|
Supervised interaction #1 underway. After a little hissing, incumbent cat determined his priority was to secure the catnip mouse and is now high as a kite. New cat seems confused by it all.
|
#
?
May 22, 2012 14:05
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 24, 2024 22:31 |
|
|
Ye Worse User-name posted:Supervised interaction #1 underway. After a little hissing, incumbent cat determined his priority was to secure the catnip mouse and is now high as a kite. New cat seems confused by it all. Success! Pictures 
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2012 14:05
|
|
|
Cpaka posted:Oh hey, another new kitten post! He's adorable! Everything that I have read seems to advise you stuffing them full of as much food as they can handle. And the instructions on the back of all the cans I got basically said the same. My kitten is about 6 months and he still gets dry food left out because I want him to be eating as much as he can so he can grow big and strong. 
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2012 15:01
|
|
|
Eggplant Wizard posted:Here's an idea for that Bahahah this is so perfect, I will have to try this! Especially since one of my cat's habits lately has been just that - walking around and sitting on the keyboard. She has NOT done this on my new one yet and I intent to stop it all costs, but she certainly has been getting away with it on the old computer. Now I have a plan, though, which is good 
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2012 15:18
|
|
|
Eggplant Wizard posted:Success! Right, yes, of course. Here's incumbent cat Rexy prior to the arrival of the new guy, in all his floofiness  Here is new cat Tom starting to explore outside the isolation chamber   Rexy observes with an air of ... floofiness  The current state of kitty detente  So far so good. There has been a couple more hisses but no outbreak of genuine hostilities.
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2012 15:38
|
|
|
Ye Worse User-name posted:So far so good. There has been a couple more hisses but no outbreak of genuine hostilities.
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2012 16:27
|
|
|
Sometimes I wonder what longhair and shorthair cats think of each other.
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2012 17:53
|
|
|
HPL posted:Sometimes I wonder what longhair and shorthair cats think of each other. When we shaved our long hair cat it freaked the poo poo out of our littlest cat, who is a short hair. It was pretty funny because he was home for a while and she had to have known he was home, and I think they had seen each other from a distance (upstairs to downstairs), but later when they ran into each other coming around the corner in the kitchen the little cat was like "HOLY poo poo WHO ARE YOU INTRUDER ALERT" So clearly she thought it was him, even over eau d' vet, but the haircut really threw her off
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2012 18:33
|
|
|
Tom's (newcat) current thing is to walk up to Rexy (incumbent cat), hiss, and run away. Done it two or three times now I guess. I'm not sure how to interpret that. Neither is Rexy. v  V
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2012 22:28
|
|
|
I think you have the orange version of my cat. A hiss? What is that sound? How do you make it? What does it mean? Oh well, I'll flop over onto my back and take up my super effective defensive posture while chirping and -- ooo, look, shiny things! Aggression understanding of a rock. Attention span of a fly.
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2012 22:54
|
|
|
Eggplant Wizard posted:Yeah so I think I wrote the introduction guidelines in the OP but I have never once followed them. I usually just put the cats together and follow their lead. If it gets ugly, I separate them. If not, cool, they'll figure out how to be friends in time, or they'll simply tolerate each other, or whatever, don't care, up to them. It sounds like they're both amenable to the idea of each other's existence, so give it a go. It took our cat Porch Kitty (he doesn't live on the porch, he did for a year before we were able to take him in and the name stuck) over a month to get used to Squiggles. Squiggles spent most of his time in a spare room of ours. After they were both free range we had a door malfunction to the roof deck (The door looked like it was shut but didn't latch. We didn't know about this.) While we were away, they bumped into it and Porch kitty apparently spent the day while we were at work guarding the door and not letting Squiggles back in. Also whenever I take Squiggles to the vet and bring him back, Porchy puffs up and starts hissing, I'm assuming it's because he thought he was finally gone. These days they get along decent enough and sleep together once in a while. There's still a spat here and there but Squiggles knows to run to me and jump up on my lap when he's in trouble. I am his protector.  Edit just because I like posting pictures of my cats: 
nunsexmonkrock fucked around with this message at 23:19 on May 22, 2012 |
|
#
?
