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Ferremit
Sep 14, 2007
if I haven't posted about MY LANDCRUISER yet, check my bullbars for kangaroo prints

Funosaurus posted:

- Age - 4 years
- Sex - male
- How long have you had your cat? -about 1 month
- Is your cat spayed or neutered? - neutered (as of mid january)
- What food do you use? - Blue Buffalo Wilderness wet food twice a day, and Blue Buffalo dry food left out.
- When was your last vet visit? - 4 days ago
- Is your cat indoors, outdoors, both? - indoors
- How many pets in your household? - just this cat
- How many litter boxes do you have? - 1

Hello cat thread. I am having some trouble with mushy cat poops.

He's been having these soft poops the entire time that I've had him (which is about a month), and he always has a little drop of poo left on his butt when he's done. He'll eventually clean himself, but not before walking around and sitting down a few times. I'm wiping his butt after every poo because I don't want him to sit on the bed or carpet with his messy butt.

At the shelter and the first week of bringing him home, he was eating exclusively Taste of the Wild food. After about a week I started giving him Blue Buffalo wet food in the morning and at night, in addition to his Taste of the Wild that's just left out all day. A few days ago I started mixing in Blue Buffalo dry food into his Taste of the Wild, and he's still getting his wet food. His poops have been the same throughout.

He's been de-wormed at the shelter. I've taken him to the vet, they checked his stool sample and overall health- found nothing, and they are not concerned and say he is healthy and doing well. He is energetic, plays, cuddles, eats and drinks well, and uses his litter box regularly, and his coat is silky and smooth.

Any suggestions on what to do to get his poops to be harder and not leave a poopy mess on his butt? I don't want to wipe his cat butt every single day forever.

Want the terrible news? Could be a grain intolerance... Isaac was in mushy poo land and flat out firehose arse mode for MONTHS before we got it nailed down- we've switched to grain free for both cats and his poops are waaaaaay better. He'll still get the runs if he steals toast or something like that, but its no longer constant squirtybum.

Citrus Sky posted:

Hello cat expert goons,

Have any of you had any experience training an adult cat to tolerate bathing? My husband's allergist insists that if we get a cat, we need to bathe kitty twice monthly. I've been longing for a cat for years, but the idea of bathing a cat is ... slightly terrifying. We looked at some great kitties at the shelter today, but I asked about bathing them and the staffer just gave me a blank look. I'd rather have an adult cat if possible.

The trick is YOU have to be confident about it- if you come into the bathroom terrified of bathing the cat, the cat will sense that fear and then its all over. We wash our cretins once every 3 months or so and they dont LIKE it, but they're learning to tolerate it. You need to work out what water temp they like too, too cold and they will protest the experience.

I also got one of those flex tube shower head things that slip over the end of the tap so you can use that to wash em- easier than holding them up under the tap.

its amazing how soft and fluffy they get when you wash em- and you realise just how loving FILTHY they were because all of a sudden the white bits are white again, not slightly cream coloured...

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Khizan
Jul 30, 2013


Dongattack posted:

she feels they should be outdoors all the time

She's a garbage vet with garbage opinions.

Synthbuttrange
May 6, 2007

Dongattack posted:

Dudes, i'm watching a cat for a fair few months, it's my first cat with long hair and he came with a lot of knots on his belly and peenor area that i can't brush out. It's not my cat, but i feel like i should do something about it and the owner agreed also, but didn't have any input on what to do.

So i went to the vet like the OP says, and she says to "forget about it and that it doesn't matter". But i'm not totally convinced cause it's this gnarly hateful woman with a horrible reputation that nobody get's along with and out here in the wild where i live there's nobody else. She especially has it in for me cause i choose to keep semi-indoor cats (there's wild animals around that hunt them and a freeway within kitty adventure distance) and she feels they should be outdoors all the time.

Sooo before i start calling vets I've never spoken to before, i thought i should come here for input.

Wow she's terrible.

