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I am having Sadie trouble. Specifically getting Sadie to the drat vet trouble. - Age: 7 - Sex: F - How long have you had your cat? a year - Is your cat spayed or neutered? Yep - What food do you use? Blue Wilderness Chicken - When was your last vet visit? A year and a month ago, at adoption - Is your cat indoors, outdoors, both? Indoors. - How many pets in your household? Only Sadie - How many litter boxes do you have? Two Here's the issue: Sadie is a wonderful chill cat, but really, really loving hates the carrier. This is made worse by the fact that she is very skittish if she thinks something unusual is up and will bolt with 100% effort if she feels something is up or is confined in any way, including merely picking her up. She knows all about the kitty burrito and will have none of that. Scruffing just confuses her until the carrier gets near then it is squirm like hell. It is just me so this is drat hard to deal with. I recently moved (in June) and had planned for the trick of getting her into the carrier a month of so in advance, with treats in the carrier from time to time and such. When the day came she went after the treat and I just pushed her butt in quickly. She was not happy about the result. Then I messed up and didn't plan way ahead for the vet visit so she was on edge when the carrier moved. So last week the treat trick failed and she landed a lucky deep scratch across my palm which caused me to reflexively let her go then she got under the couch and I had to cancel the appointment. I've been getting her more used to the carrier as a treat box but she still bolting whenever I am near it at the same time she is (but that is getting better). Anyway, the vet had rescheduled me for tomorrow but I'm considering canceling and pushing it out further to later Oct so I can complete the "The Carrier is great!" conditioning. Am I crazy? There is no pressing health problem that I have noticed but I want to get her to the vet ASAP because dammit an annual vet visit is recommended and even pushing it to even a year +2 months irks me. I've been in contact with the sanctuary I adopted her from and they said "She was friendly when it was time for petting or food, but was very difficult to handle to medicate. She rarely had to go to the vet clinic but I know was a handful to get into a carrier." They had to sedate her when they did her last vet appointment. Cats. She's lucky she's such a cutie. 
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Oct 2, 2013 02:52
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| # ? May 16, 2024 05:09 |
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My cat's the same way. I broke down and bought one of these, and it became a lot easier to load Miss Skittish Kitty topside.
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Oct 2, 2013 03:07
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I've had to use lots of tricks (mostly brute force) to get my cats into the carrier the first few times. First of all, make sure you have a firm hand on the cat before they see the carrier. Hog-tying them (grabbing a set of legs in each hand) and just shoving them in works sometimes (particularly if you can hold down the front legs and get its front half in first) and slamming the door before they can get turned around is one technique. I've stood the carrier on end with the door open and lowered them in. Sometimes I could back them in, horizontally. Be firm and physical, but don't hurt them, obviously. Being nice and trying to coax them in will never work. They will fight like tigers the first few times, then gradually accept it. Once they figure out that they don't have a choice and they aren't actually going to die by going in there, they chill out. Sometimes a towel or something soft inside will make it easier to adapt.
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Oct 2, 2013 03:11
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Shifty Pony posted:I am having Sadie trouble. Specifically getting Sadie to the drat vet trouble. e: this is another reason you want to handle your cats early and often when you get one so they get used to/put up with being held
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Oct 2, 2013 03:14
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Shifty Pony posted:I am having Sadie trouble. Specifically getting Sadie to the drat vet trouble. The top opening carrier is a great option. I have one myself, though sometimes even that can be a challenge with Smudge. The best trick I've ever used with really skittish cats is to snag them with a pillowcase used like a butterfly net and then dump case and cat together into the carrier. By the time they've managed to extricate themselves from the pillowcase, the carrier is already firmly closed and they can then bitch to their heart's content. If the pillowcase is too small an opening, then I have also swooped down on unsuspecting kitties with a fleece throw blanket and just bundled them up in it for a quick toss into a carrier.
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Oct 2, 2013 03:44
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I have a three month old. He bites. What can I do to discourage biting? It's pretty frequent and his teeth are getting sharper, and he hasn't started teething yet, and I'd like to keep my skin intact. Here is a photo of him sleeping in my lap as a preemptive thank you for replying. 
Macichne Leainig fucked around with this message at 05:31 on Oct 2, 2013 |
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Oct 2, 2013 05:28
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He's loving adorable, congrats on your new rear end in a top hat. Have you tried making a startling noise and immediately ceasing play every time he bites?
