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Iceache posted:First one - he is extremely vocal, whenever someone is in the kitchen he yowls nonstop. Though he has food in his dish. We ignore this behavior but should we be more active in discouraging it, should we spray him with water? And from time to time he decides that he should yowl just to get attention. On the second (and probably related to the first): Kittens are assholes. He'll eventually start sleeping through the night. Just keep tiring him out beforehand, but 3:00 am face attacks are standard kitten protocol.
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Mar 31, 2012 17:29
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Having my cat's claws trimmed seemed to take a lot of piss out of his sails as far as attacks went. I figure it's because when he saw that his attacks were having far less effect, he didn't do it as often. When his claws were long and sharp, it hurt like hell, drew blood and got our full attention pronto.
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Mar 31, 2012 18:14
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Any recommendations on cat trees? Looking for something cool that isn't much more than $150
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Mar 31, 2012 20:42
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MyushiVerSCOOTY posted:Any recommendations on cat trees? Looking for something cool that isn't much more than $150 http://www.armarkat.com/products/Premium-Cat-Tree-X7001.html I have this one for my two cats. They both love it. My older cat sleeps in the hideaway part that's kind of in the middle of the tree. I chose this particular one because it's tall, but it's not so tall I wouldn't be able to reach them at the top.
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Mar 31, 2012 20:49
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Super-mega-protip-Xtreme edition: Walnut shell cat litter is really dang good, none of that godawful dust smell from normal cat litter.
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Apr 1, 2012 04:29
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Hey guys. I'm very,very worried. What are the chances for my other cats to get Leukemia? We found a small stray kitten a week ago in the backyard, me and my sister took care of him and fed him. We noticed he was too skinny and wasn't gaining weight,aside from having fever and coughing a lot. Today we went to the vet, got tested and came as positive in Leukemia. He was too sick, and well, kitten is in a better place now. Anyways, the vet told us to get the rest of our cats tested, starting with one that we adopted a month ago.  I just want some sort of reassuring. I dunno. They look healthy and alert,and are eating well...I just don't have an idea of what to do if any of them comes as positive.
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Apr 1, 2012 04:37
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Leukemia isn't contagious, its a form of cancer, what the hell Desperado Bones' vet  I'm sorry about the kitten though.
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Apr 1, 2012 06:24
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Farecoal posted:Leukemia isn't contagious, its a form of cancer, what the hell Desperado Bones' vet While this is true for people, cats can get leukemia via a transmissible virus. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feline_leukemia_virus I hope all your cats are okay Desperado Bones!
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Apr 1, 2012 06:42
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My girlfriend and I broke up and she will be moving out. She will be taking our two cats because they came with her. While I can't wait to live by myself, there is something nice about a little activity happening in the apartment. I really enjoyed having the cats around and seemingly bonded with one of them. I'll be sad to see them go. So, I've decided to adopt my own cat. I've lived with cats for the last three years but haven't adopted one myself. I have a few questions. 1. How long is the process? It is my understanding that any cats at PetSmart are simply displayed for a local shelter. You're not buying them, but rather covering the costs for the shelter to neuter the cat and get it vaccinated. I know there is an application and/or interview process. What's that like? Is that done on the spot. Do people walk into a PetSmart and walk out with a kitten? 2. Am I an rear end in a top hat for not wanting two cats immediately? I know that they like playmates but it's too much all at once for me. I suppose I'm most interested in the adoption process.
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Apr 1, 2012 07:48
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Smuckles posted:1. How long is the process? It is my understanding that any cats at PetSmart are simply displayed for a local shelter. You're not buying them, but rather covering the costs for the shelter to neuter the cat and get it vaccinated. I know there is an application and/or interview process. What's that like? Is that done on the spot. Do people walk into a PetSmart and walk out with a kitten? quote:2. Am I an rear end in a top hat for not wanting two cats immediately? I know that they like playmates but it's too much all at once for me.
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Apr 1, 2012 07:57
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I'm not really hasty. I just like to know what type of timeline is involved. My lease officially says no pets but the realtor told us that cats are okay. We took her advice and it turned out to be correct, as the landlord has been here several times and knows about the cats that are leaving. I'm sure they won't simply take my word for it at the store. Hm.
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Apr 1, 2012 08:05
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Generally, they're just checking for warning signs of you being a horrible owner. I'm not sure if it's practice now, but I think you don't ever take the cat home the same day, partly to curb impulse owners that aren't really that dedicated/responsible.
