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Meow Cadet posted:I'd say a rule of thumb would be 1.5-2 years. They're still going to have some kitteny energy at that age, but you should also be able to see what type of personality the cat has by then as well. After 2 years, cats are generally mature adults. This place might, I know they do pre adoption visits but that might just be someone coming over to make sure I don't live like a total slob.
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Mar 31, 2011 13:14
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Crooked Booty posted:You can get at most stores that sell lots of vitamins. It'll be labeled as just plain L-lysine. People take it for the human version of Herpes. Get the kind in capsules so you can break them open and sprinkle it on food. It has very little taste and most cats don't care. All three of my cats get this stuff, and Arthur's shovel mode of eating tends to make a mess - is it terrible if Zoso gets some of it? Also Amazon sells it in bulk: http://www.amazon.com/NOW-Foods-Lysine-Powder-Pound/dp/B0013OSNOM/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1301580974&sr=8-4 Any ideas if it goes bad? I've gone through the piddly thing the vet gave me pretty quickly.
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Mar 31, 2011 15:19
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How do you clip a skittish cat's claws? Grumples really needs his done but I don't want to restrain him or anything because he gets really freaked out and scared 
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Mar 31, 2011 15:46
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Just got off the phone with the adoption company, I got approved! She said she had one cat come to mind that would fit well with me and she was going to look when she got home. His name is Shadow and he's 4. He's a domestic Russian Blue shorthair. I had to google Russian Blue and now I'm excited.
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Mar 31, 2011 20:42
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So my chew-y not quite kitten is deterred by the bitter apple on wires, but has gone is search of new things to chew and has started working his way through a table cloth. Are there any chew toys meant for cats? I've never seen one, but have never really looked.
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Apr 1, 2011 00:57
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Sionak posted:So my chew-y not quite kitten is deterred by the bitter apple on wires, but has gone is search of new things to chew and has started working his way through a table cloth. Are there any chew toys meant for cats? I've never seen one, but have never really looked. Our cats got these toys for christmas--they're made of loofah or something, shaped like fish, and have a bunch of twine tightly looped around them. I'm not sure if they're really for chewing or what, but one of our cats loves chewing on that sucker.
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Apr 1, 2011 02:38
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Sionak posted:So my chew-y not quite kitten is deterred by the bitter apple on wires, but has gone is search of new things to chew and has started working his way through a table cloth. Are there any chew toys meant for cats? I've never seen one, but have never really looked. My cat loves his wiggle worm. It's a catnip-infused rubbery orange worm toy, and even the ferrets like to steal it to stash and gnaw on. Your kitten won't get the benefit of the catnip yet, but it holds up really well to persistent, sharp little teeth.
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Apr 1, 2011 02:55
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HandsomeBen posted:Just got off the phone with the adoption company, I got approved! She said she had one cat come to mind that would fit well with me and she was going to look when she got home. You're lucky, Russian Blues are beautiful.
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Apr 1, 2011 03:06
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Got home from grocery shopping and what do I find? A mewling cat, very LOUDLY, it could shatter glass so he's got some lungs in him. Small little thing, can't be more than 2 weeks, its eyes are open but they are still blue and it seems to be part scottish fold judging by its cute little ears. How can I help this little guy? Its been a few hours and its momma is nowhere in sight, he doesn't even have any teeth.
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Apr 1, 2011 04:59
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marshmallard posted:How do you clip a skittish cat's claws? Grumples really needs his done but I don't want to restrain him or anything because he gets really freaked out and scared Positive reinforcement is key! Give him treats of stuff he loves to make him associate it with good things. Start slow, by just holding his paws, then pressing on them to draw out the nail, and keep going from there.
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Apr 1, 2011 05:06
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Alteisen posted:Got home from grocery shopping and what do I find? A mewling cat, very LOUDLY, it could shatter glass so he's got some lungs in him. The first and most important thing you can do to help him is post pictures. Please? 
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Apr 1, 2011 09:51
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Alteisen posted:Got home from grocery shopping and what do I find? A mewling cat, very LOUDLY, it could shatter glass so he's got some lungs in him. He is probably not part Scottish Fold. Kittens' ears don't stand upright until around 3-4 weeks old. Hopefully you googled this stuff last night and are already feeding him regularly, because otherwise he's probably dead.
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Apr 1, 2011 14:21
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Crooked Booty posted:If he really has no teeth, he is extremely young and you've got a major task ahead of you to keep him healthy. Kittens that young need to be bottle fed every 3-ish hours and kept someplace warm. You need to get kitten milk replacements and bottles. You need to keep him in a box with something warm like a heating pad on a low setting covered with a towel. You will need to stimulate him to go to the bathroom, which is even less fun than it sounds. If you're not up for feeding him in the middle of the night for the next couple weeks, you should call cat rescues and shelters. Tell them he's at most 2 weeks old and you need help ASAP. He survived the night, took him to the shelter since I felt like I was over my head, the vet there said he was 3 weeks old at the most and did have teeth just super tiny. I honestly feel lovely about it, I wish I could have done more for the little fella. 
