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Shed posted:
Honestly, this is tough and the only real, feasible suggestion I can add may sound a bit on the silly side, but it works. You add one of of those really basic hook and screw locks on the [i]outside[i] of the door, so not the side the cats are you in. You just go to the local hardware store and get one of those super-basic locks which should be really cheap and install it. I don't know if you own or rent but I doubt it will violate any lease since it can be easily added or removed to any door and is pretty unobtrusive. That's my suggestion, anyway, it's what we used when we had a cat who did this and it worked great then  edit: ahhh! two first posts in a row now!? what is this evil magic 
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Jan 16, 2013 00:37
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I have a serious issue here 
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Is he unlocking the lock on the knob? Could you stretch something like a balloon over the knob and prevent that?KKKlean Energy posted:If we were to adopt another cat to keep him company, it would have to be another FIV cat. But does anyone have any advice for keeping a solitary cat entertained when everyone is out? Not necessarily. There is an FIV vaccine. My sister has 4 vaccinated cats to accommodate her 1 FIV+ cat (yeah I know). Maybe talk to you vet about what strain of FIV the kitty has and how much a vaccine would cost. If it's reasonable, it'll free up a lot more choices in second cats (making a better match more possible). Without a second cat, my kitty loves her ball track. Some of them come pretty cheap too. A cat tree with some dangly/springy toys may be a good investment too, if you can afford one.
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Jan 16, 2013 00:50
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Shed posted:
What sort of handle does your door have? Both lever and knob style door handles have child guard attachments. They're obnoxious, but it'll keep them from going out in the hall. I wouldn't rely on anything outside the door because neighbor kids. E: try something like this. Cats know how to pull down levers, but they don't have the leverage to squeeze the child-lock. I have a cat who has learned to open round doorknobs, but the front door is too heavy for him to bother. Engineer Lenk fucked around with this message at 00:59 on Jan 16, 2013 |
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Jan 16, 2013 00:52
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This is the door for reference. I do also rent.
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Jan 16, 2013 00:56
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Does it open in or out? Most open in, but if yours happens to open out, put a door stopper on the outside of the door when you leave. Barring that, I'm sticking to "put something over the lock". Balloon obviously won't work, but maybe duct tape a little tupperware container over the lock so he can't hit it, or instead of duct tape get some sticky velcro patches or something? Something with room under it so the lock can turn, but that will make a little force field bubble against kitty attack.
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Jan 16, 2013 01:25
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It opens in, so he's not able to just push it open after he unlocks the door. He's learning to pull with the handle though. I'll have to try that. Thanks!
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Jan 16, 2013 02:50
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I'll be getting my first cat ever this week. Approximately 12 weeks old, he's a rescue cat that a friend of mine discovered in her backyard. He was tiny, starving, and with a badly injured eye. Unfortunately the eye couldn't be saved, and had to be removed. He's looking like a healthy little dude now, though:  I live in a 2 bedroom inner city apartment, and I'm a bit of a neat freak. My only real concern is the wellbeing of my suede couch, but I like the look of "softpaws". SpaceAceJase fucked around with this message at 03:11 on Jan 16, 2013 |
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Jan 16, 2013 03:09
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SpaceAceJase posted:He's looking like a healthy little dude now, though: That's some adorable right there! What handsome socks he's got.  People are getting so many cute kittens around this thread. If you want to be able to protect your furniture, lots of Good Scratching Things around the house will help. Cat towers wrapped with sisal and tons of cardboard scratchers keeps our furniture spared. You can also get a cat acclimated to getting their nails trimmed by gently handling their paws, pushing their claws out, and generally making you handling the little fella's paws a good thing. Starting early makes it easier to either trim their claws or apply softpaws.
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Jan 16, 2013 03:27
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No pet apartments are dumb Our local shelter has a gorgeous and VERY friendly young male tabby. Perfect companion animal for our lone female tabby. Will probably have to wait to get a second cat which sucks after a shelter cat steals your heart.
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Jan 16, 2013 03:34
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For the few folks who followed my adventures with my (now older) cats - Oliver, the mangy one with a bad eye, and Faye, the polydactyl mittenfoot, here's a quick little update since their dedicated thread has been archived! They're both right more or less 9 months old now, and healthy, happy, wacky cats. Faye is currently napping in an office chair, after kicking my SO out of it, and Oliver is scooting himself along the carpet on his side. Anyway, here are a couple of pictures of them in their catly glory.     Busted!    This is basically Faye's favorite thing in the whole world. I can hold her like this and she will go totally limp and purr while I stroke her fluffy belly.   Oliver's favorite thing in the world. Playing with socks. So these are our little cretins.
