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AtomikKrab
Jul 17, 2010

Keep on GOP rolling rolling rolling rolling.

Rand Fan 420 posted:

I moved to a new city recently and haven't had time to set up a new vet for my cats yet (they're due for their yearly), but something happened that has me a little concerned. I'm going to set up an appointment ASAP but I wanted to get your input on it as well. I currently have two male cats, shorthairs, both almost 3 years old and got them from a shelter at ~6 months. They're on w/d dry food, and have been for over a year (since the one i'm not asking about gets tummy problems from anything else). Inside only. No litterbox problems, just one that they happily share. No health problems so far.

One of my cats used to be feral and is REALLY skittish. When I went away recently he hid from the catsitter under the stove on the last day I was gone and got stuck - I think he was only there for about 6 hours or so, but by the time I got home he was worked up into a horrible panic and howling. That was about four days ago. Yesterday, I noticed that he had some kind of weird lesion on his belly, right where it meets his leg. It almost feels like there's something glued to his fur, the skin is all scaly and dark (possibly dried blood?) and the fur is matted. Today, I discovered that there was another patch like this on his side, where the hair seemed loose. The skin there was bright pink, not red, though. And then I found a third similar one further up his belly. I can't find any other spots like that, and when I poke and prod at them he doesn't freak out at all so I don't think they're painful. I also haven't noticed him scratching/biting those places excessively, and his mood is totally normal, even maybe extra happy. Sleeping, bathroom habits, all totally fine.

At first I was afraid he'd somehow spontaneously contracted ringworm, but there's no fur loss as far as i can tell and it's all on the lower bits of him, none on his head/neck. And he and my other cat lick, cuddle, bite, and play with each other all day long, and my other cat has no weird skin issues whatsoever, so I don't think it's anything contagious. I'm wondering if maybe he got an insect bite from some weird bug under the stove, or scratched himself in a panic and now I'm just seeing the irritation and dried blood? Should I be more worried than I am? Like I said, I'll try to get a vet appointment lined up ASAP but I wanted to have you guys weigh in on it first. He has dark gray fur that's really thick so my attempts to get a picture of the things were sadly unsuccessful. Thank you!

Edit: in my plea for your help I give you his fuzzy belly. Look how fuzzy it is, that fuzziness must be preserved



Sounds like he is gnawing on himself... my cat occasionally does it for not loving reason as far as I can tell.

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Kidney Stone
Dec 28, 2008

The worst pain ever!

benjai posted:

Waaaaaaah, my stupid idiot of a cat! He has always been super tolerant and flexible and adaptable, it seriously took him like three days to be okay with us getting a second cat. It's almost two months later and they're total bros. Then my roomie's mom's cat needed a place to stay, so we figured we'd try it out, since Batman has always been so good with change.

Well she left two weeks ago and he immediately started acting weird. Took me four days to figure out he was trying to pee but seemed unable to - it also got worse. Didn't really realize until he tried to pee on the bathroom mat. And in the tub. And hallway carpet. And my roomie's plants. He only got tiny spots of pee out and was trying to go pee constantly, so off to the vet we went. Vet said he most likely had an inflamed bladder so we got a pain med to give for five days. Treatment ended Tuesday morning.

He started acting weird again last night, using the box more, meowing, but since he's still really active we hoped it would pass. Woke up this morning and he's on the bathroom mat trying to pee. Sighed and figured so long as he wasn't at a complete stop we could wait until office hours tomorrow. Until I saw the pee puddle in the tub, and it was red. I didn't even drink coffee, we just called up the vet and went there.

We got more meds and we need to turn in a urin sample once he starts peeing normally. So I guess I actually have a question. What are good ways to collect a pee sample when you're dirt poor from med/vet costs and cant afford one of those kits from the pet store?

Your vet might be able to give you a kit for free - and you should see if you can get a sandbased, non-absorbing, litter. We got our kit at the vet for free.

hooah
Feb 6, 2006
WTF?
One of our cats leaves butt prints when he sits on things. Since he likes to sit on our pillows while we're sleeping, we would like to find a way to stop this from happening. What's going on, and how can we prevent him from having a wet butt?

Serella
Apr 24, 2008

Is that what you're posting?

hooah posted:

One of our cats leaves butt prints when he sits on things. Since he likes to sit on our pillows while we're sleeping, we would like to find a way to stop this from happening. What's going on, and how can we prevent him from having a wet butt?