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Oct 2, 2013 06:15
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Hummingbirds posted:He's loving adorable, congrats on your new rear end in a top hat. Have you tried making a startling noise and immediately ceasing play every time he bites? I second this advice. I've only had my kitten for a week but I've already noticed a significant reduction in play biting and scratching. You could see her thinking about what had just happened every time I let out a yelp.
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Oct 2, 2013 12:18
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I tried that, he doesn't even flinch. Might have to break out the water bottle then. I even tried walking into a completely different room every time he did - so either someone else is encouraging bad habits or he's just persistent.
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Oct 2, 2013 13:41
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A pop on the nose with a finger is often an effective deterrent. It's what mother cats do to discipline kittens, so they immediately connect with it.
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Oct 2, 2013 15:04
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To anyone that's ever though of getting a Litter Robot: do it. I was fortunate to find a like-new one on craigslist for $175 and it has been amazing. When I can afford it, I'm going to get another one even if I have to pay full price. I think that only one, maybe two of my three cats actually use the thing, but it makes noticeably less work for me when I have to clean the other normal litter boxes. Plus it's fun to watch! It's like waiting for your prize from a crane machine, except the prizes are pieces of cat poo poo and you win every time!
Prancing Shoes fucked around with this message at 00:05 on Oct 3, 2013 |
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Oct 3, 2013 00:03
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We adopted a stray semiferal black cat! Thought we had a boy, but we just have a loud girl, per today's discovery. I just got her back from the spay van. Age:6 months Sex: F How long have you had your cat? a week Is your cat spayed or neutered? Freshly done today. What food do you use? Kitten chowder and Friskies we food. When was your last vet visit? Today! No feline leukemia or aids, no ear mites,and no distemper. Is your cat indoors, outdoors, both? Inside. How many pets in the house? One pet, one litter box. We rescued Brooklyn Cop from the hard life on the streets. A friend had been feeding BC and his sister but knew they needed to get adopted. She put out the call and we took BC, thinking she was a he. Since we've brought him home hes been very anxious. He likes my roomie more, I think, because she has more patience,or simply doesn't move around that much. This cat has not let anyone touch him, glares with wide eyes, and is suspicious of anything. We live in a highrise and he came quasi from the densley populated streets. We have a porch we wont let him on, lest he think about escape from ten floors up. I'm used to having affectionate cats... how do we acclimate her?
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Oct 3, 2013 21:23
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My cat is no longer pissing outside the litter box!  Apparently it was a little too high for her, so sometimes she didn't feel like trying to step up into it. Got a slightly wider and lower-lipped one. and not only is she using it more often, she is less picky about its cleanliness. Solving a problem is great, but solving it for $6? Even better.  Sleepy time 
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Oct 4, 2013 01:08
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So my cat got into a fight yesterday with the neighbor's cat. I don't know if it got physical or not, but they were face to face growling and hissing at each other when I chased the neighbor's cat away. He kind of hosed off after that and hid for the rest of the day, which is normal, but for the entire day today he's been really sluggish. He had trouble jumping up to his food bowl, so I moved it on the ground and have been giving him a lot of love all day. Is he just sore or something? When he meows he sounds hoarse and he's still acting normal, he's just doing it very slowly. He also wasn't bleeding or anything yesterday, so I didn't take him to the vet. EDIT: He's also eating and drinking still. He has renal problems, so he's had his medicine with his treats and he ate all of those right up.
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Oct 4, 2013 01:31
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Dr. Lenin posted:
I adore it when they put their arms over their eyes while sleeping  And you have a very pretty kitty
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Oct 4, 2013 01:50
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My old-grumpy-cat-and-kitten-who-only-wants-to-love-her household has been doing pretty well lately. The older cat (Amber) has been much less aggressive to the kitten (Pepper) and Pepper has been much better about not annoying Amber unnecessarily. Amber still dislikes her, but definitely tolerates her a lot better. Feeding them on opposite sides of a door/baby gate etc has been coming along nicely too and we've recently started feeding them a metre or so apart without any barriers at all. The remaining problem is that we feed them at about 6pm every night, but at somewhere between 4:30 - 5:30 most nights Amber decides it's dinner time already and starts getting very excited and talking and following us around, especially if anyone goes anywhere near the kitchen. That's all normal and fine, but she also gets quite aggressive towards Pepper when this is happening. Nothing really serious, but she will chase her down from across the house to hiss at her and swat at her a bit, and it's led to Pepper being very tentative about doing anything around that time. My current strategy is to pick Amber up and shut her in a bedroom whenever I notice her doing it, just to separate them and give her time to calm down a bit and also not let her form a direct association between going after Pepper and getting her nice food. She does cry a bit and scratch at the door a lot but does actually seem calmer and less aggressive when I let her out. Does that sound like a reasonable thing to do? Are there any strategies I'm missing that might help? Am I awful for putting her in a small room when she's completely convinced that we're obviously eating all the delicious food ourselves on the other side of it?
