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Got money together to get priss spayed, and of course she goes into heat this week. It's a weird combination of "yesss all the kitty love" and "jfc shut the gently caress up"
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Apr 24, 2016 08:43
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I have a small beast who is fairly suicidal and loves windows -- suicidal to the point where he was trying to crawl around on the outside of a 18 story building that had a tiny trim that went around it about the width of 1 paw. My goddamn cat has no sense. So, I'm in a new place now with windows like such:  . There is no screen nor even any obvious way to install a screen. Does anyone have ideas on what I can install in the windows to keep my cat from murdering himself? What I had in mind now was like two crossbars that I can jam into the bottom and top of the window frame, and then put a net/screen connecting the two. Does anyone have a better idea? I'll have to do this for like 8 window frames and they're almost all the same dimensions.
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Apr 24, 2016 14:58
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Do you think your cat would lean against our jump into a screen? Or would something like this work?
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Apr 24, 2016 15:51
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Huntersoninski posted:Do you think your cat would lean against our jump into a screen? Or would something like this work? He'll push, but he won't scratch or jump against it. He'll put his whole weight up against doors, but I doubt he'd do the same for a screen. It's hard for me to guess how strong "sticky velcro tape" would be. Any idea? The problem / benefit with my windows is he'd be fine if he got out. Out of my window there's a a 30-45° slope into a gutter about 3 feet down. Basically my outside looks the same as the windows in the building in the center-left of my photograph, except my building has twice as many windows as that one. I actually think he could get out and walk around OK, except for the problems of him (a) ending up in other peoples' apartments in the same apartment block, and (b) if he sees a bird he will flip poo poo and try to kill it and possibly jump off the roof. This means that if I'm wrong and he gets out once, he'll be OK, so I can try and be 'wrong' without my cat suiciding. It's just not secure enough for me to want him to get out there regularly, not to mention I want to be able to close my windows which I can't do if I don't know if he's inside or outside.
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Apr 24, 2016 16:16
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I'd guess the sticky part is pretty strong, but it's harder to say with the Velcro. I would guess it could probably stand up to being leaned on briefly by a cat, but the more you have to reattach it the weaker it will get. It might be cheaper and better to go to a hardware store and talk about it with someone. Depending on how handy you are with told, they might have better ideas.
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Apr 24, 2016 16:27
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Folks, I could use a little advice. A coworker of mine found a litter of kittens in a hidey-hole outside our office building. Momcat was nowhere in sight, but the kittens are energetic enough to climb out of their hole (which is pretty deep) and check us out. Their eyes are open but they're still pretty small. We think there's six kittens. We're not certain if Momcat had left the kittens temporarily, had left the kittens permanently, or is dead. Do you folks know the habits of a nursing cat, and how often she might leave her kittens? And if Momcat is out of the picture, what are the next steps to take? I've never owned a cat before, and I don't know if I could care for one kitten, much less six. But I don't want to leave the kittens to die, either.
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Apr 24, 2016 20:12
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Saladman posted:I have a small beast who is fairly suicidal and loves windows -- suicidal to the point where he was trying to crawl around on the outside of a 18 story building that had a tiny trim that went around it about the width of 1 paw. My goddamn cat has no sense. You should just keep the windows closed. It only takes one slip to lose your best friend. Cats don't really understand 18 story buildings, they think everything is just a tree.
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Apr 24, 2016 20:15
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Viola the Mad posted:Folks, I could use a little advice. A coworker of mine found a litter of kittens in a hidey-hole outside our office building. Momcat was nowhere in sight, but the kittens are energetic enough to climb out of their hole (which is pretty deep) and check us out. Their eyes are open but they're still pretty small. We think there's six kittens. You should get the kittens out of there. Cat mom's aren't like bunny moms, they should only be leaving their litter to hunt. You could probably borrow a live trap from a local shelter to trap the mom after in case she's still around. Cats usually hunt at dusk and night, was it daytime when you found the kittens?
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Apr 24, 2016 20:18
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Reik posted:You should just keep the windows closed. It only takes one slip to lose your best friend. Cats don't really understand 18 story buildings, they think everything is just a tree. The apartment has no air conditioning and it's in the roof so can get quite hot. Keeping the windows closed is fine in winter / spring, but not midsummer.
