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wilderthanmild posted:This cat is being the saddest animal right now after her spay. Only thing she does is sit, whimper, eat/drink(lightly) and go to the litter box. She's in a cone and on painkillers though, so it's kinda expected. It's just sad she can't understand why it's happening. It could be worse... I had this for NINE WEEKS after Isaac broke his leg. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B_cBgIDnuA Nothing sucks more than a cat in a cage that doesnt want to be there.
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Jan 8, 2016 11:49
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Ferremit posted:Nothing sucks more than a cat in a cage that doesnt want to be there.  Whenever we take our two in a car they CRY and CRY for at least the first two hours of the journey. Loki's sad meows are very small and sweet and tragic but Cinnamon's are VERY LOUD AND INDIGNANT AND SHRILL and last time we moved house two hours of that had myself and my fiancé on the verge of madness.
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Jan 8, 2016 12:38
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Ferremit posted:
She sleeps in a cage at night and really does not like it at all. She's kind of used to the cone now on the bright side. She still hates it, but is no longer acting like her world is over.
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Jan 8, 2016 14:14
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It's been four weeks since I brought home a new cat (three years old, desexed female) and she still wants absolutely nothing to do with me. Her previous foster carer assures me that she's really very affectionate and I've been trying to organise her coming over to see her and maybe try to coax her out from the desk she's living behind but she's not an easy person to get in contact with or organise anything with. I was using feliway, which has run out but I have more on the way that should arrive in the next few days, but it didn't seem to make any difference at all while it lasted. She's happy to go fast to sleep even if she knows I'm right there but if I move a hand anywhere near her she gets up defensively and moves away from me. She won't even sniff my hand or anything. I've been spending at least a few hours a day in the room with her since I brought her home, just doing my own thing and occasionally talking quietly to her. I've tried bribing her with food but even with her favourite food she won't touch it until I'm out of the room. The only time she's willing to emerge when I'm in the room is to dash to the litterbox, and that requires a good minute or two of staring nervously out at me to make sure I'm not going to move from where I am first. I really like this cat and from what I know of her I think she'd be a really great addition to my household, but I'm starting to wonder if this is reaching the point where she's just never going to be happy here. I'm in Australia and summer's only just getting started and it feels unfair to keep her shut in a room away from the air con (although I have been doing my best to keep the room as cool as possible in various ways) for what might turn out to be the whole of summer at this rate. I mean, if it's taking this long for her to even want to cautiously sniff me or approach me, how long is it going to take before she's actually comfortable with me? With my two housemates who she's hardly met? With the other cat?
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Jan 9, 2016 09:08
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Took my "Lovebug" used cat about 3 months to truely settle into our house and to become her natural self- we were about ready to heave her back to the pound in the first fortnight because she was a vicious aggressive angry thing, until i discovered that the neighbours roaming cat was pissing all over my doors, and that smell was doing smudges head in. Once i beat up the neighbours cat and gave it a very good reason to stay away from my house she started to settle down, but it turned out she had a REALLY traumatic early life too- Stray, then adopted by a family, who then decided they didnt want her anymore after about 3 months, so they dumped her on the RSPCA where she spent another 7 months in the cattery until we got her. Now she does the hungry dance on my face at 5:45am...
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Jan 10, 2016 00:40
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The thing is she's not aggressive or angry, in fact she's generally pretty relaxed as long as I'm not trying to interact with her in any way, shape or form. She'll go right to sleep and flop out on the floor, sometimes I'll find her on the windowsill watching cat TV, she seems to have settled in okay in general except for wanting nothing to do with the person who's been feeding her and hanging out with her every day. Her foster person (who's basically running a small cat shelter out of her house; it's not a hoarding situation though, I went there and she did definitely have reasonable space for all of them since she's converted her back patio into a massive cat run) told me she and her littermates came to her as kittens and all the others were adopted as kittens but she's had this one for all three years of her life. So she hasn't had any trauma or any reason not to trust humans or anything, she's just miserable here. And it's not just that it's taking her a month to settle in, it's that it's been nearly a month and she's showing no sign whatsoever of wanting any contact with humanity.