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Jan 16, 2013 05:33
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 Where did you get that?!
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Jan 16, 2013 07:36
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I got the teenage cat. Oh god what have I done. They assured me at the shelter she'd be groggy from her spay. She spent most of the evening digging in the water dispenser and flooding the place, in between trying to scale my rat cage and puffing up and hissing at the dog (through the cat gate). I went for a quick pee and came back and she was on top of the door. She also managed to tear all the posters off my wall when I closed the door for the night, but was sedately sleeping in her fleecy bed when I opened the door to survey the carnage.
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Jan 16, 2013 14:29
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 Also wondering where you got this.
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Jan 16, 2013 16:57
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mcmagic posted:Motor does this a lot. I just grab him and put him back in (sometimes I let him wander around the hallway until he gets board and goes back inside). Not really that big of a deal. If you really don't want your cat in the hallway you might want to get one of those scat cat mats though... I just don't want him or her to be impossible to catch if they ever DO decide to step foot outside. I doubt the landlords will be happy if a cat starts running around the hall  I figure they'll get bored of it pretty quickly since I think cats hate like...everything. Alpha Kenny Juan posted:-When one kitten showed interest in the outside, I got her a collar. When she is in the living room, always a collar. But yeah, go with a mat or another deterrent. Collar will happen. I have a list of stuff to buy (2x litter box, litter filling, some canned BBuffalo, a bed, a collar/nametag, and metal water/food bowls), all available at Petsmart (or whatever it's called now) so might as well. The only thing I'm really missing is the complex policy for pets, I swore I had a paper on it somewhere... There's a meet and greet later today at said Petsmart. I might just stop by today to see who's around...
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Jan 16, 2013 17:35
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Rodent Mortician posted:I got the teenage cat. Oh god what have I done. You let her have free roam of your house unsupervised? I didn't let my cat free roam in my new house unsupervised for a week, and I'd had him two years at that point. Cats are assholes, as the thread title states.
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Jan 16, 2013 17:40
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Serella posted:You let her have free roam of your house unsupervised? I didn't let my cat free roam in my new house unsupervised for a week, and I'd had him two years at that point. Cats are assholes, as the thread title states. No, she's confined to the study, which is also the most bare room in the house (ie, no shelves, no real tall things to jump on, no furniture other than a desk and chair). She's a picasso of destruction. I'd forgotten how high young cats can sproing. Also she's awesome.
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Jan 16, 2013 17:46
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Oh poo poo, that's something I forgot to think about. Introducing the cat(s) to the household is also something I'm worrying about; I'm the only one here and it's relatively small, just a one bedroom apartment (bathroom, closet, etc.) - do I confine the cat to my bedroom or to my bathroom when they come home or something? Having them stuck in the bathroom for a week sounds loving miserable to me, I dunno, but it might be for the best just so they get used to the place with the minimum amount of terror and scratched walls. Oh yeah speaking of, making things not get chewed on/scratched up would own, too. I don't exactly have expensive wooden furniture - I don't have a lot of furniture at all really - but I do worry about the cat sticking its fingers into a power strip or chomping on the power cable, o gently caress
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Jan 16, 2013 18:12
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Pollyanna posted:Oh poo poo, that's something I forgot to think about. Introducing the cat(s) to the household is also something I'm worrying about; I'm the only one here and it's relatively small, just a one bedroom apartment (bathroom, closet, etc.) - do I confine the cat to my bedroom or to my bathroom when they come home or something? Having them stuck in the bathroom for a week sounds loving miserable to me, I dunno, but it might be for the best just so they get used to the place with the minimum amount of terror and scratched walls. Is your 1-bedroom apartment really just a bedroom and a bathroom? I mean isn't there's some sort of kitchen and/or living room? I'm not at all trying to be insulting because I know that some 1-br apartments really are like practically unfurnished hotel rooms when you move into them. This is especially true of big cities; I've definitely lived in a teensy apartment like that for a little while. Or maybe it is bigger than that? Anyway, my point is that if your apartment is that small don't even worry about locking off any portion of it when kitty first moves in. If it's only really one room (plus the bathroom and closet) it's not gonna overwhelm a kitty and you should just let them have the run of the place right away, I'd say. But that's just my own measly opinion.
