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OK cool, my wife was freaking out about how to deal with this because the new cat likes to jump up on her shoulders (from the floor, with no warning but also luckily with no claws extended but then also this means you have to stop whatever you are doing and catch her at chin height in your hands) and then once she's up there she rams her fuzzy cheeks against my wife's dumb naive face, which means my dumb wife is 100% on the new cat's side and concerned about her treatment by old cat, so I said I'd ask the cat people for help thanks.
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Oct 9, 2017 22:44
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Ages ago, we pretty much entirely botched introducing a new cat to an existing cat's home. I think we did just about everything wrong in the initial introduction. For as long as they were alive, I kept trying to prevent the older one from fighting with or "bullying" the younger one. I think now that that was probably a major mistake, and that we should have let the older one assert her dominance and establish the cat rules.
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Oct 9, 2017 23:14
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I've had Mango for about a month and a half now, and she's a lovely two year old brown tabby-tortie with a mouth on her and a limp from a broken shoulder before she was at the shelter. I love her to death, and she's great, but while she doesn't really cuddle she will habitually (and, at times, aggressively) lick any part of my body that's within range of her. Is that... normal? She seems to prefer licking me to me petting her, most of the time.
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Oct 10, 2017 00:01
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Break a leg!
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Yeah the cat loves you and wants to groom you.
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Oct 10, 2017 00:14
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Either that or she finds your skin absolutely DELICIOUS.
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Oct 10, 2017 00:57
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Anyone ever had a cat's anal glands removed? My cat has had a couple of ruptures on one side and the most recent one which initially seemed like a superficial wound, just won't seem to heal up. It seemed better and I took her cone off, but then I found a much deeper hole there when she started licking at it over the weekend (which obviously wasn't caused directly by the licking). I took her into the vet today and he said that he thought it was because the gland was likely impacted again already (since she had gotten an expression only a few weeks before the infection). I'm a little scared at the prospect of sending kitty off for surgery, but the vet hardly acted like it was going to be a big deal. He's only removing the one that keeps getting infected. 
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Oct 12, 2017 00:08
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If it's abcessed then you really should get it taken care of. It's not deep surgery, but it will still involve anesthetics.
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Oct 12, 2017 00:33
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How should I feel about a family with a 2-year-old and 5-year-old adopting my foster kitten? I think I'm just being racist towards toddlers but I keep imagining him getting dragged around by his floofy tail.
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Oct 12, 2017 00:53
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Pixelante posted:How should I feel about a family with a 2-year-old and 5-year-old adopting my foster kitten? Toddlers are little terrors but at least a kitten is able to adapt to them better than an adult cat who hasn't been around kids much.
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Oct 12, 2017 00:57
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Pixelante posted:How should I feel about a family with a 2-year-old and 5-year-old adopting my foster kitten? depends on the kids, depends on how the parents monitor and teach the kids, and also Vivian Darkbloom posted:Toddlers are little terrors but at least a kitten is able to adapt to them better than an adult cat who hasn't been around kids much. i can anecdotally verify this is true; my 12 year old cat is scared of my kid, and my 6 month old cat doesn't really give a poo poo and isn't bothered by him
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Oct 12, 2017 02:04
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Pixelante posted:How should I feel about a family with a 2-year-old and 5-year-old adopting my foster kitten? I briefly had a roommate with kids a little older and my cat just avoided them. They were nice kids and let him be mostly, they'd try to pet him and he'd run off and that was it.
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Oct 12, 2017 04:15
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My nefarious scheme is unfolding perfectly. e: holy poo poo, I sat down on the couch for dinner, and he didn't immediately come for cuddles like he always does. He must love this new box-like device. Wow. I hope the betrayal isn't going to be too harsh when I finally conscript him as a catstronaut. ee: wait, I'm an idiot. I managed to forget that these kitties are very, very scared of strangers. The chances of either of them being successful catstonauts is pretty low if there's the slightest chance of meeting other humans on their travels. Oh well, it'll still be useful to go to the vet or gtfo in case of fire alarm. Hyperlynx fucked around with this message at 11:40 on Oct 12, 2017 |
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Oct 12, 2017 10:15
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So update on my guy Sancho. We ended up taking him to the vet Monday because we thought he might be overgrooming due to fleas or dry skin, and we also had briefly seen him yawn and thought he didn’t have any teeth. Vet does a check, no fleas, he’s lost about 1.2 lbs of weight from when the shelter got him(explaining the belly skin), and he does not have very many teeth and one that is a little funky looking. She recommended we give it a month or two on his new diet since we are feeding him blue buffalo Wet and dry. She also recommended just switching to completely wet food. Which I don’t mind except he doesn’t just eat the wet food right away I’ve been letting it sit until it’s gone and I don’t think that will be ok with an all wet food diet. How can we train him to get his chomping done quickly? I think he might be eating so slowly because of his lack of teeth but that didn’t stop him the first day he got wet food. Also are there any automatic wet food dispensers worth a drat? Edit: The vet also didn’t charge for the visit which I thought was awesome.