Get a beard/hair trimmer that you dont intend on using on a person ever again. Stick on the smallest attachment on to give it some clearance from the skin, then give that cat a brazillian.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0ynJXgGFbg

If that sounds like too much work, you can just attack the mats directly with the trimmer to break them up and comb them out.

Synthbuttrange fucked around with this message at 00:16 on Feb 29, 2016

Dongattack
Dec 20, 2006

by Cyrano4747

SynthOrange posted:

Get a beard/hair trimmer that you dont intend on using on a person ever again. Stick on the smallest attachment on to give it some clearance from the skin, then give that cat a brazillian.

Haha, thanks, i'll try that.

SynthOrange posted:

Wow she's terrible.

Khizan posted:

She's a garbage vet with garbage opinions.

Yeeeah, i don't trust her very much. When my pal from around here went to uni, his parents took their 3 cats one by one to her for various reasons and she put them all down. They were healthy, middle-aged cats, the reasons were "bullshit" according to him and he's still devastated about it. It's the general consensus around here also that she will try to euthanize your pets for seemingly minor reasons. She tried to convince me to put down my 1 year cat cause it was "shaking its head a lot" (this turned out to be nothing), i'm petrified if i ever have to go there with a legit emergency, she'll probably euthanize me, my cats and burn down my house.

Cheers again for the advice and letting me rant.

Lareine
Jul 22, 2007

KIIIRRRYYYUUUUU CHAAAANNNNNN
If you're really REALLY careful, you can try to cut the mats off with some scissors, if you don't have a beard trimmer thing. I emphasize the "careful" bit though because one time, I wasn't careful enough and I cut off some skin. It wasn't that much, she didn't seem too bothered and it healed up fine but I felt TERRIBLE about it.

Synthbuttrange
May 6, 2007

Yeah if you have to cut, get a comb under there so you dont cut past it.

Reik
Mar 8, 2004

robotsinmyhead posted:

My buddy is sick - he has a large hematoma in his left ear that has basically swelled shut. We were in the Vet on Friday, but his surgery isn't until Tuesday. I'm getting a little worried because it seems to be getting bigger and he's obviously in a lot of discomfort and/or pain.

The vet didn't make things seem too urgent, so I'm not THAT worried, but he's miserable. Is there anything I can do for him?

I'd swing by the vet with him tomorrow and make sure it's something that can wait another day.

The blue bunny
May 29, 2013

Emasculator posted:

I have started taking my kitty on walks. She's gradually getting used to wearing the harness, is gradually understanding that the leash means we're actually connected, and isn't as scared of everything as she used to be. But she really doesn't like to move -- she'll dash sometimes, but then she sits down and just watches things. As a result, instead of her walking with me, I end up carrying her. This isn't a big issue, but I'd like her to get some exercise too. How do you train a cat to walk with you? She doesn't respond to gentle tugs or anything, and she doesn't really like kitty treats, so it's not like I can positively reward her for the few steps she does take.

Have you tried putting her on a wall to walk on? I use to carry mine and she would walk on the top of neighbours front walls. Make sure you harness is fitted properly because it can be a battle stopping them from jumping into the neighbour garden.

Puppy Galaxy
Aug 1, 2004

Dongattack posted:

Dudes, i'm watching a cat for a fair few months, it's my first cat with long hair and he came with a lot of knots on his belly and peenor area that i can't brush out. It's not my cat, but i feel like i should do something about it and the owner agreed also, but didn't have any input on what to do.

So i went to the vet like the OP says, and she says to "forget about it and that it doesn't matter". But i'm not totally convinced cause it's this gnarly hateful woman with a horrible reputation that nobody get's along with and out here in the wild where i live there's nobody else. She especially has it in for me cause i choose to keep semi-indoor cats (there's wild animals around that hunt them and a freeway within kitty adventure distance) and she feels they should be outdoors all the time.

Sooo before i start calling vets I've never spoken to before, i thought i should come here for input.

Hi! I just had the vet tech spot-clip my cat's very bad mats. It was like $30, kind of expensive for 5 minutes of work, but he would have murdered me if I did it. Your vet sounds very stupid, you could probably bring the cat literally anywhere else and they would do it for you.

