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How do I deter my stupid cat from chewing on wires? I reprimand whenever I see him do it but I'm not here 24/7 obviously, so far he's chewed through my mother's cellphone charger cable, a phone line and the controls to an orthopedic bed.
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May 11, 2014 10:17
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Cover them with something he won't like chewing on, and ignore him when he does it (unless it's a mains electric cable) so that he doesn't get attention from you?
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May 11, 2014 12:57
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DisMafugga posted:I have a coworker that raved about Diatomaceous Earth. Linked below, but it's basically a dried microscopic algae that is like shards of glass for fleas/larvae. I've never used it personally, but it was spoken of very highly. I like the idea that you can use it outside the house around the yard as well. If nothing else it may be something you can use to supplement your other efforts. DE is a bad choice for open areas. It's just really fine sand and leaves white residue everywhere that's difficult to get rid of. I had to ban my daughter from using it due to the mess it was making. It would be fine for crawl spaces or other places out of sight. When it gets wet it turns to mud, though, so keep it away from anything that might leave tracks. What I found effective on our carpeting when we had an infestation once was flea powder. It's supposed to be used on the pets themselves, but I found that sprinkling it over the carpeting then vacuuming up the excess after a few hours really helpful.
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May 11, 2014 16:44
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Food grade DE is great and safe and you can rub it on pets like a flea powder if you really want- it's actually great for when little baby kittens have fleas and are too young for flea drops. But yeah, ideally DE should be sprinkled around and vacuumed up soon after much like flea powder to improve the effectiveness of vacuuming. But it's absolutely non toxic so if your pets eat it's a non-issue.
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May 12, 2014 02:30
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Seconding vacuuming a ton. Also our vet said to change the bag after each vacuum because the motion can cause them to hatch and they are viable for a few weeks afterwords. My mom, however recently had a really tough infestation and just put a flea collar in the vacuum bag and one in the container with the bag and finally they got the infestation under control.
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May 12, 2014 07:08
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I've just moved in to a place with an atrium garden (example below) inside. It's a rental so there is minimal I can do (everything has to be reversible). I don't want my cats to poop and pee in the garden and continue using their kitty litter in the garage. Are there are things I can do to stop them from using it? 
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May 12, 2014 08:08
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EvilElmo posted:I've just moved in to a place with an atrium garden (example below) inside. It's a rental so there is minimal I can do (everything has to be reversible). I got a bag of river rocks and put them in my flower pots, cats haven't touched them since and you can just pick them back out when you leave.
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May 12, 2014 12:36
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I posted about needing newer/better pictures of Mufasa not too long ago, and yesterday I finally got my chance. Here's my favorite of the lot:
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May 12, 2014 16:54
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 Our new kitten is on the way! His ears are massive.  Anybody got name suggestions?
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May 12, 2014 18:54
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Sputnik. With ears like that, they have to be satellites.
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May 12, 2014 19:06
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Dumbo. Arecibo or Jodrell. (Radar) O'Reilly. Wingnut. Spock.
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May 12, 2014 20:04
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Yoda. Gremlin.
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May 12, 2014 20:09
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mephology posted:Seconding vacuuming a ton. Also our vet said to change the bag after each vacuum because the motion can cause them to hatch and they are viable for a few weeks afterwords. My mom, however recently had a really tough infestation and just put a flea collar in the vacuum bag and one in the container with the bag and finally they got the infestation under control. I've always been told to change the vacuum bag after vacuuming fleas, as well. If you've got the kind with a canister, dump it into a garbage bag, tie that up, and throw it out in a dumpster or outside trash can. Putting a flea collar in the bag/canister sounds like a pretty good idea! You can never be too thorough with those little bastards.
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May 12, 2014 20:13
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Here's my kitty catte Khaleesi!
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May 13, 2014 03:30
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Ratzap posted:That's restrained. When we grow catnip in pots (cat pot in pots, geddit?) we put half inch wire mesh in a sort of bubble round/over the plant and anchor the base heavily. The cats nibble off anything that pokes out but don't ruin the plant. I think he's around nine years old. He's pretty inactive indoors, and just prefers to snuggle most of the time. The dry stuff seems to have more effect on him. He becomes more kitten-like, and possessive of his current cat drug toy.
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May 13, 2014 06:04
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Bakanogami posted:
First of all, congrats on the gremlin adoption. Second, name suggestions: Bartok (he looks a bit like the bat from that animated Anastasia movie). Any aviation-themed name would do also, because those ears look like they could propel him into the air.  Wilbur, Orville, Howard (Hughes is also a good cat name), Earhart (doubly appropriate, haha), etc.