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Apr 24, 2016 22:20
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Saladman posted:The apartment has no air conditioning and it's in the roof so can get quite hot. Keeping the windows closed is fine in winter / spring, but not midsummer. Could you install a window a/c unit?
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Apr 24, 2016 23:39
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Reik posted:You should get the kittens out of there. Cat mom's aren't like bunny moms, they should only be leaving their litter to hunt. You could probably borrow a live trap from a local shelter to trap the mom after in case she's still around. Cats usually hunt at dusk and night, was it daytime when you found the kittens? Yes, it was daytime. Momcat actually came back at the end of the day.  One of the kittens had fallen down from the nest's location onto the sidewalk earlier, so we (my coworker and I) took it out of the rain and put it in a box in the lobby. When Momcat came back, we put the little guy some distance away so the two could reunite. Momcat seemed pretty hesitant to approach Box Kitten, and we thought it might be because of our presence, so we left. However, when I left work today Box Kitten was still wandering around in the parking lot and Momcat was nowhere to be seen. I almost put the kitten back in the box and took it home (I think it's a girl but I'm not sure) but I decided to put it near the nest instead so it could find its way back home. The rain had stopped, so its littermates came out and it was reunited with its family.I think that's that, unless you guys still think we should rescue the kittens. I am worried that Momcat has decided to abandon Box Kitten, but the only thing I can think of doing is waiting to see what happens.
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Apr 25, 2016 01:30
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Reik posted:Could you install a window a/c unit? No. It's a five room apartment and also I'm only living here for three months
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Apr 25, 2016 01:40
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Saladman posted:I have a small beast who is fairly suicidal and loves windows -- suicidal to the point where he was trying to crawl around on the outside of a 18 story building that had a tiny trim that went around it about the width of 1 paw. My goddamn cat has no sense. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_activation_device
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Apr 25, 2016 03:56
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Does anyone know what makes Old Spice so attractive to cats? Tiger likes to shove her face into my BF's armpits; she'll even pin his arm down. She also loves rolling around in his used shirts, because sometimes she reeks of the the stuff. I looked it up, and apparently it's not uncommon. There's a discussion about it containing propylene glycol, which is used in food and medicine (and in Old Spice, apparently), and polyethylene glycol, which is used in anti freeze (don't quote me on this, I've looked up neither, since I doubt shoving faces into, or rolling around clothes has any adverse effects). I guess what I'm really asking, is; does anyone have any amusing anecdotes about cats concerning Old Spice, or any deodorant or aftershave, for that matter? 
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Apr 25, 2016 04:10
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Vampess posted:any amusing anecdotes about cats concerning Old Spice, or any deodorant or aftershave, for that matter? My cats hate my deodorant. It's pretty much just a stick of stabilised aloe vera gel but if I wave it near Loki he swats angrily at it and flattens his ears. I've never seen him react that way to anything else and it's kind of adorable. Cinnamon just runs at the sight of it. No idea why they hate it so much. Speaking of Cinnamon, it seems her pee issues are back because when I got into bed last night I realised the sheets were wet... so gross. So, now I have to wash everything in the bedroom and hope that drenching the mattress memory foam topper with enzyme cleaner will remove the smell. Cats are now banned from the bedroom til we can get Cinnamon to chill and trust the litterbox again - luckily I still have the oral painkiller from last time this happened. My poor stressy baby.
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Apr 25, 2016 09:12
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Hahaha. Ok, that's the best option. But now I need to find someone who makes miniature parachutes, good for a 6-10 lb weight. Any leads?