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Oct 12, 2017 13:50
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If you take the food away after 15-20 minutes and then don't give him more until next meal time he will learn to chomp it down while it's there.
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Oct 12, 2017 16:36
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Synthbuttrange posted:If it's abcessed then you really should get it taken care of. It's not deep surgery, but it will still involve anesthetics. I already did that before. It didn't seem to be healing that well because he said he thought it might be already impacted again or something so he was recommending removal. I got a second opinion this morning and the second vet said it looked like it was healing fine, that there wasn't anything in there, and that I should do literally nothing other than keep her cone on and that it was probably just gross because it took it off too early and she licked it a bunch. Angry Grimace fucked around with this message at 18:33 on Oct 12, 2017 |
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Oct 12, 2017 18:28
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KidDynamite posted:How can we train him to get his chomping done quickly? I think he might be eating so slowly because of his lack of teeth but that didn’t stop him the first day he got wet food. Also are there any automatic wet food dispensers worth a drat? I wouldn't worry too much about it if he's finishing it before the next meal unless there's another cat stealing it. If that's the case I recommend a SureFeed that's triggered by an rfid collar or the implanted chip. The problem with the multi-bowl wet feeders is that they don't keep the food out of the food poisoning range long. I only use two bowls at a time and put the food down while it's just shy of frozen so the second meal comes 8h away. Most of the places I've looked say don't leave room temp food out more than like 10h, if that long. I don't like the analog timers cause of the clicking, so I'd recommend a digital timer, but ymmv. ILL Machina fucked around with this message at 01:53 on Oct 13, 2017 |
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Oct 13, 2017 01:48
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Glory to Italia!
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Organza Quiz posted:If you take the food away after 15-20 minutes and then don't give him more until next meal time he will learn to chomp it down while it's there. This is probably true too, though. Hungry cats will eat. My old lady usually begs me for food, I put some down, she sniffs it, then sprints around the apartment for a while.
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Oct 13, 2017 01:55
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Say hello to Beauty, seen here sleeping on a seat cushion of mine that was knocked onto the floor: Beauty loving hates me. She's the first adopted of our now 6 cats. I've lived with this cat for nearly 3 of her 4 or so years of life. We've also recently rescued two kittens (~6 weeks and ~6 months old) and are fostering another 6 week kitten from that same colony. Before I go any further, Beauty's hostility toward me has been absolutely consistent since I first moved in with my brother and his fiancee, long before the kittens ever entered the scene; if it were a recent development I'd attribute it to the kittens, but it's been the standard since Day 1 of our cohabitation. She will hiss and growl, swipe and spit, and cower as though I'm trying to actively loving kill and eat her every time I make the mistake of coming anywhere near her while she's awake. She also makes it a habit of running directly between me and where I'm trying to go, and gets yet more hostile as I'm forced to continue down the single path to my destination that she now occupies. I've tried just ignoring her, and she hisses and growls. I've tried playing with her and giving her treats, and she swipes and spits. I've taken a number of hits because I made the mistake of coming around a corner without knowing she was there. Even when I make the effort to be loud enough to not surprise her, I get the same results. At her calmest, I can approach and give her a hand to sniff, and she does so then proceeds to start grumbling angrily. She'll even hiss and growl at me even as she walks around my brother's ankles with her tail up, purring. He'll try to help, by holding her when she's calm and making us interact in a positive or at least neutral way and she'll assent to be touched without getting upset, but as soon as she's on her own she reverts to hostility. I can't say I've reacted perfectly at all times, if only because I don't always have the time to deal with her poo poo and just need to be somewhere now rather than whenever she decides to get out of the way or calm down enough to let me pass. Every encounter seems to put her into a high stress mode whether I'm conscious of her presence at the time or not. I'm honestly at a loss, and I mostly just have to flat out avoid her because I'm really having trouble not reacting like a human and just loving punting her across a room when I come around a corner (loudly or otherwise) and nearly catch claws in the shins. Obviously that's not going to help anything, but I can only be good for so long. While throwing a toy mouse at her face would be pretty drat cathartic at this point, I'd really prefer to just be friends. The other 5 cats are absolutely sweet and affectionate toward me, and I adore the poo poo out