May 22, 2012 23:05
|
|
|
Our boy is being kinda rough with our fosters (mostly biting too hard when trying to play with them). I try to separate them when one of the girls starts crying, but then he stands outside the door of their room and cries his confused sounding cry that he does when he's bored. I do not know what to do with this dude. Is it likely he's actually hurting them or are they just being big babies? Is it possible he's doing this on purpose? And why is HE being such a big baby?
|
|
#
?
May 23, 2012 00:01
|
|
|
Is staring a cat right in the eyes the cat version of "come at me, bro" or something?
|
|
#
?
May 23, 2012 01:21
|
|
|
Esmerelda posted:I think you have the orange version of my cat. A hiss? What is that sound? How do you make it? What does it mean? Oh well, I'll flop over onto my back and take up my super effective defensive posture while chirping and -- ooo, look, shiny things! Sounds like we may have a palette swap of the same cat. Whenever Tom gets kind of tense Rexy just seems completely bemused. Who? What? Where? HPL posted:Is staring a cat right in the eyes the cat version of "come at me, bro" or something? Somewhat, yeah. Staring is definitely bad cat manners.
|
|
#
?
May 23, 2012 01:42
|
|
|
HPL posted:Sometimes I wonder what longhair and shorthair cats think of each other. Both of my cats are medium hair and now I think short haired cats look weird. Especially their tails. So it has affected how I think about them.
|
|
#
?
May 23, 2012 02:56
|
|
|
Ok so my female cat disappeared for about 7 weeks. My wife and I were convinced she had gone off to a better place. One day we came home to her curled up in the living room with five new kittens! This has been about 12 weeks ago, and after a vet visit for mastitis we are experiencing a new problem; My kittens and cats are losing fur. My big Tabby cat hasn't lost any fur, but the momma cat and her kittens are missing patches here and there. The skin isn't inflamed or anything, its just like they have cat pattern baldness. I read about mange and it doesn't seem like its that. You can poke the bald spots and the cats don't seem to care. Also they're not lethargic or dehydrated, and trust me when I say those little guys can eat. My friend told me it was a fungal infection of some type that is sometimes spread from the mother to her kittens and that it will clear itself up. I currently don't have the money to take five kittens plus their mom to the vet unless absolutely necessary. So what do you guys think?
|
|
#
?
May 23, 2012 10:32
|
|
|
Untrustable posted:I currently don't have the money to take five kittens plus their mom to the vet unless absolutely necessary. So what do you guys think? Call local shelter/pound, surrender kittens. Take female cat to the vet, and schedule a spay. E: If you don't have money to take five kittens plus mom to the vet, you won't have money for 6 spay/neuter operations. That many unfixed cats in the same proximity = exponential, inbred growth. The kittens, at around 2-3 months of age, stand the best chance of getting adopted in a shelter situation. Engineer Lenk fucked around with this message at 15:50 on May 23, 2012 |
|
#
?
May 23, 2012 15:32
|
|
|
HPL posted:Sometimes I wonder what longhair and shorthair cats think of each other.
|
|
#
?
May 23, 2012 21:16
|
|
|
So new cat Tom has discovered laptops and how to interfere with the use of them. Perhaps he just wanted to say hi to the thread.
|
|
#
?
May 23, 2012 22:15
|
|
|
My guy's going in to get neutered tomorrow, but I can't seem to find any real information on the internet about what I should expect immediately after the procedure. Any website that talks about it just keeps telling me why I should get it done and why I should do it right now and oh god why haven't I done it already?! I know he's going to be a bit pissed off at me and more than likely a bit sore, but what else should I expect. He's going in at half nine tomorrow, so I took his food away from him at six today and he's only had water. How long will it take for him to heal? What kind of effect will the anesthetic have on him and should I do anything different to his litter tray etc to help reduce the chance of the scars getting infected or dirty? I assume he'll take good care of himself but is there anything I can/should be doing to make sure he's safe. Also, will he have a little nappy to wear? I will post pics if he does. And if he doesn't. I'm in the UK, BTW.
|
|
#
?
May 23, 2012 23:25
|
|
|
They'll probably put the Cone of Shame on him to stop him licking his stitches. This will be pathetic and hilarious at the same time. Your vet will tell you if/when you have to come back in to get stitches removed, but I think it's a couple weeks. He'll probably be dopey from the anaesthesia when you take him home but I think most vets monitor them for a while before sending them home so he should be over the worst of it.
|
|
#
?