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Jan 16, 2013 19:16
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Pollyanna posted:Oh yeah speaking of, making things not get chewed on/scratched up would own, too. I don't exactly have expensive wooden furniture - I don't have a lot of furniture at all really - but I do worry about the cat sticking its fingers into a power strip or chomping on the power cable, o gently caress The only one of my three current creatures who tried eating an electrical cord was the dog. And its the only time I've ever out and out lost it on her. She does not like electrical cords now hahah. The cats? Never given them a second look.
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Jan 16, 2013 19:16
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kaworu posted:Is your 1-bedroom apartment really just a bedroom and a bathroom? I mean isn't there's some sort of kitchen and/or living room? I'm not at all trying to be insulting because I know that some 1-br apartments really are like practically unfurnished hotel rooms when you move into them. This is especially true of big cities; I've definitely lived in a teensy apartment like that for a little while. Or maybe it is bigger than that? Well, by 1bed I mean one bedroom, one bathroom and a living/kitchen area, so two main rooms. I suppose that doesn't' sound too daunting, no. And yeah, I just don't want an electrified kitty
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Jan 16, 2013 19:26
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duckfarts posted:
Alpha Kenny Juan posted:
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Jan 16, 2013 20:44
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Don't want to multipost so...Cpaka posted:His cowboy getup came from PetSmart, around Halloween time. As you can tell, he was a big fan. I didn't see that last halloween. All I saw were shark, vampire and fairy. Was leaning heavily towards vampire, but didn't after all. Pollyanna posted:Well, by 1bed I mean one bedroom, one bathroom and a living/kitchen area, so two main rooms. I suppose that doesn't' sound too daunting, no. I would be more concerned about too many hiding spots. I live in a 1bed/1br apartment but there are many nooks in the living room and bedroom that I did the one week in the bathroom thing so that the go-to comfy zone for the kittens would be the bathroom. Get them used to the scents of the place while getting used to their own little area. It does seem like it'd suck but I spent a lot of time with them in the bathroom reading, listening to music, or playing and bonding. Then again, I had 2 kittens. YMMV BothSides posted:He said that his lymph nodes are always sort of swollen because of the FIV (he had been treating him long before I got him) but that there must be something more than the FIV going on - so they treated for infection but that didn't seem to work. Unfortunately things seem to have gotten worse and not better. Poor thing is stumbling around like a drunk and is just not having a very nice time. You have platinum so I can message you? Your kitty sounds like they have something very Very similar to what my cat had, and it isn't good news at all. I can message you later or post here if you want but I'd need to gather information first since it was a while ago. It isn't definitive by any means but if the info can help in any way i'll share what I know and you and your vet can discuss.
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Jan 16, 2013 22:28
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Alpha Kenny Juan posted:I would be more concerned about too many hiding spots. I live in a 1bed/1br apartment but there are many nooks in the living room and bedroom that I did the one week in the bathroom thing so that the go-to comfy zone for the kittens would be the bathroom. Get them used to the scents of the place while getting used to their own little area. It does seem like it'd suck but I spent a lot of time with them in the bathroom reading, listening to music, or playing and bonding. Then again, I had 2 kittens. YMMV I can think of two hiding spots in the bedroom/living room, under the bed and under the couch. That's about it 
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Jan 16, 2013 22:57
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Pollyanna posted:I can think of two hiding spots in the bedroom/living room, under the bed and under the couch. That's about it Your cat will think of many more.
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Jan 17, 2013 00:34
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I don't think I would have known how much actual space there was to hide inside the bed if it weren't for cats.
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Jan 17, 2013 04:33
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Yes, when my cat tore off my box springs' cover, I was indeed surprised how much space was there.
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Jan 17, 2013 06:41
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I kept mine confined to the bathroom for the first day, like the shelter said. It's just so they aren't overwhelmed by the new place and if they panic and pee themselves it'll be contained at least in an area that's easy to clean. I put the food and the box/house that they came with in the bathtub, set up the kitty litter where I planned on keeping it, and left them in there to get used to it. However, within like 8 hours whenever I opened the door they'd bolt out to explore. I figured if they were so interested in exploring that I'd let them out. No major incidents and by the next day they acted as if they'd always lived here.