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Jan 10, 2016 02:41
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Organza Quiz posted:The thing is she's not aggressive or angry, in fact she's generally pretty relaxed as long as I'm not trying to interact with her in any way, shape or form. She'll go right to sleep and flop out on the floor, sometimes I'll find her on the windowsill watching cat TV, she seems to have settled in okay in general except for wanting nothing to do with the person who's been feeding her and hanging out with her every day. Her foster person (who's basically running a small cat shelter out of her house; it's not a hoarding situation though, I went there and she did definitely have reasonable space for all of them since she's converted her back patio into a massive cat run) told me she and her littermates came to her as kittens and all the others were adopted as kittens but she's had this one for all three years of her life. So she hasn't had any trauma or any reason not to trust humans or anything, she's just miserable here. And it's not just that it's taking her a month to settle in, it's that it's been nearly a month and she's showing no sign whatsoever of wanting any contact with humanity. She doesn't sound miserable, you do. You want a cuddly lap cat and she's not cooperating. Leave her alone. She'll get as sociable as she wants to. Most cats are pretty stand-offish and only really pay attention to you when they want something from you - like food. Cats operate on reverse psychology. The more you pursue them, the more they run away. If you ignore them, they will demand you pay attention to them.
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Jan 10, 2016 02:51
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One of my cats took nearly a year before he warmed up to me. Before that whenever I was around he'd just hide. Now he's a ridiculous leg bumping pet demanding softie.
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Jan 10, 2016 02:53
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I think I'm going to have to take Poinsettia back to the shelter.  Apricot (resident) and Poinsettia (newcomer) were having spats and didn't like each other, particularly when Poinsettia would harass Apricot. I chilled out, figured it would take a while for them to get used to each other and get their pecking order sorted. A couple days ago, I noticed Poinsettia, who had started spending most of her time out of hiding, would sleep with me, etc. hiding ALL THE TIME, and whenever she saw Apricot would do the super slow walk. She's terrified of everything now. And I figured out why - this morning, I noticed there was dried blood on my wood living room floor that had to have been from one of them. I can deal with them being annoyed, but I don't want them hurting each other, and I don't have the time or space to redo introductions (and I did them really slow the first time). I feel like absolute garbage.
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Jan 10, 2016 03:11
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Deteriorata posted:She doesn't sound miserable, you do. You want a cuddly lap cat and she's not cooperating. Leave her alone. She'll get as sociable as she wants to. Most cats are pretty stand-offish and only really pay attention to you when they want something from you - like food. So once again apparently you haven't actually read anything I wrote. Nothing you've said here is actually relevant to the situation (beyond me sounding miserable. I wouldn't say I'm actually miserable but I am stressed and venting on the internet), please reread and try again. Also, what the gently caress is up with "cats will only interact with you if they want food"? Have you ever even spoken to someone who owns a pet cat? SynthOrange posted:One of my cats took nearly a year before he warmed up to me. Before that whenever I was around he'd just hide. Now he's a ridiculous leg bumping pet demanding softie. Thank you, this is actually helpful. The thing I'm concerned about is that I actually can't afford to keep a cat isolated in this room over the entire summer, especially since it's turning into an especially hot and humid and awful summer. And I don't want to let her into the rest of the house because I have two housemates and another cat and if she's this stressed out by one person in the room with her, how stressed out is she going to be with an entire house and household to worry about? There's also the issue where this house has basically no flyscreen in it and we often close the bedrooms off so that we can have the windows open to let some air in, which is going to be much more difficult if we have to search for a terrified hiding cat every time first. If I'd known she was going to hide for this long, I wouldn't have taken her at the start of December. How did you deal with a whole year of a cat hiding from you?
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Jan 10, 2016 04:30
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Have you tried introducing her to the rest of the housemates yet, including the other cat? She may react differently. My situation was easier because it's just me and two cats in this place, and my aloof cat interacted more with the other cat than he did with me for the first few months.