May 23, 2012 23:46
|
|
|
My cat is 8 months old. I had her since she was 2. When I first got her I fear I tried to pick her up too much and was too forceful in trying to keep her off of things she would destroy. I NEVER hit her, but when I first got her, I used my spray bottle a fair bit to keep her out of stuff she'd destroy or just picked her up. She mostly stays away from stuff I don't want her to now. She is friendly and loves to be petted and scratched etc, but at times, she is very skiddish. I've stopped trying to pick her up and am much gentler of keeping her off of stuff she'll destroy, but she still sometimes runs when she sees me, only to then skulk back and be petted. She spends a majority of the time that I am home, laying on my computer desk, or on a little stool I use as a footrest, between my legs, so she is not hiding from me, she spends almost all the time I am home within a few feet of me. 1. What can I do to make her less skittish when I approach her? 2. Is there anything I can do to make her like being picked up? I rarely do it now, but she is adorable and I want to hold and gently pet her! 3. Sometimes she likes to 'play' bite. The problem is she is no longer a little kitten and her bites are VERY hard, it is PAINFUL! Even if I pull back, she'll keep charging and biting at my hands. She has only drawn blood twice, but she is leaving serious scratches in my hand, even if I put her on the floor she runs at me to bite at my hands again. I have a ton of welts on my hand from the last time she did this. How can I stop her from doing this, without making her even more skiddish? I am 100% certain this is NOT aggression from her or a response to when she is unhappy, she just did one of these "play" sessions not 3 minutes before I started to type this post and caused me serious pain and now is laying on my desk, purring as I pet her..... what do I do? Diogines fucked around with this message at 01:26 on May 24, 2012 |
|
|
#
?
May 24, 2012 01:23
|
|
|
1) Be slow, try not to come at her from above, but some cats are just this way. Our littlest cat often runs when first approached. 2) Probably not, our oldest cat (he's 8, I think) still hates being picked up. If you do it right he'll tolerate it for maybe 20 seconds before mewling pathetically and moving to get down. 3) This is a harder question, she's probably either overstimulated from petting/playing or she just never learned how hard she can bite and have it be ok. The general advice for when this happens is to maybe make a loud yowling type noise to let her know it hurts and just start ignoring her so she know it isn't cool.
|
|
#
?
May 24, 2012 01:47
|
|
|
Even though your cat will likely never particularly enjoy being picked it up, she may come to tolerate it from you when it happens to be necessary, and allow you that privilege so long as you don't abuse it. My cat is like this - before I adopted her when she was my parents' cat she used to HATE being picked up, even by me, and would just immediately start mrowwing and thrashing back and forth. Once I took her in, I very pointedly did not pick her up for any reason for about 3 months straight, and after that she would allow me to do it when I deemed it necessary or appropriate, which admittedly isn't very often. No more yowling or thrashing, she just accepts it. She's extremely cuddly and non-skittish, but again, she wasn't always this way. I think sometimes cats need to feel like they're the master of their domain, and need to have the knowledge that no matter what, you will *always* allow them to walk away, or to do their thing as long as it's within the accepted and established rules. But if you're actively seeking out your cat to try and pay attention to him/her on *your* terms, as opposed to *their* terms, it's not going to be the basis of a particularly healthy human/cat relationship. How shall I put this... never abuse the fact that you're a human unless you absolutely have to. When it comes to playing/affection/etc, pretend that you're just a really big cat, if that makes any sense.
|
|
#
?
May 24, 2012 02:08
|
|
|
Engineer Lenk posted:Call local shelter/pound, surrender kittens. Take female cat to the vet, and schedule a spay. Oh I have no intention of keeping them. I have an ad on Craigslist and just gave away 2 today. I just wanted to know why they were splotchy. The small bald spots don't seem to bother them so I guess it's all good.
|
|
#
?
May 24, 2012 05:06
|
|
|
Dogen posted:1) Be slow, try not to come at her from above, but some cats are just this way. Our littlest cat often runs when first approached. My cat's like this too. Loves being petted, hates hands coming from over top his head. If he knew how to use a computer, I'm sure he'd make up a rage comic about it.
|
|
#
?