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Jan 17, 2013 07:03
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The neighbour's bastard Siamese is coming into our kitchen through the catflap and terrorising poor Fishmog. He came home with a bite the other day, the next night he and the Siamese were fighting in the kitchen, and the invader was in again this morning. drat thing. Any suggestions? My husband is in favour of lobbing a bucket of water at the intruder but obviously, it doesn't come in when we're there. Also that's probably not terribly humane in winter. I can't see any option other than a microchip catflap but they are god-awful expensive. Does anyone have one, do they actually work, is there anything else I can do? We're in the UK, the main makes seem to be PetPorte and SureFlap. Edit: Apparently there are also electromagnetic ones for which you have to wear a magnet on the collar, about half the price. Any thoughts on those would also be really welcome. Shonagon fucked around with this message at 09:19 on Jan 17, 2013 |
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Jan 17, 2013 09:15
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kaworu posted:I don't think I would have known how much actual space there was to hide inside the bed if it weren't for cats. A total of 5 cats lived in my family's house before we found out that the living room sofa chair has an opening in the bottom. This was discovered when I couldn't find Indy and we noticed one of the other cats staring intently at the chair.
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Jan 17, 2013 09:21
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Shonagon posted:The neighbour's bastard Siamese is coming into our kitchen through the catflap and terrorising poor Fishmog. He came home with a bite the other day, the next night he and the Siamese were fighting in the kitchen, and the invader was in again this morning. drat thing. We've got a SureFlap catflap, it's been 100% effective at locking random mogs out of our house. You just need to make sure you change the batteries every 6 months or so because it locks if the batteries run out. This happened with my parents catflap while they were away for a weekend but luckily(?) their cat was determined and pissed off enough to break the door open with his face. My parents had a magnet catflap before they got the microchip one - it worked, but their cat would slip his collar every 1-2 months and the magnet would be lost. Any savings they made by buying the magnet door first were offset by the sheer number of replacement magnets they had to buy before they gave up and got a chip door. Also, all is fair in love, war and chasing away random cats. I turned the hose on a neighbourhood cat right in the middle of winter when he kept coming into our yard to give Decoy the death stare. I remain completely unrepentant, and he kept his distance after that.
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Jan 17, 2013 10:44
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Tamarillo posted:Also, all is fair in love, war and chasing away random cats. I turned the hose on a neighbourhood cat right in the middle of winter when he kept coming into our yard to give Decoy the death stare. I remain completely unrepentant, and he kept his distance after that. I think it's going to be a bit of a shock for the cats on our street who frequently use our front bark covered garden as their personal litter tray to suddenly have two cats move in on their territory. Luckily none of my immediate neighbors own cats, but there is a huge ginger cat with the biggest balls ever that frequents my gardens. It's one of the reasons I'm going with harnesses to get a sense of whether they'll immediately react to my cats' presence and how stressful my cats find it, which will determine whether these guys get to go out to play in future or whether they stay indoors. When my parent's cat Cleo came to stay while they were on a cruise for a month, the other cats didn't seem to come around for a while despite the fact that Cleo never squared off with any of them, maybe once they start marking their territory they'll stay away.
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Jan 17, 2013 12:48
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Cpaka posted:Your cat will think of many more. Marzipan taught me this morning that there's enough space behind the fridge for a cat to get into and get stuck. I also learned I can move a fridge on my own when panicked enough.
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Jan 17, 2013 14:30
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Alpha Kenny Juan posted:You have platinum so I can message you? Your kitty sounds like they have something very Very similar to what my cat had, and it isn't good news at all. I can message you later or post here if you want but I'd need to gather information first since it was a while ago. It isn't definitive by any means but if the info can help in any way i'll share what I know and you and your vet can discuss. Sent you a PM, didn't have them turned on because I've never used them before. Things are looking grim for poor Lyall. I talked to my vet and he brought up putting him down since it's been going on for nearly a month with no clue to what is going on. He said he had a specialist friend he is trying to get in touch with first to see if he can shed some light, and maybe the information you give me could help, but I have a bad feeling about the outcome.
