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Hyperlynx posted:Pros start at twice as much. I'll probably just bite the bullet though. Just make kitty food mountain 
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Mar 10, 2016 18:59
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I have a shorthair cat that gets dingleberries. Not like, stuck on his fur, but literally like dry chunks stuck to the outside of his butthole. They start as specks, then gradually accumulate to pebble size. I successfully yanked them off once a few months ago just using a kleenex, but they get reaaaally stuck to him and it's not a nice process. They're back now. The usual online suggestions of wet wipes/softening them with a wet cloth and wiping them away don't really....work. They seem stuck on there no matter what. Or maybe I'm not being patient enough. Any ways, short of giving him a bath (which seems like overkill) I'm not really sure what to do about these. The vet didn't seem concerned about them last time he was in. He's not obese and he's only about three, so why he can't clean his rear end that great is a loving mystery to me. I mean he's a weird cat so maybe that's just one of his quirks, but it's a little gross. I guess I could leave them since they're dry and it's not like he rubs them on furniture or anything, like he's not showing any of the usual symptoms of cats with butt problems. He just gets dry poop stuck to his butt and doesn't give a gently caress. It seems to happen regardless of what food brand we're on. Anyone ever seen this before? Google hasn't done much for me.
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Mar 10, 2016 19:41
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attackmole posted:I have a shorthair cat that gets dingleberries. Not like, stuck on his fur, but literally like dry chunks stuck to the outside of his butthole. They start as specks, then gradually accumulate to pebble size. I successfully yanked them off once a few months ago just using a kleenex, but they get reaaaally stuck to him and it's not a nice process. They're back now. The usual online suggestions of wet wipes/softening them with a wet cloth and wiping them away don't really....work. They seem stuck on there no matter what. Or maybe I'm not being patient enough. Any ways, short of giving him a bath (which seems like overkill) I'm not really sure what to do about these. The vet didn't seem concerned about them last time he was in. He's not obese and he's only about three, so why he can't clean his rear end that great is a loving mystery to me. I mean he's a weird cat so maybe that's just one of his quirks, but it's a little gross. I guess I could leave them since they're dry and it's not like he rubs them on furniture or anything, like he's not showing any of the usual symptoms of cats with butt problems. He just gets dry poop stuck to his butt and doesn't give a gently caress. It seems to happen regardless of what food brand we're on. Thankfully it's something my cat has outgrown in the last few years, but my long-haired fluff butt would get horrible dingleberries whenever she was about to hork up a hairball in the next 3 days. I'd have to clean her butt with a washcloth every time I could smell it on her 
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Mar 10, 2016 19:46
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attackmole posted:Anyone ever seen this before? Google hasn't done much for me. When our long hair gets a poopy butt we just hold his back end in the sink and spray his backside with warm water from the faucet for a bit and eventually all the poo softens and runs down the drain. You gotta scruff em good or have someone keep a lot of body weight on em so they don't try and struggle. Make sure you clean the sink afterwards.
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Mar 10, 2016 20:36
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My own poopy cat is finally poo poo free, as is my apartment. 
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Mar 10, 2016 20:53
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Anyone got some advice for someone dealing with a grieving kitty? I had to put down one of my two cats a few weeks ago. I still have her sister, and she doesn't seem to like playing by herself anymore. She's nearly 14 now, so she spends a lot of time napping but I can't be home all the time when she's awake. Should I go find some new toys for her, or just let her adjust to her new life as a solo kitty? Also no I am not getting her a new friend, she really doesn't like new people or pets at all. I figure I owe her at least some quiet time in her older years.
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Mar 10, 2016 22:49
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Tar_Squid posted:Anyone got some advice for someone dealing with a grieving kitty? I had to put down one of my two cats a few weeks ago. I still have her sister, and she doesn't seem to like playing by herself anymore. She's nearly 14 now, so she spends a lot of time napping but I can't be home all the time when she's awake. Should I go find some new toys for her, or just let her adjust to her new life as a solo kitty? You can definitely try some new toys (a few cheap, novel cat toys can't hurt), but it may be best to just give her some time. Is she actively engaging in a lot of howling or other bad behavior, or is she just a little less active than usual?
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Mar 10, 2016 22:57
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Antivehicular posted:You can definitely try some new toys (a few cheap, novel cat toys can't hurt), but it may be best to just give her some time. Is she actively engaging in a lot of howling or other bad behavior, or is she just a little less active than usual? She's behaving actually fairly well, its just that if she's awake and I am home she keeps me within eyesight at all times. I do pick her up and pet her a lot but as I said I am not home constantly so I don't want her to become dependant on me being there. The only annoying thing is if I try to ignore her for too long, then she goes into the bathroom and howls- pretty sure she does that because the acoustics are best in there. I think I will drop by the pet store tomorrow and grab some new toys for her. Thanks for the advice!
