quote:

Urban Dictionary.com
Piperazine is a drug that belongs to the family of medicines called anthelmintics. These medicines are used in the treatment of worm infections (roundworms, pinworms). In the past few years, illegal drug manufactures have used piperazine in the production of ecstasy tablets as a cheap substitution. These manufacturers are mostly concentrated in Canada, where the drug is legal and over-the-counter. Piperazine is an ideal choice for making fake ecstasy because of the similarity in taste, and at certain doses, a user may experience favorable side effects and feel “high.”

baxxy posted:

I'm super frustrated with my cat's health (and I'm sure if he could talk, he would be too). He was diagnosed with IBD, which of course translates to "dunno." He's improved significantly over the last several months since being diagnosed, but I fear things are going downhill again with some weight loss and "sad belly" meows, as I call them, right after eating.

Does anyone else have an IDB cat with long-term drugs? I'm super interested in what has worked for other people's cats and how you track their health. I know all cats are different, but I'm frustrated and scared that the current treatment for Oreohead doesn't appear to be working. Prednisone seemed to be working out, but the vets told me long-term treatment with prednisone can lead to other problems like liver disease or diabetes. I'd love to hear some IBD success stories to get my spirits up.

Coconut Indian posted:

So ignoring her worked for a few days and I was able to get a good night's sleep until this morning when she decided that of she didn't have her treats right this second, then she would just launch herself into the window face first until it shattered or she got her way. She is an absolute lunatic.

Suspect Bucket posted:

Update on my Stanley after the whole Piperazine OD; She's fine now. Probably better, in fact. She's very affectionate since her whole experience. Because apparently;


I'll keep her away from dead mice and glow sticks.

JustJeff88 posted:

I had a problem with chirpy cats... ear plugs, ladies and gentlemen, earplugs. Been using them to sleep since my senior year in the dorms at uni with complete assbags, and they work a treat.

Now my concern: Despite my best efforts, I have had no luck getting my tabby cat (about 9 months old, spayed female) to scratch anything that I want her to scratch. The old recliner that my mum gave me is showing noticeable damage and she's also done good work on my overstuffed chair as well as my cheap faux-leather ottoman and small table. She also horizontally scratches my carpet (which is a firm, tight knit) from time to time. My hyper little tuxedo kitten is better - he seems to use the post covered in soft carpet most of the time but I sometimes see him using that chair. I've a soft carpet scratching post, one of those s-shaped things that is partially hard carpet and partially sisal, and one of those sort-of-tree-bark things that hangs from a doorknob and she doesn't seem to care about any of them.

I'd rather not get a cat tree as money is tight for me right now and they take up a lot of room (also a good chance that I will be moving in May/June), but I'm not sure what to do. I bought a big spray bottle of no-scratch training spray or whatever, but I'm not sure if that does any good. Maybe a cardboard horizontal scratcher, even though she scratches vertically most of the time?

OssiansFolly posted:

I fought and fought and fought myself and my fiance to not declaw my cats as I found it mean, but I also like having nice stuff and be free of claw marks. Try putting Aluminum Foil on things you don't want scratched or double sided tape, and watch for when the cat uses the correct things for scratching and reward them with play or treats. If those ideas don't work then you can always try Softpaws or declawing...

Sareini posted:

My little black monster Cracker has idiopathic IBD (possibly food allergies, but they can't tell for sure so meh) and she's currently on 5mg prednisone every other day and has been for two years now. She is an endless ball of yowling energy who thinks that all food is for her (which is where the food allergies sometimes come in) and goes to the vets for a checkup every three months.

What we found helps her is cutting out most of the foodstuffs that can commonly cause allergies from her diet. Wet food wise she gets exclusively fish now (we give her meds in her wet food because grinding the pills up and sprinking them in her food was far easier than pilling her directly) and she gets a hypo-allergenic dry cat food in either turkey or ocean fish (James Wellbeloved in the UK). Since we got her on all this she's gone from a cat who cried most times she used the litter box and had blood in her poop every other day to, well, a cat with more or less normal litter box habits (aside from her trying to drag plastic bags onto the box to cover it when she's done...) So there is hope Hopefully you and your vets will work out the right treatment for your cat.

Stairs posted:

Seriously? Declawing is an "option" for a scratchy cat? Here's a better idea, how about give the cat away and get a hamster instead if your couch is important enough to you to cut the fingertips off of another living being. It's not just "mean", it's cruelty and mutilation and in many places it's also illegal. Cats will scratch, sometimes they can be convinced to do it where you want, but not always. If you can't handle that, you cant handle cat.

baxxy posted:

Also this. Get a fish if you love your furniture more than you love your pet.