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Oct 4, 2013 08:19
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My boyfriend noted the other day that our kitten has kind of rough cartilage around the edges of her ears. Not the whole thing, just a bit on the sides. It doesn't seem to bother her and the insides of her ears are squeaky clean. She definitely doesn't mind us touching her ears. Is this just a kitten thing, or is it something I need to do something about? It's not even overly noticeable or really even stiff, just a different texture.
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Oct 4, 2013 19:46
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maybe another kitty chewed on them? if so then its fine. Cats get ear damage fighting other cats all the time.
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Oct 4, 2013 20:36
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Deteriorata posted:A pop on the nose with a finger is often an effective deterrent. It's what mother cats do to discipline kittens, so they immediately connect with it. This has been proving pretty effective for the last few days! He's still a little rambunctious but now he only bites if you physically grab him by the tummy and shake, which is a pretty stupid thing to do with any cat in my experience anyway.
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Oct 4, 2013 20:57
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my darling feet posted:We adopted a stray semiferal black cat! Thought we had a boy, but we just have a loud girl, per today's discovery. I just got her back from the spay van. In my experience, a combination of ignore the cat, make it rain treats up in this bitch, and cat wand or laser pointer toys seemed to work best for acclimation. I'd usually keep the newbie locked up in the bedroom for a week or two until they were comfortable, mostly because I have other cats, but it really seemed to help with the skitty kitty transition. Maybe because it was a smaller space to acclimate to before being let loose in the house? Placing their kitty carrier sans door in the living room once they were granted freedom seemed to work well as a 1-2 punch of a safe-space that smelled like them and getting comfortable with the carrier not being their mortal enemy come vet time. I think the cat wand + making it rain probably helped the most for making the cats realize I wasn't out to murder them and hanging out with people is awesome. Try to get a cat wand with a really long reach so you can keep your distance while still interacting, depending on how skittish BC decides to act. If she still ain't abouts coming out while you're standing there, switch to the laser pointer and just sit still on a couch or chair while playing. If she has a favorite hiding spot, just drop some treats every time you walk by after shaking the bag/container to help associate the noise with food. A set feeding schedule works great too, but you'll probably want to transition into that after shes acclimated, assuming that's something you even want to do in the first place. Depending on her personality, you might not even have to bother with anything except chilling in the same room, ignoring her, and letting her come to you.
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Oct 4, 2013 21:07
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Wendigee posted:maybe another kitty chewed on them? if so then its fine. Cats get ear damage fighting other cats all the time. No other kitties - her main companion right now is a dog, and if the dog had tried to nibble on the kitten there would be no kitten left. I guess she could have just scraped up against something or is sticking her head in places that are too small for her ears to fit through, too...
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Oct 4, 2013 21:10
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I figured this was the best place to ask since it kind of deals with cats. I just moved into a new apartment and even with new carpet installed it still smells like cat/some other animal. I was reading up on Nature's Miracle and it seemed like the formula has been changed and isn't as good as the original. Is it still good or should I go hunting for that other stuff that it was before? (Earth Friendly Products I think it is) I'd really not like to have my new place smell like poo poo.
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Oct 5, 2013 00:20
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My kitten just ran full-speed, head-first into my shin. His pupils have been different sizes for the ~5 minutes since, but he's otherwise acting normal (if slightly skittish). Both pupils dilate when I shine a flashlight on them. I'm thinking about crating him for the night in case it's a minor concussion. Am I over/under-reacting?
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Oct 5, 2013 02:47
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PFlats posted:My kitten just ran full-speed, head-first into my shin. That happened to my kitten too, same exact thing. He was fine after a few hours. If it makes you feel better, you can crate him. I didn't crate my kitten and he was okay. The vet looked at him the next day and couldn't even tell that anything had happened. I take care to walk around very slowly around my kitten now, he's done that twice since we've gotten him.