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Apr 1, 2012 10:16
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duckfarts posted:Generally, they're just checking for warning signs of you being a horrible owner. I'm not sure if it's practice now, but I think you don't ever take the cat home the same day, partly to curb impulse owners that aren't really that dedicated/responsible. When I worked with a rescue we did sometimes let people go home with the cats the same day, provided we could get landlord confirmation & confirmation from their vet (if applicable) that they'd taken care of their other animals (if any). Smuckles, the process is going to depend on the rescue group. If you go to a municipal shelter you can probably take one home same day. If you want to adopt from a shelter/rescue, I'd try to get landlord confirmation in writing or call him in advance and tell him what's up and that he might get a call from a rescue asking if you're allowed to have cats. And depending on the group, no they might not take your word for it. People lied about that all the time, and "but we had cats anyway and he was totally cool with it" did not always prove to be the case once we called. Depending on that stuff, you could take a cat home same day, or in a week, or in a few days... the only reason it'd be longer would probably be if the cat were ill or too young and needed more time to recover/get old & neutered. Lots of cats like to be only cats, though  I've known some really sweet, people-loving cats who just couldn't stand to share attention with other ones. I'd suggest you also look for someone over 1 year old (better yet, over 2 or 3) if you want a cat who will be calm and okay with being left alone while you're at work. Older cats are calmer and you can be more sure of their personalities when you adopt them than with a kitten. Kittens are adorable but exhausting.
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Apr 1, 2012 13:48
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I actually looked into it further. My lease actually says that we can have two cats here, but it's worded to suggest that it's specific to the two cats we have. Since they're leaving, I should have it changed to allow for a new one. EDIT: Spoke to the apartment office and they're going to make me a new lease that is worded properly. I have a weird question. What's the general consensus on naming an adopted cat? They already have a name, don't they? Because cats get microchipped and their adoption creates a "paper trail," can you name them again? Do you have to get the chip's data changed or is it as simple as just calling them by a new name? I am overthinking it, I'm sure, but I'm wondering about the infrastructure in place. Macintosh HD fucked around with this message at 04:30 on Apr 3, 2012 |
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Apr 2, 2012 01:45
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So the past day or two, I've been getting some small, itchy red circles (~a millimeter in diameter) on my hands after getting my cat. They disappear after an hour so it's not too big a of a deal but it's definitely not something that happened when I got my cat (about a month ago). All the shots on the cat are up-to-date with that last one being FVRCP, i think, about 3 weeks ago. The cat hasn't acted unusual at all, he rarely scratches himself. fwiw, i am allergic to cats but the allergies have resided for a couple weeks. Geno fucked around with this message at 06:30 on Apr 3, 2012 |
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Apr 3, 2012 06:27
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I adopted my cat from the local city shelter. I'd recommend going directly to the shelter because there are way more cats there than at the stores. I had to fill out a pretty comprehensive application form, but the workers there told me that the application form was as much to make people think about all the responsibilities of owning a pet as it was a way to see if you're a horrible person or not. There were all sorts of questions like what would you do if the pet had difficulty using a litter box or was always shredding the furniture or what would you feed it and so on. Allocate lots of time for kitty browsing so you can get to know the cats well enough to figure out which one wants to adopt you.
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Apr 3, 2012 15:37
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Or if you are lucky, you will just randomly pick one and he/she will bat playfully at the shelter worker's dangling glasses (they were on a chain or something) while the worker is trying to talk to you and melt your heart immediately.
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Apr 3, 2012 15:40
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Dogen posted:Or if you are lucky, you will just randomly pick one and he/she will bat playfully at the shelter worker's dangling glasses (they were on a chain or something) while the worker is trying to talk to you and melt your heart immediately. Yeah, it was pretty easy for my wife and I. There were lots of cats there but it was one of those things where for some reason, you see a cat and you pick it up and it just melts in your arms and starts purring instead of being fidgety or frightened. It's funny how that works because there was a cat there that I was trying to pet but it kept scooting away but a few minutes later some other guy came in and the cat totally latched onto him like they had been buddies for ages.
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Apr 3, 2012 15:46
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McKracken posted:While this is true for people, cats can get leukemia via a transmissible virus. Thank you. So far the cats seem to be okay,there's no signs of sickness, still we are afraid they might be carriers of the virus. (The tests are very expensive for us, and we have 3 cats that need it, so I'm a bit upset we are taking so long.)
