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Rabbit Hill posted:Y'all, my cat is too fat, and I don't know why. Your boy looks extremely similar to my boy. Onca's 20lbs and half bengal, and I'm pretty sure the Bengal-cross coat makes him look chunkier than he is, because it is d e n s e . Much denser than the Bengals I've petted, and Pan is a threadbare rug compared to him. He also has a skull that is extremely big compared to Pan's, so there's also build playing a part here too. Pan is about 13lbs for reference, with a Siamese-type frame. Photo comparison:   Advice: my method of judging a cat's weight has less to do with ribs and waist, and more with movement. How comfortably can your boy jump down from a highish spot (like a windowsill or counter)? Does it seem like he avoids certain spaces because jumping down (or up) is too difficult? I'm trying to get Onca to lose a little weight, because I've noticed his joints seems to take it a bit hard when he jumps down off the windowsill, and because he won't jump from the windowsill to my bed (about a 3ft jump across, with a 1ft grade). These seem like things a healthy cat should be able to do, to me. I'm just stepping down his food by 1% Calories every three days, and will keep doing that until either he seems more physically unencumbered by his weight E: quote for top of page and metric-imperial conversions. HazCat fucked around with this message at 09:36 on Feb 4, 2022 |
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Feb 4, 2022 09:27
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My cat's always been very food-driven, but he's gotten crazier over the past few months. He knows exactly the places we don't want him to go and makes it his mission to seek and destroy. The Christmas tree is always a problem, thankfully that's gone, but he'll climb onto the table by the window and knock things over, claw at my chair and then try to destroy my computer (already got a nice scratch one monitor from him pushing over another), or loudly chew on cardboard until his mouth gets sores on it. We can't figure out exactly what he wants, but it's a set schedule: Morning (people wake up): Climb on things, try to get attention, demand to be fed even though we haven't fed him in the morning for over half his life (he's 9). This is somewhat of a change; he'd want attention in the morning, but now he thinks he should get wet food for some reason. Afternoon: Best cat ever, totally chill lap cat. 4:30 PM: Cause as much damage as possible, because dinner is at 6 and maybe we'll feed him early? (We never do, we even adjust for daylight savings). This often gets him locked out of every bedroom. 5:30ish: I have to decide how much I really want to make dinner because he's going to make everyone's life hell by getting in the way. 6 PM: Dinner! 6 PM - 10 PM: Best cat ever. 10 PM: Chaos cat until the bowl gets a fresh layer of dry kibble. This is the new part, mostly; he used to be fine all night, only getting antsy if I stayed up too late (past midnight) and hadn't refilled the dry food. Even though we don't feed him when he's bad, getting up and tossing him out seems to give him some feedback that what he's doing is getting him attention. It's a small apartment with three humans and two cats, so we don't even have a room to lock him in. Now that I've typed all this I'm wondering if he just needs more wet food; like I said, he's always been food driven, but this behavior really started when it got colder out, so maybe he just needs more because it's winter? My nerves are freaking shot between 4-6 PM and after 10 PM because there's nothing in the world that will dissuade him from destroying the most expensive things in here including himself. We literally can't afford to ignore him. What can we do? My Bombay son's got anxiety.
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Feb 6, 2022 05:44
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LifeLynx posted:My cat's always been very food-driven, but he's gotten crazier over the past few months. He knows exactly the places we don't want him to go and makes it his mission to seek and destroy. The Christmas tree is always a problem, thankfully that's gone, but he'll climb onto the table by the window and knock things over, claw at my chair and then try to destroy my computer (already got a nice scratch one monitor from him pushing over another), or loudly chew on cardboard until his mouth gets sores on it. We can't figure out exactly what he wants, but it's a set schedule: Out of curiosity, why do anything but wet food? I thought it was one of those things that's just strictly better for cats.
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Feb 6, 2022 08:09
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How old is he and have you talked to your vet? Increased appetite, especially in an older cat, is the main sign of hyperthyroidism. It's easy to diagnose and just as easy to maintain.
