnip will turn brown, avoid anything that isn't a nice green color. At the moment, my supply is practically non-existant but there's a guy from Minnesota who's offering catnip bud in SAmart. edit: Catnip FAQ: What is catnip, and why do cats like it so much? Catnip (nepeta cataria) is an herb in the mint family. It contains a compound called nepatalactone which is most likely an endorphin stimulator. Cats get their buzz through olfactory input, so they don't have to eat it to enjoy it. How much catnip should I give my cat? A little will suffice, like a teaspoonfull or a mound about as big as a quarter. For extra fun, serve it up in paper bag or cardboard box. My cat doesn't like catnip. That's a statement, not a question. Okay, why doesn't my cat like catnip? About 10% of all cats lack the catnip gene and miss out on the fun. Young kittens, up to about 4-6 months are often unaffected and elderly cats will sometimes lose interest. Alternately, you may have only tried lovely corporate catnip that wasn't grown and dried with care to preserve quality. Should I refridgerate it or something? Nah. My secret drying process keeps it potent for years. Just store it in a jar or tin or other catproof container to keep your cat from making a big mess. Can I smoke this stuff? I wouldn't. dee eight fucked around with this message at 00:28 on Jul 15, 2010 |
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Jul 15, 2010 00:07
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We recently lost our cat Josie and have been considering getting another to keep our cat Smoochie company Some friends have a lovely little tortie they would like to rehome because their daughter is marrying into a family that is horribly allergic to cats, and so the new inlaws can't come over for dinner or socializing. This cat, Dipstick,  is extremely sweet and affectionate. She has a disabled front leg so she's basically a tripod, but it doesn't seem to affect her much. My wife is really leaning towards getting this cat. I was leaning more towards getting a kitten from the local shelter, as I feel there would be less of a chance of problems with respect to Smoochie, i.e. not being bossed around by a new cat. So now we're thinking about getting both our friend's cat and a kitten! What could go wrong? Does this seem like a reasonable course of action? Assuming this to be the plan, how should we time it, should we bring both new cats in at once, or space them out? I should point out that when we got Smoochie she tried to make friends with the 2 cats we had at the time, but they just weren't into being close pals. If anyone can make suggestions it'd be greatly appreciated! Hermaphrodite fucked around with this message at 04:47 on Jul 15, 2010 |
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Jul 15, 2010 03:52
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Hermaphrodite posted:We recently lost our cat Josie I wouldn't get both at once, and personally I'd skip the kitten. Kittens are recommended in pairs so they can expend all that destructive energy on each other rather than your stuff or bugging the hell out of your other cat(s). As for adult cat intros, it's covered pretty well in the first couple of posts - it may take a couple of weeks for them to tolerate being in the same room, and a couple of months or a year for them to get on well, if it ever happens. I added Tim (8 years old) to our household in August, and he's only now started to play with Jake (then 9, now 10 years old). Contrast that with the dog we got in September that was snuggling with Jake by December.
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Jul 15, 2010 07:45
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My kitty is getting spayed tomorrow, but she's spontaneously gotten a bit runny today. It doesn't seem too bad, but should this be a reason to postpone the spay? Also as she's a colourpoint kitty (blue birman) I've been advised by her breeder to ask the vet to perform the spaying from her underside, not on her side. Apparently shaving the fur on her side can cause the fur to grow back darker until she sheds her coat. I asked the nurse when booking the appointment, and was told that she'll ask the vet if he's happy to do it that way. Is there a reason he would refuse? I don't want to spoil her pretty fur but if there's a risk to her health by going in from her belly, then I'll just live with the patch for a year. A picture for your time... 
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Jul 15, 2010 20:18
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nef posted:My kitty is getting spayed tomorrow, but she's spontaneously gotten a bit runny today. It doesn't seem too bad, but should this be a reason to postpone the spay? Might be best to just call them and ask, they'd at least have a heads-up about it and know if they need to look her over more carefully before they start. I doubt it'd be a reason to push it back but they might disagree. I've never seen a cat get spayed from the side instead of underneath but that's just me. Maybe that's a newer way to do it? I think it's just due to training and preference though, and sometimes the cat's build.
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Jul 15, 2010 20:29
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nef posted:I asked the nurse when booking the appointment, and was told that she'll ask the vet if he's happy to do it that way. Is there a reason he would refuse? I don't want to spoil her pretty fur but if there's a risk to her health by going in from her belly, then I'll just live with the patch for a year. Also, I'm pretty sure that the fur can grow back dark on the belly just as easily as on the side, but I'm not an expert. In my (anecdotal) experience, it seems like the fur is more likely to grow back dark when it's shaved nearer to the dark extremities than on the body/trunk. For example, shaving a spot on the leg for an IV catheter may grow back dark. Some vets (especially at low-cost places) don't place catheters for spays, but if a dark leg patch would bother you, I'd let them know. Sometimes catheters can be placed without shaving.