of them. Beauty doesn't seem to get along particularly well with any of them, or any other people that come by the house. She only likes my brother and his fiancee, and even still will sometimes hiss at them when they surprise her. My brother is a cat junkie and takes care of them exceedingly well, so I'm absolutely confident there's no level of neglect or mistreatment going on. Short of getting a feline behaviorist involved, what are some things I can try to get her to see I'm not trying to harm her? edit: I feel I should probably clarify that I've never actually punted or otherwise struck beauty, though I have involuntarily scared the poo poo out of her when reacting to her unexpected swipes Bonus other cats: Freyja:  She's about 5-6 years old, and the only mother of the bunch. Brother thinks she's a Bombay. Only weighs about 6 pounds fully grown. Super duper sweet and friendly. Sir Snugglesworth:  We call him Snuggles for short. He's about 8 years old, and the biggest of our menagerie at about 14 pounds. Grumpy old man, but plenty lovable. Sweet Potato:  Or just Potato. She's a new rescue, about 6 months old and sweet as can be. The arches make her feel more secure. Benny:  He's also a new rescue, adopted along with Potato from the same colony. About 6 weeks old. Poor baby has spina bifida, and is missing his last few vertebrae and his tail. We sometimes call him Mr Poopybutthole for reasons you may be able to guess. That's why he's wearing his dapper jumpsuit. Regrettably, he may need to be rehomed to a special needs cat sanctuary as we haven't the proper resources to care for a disabled kitty  Nota:  Benny's littermate, he's also about 6 weeks old. We're currently fostering him for another family, but it remains uncertain if he'll actually go back. I'm hoping he will stay because I totally love him already and want to keep him and just call him Rowdy instead. He's also missing his tail. All the cats are now in Genpop and interact freely with minimal issues. Introductions went well and the adults even play a bit with the kittens, though mostly still prefer to just be lazy as cats do. Except Beauty. Beauty just remains bitchy and standoffish, but at least doesn't attack them. zxqv8 fucked around with this message at 15:38 on Oct 13, 2017 |
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Oct 13, 2017 15:06
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Wow, that sounds really hard to deal with and like you're doing pretty much all the right things. The only things I can think to try are Feliway if you haven't already and just completely and utterly ignoring her. Don't even look at her, don't approach her, don't try anything at all. In cat terms that's being the most polite creature possible so if that doesn't work, I can't imagine what would.
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Oct 13, 2017 16:21
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Be the person who fills her food bowl. My first cat hated my mom for the longest time but when I went away to college, my mom started feeding her and Daisy started tolerating her. They were never BFFs, but Daisy wasn't as hostile.
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Oct 13, 2017 17:06
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Some of you may remember me posting months ago about my cat Buffy (18 years old) and her hyperthyroidism. Last week it all came to a head. She seemed thinner, wasn't as chirpy as usual and was drinking a lot more than normal. So on Monday I took her in to the vets. She was dehydrated and her thyroid hormone was off the charts again plus her teeth/gums needed doing. First off she spent a few days on a drip getting fluids to get her healthy enough to take anesthesia along with antibiotics for the infected gums. Yesterday she was out for an hour or so while they removed 2 teeth (and fixed a missing one) then the other vet went into her thyroid. One side was massively overgrown to the extent that the other hemisphere was atrophied. She got the bad side out without damaging her parathyroid and I can decide to send it for testing or not later. Buffy stayed in again overnight so they could make sure her calcium levels (the parathyroid bit) weren't affected and her thyroid hormones came back down to normal. I picked her up tonight, paid the eye watering bill and brought her home. She's got to wear a very natty onesie to protect her wound for a week or so till the stitches come out. She's not terribly happy about the straps under he back legs (so she's waddling a little) but she's not trying to rip it off thankfully. It's probably pretty warm in there - see pictures below of unwilling model. Although I'm nearly bankrupt from this, I couldn't have told the vet to put her to sleep or just let her carry on like that and slowly die. As my mother said, it's only money and you'll make more.  
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Oct 13, 2017 21:18
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Ratzap posted:Some of you may remember me posting months ago about my cat Buffy (18 years old) and her hyperthyroidism. Last week it all came to a head. She seemed thinner, wasn't as chirpy as usual and was drinking a lot more than normal. So on Monday I took her in to the vets. She was dehydrated and her thyroid hormone was off the charts again plus her teeth/gums needed doing. First off she spent a few days on a drip getting fluids to get her healthy enough to take anesthesia along with antibiotics for the infected gums. You’re a good person and Buffy seems like a sweet old cat.