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May 13, 2014 06:09
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Crossposting this from the house-bunny thread if that's okay: I have a big dilemma I need help with. Actually, two dilemmas. Her name is Olive. We've had her for a week. My boyfriend loves bunnies and taking care of one means a lot to him. His previous bunny passed away a couple months ago (at the age of 12!) and we figured it was time to adopt a new one. She's a wonderful bunny.  His name is Boston. We've had him for a month. I love cats and taking care of one means a lot to me. I haven't been able to own one for years at this point until now, when we were pet-less due to the passing of the previous rabbit, and he's a wonderful cat.  Me and my boyfriend are in the process of trying to cohabitate these two, but it's been a nervous affair and at this point I feel like I really need advice. When we first put them together on a "date," it went absolutely perfect. Boston was scared of Olive, but not aggressively so, just curious-frightened. Olive didn't seem to give a poo poo about him one way or the other. We thought this meant she was confident and he obviously didn't see her as prey, so they would be a good match. Unfortunately once she moved in, things changed. She took about two days to acclimate to us, during which time we kept her in her (very large) cage and she was afraid of both human and (the very respectful) kitty to the extent that she wasn't really eating right, just hiding in the corner. So we decided to remove the kitty element and locked Boston out of the bunny's room entirely for the next two days. This perked her right up so we let her out of the cage and expanded her world to that room. Soon she was binky-ing and playing and flopping down all over the room as you can see in the above picture. Once she realized we could be trusted, she was very fond of pets as well, often demanding affection. Unfortunately, this upset Boston because we were often in a room he couldn't get into, and he gets lonely very easily. (The bunny's room is our home office, so whenever we were working, the door was closed and he couldn't visit.) It was making him really despondent, and Olive was 100% acclimated to us by then, so we opened the door back up to give both of them the run of the apartment. (My boyfriend and I both work from home so we can watch them at all times when awake and just keep the two separate via closed door when we go to sleep, which is fine with Boston, because *we're* not behind a closed door, just the bunny.) So keeping them completely separate isn't an option, they have to get used to each other. They are both wonderful pets independently, and Boston prefers to stay outside the office most of the time, and the bunny inside the office most of the time, so they don't cross paths frequently. They do at least once or twice a day however, and the encounters aren't encouraging so far. The problem is that Olive, contrary to all initial impressions, is very fearful of Boston. We think her initial "confident" behavior was just due to being overwhelmed in general. Her foster mother was petting her at the time when the cat came right up and sniffed her. It could be that she was sort of in a trance and just plain didn't notice him. Now the cat doesn't have a prayer of getting that close to her, only about three feet before she flees. He's been respectful of her space, mostly mewing at her entreating her to play, rolling around on the ground, etc., and she's not interested. Not being interested would be one thing, but she's started thumping at him and fleeing when he tries to approach, and...this has changed his behavior towards her. He doesn't "stalk" her per se, but he's started staring at her more intently and laying flat to the ground in what would be a stalking pose. When she runs away from him, he doesn't chase her, thank god, but I'm worried that he will see her more and more as prey and less as the potential buddy he first saw her as if things continue this way. Even if he only stares and never dashes at her, we don't want to stress poor Olive out, as stress is especially bad for bunnies, but she's just inordinately skittish compared to our early perception of her. Is there anything we can do to make this transition easier? Have we already hosed things up and what can we do to fix it? I've owned many cats and my boyfriend has owned many bunnies, but cohabitating the two is a new experience for both of us. 
Jay O fucked around with this message at 15:10 on May 13, 2014 |
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May 13, 2014 14:29
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I don't know a thing about house rabbits so I can't tell you if yours will ever get used to the cat, but I can say that Boston's staring and laying on the ground could still just be him wanting to be friends with her. My younger cat does the same thing when she tries to get the older cat (who hates her) to like her and behaves very, very differently towards anything she sees as prey. My instinct is that if Boston's first impression was that Olive is a potential buddy and not prey, he's not going to change his mind just because she's not being friendly back to him. And if he did change his mind you'd be seeing him go after her with much more intent than he currently is. That said, he might still want to chase her and tackle her since that's how cats often play, so that could still be a problem. Have you ever seen him actually stalk something like a fly or a cricket or anything?
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May 13, 2014 15:17
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Organza Quiz posted:Have you ever seen him actually stalk something like a fly or a cricket or anything? He savagely attacks the laser pointer and flyer toys, and sort of lazily attempts to eat bugs without much success. That's about it. My concern at the whole laying flat thing is that he stares really heavily and intensely while he does it, pupils fully dilated, that kinda thing. When the bunny runs away, he relaxes. But it's a little unsettling, even if he isn't pursuant or creep-up stalking or anything.