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Oct 5, 2013 03:40
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Our kitten was spayed on Monday prior to us picking her up from the Humane Society, and tonight it looks like her incision is started to dehisce and a small amount of white drainage is present. I'm taking her into the vet tomorrow morning (she is also sneezing some), but is there anything I should do tonight? She is acting perfectly normally, not off her food or water, and as cheerful and cuddly as she has been since we first met her. I just wouldn't be happy with an incision looking like that for one of my hospital patients, and I don't like it on her belly either.
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Oct 5, 2013 03:40
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SaltLick posted:I figured this was the best place to ask since it kind of deals with cats. I would love to know the answer for this because Nature's Miracle isn't cutting the piss smell out of my futon.
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Oct 5, 2013 05:48
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Welp, we did it. Lilly is an rear end in a top hat - so we got a second. Meet Franklin (tentatively),    He's 9 weeks old. Purrs like a rattle, and farts like a machine gun. His first vet appointment is tomorrow and he has already accidentally met his future big sis Lilly since she can open doors on her own. We're trying to work out a way to barricade the bathroom door so my husband and I can still get in to see the little guy while Lilly can't just barge in. Their first encounter involved Lilly plunking down on the floor while lazily batting Frank's toy around and then getting up and hissing at him repeatedly. He returned the hisses with a nice long "errrrooooooooooowwwwwww" which sent Lilly skittering out the door. Now we're playing the please-poop-in-the-litterbox game. He's already eaten and drank a bit and is currently snoozing in a cat bed that Lilly never ever used. Oh god, what have we gotten ourselves into. I feel like we just got out of the terrible kitten phase with Lil, here we go again! Here's the hissy one for good measure:  edit* SWEET VICTORY HE USED THE LITTERBOX. squeee fucked around with this message at 00:31 on Oct 6, 2013 |
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Oct 6, 2013 00:21
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SaltLick posted:I figured this was the best place to ask since it kind of deals with cats. What did the leasing office say when you told them your apartment smells like cat pee?
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Oct 6, 2013 00:28
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A feeding problem: My cat, the big orange turd king we like to call Faraday, tends to make a mess while eating. He prefers to scoop bits of kibble out of his bowl and play soccer with them across the hardwood floors. His food/water bowls are the kind that come with a little rack sort of thing to put them in, which keeps them just off the floor, so now when he scoops out kibble, most of it ends up just under the little rack where he doesn't quite seem to be able to reach. Over the course of the day, this little pile accumulates. When I'm at home for the summer, where his bowls sit flat on the ground, this isn't a problem. The food gets eaten eventually. But here in my apartment, with this bowl-rack situation, a new problem is developing: I'm not sure how or why, since I never observe it directly, but he's started to slosh water out of his water bowl onto the little food mat beneath (which, unfortunately, isn't some water-repellent plastic or anything--I plan on replacing it soon). This, in turn, tends to make some of that kibble pile moist--and it seems that overnight, some of these wet pieces grow a nice, fuzzy white mold. I haven't seen him eating or even touching these pieces, but then again, I'm also not around for most of the day. This morning went I went to replenish his food and water, I swept up the pile of left-behind kibble--and found that several were a little moldy, and to my horror, I discovered a few small, writhing maggots from the fruit flies that invariably come home with me from the grocery store. This evening he actually threw up, which is a maybe once- or twice-a-year occurrence for him, so I'm now more concerned than ever. (Most of that kibble was undigested, suggesting to me that he actually sat down to eat normally and ate a bit too fast, which is usually what happens when he really chows down. But some of that pile was a nice puree texture, so I think he really threw up everything that was in his stomach, not just a little.) So my plan of attack should be twofold: Find a way to stop him from pulling food out of his bowl (something I've yet to accomplish in 2+ years of ownership) and to stop water from meeting kibble. Has anyone else had this "playing with your food" problem?? ETA: general info in case it's relevant at all-- ~3 year old fixed male. 13lb but not overweight according to the vet, he's just a big boy. Only known prior health problem is an alleged herpes infection that left a sizable scar on one of his eyes, long before I adopted him. my dog boyfriend!! fucked around with this message at 04:17 on Oct 6, 2013 |
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Oct 6, 2013 04:03
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You're probably not going to be able to stop him, so containment is your next best option. You might try a couple Rubbermaid containers. Either low enough that he can lean over and eat, or large enough he can hop inside. Either way, scattering the food will be difficult. A separate tub for his water then keeps them separate.
