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Datasmurf posted:I can say one thing about my sister's cat. She doesn't care about fireworks. At all. No reaction when everything was exploding outside. She was just chilling and not giving a gently caress. Great pet. My cats couldn't give a poo poo about fireworks, but are terrified of rain. 
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Jan 1, 2014 07:48
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Does anyone have any advice on feline acne. My Ozzy has it and no matter how clean I keep his bowls and try to help him clean his chin ( usually unsuccessful and ends in more blood shed ) it is still getting worse. He has a vet appt later this week but any advice is helpful until then
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Jan 1, 2014 08:47
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The advice we got from our vet on this was, besides no plastic bowls, wash the area and use a warm compress. I have also seen people on here say it can be caused by food allergies.
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Jan 1, 2014 14:18
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Dogen posted:The advice we got from our vet on this was, besides no plastic bowls, wash the area and use a warm compress. I have also seen people on here say it can be caused by food allergies. Thanks ill try the warm compress that's the only thing I haven't done yet. He isn't going to be too happy when he winds up in a cone because he won't stop digging hopefully something clears it up. Vet tomorrow hoping they can give me an answer.
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Jan 1, 2014 19:14
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Dogen posted:The advice we got from our vet on this was, besides no plastic bowls, wash the area and use a warm compress. I have also seen people on here say it can be caused by food allergies. I've blessedly never had a problem with cat acne, but I had a plastic bowl that I used for the general dry food supply to my trio and I went out and got a nice ceramic one just to be safe. I put their wet food in small ceramic bowls because they like it warm and when I do give individual bowls of dry food I use my aluminium ones. On another note, can anyone recommend me a high-quality grain-free wet food? Cost is irrelevant, within reason. I have used primarily 3 wet foods since I've had my brood: Wellness CORE Kitten, then Fish, then Chicken, and with one exception Wellness CORE Kitten dry food. My fluffy DLH loves her wet food but doesn't eat much dry, but I'm okay with that as she eats her dental treats like a good girl, while my little tuxedo kitten eats about equal amounts of both. However, my tabby barely touches any wet food. She eats plenty - she might even be a little overweight (maybe a 6 on the chart?), but I'm concerned about hydration. She's never gone for any of the wet Wellness foods, and the only tinned food I've ever seen her go for was some Fancy Feast that my neighbour left when I was catsitting for her. While Fancy Feast is sold everywhere and very inexpensive, it's also pretty lacking nutritionally. I'm pretty strict about the grain-free business, but there are a lot of options out there these days for good quality foods. I have a cat fountain and, while it seems like my crew drink plenty, it's hard to monitor water consumption while food consumption is much easier. Any suggestions are appreciated.
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Jan 1, 2014 19:31
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Alpha1 posted:So my kitten is scheduled to go to the vet on friday to get spayed. She just went into heat on sunday. Now, I called, and they said there will be an additional charge if she is still in heat. What I really want to know though, is if the surgery is any more dangerous if she is still in heat, and whether I should reschedule. Personally I'd wait. My fiance is a vet tech and she always says its a headache to do and can cause complications. Waiting out the time shouldn't kill ya, and it is just a safer option IMO.
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Jan 1, 2014 22:26
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Shenanigansluck posted:Does anyone have any advice on feline acne. My Ozzy has it and no matter how clean I keep his bowls and try to help him clean his chin ( usually unsuccessful and ends in more blood shed ) it is still getting worse. He has a vet appt later this week but any advice is helpful until then My cat had issues with this towards the end of his life. The vet had us use something labeled "Chlorhexidrine Solution" (reading from the bottle's label) and that helped it clear up. We would put a little of that on some gauze and apply it to the acne and it made a difference pretty quickly. I dunno if the reason we used that was due to some medication he was on, or what, but it did the job.
