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Stairs posted:Not until you answer the question that could very well be the heart of why your cats were assholes to begin with. I'm not witch hunting, your main argument partially consisted of bashing people who fix their cats. You're the one being a dick by acting like you are in the goddamned cat CIA. No it wasn't...never bashed anyone for fixing their cats. JawnV6 posted:gently caress no. What the loving christ. If you can't care for an animal it's better to give it up than to force it to remain in a lovely environment. You keeping the animal is secondary to it's well being and happiness. If you've got 18 cats in 600 sq ft and they're hurting each other regularly, the answer might be "no cats." I have 3 cats (one passed away from renal failure) in a 1600 sq ft. home so there is more than enough room for all of them. Giving a cat to a shelter is better than keeping him with a loving owner? Animals don't understand why you are giving them away...they just know someone is abandoning them.
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Jan 10, 2014 21:46
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OssiansFolly posted:I have 3 cats (one passed away from renal failure) in a 1600 sq ft. home so there is more than enough room for all of them. Giving a cat to a shelter is better than keeping him with a loving owner? Animals don't understand why you are giving them away...they just know someone is abandoning them. You're a loving owner. I fail to see how the solution isn't mummified cats covering every vertical surface, with all legs and those nasty claws removed yet genitals intact. Three cats? Geez, pretty sure you could support a few dozen cat mummies. Think of all the shelter kittens going without a loving owner. How can you be so needlessly cruel and deny your love? What's that? Love alone isn't enough!?!? 1600 sq ft buuuuut do they have plenty of vertical space? A few cat trees, accessible shelves maybe? I dunno, I'm managing 3 cats in a less than half your square footage and they're not messing with my furniture. They're also fixed, for what that's worth.
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Jan 10, 2014 21:53
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Rap Sheet/Post History seems to indicate that OssiansFolly got exiled from the magic thread and has come to infest this thread. He should be ignored. http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3568408&pagenumber=282&perpage=40#post423043844
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Jan 10, 2014 21:57
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JawnV6 posted:You're a loving owner. I fail to see how the solution isn't mummified cats covering every vertical surface, with all legs and those nasty claws removed yet genitals intact. Three cats? Geez, pretty sure you could support a few dozen cat mummies. Think of all the shelter kittens going without a loving owner. How can you be so needlessly cruel and deny your love? All of my cats are fixed. My female Russian Blue was actually fixed TWICE as they botched the first one and missed something, so she continued to go into heat? It was really sad/bad. My cats have plenty of room to run and jump as they are allowed to be on everything except the stove and counter. The cats got along fine as brother and sister, but once my wife and I moved in and all 4 cats had to share space they didn't get along at all with ANY of the other cats whether they were related or not. Iron Crowned posted:Rap Sheet/Post History seems to indicate that OssiansFolly got exiled from the magic thread and has come to infest this thread. He should be ignored. You mean the threads I post in daily? Oh yea they chased me out of those with Pitchforks and torches!
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Jan 10, 2014 21:58
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Right, you screwed up introducing the cats. Quite badly from the sounds of it. We all figured it out last page but you seem quite hostile to anything less than abject praise.
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Jan 10, 2014 22:01
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JawnV6 posted:Right, you screwed up introducing the cats. Quite badly from the sounds of it. We all figured it out last page but you seem quite hostile to anything less than abject praise. More assumptions? Cool. Anything productive to add to the thread? Iron Crowned posted:
I'll be sure to do that. Right after I declaw all the cats in the world and mutilate all living things. 
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Jan 10, 2014 22:07
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Fortis posted:
So fluffy!  I suggest trying a seam ripper. http://www.amazon.com/Dritz-638-Deluxe-Seam-Ripper/dp/B0001DSIVYSome of them have rubber nubs on both pointy ends. You can use that to either remove the mat or just cut it down to size so you can brush it out. You can find one in the sewing section of Walmart or a craft store. Or ask your Mom or Gramma. They probably have one.