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Jan 10, 2016 04:33
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Organza Quiz posted:So once again apparently you haven't actually read anything I wrote. Nothing you've said here is actually relevant to the situation (beyond me sounding miserable. I wouldn't say I'm actually miserable but I am stressed and venting on the internet), please reread and try again. Also, what the gently caress is up with "cats will only interact with you if they want food"? Have you ever even spoken to someone who owns a pet cat? Relax, I was being facetious. Some cats crave attention, most don't. Our cats are generally content just to be in the same room with us. They don't like being touched or pestered constantly. They sometimes will approach me for pets, but mostly just fuss when they want to be fed. The gist of what I was telling you was chill out. The cat does not sound too badly stressed out from your description. If you haven't introduced her to the other cats yet, you should. That's probably the source of her stress - she can smell and sense the other cats, but doesn't know where they are or what they want. The sooner you get the introductions going the better off your cat will be.
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Jan 10, 2016 04:46
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Deteriorata posted:Relax, I was being facetious. Some cats crave attention, most don't. Our cats are generally content just to be in the same room with us. They don't like being touched or pestered constantly. They sometimes will approach me for pets, but mostly just fuss when they want to be fed. It came across as condescending, not facetious. My other cat isn't a lap cat at all, she's about as "stand-offish" as well-socialised pet cats get (she doesn't want me to pet her or even really actively interact with her most of the time) but she's still interested in my life: she'll mrrp at me if I enter the room, she's pleased to see me every morning and she likes being in the same room as me just hanging out. A lap cat would be nice but all I want is a cat who isn't scared of me. Introductions with the other cat are kind of stalled because the other cat isn't the most confident animal in the world herself. She's at a stage where if the door is open she'll poke her head in and maybe step into the room a bit, but then she'll get overwhelmed pretty fast and hiss a bit and run away. It feels like it would be a lot easier to introduce them if the new cat was less scared and I could do stuff like feeding them on opposite sides of the door. They both have strong histories of really liking and being good with other cats, but right now the new cat just seems scared of everything so she's not willing to be cautiously curious like my other cat is. I am continuing to let Pepper take things at her own pace though and giving her treats for approaching the doorway etc. In general I've been leaving the door open more and more with a fire guard/baby gate across the doorway, mostly to get some air into the room. Both cats are perfectly physically capable of jumping over it of course but they're both too scared/cautious to at the moment, so I've been doing a lot of feeding treats to Pepper when she approaches it. ETA: I think the heat is definitely a big factor. Today's the first reasonably cool day/night we've had in about two weeks, and she's just emerged from behind the desk while I've been sitting at it and hopped up on the windowsill for some cat TV, which is the first time I've ever seen her come out from behind there in my presence except to use the litter box. I've been thinking that a reasonable middle ground between giving her up and keeping her stuck here potentially over the whole summer might be asking her foster person to take her back until March when things start cooling down. Considering that she's had this cat for three years with no one showing any interest in adopting her until now, and I do want to keep her if I can... Organza Quiz fucked around with this message at 16:33 on Jan 10, 2016 |
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Jan 10, 2016 12:24
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Jan 10, 2016 17:24
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I don't think you'd be doing the cat any favors by moving her back and forth. Is there not a way you can get screens installed on your windows, so that you don't have to worry about where the cats are when you open stuff up? She's already a month into adjusting to your house and everyone who lives there. Sending her back until March will be like starting from square one. She may even be scared of her old foster people now, since it's been a month since she saw them. She might seem like she hates you, but it's more likely that you are actually her favorite human at the moment. The most familiar one. I would start by leaving the door open now and letting them mingle on their own. They will probably slink out in the night and find each other, hiss and run away repeatedly for a few more weeks. If she wants to hide, let her hide. I predict that if you give her the time and space she needs, she will show you that she can be a good normal cat too (as normal as a cat can be). Take down the baby gate and everything and just let her explore at her own pace. If there are spats between the cats, keep in mind "no blood, no foul." Don't be discouraged. Cats are slow to accept change and as you said, she spent 3 years somewhere and now is somewhere new, and there's no way to explain to her what the deal is. She has to learn through experience that no people or cats are out to eat her here. Good luck with everything. She's already coming out to chill on the windowsill with you around, so there's clear progress being made. Hang in there! And post some pictures 
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Jan 10, 2016 17:27
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It sounds like the baby gate thing is going exactly how it should. Keep going on that for a little while; socializing cats is a series of really annoying bullshit followed immediately by "now everything is fine, feed us" in my experience. It's also easier to install a flyscreen into a normal window than you'd think; I used to think it was some elaborate ordeal and then I finally did it this last summer. It's not even all that fiddly. Not like that really helps when you've got a terrified cat running around at your feet as you take measurements.
