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Then you have our loving weirdo Fartie. The cats' food bowls and water fountain are near a large rabbit cage, which sometimes hay gets kicked out of by Miss Perdita. Fartie actively attempts to cover the remains of the wet food after she's done (there is a hierarchy established, she comes last) and sometimes succeeds if there's sufficient hay. She's even done it to dry a couple of times.
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May 10, 2022 14:07
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I was just shocked by good customer service, in TYOOL 2022, no less. I bought a Hertz kitty tunnel from Chewy, along with my last order of canned food. We started buying canned food there when the great tin can shortage meant that it was harder to find our cats' preferred varieties. We've stuck to it because it simplifies life so much. Anyway, the tunnel was sized for at most a 3-month-old kitten and had no play value for my 10-month-old. So I shrugged, left a bad review, and went on my merry way. This morning I got mail from Chewy saying that they stood behind their products, had refunded the price to my account, had three other variations I might like, and if I did buy a new one they'd waive shipping. Awesome.
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May 10, 2022 17:45
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Hertz makes flea collars that kill cats, so I suppose it's not surprising that anything else they make is also unsuitable for cats.
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May 10, 2022 19:46
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Udelar posted:Need some training help with a cat that will not give up going outside. Well, she's come back with her eyeball scratched. Giving her eyedrops every few hours under vet recommendations. It's been 5 days and that pupil isn't contracting at all.  Of course she still wants to bolt every time the door opens; she hasn't learned a drat thing.
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May 11, 2022 15:50
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Do you have a deterrent she responds to? Like a can of compressed air or a spray bottle? That's how I trained our outdoor curious kitty to back off, as a kitten she'd mush her face into the crack of the door every time we came in and out, so I used a can of compressed air to push her back. She responded super strongly to it and is still curious, but reliably stays about 6 feet away from the door. Now if she ever gets too close I don't even have to spray the air, I just touch the can and she is fuckin out of there.
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May 11, 2022 16:08
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Our cats used to care about the spray bottle, so I started mimicking the sound and they'd stop whatever they weren't supposed to be doing. They don't care about either now. Might try the canned air though.
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May 11, 2022 16:40
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D34THROW posted:Our cats used to care about the spray bottle, so I started mimicking the sound and they'd stop whatever they weren't supposed to be doing. They don't care about either now. Might try the canned air though. The very first cat we had when I was a kid cared a lot about the spray bottle, it was a little green squirt gun thing. But after she had surprise kittens we were having trouble getting her to drink water. For some reason my Dad thought to use the little squirt gun to bring her water and just like, dribble it for her slowly, and then from then on whenever the little squirt gun came out she'd run up and get ready to drink from it lol
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May 11, 2022 16:50
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xzzy posted:Do you have a deterrent she responds to? Like a can of compressed air or a spray bottle? We have, like, emptied 3 cans of compressed air mostly through attempts to deter her from the door. She runs when we spray it but returns the instant we're not paying attention.
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May 11, 2022 17:30
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Udelar posted:Well, she's come back with her eyeball scratched. Giving her eyedrops every few hours under vet recommendations. It's been 5 days and that pupil isn't contracting at all. My cat (spayed female) adopted me from outside. I used to let her out, but eventually kiboshed that. She’s been in for a couple of years, but still gets weird and demands to go out if I don’t maintain her litter box to her liking. If I do maintain it, nbd. Ymmv. Otteration fucked around with this message at 21:14 on May 11, 2022 |
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May 11, 2022 21:12
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Cat question. It's been a while since it's happened, but my cat used to occasionally have trouble peeing. He'd be agitated and do tiny wees but nothing substantial. I'm aware it could be life-threatening (as the OP makes clear) so we take him to the vet when it happens. On a couple of occasions it just cleared up by itself (we encourage him to hydrate which seems to help fix it) and sometimes the vet has a feel of his bladder and then gives him something (can't remember what). I've had previous cats that had this problem too, and for some reason it popped into my mind again today and I need to know: what exactly is it that causes this? Why does hydrating help? What drugs do the vet give and how does it fix it? I've done some googling but there's a lot of mixed info and I've struggled to tease out solid answers. Edit: oh never mind I finally found some pertinent info on the first page. In payment for answers please accept this picture of the cat in question. 