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Oct 13, 2017 23:39
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Have a daily pic of Spud
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Oct 14, 2017 02:32
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It's a new day, so have a new pic of Spud sleeping because that's the only time I can really get a good photo of him. Get a load of those paws! 
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Oct 14, 2017 12:09
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We've been feeding our cat the same Instinct Raw whatever Rabbit boost grain free food for the longest time no issues. Basically since we've had her. She loving loves it. Recently we got a new order of it that has their new packaging but my cat throws it immediately up undigested basically every time we feed her for the past few days now. Wife has been worried, now it reached the point where I am worried. Anyone have any suggestions on what I should start with doing? Obviously I'll take her to the vet if comes to that, but maybe I should rule out a bad batch of food and try something else and see if it stops first? If it does did we just get a bad bag of food? That seems like it would be a pretty crazy rare thing. If it doesn't stop then I guess vet? She doesn't seem lethargic or sick, just hungry.
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Oct 14, 2017 14:47
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Try different food. Do you feed cat rabbit because of an allergy to more ordinary proteins? Find a different rabbit food and try it, and also get a food with fish or chicken or something. Could be the brand, could be the meat's just not agreeing with the cat. My Ozma makes herself sick on food with duck in it. She also very recently started doing what your cat does, vomiting up Merrick wet almost immediately. Fortunately we buy her all the same proteins (chicken and turkey) from different brands (just in case something like this happens, she's turned her back in brands before) so she gets something slightly different every other day, so it was easy to try figure out if it was the ingredient or the brand. She's never reacted badly to that brand before, not even from that same batch, but three Merrick dinners in a row made her sick. Merrick is out now, along with blue Buffalo which she won't even try to eat anymore. Could also just be a bad batch. We left a bag of pizza's rx food in a hot car for too long (which could just be a coincidence but that was the only different thing we did) and he couldn't keep it down. A new bag of food and he was fine. Cats are weird! Just feed them what they'll eat. Best of luck. E: phone autocorrect corrections Edit again: a vet trip also might not be a bad idea, especially if she's showing other signs of sickness (lethargy, sudden personality/behavior changes), or if a new food/bag doesn't fix it. Rat Patrol fucked around with this message at 16:39 on Oct 14, 2017 |
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Oct 14, 2017 16:32
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Ratzap posted:Some of you may remember me posting months ago about my cat Buffy (18 years old) and her hyperthyroidism. Last week it all came to a head. She seemed thinner, wasn't as chirpy as usual and was drinking a lot more than normal. So on Monday I took her in to the vets. She was dehydrated and her thyroid hormone was off the charts again plus her teeth/gums needed doing. First off she spent a few days on a drip getting fluids to get her healthy enough to take anesthesia along with antibiotics for the infected gums.  You're a good person and that's one lovely and fine old lady.I said come in! posted:Have a daily pic of Spud I said come in! posted:It's a new day, so have a new pic of Spud sleeping because that's the only time I can really get a good photo of him. Get a load of those paws!  Spud is a very handsome catte. I can only hope those toe beans get poked whenever the opportunity arises.
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Oct 14, 2017 17:18
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I don't know why rabbit. No solid reason, I think Mars seemed to like that flavor the most during trying them all. We did tend to rotate proteins, but kind of settled on rabbit the last year or so as she seems to like it the most. Salmon was also a favorite. We had this puking problem once before with Instinct's Ultimate high protein line when we tried it once. That was chicken. This rabbit one is just their original line, but have only been having a problem since this new bag with new packaging. Maybe it's time to completely switch brands all together. Any high protein/grain free is good, right? Just picked up some "flaked" fishy flavors variety pack of Blue Buffalo cans. Far from my first choice for brand, but my Petco has an entire wall of Blue Buffalo stuff and limited and laughable selection of anything else. I basically just need to see if she'll keep it down so I can rule out a legit health problem until I can order *something* different than Instinct.
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Oct 14, 2017 17:22
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Sounds like a good plan. Good luck! If your want a recommendation, Ozma and Pizza (before he had to go on Rx) both have always liked Wellness core. Oz has been eating the indoor/original (whichever is in stock pretty much) formula every morning for five years and no complaints or reactions. It's pretty long lasting too, in my opinion, just 1/4th cup of it in the morning and a 3oz pouch of whatever poultry wet food at night has kept her hitting her target weight of 9lbs for years. Lasts a long time that way.