You can try getting a sanitary trim done for him -- basically, shaving all the hair around his rear end so it can't absorb pee or anything. I'd recommend getting a groomer or vet to do it, since cat skin is pretty thin and easily torn, and cat claws are extremely sharp.

Dienes
Nov 4, 2009

dee
doot doot dee
doot doot doot
doot doot dee
dee doot doot
doot doot dee
dee doot doot


College Slice
One of my cats has been struggling with eye issues for nearly 3 and a half months. We moved from Florida to Michigan in January, and were stuck staying at my parents' house for 3 months while I saved up for my own place. In February both cats had a cold, just sneezing, and were seen by the vet. Tigh recovered quickly but Khan continued to sneeze and sneeze, and eventually her left eye also showed signs of infection (red, swollen, squinting, rubbing, white/yellow/green slimy discharge). I noticed some neovascularization on the eye, but the vet said it'd clear up on its own and was related to the infection.

Three vets, 5 medications, and 2 months later: success, she's fine. The first antibiotic eye drops we tried made half her face swell up. Eventually we had a compound antibiotoic eye drop and she was fine in a couple weeks. We never had a conclusive diagnosis for what caused the infection, although staining ruled out physical injury and a couple specific strains of bacteria/fungi.

I am playing with her and notice something looks off on the eye. When I gently pull the upper eyelid up, I found a massive ulceration. Back to the vet (a 4th vet, as I moved several hours away from my parents' house by this point). Again, a series of stains and physical examination, no clue as to what is up. It is the same eye, with neocascularization in the same area. There's been no physical symptoms of infection, nor any behavioral symptoms. I had no idea the eye was bad until that moment! The ulcer was under the eyelid, she was eating/drinking/playing normally without any squinting or rubbing, no redness or discharge...

The vet gave me a steroid-based eye drop, once we haven't tried before. After 24 hours on the eye drops, things look awful. Eyelids are red and slightly swollen, squinting and rubbing, and slimy white discharge from the eye. I asked the vet about side effects before I left and he said there were none to worry about. I called and left the vet a message, and the e-vet over the phone said it sounds like a reaction and to discontinue the meds immediately. She's in an e-collar for now.

I'm terrified this will end with Khan losing an eye and I don't know what to do at this point. 4 vets, 2 of which are cat specialists, and no answers or progress. There's a cat opthamologist I can be referred to but it'll be weeks and weeks until I can see them.

Cyber Dog
Feb 22, 2008

So I got a new kitten (8 1/2 weeks) and she's terrified of the resident cat. She hisses when she comes near. The resident cat is fine (she's blind and just kinda of bumbles around indifferently and occasionally curiously). It's only been a couple days, but are there any ways I can help my kitten adjust?

Shnooks
Mar 24, 2007

I'M BEING BORN D:
I'm only a dumb technician, but I thought steroids and eye ulcers were a no-go?

Pollyanna
Mar 5, 2005

Milk's on them.


Steroids are most certainly contraindicated in eye ulcers. Get a vet that isn't momentously retarded.

Mandals
Aug 31, 2004

Isn't it pretty to think so.
Got two questions:

1. My girlfriend has an Italian Greyhound. We're talking about living together, but her dog is an incredible dick to any animal that is not also a dog. The first and only time he came over to my place to meet Gus (my cat), he just barked the entire time and freaked my cat out. My cat is declawed (by previous lovely owners who returned him to the pound), and I worry about him living with a dog, especially when we aren't home. What's the best way to get them socialized?

2. Gus refuses to eat wet food. Like, flatly refuses. So far he hasn't had any urinary tract issues, and he seems to like drinking from the re-circulating water fountain I got him, but I'd still like to get him eating wet food more often. Is there a tried-and-true way to do this? Whenever I've mixed wet food in with his dry food he either A) goes on a hunger strike or B) eats around the wet parts.

Here's Gus being a cat:

Sian
Dec 29, 2008
Hey, one of my cats escaped over a week ago and got tick paralysis. When I found him he was wheezing and really wobbly on his back legs. We rushed him to the vet and they gave him some anti-venom, sedated him, sprayed him with Frontline and kept him there for 3 days. He came home a few hours ago and I found another tick on him about 2-3mm long, I pulled it out and it seemed to be dead. I was wondering if it is just a case of the nurses not noticing it or what? It was on his neck and I would assume they would have checked him pretty thoroughly. He's still pretty lethargic and wobbly, I can't call the vet surgery as they are shut now.

edit: The tick was "dried out" and easy to pull indicating it had been dead for a while. My poor cat is just so tired and sick I'm worried despite the vet giving the all clear.