My vet also recommended groomers, who I may use in the summer for a lion cut, because that looks loving funny.

JohnnyCanuck
May 28, 2004

Strong And/Or Free

Puppy Galaxy posted:

Hi! I just had the vet tech spot-clip my cat's very bad mats. It was like $30, kind of expensive for 5 minutes of work, but he would have murdered me if I did it. Your vet sounds very stupid, you could probably bring the cat literally anywhere else and they would do it for you.

My vet also recommended groomers, who I may use in the summer for a lion cut, because that looks loving funny.

Go for a Dragon Cut instead.

BurgerKingBathroom
Feb 1, 2015
Lion cuts rule, especially on orange cats. It's getting to be about that time for my orange cat, he's shedding like crazy with the (slightly) warmer weather.

robotsinmyhead
Nov 29, 2005

Dude, they oughta call you Piledriver!

Clever Betty
The cat is out of surgery and returned home yesterday morning. Post surgical care is a nightmare. He's absolutely freaking the gently caress out over this cone, he can't feed himself or drink without help, and every time it rubs against something, he thinks he's being attacked and starts thrashing around. We don't have a proper cage, so we put baby gates at the top and bottom of the landing on the stairs and set him up a little recovery room - but he somehow managed to scale the gate and hide under the bed most of the night.

That said, he's extremely appreciative of face scratches and he seems to like being hand-fed like Hedonismbot or something, lying on his side while you feed him.

Maximusi
Nov 11, 2007

Haters gonna hate
My cat's really sick. (Yes, I've brought her to the vet. Yes, we're doing all the tests).

Yesterday my cat started vomiting yellow liquid. She had virtually no appetite which was very unusual for her, so I took her to vet, thinking it was probably excess stomach acid (she has chronic CRF). Blood work came back. Kidneys, creatine, etc. are all fine, but her white blood cell count was high. She showed no improvement today, so I took her in to get an x-ray. No bowel obstruction, but her stomach looked 'strange.' Also one of her kidneys is much larger than the other. Pancreatitis was ruled out. The vet recommended that we do an ultrasound, but the technician doesn't have time in his schedule until Saturday. I feel like there's no way I can wait that long if she's not eating. Right now she's hidden under a blanket. I bought Fancy Feast just to get her to eat something, but she has absolutely no interest in food despite getting pain meds and an appetite stimulant. :( Please be ok, Maya.

Only registered members can see post attachments!

Synthbuttrange
May 6, 2007

No alternate vets around?

Maximusi
Nov 11, 2007

Haters gonna hate
I'll take her to the emergency vet tomorrow if there's no change. I'm just worried that she'll need surgery. I really don't want her to have to go through that.

Synthbuttrange
May 6, 2007

Yeah you cant know what she'll need til they find out what the problem even is. Best of luck.

Sing like a girl
Aug 8, 2011

Maximusi posted:

My cat's really sick. (Yes, I've brought her to the vet. Yes, we're doing all the tests).

Yesterday my cat started vomiting yellow liquid. She had virtually no appetite which was very unusual for her, so I took her to vet, thinking it was probably excess stomach acid (she has chronic CRF). Blood work came back. Kidneys, creatine, etc. are all fine, but her white blood cell count was high. She showed no improvement today, so I took her in to get an x-ray. No bowel obstruction, but her stomach looked 'strange.' Also one of her kidneys is much larger than the other. Pancreatitis was ruled out. The vet recommended that we do an ultrasound, but the technician doesn't have time in his schedule until Saturday. I feel like there's no way I can wait that long if she's not eating. Right now she's hidden under a blanket. I bought Fancy Feast just to get her to eat something, but she has absolutely no interest in food despite getting pain meds and an appetite stimulant. :( Please be ok, Maya.