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May 11, 2022 21:17
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Regarding cats and the need to go outdoors, this is something that I find really quite mysterious, because there’s no seeming rhyme/reason to any of it. For instance, my 15-year-old highly domestic cat Jackie, who was born indoors amongst humans, INSISTS on going out every morning no matter what the weather for at least a little while, and will stand and whine and scratch at the door if she is unable to do so. She doesn’t go far, but she absolutely NEEDS that daily outdoor time, even if it’s highly supervised and brief. On the other hand I’ve also got Mini-Scratcher, the 2-year-old semi-feral male we trapped over a year ago last winter. Despite being born in the wild and having spent his whole life up to that point living outdoors and only meeting humans on the occasion that they neutered him and clipped off a third of his ear, Mini has shown ZERO interest in even stepping foot outdoors again, let alone escaping to go far. In the 16 months since we adopted him, he has only stepped foot outside once - and that was at our urging, and he immediately ran right back inside. He likes fresh air and sitting in front of open windows, but that’s it! I’d love to hear some explanation for this, or whether it’s some sort of established behavior pattern for adopted feral cats. Here’s a pic of Jackie and Mini that more or less sums up their relationship and personalities: 
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May 11, 2022 22:57
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I got real lucky with our outdoor interested cat. We leash trained her as a kitten and she knows when that leash is on she's allowed to go outside. It did require training, as I said in a previous post as a baby she was dedicated to trying to get outside but the air can fixed that. Pre covid I'd take her outside whenever I got home from work (around 5:30) so that routine is baked into heir brain, every single day from about 5pm to 6pm she's chirping at me to go on her walk. But now that she's over 5 years old she's learned that sometimes the weather sucks so when it's rainy or snowy it registers that today is a good time to stay inside, and she doesn't ask.
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May 11, 2022 23:10
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Otteration posted:My cat (spayed female) adopted me from outside. I used to let her out, but eventually kiboshed that. Literally just tried to run out the door 10 minutes after using a fresh litterbox. I'll try changing it more. kaworu posted:Regarding cats and the need to go outdoors, this is something that I find really quite mysterious, because there’s no seeming rhyme/reason to any of it. For instance, my 15-year-old highly domestic cat Jackie, who was born indoors amongst humans, INSISTS on going out every morning no matter what the weather for at least a little while, and will stand and whine and scratch at the door if she is unable to do so. She doesn’t go far, but she absolutely NEEDS that daily outdoor time, even if it’s highly supervised and brief. Our cats are littermates and could not be more different in their drive to escape the house.. Emma never wants to go out any more and was only ever a "go out on the porch, sniff, cry because I'm lost" cat, but she loves to sit by the glass sliding door and watch the birds/squirrels/lizards run around the back yard. I think that the fact that Emma is so hostile to her has a lot to do with Ella's drive to leave the house. They never pass by each other without Emma hissing, growling, or taking a swipe at her any more. They grew to very different sizes. Ella gets along and plays with our neighbor's cat who is usually outside, but Emma is fairly convinced that she's the only one who is allowed to do housecat stuff. I can get them to tolerate each other when I get out a treat for them to share but every other time Emma tries to run her off. Don't know what I can do about that at this point--we made a point of adopting a pair from the same litter so they could play together.
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May 11, 2022 23:48
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Honestly part of their problem is probably that one of them keeps coming home smelling all weird and outside and weird. Also you mention her running away from compressed air but then coming back to run through the door when you aren't paying attention. Why aren't you paying attention to the door being open? Are you not just getting inside ASAP and then closing it? If you're going to be leaving it open for some reason when you can't pay close attention to keep her away you need to shut her in a room or something.
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May 12, 2022 01:33
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D34THROW posted:Our cats used to care about the spray bottle, so I started mimicking the sound and they'd stop whatever they weren't supposed to be doing. They don't care about either now. Might try the canned air though. Shaking a couple of pennies in an empty coke can still does it for mine, but I only pull out those big guns for serious stuff like jumping on my desk and mashing her whole face down into my cup of milk 
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May 12, 2022 01:50
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Udelar posted:Literally just tried to run out the door 10 minutes after using a fresh litterbox. I'll try changing it more. Like all of us that have had to poop in (what we decide is) an unpleasant place, sometimes it takes a bit to figure it all out and decide whether or not it’s a go/no go deal. Not guaranteeing squat, but give it a bit. Think about more boxes too. If none of that works, observe and think about what else. YCWV (Your Cat Will Vary).