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May 13, 2014 15:26
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MEsean posted:Here's my kitty catte Khaleesi! Oh my god these eyes are absolutely gorgeous.
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May 13, 2014 17:38
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AuxPriest posted:She's cute as hell and I love her. I also have a black cat named Shadowfax but I don't have any videos of him uploaded at the moment. I absolutely love this name. Just want to let you know.  Pistachio is really cute too (in name and face).
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May 13, 2014 19:12
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Soon!
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Hello friends. I have a 4yo fixed male, Faraday, of fairly even temperament if rather whiny. We have the opportunity to bring a new kitten into the home. I think Faraday would benefit greatly from a companion, and he is more easily introduced to kittens than to other adolescent or adult cats. I'll have more time to stay home for the next few weeks so I think I have a decent opportunity on my hands here. My trouble: When I brought Faraday home, he was a year old and fully vetted--vaccinated, fixed, the whole shebang. He took to his new home and the litter box without any incident. Things couldn't have gone more smoothly. I HAVE NO IDEA how to bring a kitten home. The litter I am adopting from was found with their mother under someone's porch. We don't know how old they are or what sex. (I'll attach a picture--you can make some estimates agewise, maybe?) I'm guessing I will need the kitten at LEAST dewormed and probably vaccinated before bringing it home. Or is the usual monthly parasite guard and his vaccination record enough to keep Faraday safe? I don't foresee the social introduction between the two cats being a big issue. Faraday is naturally curious and not aggressive with kittens. I'm more concerned about how to break the little one into this new home gently--should I keep him/her in a separate room for a while to reduce stress? What should I expect with regard to introducing a litter box? (I don't know if they're being introduced to a litter box in their current temporary home.) Any and all advice is much appreciated.
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May 13, 2014 19:58
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So far so good with the new kitten. He's still absolutely terrified, but he's gotten used to me enough to snuggle up and play with a shoelace a bit. He still dives for a hidey hole if you stand up and walk around, though. He's not showing as much inclination to explore as I remember our other cats having when we got them. Currently having a little celebratory party since he finally used the litter box a full day after we picked him up.
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May 13, 2014 19:59
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ulilileeloo dallas, keep the kitten quarantined from your cat until he's had a vet check. Kitten will need vaccinations and likely deworming, but being found loose in the wild world also means it's possible the kitten could have a disease you don't want your cat to get. My sister took in an abandoned pet - declawed, housebroken, friendly, and fixed, just dumped into the world. She still took it to the vet before allowing it loose with her other cats and it's a good thing because it turned out he was FIV positive. Now all her other cats are vaccinated against it, but it was lucky she didn't just let him roam around free when she first got him. As for introduction, I'd follow the rules that have been repeated through the thread. Keep them separate for a while (kitten shut in a room so he gets used to being in your house), then short supervised together time until they are comfortable with each other. Just keep an eye on them.
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May 13, 2014 20:06
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Jay O posted:Crossposting this from the house-bunny thread if that's okay: I have a big dilemma I need help with. Actually, two dilemmas. All I can recommend is patience. I had a bunny and two cats, but I was lucky - the bunny assumed he was the boss, and my cat was freaked out that the bunny wasn't scared of him. As a result, I had the bunny chasing the cat. The second cat gave no cares about much of anything except snuggles, so he and the bunny were friends right away. I know it stinks to keep them separated like that, but just keep letting them interact in short intervals. I imagine it will be much like cat introductions - it's taken over a month for Boyfriend and me to be able to let our cats interact more than short periods, and we still keep them separated if we're not there. It does suck, but sometimes it just takes longer than we'd like for animals to be okay with each other. If you put up a baby gate in the office doorway, would either of them jump it? You could use that when you're both home, so they can sniff each other but not actually interact.
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May 13, 2014 20:15
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Huntersoninski posted:ulilileeloo dallas, keep the kitten quarantined from your cat until he's had a vet check. Kitten will need vaccinations and likely deworming, but being found loose in the wild world also means it's possible the kitten could have a disease you don't want your cat to get. My sister took in an abandoned pet - declawed, housebroken, friendly, and fixed, just dumped into the world. She still took it to the vet before allowing it loose with her other cats and it's a good thing because it turned out he was FIV positive. Now all her other cats are vaccinated against it, but it was lucky she didn't just let him roam around free when she first got him. FIV's not a big transmission risk if cats are friendly (transmitted through bites that break skin), and if the cat was neutered and declawed there's a decent chance the positive was a result of vaccination rather than actually having FIV.
