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In the winter, the condensation output on my furnace will freeze somewhere outside of my condo, so I cut a tube sized hole in the lids of a couple of plastic cat litter buckets which I dump into the bathtub. Well my old cat Smoke used to live for those moments and would often just straight up jump into the tub before the water could even really start draining. He would be as happy as a clam standing in like 3-4 inches of water while he drank it as it drained out of the tub. He was always obsessed by water and played with sink water, jumped in toilets (I live alone but had to keep the whole lid down or he would happily drop two feet in to drink from it), or jump onto the edge of the shower and yell at me while I was in it. He also used to paw at the fountain water. He was a strange cat.
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Aug 26, 2019 23:12
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Rotten Red Rod posted:Those are great until they inevitably break. They also tend to be a huge pain in the rear end to reassemble after cleaning the filter. I gave up on them entirely. My cat is prone to struvite crystals in his urine so it's important he drinks more water than what my diet gives him, and he's dumb and prefers dry food over wet so 
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Aug 27, 2019 05:21
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We've got two of the flower water fountains going strong without any issues. We tried other designs (a ceramic and a metal one) which ended up getting nasty and had to be fiddled with sometimes. The fountains make a huge difference to how much our cats drink so I think they are worth it. Especially the older cat who needs to drink more.
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Aug 27, 2019 08:25
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We had a pet safe brand one we got for free and it was fine for awhile but it got gunky pretty quick and occassionally the pump would get so clogged up it would stop and I'd have to disassemble it to clean it out. When Sleek was sick we got a flower to keep in the room we were keeping him isolated in he and the other guys seemed to prefer it and it's been a lot less maintenance heavy. Donated the pet safe one to the thrift store.
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Aug 27, 2019 11:16
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Protocol7 posted:He'll usually jump on the toilet too so I have to give him water before I do anything toilet related. Please don't pass water onto your cat  .
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Aug 27, 2019 11:45
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Is the flower fountain you folks are talking about this thing from Catit? https://usa.catit.com/shop/flower-fountain/
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Aug 27, 2019 15:43
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Hello Sailor posted:Is the flower fountain you folks are talking about this thing from Catit? https://usa.catit.com/shop/flower-fountain/ yes the one and only true flower fountain.
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Aug 27, 2019 15:50
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Hello Sailor posted:Is the flower fountain you folks are talking about this thing from Catit? https://usa.catit.com/shop/flower-fountain/ I have that fountain, although I don't use the flower. It's a decent enough fountain and my 3 cats drink from it without any issue. The small pump will eventually burn out at some point (I think the original lasted over a year or two but I don't really recall), but it's pretty easy to just buy a replacement pump when it does go out. They sell the filters in packs of 3 for like 10 bucks iirc, which is an added expense but not too bad.
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Aug 27, 2019 15:55
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Thumposaurus posted:We had a pet safe brand one we got for free and it was fine for awhile but it got gunky pretty quick and occassionally the pump would get so clogged up it would stop and I'd have to disassemble it to clean it out. Golly. I've had one of the petsafe drinkwells for almost 12 years, and it's never needed anything other than cleaning it and changing the filter cartridge despite daily use for that entire time.
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Aug 27, 2019 18:17
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 I've taken in a cat for a friend for a few months, which I'm super happy to do since I'm a cat person but live with someone that doesn't want a permanent cat. This cat is ~4 years old so is still pretty energetic, and had some other cat friends in her previous home to play with. Now she definitely wants to play rough with someone. She's very good about not using claws and doing very gentle not-bites on my hands when when I'm the target, so the problem isn't that she doesn't know not to hurt people. However, feet under a sheet aren't being recognized as belonging to a person. So there's been some problems there. She does leave off as soon as I make a fuss, so it's obvious that she's a good cat but just wants something to attack. Is there a good to do some wrasslin' play with a cat? Will a stuffed toy make a good substitute?
