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SunknLiner posted:Can anyone suggest a really good cat tree for a single cat that is ~$100? I've seen a few at Petco, but they are either too flimsy/wobbly, or are tiny/GIGANTIC. If I haven't made it clear enough, my cats loving love this cat tree and Armarkat trees are great in every way (except they're ugly but whatever).
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Dec 3, 2010 00:31
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There's a surprising number of cheap ones on Overstock.com, too, and I saw a commercial claiming that they're doing free shipping at the moment.
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Dec 3, 2010 02:27
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If you have wood floors you might want to put some felt or contact paper over the bottom screws so they don't scratch your floors. I love mine.
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Dec 3, 2010 02:55
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So here's a question, I got a new cat, and he's great, except for one little problem. He LOVES to bite. It's not aggressive, just play biting, but my hands and forearms are starting to get kinda torn up. As a bit of background, he's a 1 year old Maine Coon, and I adopted him so I have no idea how he was handled as a kitten. Given that he's so friendly towards people (he'll run up and rub against strangers at my door), I'm guessing he was really well socialized, but also that whoever owned him let him bite and scratch since he wasn't a 13 lb monster back then. So, I've tried just about everything I know. I give him 'time-outs' when he bites, that doesn't work. I'll yell at him, grab him and pin him to the ground (I know it sounds harsh, but it worked great with rectifying problems with previous cats), and even tried spraying my hand down with bitter apple and let him go to town to see if that got the point across. It didn't, he literally licked my hand for about 15 seconds, then started gnawing on it again. I guess it's worth mentioning that something called 'Bitter Yuck' I got at Petsmart, I'm assuming it's more or less the same thing. So I'm out of ideas, and starting to worry since he also likes to chew on cables too and I'd really rather not come home from work to find a fried cat. I play with him quite a bit too, and I know some of it is just him telling me he wants to play more, but if it were up to him, I'd be spending every waking minute I'm at home playing with him. I just can't give him THAT much time. Any ideas?
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Dec 3, 2010 05:59
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Silvergun1000 posted:So here's a question, I got a new cat, and he's great, except for one little problem. He LOVES to bite. It's not aggressive, just play biting, but my hands and forearms are starting to get kinda torn up. Please don't throw him down and yell at him anymore, he'll just end up being scared of you.  Usually it's recommended to do the same thing kittens do when one is playing too rough--give a yelp and walk away, ending play. You have to teach the cat that bad behavior = no more fun. It'll probably take a lot of very consistent repetition, don't get discouraged if it doesn't work after a week or two. As for the cables, you'll probably just have to hide them or wrap them in something unpleasant like aluminum foil. You can't really "teach" him to not chew on them or anything like that, you can just make them inaccessible or really unpleasant to play with. If you're having trouble keeping him entertained, would it be possible to get him a cat buddy? As long as you can afford it and whatnot it's really a win/win for everyone . . . new cat gets a home, cats have buddies to play with and you don't have to entertain the cat 24/7.
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Dec 3, 2010 08:07
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HondaCivet posted:Please don't throw him down and yell at him anymore, he'll just end up being scared of you. Yeah, as soon as I saw it wasn't working, I stopped. In all fairness, I wasn't throwing him though, more like just pushing him down on the ground and telling him 'no!'. The only thing I do that's close to hurting him is occasionally send him into a wall with one of his cat toys (he's not very smart), and kick him by accident when he runs right in front of me (again, not very smart). I should probably get one of those cable sleeves anyhow just from an organization standpoint, so I guess this is a good reason to do that. I had considered getting him a friend, when I adopted him I saw he got along really well with other cats, so that's good. Any suggestions on how to go about that though? I'd hate to bring a new cat home and watch them hate each other. My parents' cats are like that, and I don't think either of them are happier for it.