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Apr 3, 2012 15:50
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Dogen posted:Or if you are lucky, you will just randomly pick one and he/she will bat playfully at the shelter worker's dangling glasses (they were on a chain or something) while the worker is trying to talk to you and melt your heart immediately. This happened to me, went to two other petsmart stores that had adoptions. The kitties were cute, but nothing caught my eye. Went to the last store, a little kitten had to have his tail amputated, and he had stitches in his little tail nub. I instantly fell in love and had to have him. :o I looked at the other kitties, but I just couldn't NOT take him. 
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Apr 3, 2012 16:10
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Dogen posted:Or if you are lucky, you will just randomly pick one and he/she will bat playfully at the shelter worker's dangling glasses (they were on a chain or something) while the worker is trying to talk to you and melt your heart immediately. After he left we put the cat back and got another one out for some exercise. About 10 minutes later one of the animal control officers came back looking for the problem kitty's paperwork. The guy who came in just to see what we had but not wanting to get a cat that day went home with a cat. He was adopted
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Apr 3, 2012 17:27
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What's up with cats and cat beds? I know that's a Jerry Seinfeld caliber question, but what is the deal? I have a dish-shaped fuzzy bed that my cats LOVED for a month and now they won't touch it. If I put it in a new place, like on the cat tree, it's the greatest thing for another week or so, but it has to keep moving around or they decide it's old hat. Also, here's a Big Forlorn Cat. 
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Apr 3, 2012 17:56
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Of all the stuff I've bought for my cat, the cat bed has to be the biggest waste of money. Occasionally he'll sit on it for a little bit while he looks out the window, but that's about it. Fortunately I didn't actually pay that much for it.
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Apr 3, 2012 18:11
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I have two cat beds, one is on the perch that looks out the window and it gets a ton of use by both cats. The other is on the end of the sofa and is Watson's bed exclusively at night (though I have found both Watson and Figaro in it when it was cold.) That isn't to say they don't just sleep wherever because they do. Usually that wherever is one me.
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Apr 3, 2012 18:36
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HPL posted:Of all the stuff I've bought for my cat, the cat bed has to be the biggest waste of money. Occasionally he'll sit on it for a little bit while he looks out the window, but that's about it. Fortunately I didn't actually pay that much for it. Longest term successful cat bed- a wicker basket we put cat toys in. Our oldest cat picks toys out of it until he feels the proper amount of toy bedding is in there, then he hops in. It is adorable but also stupid. The preferred cat beds of all my cats are 1) pile of pillows blankets on couch, 2) precariously balancing on cardboard scratchers of rectangle or circle variety, 3) cat tree, 4) human bed, 5) precariously balance on windowsill (inside, of course). They have a cat bed that is now just cat toy storage that they don't give a poo poo about no matter where I put it. Even if I try moving it to a spot that they like to hang out, they'll lie on the floor beside it.
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Apr 3, 2012 18:53
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I never bothered buying a cat bed because Jackie already pretty much decided for herself what her cat-bed was going to be. I had this fleecey hoooded sweatshirt that had been given to me, and I never wear it because it's way too big and makes me look misshapen when I put it on. It happened to be on the floor near the corner of the living room at one point for some reasons, and Jackie just kicked it around and made a bed out of it, and then decided that this was *her* bed. And now whenever I'm in the living room and she doesn't want to be on my lap for some reason, she's pretty much *always* on that sweatshirt. I don't dare move it now because she loves it so much.
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Apr 4, 2012 01:47
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My cats sleep in boxes. There is one I put an old crochet blanket in, but they like bare boxes too.
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Apr 4, 2012 01:49
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I bought one of the dog beds costco has for  . Both cats used it until I got the Armarkat tree and now it doesn't really get used at all.
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Apr 4, 2012 02:27
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:What's up with cats and cat beds? I know that's a Jerry Seinfeld caliber question, but what is the deal? I have a dish-shaped fuzzy bed that my cats LOVED for a month and now they won't touch it. If I put it in a new place, like on the cat tree, it's the greatest thing for another week or so, but it has to keep moving around or they decide it's old hat. Ford's the only cat of ours that uses the cat bed, but he uses it for terrible, unspeakable things. None of the other cats will touch it, now.