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Jan 10, 2016 17:30
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CompactFanny posted:I don't think you'd be doing the cat any favors by moving her back and forth. Is there not a way you can get screens installed on your windows, so that you don't have to worry about where the cats are when you open stuff up? Screens do not keep cats inside windows. They are easily pushed off, bent, or torn.
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Jan 10, 2016 17:32
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Every cat I personally know is kept in by the screen. If you really don't trust the screen there are pet window gates you can buy or make if you're crafty. What I mean is, there are options for having functional windows and also having cats. Edit: here's a company in the UK that makes them, iirc that's where the windows in question are. http://www.flat-cats.co.uk CompactFanny fucked around with this message at 17:58 on Jan 10, 2016 |
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Jan 10, 2016 17:48
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You can buy extremely heavy mesh for flyscreens in australia- stuff rated to hang main coons off without it tearing and ripping. I'd also bet one of the reasons you new cat is so antisocial is BECAUSE it can smell and hear another cat in the house but cant see it or interact with it, so as far as she knows the other cat is this huge horrible monster thats going to kill her and eat her corpse. Same thing happened with smudge, she was the most cranky obnoxious piece of poo poo for the first 3-4 weeks until we worked out the house was getitng patrolled around and pissed on by a neighbours cat outside, smudge could smell the other cat, smell the piss, but couldnt see or interact with it and it was a threat to her, so she went into full defense mode full time. Seriously they've been together for a month in the same house now, just leave the door open and let them mingle. Your old cat might be the one doing all the push to interact, but so be it. Also if your cats come from a foster situation for 3 years of its life, and is suddenly on its "own" its probably missing company too. I'd just let them at it, leave the doors open, let them interact, let new cat wander the house and see what happens. Worst case, shes just as bad and you havent lost anything you dont have already.
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Jan 11, 2016 01:44
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Thanks for all the advice. We're renting and we're in the process of negotiating with the owners about flyscreens but that's a long, slow process that we're not at all sure about the outcome of. Trust me, if I owned the place it would have been the first thing I did, not having flyscreen in Australia is practically a crime. I'm really cautious when it comes to cat introductions because I grew up in a household with two cats who absolutely hated each other, in no small part because we did the opposite of everything you're meant to do to when it comes to introducing cats, so now I'm really invested in doing everything the exact perfect right way just in case. But all of you are right, I should be less scared about letting them meet at their own pace without doing all the proper feed them on opposite sides of the door/swap their rooms etc etc etc stuff. I'm going to be working from home for most of the week and my housemates should mostly be out during the day so it's even a perfect time to try it out. I'm still pretty concerned about the heat, but the main problem with it over the last few weeks has probably really been me insisting on keeping the door closed, so if I have it open that will at least let some air into the room. I'm still going to get the foster lady to come over so we can see if she can make the new cat feel a bit better but at least now I won't be so shocked if she doesn't respond well to her. I do know that she must be really scared and lonely since she did live in the same place for so long only to be kidnapped by aliens, I've just never personally encountered a cat hiding for quite this long and being quite this scared about it. So it really is nice to hear that it's not all that unusual and I probably haven't been doing anything horribly wrong or her foster person wasn't exaggerating how affectionate she probably is or anything like that. ETA: Left the door open and Pepper wandered in almost immediately, had a good look around while sniffing things, eventually approached new cat. New cat (whose potential names include Chamomile and Peridot) made her weird little squeaky chirpy noise that she seems to make as a prelude to hissing and Pepper immediately backed up and went away without even a hiss, so that's really awesome. If I can recruit Pepper to my cause sooner rather than later it would be great, she's extremely patient with cats who she's decided to be friends with. Organza Quiz fucked around with this message at 09:39 on Jan 11, 2016 |
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Jan 11, 2016 02:23
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Does anyone have experience/advice with exotic hybrids (low F bengals, savannah cats, etc)? My bf's heart is set on something on those lines, but I want to have a bit more info before agreeing to anything especially since they're expensive rear end kittens. I'm wondering how much they'd sink us in terms of regular vet maintenance vs. ordinary kitties like my parents' who see a vet once in their life.