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Dec 3, 2010 08:47
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Well, this was a surprise. We got our first cat (female, spayed, 2 yo, from the shelter) in the beginning of this year, and adopted a stray kitten (male) roughly 4 months ago. After some minor initial problems, the two got along fine. They didn't bother eachother too much, even sometimes sleeping together. The only problem was that the male stray kitten wanted to play a lot more than the older cat. We thought that would be solved when the little guy got older and neutered. So, yesterday we brought the male the vet to have him neutered. The operation went well and we got him home safe, although a bit drowsy from the anaesthetic and us feeling slightly guilty. He was gone for a total of 6 hours max. What we didn't expect though was the older cat's reaction. She freaked the gently caress out when we got home. It was as if she no longer recognized her roommate and thought he was some strange cat. She was terrified and started hissing and growling heavily. When the anaesthetic wore off on the newly neutered cat, this triggered him into defensive mode. The end result is heavy, non-play skirmishes (howling, hissing, tails like toilet brushes) and me being scared to leave the two alone. Our cats suddenly hate eachother... Does anyone know what the hell happened here and/or how we could potentially remedy this?
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Dec 3, 2010 08:52
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You kind of should have expected it after 10000000 internet stories such as in this very forum and this very thread about cats freaking out after their friend comes homes from the vet and smells differently. You can wait, you can get feliway, probably some other advice hidden away in these here threads... They'll be fine though. Completely redo the kitten introduction if you want.
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Dec 3, 2010 09:25
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Sumadartson posted:Well, this was a surprise. Fiskiggy's already got your solutions though: 1) wait 2) try feliway
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Dec 3, 2010 10:43
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Silvergun1000 posted:Yeah, as soon as I saw it wasn't working, I stopped. In all fairness, I wasn't throwing him though, more like just pushing him down on the ground and telling him 'no!'. The only thing I do that's close to hurting him is occasionally send him into a wall with one of his cat toys (he's not very smart), and kick him by accident when he runs right in front of me (again, not very smart). Eh, that stuff's normal. Cats are dumb and not as graceful as they think they are. That'd be a good idea. Just make sure he doesn't start chewing on the sleeve. He probably won't if it's big enough but just keep an eye on him. That's great that you know that he already gets along with other cats. I'd suggest heading to a good shelter/rescue and asking if they have any cats are around his age that have gotten along well with other cats. Once you get the new cat home, follow the introduction instructions in the OP. Things might not go super smoothly at first but most cats will eventually start to get along and often become friends.
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Dec 3, 2010 17:51
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Silvergun1000 posted:Yeah, as soon as I saw it wasn't working, I stopped. In all fairness, I wasn't throwing him though, more like just pushing him down on the ground and telling him 'no!'. The only thing I do that's close to hurting him is occasionally send him into a wall with one of his cat toys (he's not very smart), and kick him by accident when he runs right in front of me (again, not very smart). In addition to HondaCivet's recommendations, if you are playing with him with your hand, stop now. Only use toys to play with him, and when he bites your hand, make a very high pitched yelp, and walk away. Ignore him completely. After a bit you can try playing again with toys. Types of toys sometimes make a difference. My cats go apeshit for toys on sticks, especially Da Bird.