I'm posting this as a suggestion, I'm not a vet but my cat almost died of this and somebody else's cat on a Facebook page I visit just did die of it. Symptom: Cat is displaying symptoms of a bowel obstruction and no obstruction shows on x-Ray. My vet did surgery regardless. Other person's vet did not, it was found in autopsy. Apparently it's really rare though.

http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/digestive/c_ct_pyloric_stenosis

His stomach was so bloated with gas that it would have exploded without surgery. The vet had to cut his stomach valve away and fix it, somehow. Then we had to feed the cat drugs for the next few days to make his intestines start working properly again.

It is really exceptionally painful after the first couple of days, and I can vouch for this from hearing the agonized howling. First day, cat doesn't eat, vomits bile. You take your cat to vet, vet does X-ray, finds nothing, sends you home. Second day you hear the absolutely agonized howling, rush cat into vet. On the evening of that day my cat went for surgery without anybody, including the vet, really having a clue what the issue was. The vet said it was "maybe an obstruction that's somehow hidden in the X-ray" then he found the faulty stomach valve and fixed it.

I'm not suggesting this to scare you, I'm suggesting it just in case, because it can bewilder vets and mimics all the symptoms of an obstruction. My cat has pica which confounded the situation even more. We actually paid for TWO goes at the X-ray and neither showed anything.

duckfarts
Jul 2, 2010

~ shameful ~





Soiled Meat

Dongattack posted:

Dudes, i'm watching a cat for a fair few months, it's my first cat with long hair and he came with a lot of knots on his belly and peenor area that i can't brush out. It's not my cat, but i feel like i should do something about it and the owner agreed also, but didn't have any input on what to do.

So i went to the vet like the OP says, and she says to "forget about it and that it doesn't matter". But i'm not totally convinced cause it's this gnarly hateful woman with a horrible reputation that nobody get's along with and out here in the wild where i live there's nobody else. She especially has it in for me cause i choose to keep semi-indoor cats (there's wild animals around that hunt them and a freeway within kitty adventure distance) and she feels they should be outdoors all the time.

Sooo before i start calling vets I've never spoken to before, i thought i should come here for input.

i know this is from a while ago, but have you tried mat cutters, the tool designed to cut out mats in the first place?

I used this one (there are a couple different kinds) before on my old cat who stopped cleaning herself and had crazy thick mats down to the skin:

basically, you just sort of pick at the mat over and over with the tool and tease it until it comes loose; i was kinda surprised at how well it worked

dpkg chopra
Jun 9, 2007

Fast Food Fight

Grimey Drawer

Retro Access posted:

Cat health stuff


Let me preface this by saying that I would probably do all of what you guys are doing and more, but I really do wonder if it's sane to go to these kind of lengths for a cat (or a dog or whatever).

dpkg chopra fucked around with this message at 05:18 on Mar 4, 2016

toe knee hand
Jun 20, 2012

HANSEN ON A BREAKAWAY

HONEY BADGER DON'T SCORE
You're not alone there. My parents when I was growing up had a spending limit on a cat with health problems and it was $500.

Now, I have the absolute best most perfect and adorable and fluffy kitty ever, so even though I know that that's a reasonable number, I dunno if I could stick to it. But I also know I could go into the shelter and probably get another best most perfect cat ever, so...

I'm also quite used to death in general, maybe more used to it than most. My father, all my grandparents, and several childhood pets have died, so maybe I'm more able to accept that people and pets come and go.

toe knee hand fucked around with this message at 05:31 on Mar 4, 2016

Sing like a girl
Aug 8, 2011
Well this is a $6000 regular domestic housecat. He really is, he's had the surgery twice. The surgery was not on his medical records when I traced them to his chip, but my vet found evidence of the previous surgery and I saw the visible scar myself. What I do know after tracing the chip: the cat belonged to a family with two children. At some point he had this surgery, who knows when. They got divorced, the wife got the kids and the husband got the cat. The husband threw the cat on the street sometime later. The cat came to my door crying repeatedly after I was in my new house with no electricity and water for the first few nights after moving there having tried to move in with my parents to raise the funds to sponsor my immigrant husband despite the fact my father was violently abusive in my childhood. Got abused by father again, at the age of 32. Moved out, acquired stray cat, traced cat ownership later. Guy gave me the full history sans the whole having to pay for surgery and told me "this cat is annoying, you can have him."