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Jan 2, 2014 04:58
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Ev posted:My cat had issues with this towards the end of his life. The vet had us use something labeled "Chlorhexidrine Solution" (reading from the bottle's label) and that helped it clear up. We would put a little of that on some gauze and apply it to the acne and it made a difference pretty quickly. I dunno if the reason we used that was due to some medication he was on, or what, but it did the job. The chlorhexidine is basically an anti-septic so it helps to clean the area and reduce the chance that the chin inflammation gets infected, but it's not as damaging to cells as, say hydrogen peroxide. For some cats, ceramic bowls help, but for others, I've seen them need stainless steel bowls to reduce their signs. Even then, sometimes there will be flare ups that some topical therapy can help out nicely
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Jan 2, 2014 05:01
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OssiansFolly posted:Personally I'd wait. My fiance is a vet tech and she always says its a headache to do and can cause complications. Waiting out the time shouldn't kill ya, and it is just a safer option IMO. For a kitten it can actually be a bit easier to locate the uterus and the vessels to tie off if they're in heat honestly. For a 70 lb fat Labrador you would rather them not be in heat for sure, but for a kitten it's actually not that much worse of a procedure.
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Jan 2, 2014 09:51
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Topoisomerase posted:For a kitten it can actually be a bit easier to locate the uterus and the vessels to tie off if they're in heat honestly. For a 70 lb fat Labrador you would rather them not be in heat for sure, but for a kitten it's actually not that much worse of a procedure. Thats probably true. When I hear kitten I don't think tea cup size...I always think 5-6 pounds for some reason.
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Jan 2, 2014 15:31
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So I adopted El Gato Jr & La Gata about a week ago as of today. They seem to be adjusting pretty well overall! I started them off in a small bathroom with food / water / litterbox nearby. Since then, the food / water have moved out into my larger bedroom, and they happily come in here to eat / drink. At first whenever I was in the room they'd hide in the crate / bathroom, but now they run around the bedroom playing even when I'm around. They're happy to play with toys that I handle and generally seem to be acclimating very nicely There's just one thing - they're terrified of me actually touching / handling them. I took them to the vet the day after I adopted them, and the vet prescribed them both eardrops and oral medication. On top of that La Gata is taking eyedrops. All these medicines have to be administered every twelve hours. The upshot is that many of the times I've handled them, they end up going through something they don't really enjoy. I've tried to use a combination of food / play therapy to help them associate me with positive experiences when it's not medicine time, but for the most part they just run away whenever I approach them or attempt to pet / handle them. I guess they figure they're in for some medicinal torture every time I touch 'em at this point. I had a little success today sneaking up on El Gato Jr when he was sleeping. He didn't notice me until I was right next to him and petting him, at which point he enjoyed it and was purring a lot (probably too tired to get scared  ). I also got him to lick my hand / eat food out of it once two days ago, but aside from that, they're very skittish (La Gata especially). I'm confused because half the stuff I read online says you need to 'make' the kittens spend some time being held / pet to get them used to human touch, while the other half says you should never do that and just let them come to you naturally through food / play / etc. My kittens seem happy to come towards me (so long as I'm lying on the ground and not moving too much), but anytime I sit up suddenly or god forbid stand up / walk towards them, they scatter to the winds. Even when they bump into me accidentally, that's as far as it goes; if my hand moves, they bolt. Anyways, I'd love to cuddle with them but I know that's asking a lot. Just having them happy to receive attention and coming up to say hi / receive petting would be a great start! Advice greatly appreciated (my previous cat was an old lady when I got her and very affectionate, so never had this problem before).Picture from right after I adopted them: 
chronofx fucked around with this message at 15:48 on Jan 2, 2014 |
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Jan 2, 2014 15:33
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Our cat is getting his teeth cleaned today. Vet just called about an hour after we dropped him off and he needs 4 extractions.  He apparently has some unusual tooth thing where two of his molars are fused. It'll be a few more hours before we can pick him up, I just want to know what to expect in terms of recovery. Are there usually stitches? Will his mouth bleed? Will he have to be given painkillers? 
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Jan 2, 2014 16:44
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Kerfuffle posted:Our cat is getting his teeth cleaned today. Vet just called about an hour after we dropped him off and he needs 4 extractions. Stitches yes, bleeding I wouldn't think so although our cats have only ever had one at a time and no weird molar fusion, you can give him painkillers. Our old man got one extraction earlier this year and he took one dose from us, but didn't care for it and seemed ot eat fine so we didn't give him anymore. YMMV.