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Mar 10, 2016 23:24
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My new kitty has the odd habit of running along side me while staring intently at my feet as we are going to the kitchen for her feeding. Is she just a weirdo?
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Mar 11, 2016 00:51
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All cats are weirdos.
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Mar 11, 2016 00:56
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Mister Kingdom posted:My new kitty has the odd habit of running along side me while staring intently at my feet as we are going to the kitchen for her feeding. Is she just a weirdo? She heels? Have you considered the possibility that your cat may be a dog?
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Mar 11, 2016 00:57
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Mister Kingdom posted:My new kitty has the odd habit of running along side me while staring intently at my feet as we are going to the kitchen for her feeding. Is she just a weirdo? I'm pretty sure my new kitten's sole objective in life is to repeatedly trip me.
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Mar 11, 2016 00:57
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Seat Safety Switch posted:I'm pretty sure my new kitten's sole objective in life is to repeatedly trip me. I have to pause when I walk into the kitchen because she will appear out of nowhere right in between my feet. I expect to snap her in half before it's over.
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Mar 11, 2016 01:19
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Mister Kingdom posted:I have to pause when I walk into the kitchen because she will appear out of nowhere right in between my feet. I expect to snap her in half before it's over. Yeah, my cats will run with me then flop directly in my path. They don't seem to like getting stepped on, though.
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Mar 11, 2016 01:52
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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. Sounds like you have a clone of my new cat. My last cat (Fred - may she rest in peace) learned that 7am was morning feeding time. Before she got sick, she would climb onto the bed and start gently poking me in the face about 6:45. New kitty hasn't figured out how to tell time yet. I sleep on my side and at about 5am, she'll walk along the entire length of my body coming to rest on my shoulder and start meowing in my ear. I'll shoo her away and that lasts about five minutes. She'll come back repeatedly and attack my feet or meow like there's no tomorrow. I had to lock her out of the bedroom so that I can get some sleep. So far, there's been no negative affects.
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Mar 11, 2016 04:02
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I sleep with my bedroom door closed. Otherwise, James wakes me up at four in the morning to tell me how much he looooooooves me. It's very sweet, but kitty I really need to sleep 
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Mar 11, 2016 04:56
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Adopted a cat in January and he's had some issues peeing outside of the litter box. He ended up having a UTI and URI - the vet attributed this to general stress (being in a shelter, adoption, new home, meeting a dog for the first time, etc.) and he didn't have any crystals in his urine. He asked what we were feeding him and I said a 50/50 wet/dry diet of Solid Gold wet food and Solid Gold Indigo Moon dry. He seemed fine with this. Everything was good for a few weeks but now he's going out of the box again, so it was another trip to the vet. Different doctor this time since ours couldn't work us in for a few days - UTI and no crystals, again. This vet recommended Hill's Urinary Health food but the food here was super expensive so we wanted to buy it from our regular vet. Now, our regular vet said that for crystals a urinary diet is definitely recommended but for recurrent UTIs a stress-free environment is the biggest issue. He recommended a urinary vitamin supplement as well as switching to 100% wet food (not specifically urinary food) and trying Feliway. I didn't end up getting the food but did get the tablets. Then did some looking into different urinary health foods - not a wide range to choose from and I wasn't impressed with the ingredients in any of them until I found the Wysong brand Uretic blend. Didn't require a RX like Hill's/Purina and not so full of corn and whatnot. Does anyone have any experience with this? I'm not opposed to putting him on a different food but I'd like to get him the healthiest kind possible and since I had 2 different opinions from 2 vets it just got me thinking. I am more inclined to listen to our regular vet but I want to do what's best for the little dude at the same time. Our previous cat was a female and never had these kind of issues so it's all new to me. Sorry if this was kind of all over the place!
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Mar 11, 2016 17:48
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ggschmitty posted:Adopted a cat in January and he's had some issues peeing outside of the litter box. He ended up having a UTI and URI - the vet attributed this to general stress (being in a shelter, adoption, new home, meeting a dog for the first time, etc.) and he didn't have any crystals in his urine. He asked what we were feeding him and I said a 50/50 wet/dry diet of Solid Gold wet food and Solid Gold Indigo Moon dry. He seemed fine with this. We feed our cats Friskies and Purina and they never have any urinary issues. Listen to your vet. The food itself makes almost no difference at all.