I spent two years separated from my husband and in the company of this cat, working my backside off for the immigration visa until my husband's parents sponsored my visa to the USA. We are now in the USA and so is the cat. I owe my sanity during that period I believe, to the cat. He is priceless and now very uninsurable due to a long list of stupid health problems. I would blow my entire savings on him in a heartbeat and I would say, like I said the first time, "I owe it to him."

Of course, lots of people out there would say about the cat "you could have got a new cat" like they would probably say "you could have got a husband who didn't live in another country."

I can't get another cat like this, I've tried. I looked for a companion for him for a long time. Every time I've found one remotely comparable in a shelter, they are spoken for. He's a cat that follows you everywhere (before his medical problems, he used to be an indoor/outdoor cat that would literally follow me to the store and my care workers job and wait outside both buildings) that "talks" to you constantly. I've since bought two pedigree kittens, raised the first with him, have acquired via this process another cat that follows you everywhere, talks to you and lies on you every time you sit down. I'm getting the next one in a week or so, and the cost of both of them together has not yet matched the cost of his medical care. I don't care. I spend a lot of my disposable income on my cats. It's a hobby really that my husband allows. We are voluntarily childless so the cats get spoiled a stupid amount and will probably live a long time, here's hoping anyway.

I made a thread while the cat was dying, where I eventually concluded that I was too emotionally dependent on the cat. I still am, I'm aware of it. The surgery was $3000 and my upper limit of expenditure is "who knows." Probably like $10k and sinking further into an absolute sinkhole throwing good money after bad later, no doubt. The cat is ten years old now. The fault in his stomach might reoccur. And now I have three cats, though the other two have insurance because I *know* I'm insane and would otherwise blow everything I own on a cat. I have nothing against those who wouldn't and I thank god my husband understands.

Puppy Galaxy
Aug 1, 2004

Retro Access posted:

Well this is a $6000 regular domestic housecat. He really is, he's had the surgery twice. The surgery was not on his medical records when I traced them to his chip, but my vet found evidence of the previous surgery and I saw the visible scar myself. What I do know after tracing the chip: the cat belonged to a family with two children. At some point he had this surgery, who knows when. They got divorced, the wife got the kids and the husband got the cat. The husband threw the cat on the street sometime later. The cat came to my door crying repeatedly after I was in my new house with no electricity and water for the first few nights after moving there having tried to move in with my parents to raise the funds to sponsor my immigrant husband despite the fact my father was violently abusive in my childhood. Got abused by father again, at the age of 32. Moved out, acquired stray cat, traced cat ownership later. Guy gave me the full history sans the whole having to pay for surgery and told me "this cat is annoying, you can have him."

I spent two years separated from my husband and in the company of this cat, working my backside off for the immigration visa until my husband's parents sponsored my visa to the USA. We are now in the USA and so is the cat. I owe my sanity during that period I believe, to the cat. He is priceless and now very uninsurable due to a long list of stupid health problems. I would blow my entire savings on him in a heartbeat and I would say, like I said the first time, "I owe it to him."

Of course, lots of people out there would say about the cat "you could have got a new cat" like they would probably say "you could have got a husband who didn't live in another country."

I can't get another cat like this, I've tried. I looked for a companion for him for a long time. Every time I've found one remotely comparable in a shelter, they are spoken for. He's a cat that follows you everywhere (before his medical problems, he used to be an indoor/outdoor cat that would literally follow me to the store and my care workers job and wait outside both buildings) that "talks" to you constantly. I've since bought two pedigree kittens, raised the first with him, have acquired via this process another cat that follows you everywhere, talks to you and lies on you every time you sit down. I'm getting the next one in a week or so, and the cost of both of them together has not yet matched the cost of his medical care. I don't care. I spend a lot of my disposable income on my cats. It's a hobby really that my husband allows. We are voluntarily childless so the cats get spoiled a stupid amount and will probably live a long time, here's hoping anyway.