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Jan 2, 2014 16:59
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Kerfuffle posted:Our cat is getting his teeth cleaned today. Vet just called about an hour after we dropped him off and he needs 4 extractions. My old kitty (18 years old) has FORLs (not sure if that's what's going on with your guy?), but he has had multiple surgeries and extractions in his life. He had some earlier, but has had three in three years and has had all but 5 teeth removed. He has done fine through them all. There will most likely be stitches and they often recommend feeding a soft food for like 10 days or something. There most likely won't be a lot of blood but there may be drooling. After my cats worst one where I think we had like 9 teeth removed at once, he was drooling a little bit of blood, but it wasn't a ton. They will likely send home painkillers. I like to have them just in case. My cat seemed to need them more again with his heavy extraction surgery. They gave me extra this last time (2 weeks ago yesterday), but I only gave them to him for a couple of days. My cat is going for his recheck today.
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Jan 2, 2014 17:36
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My in-laws adorable kitty, Rosie, died on Christmas Day due to antifreeze poisoning. She was 10 years old and lovely and always behaved perfectly indoors, but was always let outside too. Even after being attacked bad enough to need stitches, they let her go out, although I begged them to stop. They are great owners other than that, they gave flea treatment, good food, and always took her to the vet, but are totally hung up on "cats have to go outside". They've been to my house and seen my perfectly adjusted indoor only cats, and their reaction was to goad me for days to let them go out so they'd be "happy". Are there any sources in the UK I can show them to encourage a change in attitude before they go and get another cat that will probably end up getting killed? Is this some antiquated British obsession or something? As a dirty Yank I've grown up around coyotes and hawks so in their eyes I'm just seeing dangers that aren't there for a British cat. Which would make sense if they hadn't loving lost three in the last 6 years due to things outside.
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Jan 2, 2014 18:48
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Where do they live? I literally do not know anyone in the UK with an indoor cat, but obviously small sample size, and I live in a semi rural area. Don't know why it's different, but as you say, a lot of the dangers in the US just don't exist here. Obviously if they live in the middle of a city, you have a better case, but honestly, I didn't even realise that cats could live permanently indoors till I read this thread, and I suspect that a lot of other brits will find the concept somewhat alien.
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Jan 2, 2014 18:57
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chronofx posted:So I adopted El Gato Jr & La Gata about a week ago as of today. They seem to be adjusting pretty well overall! I started them off in a small bathroom with food / water / litterbox nearby. Since then, the food / water have moved out into my larger bedroom, and they happily come in here to eat / drink. At first whenever I was in the room they'd hide in the crate / bathroom, but now they run around the bedroom playing even when I'm around. They're happy to play with toys that I handle and generally seem to be acclimating very nicely Do you approach them and pick them up every few hours and just give them a treat or pet them? I'd do that at least twice as much as you do the medicine. I know you try and approach them to just pet them, but try getting them in the mindset that MOST of the time you are just going to give them a treat or some attention with pets. My female cat has always had small medical issues to where she NEVER liked being picked up and pet. I would pick her up and she'd growl and swipe at me (declawed), but I would keep doing it and hold her just a tad longer each time. Eventually she realized that I'm not always going to put her in a cage or give her medicine. Now she is great about being held and pet. She now encourages it and will come talk to me and look for me to pick her up and pet her. It may be worth a try...
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Jan 2, 2014 19:23
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Stairs posted:My in-laws adorable kitty, Rosie, died on Christmas Day due to antifreeze poisoning. She was 10 years old and lovely and always behaved perfectly indoors, but was always let outside too. Even after being attacked bad enough to need stitches, they let her go out, although I begged them to stop. They are great owners other than that, they gave flea treatment, good food, and always took her to the vet, but are totally hung up on "cats have to go outside". They've been to my house and seen my perfectly adjusted indoor only cats, and their reaction was to goad me for days to let them go out so they'd be "happy". Are there any sources in the UK I can show them to encourage a change in attitude before they go and get another cat that will probably end up getting killed? Is this some antiquated British obsession or something? As a dirty Yank I've grown up around coyotes and hawks so in their eyes I'm just seeing dangers that aren't there for a British cat. Which would make sense if they hadn't loving lost three in the last 6 years due to things outside. Someone force-fed the cat antifreeze? or, some was lying around? Whereabouts in the UK do they live? Edit: Cat Question: we have 3 cats. 1 of them doesn't like people and that's fine, he likes being scritched sometimes. The other loves people. The third is very scared a lot of the time and if we're walking around he normally runs away. When we're sitting or lying down he does sit on our laps sometimes but he doesn't do the 'happy feet', purring or like being petted much. We feed the cats separately in the evening and he hides until we've sat down, then comes and eats his food. We have made sure to give the cat some high up spaces to chill out in, which he does use sometimes. My real question is: how can we make him less scared? He never even came near us until I sat on the floor one day and he walked around me in circles and let me pet him a few times. In the 2 years since then (he is 4) he's been a bit more friendly but we just got back from holiday (catsitter was around) and he's way more skittish. He also doesn't appreciate being kidnapped (by me) and rubbed with allerpet c once a week. redreader fucked around with this message at 19:29 on Jan 2, 2014 |