Sian fucked around with this message at 11:31 on May 13, 2013

Nione
Jun 3, 2006

Welcome to Trophy Island
Rub my tummy
Well, Iggy's back at the vet. He came home Friday night and spent 16 hours cuddling with me nonstop. Saturday morning he was back in the litter box, straining and crying. We took him back to the vet he had been at and they felt his bladder and said it was enlarged and nothing was coming out when they tried to express it. Since they close at noon on Saturday and aren't open Sunday, they transferred him to an emergency clinic (the clinic waived the $90 emergency fee since he was a transfer, which was nice). The e-clinic felt his bladder and same thing. They put him in an oxygen chamber and while he was in there he peed on his own. Since he wasn't blocked at that moment, they just ran an IV and started pumping him full of fluids, watching him to see if he peed on his own or re-blocked. He was doing fine all day, but by 2am Sunday morning, he was reblocked. They ran the urinary catheter again.

Since the e-clinic doesn't accept Care Credit and we were completely out of money, we transferred him to another animal hospital (this one is actually our normal vet, we didn't take Iggy there in the first place because the cat clinic is much closer to our house and could see him immediately, plus he'd been to the first vet twice for urinary problems and we wanted a 2nd opinion). They have him there now, pumping him full of fluids and anti-inflammatory medication, and things seem to be going okay. He's producing plenty of urine, the catheter is flushing it out, and as of this morning it's less bloody than it was yesterday. He's also become accustomed to being at the vet's office and is much calmer, doesn't yell and scream as much, and freaks out when we come visit because OH MY GOD I MISSED YOU SCRATCH MY HEAD. Honestly, his reaction to us is the most heartbreaking thing.

We're now at almost a full week at the vet's, with only a 16 hour break at home. This is the second time he's blocked, if it happens again he'll have to have a perineal urethrostomy. We've currently spent $1900+ in the last 5 weeks and we're all just exhausted and stressed.

The only good news is that he LOVES the canned Purina UR. It's the only wet food I've ever seen him go nuts about. Of course, it also seems to be the most disgusting of the canned urinary food options (1st ingredient is "meat by-products" LOL).

Here he is in the carrier with his catheter/IV being transferred from the e-clinic to the hospital he's at now. Poor baby slept in there for like an hour with us taking turns rubbing his face.

hhgtrillian
Jan 23, 2004

DOGS IN SPACE
I'm sorry about Iggy. I hope he gets better soon.

four lean hounds
Feb 16, 2012

Mandals posted:

2. Gus refuses to eat wet food. Like, flatly refuses. So far he hasn't had any urinary tract issues, and he seems to like drinking from the re-circulating water fountain I got him, but I'd still like to get him eating wet food more often. Is there a tried-and-true way to do this? Whenever I've mixed wet food in with his dry food he either A) goes on a hunger strike or B) eats around the wet parts.

Here's Gus being a cat:



Gus is a cutie. Can't help you with the dog issue, but it is good that he'll drink from the fountain. My sister has a cat with the same issue, so she ended up feeding him a low-quality wet food (Fancy Feast) paired with a high-quality dry kibble. As the Pet Nutrition Thread states, any wet food is better than dry. See what brands have coupons and try them out until you find one stinky enough for your cat to enjoy.

Microwaving the food or sprinkling something like bonito flakes on the food might also help.

HelloSailorSign
Jan 27, 2011

Dienes posted:

I am playing with her and notice something looks off on the eye. When I gently pull the upper eyelid up, I found a massive ulceration. Back to the vet (a 4th vet, as I moved several hours away from my parents' house by this point). Again, a series of stains and physical examination, no clue as to what is up. It is the same eye, with neocascularization in the same area. There's been no physical symptoms of infection, nor any behavioral symptoms. I had no idea the eye was bad until that moment! The ulcer was under the eyelid, she was eating/drinking/playing normally without any squinting or rubbing, no redness or discharge...

The vet gave me a steroid-based eye drop, once we haven't tried before. After 24 hours on the eye drops, things look awful. Eyelids are red and slightly swollen, squinting and rubbing, and slimy white discharge from the eye. I asked the vet about side effects before I left and he said there were none to worry about. I called and left the vet a message, and the e-vet over the phone said it sounds like a reaction and to discontinue the meds immediately. She's in an e-collar for now.

I'm terrified this will end with Khan losing an eye and I don't know what to do at this point. 4 vets, 2 of which are cat specialists, and no answers or progress. There's a cat opthamologist I can be referred to but it'll be weeks and weeks until I can see them.