Rat Patrol fucked around with this message at 18:23 on Oct 14, 2017 |
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Oct 14, 2017 18:20
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Buffy really does not like that onesie. When I got up this morning she had been trying to chew it off and gotten a tooth stuck in it. I don't think she hurt her jaw but it couldn't have been comfortable. When I looked later I could see that it doesn't even come close to the incision/stitches. If anything it would rub the hem over it if it rode up which probably wouldn't help. Given how it wasn't covering the wound, how much she was wriggling in it and the tooth incident, I decided to remove it. But as I told her, "The price of Freedom is a thorough brushing". That got the dead hair out and saved her some licking. I'll just have to keep an eye on her in case she tries to scratch at the wound (though I can't see how she'd get a foot up there). She's spending most of her time flaked out anyway although as per cat rules she's avoiding her favourite beds which I washed while she was away. The antibiotics the vet gave me are easy to get into her too. The vet said "they taste good so the cats eat them" and admitted that she'd eaten one to check. Buffy drat near took my fingers off for it so I reckon she's right.
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Oct 14, 2017 20:00
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Ratzap posted:and admitted that she'd eaten one to check. Well, I'd call that going above and beyond the call of duty. On the topic of food intolerance/allergies, one of mine has been occasionally coming down with really sore-looking lesions around his neck that I had previously assumed were just a playfight-scratch that he wouldn't let heal. He's developed a fairly gnarly one at the base of his left ear so we took him to the vet and she figures it's more likely a food intolerance, so we're cutting out some of the relatively new food in his diet to see if we can figure out where the problem is. I've noticed two new lesions on his face today(one by his right ear, one over his right eye) and I'm beside myself worrying about the little idiot. He's behaving perfectly normally besides scratching at the sore spots a bit - I have a steroid/antibacterial goop that I'm applying to stop it itching and keep it from getting infected - but how long should we expect to keep him on an exclusion diet before the lesions start healing up, assuming I can keep him from worrying at them? Almost all his food for his entire life has been turkey-based as I was told that's a fairly inoffensive protein, I've stopped giving him his fishy sachets in case that's the problem, but could he have developed an intolerance to turkey? He's such a fussy eater that changing his food results in him just not eating for several days til he realises the old food isn't coming back...
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Oct 14, 2017 22:14
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My cat has been drooling a lot, leaving a bunch of saliva everywhere he stops. He's otherwise completely normal on his behaviour and feeding/drinking. It is a mystery. Has this happened with any of you? E: we're going to the vet tomorrow.
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Oct 15, 2017 00:31
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Very important post, from the gif thread:
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Oct 15, 2017 02:41
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floofyscorp posted:Well, I'd call that going above and beyond the call of duty. I was going to ask her if she tasted the worming tablets too but decided not to. We've had a lot of cats through the rescue over the years and I've never seen one break out in lesions from food intolerance. Sorry, can't help you. Your best bet is keep up a dialogue with your vet about it. That's one nifty cat bed in that gif, probably really warm inside there. Ah, it's japanese from here I got another picture of Buffy today. She's a lot more comfortable without that onesie on and has reverted to her usual shape while sleeping. 
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Oct 15, 2017 03:04
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A Spud a day does not keep the doctor away but it usually means more bite and scratch marks on your hands. 
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Oct 15, 2017 14:48
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orange sky posted:My cat has been drooling a lot, leaving a bunch of saliva everywhere he stops. He's otherwise completely normal on his behaviour and feeding/drinking. It is a mystery. Has this happened with any of you? Meanwhile he pooped a huge string he'd eaten and stopped drooling. Cats are weird, man
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Oct 15, 2017 20:46
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orange sky posted:Meanwhile he pooped a huge string he'd eaten and stopped drooling. Cats are weird, man Probs made him nauseous. Constipation and blockages can do that. Lucky it passed normally.
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Oct 17, 2017 02:15
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I really wish cats didn't poop. Spud is so gross and drags litter and bits of poop everywhere on his paws. He is a true loving goon.
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Oct 17, 2017 13:58
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Jet absolutely refuses to cover his poop and clean his butthole. Gross-cat owner solidarity.
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Oct 17, 2017 14:06
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Incidentally, that tells you something about how your cats see you. Burying their poop is a sign of submission. Not burying it means the cat thinks they're dominant over you. It's one of the ways cats express dominance over each other.
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Oct 17, 2017 14:17
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