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Feb 7, 2022 17:23
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Exciting news for our cat introductions on Friday Sage wrestled Pavarotti back a little bit, and even chased him around once a little bit afterwards. Sage only really had Socks when he was growing up since we got him at 8 weeks, and socks was much too old to really want to play with him. He's still a little wary of Pavarotti though. Once we bring Pav downstairs he'll generally go sit under the table on a chair, or go up to a high cat bed or back to sitting in front of a heating vent under a desk. Occasionally there's a chase that results in cornering and he ends up getting really hissy and yowls Of course, as soon as we're about to feed them they'll happily sit side by side and take turns begging at the counter, and they'll eat side by side right up against each other. Cats I guess
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Feb 7, 2022 17:37
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Rabbit Hill posted:Y'all, my cat is too fat, and I don't know why. Maybe someone here could.....weigh in. Vets don't go off of literal weight because cats can vary a lot in what their ideal weight is. They use what's called a "Body Condition Score". You can see the chart here: https://petobesityprevention.org/pet-weight-check The most obvious "tell" for if a cat is too fat is to look at them from the top when they're standing. He could just be a huge cat naturally, he doesn't look like a beach ball in the photos, but that chart should give you a better idea.
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Feb 7, 2022 19:27
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Hello, everyone. My 9-year-old cat, who has generally always been fairly healthy, has started doing this weird gulping. Not quite a hiccup, not quite a cough. It reminds me of when your bile rises up and you reflex-gag. Frequency varies from a few times per minute to almost not at all (was gonna get a video but of course she's not doing it now). It's different from the normal "ate too much food" or "hairball" gagging, a lot more subdued and she doesn't focus on it. This has been going on for about 5 days now. At the beginning she also had some rasping in her breathing, similar to when you have a cold, so I figured it was just that but now her breathing has cleared up and the gulping remains. Other than she has been her normal self, eating and drinking regularly. A bit lethargic when the symptoms first appeared, but it might have been my imagination or just the cold weather. She had a checkup in late December and her levels were normal, the only thing I can think of is that in January we switched foods, but she has literally never been the kind of cat to be sensitive to food changes. Just wondering if it's time for a vet visit or maybe I should just wait a bit longer and see if it goes away on its own?
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Feb 10, 2022 21:02
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If your question is "should I take my cat to the vet" you shouldn't be asking this thread, you should be calling your vet.
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Feb 10, 2022 22:24
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Rotten Red Rod posted:If your question is "should I take my cat to the vet" you shouldn't be asking this thread, you should be calling your vet. Yeah I'd agree with this. Maybe I'm paranoid, but if I think something's wrong with one of my cats I call and talk to the vet and see what they think. Our vets have always been square with us on whether we should make an appointment or just keep an eye on them for a few days
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Feb 10, 2022 22:40
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It sounds a little like how my cat's asthma attacks would manifest except that would come in an attack instead of intermittently.
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Feb 11, 2022 00:33
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My friends it is truly a Brown Letter Day! Been trying to get our cat and kitten to use wood pellet litter for two months now. They have both been occasionally urinating in it but this morning the elder cat, after carefully crafting a nice bowl in the pellet pile, took the squat and manufactured brownies. The kitten watched this all go down and then, after the older cat left, jumped in and proceeded to produce a deuce in the pellets. We're still keeping a clay litter box around but it seems that a glorious victory of the fecal variety may be upon us. Well I guess it's a mixed bag because the pellets aren't really ideal for feces odors but they are awesome for urine since they just turn to sawdust and seem to suppress the smell very well.
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Feb 11, 2022 03:05
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For a while now, I've noticed my two seem to be a lot less lovey-dovey with each other than they were when I first got them. I think they're a bit territorial about seating arrangements, when it comes to access to me. When I sit on the couch, James will usually come running for cuddles. Wolfgang almost never does, and on the rare occasion that he does if James shows up Wolfy will run away (sometimes pursued by James). There's also a Designated Cat Zone next to me at my desk, which I've seen James chase Wolfy off of. I'm mitigating that one by making the chair next to me another Designated Cat Zone just for James, and the one of the table just for Wolfgang, but if Wolfy's in his spot he'll often run away or swat at James if he takes up station in his own spot. Any ideas how I can get James to be less jealous of access to me? There's enough cuddles for both of them!
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Feb 11, 2022 03:11
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Anyone have a rec for a good deshedder? My Katya boy is starting to shed a lot and since he's mediumhair it gets everywhwre. Lena also sheds but not as prolifically.
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Feb 11, 2022 06:00
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Fabulousity posted:My friends it is truly a Brown Letter Day! Been trying to get our cat and kitten to use wood pellet litter for two months now. They have both been occasionally urinating in it but this morning the elder cat, after carefully crafting a nice bowl in the pellet pile, took the squat and manufactured brownies. The kitten watched this all go down and then, after the older cat left, jumped in and proceeded to produce a deuce in the pellets. We're still keeping a clay litter box around but it seems that a glorious victory of the fecal variety may be upon us. I wish I could get ours to use wood pellets. They're dirt-loving-cheap and we already use them with our rabbits. However, Princess lives up to her name and will protest-shiss on our bed if we dare deviate from the Special Kitty green label/box Walmart-brand litter. She will not use Frisco, or TidyCats, or any goddamn more expensive or cheap litter, it has to be SK or she refuses to use it.
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Feb 11, 2022 16:20
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Hyperlynx posted:For a while now, I've noticed my two seem to be a lot less lovey-dovey with each other than they were when I first got them. I think they're a bit territorial about seating arrangements, when it comes to access to me.
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Feb 11, 2022 23:18
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D34THROW posted:I wish I could get ours to use wood pellets. They're dirt-loving-cheap and we already use them with our rabbits. However, Princess lives up to her name and will protest-shiss on our bed if we dare deviate from the Special Kitty green label/box Walmart-brand litter. She will not use Frisco, or TidyCats, or any goddamn more expensive or cheap litter, it has to be SK or she refuses to use it. Have you tried the walnut pellets? I know from what you're saying it seems like a lost cause but our cat likes it. I cleaned and changed her litter today and went out to take the garbage out, when I came back in Quill was standing in her litter box, she had ?wiggled her feet all the way to the bottom of the litterbox so the pellets were halfway up her legs, and she was making this trilling sound of absolute contentment. When she saw me watching she immediately stopped and walked away. Haven't seen her do that again today.
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Feb 12, 2022 08:52
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I like this stuff: https://troubleandtrix.com/au/products/natural-tofu-cat-litter/ It's flushable, keeps smells down, and isn't dusty.
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Feb 12, 2022 09:18
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Can cats get sunburn? My cat is orange with pink skin, and it's today the first very sunny day after winter, so she's sitting in the full blast sunshine on the balcony. Not sure if I should stop her at some point or get a parasol.
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Feb 12, 2022 10:46
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pidan posted:Can cats get sunburn? My cat is orange with pink skin, and it's today the first very sunny day after winter, so she's sitting in the full blast sunshine on the balcony. Not sure if I should stop her at some point or get a parasol. Pic of rare female orange pls
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Feb 12, 2022 10:56
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pidan posted:Can cats get sunburn? My cat is orange with pink skin, and it's today the first very sunny day after winter, so she's sitting in the full blast sunshine on the balcony. Not sure if I should stop her at some point or get a parasol. Yeah that can be a thing with pink noses.
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Feb 12, 2022 11:39
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Rust Martialis posted:Pic of rare female orange pls  She's pretty! But it's not that rare, if both parents are orange, all their babies will also be orange. She went inside on her own after a while, if she seems sunburned tomorrow I'll be more careful in the future.
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Feb 12, 2022 12:07
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I got my cat shortly after Kerry won his primary. She was a trash kitten, a cat that had been abandoned but seemed to know her way around and was adopted by the new family living at the house where she had (presumably) been abandoned. She was nursed back to health and then some. She was a hairy cat and had to be passed on to a recently-divorced relative due to allergies. Those allergies meant she had to pass them off to some schmuck in her apartment complex: me. She was 2-3 years old at this time and very adept at using her head to open pizza boxes (a good survival skill for a declawed cat left to fend for themselves outside). When she was first rescued she was all skin and bones. When I adopted her, the divorcee had named her "fatty" and at her first vet appointment she was a humongous 22 pounds. Good for her, she deserved it. She was my world. We had something I called "our time" where we would spend ~30 minutes every morning where she would lay on my chest and make biscuits while I would stare into her eyes. I've known she would die of kidney disease for, like, 6 years at this point. All fancy K/D diet and poo poo and she was always a stellar eater. She was great up until last weekend when she went downhill and she went downhill fast. She weighed 4.5 pounds at the end. She was peacefully euthanized in my arms today and I am inconsolable.
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Feb 17, 2022 06:51
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I'm so sorry for your loss. You loved her very much and she loved you too.
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Feb 17, 2022 09:52
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Here's another female ginger cat. Name is PJ: Question for long haired cat havers. She tracks cat litter all over the house, I think due mostly to her 'toe floof' . What are some steps I can take to prevent this? We have other short haired cats and they don't have this issue.
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Feb 17, 2022 20:17
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Vitruvian Manic posted:I got my cat shortly after Kerry won his primary. She was a trash kitten, a cat that had been abandoned but seemed to know her way around and was adopted by the new family living at the house where she had (presumably) been abandoned. She was nursed back to health and then some. She was a hairy cat and had to be passed on to a recently-divorced relative due to allergies. Those allergies meant she had to pass them off to some schmuck in her apartment complex: me. She was 2-3 years old at this time and very adept at using her head to open pizza boxes (a good survival skill for a declawed cat left to fend for themselves outside). When she was first rescued she was all skin and bones. When I adopted her, the divorcee had named her "fatty" and at her first vet appointment she was a humongous 22 pounds. Good for her, she deserved it. I'm so sorry for your loss, we just went through the same thing a few weeks back and it hurt so much Just know that you did everything you could for her, even at the end. And she got to know she was loved till the very end
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Feb 17, 2022 21:56
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  My cats. Simba on top is 3 years old, Gimli on bottom is 9 months old. Just got Simba last Saturday (I've had Gimli since he was 8 weeks old) and having trouble getting them to get along. They will sniff each other but Gimli seems to be scared of Simba and will run away. Sometimes Simba will hiss at him. Never had 2 cats before, is this just something that's going to happen for a while or is there something I can do to get them to get along? I keep them in separate rooms when I'm out of the house but let them get close when I am home. I figure as long as they don't like physically attack each other they're more or less just sizing each other up and setting boundaries? FWIW Simba is like 3x the size of Gimli. Simba is fixed, Gimli isn't yet. clemhfandango fucked around with this message at 01:59 on Feb 18, 2022 |
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Feb 18, 2022 01:53
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clemhfandango posted:
Sounds like everything is fine
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Feb 18, 2022 02:11
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sporkstand posted:Here's another female ginger cat. Name is PJ: clemhfandango posted:
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Feb 18, 2022 03:15
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Quill just ate a little bit of hummus, like maybe a tablespoon or so, I know garlic is bad for cats, what should I do? I fed her right away and added water to the food also. How worried should I be?
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Feb 18, 2022 04:46
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEPfM3jSoBw
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Feb 18, 2022 04:55
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VelociBacon posted:Quill just ate a little bit of hummus, like maybe a tablespoon or so, I know garlic is bad for cats, what should I do? I fed her right away and added water to the food also. How worried should I be? I doubt that much garlic will have any effect, but you should watch for any behavioral changes in the next week or so. If she's not eating or puking it's vet time. Also calling your vet for advice is never a bad idea.
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Feb 18, 2022 05:03
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Tulalip Tulips posted:Anyone have a rec for a good deshedder? My Katya boy is starting to shed a lot and since he's mediumhair it gets everywhwre. Lena also sheds but not as prolifically. You want a shedding rake:  My cat is also medium hair and this is so good for getting everything off him.
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Feb 18, 2022 06:04
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Elvis_Maximus posted:I'm so sorry for your loss, we just went through the same thing a few weeks back and it hurt so much That's what's been helping us as well (we recently had to put Sweetheart down after an incredibly aggressive mammary cancer was found). My partner and I told ourselves that when her quality of life was obviously impeded, we'd let her go, and the biggest sign for us was when she actively refused even her favorite treat (churu tubes) or fresh tuna from the pouch. She's not suffering anymore, and she got to have three good years of being a spoiled brat after four years of being listed as "nearly unadoptable" on Petfinder.
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Feb 18, 2022 06:16
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Kyrosiris posted:She's not suffering anymore, and she got to have three good years of being a spoiled brat after four years of being listed as "nearly unadoptable" on Petfinder. Quality of Life. That's the deal we make. Hobbes was diagnosed with B cell lymphoma and was fine for another year. Sam's kidneys started to fail and he lost all his energy. That's when it's time. And after a year I am now crying thinking about my beautiful boy being so sick I had to make it stop.
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Feb 18, 2022 08:37
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I took my cat to the vet 5 times over my cat retching without anything coming up. It took that long to get them to x-ray him, and they’ve come to the conclusion that the cat may have asthma or asthma-like enough to warrant using a an inhaler on him for a while. Anyone have any experience with that? My little dude is scared of the contraption. We’ve been feeding him treats right after but I don’t want him to be so scared of it. 