So the fourth vet placed stain on the eye, saw the corneal ulcer, and decided to give you steroids? Was there any chance there was a med mix up, or that the vet didn't see the ulcer?

Edit: Has she ever been sedated or anesthetized to exam that eye?

Saikonate
Jun 23, 2007
Naysayer
Fun Shoe

Hey dude, just saw this post and looked at your history in this thread and had a few comments. Lucas was prone to struvite bladder stones - I found this out after he was straining like hell to pee in a small cardboard box in the corner instead of his litterbox, and there was blood in his urine. It seems unclear to me from your posts - do you know why Iggy's getting blocked up in the first place? One of the first things my vet did with Lucas was to X-ray him, which showed a giant-rear end bladder stone causing his issues. He needed surgery to remove it, and between that and the X-ray it was $1000, but he was completely fine afterwards. I didn't see any mention of that in your posts, and it sounds like you're still not really sure what's going on. I'm not a vet though so I have no idea what the conversation between you and your vet has been like so far. I really hope you can get things figured out so your kitty can be healthy again!

Silly Hippie
Sep 18, 2007
I have a local stray/outdoor cat (don't know which he is honestly) who comes around a few times a day to meow freakishly loudly at my door and be petted. I noticed yesterday that he has black spots all along the inside of his mouth. He has a few on his nose, too. Google is suggesting that this isn't anything serious, but I'm curious because I've never seen them before and I literally play with the cat everyday - what the heck are they?

I tried to get pictures but he wouldn't cooperate so have some normal boring cat pics instead.



Nione
Jun 3, 2006

Welcome to Trophy Island
Rub my tummy

Saikonate posted:

Hey dude, just saw this post and looked at your history in this thread and had a few comments. Lucas was prone to struvite bladder stones - I found this out after he was straining like hell to pee in a small cardboard box in the corner instead of his litterbox, and there was blood in his urine. It seems unclear to me from your posts - do you know why Iggy's getting blocked up in the first place? One of the first things my vet did with Lucas was to X-ray him, which showed a giant-rear end bladder stone causing his issues. He needed surgery to remove it, and between that and the X-ray it was $1000, but he was completely fine afterwards. I didn't see any mention of that in your posts, and it sounds like you're still not really sure what's going on. I'm not a vet though so I have no idea what the conversation between you and your vet has been like so far. I really hope you can get things figured out so your kitty can be healthy again!

Sorry. I posted some stuff here and other stuff in the Nutrition thread.

Iggy has had an x-ray and no stones. He did test positive for struvite crystals. He's currently on a urinary diet to try and make his urine more acidic to dissolve those and prevent them from reforming. Part of the problem was he was refusing to eat ANY food at first. He's now eating well and hopefully this will help with the situation.

Thanks for the well wishes.

Saikonate
Jun 23, 2007
Naysayer
Fun Shoe

Mandals posted:

1. My girlfriend has an Italian Greyhound. We're talking about living together, but her dog is an incredible dick to any animal that is not also a dog. The first and only time he came over to my place to meet Gus (my cat), he just barked the entire time and freaked my cat out. My cat is declawed (by previous lovely owners who returned him to the pound), and I worry about him living with a dog, especially when we aren't home. What's the best way to get them socialized?

Hey, my sister has an italian greyhound too, and she barks like a crazy idiot at the drop of a hat too. I'm not sure about an overall socialization plan for them, but one thing I know really helped when I took my cat to visit my parents/sister for Christmas one year was to put a baby gate up in between the rest of the house and the room that me and Lucas were staying in. We left a little space underneath it that Lucas could easily get through, but was too low for the dog, so Lucas had a safe zone to retreat to if he ever felt scared. This had the added bonus of making it impossible for the dog to get into the bedroom and eat Lucas's cat litter. I don't know if all dogs like cat litter or just hers, but something to note, I guess.

Mirthless
Mar 27, 2011

by the sex ghost

Saikonate posted:

Hey, my sister has an italian greyhound too, and she barks like a crazy idiot at the drop of a hat too. I'm not sure about an overall socialization plan for them, but one thing I know really helped when I took my cat to visit my parents/sister for Christmas one year was to put a baby gate up in between the rest of the house and the room that me and Lucas were staying in. We left a little space underneath it that Lucas could easily get through, but was too low for the dog, so Lucas had a safe zone to retreat to if he ever felt scared. This had the added bonus of making it impossible for the dog to get into the bedroom and eat Lucas's cat litter. I don't know if all dogs like cat litter or just hers, but something to note, I guess.