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Jan 11, 2016 17:38
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Atma McCuddles posted:Does anyone have experience/advice with exotic hybrids (low F bengals, savannah cats, etc)? My bf's heart is set on something on those lines, but I want to have a bit more info before agreeing to anything especially since they're expensive rear end kittens. I'm wondering how much they'd sink us in terms of regular vet maintenance vs. ordinary kitties like my parents' who see a vet once in their life. The vet visits aren't any more expensive than a regular cat. I will say my bengal has easily racked up more in damage than the other 3 cats combined. Not scratching, but things like opening fridge and eating deli meat, turning on water faucets to play in the water, stealing car keys and dropping them in toilet, etc. They are active and intelligent and will wreck your life if you don't invest in keeping them busy.
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Jan 11, 2016 18:47
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Atma McCuddles posted:Does anyone have experience/advice with exotic hybrids (low F bengals, savannah cats, etc)? My bf's heart is set on something on those lines, but I want to have a bit more info before agreeing to anything especially since they're expensive rear end kittens. I'm wondering how much they'd sink us in terms of regular vet maintenance vs. ordinary kitties like my parents' who see a vet once in their life. Considering the number of cats in shelters I think getting a "purebred" cat is kind of insane.
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Jan 11, 2016 18:50
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Dienes posted:The vet visits aren't any more expensive than a regular cat. I will say my bengal has easily racked up more in damage than the other 3 cats combined. Not scratching, but things like opening fridge and eating deli meat, turning on water faucets to play in the water, stealing car keys and dropping them in toilet, etc. They are active and intelligent and will wreck your life if you don't invest in keeping them busy. That's quite the trouble making cat. I get quite a chuckle out of imagining a cat stealing car keys from one part of a house and purposefully making a bee line to the toilet to drop them.
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Jan 11, 2016 19:02
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wilderthanmild posted:That's quite the trouble making cat. I get quite a chuckle out of imagining a cat stealing car keys from one part of a house and purposefully making a bee line to the toilet to drop them. Its more funny in retrospect than it was at the time.
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Jan 11, 2016 19:10
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Puppy Galaxy posted:Considering the number of cats in shelters I think getting a "purebred" cat is kind of insane. ^this. There are so many perfectly affectionate, loveable cats in need of a home that - unless you have an extremely compelling reason - you shouldn't get a purebred.
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Jan 11, 2016 23:20
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Dienes posted:I will say my bengal has easily racked up more in damage than the other 3 cats combined. Not scratching, but things like opening fridge and eating deli meat, turning on water faucets to play in the water, stealing car keys and dropping them in toilet, etc. They are active and intelligent and will wreck your life if you don't invest in keeping them busy. This is basically what I've heard. They are smart but still cats so they end up doing cat stuff but in much more crafty and annoying ways.
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Jan 11, 2016 23:33
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I'm thinking of getting one of those Shark cat beds for my cat because it would be hilarious seeing him sleep in there. Anyone have any luck with a particular brand on amazon? I searched for 'Shark Bed' in pet supplies and it turns up like 18+ different ones. edit: oh god there's also a hamburger.. edit2: nevermind, ignore this. Didn't notice that there's one that's #1 best seller edit again: Here's an actual questions - My cat will poop, then spend a long time covering it, then get out, then go back and dig some more.. eventually when he's done he runs around all crazy and yowling. Should I be worried? Danith fucked around with this message at 01:32 on Jan 12, 2016 |
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Jan 11, 2016 23:59
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Perfectly ordinary case of poop ghosts.