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Jan 10, 2014 22:13
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Bad Mitten posted:So fluffy! Oh, neat! Once I verify for the millionth time that it is indeed fur and nothing else I'm feeling (this will involve keeping her on her back for longer than a picosecond so we'll see how it goes) I might give this a shot so I can just brush it out. Thanks!
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Jan 10, 2014 22:25
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OssiansFolly posted:More assumptions? Cool. OssiansFolly posted:Anything productive to add to the thread? 
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Jan 10, 2014 22:34
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Fortis posted:Oh, neat! Once I verify for the millionth time that it is indeed fur and nothing else I'm feeling (this will involve keeping her on her back for longer than a picosecond so we'll see how it goes) I might give this a shot so I can just brush it out. Thanks! I have a longhaired lunatic too. She sees the brush and LOVES it! Purrs like an engine but she won't let you get to the trouble spots! I can groom her between the ears all the way to her tail but flanks and chest are no no spots. And by her butt, you know, WHERE ALL THE MATS ARE! We have been able to get some of the mats off and we groom her often enough the she doesn't get them on the spots she lets us groom. Unfortunately she goes bananas at the vet so she has a big red DANGER sticker on her file. They gave us sedatives to give her before her next checkup, and guess what time it is... Hopefully she'll be sedated long enough for us to give her claws a clipping and get those mats out. If you find something that works for yours (assuming it's a mat) let us know!
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Jan 10, 2014 22:44
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JawnV6 posted:Feel free to fill in the details. Or keep being an angry shithead, that's working well too! Details of what? I've provided and answered any and all questions. Fortis posted:Oh, neat! Once I verify for the millionth time that it is indeed fur and nothing else I'm feeling (this will involve keeping her on her back for longer than a picosecond so we'll see how it goes) I might give this a shot so I can just brush it out. Thanks! Have you tried using some oil in the food? People seem to believe that some tuna oil or a small amount of canola oil can help with mats. Also, they sell dematting tools at pet stores...never used one (only own short hairs), but they may work.
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Jan 10, 2014 22:50
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hhgtrillian posted:You might check into Budesonide or even prednisolone as well. I adopted an IBD cat and originally had her on prednisolone and she did really well, but we wanted to try the Budesonide since it has fewer long term side effects. She originally gained over 2 pounds but lost some of that after the switch to the Budesonide. I've had her for 10 months and she had one weird flare up, but for the most part she acts like she feels great, and has mostly normal stool. I'm also going to try B12 injections to see if it makes a difference. Prenisolone! That's the one. I keep saying prednisone because I'm familiar with that from my days working with small animals. Yes, that's the one that has worked really well, but has more long-term side effects. Budesonide is the one we've been trying for a few weeks now and he's been doing sad belly meows and the quality of his, er, output has gone downhill. We did B12 injections a while back when he started on all the treatments, and it helped significantly! I just talked to my vet, who said if we have to stick with the prednisolone, then that's the way it has to be. She also said she's not overly concerned about doing 2.5mg daily "at his size" (when he's healthy, he's 11-12 lbs). I figure it's better at this point to have him healthy and happy and have to go in for urine cultures every 3 months than have him miserable and meowing and going to the box every 5 minutes. She gave me 2 months of the Budesonide originally. It's fairly expensive so now I'm not sure what I can do with the rest - donate it to someone local who needs it? Fortis posted:Oh, neat! Once I verify for the millionth time that it is indeed fur and nothing else I'm feeling (this will involve keeping her on her back for longer than a picosecond so we'll see how it goes) I might give this a shot so I can just brush it out. Thanks! My cat is also super floofy, and sometimes gets little fur-knots in the same spot. I think he just can't really get to it when he's grooming. I have a furminator that I use to gently get the knot out when it happens (it's rare, and like you, I have to sort of feel for it). He's not into being brushed or anything, but it's usually a fairly quick process to get it out, and I can usually do it by tricking him - give him chin scritches for a bit so he raises his head up, then sneak in with the furminator. No flipping over required!