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Jan 2, 2014 19:24
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One year ago, I lost my big ol' Gus. He owned! I'm still not over it. http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3171820&pagenumber=54&perpage=40#post411132946 e: FFStudios posted:I feel very very empty and upset with the whole thing. What's the best course of action for me? How should I cope with this? Eventually, the pain of my loss turned into a sort of fondness and the pain and emptiness now is shorter-lived and more and more infrequent. As my friend so correctly put it, all pets are little heartbreak time bombs. The hurt is part of the game. The real way to get over it is to get a new cat: you won't think you can, but you'll love this one even more because you're better at loving and caring for a cat than you've ever been. bort fucked around with this message at 20:01 on Jan 2, 2014 |
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Jan 2, 2014 19:29
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To answer those who asked, my in-laws live in a quiet area just outside of Chester in North Wales. The vet told them that often in the area people leave out antifreeze on purpose to kill outside cats who come into their yard. Antifreeze is sweet, and doesn't smell bad, so cats assume it's drinkable like water. This quiet area is quiet except for the A55 that runs almost through their front yard. This is a brief example of the ways some of their cats died outside: 1. Hit by a car 2. Crushed by supplies at a building site 3. Antifreeze poisoning 4. "just disappeared one day" yet they still insist that cats are safe outside because one of there squillions of cats survived till 18 years. I just don't understand it.
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Jan 2, 2014 20:05
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I got my 8 month old kitten on Saturday evening. This morning she meowed constantly from the moment she realized I was awake to the moment I left. I ran back home for lunch from work and she still meows continuously while I'm in the room, though not when I'm in the next room. She has more than enough food (hasn't been eating much but I hear that's normal for a recently re-homed kitty) and I doubt she's bored since she's still to scared to explore the entire house. Could she be sick? Is this normal re-homed kitty behavior?
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Jan 2, 2014 20:29
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Stairs posted:To answer those who asked, my in-laws live in a quiet area just outside of Chester in North Wales. The vet told them that often in the area people leave out antifreeze on purpose to kill outside cats who come into their yard. Antifreeze is sweet, and doesn't smell bad, so cats assume it's drinkable like water. This quiet area is quiet except for the A55 that runs almost through their front yard. This is a brief example of the ways some of their cats died outside: 1. Hit by a car 2. Crushed by supplies at a building site 3. Antifreeze poisoning 4. "just disappeared one day" yet they still insist that cats are safe outside because one of there squillions of cats survived till 18 years. I just don't understand it. Well. If they're not going to listen to the vet telling them that people are actively trying to kill their cats, they're probably not going to listen to you. It sucks, but I don't really know what I can suggest that will help you, or change their minds.
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Jan 2, 2014 20:37
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We just picked him up. He seems just fine and immediately whined to be fed when got home.  10 days of liquid antibiotics and painkillers. I unfortunately leave in a few days, so HOPEFULLY my mom will be willing to do them while I'm gone.For anyone curious, total was $822 for extractions, cleaning, vaccinations and microchipping.
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Jan 2, 2014 23:30
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Stairs posted:To answer those who asked, my in-laws live in a quiet area just outside of Chester in North Wales. The vet told them that often in the area people leave out antifreeze on purpose to kill outside cats who come into their yard. Antifreeze is sweet, and doesn't smell bad, so cats assume it's drinkable like water. This quiet area is quiet except for the A55 that runs almost through their front yard. This is a brief example of the ways some of their cats died outside: 1. Hit by a car 2. Crushed by supplies at a building site 3. Antifreeze poisoning 4. "just disappeared one day" yet they still insist that cats are safe outside because one of there squillions of cats survived till 18 years. I just don't understand it. Your in-laws will never change. Their cats keep dying and they keep insisting it's fine and natural because otherwise they'd have to acknowledge responsibility for three or four horrible cat deaths and admit that maybe, just maybe, they should have kept the last few cats indoors given their history. Change for them would require owning up and facing some bad feelings, so they're just going to keep their heads buried in the sand because down there it's not their fault and there was nothing they could do. Honestly not worth your effort to try any more. Next time they tell you one of their cats is dead or missing, just give them the old "huh, how bout that" and change the subject.