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May 13, 2014 20:49
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Bakanogami posted:
Is that a rex mixed with something? I've been thinking of getting a Cornish Rex and they have ears similar to that but different fur.
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May 13, 2014 21:08
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Engineer Lenk posted:FIV's not a big transmission risk if cats are friendly (transmitted through bites that break skin), and if the cat was neutered and declawed there's a decent chance the positive was a result of vaccination rather than actually having FIV. No he for sure has it, even with treatments/regular checkups his health is slowly deteriorating and it's cost him most of his teeth (maybe all of them by this point). His previous owners were just shitheads who tossed him out with no defenses into an area with hundreds of mean ferals.
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May 13, 2014 21:30
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Well, the good news is it turns out all the kittens from his litter have been dewormed and given their shots already! They're estimated to be about 6 weeks old. We'll keep the little one up in our guest room (which I'll be kittenproofing this week, blocking up any tight gaps and hiding cables away). I'm so excited!
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May 14, 2014 01:01
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Three days ago I got a cat. Her name is Andie, and at first glance, she's the cutest cat in the world, nine pounds and a flame-point Siamese with blue eyes. She's actually not new to me; my parents have had her for nine years, and I lived with Andie for four of them. We acquired her originally because she turned up on our doorstep nine years ago, six months old and pregnant (luckily the kittens were spontaneously aborted while she was at the vet waiting for her spaybortion, so we didn't have to worry about that). She came to live with me because my parents are honestly sick of her. She claws their furniture to hell and back, she's incredibly unpleasant (soliciting petting and then whipping around without warning to seek teeth and claws into your hand), and really none of us like her but we're all too weenie to put her down just for being a bitch. So they paid me five hundred dollars to take her to live with me in my apartment. The first day after the move, I kept her in a large closet with a litterbox, food, and water. The second day, I let her into the bedroom, and today I let her explore the whole apartment. However, Andie has spent most of her time crammed into the back corner of the closet. But whenever I get out of bed or am moving around the apartment, she's underfoot, rubbing on me and every vertical surface, and she can't get enough of rubbing her head on my hands when I offer them. When I try to pick her up, it's snarls and claws time. Why is she acting so needy and then turning on me like this? Also, what can I do to improve our relationship? She's never wanted cuddles or anything beyond a few headpats once in a while, and I'd like to have a friendly companion, not this hellbeast.
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May 14, 2014 03:56
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The rubbing is probably not a request for affection, she's marking the territory with her scent. At this point there's probably not a lot you can do to socialize her. Get her some toys to play with and a scratching post. Largely just let her be. Some cats are just loners. She's never going to be a cuddly lap cat.
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May 14, 2014 04:38
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Pinball posted:Three days ago I got a cat. Her name is Andie, and at first glance, she's the cutest cat in the world, nine pounds and a flame-point Siamese with blue eyes. She's actually not new to me; my parents have had her for nine years, and I lived with Andie for four of them. We acquired her originally because she turned up on our doorstep nine years ago, six months old and pregnant (luckily the kittens were spontaneously aborted while she was at the vet waiting for her spaybortion, so we didn't have to worry about that). She came to live with me because my parents are honestly sick of her. She claws their furniture to hell and back, she's incredibly unpleasant (soliciting petting and then whipping around without warning to seek teeth and claws into your hand), and really none of us like her but we're all too weenie to put her down just for being a bitch. So they paid me five hundred dollars to take her to live with me in my apartment. 1. Don't pick her up, she doesn't like it, kind of late to teach her to deal with it.
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May 14, 2014 04:57
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Do you think she could adjust to having a second cat? If she won't be a friendly lapcat, I'd like to get one that will. Or should I give her a few weeks to settle in first?
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May 14, 2014 17:49
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I have a question regarding catnip. I bought a "catnip spray" the other day from a pet store, and tried using it in a spot of the house where my cat usually sits (she's around 7 months). She was completely afraid of that place, I tried moving her there just to be sure and she scratched the hell out of me like there was a goddamn ghost. She was even tense for a while looking straight there The strange thing is that I even tried spraying a bit on the cap of the bottle and let her sniff it. No reaction at all. So is this normal? Is my cat completely afraid of catnip smell or do I have a ghost in my kitchen? I've never read about that kind of reaction on a cat. Note that I cleaned the area completely and the next day she looked more normal but I haven't seen her go there again. I'll check again tonight since I'm at work now. I'm obviously throwing that drat spray away (note that it was from a pet store and not something strange)
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May 14, 2014 18:37
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My cats like catnip but don't respond to the spray. Maybe there was a non-catnip ingredient in your spray that had a smell she hated? Or she could just not be a catnip cat. Not all cats like it.