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Aug 27, 2019 20:06
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If a cat is trying to play with your hand, yes, you should always substitute a toy. If they want to wrestle, I like using those catnip-infused stuffed cylinder "kitty kicker" things. Don't wrestle them with your hands, they're not dogs - cats claw and bite as part of their play and our fur-less skin doesn't do well with that. If you do, you're training them that it's ok to bite and scratch people and they'll do it more. If the cat is attacking your feet while you're trying to sleep... You gotta kick the cat out of the room while you're sleeping. There's no real good solution for that. Rotten Red Rod fucked around with this message at 20:22 on Aug 27, 2019 |
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Aug 27, 2019 20:13
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My cat really likes to try and play with shirt and pant cuffs. Sometimes she gets a little bitey with my hands. Whenever that happens I make a big show of yelping and redirecting the cat to a toy. So far she's been getting better and biting/clawing at hands and cuffs less. She's pretty gentle with the bites but there's a fine line between "painless play bite" and "too excited and now your hands are hamburger" so I'd really rather she not.
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Aug 27, 2019 20:53
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Klyith posted:
I've been substituting toys (Kong makes a good crinkly grab-and-kick toy) for friendly but unwanted hand play, now I just have to train my bf to do the same. I also got her some stuffed toys that I occasionally spray with catnip spray for a good tussle. Feet under a sheet are still an issue if we want to sleep in and Katya gets frustrated with our lazy asses, we usually just yeet her off the bed and she runs off to be annoying somewhere else. e: here she is sizing up her panther pal 
InvisibleMonkey fucked around with this message at 22:03 on Aug 27, 2019 |
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Aug 27, 2019 21:58
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I just have to say that both of these fuzzcats are incredibly beautiful
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Aug 27, 2019 22:49
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I had to do a double-take, they look incredibly similar! e: they have the same rbf for sure 
InvisibleMonkey fucked around with this message at 23:11 on Aug 27, 2019 |
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Aug 27, 2019 22:58
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I ordered a fountain from Wish while drunk; was so paranoid that I drank from it myself first. It lasted all of four hours before Aleta got too excited and spilled water everywhere. We also got a cat castle today. They liked the pieces individually very much; assembled, it is WORTHLESS. oh jk Aleta literally just levitated to the top of it. It is a good place from which to attack Lunaghost.
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Aug 27, 2019 23:10
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My cat has had a sudden unpleasant behavior change in the last month or so. He's always liked to be held, especially when I'm sitting up, like on a couch or computer chair. He'll climb over my shoulder and just kinda flop so I'll catch him. Then he'll lie there and purr and headbutt me till he is bored and jumps away, or goes to sleep. Its cute and i treasure it. We've had him for seven years, and hes basically always been like this. For the last 5-6 weeks or so, these cuddling sessions have initiated like normal, but end when he suddenly decides to bite the poo poo out of me, twice on my face. I have gotten tiny love bites before, but not like this. When i put him down on the couch or floor after this he is bizarrely aggressive, no hissing, no growling, but full eye contact and attempting to get to my neck/face, and biting/wrestling my arm if i keep him away. This keeps up until i push him off the couch/bed or distract him for like a second, after which he's back to normal. He never gets like this unless ive been holding him for at least a minute or two. For now my solution is just to push him off as soon as he starts wanting to be held, which sucks. Hes eating, drinking, chasing his sister, pooping and peeing like normal. Any advice?
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Aug 28, 2019 00:41
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TofuDiva posted:Golly. I've had one of the petsafe drinkwells for almost 12 years, and it's never needed anything other than cleaning it and changing the filter cartridge despite daily use for that entire time. Sleek would sit and stare at it and stick his front paws in it that may have added to it's need to be cleaned out more often.
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Aug 28, 2019 01:09
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One More Fat Nerd posted:My cat has had a sudden unpleasant behavior change in the last month or so. He's always liked to be held, especially when I'm sitting up, like on a couch or computer chair. He'll climb over my shoulder and just kinda flop so I'll catch him. Then he'll lie there and purr and headbutt me till he is bored and jumps away, or goes to sleep. Its cute and i treasure it. We've had him for seven years, and hes basically always been like this. I'd take him to the vet. Sudden behavioral changes like this, especially increased aggression in situations where he used to be comfortable, could indicate he's in pain or getting excessive stimulation, which could be any number of bad medical things happening.
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Aug 28, 2019 01:13
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One More Fat Nerd posted:My cat has had a sudden unpleasant behavior change in the last month or so. He's always liked to be held, especially when I'm sitting up, like on a couch or computer chair. He'll climb over my shoulder and just kinda flop so I'll catch him. Then he'll lie there and purr and headbutt me till he is bored and jumps away, or goes to sleep. Its cute and i treasure it. We've had him for seven years, and hes basically always been like this. We have a cat that does something similar - she'll climb all over the chair and rub against us demanding pets, but as soon as you touch her she starts snarling and biting. The vet diagnosed arthritis and some joint problems, which meant she was probably in pain. She prescribed some gabapentin which seems to take care of the issue. Now when she gets snarly we squirt her with a dose and in a few minutes she's calmed down and lovey again. tl;dr: take him to a vet, he's probably in pain.
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Aug 28, 2019 01:35
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Deteriorata posted:We have a cat that does something similar - she'll climb all over the chair and rub against us demanding pets, but as soon as you touch her she starts snarling and biting. I will do that, joint pain makes sense, hes getting older and he's always been a very big cat.
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Aug 28, 2019 01:53
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As a fish owner, looking at a lot of these filter catridges on cat drinking fountains, these are pretty much the same thing. Activated carbon media, ion exchange resin media, and a scouring pad to filter out larger matter. You can get by much cheaper and in larger amounts by buying fine filter bags and filling these up yourself.
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Aug 28, 2019 06:47
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One More Fat Nerd posted:I will do that, joint pain makes sense, hes getting older and he's always been a very big cat. Yeah, when cats get older they definitely become a lot less tolerant of certain things that may have been OK before, but are definitely *not* OK now. With bigger old cats, there's always more factors to consider - I say this as the owner of s 12-pound polydactyl female who's part Maine Coon. It's not always something that's a direct problem that can be diagnosed by a vet. Not that you shouldn't take her to the vet at the sign of a noticeable change in behavior like that - it's always the very first thing you should check, especially because diagnosing pain in cats is VERY difficult, and they will do all they can to hide it. and appear to be OK. But I think other posters have that covered. I would like to add some other things, though. As my cat Jackie has gotten older, I've noticed she's much more apt to change her behavior towards me in order to, say, manipulate me into overfeeding her, these days. So it'd also important to be aware of other factors, such as that. Cats aren't stupid. If they realize they can get you to change your behavior by acting in certain ways, they can and will figure this out and apply it to their benefit. For instance, my cat Jackie knows I am solicitous of her, change her water bowls at least twice a day, scoop her litter box at least once a day, feed her around ~5 (she doesn't always finish each one sadly) individual 2.5-ounce portions of cat food every 24 hours, I try to play with her every day but it's more like every other day sometimes..... And she naturally does all she can to get me to overfeed her sometimes, or just find things to complain about. Cats... they are not foolish, they KNOW how to push your buttons when they want to get you to do something. I know something is truly wrong, for instance, when Jackie is acting weird like she needs something and/or seems angry/upset, and I go down the list and have taken care of all her needs. Trusting your instincts is the best thing to do, ultimately, though.
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Aug 28, 2019 14:19
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Oh, and I very much wanted to post a pic showing off what an absolute and total beauty my Jackie is: That's her, adorably silly claws and all, dozing peacefully beside me. She looks somewhat similar right now, and is in the same place, too! I admit I am totally biased, but does that not look like an incredibly lovely soft and beautiful cat? Right? Not bad for a 12-year-old cat.
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Aug 28, 2019 14:26
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Synthbuttrange posted:As a fish owner, looking at a lot of these filter catridges on cat drinking fountains, these are pretty much the same thing. Activated carbon media, ion exchange resin media, and a scouring pad to filter out larger matter. You can get by much cheaper and in larger amounts by buying fine filter bags and filling these up yourself. I'll second this! Been doing it for years, with all of the benefits that you mention. In my case, I noticed that the pump was identical to those on a certain brand of fish filters, and found that a filter pack for that filter was identical and way cheaper. Fun, semi-correlated fact: my guys find a single flake of fish food to be an irresistible treat. I used to think they gathered at the tank because they were interested in the fish, who get lively when fed; came to realize that they were waiting for me to be sloppy and let a flake or two drop to the floor. kaworu posted:Oh, and I very much wanted to post a pic showing off what an absolute and total beauty my Jackie is: She is beautiful! And yes, wanna pet that thick fur and boop that nose 
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Aug 28, 2019 16:08
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Sefal posted:I'm trying to play with both my of cats. but 1 of them is more shy and the other just runs up to whatever i'm playing with. wand, red light or feather, anything really. I had this problem and my workaround was setup visual barriers force a break in Line of Sight for Milo. Otis will play with anything so long as it's near his Cat Log (Cat tree was to high for the little guy) he's down for whatever. Milo has to have his dancer toy jump over 2 boxes to break line of sight twice to trigger his pounce.
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Aug 28, 2019 16:53
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One of my favorite things is when I wake up and all 3 kitties are strategically sleeping around me on the bed. It just makes everything seem extra cozy then 🥰. My sister took the dog, my boyfriend is at the fire station for clean up, so right now we’re all snuggled up in fluffy blankets enjoying peace and quiet. This absolutely helps with the haze of depression that’s been hanging around my brain this week.
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Aug 29, 2019 00:10
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TofuDiva posted:I'll second this! Been doing it for years, with all of the benefits that you mention. In my case, I noticed that the pump was identical to those on a certain brand of fish filters, and found that a filter pack for that filter was identical and way cheaper. I’m a dummy and forgot the extra cheap bit, use pantyhose for filter bags. Tie up one end, fill with media, tie up other end and cut. Just one pair will do dozens of bags.  Fishkeeping AND cat water fountain, it all works!
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Aug 29, 2019 00:22
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I'm fostering a litter of three rescue kittens. Tonight I noticed one of the boy kittens has paraphimosis. How much of an emergency is this? Are there any at home solutions for it since I can't take him to the vet at this time?
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Aug 29, 2019 06:17
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Anyone here have a cat flap with microchip reader? I was thinking of getting one of these but honestly the fact that they are battery driven is making me doubt. I have a bigger than normal hatred of things with batteries, I never have enough spare batteries at home or they are the wrong kind. And worst of all I am reading many reviews of people saying their cat door just eats batteries, or starts to do so after a while. That would really drive me up the wall. So I am at the moment thinking to just get a regular, non powered one.
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Aug 29, 2019 09:25
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How do I get my cat to stop waking me up at 2am to demand food? Should I just give her a big meal right before bedtime and refuse to feed her until I wake up at 7am until we get on a schedule?
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Aug 29, 2019 13:29
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Pellisworth posted:How do I get my cat to stop waking me up at 2am to demand food? Should I just give her a big meal right before bedtime and refuse to feed her until I wake up at 7am until we get on a schedule? Yes, but also don't feed her as soon as you get up. Go do some of your morning routine first so she learns to associate that with imminent food rather than you getting up. If she won't quit then try an auto feeder so you aren't even the food-giver. Are you sure its food she wants and not just attention though? 2am sounds more like wanting attention in which case you just gotta ignore until she learns it's pointless.
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Aug 29, 2019 13:31
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Organza Quiz posted:Yes, but also don't feed her as soon as you get up. Go do some of your morning routine first so she learns to associate that with imminent food rather than you getting up. If she won't quit then try an auto feeder so you aren't even the food-giver. It's definitely food. She wakes up, climbs all over me, and if that doesn't work she starts yelling by the food bowl. I give her food, she eats some, then goes back to bed quietly. She usually is awake and active around 5:30-6am when the sun starts to come up, she'll be playing with toys and leaving me alone. Which is more manageable than 2am wakeups.
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Aug 29, 2019 14:01
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Ah, yes, you have now taught her that 2am is meal time. Getting her to believe otherwise is gonna be a very uphill battle for a very long time, you might be better off getting an autofeeder if you don't want to fight it. Or maybe you could use one for a while to wean her off 2am mealtimes by gradually setting it earlier and earlier until it's a normal hour.
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Aug 29, 2019 15:52
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His Divine Shadow posted:Anyone here have a cat flap with microchip reader? I was thinking of getting one of these but honestly the fact that they are battery driven is making me doubt. I have a bigger than normal hatred of things with batteries, I never have enough spare batteries at home or they are the wrong kind. We don't have a flap (don't let cats go outside ), but we have microchip feeders that run on batteries and it works fine. Just do what we did ages ago and invest in a rechargeable setup. We have a big box of charged batteries, and we can just swap out when things die, and toss the depleted ones in a tin; once the tin fills up, we just run them through the charger one day. It's better for the environment anyway and way cheaper in the long run (just one or two recharge cycles will offset the difference between the up-front investment in the more expensive batteries and charger versus having to buy new single use sets).Even so, the batteries last us a good month and a half on a charge, they don't use a lot of power to just passively scan for chips and run the motor for 3 seconds to open the cover to let someone eat. I imagine the flap would be similar, if not better, since I assume there's no motor opening the door to draw power, it just unlocks the flap.
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Aug 29, 2019 18:18
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Organza Quiz posted:Ah, yes, you have now taught her that 2am is meal time. Getting her to believe otherwise is gonna be a very uphill battle for a very long time, you might be better off getting an autofeeder if you don't want to fight it. Or maybe you could use one for a while to wean her off 2am mealtimes by gradually setting it earlier and earlier until it's a normal hour. Argh. This has only happened twice, I've had her for two weeks, so maybe it's not too ingrained. I'll try enforcing reasonable mealtimes for another week or two and hopefully maybe I can train her that meal time is not, in fact, 2am.
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Aug 29, 2019 18:59
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If she's at a healthy weight why not try free feeding her? Many cats do well on this method, although I would weigh her once a week or so just to be sure she isn't gaining.
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Aug 29, 2019 19:34
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His Divine Shadow posted:Anyone here have a cat flap with microchip reader? I was thinking of getting one of these but honestly the fact that they are battery driven is making me doubt. I have a bigger than normal hatred of things with batteries, I never have enough spare batteries at home or they are the wrong kind. The sureflap one I had used about 4AA in a year with multiple daily uses, and gave plenty of warning before the batteries would actually die off enough not to release the latch
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Aug 29, 2019 19:39
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Konstantin posted:If she's at a healthy weight why not try free feeding her? Many cats do well on this method, although I would weigh her once a week or so just to be sure she isn't gaining. She actually only eats a bit at a time, she doesn't snarf down the whole bowl at once. When she wakes me up most of the time there's still food in her bowl, it's just breakfast time so feed me dammit.
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Aug 29, 2019 20:21
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His Divine Shadow posted:Anyone here have a cat flap with microchip reader? I was thinking of getting one of these but honestly the fact that they are battery driven is making me doubt. I have a bigger than normal hatred of things with batteries, I never have enough spare batteries at home or they are the wrong kind. I don't remember the brand but we have a cat flap with a microchip reader on an interior door (it's to give the old cat her own space) and we've never changed the batteries. It's been going about 10 months.
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Aug 29, 2019 22:06
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