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Jan 3, 2014 00:01
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tarbrush posted:Where do they live? I literally do not know anyone in the UK with an indoor cat, but obviously small sample size, and I live in a semi rural area. This is true. In the UK even the vet that treated their cat probably wouldn't recommend that they keep future cats indoors. Almost everyone over here that has cats lets them outside. Some people just let the cats out in the day but a lot have catflaps so the cat can come and go as it pleases. It's unusual to keep a cat indoors unless it has medical problems, you don't have outside access, or it is a fancy type of showcat. Most of our shelters and rescues will only let you adopt a cat if you can give it outside access. If you want to adopt a cat and keep it indoor-only they will expect you to take one with medical problems (FIV etc) or live in a much larger house than most people here do and be home for a lot of the day. There are not as many dangers here and most vets and animal charities will tell you that you should allow your cats outside. It would be hard to convince most cat owners here to keep their cat indoor-only because all the animal welfare experts say that letting them out helps to keep them happy and healthy. As a result anyone who does lose a cat to an outdoor accident tends to hold the view that at least they had a good life and weren't miserable. If you try to convince someone here to make their cat indoor only you'll probably be seen as weird and overprotective much like if you tried to convince them to keep their kid at home because of the dangers associated with the schoolbus. They know the dangers are there but they think it is worth the risk for the higher quality of life. Stairs posted:They've been to my house and seen my perfectly adjusted indoor only cats, and their reaction was to goad me for days to let them go out so they'd be "happy". Are there any sources in the UK I can show them to encourage a change in attitude before they go and get another cat that will probably end up getting killed? Is this some antiquated British obsession or something? They're not making that up out of nowhere, they have been told this. I volunteered with a cat charity and a couple of general animal shelters and they all recommended to people that they should let their cats out and all the people that worked there let theirs out. Here are the guides issued by our leading cat and animal charities. As you can see, they can be quite candid about the risks but still overall advocate outside access. Anecdotally I think attitudes are gradually changing, it is certainly more common for people to keep their cats in overnight (and for that to be recommended) than it used to be. It's not that people in the UK don't care if their cats die but that they are mostly following the advice of the shelters and vets on how to best care for their cat and give it a happy life.
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Jan 3, 2014 03:16
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redreader posted:Edit: Cat Question: I've got one of those scaredy cats, too. My cat will hide under the bed if somebody she doesn't know goes anywhere near my room. She only lets 3 people approach her currently (me, my girlfriend, and my roommate). I don't know if there is a way to make a cat more sociable, but I just wanted to say that I had the same thing happen when I had a cat sitter look after my cat for Thanksgiving. Apparently whenever the cat sitter came by my cat would run under my roommate's bed and hide behind some boxes. The cat sitter never saw her out in the open apparently. When I got back she was a lot more skittish than usual and took a while to come out from under the bed. She also went under the bed a lot quicker, too. She did eventually get back to being herself though. I just assumed it was that she was used to a stranger she didn't trust being the only one to come by for a week, so she just got used to hiding under the bed when somebody came into the house. I'm sure a little getting used to the old routine again is nothing to be concerned about. Somewhat related, what's the usual rate for cat sitters? I had my friend do it and we paid her like $40 I think for a week. I'm not sure what to expect/what to give people for that kind of thing.
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Jan 3, 2014 06:41
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Dogen posted:Nice! And he is eating well? One of the top ten moments of my life so far was our cat nibbling my finger in the morning wanting solid food after being tube fed for a while. To be fair, it was the morning after a hurricane so emotions were high.
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Jan 3, 2014 06:47
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I paid my cat sitter what I would have paid a boarder. That might be overkill at, but she was a friend of mine and I had also asked her to stay in the apartment the whole time since I was to be gone for so long. For someone just popping in to feed and water once a day I'd consider how far they had to drive and just make sure I gave them a chunk more than the cost of gas to be sure it was worth it for them.