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Jan 10, 2014 23:57
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^^^prednisolone is essentially the same thing as prednisone.OssiansFolly posted:More unsolicited advice from someone making assumptions? Oh joy! Do I need to link you to Dr. Cox too? What does blood have to do with not spaying and neutering? Topoisomerase fucked around with this message at 02:52 on Jan 11, 2014 |
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Jan 11, 2014 02:40
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I apologize if this has been covered before, but I read the FAQ posts and didn't see anything about it. I have a cat who's just terrified of long car rides. Obviously I don't subject the poor guy to these things unless it can't be helped (basically once a year at Christmas), but he's absolutely beside himself. He sits in my lap the whole way crying, hyperventilating, and making scary faces. The vet gave us some acepromazine, 10mg. Now I have no problem whatsoever with chemical sedation if it's going to make the trip easier for him, but it's definitely a blunt instrument and there seems to be some controversy around the internet about it as to whether or not it really makes the experience any better for the cat or just the owner. So I thought I'd ask here what your general thoughts on acepromazine are, since y'all are a knowledgeable bunch.
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Jan 11, 2014 06:19
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Two questions: 1. Is it possible for a cat who has worms to just stop having worms? In early November I was scooping the litter box and noticed a shitload of thin white worms alive and moving in my cat Ness's poop. I was away at college without enough money for a vet visit, and it didn't seem like an emergency, so I waited to take him to the vet until we went home for the holiday break. I brought a stool sample that looked like it had worms in it, but the vet concluded that he didn't have worms and the white bits in the sample were just hair. My mom has a cat here that doesn't care which litter box she poops in, so one possibility is that I got the wrong poop. I figured that wouldn't be an issue since both cats have been living together for about a month, so I figured mom's cat had got infected by now, the same way Ness did. Both cats are strictly indoors, and I first noticed the worms in Ness's poop about a week after I had been catsitting a friends kitten for two weeks, so I figured the worms were from that kitten and a month would be more than long enough for Ness to pass it to mom's cat. The vet suggested that the worms could have been from fleas, which Ness had a pretty bad case of last summer, but were long gone by November. Another theory I have is that some fly or bug in our apartment just decided to lay eggs in Ness's poop and they were never in his intestines to begin with, which could make sense as I've never seen moving worms in Ness's poop since we've been at home. 2. Getting Ness in his cat carrier is an insane ordeal involving a lot of hissing and pee, because he is a 20 pound fully clawed monster that really hates confinement, changing environments, and especially car rides. Nobody seems to take me seriously about this because they don't understand I'm talking about a cat who is taller, fatter, and pointier than a good percentage of dogs, and also that it makes me feel like a 100% evil Hitler person when I have to shove this poor fucker in a crate and listen to him hyperventilate in the car for 3 hours, wondering why he's being tortured by the person that is supposed to be giving him tasty meats. I did this today to go to the vet, and I have to do it tomorrow to go back to our apartment, so there isn't even any time for Ness to forget the awful things I've done to him. My current strategy is to throw a towel over Ness's head and upper body and have an assistant tilt the front-loading carrier so I can dump him in from the top and shut the door before he rockets out of there on a trail of fear piss, but I don't know how many times I can do this before he realizes that a towel over his head does not at all prevent him from clawing the poo poo out of me and running away. So basically, what strategies do people have for getting their scared/angry cats in a carrier? And maybe after this is all over, could it be possible to train him to be comfortable around the carrier and not be so suspicious when I even start thinking about putting him in it? Seriously, I don't think he even has to see the crate anymore to know the signs of when it's going to happen. I don't think it's possible to train him to tolerate car rides, considering he has hated the poo poo out of cars from the day he came home from the shelter, but maybe we can start associating the crate with nice times and tasty foods instead of awful torture rides?