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Dec 3, 2010 19:37
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Sumadartson posted:Does anyone know what the hell happened here and/or how we could potentially remedy this? Yeah, this happened to me too after Gus stayed one day at the vet this summer. Archie didn't recognize him anymore, much hissing and growling ensued. And these are cats who have lived with each other for 12.5 years now. I forget who gave me this advice but it was quite helpful. Take a towel or old tshirt, rub the female cat with it to get her scent on it. Get another towel and do the same thing with the male cat. Then rub each of them with the other's towel. This gets their scents on each other and helps with the freaking out. At least it did with my guys. YMMV
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Dec 3, 2010 22:15
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I read the guide when I first got my cat, and I've checked the last 10 pages to see if this question has been answered. I haven't seen it answered, but if someone wants to direct me to it that would be great  I adopted my first cat two months ago. I've established her boundaries around the house pretty well using foil and ssscat. However, I've run into a new problem. I recently moved back in with my parents in between transitioning from one campus of my school to another, and they love putting up Christmas decorations all around the house. My cat is obsessed with the Christmas tree. I have put three cans of ssscat around its perimeter, but she will just jump on top of the tree from the top of the stairs, which is worse than playing at the base. I am not what sure to do to get her to stop doing this. I don't want her to bring down the entire tree (lots of glitter and glass everywhere...not a good thing). I can't watch her 24/7 because of finals/school. Three ridiculous options I've thought of: 1. Should I buy more cans of ssscat to put on the stairs? (this option would annoy the living hell out of my family) 2. She hates tin foil. Should I put tin foil on all of the stair steps and the hallway leading to the stairs?  This would require an obscene amount of tin foil. 3. Do I try and spray stuff on the top of the tree? I've already put bitter apple spray on parts of the tree, but her attraction to the tree does not appear to be its taste (or smell?). The bitter apple is not deterring her, at least not from the TOP of the tree. I've already taken the star we had up there down. She has her own cat tree to play with, but I guess the Christmas tree is more shiny or something. So goons, how do you keep your cats off the Christmas tree? Any suggestions? edited because I can't count Parlour Tricks fucked around with this message at 01:24 on Dec 4, 2010 |
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Dec 4, 2010 01:09
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Don't you love that brand new kitty smell. This is Philip Pirrip, otherwise known as Pip, Pippin, or Sir. Pips-A-Lot:  I rescued him from a shelter, he's 3 months old. When I first saw him he was one pound and all his ribs and bones were sticking out. They neutered him that day, but I couldn't take him home because he was so little, he didn't respond well to the anesthesia. Then he developed an upper respiratory infection and wasn't eating. Finally, he started to get better and I managed to bring him home on Wednesday. We came back from his first visit to the vet today and he weighs 2.2 lbs. I wanted to get him a friend, but he hates other cats. Today he saw a picture of a cat at the vet and he started hissing at it. Ironically, he seems fascinated by dogs. He saw a dog at the vet today and seemed to want to go play with it. So weird. He's also very territorial with me, so the vet said it's okay if it's just him. I'm still worried, that he might get bored or lonely, etc, but I'm with him all day so hopefully that'll be enough. Anyway, I just have a question. Today is his third day home and he has been sooooo lazy. Seriously, he has slept pretty much all day. He still loves his Evo, and is still playful after he eats, still goes to the bathroom like a champ, but why is he sleeping so much? He didn't do that the last two days and was instead sleeping through the night. Logic tells me he's fine as long as he's still eating and playing, but I'm such a paranoid mama, and I've only had him for 3 days, I'm SO scared I'm gonna kill him I already love him so much. This morning I opened the blinds and he saw some birds outside and started chirping at them. It was the loving cutest thing I've seen in my life  Sleeping Pip thanks you for reading all this.  Nevermind: he just woke up and is now playing a ball of yarn and my tape measure. Oh God he's gonna be an rear end in a top hat tonight, isn't he? Hobo Camp fucked around with this message at 03:29 on Dec 4, 2010 |
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Dec 4, 2010 03:17
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He's adorable! Good luck with everything he sounds perfect.
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Dec 4, 2010 04:36
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Thank you! He's currently watching King of the Hill. He's lazy AND loves TV. This cat was born to be with a Goon.
Hobo Camp fucked around with this message at 00:22 on Dec 5, 2010 |
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Dec 4, 2010 04:49
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Ha, that's what me and my cats are doing also. Poor Bill.