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Apr 25, 2016 09:35
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Jet's been vomiting bile (and a small bit of food) for the past half hour. Not non-stop, but more than 5 times. He has never done this before and I'm worried that it might be a sign of something bigger. He definitely looks like he's still kinda nauseous, although he can still climb up on his cat tree and the like. He's moving a little more tenderly than usual, and as far as I can tell he was normal just a couple hours ago. He's going to the vet tomorrow, which is good timing - I'll bring it up with them. Is this something to worry about heavily, or is he going to be okay until tomorrow? edit: It looks like he's back to normal, although the carpet won't be for a little while. He's jumping around and not hiding or anything anymore. I'm considering working from home today to monitor his situation, especially since he just ate again. Pollyanna fucked around with this message at 14:20 on Apr 25, 2016 |
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Apr 25, 2016 13:34
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Vampess posted:Does anyone know what makes Old Spice so attractive to cats? Our youngest boy cat goes nuts for bleach, which is apparently not a rare thing, although he's the only one of our four who gets like that.
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Apr 25, 2016 15:27
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Saladman posted:Hahaha. Ok, that's the best option. But now I need to find someone who makes miniature parachutes, good for a 6-10 lb weight. Any leads? Jokes aside, this is what he have at our apartment. Yeah, it kind cheapens the view a bit, but hey, if you decide to get a dumb animal that has no concept of self preservation then there's a price to pay: 
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Apr 25, 2016 16:02
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Saladman posted:No. It's a five room apartment and also I'm only living here for three months Bummer, You probably won't be able to find anything that will fit the window, you'd just have to make a screen on your own and affix it to the frame yourself.
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Apr 25, 2016 16:19
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Saladman posted:Hahaha. Ok, that's the best option. But now I need to find someone who makes miniature parachutes, good for a 6-10 lb weight. Any leads? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9OUFS9uTb4
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Apr 25, 2016 16:28
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Reik posted:Bummer, You probably won't be able to find anything that will fit the window, you'd just have to make a screen on your own and affix it to the frame yourself. I have seen people use wire shelves cut to the width of the window. The ones I saw were only put in place when the windows were open and the window shut onto the shelving held it in place. When the windows were closed the shelves just got stored in a closet until next time they wanted to open the windows. Hopefully I'm explaining this ok, and hopefully the aforementioned windows open by sliding up/down and not out. I couldn't tell from the pic.
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Apr 25, 2016 17:50
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Ur Getting Fatter posted:Jokes aside, this is what he have at our apartment. Yeah, it kind cheapens the view a bit, but hey, if you decide to get a dumb animal that has no concept of self preservation then there's a price to pay: That looks like a good solution. How is it fixed in place? Did you drill into the mortar between the bricks, or is there a smarter way? (Heavy duty epoxy?)
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Apr 25, 2016 20:10
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Ugh, I think my cat is straining to pee, but I can't tell because he normally wanders around meowing so the fact that he's meowing in the bathroom doesn't really mean anything and he won't go if I'm looking at him. If I get up to go look he'll immediately abandon what he's doing and walk around my feet. He's walked in and out of the bathroom so many times and I hear him scratching but I can't tell if he's gone. I check the litter which is fairly clean (I replaced it last night) and there's some stuff in there but I don't really know if it's new. I need to basically take inventory of it then let him go then check again.
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Apr 26, 2016 00:47
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Saladman posted:That looks like a good solution. How is it fixed in place? Did you drill into the mortar between the bricks, or is there a smarter way? (Heavy duty epoxy?) That's not actually my apt, just an example I pulled off GIS. I'll get you some pictures in the morning but it's basically some hooks drilled into the wall outside the window frame and then the netting wound tight and snug against the window. It was done by a professional but it's honestly overkill because it's specced for actual human children whose weight could conceivably break down something flimsier. If it's just for a cat/s you might get away with doing it with mortar or just a few drill holes. Just make sure to get it snug against the Window because cats are dumb and like to sleep against it on the window so if it has too much give the cat could fall.
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Apr 26, 2016 04:03
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So my cat and I like to stalk each other around my apartment. Occasionally she'll do that freaky cat crab walk where she puffs up, arches her back and runs at me sideways. It's even weirder because she's missing a front leg. She doesn't look or sound upset, just want to make sure I'm not pushing play time too far and freaking her out.