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May 12, 2022 04:20
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kaworu posted:On the other hand I’ve also got Mini-Scratcher, the 2-year-old semi-feral male we trapped over a year ago last winter. Despite being born in the wild and having spent his whole life up to that point living outdoors and only meeting humans on the occasion that they neutered him and clipped off a third of his ear, Mini has shown ZERO interest in even stepping foot outdoors again, let alone escaping to go far. In the 16 months since we adopted him, he has only stepped foot outside once - and that was at our urging, and he immediately ran right back inside. He likes fresh air and sitting in front of open windows, but that’s it! I’d love to hear some explanation for this, or whether it’s some sort of established behavior pattern for adopted feral cats.  it’s so good. Is there a story behind it?
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May 12, 2022 06:46
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gloom posted:Every time I read one of your posts about Mini-Scratcher, the name cracks me up Heh, thanks! It’s one of my favorite cat names, too, though coming up with it was a somewhat collaborative process - and there is a bit of a story behind it, of course! I’ll try to be as brief as possible. My roommate has this amazing cat named Murfy, who is an F5 Savannah Cat and just massive - 15 pounds or so of pure dense muscle. He’s got a ton of personality and is very handsome with white fur and blue eyes. Murfy’s got a lot of nicknames, but my roommate would occasionally call him “Scratcher” when he’d get in this phase of swiping his claws at anything coming in his direction, even hands. Mini-Scratcher first turned up as this tiny, scrawny half-grown feral kitten wandering around our yard in the winter, and when we trapped him and brought him in initially he scratched and hissed at absolutely everything, even food. As he was also a slender white-furred blue-eyed male, he pretty much looked exactly like Murfy’s little brother, or something. So before we had officially decided on what to name him, we were all calling him “the mini-scratcher” because he was, quite literally, like a miniature version of Murfy if he were permanently stuck in Scratcher mode. There was some effort to name him Romeo or Lil Romeo by my roommate’s (now ex) girlfriend, but I pushed for “Mini-Scratcher” because it’s what we had been calling him anyway, and I seriously thought it was just a totally awesome and unique name. And so it is, and I’m very glad we stuck with it. kaworu fucked around with this message at 12:28 on May 12, 2022 |
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May 12, 2022 12:26
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Bootsy was just going crazy meowing like he was looking for Prinny to play with. Then the kids figured out why. This tailless gray outside kitty - they're not strays or ferals, they're my neighbors out door cats - was sitting on our window ledge.  someone wanted a friend!
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May 12, 2022 21:54
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I'm going on vacation and leaving Jun 16 and coming home Jun 19th. My next door neighbor is going to come over a couple times a day to check on my 2 cats and feed them and scoop their shitbox. This is the first time I've had someone do this. How much would you guys pay her if you were in my situation? The cats don't really require anything special like very specific feeding schedules or anything. One just eats dry food whenever, the other is happy as long as she gets at least 1 can of wet food a day.
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May 13, 2022 00:06
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D34THROW posted:Bootsy was just going crazy meowing like he was looking for Prinny to play with. Then the kids figured out why. This tailless gray outside kitty - they're not strays or ferals, they're my neighbors out door cats - was sitting on our window ledge. Only time we've had another cat show up was when there was a cat yowling at our window and hooo boy, Pavarotti was not happy about this. He was bushed up and yowling and running up and down the stairs trying to find a way to get at the other cat. Sage didn't care even the slightest bit lol
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May 13, 2022 00:33
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Drunk Driver Dad posted:I'm going on vacation and leaving Jun 16 and coming home Jun 19th. My next door neighbor is going to come over a couple times a day to check on my 2 cats and feed them and scoop their shitbox. This is the first time I've had someone do this. How much would you guys pay her if you were in my situation? The cats don't really require anything special like very specific feeding schedules or anything. One just eats dry food whenever, the other is happy as long as she gets at least 1 can of wet food a day.
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May 13, 2022 00:41
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kaworu posted:Heh, thanks! It’s one of my favorite cat names, too, though coming up with it was a somewhat collaborative process - and there is a bit of a story behind it, of course! I’ll try to be as brief as possible.