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Jan 11, 2014 08:04
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Hi all, does anyone have recommendations for a super sturdy timed feeder available in the UK? One of my cats (Pedro) meows like crazy near to feed times (when I say near, I mean sometimes up to 2 hours before scheduled feed time). This is annoying as hell in the mornings, so we wanted to get a timed feeder so we don't have to get out of bed and maybe they'll meow at that instead of us... unfortunately the cats learned VERY quickly that the feeder has food in it and attack it! I'm not entirely sure if they got it open before the timer went off, but it was dragged all over the kitchen floor and food was everywhere so I suspect they did. As an aside, is there any possible way to help cats be less food motivated? Pedro is very vocal coming up to food times, and the other (Hector) is just obsessed with trying to eat anything we are to the point we sometimes have to lock him out of the room when we are eating. We had to move our bin to a cupboard based one as they kept knocking it over to get at food. We feed wet food 3 x a day on a regular schedule and never feed early due to meowing. They used to be free fed before we got them aged around 4 (they are coming up to 6 now) but Pedro was quite overweight as he would eat more than his fair share. To complicate matters, Hector escaped and went missing for 3 weeks last year and came back very skinny which we think has triggered his obsession with food.
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Jan 11, 2014 09:32
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I have a question about teeth scaling. At my cat Bear's wellness exam the vet showed me that he has feline oral resorptive lesions on three teeth. I know this is very painful and he already has an appointment to have the teeth extracted. The vet recommended that Bear (age 9) and my other cats Spock (age 10) and Pablo (age 7) all get their teeth scaled but in descending priority. They'd do the extractions while Bear is under for the scaling. I'm pretty sure Bear and Spock need it, but I'm not so sure about Pablo; his gums look pink and feel firm and I can't see any tartar. So my question is, is there any recommended age/schedule for teeth scalings? It's not that we can't afford the procedures (around $1.1K for all three) it's just that I'm not convinced all three cats need it enough. My childhood cat did not need scaling until she was 14, but I know each cat is different and I'm wondering if I'm letting that affect my decision. I also don't know my vet as well as our last one since we just moved here 2 years ago, and this was with a new vet at the clinic who I hadn't seen before. So far I haven't felt like they're trying to sell me too many extras, but when I asked her whether there was a schedule she immediately kind of downplayed Pablo's need for scaling. So there's that. Anyway, thanks for any advice and here are some photos Bear  Spock  Pablo  Who says 3 cats take up a lot of room? 
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Jan 11, 2014 10:02
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About the whole scratching your furniture thing. Clip their claws. Wait until they're sleeping, get your little clippers, and clip. Sometimes you'll have to do one at a time and take a break for next napping time but it shouldn't take too long until they get used to it. I started clipping mine when they were 4,5 months and before that I just played with their paws for two weeks a couple of times a day and now they're 6 months and it takes less than a minute to clip each cat. Once every three weeks. Way easier than my dog who thinks I'm torturing her. My furniture has no marks besides occasional pukes that I've had to clean and steam. They use their cat tree fine, though it took adjusting and they had to learn how to climb it differently. But my cats stopped scratching on the sofa when we bought a giant cat tree and put it next to the TV. Now when they run into the room like psychos, they rip their way up that instead. I wouldn't declaw. It's illegal in other countries for a reason. Plus a lot of declawed cats avoid litterboxes, not all of them, but a lot of them.
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Jan 11, 2014 12:03
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One of my cats has exhibited a new behavior in the last month or so which I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on. Specifically one of my boy cats will now run to the bathroom door whenever the shower goes on and as soon as someone leaves, he will run into the bathroom and jump into the tub... and then just kind of hang around. There haven't been any significant changes in the household and none in the cat arrangement at all. I have never witnessed this behavior, and it seems innocent enough, but I have no idea what's caused the sudden development after a year or so of living with us. For reference the bath-jumper is the man on the right. (His name is Lenny. I refer to him as Leonard J Crabs.) 