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Mar 11, 2016 17:52
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But which vet am I supposed to listen to? One says just feed him 100% wet food and give him these supplements. The other says put him on a dry urinary food blend. I was leaning towards doing all of it at once but was curious about the Wysong food. I definitely want to listen to the vet (I'm not the expert) but kind of had 2 conflicting pieces of advice.
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Mar 11, 2016 17:57
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Tar_Squid posted:She's behaving actually fairly well, its just that if she's awake and I am home she keeps me within eyesight at all times. I do pick her up and pet her a lot but as I said I am not home constantly so I don't want her to become dependant on me being there. The only annoying thing is if I try to ignore her for too long, then she goes into the bathroom and howls- pretty sure she does that because the acoustics are best in there. I think I will drop by the pet store tomorrow and grab some new toys for her. Thanks for the advice! My cat is 10 now, and she's always howled in the bathroom when she wants my attention, so the acoustics makes sense. I dunno, can't speak for your cat honestly, but again mine (she's always been a single cat) keeps me either in eyesight, or where she can see leaving the area unless she wants to take quiet nap under the bed or in the closet (after lots of pestering to open the door). Seat Safety Switch posted:I'm pretty sure my new kitten's sole objective in life is to repeatedly trip me. I'm pretty sure that's all cats. Mister Kingdom posted:Sounds like you have a clone of my new cat. My last cat (Fred - may she rest in peace) learned that 7am was morning feeding time. Before she got sick, she would climb onto the bed and start gently poking me in the face about 6:45. Because mine has to eat prescription food, I feed her half a can of wet food in the morning, and half in the evening. Initially I started supplementing dry food so she'd have something to eat during the day. Of course now that means she'll hold out until I give her both at about the same time. She'll start pawing at my mouth in the morning when both bowls are empty 
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Mar 11, 2016 18:04
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ggschmitty posted:But which vet am I supposed to listen to? One says just feed him 100% wet food and give him these supplements. The other says put him on a dry urinary food blend. I was leaning towards doing all of it at once but was curious about the Wysong food. I definitely want to listen to the vet (I'm not the expert) but kind of had 2 conflicting pieces of advice. Urinary problems generally come from insufficient water in the diet. The recommendation for canned food is based on its moisture content. That's the way I'd go if I had to choose. I'm always leery of buying food recommended by a vet that they just so happen to sell at a rather high mark-up. It seems like more of an income source for them rather than something your pet actually needs, but maybe I'm just paranoid. Try one for a while, and if it doesn't work try the other.
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Mar 11, 2016 18:12
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ggschmitty posted:But which vet am I supposed to listen to? One says just feed him 100% wet food and give him these supplements. The other says put him on a dry urinary food blend. I was leaning towards doing all of it at once but was curious about the Wysong food. I definitely want to listen to the vet (I'm not the expert) but kind of had 2 conflicting pieces of advice. Based on what you've said I'm assuming that your vets are talking about feline idiopathic cystitis (also known as FLUTD and a whole host of other names). There's a lot of conflicting information on it and there are a lot of options to go. The short answer is that both work. Hill's has tested their urinary diets (both wet and dry) and they work to reduce occurrence. It's also extremely common to recommend a wet food that is low carb/high protein as there is some evidence that that reduces occurrence as well. This is a condition though with multimodal management. Other things include increasing water intake and environmental enrichment to reduce stress. The Indoor Pet Initiative (https://indoorpet.osu.edu/cats) is a pretty popular resource for this.
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Mar 11, 2016 18:35
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Deteriorata posted:Urinary problems generally come from insufficient water in the diet. The recommendation for canned food is based on its moisture content. That's the way I'd go if I had to choose. How insistently the 2nd vet was pushing the food in addition to how expensive it was ($38 for a 4? lb bag, my vet has the same available for $21) kind of made me feel the same way. But like I said, I am not the expert so I did want to take everything into consideration. Braki posted:Based on what you've said I'm assuming that your vets are talking about feline idiopathic cystitis (also known as FLUTD and a whole host of other names). There's a lot of conflicting information on it and there are a lot of options to go. The short answer is that both work. Hill's has tested their urinary diets (both wet and dry) and they work to reduce occurrence. It's also extremely common to recommend a wet food that is low carb/high protein as there is some evidence that that reduces occurrence as well. This is a condition though with multimodal management. Other things include increasing water intake and environmental enrichment to reduce stress. The Indoor Pet Initiative (https://indoorpet.osu.edu/cats) is a pretty popular resource for this. Thanks for the input. I'll go ahead and order some Wysong dry and maybe do 75/25 wet/dry (he seems to prefer crunching food and it's a little nicer on the budget) instead of the 50/50 mix I'm doing now. I also ordered a cat fountain since I read that maybe it'll encourage him to drink more. He's a great cat other than the peeing issues, I just want him to feel better!  Currently chilling and doesn't seem to care about how much he's stressing me out. ggschmitty fucked around with this message at 20:02 on Mar 11, 2016 |
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Mar 11, 2016 19:20
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ggschmitty posted:How insistently the 2nd vet was pushing the food in addition to how expensive it was ($38 for a 4? lb bag, my vet has the same available for $21) kind of made me feel the same way. But like I said, I am not the expert so I did want to take everything into consideration. 