I made a thread while the cat was dying, where I eventually concluded that I was too emotionally dependent on the cat. I still am, I'm aware of it. The surgery was $3000 and my upper limit of expenditure is "who knows." Probably like $10k and sinking further into an absolute sinkhole throwing good money after bad later, no doubt. The cat is ten years old now. The fault in his stomach might reoccur. And now I have three cats, though the other two have insurance because I *know* I'm insane and would otherwise blow everything I own on a cat. I have nothing against those who wouldn't and I thank god my husband understands.

I think spending a bunch of money on a pet is totally understandable no matter how illogical it actually is. In fact, I think it's a sign that you're an empathetic human being, which is a good thing.

If my cat needed life saving surgery tomorrow I would find a way to pay for it, even though he's a complete rear end in a top hat who wouldn't even appreciate it.

curlingiron
Dec 15, 2006

b l o o p

The desire to be a good pet owner one day was basically the only reason I started consciously saving money in college instead of spending it all on stupid stuff. Which is good, since my dumb (wonderful, perfect) shelter-mutt boycat came with a $500 surgery to fix an improperly healed eyelid, and a later e-vet visit and cardiologist exam that was upwards of $2000. I'd spend it again in a heartbeat, and would do the same for my girlcat.

Sing like a girl
Aug 8, 2011

Puppy Galaxy posted:

I think spending a bunch of money on a pet is totally understandable no matter how illogical it actually is. In fact, I think it's a sign that you're an empathetic human being, which is a good thing.

If my cat needed life saving surgery tomorrow I would find a way to pay for it, even though he's a complete rear end in a top hat who wouldn't even appreciate it.

The horrible thing is, when the inevitable happens and you have to spend thousands on a cat, you have to weigh up whether you are actually just throwing the money away and how that's going to sit with your family members. I went into a terrible panic re. Paying $3000 when the cat was probably going to die. At least I know that IF it happens again there is a vet whose first reaction will be "surgery" and now who knows how to fix it. I think I was lucky having read the recent anecdote of the Sphynx cat who had it and died before the vet could diagnose it. I'm.pretty sure this was the first case my vet ever saw of it because he geeked out over describing the whole surgery to us. It's rare, but when it happens it normally occurs in young cats, and it normally occurs in Siamese, and my cat is neither.

I also know the symptoms that lead up to this now. My cat would sometimes regurgitate his food, and I'd think "well, he ate too fast." Since the surgery he NEVER has once regurgitated his food.

Because of the whole "I gambled $3000 on a slim hope my cat would live" thing, I bought insurance for the kitten I got last year. I have decent savings now but I'd rather just not have to consider whether the expenditure might be a gamble and lose situation because it piled on added stress. I didn't need that, and this whole situation happened like two weeks before Christmas to boot.

cool new Metroid game
Oct 7, 2009

hail satan

hey cat thread which I imagine to be full of insane cat ladies, whats up. my cat ripped out one of her claws today. thought she was just giving her feet a vigorous cleaning but then a claw flew across the room. why is my stupid cat self harming? I'd check her feet but she's never liked anyone loving around with her feet and I'd likely get my face clawed off if I went poking around. she's walking fine though and doesn't seem particularly bothered by the fact that she has partially de-clawed herself.

she's also around 17 or something so getting old.

CompactFanny
Oct 1, 2008

I would expect it's just a top layer or 2 of claw, not the whole thing. Unless there's blood everywhere it's totally normal.

cool new Metroid game
Oct 7, 2009

hail satan

yeah, been told she and our past cats always did it, I just never noticed before :shrug: she was really going at it though!

Kimetic
Mar 4, 2016
Yeah my cats are always shedding their claws, nothing to worry about.

cool new Metroid game
Oct 7, 2009

hail satan

things you learn after decades of cat ownership and not paying attention to what the stupid things do.