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Jan 11, 2014 15:22
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Mulloy posted:One of my cats has exhibited a new behavior in the last month or so which I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on. Specifically one of my boy cats will now run to the bathroom door whenever the shower goes on and as soon as someone leaves, he will run into the bathroom and jump into the tub... and then just kind of hang around. There haven't been any significant changes in the household and none in the cat arrangement at all. I have never witnessed this behavior, and it seems innocent enough, but I have no idea what's caused the sudden development after a year or so of living with us. Both of my kittens do this, they hang around the bathroom door whenever anyone's in there and as soon as the door is opened even a bit they rush in and then just... sniff things and hop into the bath and hang out. I think they are just incredibly curious about whatever lies behind closed doors as they do it with the kitchen and bedrooms(rooms they are not allowed in unsupervised) as well.
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Jan 11, 2014 15:47
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So Wendy just threw up a bunch of clear liquid, sort of sticky in my bed. I am just glad she didn't get any on me because she was sleeping in it with me at the time but I just changed the sheets earlier today  But does this mean anything bad? She's been using the box and eating/drinking as normal and hasn't been really behaving oddly but I'll keep an eye on her today. She's about 5 and half, btw. edit: here is a photo of her just because she's adorable when she's not being a twit 
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Jan 11, 2014 15:56
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Tomato Soup posted:So Wendy just threw up a bunch of clear liquid, sort of sticky in my bed. I am just glad she didn't get any on me because she was sleeping in it with me at the time but I just changed the sheets earlier today Was it kind of yellow? That could be bile, which means (in my novice, not-a-vet opinion) that she's barfing up bile (maybe). Keep an eye on her, if she keeps barfing more than usual then I'd head to the vet.
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Jan 11, 2014 16:18
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four lean hounds posted:Was it kind of yellow? That could be bile, which means (in my novice, not-a-vet opinion) that she's barfing up bile (maybe). Keep an eye on her, if she keeps barfing more than usual then I'd head to the vet. I can't really tell because the sheets are blue but there was a speck of white goop. It's not very stinky. I googled a bit and the comments are mixed but I'm just hoping that it's a prelude to a hairball later today because apparently some cats puke up some clear liquid a couple of hours before they puke up a hairball.
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Jan 11, 2014 16:29
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Captain von Trapp posted:I apologize if this has been covered before, but I read the FAQ posts and didn't see anything about it. I have a cat who's just terrified of long car rides. Obviously I don't subject the poor guy to these things unless it can't be helped (basically once a year at Christmas), but he's absolutely beside himself. He sits in my lap the whole way crying, hyperventilating, and making scary faces. The vet gave us some acepromazine, 10mg. Eh, sedate. I took my cat on a 13-hour moving trip and he was silent and as unstressed as possible while on sedation meds. This, despite normally yowling and mashing his face against the bars of the carrier, plus having to ride near the ferrets (who he hated) due to space constraints. It was much better than his usual shitshow and he was so calm through the whole thing. Baja Mofufu posted:I have a question about teeth scaling. At my cat Bear's wellness exam the vet showed me that he has feline oral resorptive lesions on three teeth. I know this is very painful and he already has an appointment to have the teeth extracted. The vet recommended that Bear (age 9) and my other cats Spock (age 10) and Pablo (age 7) all get their teeth scaled but in descending priority. They'd do the extractions while Bear is under for the scaling. I'm pretty sure Bear and Spock need it, but I'm not so sure about Pablo; his gums look pink and feel firm and I can't see any tartar. Scaling is more than just cleaning what you can see. The whole reason they need to be sedated is because they're working under the gums where you can't see the build-up and where it does the most damage. If you vet thinks they need it done, I would be inclined to believe them. Even if you brush their teeth on the regs, you can't get under the gums like that, and that's what causes the major issues like Bear is having.
