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Bina posted:One cat is mine- Oh, okay. I missed the part about a 3rd shared cat. I dunno, I don't have any advice in this situation then. Some people just suck.
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May 20, 2022 22:52
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 and take the cats with you
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May 20, 2022 23:35
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Has anyone introduced a new cat while living in a studio apartment? My place is a decent size but the only room with a door that closes is the bathroom, which isn't very big and is also separated from the main room by the kitchen. I'm hoping to adopt a kitten in the next few weeks to keep my 9 year old Balders company. B is the strongest cat I've ever had, requires a ton of active play, and has taken my return to work after 8 months off terribly even though I'm still at home all day (he likes to lay down on the keyboard, knock the mouse off the table, scream at the door for attention, etc etc). He has lived with another cat before, although she consistently gave him the cold shoulder when he tried to cuddle or play, so I'm not too worried about his reaction to a new kitten, but I still want to have this go as smoothly as possible. Any advice would be appreciated and thanks in advance.
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May 21, 2022 00:01
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Rain Brain posted:Has anyone introduced a new cat while living in a studio apartment? I know lots of people who foster cats, and keeping them in the bathroom seems very very normal for the first few days or as a way to separate sick cats. This is even people who go away to work 8 hour days. It seems terrible but it is a thing that people do.
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May 21, 2022 00:05
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Rain Brain posted:Has anyone introduced a new cat while living in a studio apartment? I suggest getting a female kitten. I have a small apartment and introduced a male kitten to my then one-year-old male cat for the same reason and although they get along 95%* of the time, it's all play and no cuddles. They're now several years older and only in the last year they've started sharing the couch (without touching) for napping. (*5% of the time Ethics starts a fight and it turns into a yowling, hissing fight with Snowflake cornering him under the bed.)
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May 21, 2022 00:16
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Yep, a bathroom is a fine place to quarantine a cat during introductions. It's usually smaller, ventilated, and has less impressions and scents going on. We did the same thing and Kimchi slept in the bathroom for a little while longer until we knew for sure that we could trust them alone together. It felt horrible locking her up for the night at the end but we got results. The results are that they wrestle and chase each other a lot, but they will occasionally groom each other until Kimchi inevitably makes a clumsy move and gets slapped, but I'll take it!  Pictured: Katya being annoyed that the rear end in a top hat little sis has gotten big enough to overpower her.
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May 21, 2022 00:22
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Also keep in mind there's always the wildcard of cat personality. Sometimes two cats will hit it off immediately and be best buds. Other times the sweetest solo cat may turn into a devil at the sight of another. It's impossible to predict, you can generally assume they'll be wary of each other for a while but nothing's a guarantee. Kinda like people I guess.
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May 21, 2022 00:35
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I can’t imagine introducing a new cat to an established one in a studio apartment. I’m sure other people can make it work with the bathroom, but it would break my heart, I don’t think I could do it. Something I’ve wondered, hypothetically, if you visit a larger house regularly with the established cat (like taking them to your parents’ home over weekends), could you introduce a new cat there, with separate rooms and more space, and then bring them back to the studio apartment together?
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May 21, 2022 06:42
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I'm sorry, this has been asked before but do y'all have recommendations for cat exercise wheels? I looked up One Fast Cat on Amazon and it's like... $430??
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May 21, 2022 07:16
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gloom posted:I can’t imagine introducing a new cat to an established one in a studio apartment. I’m sure other people can make it work with the bathroom, but it would break my heart, I don’t think I could do it. Sorry but this is so much worse, lol. Cats are territorial creatures and taking them out of their home usually stresses them out, that's why you confine the new cat to small safe room so they can settle. Taking the resident cat out of their home too sounds like a recipe for disaster.
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May 21, 2022 10:13
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InvisibleMonkey posted:Sorry but this is so much worse, lol. Cats are territorial creatures and taking them out of their home usually stresses them out, that's why you confine the new cat to small safe room so they can settle. Taking the resident cat out of their home too sounds like a recipe for disaster.