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Apr 1, 2011 19:54
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Alteisen posted:I honestly feel lovely about it, I wish I could have done more for the little fella. 
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Apr 2, 2011 03:37
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Very helpful thread, but I'm still at a loss on how best to handle a situation with a relative's cat. Fluff (name changed to protect the guilty) absolutely refuses to poop in the litter box. This has been going on with varying degrees of severity ever since he entered the home several months ago. (He's around 6-7 mos. now, not neutered.) Fluff's usual MO is to pee in one of three boxes we have set up for two cats and use the tiled floor surrounding the litter for his number twos. The following has been tried: - Cleaning up the poop with Nature's Miracle to take the smell off the floor. - Using different kinds of litter, including Cat Attract. - Cleaning the box daily. - Following him, watching for odd, pre-poop behavior and then putting him in the box. (This worked once, when he voluntarily went in the box shortly thereafter, and never again.) - Checking his stool at the vet's for any signs of illness. If he hated the litter or the set-up, I don't see why he'd continue peeing properly. The only significant thing left to try is isolation in a spare bathroom, but we're reluctant to do that since he's such a sociable, wonderful cat otherwise. Still, this is wearing thin.
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Apr 3, 2011 03:29
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marshmallard posted:How do you clip a skittish cat's claws? Grumples really needs his done but I don't want to restrain him or anything because he gets really freaked out and scared Approach it as if you want to wrap your kitty in a warm blanket and give him cuddles, while occasionally trimming his claws. Lay a towel on your lap, put kitty on lap facing away from you. Wrap the towel around kitty, making a burrito. It shouldn't be tight. Give kitty lots of cuddles. Then cover 1 paw with the towel and with the exposed paw, put pressure on it and clip. Give more cuddles, then do another claw.
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Apr 3, 2011 06:02
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My soon to be kitty weighs 14 pounds  according to the directions on the canned food I bought he should be getting 2 5oz cans a day which seems like way too much.
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Apr 3, 2011 09:22
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Are there any cooked meats that cats should not get? My mom and I tend to cook a poo poo ton of chicken (for us, for the blue-tongue skink, for the turtles, etc) and the cats usually get some of it, as well as hardboiled eggs. They don't get hot dog or hamburger or anything, but cooked poultry should be fine, right?
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Apr 3, 2011 18:00
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RoughDraft2.0 posted:Very helpful thread, but I'm still at a loss on how best to handle a situation with a relative's cat. Fluff (name changed to protect the guilty) absolutely refuses to poop in the litter box. This has been going on with varying degrees of severity ever since he entered the home several months ago. (He's around 6-7 mos. now, not neutered.) Male cats often change their behavior when they are neutered. He really should be neutered, though, even if it doesn't end up changing his pooping habits.
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Apr 3, 2011 18:03
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Meet Shadow My soon to be roommate. He is very handsome and the entire time I was holding him today he was making these noises. I know what purring sounds like and it almost sounded like he was humming. I couldn't help but laugh. Not sure how I feel about the name, any thoughts/suggestions?
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Apr 4, 2011 22:53
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HandsomeBen posted:Meet Shadow Ohh he is beautiful. I'd call him Carbon, because depending on how it's treated, it can turn into lead or diamond. And your little one is a diamond
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Apr 4, 2011 23:21
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HandsomeBen posted:My soon to be kitty weighs 14 pounds Are you not going to be using dry food at all?
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Apr 4, 2011 23:59
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Trebuchet King posted:Are you not going to be using dry food at all? No I bought dry food too, I figure a half a can in the morning/night and some dry during the day should be fine.
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Apr 5, 2011 00:14
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I went to the vet today with my new 6 months old kitty, 2 days after getting her from the local shelter, and she was diagnosed with a heart murmur. How worried should I be about it?
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Apr 5, 2011 03:16
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Edit: Please disregard this post, I'm going to take my animal to the vet.
