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Drink and Fight posted:Yelling and squirming and swatting is fine. Until you get used to it (they've only been with me for four years), it definitely looks troubling, and I don't think anyone can really blame you (Rabbit Hill, I mean) for thinking there might be something wrong. But no, cats are just frat boys that punch each other in the shoulder. We might, however, have problems with you if you don't post more pictures of your brocats.
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Aug 5, 2013 21:28
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Unrelated to my previous food post, but sometimes Squeaks will decide that today, she shan't be covering her poops. It's in the (otherwise clean) box, but she just leaves it exposed. What gives?
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Aug 6, 2013 01:40
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Kugyou no Tenshi posted:We might, however, have problems with you if you don't post more pictures of your brocats.  Here's the big guy watching the little guy play with a laser light:  Big guy's play drive is broken.  Big guy loooooves to have his belly rubbed, though, and will flop over at the slightest indication that you might be up for rubbing his belly, too.  If the little guy isn't harrassing his friend, chances are he's under the bed.  Big guy doesn't really "do" playing, but he loves his catnip and treats, and he purrs very quietly whenever you pet him.  The little guy is just your typical spazzy kitten. I've only had them both for four days, and the kitten still runs away whenever you come near him, except when he's sleepy -- then he's docile as a lamb and lets you pick him up and cuddle him. I'm sure once he gets used to me and/or grows up, he'll be as good of a companion as Big Cat is.(I still haven't decided on their names.)
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Aug 6, 2013 02:43
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Rabbit Hill posted:At any rate, they slept at the foot of my bed together and this morning had moved to their other bed in the closet together, so there is still good will between them. If they sleep together, they are already cat best buds. That's like the ultimate in cat love.
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Aug 6, 2013 02:48
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So my future in-laws have a cat. He's indoor/outdoor, but he was a former stray, rescued at around 9 months old, so he was fixed pretty late. He's, uh. Standoffish and hates it when I hold him or put him on my lap, though he'll lick my fingers and gently hold my hand with his teeth and purr when I pet him, so he doesn't hate me. He'll come sit next to me, as well. Is it possible to make him, well, friendlier to me? He doesn't like to play and when he flops on his side and exposes his belly, if I try to rub it, he swats my hands or pushes them away. So far, my ideas include "feeding him treats while holding him", since he's pretty food-motivated. Is that a sound strategy or do we just have a stuck-up, asocial cat?
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Aug 6, 2013 11:13
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weavernaut posted:So my future in-laws have a cat. He's indoor/outdoor, but he was a former stray, rescued at around 9 months old, so he was fixed pretty late.  What do you mean asocial? Standoffish or asocial means a cat who runs off to another room when you come in, or tries to stay as far away from you as possible if in the same room and doesn't let you touch them, ever. He already lets you hold him and sits next to you. What's the problem? Belly rubs simply aren't for every cat; just pet him on the head and back when he flops down. Past that, do you live in the same house as the cat? If so, you should be the one putting out food for the cat, preferably for timed feedings. If not...welp. Feeding treats while holding is okay, but works better before feeding and when done regularly, and not whenever you come over.
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Aug 6, 2013 11:30
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Oh. Well, I mean he just likes to hang out around us and not on us and I wanted a lapcat.  We don't live in the same house as him, but we are over fairly regularly. I do notice he's more affectionate on days when I feed him. It's just that the previous cat was super affectionate and clingy and we kind of expected the same of this one. I guess I'll keep petting him and feeding him treats and maybe i'll dig out that laser pointer we supposedly have and see if he likes that more than string ... Also he doesn't let me hold him for long. About thirty seconds and then he runs off.
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Aug 6, 2013 11:38
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weavernaut posted:Oh. Well, I mean he just likes to hang out around us and not on us and I wanted a lapcat.
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Aug 6, 2013 11:41
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So I'm up an hour before my alarm because my cat Cave decided to spread a liquid poo poo between two rooms. How you doing, PI?
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Aug 6, 2013 11:45
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Trying to get the piss stench out of the apartment I'm attempting to rent out because right before I handed the boys off to my parents to look after while showing, Arthur decided to leave his mark.
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Aug 6, 2013 15:03
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duckfarts posted:If it makes you feel any better, as cats get older, they tend to get chiller, so you might get a lapcat eventually. My experience is that the more you want it, the less they want to do it. Try sitting down with a laptop and forbidding him from getting in your lap. That usually works for me. Bonus: Also while sitting on toilet.
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Aug 6, 2013 18:43
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When we do that, he comes into the room, meows loudly and flops on the floor, stretched out, as far away from us as possible.  I think he's just not well-socialised, what with being a stray.