I've only ever met one dog that didn't think cat litter was more delicious than chocolate and she was a fluke. (she also could eat chocolate all day without getting sick. And diapers. She was a horrible dog. I miss her. :smith:)

I don't know what it is about cat litter and dogs, seriously. Do they think they're not getting enough clay in their diet? Or is it just the novelty of eating poop that doesn't belong to a dog?

Silly Hippie posted:

I have a local stray/outdoor cat (don't know which he is honestly) who comes around a few times a day to meow freakishly loudly at my door and be petted. I noticed yesterday that he has black spots all along the inside of his mouth. He has a few on his nose, too. Google is suggesting that this isn't anything serious, but I'm curious because I've never seen them before and I literally play with the cat everyday - what the heck are they?

I tried to get pictures but he wouldn't cooperate so have some normal boring cat pics instead.





The black spots are a normal orange tabby thing. They get more as they get older. Ours is covered in them.

edit:

Hey guys, if anyone wants an update on the kitty we found who we thought was pregnant, we took her to the vet and it turns out it was probably a false pregnancy. She's slimmed down this week and now she's rocketing into heat at the speed of light. :suicide: I guess now's as good a time as any to get her spayed.

We name all of our cats after breakfast foods. We've got a Pancake, a Syrup, and a Coffee so far. Right now, we're split on either Eclair or Toast for cat #4. Any thoughts?


Mirthless fucked around with this message at 18:21 on May 13, 2013

Rat Patrol
Feb 15, 2008

kill kill kill kill
kill me now
French toast (frenchie :3: ) or maybe bacon?

ZippoGuy
Dec 18, 2005

Some say the world
will end in fire...
I'm just helping it along
College Slice
Since she's so dark, and you already have a coffee, I'd name her Marmite.

Clavietika
Dec 18, 2005


Or Beans. Or Muffin. Or Scrambles :3:

edit: My boyfriend and I are coming into possession of two elderly cats (10 and 11 roughly) from my dad soon. Before taking them they need to go to the vet for a check-up and shots. When they move into my boyfriend's place, there will be another cat to keep them company/co-exist with. I'm wondering if I should take them to the vet and take them straight to my boyfriend's place after, or give them a few days at their current home to settle down after going to the vet before moving? They'll also be transitioning from outdoor to indoor cats, and my dad's a negligent/uncaring owner as it is so I kind of doubt he'd keep them in for the few days/week after deworming.

Clavietika fucked around with this message at 22:24 on May 13, 2013

notsowelp
Oct 12, 2012

Though she is small, she is fierce.
Welp, the psycho cat attacked my family member again, so it is going to be euthed. She has bought two replacement kittens. She can not yet bring herself to euth the cat. The kittens are with me. :eng99:.

I'm giving her a week to euth or otherwise get rid of that cat because, ugh, kittens. One is a ~ragdoll siamese mix~ and the other is a generic ginger mutt. They suck but are cute.

(Please nobody say anything about ~kitten exploding syndrome~; firstly I would be v happy if these kittens were to explode, secondly idk where my camera is and there are kittens hanging off my trousers currently and 3) thats a dumb furbabby phrase that needs to be obliterated from the forums okay??? Okay!!!)

Serella
Apr 24, 2008

Is that what you're posting?

notsowelp posted:

Welp, the psycho cat attacked my family member again, so it is going to be euthed. She has bought two replacement kittens. She can not yet bring herself to euth the cat. The kittens are with me. :eng99:.

I'm giving her a week to euth or otherwise get rid of that cat because, ugh, kittens. One is a ~ragdoll siamese mix~ and the other is a generic ginger mutt. They suck but are cute.

(Please nobody say anything about ~kitten exploding syndrome~; firstly I would be v happy if these kittens were to explode, secondly idk where my camera is and there are kittens hanging off my trousers currently and 3) thats a dumb furbabby phrase that needs to be obliterated from the forums okay??? Okay!!!)

Your family member is clearly some kind of loving idiot. :psyduck:

notsowelp
Oct 12, 2012

Though she is small, she is fierce.

Serella posted:

Your family member is clearly some kind of loving idiot. :psyduck:

Hey at least she has given up on the idea of letting the cat 'have a litter to calm her down'!!!

hooah
Feb 6, 2006
WTF?