Volkeren fucked around with this message at 06:22 on Apr 5, 2011 |
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Apr 5, 2011 06:12
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Remember that thread I did about december about the kitties I rescued? Well heres the end result. Meet litte socks.  (pictured attempting to destroy my iphone cable. Yes, I'm trying to train her out of this) She's the lucky girl I decided to keep of the litter. Well actually I was going to keep her sister Big socks, but the old drunk next door in the mens hostel who owned the mother cat sold her. Shame, cos big socks was a drat cute cat who actually caught her first mouse at about 3 months which is drat impressive if you ask me. So heres little socks who's grown on me immensely. She's now spayed, immunized, and gradually learning to deal with being an indoor cat after I learned the mens hostel is bed-bug infested and I decided to not let her roam semi-feral anymore and claim her for myself. She's still a bit naughty, and despite being litter trained occasionally does such wonderful things as "lets piss all over duckmonsters bed!" and "lets throw the food all over the kitchen floor because chasing biscuits around is fun!". But in general she's not a bad cat other than her obstinate refusal to stop coming into my room. One thing though, since I got her spayed, along with her mother (who also required a late-ish term abortion ) , her mother has become quite hostile to her, lingering at my back door and hissing and lunging at the security door whenever she comes there. I cant help thinking that her mother has decided she's a little harlot who ran off with her favorite human (even though the mother belongs next door, she spent a lot of time at my house curled up at my feet). Actually she's a bit hostile at me, and I cant help thinking she was a bit traumatized by the termination, as it was a little late in the term (I had no choice, I couldnt take ANOTHER batch of kittens, the old drunks next door cant take them, nor could they look after them, and the non-kill shelters simply have no room for more cats right now. Cat abortions are a fairly big proceedure, but I reasoned it was more humane than having to dump the kittens with the mother at an over-populated govt shelter that euthanizes unwanted cats).  But I do love this little kitty (whos starting to morph into an actual cat, she's getting big) , even when she is being an rear end in a top hat. So I consider the whole "Duckmonster rescues some homeless kittens" episode a success. For a while though that love was being sorely tested though. Her stunt of "lets grip onto ducks fingers with two fangs and suspend my own body from them thus drawing a tonne of blood" was less than amusing.... She's losing the biteyness now though. Mostly..... Her big thing now is to race at high speed up and down the corridoor and launch herself onto the flywire and scale the door. All night. e: Oh and this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX1YzS_CYIw which is NOT my cat, has hilarious effect on her. Everytime I play it she goes nutso trying to find the cats. duck monster fucked around with this message at 06:34 on Apr 5, 2011 |
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Apr 5, 2011 06:25
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Nice, Duck. She's a really beautiful kitten.
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Apr 5, 2011 13:17
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Tite-Dent posted:I went to the vet today with my new 6 months old kitty, 2 days after getting her from the local shelter, and she was diagnosed with a heart murmur. How worried should I be about it? The only way to really know how worried you should be is to take your kitty to a veterinary cardiologist, who can perform tests to identify what sort of defect is causing the murmur. That stuff is really expensive, so I would recommend you get more information from your vet first.
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Apr 5, 2011 13:39
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HandsomeBen posted:Meet Shadow That is a beautiful cat! My parents have a Russian Blue and he makes odd noises so it maybe is a breed thing? They named him Gray Baby so that's an option I guess  I'm partial to Shadow.
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Apr 5, 2011 14:36
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Nostalgia4Infinity posted:That is a beautiful cat! My parents have a Russian Blue and he makes odd noises so it maybe is a breed thing? They named him Gray Baby so that's an option I guess Yes I lucked out Another picture, you can get a better idea of how big he is here.  Someone was walking into the store so he was checkin it out
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Apr 5, 2011 15:59
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Anyone have a recommendation on toothpaste for cats that they will think tastes good? I have tried a few brands and none of them seem to appeal to my cats. If I try to get them to lick it off my finger, they will do it once, then make a cat yuck-face and stop.
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Apr 5, 2011 16:13
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Ed goes crazy for the malt flavor. I don't know why. The boys don't care for it as much but put up with it.
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Apr 5, 2011 16:53
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I got a little Ragdoll kitten on Saturday from a guy who decided he was no longer a cat person. She had an eye infection and she's almost 3 weeks overdue on her shots - we don't know her exact age all he remembered was 'some time in January'. Immediately after picking her up we went to the vet got her looked at and was given some gel for her eye which has basically cleared up. She was being fed Purina and we started mixing this with Royal Cannin (at vets recommendation) babycat food which resulted in her pooping in her box only 1/5 times and it was pretty runny so we went back to the vet yesterday and she's switched us to some Hills i/d wet food until her stomach settles. It's working so far, she pooped in her box and there was no accidents anywhere when I got home. But she DID pee on a towel I have covering her ramp up to my bed. I moved her to the litterbox as soon as I noticed and cleaned up/washed the towel immediately. She also peed in my bed twice overnight. She got shut out of my room after I woke up/discovered that at 2am - she campaigned to be let back in for a long time and it broke my heart. So far this morning she's used her box to pee/poo just fine there is no straining, no delays, she just jumps in and makes a token effort to make a hole and does her business then jumps out. A swipe at the litter to cover up is optional for her. She's got two boxes, two types of litter with no obvious bias to either. They get cleaned up when I wake up & get home from work and every time she uses it until bed. Is it the change of diet that she was protesting? I don't know what else prompted the change but I'd rather clean up kitty poop over pee any day. Monster in question:  E: after she spent the night on the couch she had 0 accidents while sleeping in my bed last night. Maybe she was just lazy.. I love the snuggles and purring headbutts to my face after she gets back into bed after using her litterbox though
Peach fucked around with this message at 23:13 on Apr 6, 2011 |
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Apr 5, 2011 20:25
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What are the benefits of dry food vs. wet food? Is it just a preference thing for the cat? My cat is currently getting a quarter cup of Blue Buffalo dry in the morning and another in the evening. Should I be adding/substituting wet food into the mix as well?