May 24, 2012 06:51
|
|
|
HPL posted:My cat's like this too. Loves being petted, hates hands coming from over top his head. If he knew how to use a computer, I'm sure he'd make up a rage comic about it. Yeah we've turned it into the "chasing game" where basically she circles around the kitchen island once and then is like "ok now pick me up so I can stretch and then hug you really hard" Also if she's in one of her 'safety zones' you can just pet her. These include 1) our bed 2) the house on the top level of the cat tree. Sometimes she ends the chasing game by jumping on the bed and strutting around for petting purposes. She's a funny little cat.
|
|
#
?
May 24, 2012 14:25
|
|
|
I pick my kitten up all the time. I started when I got him, and I ALWAYS let him down as soon as he started fussing and never tried to chase him to pick him up. I think letting him down and not fighting him was key, because now he doesn't mind it at all. He knows if he wants down and doesn't want to be held at that moment his wish will be granted. He likes when I pick him up and we look out our windows together and he likes seeing outside up high.
|
|
#
?
May 24, 2012 14:28
|
|
|
Duckie posted:I pick my kitten up all the time. I started when I got him, and I ALWAYS let him down as soon as he started fussing and never tried to chase him to pick him up. I think letting him down and not fighting him was key, because now he doesn't mind it at all. He knows if he wants down and doesn't want to be held at that moment his wish will be granted. He likes when I pick him up and we look out our windows together and he likes seeing outside up high. Yeah this worked for cats 2 and 3. Cat 1 tolerates it when necessary and is polite about getting down, but he just hates being picked up. Different strokes, I guess.
|
|
#
?
May 24, 2012 14:30
|
|
|
HPL posted:My cat's like this too. Loves being petted, hates hands coming from over top his head. If he knew how to use a computer, I'm sure he'd make up a rage comic about it. 
|
|
#
?
May 24, 2012 16:18
|
|
|
Some cats are "4 on the floor" types and always will be. I had a cat that hated being picked up unless it was me doing it and, even then, I had to hold him in a very specific way or else he'd flee. When I interact with new cats at the shelter I make sure never to reach over their heads. It's distressing for the cats, puts them in a position of vulnerability and can lead to very bad things happening. Even one of my own cat crouches when you reach over his head and he's just a gigantic ball of attention whoring fluff who believes showing you his belly straight away for petting is what you do as a cat.
|
|
#
?
May 24, 2012 17:11
|
|
|
Things I've learned in the 4 weeks I've had my two kittens. 1. They aren't climbing my leg because they like me, they are climbing because they want a higher spot to jump onto the other kitten from. 2. Always wear long pants, because they love to do #1 a lot. 3. When one decides to use the litter box, kitten #2 decides it is playtime with Kitten #1.
|
|
#
?
May 24, 2012 22:07
|
|
|
Bankok posted:Things I've learned in the 4 weeks I've had my two kittens. This plus 4) When it is time to scoop the litterbox, kitten #1 absolutely must run in and use it mid-scoop. When the litter box has been scooped and is nice and clean, #2 absolutely must run in to use it. It is imperative that both kittens watch you scoop, and attack the poop bag like it is full of delicious catnip.
|
|
#
?
May 25, 2012 03:10
|
|
|
Tamarillo posted:... attack the poop bag like it is full of delicious catnip.
|
|
#
?
May 25, 2012 14:23
|
|
|
Our family adopted a homeless kitten, he's around 2,5 - 3 months old. He eats a lot of food, but it looks like he hasn't taken a crap in 1,5 days since we found him. We brought him to the vet before deciding to keep him, and we were told that he's healthy. Also, I saw him making GBS threads right before he finally decided to crawl out of his hiding place and let me take him home, so it's a recent developement. Any advice? [Edit] False alarm, little guy's OK. I guess he was feeling shy or something 
RottenK fucked around with this message at 10:26 on May 26, 2012 |
|
#
?
May 26, 2012 02:55
|
|
|
Tamarillo posted:This plus 4) When it is time to scoop the litterbox, kitten #1 absolutely must run in and use it mid-scoop. When the litter box has been scooped and is nice and clean, #2 absolutely must run in to use it. It is imperative that both kittens watch you scoop, and attack the poop bag like it is full of delicious catnip. And 5: You can spend all the money you want on toys, but give them a box and they'll ignore everything else.