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Jan 3, 2014 13:31
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I'm in a major city and in an upscale neighborhood, and the going rate for cat sitting here is around $20/day for up to two cats. That's really expensive, but my guy is terrific with cats and sends me daily photos. That doesn't sound like much, but when I'm on the road, the daily pictures are huge emotional boosts. That at least gives you an "it could be worse" or "there are bigger suckers out there than I am", Eeyo. e: I wish companies reimbursed pet sitting expenses. It seems fair, it's an expense I wouldn't have ordinarily incurred. bort fucked around with this message at 14:16 on Jan 3, 2014 |
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Jan 3, 2014 14:09
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Xibanya posted:I got my 8 month old kitten on Saturday evening. This morning she meowed constantly from the moment she realized I was awake to the moment I left. I ran back home for lunch from work and she still meows continuously while I'm in the room, though not when I'm in the next room. She has more than enough food (hasn't been eating much but I hear that's normal for a recently re-homed kitty) and I doubt she's bored since she's still to scared to explore the entire house. Could she be sick? Is this normal re-homed kitty behavior? Is she drinking the water? Pooping? Peeing? Staggering? If she is eating, drinking and using the litter box there isn't likely anything wrong. If in a week this doesn't subside it wouldn't hurt to look into a vet. Typically with any new pet purchase/adoption/rescue you should take them to the vet in the first week anyways, so I'd say swing by a vet just for that first check up.
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Jan 3, 2014 15:03
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Quick question - I've been thinking about getting an essential oil burner, the type you stick a tea light and some diluted oil in and it smells up the room. Obviously I'd make sure it's nowhere the kittens can get at and I wouldn't leave them unsupervised in the room with it, but I've seen some things online suggesting that various essential oils are bad for cats - I know tea tree is toxic if you apply it to the cat's skin, but is it also dangerous for them to inhale the scent? Are there cat-friendly methods of making my house smell fancy?
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Jan 3, 2014 15:19
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floofyscorp posted:Quick question - I've been thinking about getting an essential oil burner, the type you stick a tea light and some diluted oil in and it smells up the room. Obviously I'd make sure it's nowhere the kittens can get at and I wouldn't leave them unsupervised in the room with it, but I've seen some things online suggesting that various essential oils are bad for cats - I know tea tree is toxic if you apply it to the cat's skin, but is it also dangerous for them to inhale the scent? Are there cat-friendly methods of making my house smell fancy? I use Scentsy wax burners in my home because my cats are too curious. I'd highly recommend them as I use them fairly regularly and have had no issues. Just Google Scentsy and I am sure you can find someone that sells them locally.
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Jan 3, 2014 17:06
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Ktb posted:They're not making that up out of nowhere, they have been told this. I volunteered with a cat charity and a couple of general animal shelters and they all recommended to people that they should let their cats out and all the people that worked there let theirs out. Here are the guides issued by our leading cat and animal charities. As you can see, they can be quite candid about the risks but still overall advocate outside access. Anecdotally I think attitudes are gradually changing, it is certainly more common for people to keep their cats in overnight (and for that to be recommended) than it used to be. It's not that people in the UK don't care if their cats die but that they are mostly following the advice of the shelters and vets on how to best care for their cat and give it a happy life. A lot of that comes from people in the UK expecting cats to just do stuff on their own. Getting through to them that if they keep a cat indoors they need to engage it, play with it and interact with it is not easy. Just during this December we've taken in 2 indoor only cats from near Edinburgh - one is a nice 12 year old lad who will go on easily (his owner is moving to Australia) as he was well looked after. The other is an entire tom, barely a year old, neurotic and semi-violent - young lady decided she wanted a kitten in a tiny flat, never did much with it and the screaming child (literally, she called in and left a message to get back to her after 9pm so we'd be able to hear her over the kid) drove the poor thing to distraction. She told us to take it or she'd kick him out because it was scratching her kid (god knows what said child was doing to the cat but in such a small flat where can it go). The second case is sadly a lot more common, people just get a kitten because 'awwww', ignore it and wonder why it goes badly. My own cats can go out any time they like (which isn't often as they get older) because I live over 2 miles from any town and have 3 neighbours inside half a mile. They are safe but that's not the case for most of the cats over here which are in urban surroundings
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Jan 3, 2014 18:55
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Ktb posted:This is true. In the UK even the vet that treated their cat probably wouldn't recommend that they keep future cats indoors. Almost everyone over here that has cats lets them outside. Some people just let the cats out in the day but a lot have catflaps so the cat can come and go as it pleases. It's unusual to keep a cat indoors unless it has medical problems, you don't have outside access, or it is a fancy type of showcat. Most of our shelters and rescues will only let you adopt a cat if you can give it outside access. If you want to adopt a cat and keep it indoor-only they will expect you to take one with medical problems (FIV etc) or live in a much larger house than most people here do and be home for a lot of the day. Thats all fair and dandy, but from an education stand point you should know that the life expectancy of an indoor cat is TWICE that of an outdoor cat. I am told lots of things on a daily basis but as a responsible pet owner and adult you should also take the time to research things on your own. Here is a nice article that sums up indoor vs outdoor.