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Dec 4, 2010 04:58
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Hey guys!  I have a really small question, but I figure I should provide a little info on my cat anyway--Orso is a 7 months old male of a litter of six (!!!) that we had to keep since there are no shelters in the area. Since they're so many, they're outdoors/indoors cats, and as I'm sure you know better than me that's a lovely way for a cat to get every single possible parasite on itself I'm pretty sure that he has ear mites; he scratches inside his ear a lot, keeps it flat and won't let me check. He seems to have scratched too hard as there's a bit of blood, but I didn't manage to see much. This has been going on for a couple days and I plan on taking him to the vet ASAP, but what I wanted to know is, how infective are ear mites? Everyone else is fine as far as I can tell, but I really really don't want to risk it. Here's a picture of the whole team, with a bonus mid-yawn silly face Orso is the one at the top! Click here for the full 980x735 image. capslocksaurus fucked around with this message at 10:01 on Dec 4, 2010 |
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Dec 4, 2010 09:58
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Parlour Tricks posted:I read the guide when I first got my cat, and I've checked the last 10 pages to see if this question has been answered. I haven't seen it answered, but if someone wants to direct me to it that would be great I don't have Christmas trees, but is sounds like a case of if you can't beat them, join them. Can you get rid of the glitter (tinsel?) and use shatter proof ornaments? Can you secure the tree so it would be near impossible for the cat to tip it over? You also need to make sure the water for the tree is inaccessible, in the back of my mind I think I have heard that the tree sap is poisonous to cats/dogs, so you don't want them drinking that. I can't imagine trying to keep a cat out of a tree, so you need to make the tree as safe as you can for the cat.
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Dec 4, 2010 10:19
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capslocksaurus posted:Hey guys!
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Dec 4, 2010 23:04
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Hello Catthread, I just got back from the local nonprofit shelter where I found two cats I am in the process of adopting. I'm going to be out of town for 4 days next weekend so they won't be coming home until after that. They are brother and sister, apparently about a year and a half old; this is the male, Bongo (apologies for terrible picture):  My first question involves him. The staff said he recently had to have surgery due to him eating a string and his former owner pulling it out when she saw it start coming out his behind. Apparently his intestines were "accordioned and perforated", which can't possibly sound any worse when you're looking at a cute kitty face. I forgot to ask how long ago the surgery was but it was recent enough that the shaving on his belly is still very obvious. Given this history, is there any special dietary things I should be taking into consideration (if the staff doesn't mention anything)? My plan was to get Wellness since it's the only thing from the Premium list in the Nutrition thread I could find at the local Petsmart; anyone know any reason why that might be a bad idea, considering? The other question involves litterboxes... This house is large but it doesn't have a good place for a litterbox on the main floor. When I had a friend living here with me, her cats' litterboxes were in the unfinished basement, which we left the door to cracked open all the time. Are there any possible problems with doing this again? It's a typical unfinished basement, dark, temperature always 10 or so degrees less than the house, occasionally has a trickle of water run across the floor when it rains heavily, used to get mice occasionally which the previous cats proved pretty adept at hunting down. The only other good option is opening up the unused bedroom and just having them out in the open in there. Thanks for any advice, I shall be sure to repay with pictures a-plenty when they arrive.
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Dec 5, 2010 01:51
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I have 2 cats. I have 2 litter boxes in my "office" which is just a spare room with football cards and a desk and one in the basement. The rule of thumb is one for each cat plus an extra but people have gotten on with two cats sharing one or one per cat it really depends on your cats.
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Dec 5, 2010 01:58
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Rupert is 2 years old, neutered, proper weight, indoor only former stray. I got him back in June. He's been licking his junk a lot lately. He doesn't have any other symptoms, like I haven't noticed him using the litter box excessively or being thirsty and there haven't been any pee puddles in the wrong places. He's eating, playing, running around, sleeping, mewing and asking for attention in his usual exuberant manner. I don't know if he just found out he can reach his penis and thinks it's great or what.  How often is too often?
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Dec 5, 2010 23:26
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Eggplant Wizard posted:Rupert is 2 years old, neutered, proper weight, indoor only former stray. I got him back in June. Are you sure it's his junk? If it's just his butt area then he might have an anal gland impaction that's causing him discomfort. I don't know how to check for that kind of thing yourself so I'd probably just make a vet appointment.