Serella posted:

You can try getting a sanitary trim done for him -- basically, shaving all the hair around his rear end so it can't absorb pee or anything. I'd recommend getting a groomer or vet to do it, since cat skin is pretty thin and easily torn, and cat claws are extremely sharp.

He's shorthair and doesn't have much around his butt, so this seems unlikely. I've noticed that his anus kind of protrudes, and my wife's parents had a cat which had to have its anal glands "expressed" every so often, so she thinks that might be the case. Does that sound accurate? Is that something we can do ourselves, and if it is, would we want to?

Eggplant Wizard
Jul 8, 2005


i loev catte

Clavietika posted:

Or Beans. Or Muffin. Or Scrambles :3:

edit: My boyfriend and I are coming into possession of two elderly cats (10 and 11 roughly) from my dad soon. Before taking them they need to go to the vet for a check-up and shots. When they move into my boyfriend's place, there will be another cat to keep them company/co-exist with. I'm wondering if I should take them to the vet and take them straight to my boyfriend's place after, or give them a few days at their current home to settle down after going to the vet before moving? They'll also be transitioning from outdoor to indoor cats, and my dad's a negligent/uncaring owner as it is so I kind of doubt he'd keep them in for the few days/week after deworming.

The fewer new places, the better. It'll also be easier for them to transition to indoor if they're in a new place. Don't forget to read the OP on introductions.

Feel better Iggy :ohdear: That's the artist formerly known as Tater Bug, yeah? Or was that a different Iggy?

I vote Toast re: newcat because it's an excellent name.

Paume
Jun 8, 2008

:commissar:
I have a question for all you cat psychologists out there. My wife has an... "interesting" cat. Talking with my wife, we've come to the conclusion that she is very special needs, probably due to some sort of brain damage. She was found in the insulation in a shoddy barn, abandoned from her mother and basically left to die. My wife nursed her back to life and has raised the stupid cat by herself mainly for seven years (the cat is seven). This cat loves my wife; she is definitely a mommy's girl. She hates people at first, and takes about a month to /not/ hiss and act very aggressive towards humans. It took Sophie about 2-3 months to get used to me, and after she was usually very friendly, and she loved getting rubs and scratches by me. Now here is the issue.

Sophie (the cat) has taken in the last week and a half to hissing, and running away from me every time I as much as come near it (same room, near it). As this has never been an issue after the first couple months, my wife and I are confused why she is doing this. I feed the cat her three meals a day and quite often I will play with her or give her pets and scratchies. Now she is very wary of me, and won't come near me or even stay still when I stand up. All she does when I do anything is just run and hide, then usually hiss at me. I haven't hit/yelled at or anything agressive like that towards Sophie. I don't have a new job and I am the same-old me. I honestly love this dumb cat. Why would she hate me suddenly? She is spayed, so I'm sure it's nothing hormonal. Help me, please. I really want this cat to like me.

Tamarillo
Aug 6, 2009

notsowelp posted:

Hey at least she has given up on the idea of letting the cat 'have a litter to calm her down'!!!

Haaaaaahahahahaha. Hugo's mum hated kittens, breeder bred her anyway and what happened? She kept trying to abandon her kittens, left her litter to the other breeding queens to look after and now I'm stuck with a cat with serious mama issues and who tries to suck on my face. Now that she's been retired and desexed, she has literally moved out of the breeders house and has taken up residence in their garden shed so she doesn't have to deal with kittens (yes she is going to rehome her).

I feel bad for psycho cat. My parents took on a lost cause case like that and Gilmore is the best (violent) cat. You can tell he likes you if he doesn't draw blood. He is an ornery fucker :3:

Rand Fan 420
Aug 3, 2005

AtomikKrab posted:

Sounds like he is gnawing on himself... my cat occasionally does it for not loving reason as far as I can tell.

Yeah I took him to the vet and she thinks he might have caught himself on something under the stove and cut himself, OR he scratched/gnawed himself out of anxiety or because he wanted to scratch his ears but didn't. He apparently had the dirtiest ears ever and she laughed at how dirty they were. Then when the vet tech came in to clean his ears she said "Oh wow, I heard they were bad but I didn't know they were THIS bad." My cats have dirty ears, apparently. They gave him an antibiotic and sent him home seeming unconcerned so happy ending I guess except for finding out my cat has the dirtiest ears on the planet.

insidius
Jul 21, 2009

What a guy!
I have two cats and I have developed a sudden issue in the last month I am finding strange. For some back ground.

1 x Female (tortiseshell?) I got as a kitten. Its about two years old. Spayed, generally always a solid companion.