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Jan 11, 2014 16:45
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Mulloy posted:One of my cats has exhibited a new behavior in the last month or so which I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on. Specifically one of my boy cats will now run to the bathroom door whenever the shower goes on and as soon as someone leaves, he will run into the bathroom and jump into the tub... and then just kind of hang around. There haven't been any significant changes in the household and none in the cat arrangement at all. I have never witnessed this behavior, and it seems innocent enough, but I have no idea what's caused the sudden development after a year or so of living with us. Is this the kind of shower that's above the bathtub or a separate one? I mean is the water from the shower in the bathtub? Either way the cat's just being a cat, but one of our cats went through a phase of loving to lick up shower water after a shower and I'm pretty sure that's fairly common. Hopping into a dry tub after a shower is a bit weirder but cats will be cats. In any case it's pretty normal for cats to phase in and out of habits like that for no particular reason (just to make it harder for their owners to tell if something's wrong or not).
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Jan 11, 2014 16:46
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Tomato Soup posted:So Wendy just threw up a bunch of clear liquid, sort of sticky in my bed. I am just glad she didn't get any on me because she was sleeping in it with me at the time but I just changed the sheets earlier today My cats will usually puke if it's been too long between their meal times and it's usually clear. Sometimes they puke after eating too. Vet said it's normal cat stuff but I'd call for advice anyway. When the puke is all clear, I give them some food and they're peachy. If I leave food out for them to eat all day and night, they puke too. So I've switched to 2 or 3 times a day (depending on if I'm home for lunch) and a little snack before I go to sleep. This has made the puking go down. I'm guessing they puked so much because they'd eat and then kitten spaz time and too much running from room to room which led to spewing it all over my couch or floor or blankets. Burmas are cute. Their noses aren't too squished. My dream cat are Norwegian Forest Cats and I'll probably get one or two eventually. Dream cats go.
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Jan 11, 2014 16:56
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Ossian being a jackass aside, I did by some Soft Claws for kittens but they're too fiddly for me to put on by myself. I did clip my littlest one's front claws the other day, and then this morning while biting my toes while I was in bed I think that one of them snagged my duvet and made a nice rip... I just can't win. Maybe it's time I just invested into a sturdy sisal rope post in the traditional style. That's why I was thinking cat tree, because those are practically made from vertical s-rope posts. I feel like Soft Claws is more of treating the symptom than curing the disease, and the thing to do is to teach good scratching etiquette rather than covering it up periodically. I'm just in a bad way moneywise and I'm not keen on spending more money for solutions that don't address the problem.
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Jan 11, 2014 17:46
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JustJeff88 posted:Ossian being a jackass aside, I did by some Soft Claws for kittens but they're too fiddly for me to put on by myself. I did clip my littlest one's front claws the other day, and then this morning while biting my toes while I was in bed I think that one of them snagged my duvet and made a nice rip... I just can't win. In our experience, sometimes the cats like the material to scratch, but they don't like the position it is in. We have found, for instance, that Joey and Kiki both prefer to scratch vertically, and go after the couch arms more because of that. We put sticky double sided tape on it and they have pretty much stopped the couch scratching, and now they are pretty good about staying on the cat tree sisal materials. Now, Newton and Pixie, however, both prefer to do horizontal scratching when they do it, so we have a bunch of scratch mats and things they can scratch on the floor. Saves our furniture big time! We have also hung scratchers on the doorknobs, and nailed them to the walls too and they LOVE it. They really prefer to scratch on the sisal stuff so having the different positions have been a lifesaver. We also have what we call "toenail parties" every weekend or so. I make a point to play with all my cats feet since day one, so they are used to me messing with their toes and pads etc. Then we have a mass trim of toenails etc and get it done in one fell swoop with treats afterwards. My husbands does the wrangling, I do the clipping, and it usually goes not too badly. Some complaining and bitching but nothing too bad. And that is mostly from my husband :P They don't complain too much, only token gestures now really, cause they know they get good noms afterwards. Disco Salmon fucked around with this message at 18:44 on Jan 11, 2014 |