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Apr 5, 2011 20:35
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From what I understand wet food is higher in protein and adds more moisture to the cat's diet, which can help with urinary problems. I'm not a food expert though.
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Apr 5, 2011 20:57
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Klungar posted:What are the benefits of dry food vs. wet food? Is it just a preference thing for the cat? My cat is currently getting a quarter cup of Blue Buffalo dry in the morning and another in the evening. Should I be adding/substituting wet food into the mix as well? Dry food is good for grazers and is more cost/space efficient than wet food. Wild cats get a lot of their water intake from prey so wet food is good for making sure kitty stays hydrated. Personally I give mine dry food in a bowl and a spoonful of wet food once (thinking about going up to twice) a day. Edit: Blue Buffalo is good food, as long as they are eating that and getting plenty of water they won't miss wet food.
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Apr 6, 2011 00:03
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Tite-Dent posted:I went to the vet today with my new 6 months old kitty, 2 days after getting her from the local shelter, and she was diagnosed with a heart murmur. How worried should I be about it? As has been posted, it's not too big of a deal. If you notice your cat getting out of breath a lot or lips/nose turning white you might get a bit more worried because those things can indicate lack of oxygen. One of mine has had a murmur from time of kitten hood and she's now 7. We had an ultrasound done just to be extra sure, but even then we waited until she was about 10 months old. At that time our vet recommended an ultrasound just because the murmur hadn't gone away, which they often do with age. She still has hers, and we had another ultrasound done around 4 years of age, but she's been totally fine heartwise. (it did cost around $350 for each echo, in Houston, Tx) SlipkPIe posted:Anyone have a recommendation on toothpaste for cats that they will think tastes good? I have tried a few brands and none of them seem to appeal to my cats. If I try to get them to lick it off my finger, they will do it once, then make a cat yuck-face and stop. Well, where I worked we sold C.E.T. brand (can be found on amazon) and they make fish and poultry flavors. Fish was way more popular than poultry, but I think it takes a special kind of cat to let you actually brush their teeth. You might try Oravet, which is a gel you can rub on the gums above the teeth once a week that helps with plaque.
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Apr 6, 2011 02:46
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Klungar posted:What are the benefits of dry food vs. wet food? Is it just a preference thing for the cat? My cat is currently getting a quarter cup of Blue Buffalo dry in the morning and another in the evening. Should I be adding/substituting wet food into the mix as well? Nostalgia4Infinity posted:Dry food is good for grazers and is more cost/space efficient than wet food. Wild cats get a lot of their water intake from prey so wet food is good for making sure kitty stays hydrated.
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Apr 6, 2011 03:52
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Crooked Booty posted:It's not just about moisture and protein. The bigger issue is carbohydrates. Dry foods, even premium ones, are typically about 30-40% carbohydrate by weight because carbs are needed to make the food into dry kibble. Canned foods typically contain 5% or less. Cats aren't designed to eat carbohydrates. They're designed to eat meat. Wet food is better, period. You should read the pet nutrition thread. I have read the thread and what I took away from it is "wet food is technically better but millions of cats have lived long healthy lives eating dry food". Poster asked about adding wet food, I gave them what I believed to be good advice. Or do you think he should abandon feeding his cat dry food and switch to 100% wet? If so I'd be interested in hearing why because I feed my cats the same food as he does and supplement it with wet food, if I'm doing harm to my pets I'd like to know. Edit: I also pay a bit more for Blue Buffalo and if its as bad as say... Meow Mix I'd like to know if I'm wasting my money. Nostalgia4Infinity fucked around with this message at 14:10 on Apr 6, 2011 |
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Apr 6, 2011 13:39
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Some dry foods are 80-90% protein, so it just depends on what you look for. I feed mine dry because they make enough of a mess with that as it is, and when I was giving them wet they'd get it EVERYWHERE... mostly because Arthur eats like a steam shovel. I have a water fountain that they all drink out of, and all of them are happy and healthy. I also squirt some salmon oil on their food every day, so I guess that helps too.
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Apr 6, 2011 13:58
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