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May 21, 2022 14:07
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My cat’s been having vomiting spells recently, which kept me up all night last night. Barf is sometimes watery, sometimes has food in it, no blood. Just now, when I was getting up and ready to clean the place up, he took a big ol’ diarrhea poo poo in his box complete with comical sputtering noises. This was not more than 12 hours after he dumped a whole bunch of watery norovirus-looking stool off the side of the box.  He went to the vet recently and I mentioned his vomiting and diarrhea. They said they’d run a blood panel, but apparently his blood came back clean. This still seems really abnormal and I’m sick of cleaning up vomit and litter box hellscapes. Again, there’s been no blood, no lethargy, no changes in appetite or thirst, hell no behavioral changes really aside from the usual horking when he barfs. So I don’t know what could be causing this or what to do next. The vet recommended an ultrasound, although it’s unlikely they’ll find anything. I otherwise have no idea what could possibly be causing this. He weighed in at 13 pounds (he gained weight somehow!!), gets 3/8 cup of science diet a day, doesn’t binge eat, doesn’t get treats often at all (and when he does they haven’t been correlated), and is otherwise in good spirits cause he fuckin’ LOVES running around at night like a demon. The only thing I can possibly think of is that I found him chasing down a house centipede last night, IIRC before he started barfing ‘n making GBS threads. But I killed it, wiped it up, and threw it away. I’m at a loss as to why this could be happening. I know GI stuff in cats can be really hard to nail down, but I still wanna figure out the problem. What can I do to narrow down the culprit(s)?
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May 21, 2022 18:27
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Here’s a cute photo to incentivize helping me.
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May 21, 2022 18:29
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What helped for Katya the one time she got barfy was treating the symptoms. The vet did give us that super-high calorie food in case she stopped eating but treated her for nausea with a painkiller (afaik, not a vet). Two or three days of eating and not barfing with the meds seemed to help her get over it, but in her case the food aversion was maybe more pressing. I assume she just got into something she shouldn't have, as cats do. Maybe check if any of your houseplants have been nibbled on?
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May 21, 2022 19:17
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Pollyanna posted:My cat’s been vomiting Could it be worms? If you haven't dewormed the cat recently, try it and see if it helps.
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May 21, 2022 19:28
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I would honestly try a different type of food aside from Science Diet - I seem to recall my cat having a similarly horrific reaction in terms of the smell/consistency of her BMs, and I swore to never, ever feed her that crap again. Try some brands with similar price points and see if something agrees with him better. To my mind, when your cat is throwing up or having diarrhea or stomach problems in general, the cat’s basic diet is always a good place to start making changes when nothing else seems to work. My cats purposely go outside and eat grass specifically so they can just puke it up on the carpet a few minutes after they come in - a charming habit, but nothing too worrisome.
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May 21, 2022 19:55
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pidan posted:Could it be worms? If you haven't dewormed the cat recently, try it and see if it helps. I haven’t seen eggs or adult worms in the litter box or the vomit - he also is an indoor-only cat, not that that changes much. I’ll ask the vet about it and see if I can pick up some deworming medicine at the pet store. InvisibleMonkey posted:What helped for Katya the one time she got barfy was treating the symptoms. The vet did give us that super-high calorie food in case she stopped eating but treated her for nausea with a painkiller (afaik, not a vet). Two or three days of eating and not barfing with the meds seemed to help her get over it, but in her case the food aversion was maybe more pressing. This is chronic, not acute. His behavior is normal and he’s not exhibiting any pain-like symptoms when I press on anything. Could be his kidneys like when I pass stones, IDK. He also doesn’t show like immediate, horrible nausea - just a barfing spell. It also happens pretty regularly, like one or twice a month (though its ramped up to 3 times or more recently). The vet didn’t seem to think there was any need to provide painkillers. No houseplants - he regularly drools or spits up after chewing on plants, so I don’t keep any. kaworu posted:I would honestly try a different type of food aside from Science Diet - I seem to recall my cat having a similarly horrific reaction in terms of the smell/consistency of her BMs, and I swore to never, ever feed her that crap again. Try some brands with similar price points and see if something agrees with him better. To my mind, when your cat is throwing up or having diarrhea or stomach problems in general, the cat’s basic diet is always a good place to start making changes when nothing else seems to work. I’ve changed his diet before to a different form of science diet, and that definitely caused him to smell worse, get dandruffy, and loosen his stool IME. But maybe I should explore some other brands that are nicer on the stomach…any suggestions? It’s been a long time since I researched cat food, way back in like 2013 when BB was all the rage (I hear it’s awful now).
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May 21, 2022 20:37
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We had a chronic barfer (for 19 freakin years) and there was no treatment that ever worked.. no medicine the vet offered, no blood test ever revealed anything actionable, no food brand changes helped, she just loved to go through sessions of barfing everything up. The only thing that had any measurable affect was limiting food availability because the only pattern we ever found was she barfed shortly after eating and limiting intake seemed to help. Which sucked in other ways because she was always a very tiny cat and the vet wanted her eating more. So we ended up having to maintain weight with the most calorie dense stuff we could get. Not sure if there's anything helpful in that story, but "try limiting how much food kitty can eat at once" is all I got.