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Apr 26, 2016 11:04
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Asiina posted:Ugh, I think my cat is straining to pee, but I can't tell because he normally wanders around meowing so the fact that he's meowing in the bathroom doesn't really mean anything and he won't go if I'm looking at him. If I get up to go look he'll immediately abandon what he's doing and walk around my feet. He's walked in and out of the bathroom so many times and I hear him scratching but I can't tell if he's gone. I check the litter which is fairly clean (I replaced it last night) and there's some stuff in there but I don't really know if it's new. A Proper Uppercut posted:She doesn't look or sound upset, just want to make sure I'm not pushing play time too far and freaking her out. Plus stalking is just a fun thing to do https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZgklu52Rus MrSlam fucked around with this message at 17:58 on Apr 26, 2016 |
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Apr 26, 2016 17:46
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A Proper Uppercut posted:So my cat and I like to stalk each other around my apartment. Occasionally she'll do that freaky cat crab walk where she puffs up, arches her back and runs at me sideways. It's even weirder because she's missing a front leg. My cat does that too. He will puff up and meow until I come and chase him. He'll just keep meowing if I don't come... for like 2-3 minutes, then he'll give up and go sleep. Usually I chase him. If I pick him up when he's all puffed up and angry-looking, he'll start purring and lick me, so I'm p. sure he's having fun. As soon as I put him back down he'll puff up again and run around like crazy. Maybe try picking her up when she's all puffed up and see how she reacts? ( He doesn't hiss, but his ears are back and otherwise he has all the regular signs of cat aggression. )
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Apr 27, 2016 12:09
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A Proper Uppercut posted:So my cat and I like to stalk each other around my apartment. Occasionally she'll do that freaky cat crab walk where she puffs up, arches her back and runs at me sideways. It's even weirder because she's missing a front leg. Sounds like you need a second cat. Also it just sounds like the cat is playing.
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Apr 27, 2016 17:12
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Different cats have different limits and also different signals for reaching their limits. You know your cat best so if you think she's fine and still having fun, she probably is.
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Apr 27, 2016 17:13
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Introductions update, one week later: Sadie ended up peeing a bit of blood from stress on Wednesday - vet just called to confirm it wasn't an infection. But Sadie and Nugget are getting along great now! Sadie has groomed him a few times and he keeps doing his best to get in her good graces. Right now their relationship mainly consists of her tolerating him brushing up against her, which is alright by me! Nugget ended up having an ear infection and dirty old ears because he had had ear mites, so we got that taken care of! And it looks like he's actually closer to 7 months, not 10, so he's got some growing left to do! He's probably still going to be tiny though, since he's just 5.5lbs now. I hope Sadie doesn't get an irritated bladder again when we have our baby next month... I'll have to do a really good job of making her comfortable.
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Apr 27, 2016 21:58
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Fill the place with Feliway
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Apr 28, 2016 04:20
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dopaMEAN posted:
Someone else on the internet recommend bring home a piece of clothing or one of the baby's blankets for the cats to smell before you bring home the baby. That way the cat has time to get use to the baby’s smell. The blue bunny fucked around with this message at 11:59 on Apr 29, 2016 |
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Apr 28, 2016 08:27
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Something I've felt guilty about for years was getting Jonesy declawed. Back when I had it done I didn't know it was horrible. He kept his claws out all the time and since I didn't know the first thing about cats I taught him to wrestle with human hands instead of cat toys. I was getting tired of it and everybody told me it was normal except for a friend of mine, but he seemed like a bleeding-heart type of guy so I ignored him. Then came the day when Jonesy attacked my roommate's baby's face. Tensions were pretty high in the house at the time so I didn't want to cause a ruckus and decided to have it done even though they didn't ask me to. I made it even worse by taking him on a trip to my grandma's house which he'd never been to before so he was stressed as hell, his paws were bleeding, and everyone and everything was just miserable. The good news is that he adjusted to life without claws really well after he healed and we've actually gotten closer because of it since I'm not afraid to play with him now. Getting it done was probably the turning point where he started being really affectionate, but that may have been because we got him neutered at the same time. He also regularly stalks and attacks Princess (the runt of her litter) pretty roughly so there's a slight chance she might've gotten injured during one of their many wrestling sessions. But not a day goes by where I don't regret the decision and feel horrible about it 