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Jan 17, 2013 16:36
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Oh great, fishing my cat from behind the fridge sounds loving fun. Thankfully I don't think there are seams and I have an IKEA mattress so there's not much space at all anyway So I hung out with Holly, Holiday, and Brady (who does in fact love putting his paws through the cage) yesterday, and it was pretty cool. Although, they were in a rather small environment, so I'm not 100% sure what they're like normally. Holly was nice and personable, very much up to being affectionate with you. She liked being petted, but apparently not near her stomach - I got scratched by her when I rubbed a bit too close to it and it drew a little blood. But, I guess that's par for the course for cats. Either way, I'm leaning towards her right now - she's the most likely to get on well with a companion, and she doesn't seem to be disruptive or likely to mess poo poo up at all. Plus, she's adorable Holiday was very explorative and curious, and kind of oblivious to humans. She spent most of her time checking out the room and kind of ignoring me, but she didn't react negatively to being picked up by the volunteer. Very aloof, but that was just during the short time I met her. She's definitely younger(-seeming) than Holly, but I have a feeling they wouldn't get on well with each other. Not sure what to think about her, really. Brady was larger and a little mischievous. He jumped up on the table and messed with the bowls, used the scratching board, tried to get out, hosed with Holiday a bit, etc. I tried to pet him once or twice but he did the cat thing where they, like...where's that comic where the guy tries to pet the cat but it turns into this jello-like thing that's almost magnetically repulsed by his hand? That. That's basically what happened, with a little teeth added in. Otherwise, he was pretty cool, neither he nor the other two girls were freaked out over humans being near them. There were these two younger kittens (I'd say around 8 months old) who both freaked out over people being near them, even though they were behind glass and in their cage. I didn't end up meeting them, so who knows what they're generally like, but the ones I met didn't mind humans at all (or just didn't care). There was also this guy and holy christ was he huge. So yeah, adoption is looking likely. After another meet and greet in a few days, I think I'll take another week or two to think it over, make sure that it's a step I'm gonna take, then I'll contact Broken Tail over my next step. Hope it goes well... Also, I was just at Whole Foods, and I found that they have canned food there. I checked the ingredients and according to the analysis, it's something like 5%-6% carb contents (ignoring the Chicken and Rice flavor, for obvious reasons) and I think it listed meat, meat by-product, something else, then rice flour, in that order. I can't find the ingredient list online (unfortunately), so maybe I'll buy a can and type it up. It seems relatively okay, but has anyone tried it or checked it out? Otherwise, I'll prolly just stick to Blue Buffalo or Solid Gold. edit: Holly, who I am leaning towards at the moment:   Holiday, who I am also considering:  
Pollyanna fucked around with this message at 18:23 on Jan 17, 2013 |
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Jan 17, 2013 17:28
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So I have two cats, sisters, they are about eight years old and I adopted them from my aunt who found them in the woods when they were about 2 months old. I raised them practically by hand and have never been separated from them except for when I lived abroad for a year. Now, one of the two ladies has developed and unfortunate habit of chewing on the lower break handle of my racing bike. It is set up as a stationary bike during winter so I can keep in shape. She will nuzzle and nudge the end of the break andark it with the standard cheek rubbing. But then she starts chewing on it, never long but like a dog with her back teeth. Do I have to take her to the vet to have her teeth checked? And is there any way to prevent this? And here's some pictures of their shenanigans.   (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Jan 17, 2013 17:35
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four lean hounds posted:Cat entertainment solution 1: Get another cat! I believe (but cannot prove) that FIV and Non-FIV cats can live together. As far as I've heard, cats can get vaccinated against FIV and can typically live together just fine. I think a few Pet Island people currently have this living arrangement with their cats? Or you could just go ahead and get another lovely FIV+ when you get tired of this cat knocking your poo poo off of every shelf. Thanks for the advice! (and Huntersoninski's post too) My girlfriend picked up Tobias yesterday afternoon and although he didn't like the cat carrier one bit, he settled in pretty much immediately when he arrived at the flat. He waltzed around exploring everywhere, coming up for a fuss occasionally, finding hiding places but never sitting still for long... he seems real happy :3 In the evening he tried out a few windowsills for his Watching What's Going On Outside activities, then tired himself out and napped in our laps while we watched TV. Apparently he's properly fat, so the adoption centre had him on a diet and we've got to keep dieting him. I was worried this would mean his gets super-hungry and would mew constantly, but so far he seems pretty ok with it! I'll post a pic when I get home.
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Jan 17, 2013 17:43
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Pollyanna posted:I just don't want him or her to be impossible to catch if they ever DO decide to step foot outside. I doubt the landlords will be happy if a cat starts running around the hall I'm sure you'll be able to grab him once he's used to you and that happens really quickly. If someone who he doesn't know tries he can be a little tough to grab.