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Dec 6, 2010 06:53
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HondaCivet posted:Are you sure it's his junk? If it's just his butt area then he might have an anal gland impaction that's causing him discomfort. I don't know how to check for that kind of thing yourself so I'd probably just make a vet appointment. It's sometimes his balls but I'm also seeing a lot of cat penis these days. Bah. I guess I should call the vet.  ETA: Rather than double post... So I made Rupert a vet appointment, but I just made a sort of "durr" connection. A couple days ago I saw some liquidy poop in the catbox, and just now Rupert made some awful squirty-farty noises and made a rather wet one (oh god the smell, too). I bet his bum hurts because of diarrhea  Maybe his penis just comes out when he licks his butt? Anyway, gross as all this is, I'm really glad to have an idea. I'm going to call the vet again tomorrow and see if they think I should bring him in. I might also get some wet food and give him some pumpkin.
Eggplant Wizard fucked around with this message at 01:54 on Dec 7, 2010 |
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Dec 6, 2010 18:49
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I picked up a leafy green vine plant (I'm not good with plant names) and now one of my cats keeps nibbling the leaves and they are looking pretty ragged. Does this mean he is missing anything in his diet or is he just being a pain?
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Dec 7, 2010 23:32
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I don't know, Egglplant, that would be enough to make me pretty worried about crystals. You don't usually see a cat's penis unless it is irritated or inflamed.
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Dec 8, 2010 00:04
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RheaConfused posted:I don't know, Egglplant, that would be enough to make me pretty worried about crystals. You don't usually see a cat's penis unless it is irritated or inflamed. Speak for yourself. One of my cats growing up would knead and then get it out for some licking. I'm unfortunately used to it. Rupert is still going to the vet though, since apparently diarrhea lasting more than a day or so is something to worry about in cats. Spuzzz posted:I picked up a leafy green vine plant (I'm not good with plant names) and now one of my cats keeps nibbling the leaves and they are looking pretty ragged. Does this mean he is missing anything in his diet or is he just being a pain? Find out what kind of plant it is and check the list of plants toxic to cats that's posted in the OP of this thread. And yes, your cat is just being a pain.
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Dec 8, 2010 01:31
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Are small amounts of solid butter ok to give a cat? Suddenly she wants to spit out her pill. I tried pilling her, but failed over and over. I saw a video suggest coating it in butter to make it easy to swallow. Can I push into a small piece of butter and see if she eats it?
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Dec 8, 2010 03:15
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pandaid posted:Are small amounts of solid butter ok to give a cat? Yup. Then go to the pet store and get some "pill pocket" treats, which are really sticky treats that you put the pill into so it's hard for the cat to eat only the treatparts.
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Dec 8, 2010 03:26
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Okay, so an update about Hannah: she is worm free, thankfully, and the stool sample they took made my fiance crack up since she'd never seen the poop loop used before. They gave us an antibiotic and something to stiffen her stool, and it's working, except it's a pain to give to her; it's in gel form, and the dose is bigger than her mouth. She eats around it if it's in her food, and I can't force her mouth open like the vet did for the life of me. She's started yowling like she's in pain before she spazzes out. I have no idea what the hell is wrong with her, but it's funny to watch since she'll leap at a wall and kick off of it to get somewhere higher with a bit of string in her mouth. John Dyne fucked around with this message at 05:08 on Dec 8, 2010 |
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Dec 8, 2010 04:58
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Good news! Sort of! Orso doesn't have ear mites, it's actually otitis. A week of eardrops should fix everything. So yay ... On the downside, I have been having a "one of my cats LOVES to pee on my floor" problem for a while. I hoped I would have been able to see when he started to try digging and take him outside until he learned, but sometimes he just props down and does his business, and it's hard to constantly keep an eye on him when I have five other furballs darting around! I hate to admit that a while ago I slapped him on the ear when I caught him, and then he was grumpy at me the whole day and I felt so bad I am aware that if we kept them inside and had a litterbox it would be much easier, but is there at least a way to discourage him from using the floor as his giant litterbox instead? He always does it in a couple specific spots so hopefully this makes it a little easier.
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Dec 8, 2010 09:33
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Put a litter box in the house with some natures miracle in it for the first time so the cat has some where to go when he is inside.You can switch to something cheaper once they get the hang of it. Scoop it every day. Clean all the spots he went with Natures miracle. The cat can smell things you can't and will return to the same place to eliminate. With most cats you can just drop them in the box and they figure it out. It sounds like you already realized cats don't actually learn anything from being hit.