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Mar 12, 2016 03:39
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Mix some water in with the food? Also re tripchat: I spent the first 3 weeks with my kittens taking ten minutes to go 20 feet because I kept stopping and apologizing to them when I tripped over them. Now a month later I have decided that if they can't learn to stay away from the front of my feet while I am walking then they deserve to go flying. 
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Mar 12, 2016 03:56
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365 Nog Hogger posted:Mix some water in with the food? This is worth a shot. Our Pizza also has urinary issues, but he refuses to eat wet foot, only kibble. So after a few recurrences, Rx dry food was kind of the only next step. We add a tablespoon or so of water to his food at every meal and it seems to help! Food from a can? Gross, won't even attempt to eat. Soggy kibble? Can't get enough!!
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Mar 12, 2016 04:10
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ggschmitty posted:
That's because he knows he is a magnificent cat.
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Mar 12, 2016 04:17
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Take Deteriorata's advice with a pinch of salt. He's got some weird ideas that all cat foods are the same. PRESCRIPTION AND DISEASE TREATMENT CAT FOODS ARE DIFFERENT. They're also not the same thing as cat foods from a supermarket with added marketing stuff like 'more cranberries for urinary health'. Foods for treatment of cat conditions work.
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Mar 12, 2016 04:24
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SynthOrange posted:Take Deteriorata's advice with a pinch of salt. He's got some weird ideas that all cat foods are the same. I agree that prescription and disease treatment cat foods are different. I have not asserted otherwise. If your cat needs those, it should get them. If your cat is otherwise healthy, however, there is no benefit to expensive food. We have one cat that gets Royal Cannin because she's allergic to everything and it's a very limited ingredient formula. We give the other cats Friskies, however.
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Mar 12, 2016 04:30
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if your cat has crystal dick, you need to follow your vet's advice for the annoyingly expensive prescription food
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Mar 12, 2016 05:34
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Tiger got her eye scratched, I think. I only found out by looking at her eye up close from the side, but the clear part seems to have some irregularity that looks like a tiny scratch. Of course I googled it, with horrifying results, but there are no symptons of infection, her eye is clear, not runny, her vision is good, pupil reactive, et cetera. Could it be an old injury? Meanwhile, I freaked her out by staring into her eyes for half an hour
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Mar 12, 2016 07:30
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When one of my rats had a corneal abrasion it looked like her eyeball had a tiny bump on it. Like an eyeball nipple. IMO take her ASAP to get it looked at by a vet because if there's an abrasion she will need antibiotic ointment. They will stain it and see definitively if it's scratched or not in about 2 seconds.
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Mar 12, 2016 17:33
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Vampess posted:Tiger got her eye scratched, I think. I'm not telling you not to go to the vet, but one of my cats had a little irregularity once or twice. Completely clear looking circle in the middle of her eye. Turns out it was mucus. Just a little bit of mucus buildup on her eye, and it went away within a day on its own. It took a $70 stressed out vet visit to find that out though.
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Mar 13, 2016 01:46
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MrSlam posted:I'm not telling you not to go to the vet, but one of my cats had a little irregularity once or twice. Completely clear looking circle in the middle of her eye. Turns out it was mucus. Just a little bit of mucus buildup on her eye, and it went away within a day on its own. It took a $70 stressed out vet visit to find that out though. Yeah, I could only see a thin looking shadow in her cornea while she was facing to the side. Boyfriend suggested it was probably a hair. I could've sworn it didn't move, but I checked yesterday night, and couldn't find anything (I did briefly think that my reflection was something  ). Checked again just now, and it's all clear. Guess I was worried over nothing Thanks for the reply guys!
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Mar 13, 2016 08:08
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So our cat stopped eating from her plastic bowls and ceramic plates. However, she'll gladly eat from our hands and even from the floor. Anyway to get her to eat from the bowls again or is she just being a cat?