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Apr 28, 2016 17:29
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MrSlam posted:Something I've felt guilty about for years was getting Jonesy declawed. Back when I had it done I didn't know it was horrible. He kept his claws out all the time and since I didn't know the first thing about cats I taught him to wrestle with human hands instead of cat toys. I was getting tired of it and everybody told me it was normal except for a friend of mine, but he seemed like a bleeding-heart type of guy so I ignored him. I don't know how big cat declawing compares to house cat declawing, but maybe there is a vet in your area that performs paw repair surgery? http://www.pawproject.org/paw-repair-surgery/ They can't actually re-claw the cat, but it looks like they re-attach some tendons severed during the de-clawing process that enables them to stretch or flex their paws like they used to. I don't know how old Jonesy is now or if the risk of surgery would be worth it as I'm not a vet, but it sounded like you would be open to it. We adopted our first cat, Rodney, because he had been previously de-clawed and developed a biting habit making it highly unlikely anyone else would adopt him from the shelter. Since then we have only adopted previously de-clawed cats as to not upset the social balance in our home. I feel so bad every time they stretch out their jelly bean toes, wondering if they miss their front claws. I know I'm almost assuredly just projecting that on to them, but I love them to death, and they're all so sweet I don't even see why they needed to be declawed in the first place.
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Apr 28, 2016 17:58
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Well, it looks like Jet has elevated proBNP levels (~1200 pmol/L) along with his possible heart murmur, so he might be at risk for heart disease.  The vet suspects hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, but we'll need an ultrasound to completely diagnose him. I knew about his heart murmur, and he always seemed asymptomatic to me, but with the lab results coming back that high I'm really worried about him. I'm not really ready to think about him going away.Anyone else have cats with (probable) hypertrophic cardiomyopathy? How did things work out? It doesn't seem like there's any one prognosis for cats like those, so I have no idea what happens next.
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Apr 29, 2016 19:39
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Step 1: Don't panic. Heart disease comes in all shapes and sizes. HCM is definitely the most common heart disease, but not the only one. I have also done echocardiograms on animals with elevated proBNP that had very mild or no significant heart disease. Wait until you get the echo. If he is asymptomatic I wouldn't be worried yet. If it is HCM, the challenging part is that the disease is quite variable - some cats can have mild HCM for years without showing any progression, whereas other cats can show significant progression within 6 months. So it really depends on what the echocardiogram shows, and how his heart trends over time. Until you get the echo, try your best not to be worried.
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Apr 29, 2016 20:45
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I suspect this is one of those "they're cats, let them sort it out" things, but: Pepper and Peridot (both young adult spayed females) are doing much better in the last few weeks. If I'm close to both of them, Peridot will walk around me making chirping noises and miming brushing against my leg, which I assume is her going "MY human". Pepper's actually mostly okay with that except that I've discovered that Peridot will let me run my hand along her back and tail while she's walking around me. Now, I've had Peridot for six months now and this is the first time she's actually let me pet her, so I'm pretty delighted about it. The problem is that as soon as Pepper sees me doing that she goes into jealousy overdrive and starts chasing Peridot away. Petting Pepper at the same time isn't an option because she only wants to be petted when she's very relaxed and not keyed up like she is if she's being jealous of Peridot. I'd really like to be able to pet Peridot to get her more used to contact with me but I'm worried I'm setting back her learning to be friends with Pepper, when they've started doing stuff like touching noses and sniffing each other and generally being relaxed in each others' presence as long as I'm not too close to either of them. Should I suck it up and stop petting her until she and Pepper are better friends or are they likely to sort it out anyway? I've been feeding them both tuna together every morning to give them nice positive associations with being near each other but is there anything else I can do to help them out?
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May 1, 2016 02:39
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Thanks to everyone who replied to my last post about Onca's weight. I'm probably overthinking things because this is my first time being 100% responsible for a pet and I really don't want to gently caress it up. He's almost 4 months old already! And here he is proving why cats are actually classified as a liquid. 
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May 1, 2016 16:35
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Suki in her Suki House Sitting next to Christmas Mouse 
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May 1, 2016 23:32
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