Stairs posted:

Seriously? Declawing is an "option" for a scratchy cat? Here's a better idea, how about give the cat away and get a hamster instead if your couch is important enough to you to cut the fingertips off of another living being. It's not just "mean", it's cruelty and mutilation and in many places it's also illegal. Cats will scratch, sometimes they can be convinced to do it where you want, but not always. If you can't handle that, you cant handle cat.

baxxy posted:

Also this. Get a fish if you love your furniture more than you love your pet.

tarbrush posted:

No? Lots of people have vasectomies, very few people voluntarily have their fingers chopped off.

OssiansFolly posted:

Oh angry people on the internet telling me how to live my life and take care of my animals...oooo...seriously you know nothing of the situation, so say what you want about MY decision to remove MY cat's claws. No one has any issues neutering or spaying their animals, but judges others for declawing. Do you see the hilarious irony in that?

Stairs posted:

There's no irony in this. Spaying is a relatively harmless procedure that helps prevent sexually transmitted cat disease, certain cancers, unwanted pregnancies, and extend the life of the cat. Declawing does none of those things and has been proven time and again to cause lasting psychological trauma, as well as rendering the cat unable to defend themselves on the off chance they got outside. It's wrong, it's sick and it's being phased out for a loving reason.

Stairs posted:

You may not fully realize what declawing is. Look at your own fingers. You see how your nails are connected to the tips of your fingers, up to the first knuckle? To declaw a cat you have to literally cut their finger off at that knuckle. I don't care if it's YOUR cat, MY cat, or the PRESIDENTS cat, amputating part of a cats fingers so you can have a nicer living room set is loving sick.

There's no irony in this. Spaying is a relatively harmless procedure that helps prevent sexually transmitted cat disease, certain cancers, unwanted pregnancies, and extend the life of the cat. Declawing does none of those things and has been proven time and again to cause lasting psychological trauma, as well as rendering the cat unable to defend themselves on the off chance they got outside. It's wrong, it's sick and it's being phased out for a loving reason.

Seriously, just get a fish, gently caress.

OssiansFolly posted:

My wife is a vet tech...I know exactly what declawing is.

And I can go on a long rant about how you're wrong, you have no idea why I had to declaw my cats, and you're wrong. But instead I will just give you this and ask that you kindly gently caress off with your unreferenced soap boxing.

You're Wrong

JawnV6 posted:

You had to declaw your cats because you have them in a lovely environment. Papering over a symptom instead of addressing the root cause is going to lead you back in here in a few months when they're biting instead of clawing because you took that option away.

JustJeff88 posted:

I had a problem with chirpy cats... ear plugs, ladies and gentlemen, earplugs. Been using them to sleep since my senior year in the dorms at uni with complete assbags, and they work a treat.

Now my concern: Despite my best efforts, I have had no luck getting my tabby cat (about 9 months old, spayed female) to scratch anything that I want her to scratch. The old recliner that my mum gave me is showing noticeable damage and she's also done good work on my overstuffed chair as well as my cheap faux-leather ottoman and small table. She also horizontally scratches my carpet (which is a firm, tight knit) from time to time. My hyper little tuxedo kitten is better - he seems to use the post covered in soft carpet most of the time but I sometimes see him using that chair. I've a soft carpet scratching post, one of those s-shaped things that is partially hard carpet and partially sisal, and one of those sort-of-tree-bark things that hangs from a doorknob and she doesn't seem to care about any of them.

I'd rather not get a cat tree as money is tight for me right now and they take up a lot of room (also a good chance that I will be moving in May/June), but I'm not sure what to do. I bought a big spray bottle of no-scratch training spray or whatever, but I'm not sure if that does any good. Maybe a cardboard horizontal scratcher, even though she scratches vertically most of the time?

OssiansFolly posted:

More unsolicited advice from someone making assumptions? Oh joy! Do I need to link you to Dr. Cox too?

I declawed my cats over 3 years ago now, and since they were ALWAYS biters nothing has changed there.

Again, rather than spay or neuter your cat you could just treat the symptoms without mutilation, but this isn't about your decision to have a home free of marking and blood. Its about my decision to declaw my cats for reasons that still haven't been disclosed only inferred.

Stairs posted:

Yeah? Well my mom is a zoo keeper. You know what that makes me? Not a zoo keeper.
You aren't a vet tech, you aren't a good debater, and you aren't a very good person if you still support something like this with no other argument that "la la la I believe this and I don't care what the experts say!" Also, for the record, a vet tech isn't considered an expert in matters of pet psychology, so trying to use your wife's credentials is laughable at best. Keep your stupid Cat Hitler opinions if they help you justify being a douche, but do the animal kingdom a favor and don't tell other people who are trying to find non invasive ways to help their pets that amputating their bodies is a great option.

muike posted:

i won't say why i want to cut off my cat's fingertips and make them even more loving psycho and neurotic, but i assure you it is a serious problem and will in fact not result in things being even worse for me and looking like a giant idiot. thank you

baxxy posted:

Thanks! Things have improved since switching to the duck and pea diet, although he still cries pathetically when I won't give him anything else (he believes all food is for him, as well).