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May 13, 2022 05:57
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Drunk Driver Dad posted:I'm going on vacation and leaving Jun 16 and coming home Jun 19th. My next door neighbor is going to come over a couple times a day to check on my 2 cats and feed them and scoop their shitbox. This is the first time I've had someone do this. How much would you guys pay her if you were in my situation? The cats don't really require anything special like very specific feeding schedules or anything. One just eats dry food whenever, the other is happy as long as she gets at least 1 can of wet food a day. We just swap favours with our friends whose cats we look after but we do bring them little souvenirs or treats from our holiday. I would say bring them back something nice and offer to do some DIY or bake them a cake or something? I would feel weird about paying a friend/neighbour I think, depends on the situation tho.
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May 13, 2022 06:54
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Harold's vet visit went well beyond having a hell of a time getting him into his carrier. I thought he'd be chill about it but the only reason he was back in October was that whole 'in severe pain and distress' thing due to his urinary blockage making him not put up a fight. He's a few pounds overweight and had a bit of tartar build up, which the vet gave us some additive to put into his water. Luckily he said the charcoal filter in the petsmart fountain should be fine and not ruin how effective the thing is, which is nice. 
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May 13, 2022 07:12
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Any recommendations for an auto feeder? I'd need one that can be adapted for two cats since I can't really afford to buy two. I would like to sleep in until my alarm goes off at 6AM instead of being woken up by intense hangry zoomes at 5-5:15.
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May 13, 2022 19:42
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I took this cat in last year when he was a kitten. His brother is still feral but he comes and gets the food that I put out for him.
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May 14, 2022 00:28
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Tulalip Tulips posted:Any recommendations for an auto feeder? I'd need one that can be adapted for two cats since I can't really afford to buy two. I would like to sleep in until my alarm goes off at 6AM instead of being woken up by intense hangry zoomes at 5-5:15. We have the surefeed microchip pet feeder. It can be programmed to accept lots of cats so two is fine. It reads the chip on the back of their necks and only opens for cats it's programmed for. It comes with a collar that has a chip on it too.
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May 14, 2022 06:19
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Hey cat thread, I have a possibly a dumb question. I'm trying a adopt a pair of cats from a local organization that rescues and rehomes them. The way it works is that the cats are temporarily living at volunteers homes, so there's not like a single shelter where I could go and meet all the possible cats at once. Instead, I have to pick cats from a list and then schedule a visit with whoever is hosting that cat. So what I've done is select a bonded pair of cute cats and agreed to a visit for next week. They were probably semi-feral when they were rescued but according to the volunteer who has the cats currently they have gotten much tamer since. Ultimately, after the visitation the rescue organization will make the decision if they want to give the cats to me or not. But here's my question: during the visitation, is there anything that I should look for that would suggest that I shouldn't adopt these specific cats? Like, I'm expecting that the cats might not be super excited about meeting strangers, so they probably won't run into my lap and immediately fall in love with me. I'm thinking that unless they are like visibly afraid or straight up hostile in my presence I'll go on with the adoption but are there any other behaviours that would suggest that these are not the right cats for me?
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May 14, 2022 19:25
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The first thing I would say is figure out what kind of cats you want. Do you want them to be high energy with lots of play and affection? Or do you want them to be more independent and only occasionally engage you for food or attention? Something in between? Once you have an idea of that, gauge the cats you'll be visiting based on that. Yeah they might be a bit frightened of you but you should be able to get at least a basic beat on their personalities. If you're not feeling it then that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with you or the cats, just that there might not be a good fit. Second thing I'll say is that as long as the cats aren't feral, they will eventually adapt to you even if they're unhappy when you first meet. Cats do not like changes in their environment, but also pretty much always eventually adapt to a new environment given enough time so long as their needs are met and they can start to feel safe. Just because the cats are nervous around you doesn't mean the adoption won't work out or that they won't eventually warm up to you. Like if the cats are absolutely clawing and biting the poo poo out of you and puffing up even if you're doing nothing aggressive then yeah maybe not those cats, but if they were like that around strangers I highly doubt any good organization would put them up for adoption.
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May 14, 2022 20:20
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It's kind of tough to gauge personality, especially if they're kittens, since they'll grow up and lose a ton of energy (and the need to express that energy) in the process. And even if they're friendly to you in the visit, cats in new homes deal with stresses in ways that can be hard to anticipate. You've got the right idea in that unless they're out to murder you at first sight it's probably going to be fine, or at least there's not much you can learn until they're with you in their new home, and possibly not until they're another year older. Make sure the organization has a way to rehome cats if it truly doesn't work out as a last resort.