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Jan 11, 2014 18:38
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Mulloy posted:One of my cats has exhibited a new behavior in the last month or so which I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on. Specifically one of my boy cats will now run to the bathroom door whenever the shower goes on and as soon as someone leaves, he will run into the bathroom and jump into the tub... and then just kind of hang around. There haven't been any significant changes in the household and none in the cat arrangement at all. I have never witnessed this behavior, and it seems innocent enough, but I have no idea what's caused the sudden development after a year or so of living with us. My cat picks up weird new habits every so often for no real reason - I've had him for 12 years and he still surprises me sometimes. Sometimes they stay; sometimes he abandons them. I'd say your cat is just being a cat.  As for nail clipping, without making a conscious decision about it, I got my cat used to being on his back so I could rub his fluffy belly from the moment I got him. I played with his paws a lot because they were cute. I suppose this is why now it's so easy to trim his nails, so I've been doing this with my boyfriend's 1 year old cat since he got her (she was about 7 months old when he got her). She was resistant to the whole thing at first, but now I flip her to rub her belly regularly and she's way more calm about it (unless she's in KITTEH FIGHT MODE of course). I play with her paws a lot, and she's already much better about claw trims. I've never met a cat I couldn't trim, though. I cat sit a lot, and I trimmed the nails of a pair of cats last summer because the owners were gone long enough for it to be necessary. I found both cats to be rather easy to trim, and it was over fairly quickly. When they got back, I mentioned it, and they were both super surprised.. they said they can never get more than a paw done at once, and the back feet are the hardest. Maybe it's just determination? baxxy fucked around with this message at 19:50 on Jan 11, 2014 |
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Jan 11, 2014 19:46
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I will never understand why Butts' previous owner had the time/patience to train him as well as they did but didn't have him fixed. He is almost pathologically obsessed with his scratching post. The one time he reached up to claw the couch, all it took was a stern "no" and he immediately stopped.  PS. All his liver and blood levels are smack dab in the normal range, and it looks like the feeding tube is gone for good!
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Jan 11, 2014 20:04
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Is there such a thing as food being too rich for cats? I normally feed Toast Wellness Core dry food and a small can of Wellness cubed chicken at nights two or three times a week, but I was concerned he wasn't getting enough water so I started offering the can every night. Now he's got loose stools. I'm going to switch back to only offering the canned food a few times a week to see if that was the issue. I've tried going full wet food with a few different brands, too, but he just stops eating it after a while. I was sick earlier this week, so Toast kept me company. He's a major jerk, but he has his moments. 
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Jan 11, 2014 20:10
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He might just be allergic to something in it? Try another flavor.
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Jan 11, 2014 20:25
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Captain von Trapp posted:I apologize if this has been covered before, but I read the FAQ posts and didn't see anything about it. I have a cat who's just terrified of long car rides. Obviously I don't subject the poor guy to these things unless it can't be helped (basically once a year at Christmas), but he's absolutely beside himself. He sits in my lap the whole way crying, hyperventilating, and making scary faces. The vet gave us some acepromazine, 10mg. The problem with acepromazine is that it doesn't actually take away the anxiety. I don't really like it for car rides; I think it's kinda mean to just sedate them and not address the anxiety.
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Jan 11, 2014 21:04
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Braki posted:The problem with acepromazine is that it doesn't actually take away the anxiety. I don't really like it for car rides; I think it's kinda mean to just sedate them and not address the anxiety. Any alternatives? I have Xanax/alprazolam available (the human version, from a legitimate prescription), and could try giving him that at a standard cat dose. Of course I'm leery of acting without vet approval, but provided the pill filler isn't dangerous to cats I don't see much reason to think it'd be dangerous.