We tried switching Oreohead to the prednisone every other day and his poo quality almost immediately declined. I think it was 1/2 pill and I do believe they are 5mg pills, so I suppose 5mg every other day would be like me giving 1/2 pill daily, which is what we were doing when he was better. So 2 years of that and your cat hasn't had any other health problems? I'd be okay with taking him in every 3 months for checkups, but I am scared of the idea that it could cause liver damage or what-not. How old is Cracker? Oreohead is 12 1/2.

OssiansFolly posted:

So my wife, who lives with me, tells me we need to get the cats declawed for, again, undisclosed reasons, and you tell me it is a "bad idea".

OssiansFolly posted:

As far as my advice goes I gave him 4 other options with declawing being the very last option. Did you have another piece of advice that I did NOT already provide him with to prevent his cat from scratching things? If not I'm going to kindly ask you to step down from your soapbox and go back to castrating your animals.

Iron Crowned posted:

Maybe you should disclose these reasons. Otherwise you might want to stick to playing magic instead of dealing out cat advice.

Stairs posted:

Based on how you post I'm going to infer that you yourself have not had your cats fixed? If so I can also infer from your posts that your unfixed cats were going hormone crazy and scratching things up. This is how communications work, you see. If you withhold certain important points from your debate in a way that forces the reader to fill in the blanks with speculation, then expect the reader to infer the worst scenario. After all, if you had innocent, totally out of your control reasons for doing what you did, you would just TELL us the reason instead of hinting at some bigger story you aren't at liberty to discuss. So cut the cloak and dagger bullshit and tell us why you felt you had no choice but to chop your cat's piggies instead of finding them a home that didn't make them neurotic scratch monsters.

OssiansFolly posted:

No you see that isn't how it works. I wasn't given the chance to explain anything before people assumed I was a monster that took my cats claws to make a necklace and have sex with their organs. People on here never get the full story before making assumptions and being assholes. So why should I attempt to defend myself? Its easier to just be a dick back and enjoy how stupid the argument is when one side is literally arguing about fictional details.

Iron Crowned posted:

Dude, you probably should try going elsewhere. Goons are a pretty docile bunch, we get vitriolic when people are evasive and deceptive about things.

The problem is you offered declawing as an option for scratching furnature. Then on top of that you kept defending it and would say "undisclosed reasons" for why you did it. The fact is you did it for reasons that were totally unrelated to a minor furnature scratching problem.

Iron Crowned posted:

Dude, you probably should try going elsewhere. Goons are a pretty docile bunch, we get vitriolic when people are evasive and deceptive about things.

The problem is you offered declawing as an option for scratching furnature. Then on top of that you kept defending it and would say "undisclosed reasons" for why you did it. The fact is you did it for reasons that were totally unrelated to a minor furnature scratching problem.

Stairs posted:

Exactly! If he hadn't literally said "I did it because I like nice things" nobody would have judged. Even then, the first few posts in response weren't being mean so much as trying to suss out if he really "got" what declawing is (a lot of people don't know how invasive it is.) The problem with pets is there will always be people that have terrible outdated ideas and will react with pure vitriol at anyone who tries to sway them from their wrongness with accusations that they are just "being mean". Ugh.

OssiansFolly posted:

I'm fine and can defend myself without any problems. But it isn't my job to provide unsolicited info into my life. The important point was that I had to do it. The argument that removing claws is mutilation and should NEVER be done is a crock of poo poo. Using words like Never or Always is stupid when making any kind of argument as they are definites. Definites don't exist. I get that people are emotionally attached and invested in their animals (I am too), but the explanations and arguments presented here have inherent problems as well. People who have issues should try EVERYTHING to keep their animals...sometimes that is paying for expensive medication and sometimes its doing something you don't like to keep ALL of the animals safe.

Stairs posted:

Okay, that's great. Now tell us if they're fixed or not.

OssiansFolly posted:

People who have issues should try EVERYTHING to keep their animals...sometimes that is paying for expensive medication and sometimes its doing something you don't like to keep ALL of the animals safe.

OssiansFolly posted:

No I kick them REALLY hard whenever they start going into heat. Everyone has moved on from being a dick and witch hunting. Care to join them?

OssiansFolly posted: