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Grondoth posted:Neighborhood cats are still coming over to eat the nuts I put out for birds and squirrels, why is this happening? If by nuts you mean testicles then I guess it makes sense
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Aug 1, 2019 02:59
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Grondoth posted:Neighborhood cats are still coming over to eat the nuts I put out for birds and squirrels, why is this happening? Are the nuts salted, by any chance?
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Aug 1, 2019 04:50
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TofuDiva posted:Are the nuts salted, by any chance? Seems like a rather personal question, doesn't it?
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Aug 1, 2019 05:40
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When we catsat a friends cat while she found a new apartment the cat would straight up hide until my girlfriend came home from work. She crawled up into an open drawer from the back and just stayed in there. I just went about my business as if she didn't exist and one night I woke up and she was sleeping on me. So i think the main way to get cats to like you is to completely ignore them
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Aug 1, 2019 07:07
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Schneider Inside Her posted:When we catsat a friends cat while she found a new apartment the cat would straight up hide until my girlfriend came home from work. She crawled up into an open drawer from the back and just stayed in there. This is actually correct! When dealing with unfamiliar humans, cats tend to view a lot of human positive attention behaviors (making eye contact/looking directly at the cat, reaching out to touch it) as aggression, and they view someone ignoring them as coexisting peacefully and not a threat. That's why a major technique for befriending skittish cats is to just hang out in their space, not interacting with them but becoming a familiar presence, until they get used to you.
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Aug 1, 2019 07:13
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When I adopted Cookie it was march of that year. It wasnt til October til I made the breakthrough of petting him and him 1) not running off after two pets, 2) actually purring. Basically I had to cool it and just go hello at him, give him no more than one pet if I could get close to him at all, which was by casually going to do something else near him :v. It worked in the end though, he's a big lovebug. He'll still get skittish if I approach him and want something, I've to keep faking him out and keep it casual.
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Aug 1, 2019 07:49
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Well, I solved the pooping outside the litterbox with a bigger litterbox, seems Buddy wanted more space to separate her poop spots and piss spots. I've also taken to spraying the edges of my box mattress with anti-scratch stuff, since Buddy would just claw away at it when I was trying to sleep. She naps most of the day and runs around a bit at night, so it's a bit of a coin flip if I leave the bedroom door open for her to curl up with me, or if it's a "no cat" night for absolute sleep. She's also happy as can be now that I've replaced the old dead lemongrass plant with a new one, she just loves eating lemongrass till she pukes. Here she is enjoying some patio time. 
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Aug 1, 2019 12:44
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Bootcha posted:She's also happy as can be now that I've replaced the old dead lemongrass plant with a new one, she just loves eating lemongrass till she pukes.  E: Aleta's new hobby is vigorously licking and then batting at pieces of coconut. 
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Aug 1, 2019 14:08
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One of my neighbors is this adorable old couple and they brought us over a sprig of catnip the other day. Binx proceeded to eat half a leaf and sleep for the rest of the day.
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Aug 1, 2019 16:30
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Has anyone heard about a Friskies recall? I have seen a few posts on Nextdoor where people are giving away Friskies because it makes their cat vomit. Same thing happened with my cat (and now my cat has mysterious scar tissue and thickening in his large intestine/colon that the vet can't figure out where it came from).
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Aug 1, 2019 20:30
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I haven't heard about it, but it wouldn't surprise me. The cheap store brands are a diceroll and while nutritionally complete and cats have lived 20+ years eating them, have poor quality control and recalls are frequent. Cats are best off with a zero carb, high protein diet. Wet food is best, but if your idiot won't eat it or its cost prohibitive, a quality dry food is fine as long as lots of fresh water is available. Water fountains are also recommended since it makes them drink more.
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Aug 1, 2019 20:42
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It's really tough to try and buy the right food for pets, since the cheap poo poo is, well, cheap, and the better stuff is usually just made by rebrandings of the same companies that make the lovely stuff. Unless you're a vet (who are usually paid to recommend certain brands anyway) I feel like we're really just choosing food off of what the bag looks like.
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Aug 1, 2019 20:45
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Christoph posted:Has anyone heard about a Friskies recall? I've seen a few anecdotes about issues with Friskies but I've been buying the 60-can pate pack from Costco for the better part of the last year and never once has it made either of my cats sick. The one time I ran out and couldn't go to Costco, I bought them a few cans of another brand that they wouldn't touch. So, who really knows?
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Aug 1, 2019 20:59
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Christoph posted:Has anyone heard about a Friskies recall? There are no recalls pending on Friskies. There are a couple on dog foods: https://www.avma.org/News/Issues/recalls-alerts/Pages/pet-food-safety-recalls-alerts.aspx There was a recent alert about a bunch of (mostly expensive) pet foods causing dilated cardiomyopathy (mostly in dogs). I suspect the condition is not directly related to the food. Scar tissue in the intestine is probably due to ingesting something that wasn't food.
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Aug 1, 2019 21:11
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I think I might try feeding jet wet food, actually. The one thing is that he tends to graze, and I don’t wanna leave wet food out all day. 
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Aug 1, 2019 22:40
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I've my cat for a month, and it's biting my hand at times when it's not super clear that he wants me to stop petting him (even after he's climbed on my shoulder). I'm super paranoid about getting a deadly disease from this since the first page of Google results is just "GO TO THE DOCTOR RIGHT loving NOW" but I really can't afford to do this and go on antibiotics every two weeks. Is there a proven system for avoiding this and/or getting him to stop? EDIT: He's 8 years and change.
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Aug 2, 2019 20:00
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Is he piercing the skin, or just a scratch?
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Aug 2, 2019 20:07
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Boogalo posted:Is he piercing the skin, or just a scratch? There's blood.
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Aug 2, 2019 20:08
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olives black posted:I've my cat for a month, and it's biting my hand at times when it's not super clear that he wants me to stop petting him (even after he's climbed on my shoulder). I'm super paranoid about getting a deadly disease from this since the first page of Google results is just "GO TO THE DOCTOR RIGHT loving NOW" but I really can't afford to do this and go on antibiotics every two weeks. Is there a proven system for avoiding this and/or getting him to stop? If he isn't breaking the skin with his bites then you really don't have to worry about getting anything. Is he play biting or is it a more forceful/angry bite? If he is just play biting then it may not be a case of him wanting you to stop so much as it is him just being excited and having fun. Remember, two cats playing with each other will wrestle and bite and will often do the same thing with their owners hands. If it's soft enough you can just let him do it and enjoy the play. I personally like somewhat bitey cats and always let mine use my hand as a playtoy because they don't strike or bite hard (and usually start licking about a second after biting). However, if you don't want to encourage the behavior or he's biting too hard then you need to make a loud 'OW' yell or something when he bites (being a little overdramatic can help) and then stop playing with him. It might take some time, but he should eventually learn that biting = no more play.
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Aug 2, 2019 20:23
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One of my cats exclusively shits right next to the box. Why. He doesn't go anywhere else in the house. He knows not to poop on rubber mats or carpet so I put down some mats around the box, but he just poops as close to the box as he still can while avoiding the mats. He does pee in the box 99% percent of the time at least, with just a few exceptions. I have two cats who are close and comfortable with each other, and two litter boxes, which are in different rooms. I have heard it's a good idea to have one more box than the number of cats, but I live in a one bedroom apartment and don't really have room for 3 boxes. But if that's what I have to do, I'll find a way to cram two of them in right next to each other I guess. He pooped in the box just fine for the first year of his life. Then, he started pooping on the floor whenever I changed the litter to fresh litter (or if, on rare occasion, it got a little too dirty). Now he only poops by the box. What do I do?
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Aug 2, 2019 20:27
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olives black posted:There's blood. I still wouldn't worry about it. Wash it, put some neosporin on it and then a bandaid if needed. I've been bitten and scratched dozens times over the past 18 years and I haven't gotten sick from it once. Just practice a little basic first aid and only worry about it if it doesn't get better/starts to look worse.
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Aug 2, 2019 20:28
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TMMadman posted:I still wouldn't worry about it. Wash it, put some neosporin on it and then a bandaid if needed. I've had this conversation dozens of times: "Man, what happened to your hand?" "I was playing with my cat." "Oh."
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Aug 2, 2019 20:35
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Wile E. Toyota posted:One of my cats exclusively shits right next to the box. Why. He doesn't go anywhere else in the house. He knows not to poop on rubber mats or carpet so I put down some mats around the box, but he just poops as close to the box as he still can while avoiding the mats. He does pee in the box 99% percent of the time at least, with just a few exceptions. If there's no stressors and nothing physically wrong with the cat, he doesn't like something about the box or its location. Move things around. Try moving the box to where he's pooping. Try a different type of box - higher sides maybe, or lower if that's what you have. A bigger box if it's a small one. If it has a lid, take it off - if it doesn't, get one. Try a different litter. Clean the boxes more. Move his food around - maybe if his food is near where he's pooping he won't want to do it outside the box. Adding another box is still something you want to consider as well. Yeah, it's cramped, but would you rather that then poop on the floor?
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Aug 2, 2019 20:41
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Deteriorata posted:I've had this conversation dozens of times: My coworkers don't even ask anymore, they're just "Why'd you piss off Sweetheart?  ".
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Aug 2, 2019 20:43
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I have so many scars on my arms and not a single one of them is from something stupid I did to get injured - well, unless sticking your arm in the vicinity of a cat is considered stupid.
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Aug 2, 2019 21:17
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My cats are harmless no matter how much Milly chews on me she never leaves a mark. The cats at the shelter on the other hand tag me all the time. Always pet the kitty.
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Aug 2, 2019 21:22
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Katya almost always plays with her nails out, I don't think she ever learned how to retract them during a friendly tussle or maybe she just thinks we're very big cats. We just trim her nails regularly now, as she doesn't seem to understand that pulling our hands in for a playful wrestle scratches us up pretty bad because we have no fur. She's never aggressive and does do the soft play-bite, so it's not that big of a deal. This conversation reminds me, my bf always always thought he was allergic to 'most cats, but not all' but when we got ours he hadn't shown symptoms in a while. In the beginning he was a little sniffly and red-eyed but those symptoms became milder and went away after a few weeks (of exposure, I guess). He does say that when a scratch breaks his skin he has to wash it out immediately or it becomes very irritated and itchy, I guess it makes sense if he's allergic to that enzyme in cats' saliva but I'd never heard of that before.
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Aug 2, 2019 22:31
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I think our bitey cat has the same "unclear on humans not being cats" problem; when you pet her, she'll often start licking you and then gnawing a bit, which I think is just communal grooming behavior? She's clearly happy, but she just doesn't get that we don't have fur.
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Aug 2, 2019 23:01
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TofuDiva posted:Are the nuts salted, by any chance? Nope, they're critter food type things I get with birdseed.
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Aug 3, 2019 01:44
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olives black posted:I've my cat for a month, and it's biting my hand at times when it's not super clear that he wants me to stop petting him (even after he's climbed on my shoulder). I'm super paranoid about getting a deadly disease from this since the first page of Google results is just "GO TO THE DOCTOR RIGHT loving NOW" but I really can't afford to do this and go on antibiotics every two weeks. Is there a proven system for avoiding this and/or getting him to stop? That is advice for proper puncture wound cat bites, which hurt like absolute hell and don't bleed freely because they are deep puncture wounds. Cats only do those when they are extremely angry. If your cat is lightly play biting you then no need to worry on that front.
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Aug 3, 2019 01:55
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My hands were covered in tiny scars and scratches for the first few months I had Pudding, but thankfully he's out of that phase now.
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Aug 3, 2019 02:05
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As I said in the Boston thread, you will know for drat sure when it's an "I want you dead" bite.
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Aug 3, 2019 03:22
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Wile E. Toyota posted:One of my cats exclusively shits right next to the box. Why. He doesn't go anywhere else in the house. He knows not to poop on rubber mats or carpet so I put down some mats around the box, but he just poops as close to the box as he still can while avoiding the mats. He does pee in the box 99% percent of the time at least, with just a few exceptions. We had that problem with Bean for a bit. I'd grabbed one of those tilt and sift litter boxes and she started pooping right in front of it. Turns out she had trouble fitting in the box and we just popping in front because that's where the poop fell
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Aug 3, 2019 08:52
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You should not play with your cat with your hands! Use a toy or at least like an oven glove or something so you don't end up all torn up guys, jeez. The trick to watching for overstimulation bites is the tail. Tail starts twitchin? Cat gonna bite you, and he TOLD you he was gonna bite you. Sometimes the ears lie but the tail never lies man.