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Jul 15, 2010 20:30
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nef posted: Beautiful kitty!
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Jul 16, 2010 00:04
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Here's Lewis! Click here for the full 720x481 image.  He was saaaad on the drive over to my apartment (the carrier he came with was way too small, for one, grr), but his adjustment once he got home was remarkably quick; he smelled and explored every little nook and cranny, checked me out a few times, then settled in. He ate and drank right away, and eventually figured out that, oh yeah, that box is where I poop! He's chill as hell and slept at the foot of my bed all night, then gently meowed in my face when my alarm went off. I have two questions at the moment. First of all, he doesn't seem to have much interest in playing; he has a ball with a bell in it that he doesn't even look at, and I bought a furry-thing-on-a-string that he ignored. I put an empty toilet paper roll on the floor for kicks; nothing. Any other suggestions? Is it possible that he's not feeling comfortable enough to play yet (seems unlikely, since he's already flopping out all over the place and sleeping next to me on the couch), or should I keep looking for different options? I'm going to get a little laser pointer in the next few days, and might try something sparkly... what else? Also, I have a balcony, and after seeing that he went out on my friend's balcony with no issues, let him check it out. He loooves sticking his head between the bars and looking and smelling - almost too much. After we went back in, he kept meowing at the door. It's a regular door with just a smallish window in the top half, so he can't just sit and look out; I set up a TV tray table next to another window for him to sit on, but the view isn't as interesting. Should I worry that he'll get so enamored with the balcony that he'll jump or something, or should I just schedule some outside time each day? I'm on the third floor so hopefully he isn't tempted, but you never know.
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Jul 16, 2010 05:58
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I'd just give him a little more time to get adjusted. He also might just be a chill-rear end cat that only plays when he's got the midnight zoomies or something. He's probably OK going out there as long as you go with him and keep an eye on him. I'd probably slap a harness on him too in case a bug flutters by and he jumps at it or something. He'd probably survive a drop that far but he'd probably get hurt and he could freak out and run away once he hits the ground. You'd both probably be better off if you just opened the window but left the screen closed; he could smell and see stuff but not jump into oblivion.
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Jul 16, 2010 06:24
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HondaCivet posted:I'd just give him a little more time to get adjusted. He also might just be a chill-rear end cat that only plays when he's got the midnight zoomies or something. Good point on the harness; I was actually just thinking about that. Since he's so comfortable being outside, I wonder if he might be a cat who likes to be walked? I'll look at the pet store tomorrow. And I didn't even think of opening the window; so spoiled by central a/c. 
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Jul 16, 2010 08:11
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My fiancee and I have adopted a cat from the shelter four months ago. Miss Sockfoot is an energetic, sweet 2 yr old and an all around awesome cat; everything is going extremely well. So well in fact that we've been considering getting a second cat for a while now. x2 Things, however, have started to move a lot faster all of a sudden. Friends of us found an abandoned kitty under the hood of their car a couple of days ago. He/she appears to have socialized well and to be in good health. They aren't capable of taking in another cat though. So, ee've decided to take in the new kitten (tentatively called Columbus) to see how things go. Any tips on how to prepare the appartment and ourselves for the new arrival? I'll be working from home for the first couple of days after Columbus arrives, followed by my fiancee doing the same. We're already getting a second kitty litter and some extra toys for Columbus. A visit to the vet should be planned relatively shortly. And, more importantly, is there any thing we can do to help Columbus and Miss Sockfoot get along? We asked the shelter for advice and they said that we should be okay. Miss Sockfoot has gotten used to her new home and she probably won't perceive the little one as a threat. Sumadartson fucked around with this message at 13:50 on Jul 16, 2010 |
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Jul 16, 2010 12:49
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There's a really great section of the OP about introducing kitties. The shelter can't really know how your other cat will be with a new cat, it's very hard to judge a cat's real personality in a shelter situation. Just give it time and keep them separated for a while. The most important thing is to not introduce them until the new cat has gone to the vet and had a combo test for FIV and FeLV.
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Jul 16, 2010 15:04
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Definitely read what the OP says about introducing cats. There are rare cats who are cool with each other from the start, but for the most part the rule of thumb is take it slow, take it slow, take it slow. For what it's worth, in my experience female cats are more territorial than males, but that isn't always true.
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Jul 16, 2010 16:07
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