Puppy Galaxy
Aug 1, 2004

Megadyptes posted:

hey cat thread which I imagine to be full of insane cat ladies, whats up. my cat ripped out one of her claws today. thought she was just giving her feet a vigorous cleaning but then a claw flew across the room. why is my stupid cat self harming? I'd check her feet but she's never liked anyone loving around with her feet and I'd likely get my face clawed off if I went poking around. she's walking fine though and doesn't seem particularly bothered by the fact that she has partially de-clawed herself.

she's also around 17 or something so getting old.

Yeah, as others have said claws shed in layers so a discarded claw layer looks a hell of a lot like a claw. When my cat has long nails (he also won't allow me to mess with his feet) I find them around his favorite scratching spots once in a while.

MrSlam
Apr 25, 2014

And there you sat, eating hamburgers while the world cried.
My cat usually hates being touched, let alone petted, but ever since she got a bunch of mats in her fur over winter and I took the time to cut them out she's been cuddling every morning and rubbing up against me when I'm in the living room. No other signs of distress. She just picks at her dry food all day long (she absolutely refuses all wet food) so it's hard to say if she's eating more or less than usual.

Of course every cat affection article on the internet says to take her to the vet because she's trying to get my attention because she's in horrible blinding pain. Is this one of those things I shouldn't worry about?

Ferremit
Sep 14, 2007
if I haven't posted about MY LANDCRUISER yet, check my bullbars for kangaroo prints

$25 a cat month at the local shelter... Thats like $100 for a crazy cat lady starter pack!

Seriously resisting the temptation of a ginger cat... ive been watching too much Cole and Marmalade...

Mister Kingdom
Dec 14, 2005

And the tears that fall
On the city wall
Will fade away
With the rays of morning light

Puppy Galaxy posted:

I think spending a bunch of money on a pet is totally understandable no matter how illogical it actually is. In fact, I think it's a sign that you're an empathetic human being, which is a good thing.

If my cat needed life saving surgery tomorrow I would find a way to pay for it, even though he's a complete rear end in a top hat who wouldn't even appreciate it.

I ended up spending about $2200 on Fred from the time she was diagnosed until she died.

I would do it again.

Synthbuttrange
May 6, 2007

Megadyptes posted:

yeah, been told she and our past cats always did it, I just never noticed before :shrug: she was really going at it though!

To add to other comments, it was probably long/loose and bothering her. If her claw actually ripped out to the bed, there'd be blood all over.

Hyperlynx
Sep 13, 2015

Megadyptes posted:

things you learn after decades of cat ownership and not paying attention to what the stupid things do.

If she'd actually pulled her claw out, there would have been blood everywhere. It would be like pulling off your whole fingernail with pliers.

Yeesh. Now I have the heebie jeebies.

Suzuran
Sep 14, 2012
I'm pretty sure Tom and I are spending our last moments together. He's very old; at least 15. I posted here about his brother Bob's passing back in August. Over the past few days he's gotten very weak and lost interest in food and treats; His breathing is very labored and he's cold to the touch in his extremities. The vet wasn't open so I've been trying to keep him warm and comfortable. Now he's too weak to move or sit upright. The vet opens in another couple hours but I'm not sure he'll make it. I'm also torn between taking him to the vet or just waiting for the inevitable - I don't want his last experiences to be fear and pain, but I don't want him to suffer unnecessarily either. Taking Bob was relatively easy because he was "gone" already, but Tom seems still aware of his surroundings. I don't know if I want to inflict the trip on him. He doesn't seem to be suffering so far, he just seems very weak and tired, but I don't know if it will get worse, and I don't know how long he'll last.