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Feb 18, 2022 16:15
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Naz al-Ghul posted:I took my cat to the vet 5 times over my cat retching without anything coming up. It took that long to get them to x-ray him, and they’ve come to the conclusion that the cat may have asthma or asthma-like enough to warrant using a an inhaler on him for a while. Anyone have any experience with that? My little dude is scared of the contraption. We’ve been feeding him treats right after but I don’t want him to be so scared of it. My late great cat Raphael (my condolences to everyone grieving for their cats -- me too  ) had asthma, which was pretty well-handled by occasional courses of a corticosteroid (prednisone) in liquid form. (If he hadn't also had a heart murmur, he would have been on prednisone daily.) Corticosteroids and bronchodilators are common treatments for feline asthma and can come in pill, liquid, or transdermal gel form.When Raphael started coughing more (unbeknownst to us, due to cancer, not asthma) in the last month of his life, my vet recommended an inhaler and directed me to this website: Fritz the Brave. It's a compendium of resources on feline asthma and has links to videos on how to get your cat to tolerate the inhaler. (Edit: the gallery link on that website seems to be broken now, but you can find similar content on youtube.) Here is an old and blurry video of Raphael having an asthma attack while sitting in the bathroom sink -- asthma sounds very much like a cat trying to cough up a hairball, without the hairball: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOGL2_pOvKU About my big boy Tobias the Tubby Tabby -- oh, he's fat, all right. I've switched his dry food to another flavor with higher protein/less fat, and I'm finding ways to make him move more (like jumping up onto a chair for a little dry food at a time). He's got a follow-up vet appt in June, and the vet says if he loses even a few ounces by then, it will be cause to celebrate.
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Feb 18, 2022 18:41
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Exciting news in cat introductions Today Sage and Pavarotti played chase for like an hour or two and fully took turns chasing each other around. Sage isn't just running away and hiding anymore, he even tried to start wrestling Pavarotti. Unfortunately, since we got him when he was 8 weeks old without another kitten he doesn't really like.. understand wrestling. So his version of trying to start it was running over and kinda.. putting his arm around Pavarotti, then sticking his face into Pavarotti's chest and kinda like.. nipping a tiny little bit. Pavarotti just gave me this withering look and used his paw to kinda push Sage away, it was really funny. I know Pavarotti wants to wrestle though since he periodically will try to tackle Sage when they're playing, hopefully he'll be able to teach Sage how to do it properly. Occasionally there's still a big chase where Sage will try and get somewhere high away from Pavarotti, then Pav will chase him up there and we'll get some yowls, growls and hisses, but outside of that they're fine being left alone overnight and everything and it's pretty uncommon now. Maybe one or two hisses a day and anything more might be every few days at absolute most
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Feb 18, 2022 21:19
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Rabbit Hill posted:My late great cat Raphael (my condolences to everyone grieving for their cats -- me too  That video sounds exactly like Tambo to a tee. I'm sorry for your loss and thank you for the resources. Apparently my cat has responded well to "breathe in this gas to not only live but eat a snack" and he's become less resistant since the first two doses.
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Feb 19, 2022 15:31
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Misty had asthma as well with attacks just like that, in her case we gave her pills for it. It was extremely effective, basically made it go away.
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Feb 19, 2022 16:08
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Huh. I wonder if that's what I've seen my cat do - if it happens, it's not often so I might just be thinking of the times he's had actual hairballs. (or it would happen shortly before or after a hairball?) How worried should I be about a bump on my cat's side/skin? He's got long fur so its a bit hard to get a look at it, but it seems like a slight red bump, it doesn't too sensitive - he did react when I was trying to get a good look at it, but doesn't seem to bothered if I happen to pet over it. I noticed maybe a day or two, hard to say if it's gotten worse, but his behavior doesn't seem terribly off - still has plenty of an appetite and doesn't seem adverse to movement? (Pretty sure he had some midnight zoomies last night) I'm under the impression it could just be a bug bite or something - though he's purely indoor and I don't exactly see bugs in my apartment much - given things it feels like it aught to be fine to wait a bit and see if it clears on it's own, but I do find myself really wondering what could have caused whatever this is.
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Feb 21, 2022 16:43
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