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Jan 12, 2016 03:49
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Whatever happened to that guy from Wisconsin or Michigan or something that sold like the really amazing catnip? Does he still offer it? I couldn't find it over on SA Mart. Or maybe I overlooked it.
khy fucked around with this message at 04:10 on Jan 12, 2016 |
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Jan 12, 2016 04:02
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khy posted:Whatever happened to that guy from Wisconsin or Michigan or something that sold like the really amazing catnip? Does he still offer it? I couldn't find it over on SA Mart. Or maybe I overlooked it. That was dee8, he's from Montana, and he's out of the catnip business, unfortunately.
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Jan 12, 2016 04:52
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Organza Quiz posted:(whose potential names include Chamomile and Peridot) Of those two names, you should name newcat Peridot because "Pepper and Peridot" sounds better than "Pepper and Chamomile".
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Jan 12, 2016 06:23
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Khizan posted:Of those two names, you should name newcat Peridot because "Pepper and Peridot" sounds better than "Pepper and Chamomile". Pepper is short for Peppermint! It would be Pepper and Cammi or something usually. It's true that Pepper and Peridot sounds really good though.
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Jan 12, 2016 07:16
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Organza Quiz posted:Pepper is short for Peppermint! It would be Pepper and Cammi or something usually. It's true that Pepper and Peridot sounds really good though. My parents had a Cammie-cat for ten years, although for her it was short for Camellia. Good cat, good name.
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Jan 12, 2016 07:21
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Hyperlynx posted:^this. There are so many perfectly affectionate, loveable cats in need of a home that - unless you have an extremely compelling reason - you shouldn't get a purebred. Even if you have a very compelling reason buying from breeders supports the breeding industry which enables the people that buy purebred cats for the non-compelling reasons.
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Jan 12, 2016 18:47
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So I took my cat to the vet the other day because she wasn't eating much and acting blue. The X-ray revealed that she had a penny in her stomach! Why?! What could she have possibly found appetizing in a penny? Time to clean the poo poo out of my house for my dumb cat.
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Jan 12, 2016 18:56
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My husband and I are going on our honeymoon the last week in February and we'll be gone from Sunday - Sunday. My MIL and SIL will be checking in everyday to feed the cat/make sure she's got enough water/scoop her litter box/play with her and hold her so she doesn't go feral from lack of human contact, but does anyone have any tips on how to make this as easy as possible on her? My SIL's cat had basically a nervous breakdown when she was left alone for a week when she went on vacation last year but she also is a bit of a neurotic cat and ours is both great alone and loves people around/handling her, so I'm not incredibly worried but I also am a ridiculous person so I can't help but think "what if she gets mad at us and pisses on our bed?" or something like that.
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Jan 12, 2016 20:56
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ilysespieces posted:My husband and I are going on our honeymoon the last week in February and we'll be gone from Sunday - Sunday. My MIL and SIL will be checking in everyday to feed the cat/make sure she's got enough water/scoop her litter box/play with her and hold her so she doesn't go feral from lack of human contact, but does anyone have any tips on how to make this as easy as possible on her? http://www.theonion.com/article/vacationing-woman-thinks-cats-miss-her-463
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Jan 12, 2016 22:17
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Excuse me, please don't dox me.
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Jan 12, 2016 23:49
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Ned's stitches came out today! Which means he's no longer confined to the kennel and gets to hang out with the dogs face to face. So far everyone's excited and being very friendly. Ned's not 100% sure about being totally out in the open with them, but he plays like crazy from under the kitchen counter or through the gap in the back of the desk chair. I'll try to get some decent video. We've also discovered that he's a picky little rear end in a top hat who will only eat tuna and aloe canned food. Nothing else interests him. loving cats.  EDIT: He's over his concerns about being out in the open with Ralph.  They're cool now. 
GimpInBlack fucked around with this message at 04:15 on Jan 13, 2016 |
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Jan 13, 2016 03:34
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