Partial Octopus
Feb 4, 2006



My cat is driving my loving insane. I'm almost at my limit and I don't know what to do. For years my cat has always been a pain in the rear end in the morning but she's been getting a lot worse over the last year. Somehow she recently developed a habit of waking me up at 5:30 every morning for food. She's on the same feeding schedule that I have used for years without any issues like this. After I wake up and feed her she will let me sleep for about an hour and then wake me up again for attention. If I ignore her she makes as much noise as possible. Meowing, scratching at everything, knocking every item off of my nightstand, jumping on me. It's loving terrible. If I just wake up and just lay in bed using my laptop ignoring her she just falls asleep next to me. But if I keep sleeping she never lets up. I swear she just wants to make me miserable and it's working. My sleep schedule has been completely destroyed and I'm exhausted every day. . My cat allergies have gotten worse and worse over the years as well. I really think I need to part ways with the animal but I don't think I can. I know what happens when you surrender cats to a shelter and I don't know anyone else who would take her. I've had this cat for 6 years and while I love her dearly I just can't deal with this anymore.

What should I do?

Partial Octopus fucked around with this message at 15:30 on Mar 7, 2016

CompactFanny
Oct 1, 2008

She's learned that waking you up works to get her some food and attention. Close your bedroom door at night and don't respond to her sounds. A popular and effective trick is to use a vacuum cleaner, if she's scared of it like most cats are. Turn it on and leave it just outside your bedroom door, and run the cord under the door to you. Have the plug where you can reach to plug it in. If she starts scratching the door or making noise out there plug it in and scare the crap out of her. Shouldn't take long before she associates your closed door with "be quiet or else a scary thing happens."

Playing with her before bed and getting her tired will help her sleep longer during the night too. It will take some time to break that habit of "I'm bored, better go wake up the human!"

If you don't like the idea of keeping the door closed for whatever reason, the only way to really break the habit is to not respond to her even if she jumps on you. Pretend you're dead until she gives up and only get up and feed her if she's leaving you alone. When you resist giving attention she will try harder, but eventually will give up if you stick with it.

One last idea is a timed automatic feeder. Cats learn really quickly that it's a machine that dispenses the food and not you, and will quit bothering you to feed them since it's not your job.

dpkg chopra
Jun 9, 2007

Fast Food Fight

Grimey Drawer

Suzuran posted:

I'm pretty sure Tom and I are spending our last moments together. He's very old; at least 15. I posted here about his brother Bob's passing back in August. Over the past few days he's gotten very weak and lost interest in food and treats; His breathing is very labored and he's cold to the touch in his extremities. The vet wasn't open so I've been trying to keep him warm and comfortable. Now he's too weak to move or sit upright. The vet opens in another couple hours but I'm not sure he'll make it. I'm also torn between taking him to the vet or just waiting for the inevitable - I don't want his last experiences to be fear and pain, but I don't want him to suffer unnecessarily either. Taking Bob was relatively easy because he was "gone" already, but Tom seems still aware of his surroundings. I don't know if I want to inflict the trip on him. He doesn't seem to be suffering so far, he just seems very weak and tired, but I don't know if it will get worse, and I don't know how long he'll last.

I figure you've already dealt with this, but whatever you chose I hope it worked out for the best. Good luck, dude.

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Reik
Mar 8, 2004

Partial Octopus posted:

My cat is driving my loving insane. I'm almost at my limit and I don't know what to do. For years my cat has always been a pain in the rear end in the morning but she's been getting a lot worse over the last year. Somehow she recently developed a habit of waking me up at 5:30 every morning for food. She's on the same feeding schedule that I have used for years without any issues like this. After I wake up and feed her she will let me sleep for about an hour and then wake me up again for attention. If I ignore her she makes as much noise as possible. Meowing, scratching at everything, knocking every item off of my nightstand, jumping on me. It's loving terrible. If I just wake up and just lay in bed using my laptop ignoring her she just falls asleep next to me. But if I keep sleeping she never lets up. I swear she just wants to make me miserable and it's working. My sleep schedule has been completely destroyed and I'm exhausted every day. . My cat allergies have gotten worse and worse over the years as well. I really think I need to part ways with the animal but I don't think I can. I know what happens when you surrender cats to a shelter and I don't know anyone else who would take her. I've had this cat for 6 years and while I love her dearly I just can't deal with this anymore.

What should I do?

When do you play with her? Moving the play time closer to bed time can help burn some of that energy and prevent her from being a bother at night.

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