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Jan 3, 2014 19:12
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I'm still waiting on a call-back from the vet, but if anyone here has some insight for me I'd appreciate it! All times are Pacific. My girlfriend and I just adopted our second cat. Rory is a male, about 1.5y old, fixed, vaccinated, chipped and all that fun stuff they do at rescues before adoption. As I understand it he spent most of his life fostering. He had been strongly bonded with a litter mate that had been adopted out before him and he's been much more timid and introverted since losing his sibling. He is supposed to be very slow to warm up to people and easily spooked, but a love once he gets used to you. The relevant story on the adoption is that we went to the home he was fostering at around 4:30pm on January 1st to pick Rory up. He was pretty scared and the foster lady had a lot of trouble transferring him from her cat carrier to ours. After a couple escapes (and some escaped urine) she got our address and said she'd bring him by later once he'd calmed down a bit. She brought him to our house around 7:30 or 8 pm in his carrier, claiming that he went into it much more readily than our newly-bought, strange smelling one. We put him (still in his carrier, with the door propped open) in a small office with food, water, litter and a small blanketed cubby hole hiding place. The next morning (Jan 2) it did not appear that he'd left his carrier and his food/water/box looked untouched. We had a vet appointment for our other cat (Ichabod, male, 4.5yr) at 3pm, and when we mentioned to her that the new cat had not left his carrier to take care of necessaries she suggested we take him out of the carrier and remove it from the room. When we got home we did so and noticed that there was dry urine on the blanket that had been in the carrier. As noted above he peed some when the foster lady had tried to move him between carriers, so I don't know if he peed the blanket then, or some time in the night. We've spent some time in the office with him, mostly "ignoring" him but being in the room. He flinches whenever the door opens and either stares at us warily or cowers with his head behind something so he can't see us. When we left for work at 8 this morning (Jan 3) it still looked like he had not touched his food or water or his box. We are now almost 40 hours from his arrival at our house and depending on when he was last fed at his foster home possibly nearing 48 hours since he last ate. tl;dr : New cat isn't eating/drinking/boxing nearing 48hours since last meal, 36 hours since last pee. Assuming he hasn't started taking care of himself by the time I head back home for lunch at noon (about one hour from now) should I rush him to the emergency vet, or should we give him a bit more time to settle down and settle in? Again, I have a call in to the vet but they haven't called back yet and I'm worried. I'm going to call them again when I check on him either way, if he hasn't taken care of some business by then... NewcastleBrown fucked around with this message at 20:20 on Jan 3, 2014 |
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Jan 3, 2014 20:18
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OssiansFolly posted:Thats all fair and dandy, but from an education stand point you should know that the life expectancy of an indoor cat is TWICE that of an outdoor cat. I am told lots of things on a daily basis but as a responsible pet owner and adult you should also take the time to research things on your own. Here is a nice article that sums up indoor vs outdoor. Yes I am aware of this, I was't advocating letting cats out, just explaining that it is not only the poster's family but our society. They did ask if it was a British obesession and say they didn't understand and I was trying to answer. I think that if you don't live here then you don't realise that "keep your cats indoor-only" goes against all the advice you get here. What you are saying runs counter to what their vet says and they may even have to lie about their intentions to adopt one in the first place. I agree that people should do their own research but when everything you read and hear points one way except for when it's about another country with different hazards it's easy to see the problem. I was trying to explain how hard it is to convince people over here that their cats are better off indoors. Most people are happy to accept the advice given out by the vets and shelters and consider that research enough. Like I said, I think attitudes are changing but it has to be a change in a lot of people and the official advice they receive. Stairs asked for UK sources to help convince them but most sources here (except PETA) will say the exact opposite. Most of the sources that come down clearly on the side of indoor-only are from the USA or Australia so it is easy for people over here to dismiss them as not relevant. The Cats Protection link I posted is the most clear about the risks so maybe that will help but even that states that ideally the cats should be allowed out. Ratzap posted:A lot of that comes from people in the UK expecting cats to just do stuff on their own. Getting through to them that if they keep a cat indoors they need to engage it, play with it and interact with it is not easy. This is also completely true and people here need to make this shift in attitude too. This is a big part of why the official advice is what it is. There are a worrying number of people who let their cat out and as a result think it 'doesn't like to play' and never really play with it but then when they have to keep it in for some reason notice it seems bored and unhappy. Of course this loops right back to reinforce the notion that cats need to go outside to be happy. I'm not really sure what the answer is and I think it's going to be a very slow shifting of attitudes. I haven't really seen anyone have a lot of luck convincing anyone to keep their cat in but I thought the more information Stairs had, the more they would understand why the in-laws think what they do the better placed they would be to counter it.