1 x Male (rescue cat from a local rehoming center) spayed.

Additional:

Outdoor/Indoor cats. Outdoor during the day, indoor at night.
Food: Whiskas wet food and whiskas dryfood (they hate the dry food, I will need to switch)
Last vet visit: Male, seven months. Female just off twelve.

I got the male for some company for the female (It used to have company but the other kitten we had the time managed to get out of the house and was never found (chipped, collar with identification, notices to vets etc). Anyhow I did the whole slowly introduce themselves thing etc, this was about five months ago. Up until about two weeks ago everything was fine. They would sleep together, the female would bath him, etc. It was working really well.

The last two weeks the female suddenly HATES this cat with a passion. If he goes anywhere near her she gets really super agressive and not just at him but at us as well. Growling really low turning into howling if we dare to touch her at that point or if he does not vanish to somewhere she is not. I do not understand, I have tried giving her extra attention and alone time with us and some of the times she seems happy but for some reason whenever the male shows up she just loses her poo poo. They no longer sleep together, they will still sleep in the same area but its at a wide berth.

Both cats are eating, drinking and pooping fine. Im thinking I might take her into the vet for a check up because I just can not understand why she is suddenly so mad towards him.

*More info*

Im sitting here now. The female is on the arm of the chair and the male has jumped up beside me. As soon as the male entered the room she started her low pitch growl combined with a sort of whistle? Its a growl that turns into a "woooooooooooooooooooooooooooo" that goes for a while. Groooowwwwl-ooooooooooooooooh. This cat is angry. Its not even paying any attention to her, ie its not bothering her and she is just flipping out.

*edit*

Just because it might be interesting to this thread. I got the male from a shelter I found through the local trading rag, run by a super nice couple in my area that live hand to mouth to home their animals. They have anywhere up to 80 cats at a time which they pay to have treated, desexed etc and then attempt to rehome. I ended up running a donations request through a forum I run and took some footage, I will see if I can get a copy of it up here. Watching these two pour so much time, effort and devotion into ensuring these animals have a future touched me on a level I never thought possible. I was in tears at this place surrounded by these cats as I heard the story behind why each one was there. Cats left in bins with kittens, cats used as bait for fighting dogs etc. Heart breaking. Ive also offered whatever other assistance I can but it turns out I suck at force feeding kittens milk. The wife of the couple was able to get the kitten to drink in one shot every time but for some reason whenever I did it the kitten just lost interest. I also got clawed by a strange male that was in isolation with mouth ulcers.

insidius fucked around with this message at 13:30 on May 14, 2013

Serella
Apr 24, 2008

Is that what you're posting?

hooah posted:

He's shorthair and doesn't have much around his butt, so this seems unlikely. I've noticed that his anus kind of protrudes, and my wife's parents had a cat which had to have its anal glands "expressed" every so often, so she thinks that might be the case. Does that sound accurate? Is that something we can do ourselves, and if it is, would we want to?

It could be the anal glands. I'd pay to have the vet look at them and express them if necessary. It's gross and smelly and probably hazardous to try on a cat -- that is, the cat may try to kill you. Totally worth the $20 to skip that experience, but it may need to be done regularly for your cat, so perhaps it would be good to learn from the vet.

Corridor
Oct 19, 2006

My kitty is a fat kitty, and she's very cute with her fat stubby body, but I'm sure it's bad for her and she should probably be a thin kitty. She's like 7kg and should apparently be around 5 or so.

The problem is getting her to eat the right food. She's a horrible fussy whiny baby jerk rear end in a top hat, and will only eat dry food. She is absolutely crazy for dry food. As soon as she hears them little kibbles rattling in the bowl, she thunders into the room like a small hippo. I try to give her the best stuff that's available, but this is a small town, and the best stuff I can buy anywhere is Science Diet. I can't really afford the shipping on kilo bags of cat food each time I restock.

Besides, it's the wet food that's better for kitties, right? Good news is, there's lots of that available, good stuff too. The local crazy pet lady sells some good quality kitty beef, I forget most of what she told me but she's done ridiculous amounts of research on cat nutrition and apparently this stuff is good for kitties. Also, the local supermarket sells big cans of cat food that're 70c a can... and is all fish with a gelling agent. :stare: Seriously, that is literally all that's on the side of the can: pilchards, sardines, gelling agent. Some of the varieties have added minerals and colouring and crap on the list, but not all of them. And when you open up the can, you can see that's all it is. Oh hey there starey fishy head looking me right in the eye. With both of those options, kitty should be set.