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Jan 11, 2014 22:25
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Braki posted:The problem with acepromazine is that it doesn't actually take away the anxiety. I don't really like it for car rides; I think it's kinda mean to just sedate them and not address the anxiety. Although if the cat is going to suffer the anxiety with or without the acepromazine surely it is best to use it anyway if it isn't going to make it worse. Even if it doesn't help with the cat's anxiety directly, it will still reduce the risk of the cat hyperventilating or otherwise injuring itself as a result of the anxiety. Of course, I agree it would be best to help the anxiety too if that is possible - if you (Captain von Trapp) discuss this with your vet they should be able to tell you what options are appropriate for your cat. If there's no appropriate way of addressing the anxiety as well, I would still consider the sedation anyway. I'm not advocating sedating for minor inconvenience but if you are concerned that either the cat may hurt itself during the journey or that you (or whoever is driving) will be too worried/distracted to drive safely then I think it is a reasonable option if agreed with a vet. Even if overall it does end up helping the owner more than the cat I still wouldn't call it selfish or inappropriate as long as it doesn't actually make it worse for the cat. If it helps the driver of the car be less stressed and distracted, the journey will be safer and better for everyone and you'll be less exhausted and better equipped to deal with the cat's needs when you arrive than if the cat had been howling and trying to escape the whole way there.
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Jan 11, 2014 22:28
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Captain von Trapp posted:Any alternatives? I have Xanax/alprazolam available (the human version, from a legitimate prescription), and could try giving him that at a standard cat dose. Of course I'm leery of acting without vet approval, but provided the pill filler isn't dangerous to cats I don't see much reason to think it'd be dangerous. Unfortunately, since those are controlled substances, the DEA takes it very seriously when those medications are recommended to be used off label - as in, your prescription for your cat, as opposed to getting your cat their own prescription. Therefore, I'm not going to comment on the safety or danger of giving those specific medications, even at doses normal for cats.
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Jan 12, 2014 00:29
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Yeah, I didn't particularly think it was a good idea but I figured it was worth putting out there. I'll stick with the acepromazine and do my best to make sure his carrier is as comfortable and quiet as possible in the car.
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Jan 12, 2014 01:56
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With the help of my neighbour and fellow feliphile (but not in a weird way), I just put Soft Claws on the front paws of my two cats. It was a huge pain in the behind and I can't even imagine trying to solo. Before these wear off I'm going to replace everything I own with titanium so that they can scratch whatever they want all the time.
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Jan 12, 2014 01:58
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HelloSailorSign posted:Unfortunately, since those are controlled substances, the DEA takes it very seriously when those medications are recommended to be used off label - as in, your prescription for your cat, as opposed to getting your cat their own prescription. Therefore, I'm not going to comment on the safety or danger of giving those specific medications, even at doses normal for cats. Now I'm curious... Is it illegal to give your cat a controlled substance? Obvious using your cat's Xanax is wrong, but where's the crime in the other way around?
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Jan 12, 2014 03:05
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| # ? May 16, 2024 03:11 |
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in_cahoots posted:Now I'm curious... Is it illegal to give your cat a controlled substance? Obvious using your cat's Xanax is wrong, but where's the crime in the other way around? As long as it's prescribed by someone with a valid license to prescribe controlled substances, you can certainly use a controlled substance on a cat. Basically, the DEA wants to know exactly who is getting what med due to concerns of abuse. So although the vast majority of people wouldn't be using their controlled meds maliciously (though sometimes retardedly) on their pets, because who would want to try and get their pets addicted to whatever, but the DEA can't tell if it is really going to the pet or being diverted to somewhere else. Also, sometimes the doses are vastly different. I know that some vets can have serious problems with pharmacists re-writing prescriptions or telling people that the vet is trying to kill the dog or cat when it's because the pharmacist assumes person dose = dog dose = cat dose.
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Jan 12, 2014 03:41
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