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Aug 6, 2013 18:45
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Sounds pretty social to me. Marzipan flails like acid is being poured on her when I pick her up and definitely Does Not sit in laps. Ever. She tolerates excessive petting maybe once a week. She prefers to spend all day trying to flush the toilet and chew on the cabinets.
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Aug 6, 2013 18:49
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Yeah, we've had to hold Wesley down a few times (getting ticks off him and making sure he doesn't bolt somewhere during fireworks on New Year's Eve) and if he can't wriggle out, he makes a noise like a harddrive whirring. I should see if I can find pictures of him. He's gorgeous, I'm pretty sure he's got Russian Blue in him.
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Aug 6, 2013 18:52
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The rescue comes by on thursday to check my place out and make sure I haven't turned my apartment into like a lily garden I guess eeeee really gonna get my kitties. 
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Aug 6, 2013 23:36
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Turns out my cat has bigger anal glands than your cat.  Ended up taking Cave to the vet this evening (thank goodness for an extended hours vet that doesn't charge for it) and after being violated with a fecal probe, she expressed him. BA-DOW! Squirted across the table, onto the wall. Even the vet was impressed. My cat is an rear end-overachiever. He did get butt-powdered for his troubles, so good deal all around.
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Aug 7, 2013 00:01
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What's the best thing to take the urine odor out of a spray/accident spot on carpet?
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Aug 7, 2013 14:57
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^^^^^ Nature's Miracle is the best. You should be able to pick it up at any pet supply store.
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Aug 7, 2013 17:26
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JimmydaFish posted:^^^^^ Nature's Miracle is the best. You should be able to pick it up at any pet supply store. Oh, great, that's what I picked up yesterday. My wife already doesn't like it because you don't scrub, and she feels the need to scrub always.
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Aug 7, 2013 17:32
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Any tips on how to get a cat to wear a collar? One of our cats seems to have found the trick of getting his off, one of the ones with a safety snap. He's now hidden two somewhere in the house... On a related note, one of our two cats recently escaped from the house and was missing for three weeks before being found a few miles away. We had been letting them out into the back garden when we are around (we can't have a cat flap because we rent) but he had escaped through the front door somehow (we think when our landlords came round) and disappeared. We're not sure about letting him back out again, to be honest he hasn't shown much interest in going out but I'm just worried he won't come back again!! Do we just need to suck it up? It just makes life difficult when we are letting one cat out and not the other.
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Aug 7, 2013 18:11
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So, I finally moving into semi-permanent housing (i.e., no more lovely grad school housing/dorms) and I want to finally have another cat in my life, after going without for too long. Only problem is, I'm going to be away for ~8 hours/day, and my landlord, while otherwise cool, only allows one animal per. Is it possible I will be able to go to a shelter and find an older cat who is totally cool with that arrangement? Or should I just wait until I can convince the landlord to allow two animals?
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Aug 8, 2013 00:28
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IuniusBrutus posted:So, I finally moving into semi-permanent housing (i.e., no more lovely grad school housing/dorms) and I want to finally have another cat in my life, after going without for too long. I can virtually guarantee you that any cat shelter will have an older cat that also has to be an only cat. Some because of health issues like FIV, but mostly it's just about cat personality. Cats sleep 16 hours a day after all, 8 hours without you there won't kill them. My cat is tiny and scared of all other cats so she has to be an only cat, and she's fine with a nice cat tree, some windows and lots of toys to fling around. She mostly just sleeps all day while I'm at work and tears around the house in the mornings and evenings. I don't know what she's up to while I'm sleeping, probably just sitting inches from my face and staring. e: Or cat parties. potee fucked around with this message at 00:47 on Aug 8, 2013 |
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Aug 8, 2013 00:44
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IuniusBrutus posted:So, I finally moving into semi-permanent housing (i.e., no more lovely grad school housing/dorms) and I want to finally have another cat in my life, after going without for too long. Shelters are going to LOVE you. Like potee said, there is never a shortage of older cats who just wanna chill out all day. Younger cats are much easier to adopt out.
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Aug 8, 2013 07:16
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Tamarillo posted:Shelters are going to LOVE you. Like potee said, there is never a shortage of older cats who just wanna chill out all day. Younger cats are much easier to adopt out. This makes me happy. My cat was a 'long stay' older (well 3 years old and not a kitten) at the shelter. We brought him home and he was amazing once he found his feet. He was a stray so he has some smarts, despite home dumb he is, but he was fully house trained and was only a jerk clawing up carpets and bathroom sealant a couple of times unlike jerk kittens who do that poo poo all the time. Older cats are loving boss. He still has his madness moments of dashing from the ground floor to the top of the house in the dead of the night and poo ghosts, lord the poo ghosts, but he is awesome.I wouldn't Change him.