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Apr 4, 2012 02:47
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I have two cat beds. One is on top of my dresser, looking out the window. Indy spends most of her time there and seems to regard it as her "safe space" - she'll go curl up there when I have friends over and she wants to be left alone. The other bed I received as a PISSmas present and put on my couch. She likes to sleep NEXT to it, and spends a lot of time making biscuits on it, but never actually sleeps in it. Who knows?
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Apr 4, 2012 02:54
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HPL posted:Of all the stuff I've bought for my cat, the cat bed has to be the biggest waste of money. Occasionally he'll sit on it for a little bit while he looks out the window, but that's about it. Fortunately I didn't actually pay that much for it. That's the reason I am hesitant about buying a cat bed. I know my cats, and I know they LOVE my closet and my own bed over everything.
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Apr 4, 2012 18:04
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I bought my kitten a bed. When he was super young he never used it, would rather sleep on a tshirt or something I was wearing. He's now 6~months old and he sleeps on the bed about 1/4 of the time. 1/4 of the time on the couch next to the window, 1/4 on the armarkat cat tree, 1/4 time on a box that houses cables under the tv, and 1/4 time in his bed. :3 I also placed his bed in an out of the way spot, in a corner behind two couches that you can't see into unless you actually go peek at it. Maybe you are putting the bed in a location he doesn't like?
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Apr 4, 2012 18:20
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I am the happy owner of my first kitty. One of the best decisions I ever made! I had her since she was two months old, she is six months old now. I recently discovered she REALLY likes having the side of her face well.... mushed? I always avoided petting her face because I thought she would not like it but she apparently, loves it. I've had lots of dogs and none of them would have liked this, so I was surprised. Do most cats like this?
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Apr 4, 2012 20:09
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Yep, most do. Chins, cheeks, the spot below their ears, between their ears, the bridge of their nose and some even like having their whiskers rubbed. The cat will let you know which spot is best.
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Apr 4, 2012 20:29
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Diogines posted:I am the happy owner of my first kitty. One of the best decisions I ever made! Scratch under her chin and be all like "shooka shooka shooka" and you will discover facial expressions you never knew a cat could have.
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Apr 5, 2012 03:05
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Smuckles posted:My girlfriend and I broke up and she will be moving out. She will be taking our two cats because they came with her. While I can't wait to live by myself, there is something nice about a little activity happening in the apartment. I really enjoyed having the cats around and seemingly bonded with one of them. I'll be sad to see them go. I filled out an online application for a local shelter that does the PetsMart thing, and went in on a Saturday. The cat I had applied for was already spoken for when I applied, but I found another one who was awesome. The entire process took me 5 minutes to apply, a 5 minute phone call, and then 30 minutes of playing with Hamlet in the store while they got the paperwork ready. This may differ based on what shelter you go through, but most of them are pretty easy, so long as you don't have 50 cats and aren't covered in fleas.
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Apr 5, 2012 04:56
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Kruller posted:then 30 minutes of playing with Hamlet in the store while they got the paperwork ready If you miss the "with" in the above, as I did, the process for adopting a cat gets suddenly way more interesting.
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Apr 5, 2012 12:50
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I'm looking to get supplies for when I start fostering a cat next week. What are some good brands/types of litter and food? The cat is about 2 years old. I'm the guy that has the tiny apartment and is testing out if I can handle a cat.
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Apr 5, 2012 17:35
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Doh004 posted:I'm looking to get supplies for when I start fostering a cat next week. What are some good brands/types of litter and food? The cat is about 2 years old. I'm the guy that has the tiny apartment and is testing out if I can handle a cat. For food: Read the first couple of posts on the Pet Nutrition thread. It has a good explanation of what makes good food good, and has a breakdown of various wet and dry brands by quality. Note that if this foster is a short term thing (less than a month?), you may be better off just continuing to feed it whatever food it has been on, as cats often need some time to transition (this is doubly true if it's on any sort of particular food for a specific condition - sensitive stomach, allergies, kidney issues, etc). Unless it's getting some horrible supermarket brand or something.
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Apr 5, 2012 19:37
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SupahCoolX posted:I personally prefer Scoop Away litter, since it clumps the best, and leaves no odor. Fresh Step is also ok in my experience. I thought Arm & Hammer was terrible when I tried it (just get wet powdery lumps), and World's Best made my whole apartment smell like piss. Your mileage may vary, and everyone here will have a different opinion. If having the cat works out I plan on adopting it. I would love for it to not be a temporary situation. But I'll check out the thread.
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Apr 5, 2012 19:40
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