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Dec 8, 2010 09:51
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I didn't know if I should have made a new thread for this question or not, but here it goes. I have an older cat (10 years of age) who is having problems with her kibble. When I took her to the vet two months ago, they said her teeth were fine..is she just having trouble because she's old? What steps should I take to make sure she actually eats? I know she loves Blue Buffalo's wet food, but she's a tad overweight as is, so are there any wet foods for older cats I should be looking at? She's also the first "elderly" cat I've owned, so any advice about what I'm going to be dealing with in the future is appreciated. Edit. Here's a picture of the Stinker, since I know PI likes pics.  Click here for the full 540x720 image. Beiti fucked around with this message at 18:39 on Dec 8, 2010 |
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Dec 8, 2010 18:32
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Beiti posted:I didn't know if I should have made a new thread for this question or not, but here it goes. I have an older cat (10 years of age) who is having problems with her kibble. When I took her to the vet two months ago, they said her teeth were fine..is she just having trouble because she's old? What steps should I take to make sure she actually eats? I know she loves Blue Buffalo's wet food, but she's a tad overweight as is, so are there any wet foods for older cats I should be looking at? She's also the first "elderly" cat I've owned, so any advice about what I'm going to be dealing with in the future is appreciated. Canned food is great. The most common diseases that older kitties get are renal failure, diabetes, and hyperthyroidism. For two out of three of these, 100% canned food diets are recommended, so it makes sense that canned food is good for cats even before they have these problems. Canned food will not make her fat unless you're overfeeding. Canned foods are lower in carbs and higher in protein and moisture, all of which are good things. If you can afford to feed canned food and she likes Blue Buffalo, I'd do that. Also, 10 isn't very old for a cat, just so you know. With good care and a little genetic luck, cats can easily live to 16-20+. As she gets older, it's a good idea to have bloodwork done at her annual vet appointments so you can catch problems and manage them before they become serious. Full bloodwork is typically about $100 depending on what's included and where you live, but it can end up saving you money in the longrun if you catch one of the diseases mentioned above early, instead of ending up at the e-vet in the middle of the night because your cat is suddenly very sick.
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Dec 8, 2010 19:31
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Our kittie Chloe has a little belly flap. She's not overweight by any means, yet she still has this little saggy belly that sways when she runs. The vet called it a coin purse and didn't seem worried about it at all. I heard that some cats develop these after being spayed; is that true? Is there any way to get rid of it? EDIT: How dare I forget the photo!!! For shame.  Click here for the full 480x640 image. SunknLiner fucked around with this message at 19:56 on Dec 8, 2010 |
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Dec 8, 2010 19:45
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SunknLiner posted:Our kittie Chloe has a little belly flap. She's not overweight by any means, yet she still has this little saggy belly that sways when she runs. The vet called it a coin purse and didn't seem worried about it at all. I heard that some cats develop these after being spayed; is that true? Is there any way to get rid of it? Haha. They're fine, some cats just have them and some don't. They don't really mean anything and they don't mean your cat is fat or anything. My cats are boys and they have them too so it's not just from spaying. I think they can also be seen in wild cats like lions? I don't think there's a way to get rid of them aside from your cat getting so fat that it fills in, which is bad of course. Just relax and let yourself be amused by the swinginess.
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Dec 8, 2010 19:55
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Oh it doesn't bother me at all; I was actually worried that it was bothering her! It's actually pretty funny to watch, especially when she knocks stuff over with it and gets this "Well...poo poo." look on her face.
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Dec 8, 2010 19:57
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It bothers Ed when I grab hers, shake it vigorously and shout "fatty fatty fatty cat" but aside from that it doesn't affect her at all.
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Dec 8, 2010 20:10
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Abbeh posted:It bothers Ed when I grab hers, shake it vigorously and shout "fatty fatty fatty cat" but aside from that it doesn't affect her at all. My Samson gets annoyed too! I can't imagine why.
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Dec 9, 2010 03:17
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