The bad news is that even though I have all this good stuff, kitty won't so much as touch it. From the way she sniffs it, it's like she doesn't even think it's food. If I mix dry food in with it, she won't touch any of it, period. Starving her into it doesn't work because holy poo poo does she let me know how pissed off she is at loving 3am on a school night, I always cave in. Plus someone posted this in another thread when I mentioned my failed attempts...

Not Grover posted:

I just want to make sure you know this is not a good idea, and not just in that it's ineffective. If you have a cat that isn't eating, particularly an overweight cat, they can be prone to developing fatty liver disease (hepatic lipidosis) which is life threatening and requires a fair amount of intervention, up to and including hospitalization, placement of a feeding tube, liquid meals, etc which can last a couple of months. It's normal to assume that if an animal is hungry, it'll just eat, but cats are little jerks sometimes and will just choose liver failure.

...so I guess I shouldn't do that anyway.


Basically TL;DR I can't get my cat to eat wet food because she's hooked on cat version of Mcdonalds.

cormac
Dec 18, 2005




This little guy has been living in a hole in the neigbour's roof over my bedroom for the last few weeks. I got a trap from a local shelter yesterday and managed to nab him this afternoon. He's got a dose of the shits so he'll be at the vet for the next few days, then hopefully he'll be well enough to take home.

Rat Patrol
Feb 15, 2008

kill kill kill kill
kill me now
Corridor, if your cat won't eat wet food and isn't losing weight, try smaller portions of dry. If you free feed, maybe cut that out and provide two measured meals a day. Wean kitty away from giant portions and do plenty of exercise to keep its mind off the dwindled cat bowl (and burn some dem calories).

Pizza is the same way, he won't touch wet. He was a bit tubby when we got him but portion control has helped us trim him down a little.

When we first switched Ozma from low quality high quantity to high quality low quantity she acted like she was dying, and had my roommate convinced I was starving her (despite gaining healthy weight - slowly, like I wanted). But eventually she calmed down and got used to her two meals per day.

It probably won't be easy, but portion control is probably going to be your cats best bet.

ZippoGuy
Dec 18, 2005

Some say the world
will end in fire...
I'm just helping it along
College Slice
A few tips if you go to two meals a day:

-Be Consistant. I feed at 9am and 9pm. The cats will sometimes bother me when I get home, but they got used to the times pretty quick.

-Don't feed immediately after you wake up. One of my cats would wake me up earlier and earlier meowing incessantly. I moved breakfast back to 9, and now I actually sleep past sunrise.

-Measure the food. One of our cats got into the treats while I was on vacation. He ate everything. Now he gets 1/3 cup of food twice a day, and it's been working to bring him back to a healthy weight.

Fatty:


I'm surprised he hasn't broken the window seat

ZippoGuy fucked around with this message at 19:07 on May 14, 2013

Dogen
May 5, 2002

Bury my body down by the highwayside, so that my old evil spirit can get a Greyhound bus and ride

Paume posted:

:words: about jerkass cat

How do you play with her? Have you tried something like da bird? Da bird is very serious cat psych medicine in toy form that really helps them get along with other people, and also cats. Might help with future introductions to new folks as well.

Nione
Jun 3, 2006

Welcome to Trophy Island
Rub my tummy

Eggplant Wizard posted:

Feel better Iggy :ohdear: That's the artist formerly known as Tater Bug, yeah? Or was that a different Iggy?

Yep. Iggy Tater Bug Hop.

The vet called this morning. They removed the catheter at 2am and he's already peed 3 times since then, so things are definitely looking up. As long as he doesn't reblock in the next 4 hours, he's coming home!

Dogen
May 5, 2002

Bury my body down by the highwayside, so that my old evil spirit can get a Greyhound bus and ride

Nione posted:

Yep. Iggy Tater Bug Hop.

The vet called this morning. They removed the catheter at 2am and he's already peed 3 times since then, so things are definitely looking up. As long as he doesn't reblock in the next 4 hours, he's coming home!

Does he still have a wang? If it reoccurs they might consider a wangectomy. Hopefully it won't, though.

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Nione
Jun 3, 2006

Welcome to Trophy Island
Rub my tummy

Dogen posted:

Does he still have a wang? If it reoccurs they might consider a wangectomy. Hopefully it won't, though.

Wangectomy is next if he blocks again. Hopefully it won't come to that. (Wangectomies cost over $1000.)

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