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May 15, 2022 02:16
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My advice when looking for cats and kittens is to really let them do the choosing, at least as much as it makes sense to do so. My experience has always been that things don’t really turn out too well if you try to force it, or go in with preconceived conceptions about wanting a cat that looks or acts in a very specific way, or wanting a cat RIGHT NOW on a particular day. I’ve seen that go very badly any number of times. I guess I’m just a strong believer in following your intuition when it comes to cats. You just sort of know when it feels like things are going to work out with a certain cat - there should be some kind of natural sympatico or attraction.
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May 15, 2022 04:04
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kaworu posted:My advice when looking for cats and kittens is to really let them do the choosing, at least as much as it makes sense to do so. My experience has always been that things don’t really turn out too well if you try to force it, or go in with preconceived conceptions about wanting a cat that looks or acts in a very specific way, or wanting a cat RIGHT NOW on a particular day. I’ve seen that go very badly any number of times. Yep. If the cats are super feral they’ll never approach you in the time you’re there. Sit quietly and let them come to you or not if they want to. If they are feral, that’s a whole other investment you’ll have to commit to. You and the cats will both know what’s right when you’re there. Treat it like a first date.
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May 15, 2022 05:49
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kw0134 posted:It's kind of tough to gauge personality, especially if they're kittens, since they'll grow up and lose a ton of energy (and the need to express that energy) in the process. And even if they're friendly to you in the visit, cats in new homes deal with stresses in ways that can be hard to anticipate. You've got the right idea in that unless they're out to murder you at first sight it's probably going to be fine, or at least there's not much you can learn until they're with you in their new home, and possibly not until they're another year older. Make sure the organization has a way to rehome cats if it truly doesn't work out as a last resort. Yeah I should be clear that I just kinda assumed these are adult cats you're talking about since you never used the word "kitten" in the original post. If you're planning to adopt kittens or even youngish cats (1-2 years old) they will have WAY more energy now than they will in a couple years. If the cats are 3+ years old though then their personalities are for the most part pretty well developed. Also yes, echoing to make sure that the org has some kind of mechanism to rehome the cats if you do decide to adopt and later things just don't work out.
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May 15, 2022 07:34
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Sydin posted:Yeah I should be clear that I just kinda assumed these are adult cats you're talking about since you never used the word "kitten" in the original post. If you're planning to adopt kittens or even youngish cats (1-2 years old) they will have WAY more energy now than they will in a couple years. If the cats are 3+ years old though then their personalities are for the most part pretty well developed. Yep, these are adult cats. The rescue organization is also supposed to do some kind of follow up checks after the adoption, so I'm assuming that rehoming is always a possibility but I'll ask to make sure. Thanks for the answers to you and everyone else.
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May 15, 2022 08:31
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Drunk Driver Dad posted:I'm going on vacation and leaving Jun 16 and coming home Jun 19th. My next door neighbor is going to come over a couple times a day to check on my 2 cats and feed them and scoop their shitbox. This is the first time I've had someone do this. How much would you guys pay her if you were in my situation? The cats don't really require anything special like very specific feeding schedules or anything. One just eats dry food whenever, the other is happy as long as she gets at least 1 can of wet food a day. We pay a cat-sitter £8 per visit, which involves putting out food, cleaning the litter tray, and staying for a play if Wednesday is up for it. We pay a friend's kid £10 for a full weekend or £25 for a week, since he's a kid and it's a bit more favour-adjacent. I agree that it depends what your relationship is like with your neighbour - they're not having to travel or spend a great deal of time at your house, so it might be that a little gift from your trip or a bottle of wine or something would feel about right.
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May 15, 2022 13:49
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We're tie dying some longsleeve shirts to look like our cat because why not.
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May 15, 2022 18:35
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Anyone have any recs for a high-walled litterbox with a lid? One that is resistant to cats who piss on the wall of the litterbox?
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May 15, 2022 22:33
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explosivo posted:Anyone have any recs for a high-walled litterbox with a lid? One that is resistant to cats who piss on the wall of the litterbox? Any plastic bin you can buy at Walmart can be a litter box if you're willing to sacrifice it. I got one of those under-the-bed bins to put my two litter boxes in and it captures the majority of scattered litter. You'd need something higher sided for your pro pee-r, though.
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May 16, 2022 02:01
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What are the thread go-tos for automatic feeders and litter boxes? Just one cat so I don’t need anything fancy.
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May 16, 2022 03:40
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