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Aug 3, 2019 10:03
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Pollyanna posted:As I said in the Boston thread, you will know for drat sure when it's an "I want you dead" bite. drat straight. I've been bitten by a 16 week old semi feral kitten/teen, he was terrified and got through the 4mm thick rhino hide gloves (brand name, not real rhino leather) like they weren't there and into my hand. The only reason I didn't need stitches was the thickness of the glove kept most of the tooth out. Another time a lady called us to pick up a stray she'd trapped in her kitchen (he was coming into her house at night, spraying, beating up her cats, and eating all their food). We told her to just leave it, we'd bring a noose, gloves and all the gear. Welp, she decided that was all nonsense, you just need to grab the kitty, show it who's boss and shove it in the crush basket we'd left her earlier. When my mother arrived she was pouring blood from both arms/hands. The cat was indeed in the basket, out of it's mind at being grabbed, dragged backwards from behind the fridge and pushing into the basket. She stayed in hospital for a couple of days while they put her back together and got the infection/swelling down. Cats are relatively small yes but dear loving god they will mess you up badly if you push them to the "I'm going to die anyway so you're coming with me" stage.
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Aug 3, 2019 12:30
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Yeah it's a kind of weird/cool thing about cat ownership that any cat could absolutely put a human in hospital with barely any effort but they just choose not to unless severely pushed.
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Aug 3, 2019 13:42
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Hello Cat Thread! I recently adopted a senior cat and have been adjusting to being responsible for another teeny 'lil life. I'm concerned that I'm not stimulating him enough, and was wondering if there were any recommended toys, tools, or interaction tips. A little background -- I adopted this 12 year old cat about a month ago from a couple who had a baby who ended up being allergic. He adjusted quickly -- never once has failed to use his litter box, eats/drinks without any issues (self regulates, even!), and sleeps next to me every night. He's wonderfully affectionate and enjoys being picked up. There's just one issue: The meowing. Every morning after I've stood up and every evening when I get home, he spends at least 20 minutes meowing at the door. Taking him outside for ~10 minutes calms him down, but he'll be right back at it every hour or so. He'll stop if I pick him up or start petting him, but he'll keep trying to steer me toward the door right after. I think the problem is compounded by the fact that my apartment is quite small -- the two exits are in view of the living room where I spend most of my time. Further, he came from a home of 2 where he'd been for about a decade, so I think he may be expecting more attention and engagement. While I'm happy to play with him for a while every day, I do spend ~10 hours away at work every weekday, plus whatever time I spend running errands or socializing. He's got a fair amount of toys, but he usually only plays with them a few minutes before he wanders away (and some he won't even touch anymore). I bought a feliway evaporator but it's had no visible impact to this point. It's not unsustainable, but the constant meowing is really starting to get to me. He does calm down at night, and when he occasionally takes a nap, but I can only reliably get him to stop by letting him join me in bed. I'm not sure what to do, other than the obvious (don't reward meowing, pay more attention to him when he stops). Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Cat tax: 
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Aug 3, 2019 19:54
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Not a Children posted:Hello Cat Thread! I recently adopted a senior cat and have been adjusting to being responsible for another teeny 'lil life. I'm concerned that I'm not stimulating him enough, and was wondering if there were any recommended toys, tools, or interaction tips. I'm sure others will have more ideas, but I think you've identified the main thing, which is to ignore him totally when he meows, no matter how hard that is. Use earphones if you must. If he doesn't already have a puzzle toy or two in which he has to work to get a food treat, I'd also suggest trying one of those. Another thought is that if you have a window that can safely be opened just a crack (but that he can't force open further), that might be a good tactic to distract him from his obsession with the door when you first get home from work. My cats have all loved the opportunity to sniff the mysterious outdoor air and to watch and hear the bugs and birds for a little while. Come to think of it, do your windows have sills wide enough for him to sit upon? If not, rigging or buying a cat perch for one of them so that he can watch the world go by would give him a lot of additional stimulation all the time. Good luck!
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Aug 3, 2019 23:25
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TofuDiva posted:Come to think of it, do your windows have sills wide enough for him to sit upon? If not, rigging or buying a cat perch for one of them so that he can watch the world go by would give him a lot of additional stimulation all the time. These were worth every penny and our five fight over them: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B005AUM8U0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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Aug 4, 2019 00:55
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Is there one that goes into a window? Like those AC holders? That’d be a cool thing for a cat, a little nature bubble.
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Aug 4, 2019 02:29
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