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Oct 6, 2013 04:06
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Deteriorata posted:You're probably not going to be able to stop him, so containment is your next best option. When you say "Rubbermaid containers" are you thinking of, like, of the food/tupperware variety or of the larger storage kind?
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Oct 6, 2013 04:19
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ulilileeloo dallas posted:When you say "Rubbermaid containers" are you thinking of, like, of the food/tupperware variety or of the larger storage kind? Like a dishwashing tub size. You could try something smallish just to hold the bowl and contain the mess with a rim low enough for him to stand on the floor and lean over. Or, you could go bigger and get something he'd have to jump inside of to get to the food. Ed: There may be other solutions, but those are obvious ones that came to mine.
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Oct 6, 2013 04:21
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Deteriorata posted:Like a dishwashing tub size. You could try something smallish just to hold the bowl and contain the mess with a rim low enough for him to stand on the floor and lean over. Or, you could go bigger and get something he'd have to jump inside of to get to the food. Ah, ok. I see. He was apparently born without the "must be inside any box I see" gene most cats come with, but I think the dishwashing tub suggesting could be exactly what I need. Thanks for your help!
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Oct 6, 2013 04:23
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Getting a second cat has broken my brain. Now when I'm with Lilly I worry about leaving Franklin alone, and when I spend time with Franklin Lilly starts hissing at me. I feel like I've sort of betrayed Lilly. I can't wait till this phase is over.
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Oct 6, 2013 13:23
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Don't worry, pretty soon all they'll want to do is play with each other. Then you get to say, "I miss when Lilly and I would just chill."
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Oct 6, 2013 15:30
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PFlats posted:Don't worry, pretty soon all they'll want to do is play with each other. Then you get to say, "I miss when Lilly and I would just chill." It's reassuring to hear that honestly. I actually cried a bit this morning like a big babby because I am so worried about Lilly being unhappy. She's been having a rough time since we both started school on a similar schedule. Her first year with us she had one person around at all times and since that's changed she's been insanely neurotic. We're hoping Franklin helps with her separation issues since the few times we've had to leave her alone for extended periods of time before she's hungerstriked and refused to go to the bathroom at all.
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Oct 6, 2013 16:39
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ulilileeloo dallas posted:A feeding problem: I use a tray under Fluffy's dishes. It's like the kind you get your fast food on at the mall.
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Oct 6, 2013 19:39
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There are also traps you can set up to catch fruit flies. Whether they're ones you buy at garden stores or just a bowl of vinegar or a mix of wine and vinegar and water (white wine attracts fruit flies really well), you can put these around the feeding area and that will help with that aspect of the problem. The wine mixture especially can get smelly if you leave it out too long because the flies start to putrefy, though. Also alcohol is far more volatile than the compounds in vinegar, obviously. So you want a well-ventilated area. We used to have an ant infestation in our kitchen, and putting the cat's food and water bowls on top of other bowls with water in them kept the ants from getting to her food. I know that that's not the problem you're having, but it's a nice life-hack all the same. The tray idea is a good one, and it's what I would do if I were in your situation. Bastard cats. E: oh, also, Teddy loves to try to tip over her water bowl, so I switched her to a heavy-bottomed, shallow ceramic bowl which she can still pull around when she feels like trolling, but can't possibly tip over. Fruity Gordo fucked around with this message at 19:52 on Oct 6, 2013 |
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Oct 6, 2013 19:49
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So I asked about a cat with bladder problems a few weeks ago, and last night it progressed to a full blockage and he had to have emergency surgery. Unfortunately what I'm reading online isn't making me real hopeful he will stay unblocked. Is there anything we can do?
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Oct 6, 2013 21:37
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TOOT BOOT posted:So I asked about a cat with bladder problems a few weeks ago, and last night it progressed to a full blockage and he had to have emergency surgery. Prescription urinary food is your best friend. It's formulated to work well for cats with delicate urinary tracts, and causes them to drink more and pee more to keep things flowing nicely. The wet food variety will be even better if your cat has severe problems.
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Oct 6, 2013 23:11
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