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Jan 17, 2013 19:15
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So remember those two kittens I found? Well, I am not sure what happened to one but my friend and I were able to catch the other! We have no idea what gender it is. We got some cans of food, gave it a bath in Dawn dish soap and now it is drying off and licking itself profusely.  One thing we noticed about the kitten is that is has really bad dandruff. Just big chunks of dandruff and a few small scabs around it's body. There are two big scabs on upper chest area. We searched it for fleas and only found 6. I also forgot to add that we think it may have vision problems. It obviously can see, but it has a difficult time finding treats when I lay them out. We're not really sure what to do with it. It's about 8 weeks old I would guess because of how small it is. It is feral however has quickly warmed up to us and even likes head scratchies (though that may be because the dandruff). I live in Jacksonville Florida. We've contacted the Humane Society, which doesn't take stray cats. The Animal Care and Protective Services aren't open until tomorrow at 8:00am and we're worried about taking it there because it is feral and skittish. Like I said in my last post, ideally I would like to foster it until it is adoptable though I am not sure how to go about that. If anyone has any ideas on what to do with the kitten, it would be greatly appreciated. The cat is quarantined in my bathroom, but will be moved into another one shortly. It has food and water and a small litter box. My other cat is aware of the kitten but I am definitely separating them until I know this cat is flea free and without FIV/FEL. Egoist fucked around with this message at 23:58 on Jan 17, 2013 |
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Jan 17, 2013 23:54
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Aaaargh Theodore how do you have fleas again HOW DO YOU HAVE THEM AGAIN. I swear if my roommate's dog brought them home again...  Welp, time to order the cheap Frontline off Amazon.
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Jan 18, 2013 11:00
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A little about bathing. I got my kitten a year and half ago when he was 8 weeks, and I had no plans to bathe him initially. But the dummy kept getting poop all over himself when he tried to bury it. I practically had to bath him once a week or more because I'd come home to a poop-covered furball. Gross but hilarious. Needless to say, I got this bathing business down to a science. Here's some tips that worked well for my kitty. - Trim the claws before you bath the cat, or suffer the consequences. - Put shallow warm water in the tub: Water should be warm enough that you can leave your hands in, but warmer than you'd like to have your shower. Cats do prefer warmer temperature, and shallow water cools quickly. I like to have the water high enough to cover part of cat's belly when he's standing, because this makes it harder for him to run away, and generally keeps him warmer. - Cut the running water, bring in cat, and CLOSE the bathroom door. Or you will have a completely soaked apartment. - Use tearless cat/kitten shampoo and scrub gently. I used a soft bristled brush because I didn't want to scrub poo with my hands, lol. My kitty also seems to like it better. - I used a plastic cup to pour water over kitty during rinse. You just have to hold them gently in place. When rinsing his head, I cover his face (mainly eyes and nose) with my free hand, just to make sure that no soap gets in. It also seems to calm him well. - I let him stay in the tub while the water drains. Lots of cats, including mine, loves drains. My kitty is temporarily distracted by draining water. When there's no water, drain your cat's fur - I'm talking just grab the fur and squeeze like you're drying a wet towel. - Grab a large towel and make your cat into a barrel roll. Don't use a hair dryer - the noise terrifies them and I think it makes them really cold. Just towel dry them so they're not dripping water. In the summer, I draw the curtains and my kitty will just sit in a sunspot and licks himself dry. In the winter/ at night, I turn on the bathroom heater, and he'll just sit by it. - Leave your cat alone. S/he is probably mad at you, and is currently preoccupied with licking itself dry. My cat will not touch any treats/ food/ rewards until he is completely dry. Even after that, he'll sulk for a while. Just leave some treats out, and they'll come around. - What you might want to do though, is just check back in a little bit to make sure your kitten (especially the younger ones) isn't shivering. If they are, wrap them up in the blanket to towel-dry some more, and just hold them in the blanket to trap their body heat. Or sit with them near a heating source. One important tip: My kitten hated bathing at first, but it was a necessary evil since he apparently can't stay away from his own poop. I decided that I would try to make the bathing less painful by making it a regular thing while he's still young. Once, when he wasn't covered in poop, I bathed with him. He was SO MUCH CALMER when I was in the water with him. Why this was is my own guesses: I think he liked that he can climb on me and "stay dry" by sitting on my legs, etc. And he'll actually voluntarily climb back into the water when he gets cold. He was also less afraid of soap, probably since I was also covered in soap(?). Holding onto him was more like cuddling/hugging instead of forcibly keeping him in the tub. Finally, this bath wasn't just all about scrubbing-and-rinsing-and-trying-to-leave-the-water-as-soon-as-we-can. Just spending more "chill" time in the water made him less frantic. Point is, bathing was so much easier once we had that experience. It could make for some nice bonding time with a new kitten, so I suggest trying it. (Now, the little creeper likes to watch me shower... and jumps in the tub after I'm done.) For the record, my cat is 1.5 years old now, and doesn't have poop problems anymore. It did take him a while to learn.
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Jan 18, 2013 11:35
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