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Aug 8, 2013 08:41
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I had to send the kitties away to my parents' place while the landlord checks out my apartment. I miss my silly bean. CAT NIPPLESSSSS
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Aug 8, 2013 14:47
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Back with another question: I've had my cats for a week now and at least 3 times I've caught the older cat trying valiantly to cough up a hairball, but nothing comes out. I've been giving him a couple of anti-hairball treats a day just because I had them left over from my foster cat, but nowhere close to the amount the bag recommends (I think it's like 4 treats 3x a day; I give him maybe 3 treats a day). I was doing some research to see if they're safe for kittens (because the kitten steals them -- I've since learned that kittens don't get hairballs and don't need these treats, so I'll keep him away from now on), and I saw a few sites that said if your cat is trying to cough up a hairball and is failing, and is also lethargic/constipated/lacks appetite, there could be a blockage and it's vet time. The cat has a good appetite, but is lethargic compared to other cats I've known. I've only had him for a week and have been assuming he's just super chill, but now I'm worried. I can't tell if he's constipated because I can't tell who uses what litterbox and if both are pooping or if it's just the kitten. Also, he's done the retching-with-no-hairball three times that I've seen him, but they've been on separate days -- it's not like he's trying to cough up a hairball over and over again in the same day. That I know of.  Is it vet time, or should I just up his anti-hairball treats and keep an eye on him? I was planning on taking him to the vet soon anyway just for a checkup, but I wanted to give him more time to settle into the new house before traumatizing him with another trip in the car to a new place. (Poor guy really hated being in that carrier.) (E: I've also just order a Furminator from Amazon and will start brushing him daily when it arrives.) Rabbit Hill fucked around with this message at 15:15 on Aug 8, 2013 |
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Aug 8, 2013 15:09
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Rabbit Hill posted:Back with another question: If it sounds like he's coughing up a hairball but nothing's coming out then it could also be an asthma attack. My older cat's had intermittent ones for about a year now and it took me a few before I realised that's what was going on. In her case I can actually hear the difference between her retching and wheezing now that I know that there's something to listen out for, but it does sound a whole lot like trying to throw up. If I hadn't spent the last 15 years hearing her throw up I sure wouldn't know the difference. I guess that doesn't really help you that much since you won't know what him actually throwing up sounds like, but maybe try phoning the shelter and asking if the cat has a history of asthma? Otherwise yeah, I'd say it's vet time.
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Aug 8, 2013 15:26
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Rabbit Hill posted:Back with another question: 2) try giving your cat that hairball malt paste straight out(instead of the treats) 3) could be something like cat asthma, but not necessarily that bad; one of my cats coughs occasionally, but it's nothing like an attack
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Aug 8, 2013 15:36
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Robot Mil posted:Any tips on how to get a cat to wear a collar? One of our cats seems to have found the trick of getting his off, one of the ones with a safety snap. He's now hidden two somewhere in the house... Depends on how he's doing it. Mine would take the tag in his teeth and pull. You might try a BeastieBand (elastic/velcro collar). He never got that one off. IuniusBrutus posted:Is it possible I will be able to go to a shelter and find an older cat who is totally cool with that arrangement? Or should I just wait until I can convince the landlord to allow two animals? My fiance and I went up to a rescue worker and said, "We want a chill cat for beginners who would be okay as an only pet." They immediately showed us this fellow.  He was only 18 months old too. It took a few years to realize they had probably foisted their least adoptable cat on us. Awesome.
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Aug 8, 2013 15:45
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^^^Aw, pretty black cat. At the shelter I visited there were tons and tons of older, sweet cats (lots of them black) waiting to be adopted. At it wasn't at all rare on the website to see "Should be an only pet" on the cats' profiles. duckfarts posted:1) take video of the coughing if possible so you can show your vet Okay, I'll pick up some hairball paste tonight and will video him the next time this happens. I don't think it's an asthma attack (although what do I know?) -- the first time it happened, I thought maybe he had coughed something up and then re-swallowed it, because he tends to lick his lips a lot right after these incidents. Then he goes right back to normal. He's not drooling otherwise and has been eating regularly, for what it's worth. If anything changes for the worse, though, I'll call the vet right away. Rabbit Hill fucked around with this message at 15:54 on Aug 8, 2013 |
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Aug 8, 2013 15:51
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We're not at the in-laws' now, but I found pictures of Wesley from when we first got him, at around 9 months old:    He likes boxes and baskets. We never got a picture of it, but he used to climb into the wicker waster paper basket pretty much any time he came into the room where it was. He'd claw at anyone who tried to get him out. I wish he was more of an indoor cat, though.  Lately any time we're over, he's outside murdering the local wildlife and getting into fights. He sometimes comes home with scratches or a bloody ear and it's kind of heartbreaking for me, but I don't know how to stop it.