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May 14, 2014 18:43
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Pinball posted:Do you think she could adjust to having a second cat? If she won't be a friendly lapcat, I'd like to get one that will. Or should I give her a few weeks to settle in first? She'd probably cope. She may bond with cats better than humsns, who knows? I have never had cats that could not get along eventually. They stake out their own home territories and know when to leave each other alone. We just got a new cat yesterday, and our two old ones are curious but not hostile. Lots of hissing and growling as they gradually feel each other out, but they seem to be adapting.
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May 14, 2014 18:50
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Pinball posted:Three days ago I got a cat. Her name is Andie, and at first glance, she's the cutest cat in the world, nine pounds and a flame-point Siamese with blue eyes. She's actually not new to me; my parents have had her for nine years, and I lived with Andie for four of them. We acquired her originally because she turned up on our doorstep nine years ago, six months old and pregnant (luckily the kittens were spontaneously aborted while she was at the vet waiting for her spaybortion, so we didn't have to worry about that). She came to live with me because my parents are honestly sick of her. She claws their furniture to hell and back, she's incredibly unpleasant (soliciting petting and then whipping around without warning to seek teeth and claws into your hand), and really none of us like her but we're all too weenie to put her down just for being a bitch. So they paid me five hundred dollars to take her to live with me in my apartment. I just wanted to respond to this because I went through.. something of a semi-similar situation? I also adopted my cat (Jackie, whom I have discussed at length before, heh) that used to belong to my parents, and I had known this cat and lived with her before I adopted her as well. I adopted Jackie in part because of bad behavior but there were various factor. It was that Jackie was a 5-year-old female with a very mellow disposition and not a particularly assertive personality, so she would get bullied easily. There were two younger male kittens my parents had gotten and it created a nightmare for Jackie, as they were always eating her share of food (which caused Jackie to overeat and get fatter in response) and would just attack and tease her mercilessly. I had been resisting adopting her, but I remember seeing an iphone video they showed me of Jackie getting nipped and scratched by the kittens as she sat on her catbed in the corner trying to sleep and she was just growling deeply non-stop, sometimes erupting into yowls and meows and lots of hisses, but all for naught as she couldn't do anything to deter them or defend herself. And they told me that sort of thing happened all the time which made me SO SAD, especially because Jackie was always my fave cat of theirs, and all polydactyl and cool. We just always had a bond. Anyway I adopted her and it was just freaking amazing. All the negative stuff vanished very quickly. She was just unhappy in her last environment. She also lost like 5 pounds over the next two years, very good since she was grossly overweight at freaking 18 pounds. But my point is, it's a huge change having a new owner and living in a new place. Getting another cat might be a good thing for her, if she has always been unhappy and an only cat. Or not. But give it some time, and see if she warms up to you. The neediness/clinginess is natural since she is in a new place and you're the only one she recognizes. Give it some time. You might be shocked to see her personality just totally change. That's what happened with Jackie, she just turned into AwesomeCat.
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May 14, 2014 19:25
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What are good toys for older cats? We have 2 11 year old brothers and toys like wands and laser pointers don't hold their attention for long anymore.
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May 14, 2014 20:25
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My cats dont really react to toys unless I make them attractively prey-like. Wriggling them behind corners or under a blanket or cushion drives both my cats nuts while just waving lures and wands around doesnt do much. Tossing feather balls around corners out of their sight also gets them ridiculously interested in WHERE THE HELL DID THAT GO?
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May 15, 2014 02:54
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I need some major advice. We have a two year old Siberian Forrest cat, Clancy. He was our only pet for those two years. For those two years he has been an exclusively inside cat. We have taken him out every now and then on a harness, but it wasn't ever anything that he ever asked or begged for. We recently got a Boston Terrier puppy, Betty, now 10 weeks old. Here is the problem - ever since we got Betty and we are having to take her outside over and over again to go potty Clancy has become more and more interested in going outside as well. He started just being curious about it watching, but now it's so bad that he is starting to dart outside between our legs as we go out. I can handle it for the most part, but my wife is unable to bend over quickly enough to stop him and he gets by her almost every single time. We do not want him to get outside and get spooked by something and run away in fear. What can we do to put an end to this? How can we totally kill his interest in going outside, or at the very least stop him from darting out? For the times that we do stop him from getting out he stands at the glass door just pawing at it over and over again just begging to be let out as well. Have any of you guys dealt with this before? I'm sure most of it is jealousy because he almost only does it when we're taking Betty out.
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May 17, 2014 04:28
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