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Jan 3, 2014 20:34
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OssiansFolly posted:Thats all fair and dandy, but from an education stand point you should know that the life expectancy of an indoor cat is TWICE that of an outdoor cat. I am told lots of things on a daily basis but as a responsible pet owner and adult you should also take the time to research things on your own. Here is a nice article that sums up indoor vs outdoor. Forgive me, but that article's Australian, which again is somewhat more dangerous that Great Britain. The RSPCA calls it even, and none of the other sites I've looked at in 10 minutes googling even mention it that I could find (PDSA and Blue Cross)
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Jan 3, 2014 20:46
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While not as articulately as the above poster, I will corroborate the previous statement. I grew up in a small~ish town in the midlands, and while it wasn't the west end it wasn't one of those tiny English villages with 3 pubs, a post office and a football ground either. There was a fair amount of traffic and development and so on, but cats were given largely to roam and everybody had a cat flap. I wanted a cat so badly but my allergies wouldn't allow it, but I got to see all of the neighbour cats out and about, usually during the day to be fair, and keeping a cat entirely indoors was just not done while dogs were generally never let out past the garden unless they were on a lead. Granted, dogs aren't usually jumpers/climbers like cats, so a 3-foot hedge is a pretty good barrier for them. I grew out of my cat allergy to my great happiness and now live in North America, and I once again live in a town not entirely dissimilar from the one that I grew up in. I'm right by a road with low-to-moderate traffice but there is a feral colony here and a public services station with a lot of heavy vehicles and traffic going in and out, and I'm just not keen to let my little ones go outside. My neighbour does to a limited degree and it works well enough, but I keep my brood indoors and make sure that they get lots of attention and not surprisingly they are friendly, fit, well-adjusted animals. Even with the ease of finding information about practically anything at our fingertips these days thanks to the Internet, culturally accepted beliefs and practice still dominate. Even if you find acres of expert testimony online, or in print, saying that keeping your cats indoors leads to longer, healthier lives and happy cats, people are going to disagree because that's not "what they were taught" and people are not willing to give up their beliefs because it's scary and diminishes them. To put it in an American context, a huge portion of this nation still thinks that universal health care is SOCIALISM! and to be desperately avoided, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary and easy access to that information. Changing cultural attitudes for things as huge as health care or as modest as cat nurturing take a long time to change even in the face of reason.
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Jan 3, 2014 20:48
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I know this may sound loving lame but what is the best way to play with cats? we generally give them cat drugs on their scratching pad then play with a feather-fishing-pole but they get bored after a few minutes. Separate to playtime, one of our cats brings us cat toy glitter balls to throw, and plays fetch about 3-5 times then wanders off.
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Jan 3, 2014 21:15
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tarbrush posted:Forgive me, but that article's Australian, which again is somewhat more dangerous that Great Britain. The RSPCA calls it even, and none of the other sites I've looked at in 10 minutes googling even mention it that I could find (PDSA and Blue Cross) I googled "outdoor cat life expectancy" and got many results that echo'd the same thing I said before. Cats outdoors live on average 3-7 years while cats indoors live 13-20 years. It may be even different in GB than in the US, but I can't imagine thats the case. Most studies that I've seen or articles that site a study will site the Humane Society of US, City, State, etc. as their source, but a couple cited Discovery.com and smaller vet schools. Link 1 Link 2 (includes blurb on GB belief) Link 3
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Jan 3, 2014 21:36
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