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Aug 8, 2013 17:07
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Rabbit Hill posted:Okay, I'll pick up some hairball paste tonight and will video him the next time this happens. I don't think it's an asthma attack (although what do I know?) -- the first time it happened, I thought maybe he had coughed something up and then re-swallowed it, because he tends to lick his lips a lot right after these incidents. Then he goes right back to normal. He's not drooling otherwise and has been eating regularly, for what it's worth. That's quite common when cats cough, too - they cough up phlegm and swallow it again, so you see them licking their lips. Try to look up some videos on youtube of cats with asthma, as a coughing cat is really commonly mistaken for a cat trying to vomit.
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Aug 8, 2013 19:07
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Oh no! I found this video and that's what my cat sounds and looks like, too, especially the licking of the lips. I guess a call to the vet is in order, after all. Poor guy, I hope he's not suffering too much.
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Aug 8, 2013 19:48
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So, there is a growing feral population just out back of the small apartment building where I live, and I am endeavouring to do something about it. Myself and a neighbour have been making sure that they have kibble and fresh water, so they look in fairly good kit (pun somewhat intended) despite being half-wild. There have been a fair few semi-ferals (they tolerate people getting fairly close, but never more than 15 feet or so even for me) here for some time, but they have started breeding and I know that it will only snowball from there. Last night, I put out some irresistible food and I got almost all of them to pop out. Here's the roster so far: 3 tawny kittens 8-12 weeks old. One is fairly bold, the other two very shy, but they couldn't resist the food I put out 2 kittens of 4-6 months, silverish in colour 2 adult females, the mothers of the above litters 1 big tom, probably the father of one or both litters and quite skittish 1 wild card who is scared of its own shadow - I can't even get close enough to get a good look at him/her Here is my plan: there is a grass-roots program here called SNIP that, if I trap the ferals and bring them in, will spay/neuter them for $10 each unless they are really big (Big Tom is the only large one). They will also lend me live, no-hurt traps for no charge, but here is the problem: the only traps they have are the kind that trip on pressure plate, and I want to spring the traps myself. The reason I am keen to trip the trap myself is because, though I want to get them all fixed eventually, I want to trap the three little ones first before they are too old to socialise properly, teach them to be housecats, and either keep them myself or find them good homes. I have a hard-floor dining area in my fairly large apartment that would be ideal as a good place to start as it is no little hiding spots for them, I can easily clean any messes, and I am a single, childless man who has a very tranquil environment for skittish baby cats to grow up in. I *really* want to get a manual-spring trap, get the three little ones inside and start acclimating them, then go about getting the older ones caught, fixed and released. The Tiny Trio are the only ones that are young enough to be reliably domesticated, and auto-spring traps are random and will catch the first thing that goes into them. Plus, every time I trap one cat, it's going to scare the hell out of the other ones and make it harder to get them later on. I went to PetCo today and saw a perfect little adjustable enclosure that is too high for little kittens to leap out of, but that would be less oppressive and claustrophobic than a full cage while leaving plenty of space for litter, food, and kitten play. Eventually I could switch it around so that it blocked the dining area from the rest of my flat, and eventually I would not need it at all. So... firstly, do you think that my plan is sound? I've read a lot on this subject, and the consensus seems to be that a feral is basically beyond hope of ever being realistically tamed past 16 weeks and the clock is ticking. Secondly, does anyone know where I can get a manual-spring trap or modify such a trap so that I can trip it from a fair distance? Manual traps do exist - I have seen them on YouTube (vertical door propped up by a piece of wood on a string then, when the cats are in, you pull it away and bang), but the only kind I can find here are pressure-plate style traps that don't discriminate and indeed might not even be tripped by a 2-pound kitten. I apologise for the wall of text, but I feel like I am racing the clock here and am getting frustrated. Edit: here is a youtube video link to what kind of trap would be ideal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcI49hOlIo8 The cats usually stay just off the car park in the dusty area with no grass and I could lie down flat in the higher grass about 25 feet away, wait for the 3 little ones all to go on, drop the door and then put a blanket over it quickly in order to calm them down. By the way, the way that these cats react to the door dropping is kind of heartbreaking, but I am trying to convince myself that it's for the best. JustJeff88 fucked around with this message at 02:04 on Aug 9, 2013 |
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Aug 9, 2013 01:56
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So I was looking down a second ago and my kitten has a long wriggly thing coming out her rear end. She's like 18 or 19 weeks old, and she's been dewormed twice I think, but yeah, roundworms. So it's too late to take her to the vet, I can go get her some medicine from the store or take her tomorrow, but in the meanwhile... Am I supposed to extract the worm from her rear end somehow? I put her in the shower until I could figure out what to do, not knowing if letting her be out on the carpet was okay or not. She doesn't seem to want to poop, I don't know if I should quarantine her, and I'm not sure how to pull a worm from her butt.