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Mar 13, 2016 14:18
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my cat is old and really large (long and skinny, not fat) and is having trouble using the regular sized litter boxes they sell at the store that he's manage to cram himself into for most of his life. now he's picky and only puts his butt into them which leads to some accidents around the box. i want to get something like a large rubbermade tub with easy access for him from the side but all the options i see online are top entry and he doesn't do much jumping around anymore so i doubt it would be comfy for him. i'd cut up a tub myself but i'm in an apartment and have no tools can anyone link me to a brand that would suit his needs that he could fully enter? his body without tail included is like 2 feet long and most boxes are only made that big it seems. cover is a plus for my sake but not necessary. edit: went with this one from Favorite. hope its works out http://www.amazon.com/Favorite-cat-litter-box-blue/dp/B00L7Q4AT8 Real hurthling! fucked around with this message at 20:02 on Mar 13, 2016 |
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Mar 13, 2016 19:00
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I have a cat who is afraid of boxes (yes, really, I got him from the pound and I have some theories) so I got him a larger, shallower cat litter pan since it's easier for him to pretend it's not a box. I have one like this. Would also be really good for a large cat with mobility issues I think. It's not longer than 2 feet, it's 22", but I just put a standard Rubbermaid container next to it to compare and it's slightly bigger at the bottom than the Rubbermaid is. Never seen one with a cover, but I've never looked for that since my cat would definitely not use it. If you've tried something that size already, you could look for an underbed storage box. Some of those are very large and would be fine for height.
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Mar 13, 2016 20:03
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So I just got back from the vet and they told me Kit Kat needs four teeth pulled, and their cost estimate is nearly $1000. We just adopted her 3 months ago-- she's 5 years old and otherwise healthy. We haven't been to this vet before but the shelter recommended them and they seem like a nice place. I will pay for whatever she needs to be healthy, but this is my first time taking any cat to any vet, so I want to run a sanity check by you guys: 1) The shelter had no records of her teeth having issues when we adopted her. Is it common for shelters to check dental? Is this the kind of thing they would avoid checking too carefully to make a cat easier to adopt out? I'd hate to think a shelter would do that, but it seems hard to believe four teeth went bad in the 4 months since her last shelter checkup. 2) Conversely, does the vet sound legit? They showed me some dark buildup around her back teeth, does that commonly mean the tooth is a goner? The bill is itemized and the charges are: Pre-Surgical CBC Prep Prof $99 Catheterization $75 Digital Dental Xray full mouth $128 Local Anesthetic Block $62 Dental Cleaning and Anesthesia - Level 2 $256 Injection Administered -- Pain $32 Buprenex Amps $74 plus two of the extractions are $48/each and the other two are $69/each. Are these standard costs? I know there are cheapo vets that suck, and I'm willing to pay for quality if the costs are warrented, but I have no baseline to judge by.
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Mar 15, 2016 18:04
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Dixie Cretin Seaman posted:So I just got back from the vet and they told me Kit Kat needs four teeth pulled, and their cost estimate is nearly $1000. We just adopted her 3 months ago-- she's 5 years old and otherwise healthy. We haven't been to this vet before but the shelter recommended them and they seem like a nice place. I will pay for whatever she needs to be healthy, but this is my first time taking any cat to any vet, so I want to run a sanity check by you guys: I can't remember specific prices, but that seems a bit high from what we charged at the two offices I worked in. On a related note, I also have a cat named Kit Kat  She was a stray that showed up on our mulch pile one winter (it's really warm as it decomposes). We vowed we would not feed her so she would move on, but it turns out every single one of us was sneaking food at different times so she eventually came to the back porch and in the end we let her in. We didn't want to name her at first, so we just called her "kitty" or "cat", which eventually morphed into "Kit Kat". She started blowing up. We thought she was just gorging because she'd never had free access to food. Nope! Pregnant. Popped out 5 kittens and they all thrived.....and we named them all after candy because of course we did, their mom is Kit Kat! (and my dad is morbidly obese) Snickers, Chuckles, Carmel, SweetTart, and Twix are now 14 I think? Goddamn I hadn't realized how long ago that was....
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Mar 15, 2016 18:20
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Real hurthling! posted:my cat is old and really large (long and skinny, not fat) and is having trouble using the regular sized litter boxes they sell at the store that he's manage to cram himself into for most of his life. now he's picky and only puts his butt into them which leads to some accidents around the box.
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Mar 15, 2016 19:23
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