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2012 03:28
|
|
|
Ok, I really want to know something here. Who else has a legitimate "Velcro Cat"? And by Velro Cat, I mean a cat that absolutely refuses the leave your side the vast majority of the time no matter *what*. I'd really like to know how common this is! Because my cat, Jackie, is the most extreme example of this I've ever seen. I think a big part of this is because all the many cats my family had while I was growing up were indoor/outdoor, and I think that sort of shaped their personality in such a way that none of them were ever so attached to any one person that they never left their side. Jackie, who was my parent's cat before, was like this originally, in fact, and she was also indoor/outdoor back then. But since moving into my apartment and becoming indoor only, she's also become the ultimate velcro kitty. So, yeah, I don't know. Maybe tons of indoor-only cats are like, and never ever leave their owner's side. I'm really not sure. I've just really gotten used to it, at this point. The only really annoying thing is the eating thing. Jackie's eats mostly wet food, which she is very smelly and which she eats messily, getting it all over the floor and such, so I keep her food in a part of my apartment where I rarely am, off in the far corner of the kitchen under a table and in a gap between the wall and one side of the fridge. Problem is, since Jackie is my velcro cat, she simply will NOT eat unless I actually crawl UNDER the freaking table with her as she eats! She'll seriously refuse. And if I refuse, she starts chirping and meowing and pawing at my shoulder expectantly, and trying to draw me over to the kitchen. So I just roll my eyes and play along. The good thing is that recently she's apparently gotten better dealing with me being away from the apartment. I've set up more toys for her to play with on her own, and since it's summer now, I can open up all of her window perches, so she has a bit more interactivity with the birds and the outside. So there is reportedly no more pathetic crying kitty-cat scratching frantically at the front door, at least not according to my neighbor across the hall. But anyway, I really want to know about *your* cats, and whether any of them are clingy to the point where they're practically physically attached. I really think a big part of this is that me and Jackie live by ourselves, and I'm a little OCD about my personal space and very rarely have guests over - I usually go over to my friend's place. So like 97% of the time it's *just* the two of us, and nobody else. This is probably why I actually appreciate her clinginess - it really keeps me from ever being totally lonely, which is an incredibly amazingly wonderful thing for me. I have no clue how I managed to live without Jackie before 
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2012 05:23
|
|
|
kaworu posted:Ok, I really want to know something here. Anyway, he doesn't let us out of his sight, especially not my husband, and if we sit down he HAS to be on us or touching us, no exceptions. We had to cut his nails to stop him from constantly climbing up our pants to get us to carry him. He likes to ride around on our shoulders like a bird. It's kind of cute to see him lumbering along behind our every step, but it's a bit annoying too. And cute as they are, sometimes you DON'T want a cat on you, but he just doesn't get the hint even if I move him off of me 50 times in a row. He's SLOWLY getting a bit more independent, like he'll occasionally get off me to go check out what my kids are doing, so hopefully we can coax him back to some kind of normality, but for now he has this undying human loyalty like I've never seen in a cat, and I've had a lot of cats. He's more like a dog in a lot of ways.
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2012 06:29
|
|
|
Okay, so, I'm at my friend's place with my kitten and Batman and her Pipboy are total cat bros. It's awesome. Although no kitty piles. However, I've noticed Pip has a claw on his front paw that doesn't retract all the way. When he walks on the wooden floors, you can hear the click sound. The claw itself is really huge, like it's grown wider, it's so thick. He doesn't seem to be disturbed by it, he's running around and playing with my kitten and he jumps and he still uses the clawing tree and such. It's impossible to cut the claw, because it's so massive, also the quick seems to be really long. Anyone got any idea what to do about it? Is it okay to leave it be, if he doesn't seem to be disturbed? Male, ~4 years old, adopted about 4 months ago, went to a vet before the adoption and afaik got a clean bill of health, and has his shots.
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2012 11:39
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 24, 2024 22:31 |
|
|
benjai posted:However, I've noticed Pip has a claw on his front paw that doesn't retract all the way. When he walks on the wooden floors, you can hear the click sound. The claw itself is really huge, like it's grown wider, it's so thick. He doesn't seem to be disturbed by it, he's running around and playing with my kitten and he jumps and he still uses the clawing tree and such. It's impossible to cut the claw, because it's so massive, also the quick seems to be really long. Anyone got any idea what to do about it? Is it okay to leave it be, if he doesn't seem to be disturbed? So clip what you can, a little at a time if need be, and see if you can get the outer layer to break away on the sides as you go.
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2012 13:47
|
|