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Aug 9, 2013 02:09
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Cats are indeed assholes. And so, so cute. So I'm trying to sleep, but there's this horrible howling outside my windows, like a terrified kitten all alone in the world. I know it's my sister's cat and that she's not really allowed inside at these hours, but I can't stand the howling and the meowing, and since there are foxes and badgers nearby, and mean, old cats who loves to pick fights with the younger ones, I let her in. She's soaking wet, since it's pouring outside, so I try to dry her off with a towel, that ended with me getting clawed. Then I just let her run upstairs to get some food and water, and she comes back to me all affectionate. I try to pet her, the claws again. She much rather wants to dry off by rubbing her soaking wet self all over my legs. Fair enough. I'm just a human, and she is, after all, a catte. Then I try to play with her, but no, she just wants to attack my toes. I carry her to her bed, no interest what so ever. At this point I'm thinking I'll just lock my door and go to sleep and let my sister take care of her own cat, instead of me being up all night to play with her untill she wants to go out to hunt for more of the local wildlife.
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Aug 9, 2013 02:53
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My cat is long-haired with a great deal of excess fur around her neck and toes. Can I post a picture here to see if she's part Maine Coon? Her brothers are short-haired and medium-haired so I'm sure she's not 100% purebred.
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Aug 9, 2013 06:59
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This is my cat Kato: Kato is about seven years old, spayed, and I got him from the SPCA a couple of years ago. I think he's half angora. He is an enormous bastard of a cat who hates all living things, is quick to get provoked and the only things that make him happy are silence and solitude and sleeping on my bed. I've been living entirely by myself for a while now, and he seemed happier than he's ever been. He would actually purr and drool when I patted him and was generally really nice. I feed him half decent quality cat biscuits, half raw meat catfood badged as being complete. He's been on this diet almost since I got him and he really seems to like the meat a great deal. Because I am a gigantic dumbass I decided he would get lonely being on his own while I'm at work most of the day, so I got a female kitten called Turtle (don't ask) about a month old. Initially he hated her and was constantly angry and grumpy, but he got over it and they learned to co-exist. This basically meant he would try to sleep and she would attempt to play with him and get hissed at and smacked, but often they ended up cuddling up together on my bed anyway.  Now that Turtle is about four months old I've started letting her outside un-supervised. Two weeks into this and Kato has backslid completely, he is as stressed as I have ever seen him (which includes, at one point, living with a tomcat) and has stopped grooming himself which is usually a sign that he's not happy. He's normally very particular about grooming and doesn't get knots even with his winter coat. Instead of wandering around, eating and then going to sleep on my bed like normal, he comes in briefly like clockwork to eat his food and have a drink, then disappears for the whole day/night. When I do manage to catch him wandering inside and lock him in, he ends up sitting in an angry motionless ball under my bed and hisses and growls when I even try to touch him. I realise I made a mistake getting another cat and luckily Turtle is very friendly so I can probably find someone willing to take her, which would solve that problem. Does any of this sound familiar to anyone? I've never really had a cat behave this way and I'm trying to figure out what's making him angry.
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Aug 9, 2013 07:40
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Rabbit Hill posted:Oh no! I found this video and that's what my cat sounds and looks like, too, especially the licking of the lips. God damnit. I clicked on the video out of curiosity and it sounded a hell of a lot like the random coughing fits Hugo has about once a week. Stupid prissy broken unfit for purpose purebred.
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Aug 9, 2013 09:11
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I took a closer look at the paperwork I got when I adopted the two cats, and the big guy has a stage 4 out of 6 heart murmur. I wish I had known that before I adopted him, because I didn't want a sick cat. Goddammit. Anyway, he and I are buddies now so no way am I giving him back, but he's going to the vet this morning to get a full examination. I did a little research and it seems that heart murmurs can cause coughing and lethargy, so I'm hoping he just has a heart murmur and not a murmur and asthma, because that would loving suck for the poor guy.
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Aug 9, 2013 13:19
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