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May 21, 2022 21:54
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drunken officeparty posted:There are many reasons why you can’t and shouldn’t do it, but having a tiger with all its claws and teeth taken out would be so cool. Big ol kitty cat to cuddle with. This would not do much to hinder the tiger from snapping you like a twig anyway.
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May 22, 2022 00:35
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Yeah my Katya is back to vomiting again but also acting normally and playing fine. I also have brought it up with my vet but he's not displaying any food aversion or weight loss and it seems to happen when he gets his dry food. Purina Pro Plan's sensitive stomach dry food seems to work well for him so I'm thining I'll switch to that for the cats if this is going to keep popping up.
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May 22, 2022 01:19
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A hail mary pass might be to give her some pro and prebiotics in her food. Cleared up Rexie's bout of loose poop after medication issues.
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May 22, 2022 02:12
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Pollyanna posted:My cat’s been having vomiting spells recently, which kept me up all night last night. Barf is sometimes watery, sometimes has food in it, no blood. Just now, when I was getting up and ready to clean the place up, he took a big ol’ diarrhea poo poo in his box complete with comical sputtering noises. This was not more than 12 hours after he This may be stupid obvious, and sorry if I missed it, but did the vet check a stool sample?
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May 22, 2022 04:50
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My Cinnamon has a bad habit of eating her breakfast kibble too fast and then barfing it all back up, but since I started adding some water to the plate so it starts to sog up a bit before she gets to it, that seems to have solved the problem.
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May 22, 2022 08:41
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To be fair cats generally vomit a lot, even the healthiest cat will vomit every now and then. So it might just be cat being cat. Worms can definitely cause it, or maybe the food's not agreeing with her, or something worse could be behind it. But if the cat seems generally heathy, deworming and changing food doesn't help, and the vet can't find anything either, then it might well be within the parameters of normal cat behaviour.
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May 22, 2022 08:51
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Pollyanna posted:I’ve changed his diet before to a different form of science diet, and that definitely caused him to smell worse, get dandruffy, and loosen his stool IME. But maybe I should explore some other brands that are nicer on the stomach…any suggestions? It’s been a long time since I researched cat food, way back in like 2013 when BB was all the rage (I hear it’s awful now). There are a lot of pretty fantastic options out there now which definitely were not around in 2013 especially with regard to dry food - or it seems that way to me. At the moment (for dry food) I give Jackie (a 15 year old female) First Mate - Pacific Ocean Fish with Blueberries, which is grain-free, something that I do think is very important to look for in any dry food you feed your cat. It’s definitely more expensive than some other options, but given that I don’t have to buy it too frequently and I really don’t mind splurging on good food that my recent vet (who has been really great) recommends. And I have to admit that Jackie’s been in fantastic health and her coat has gotten softer than it’s been in a decade since I started feeding her this stuff. kaworu fucked around with this message at 12:38 on May 22, 2022 |
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May 22, 2022 12:36
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Pollyanna posted:Vomiting Do you have flowers in your house? That sounds similar to what my cat had when my mom gave us some tulips and we didn’t know they were toxic to cats. dpkg chopra fucked around with this message at 16:31 on May 23, 2022 |
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May 22, 2022 14:58
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Wrong thread.
mcmagic fucked around with this message at 15:01 on May 23, 2022 |
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May 23, 2022 14:58
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Something nice from the shelter: Bella is the most recent cat to come into my room. We don't really know her background at all, except that she was a stray of some sort. My room has a few large crates where incoming cats are introduced to the room and allowed to come out when they're ready; most come out in a week or two, but Bella has stayed in hers for over a month. Perfectly sweet and gentle girl, and she's okay with one of the other girls climbing into the crate with her and sleeping - she just never wants to step over the threshold of the crate itself. Yesterday we finally got her to come out, and she sat in the window for an hour or so watching birds and purring. She finally seemed really happy. Plus two of my boys got adoption applications (along with a third who isn't part of my room but regularly visits)! 
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May 23, 2022 15:06
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I know I’ve posted them before, but I will never stop being utterly fascinated and delighted by Jackie’s freakishly massive paws:
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May 23, 2022 15:53
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xzzy posted:Hot fresh Abigail toe tufts right here.  Page late but gonna post my boy’s fluffy toes:  I trimmed them yesterday because they track litter so dang much. Also trying to handle his paws more so someday he’ll let me trim those claws.
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May 23, 2022 22:15
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I've done all the reading and watched all the videos (a lot of Jackson Galaxy's content has been really helpful) but I'm still not sure I'm doing things right. Ferdie bites. And he bites. He's 3.5 months old, and he hurts. We can redirect him to toys some of the time, he has a variety of nice bitey toys, but sometimes he just wants to bite. He wants to cuddle with me but also bite me at the same time. When he's being cuddly and starts to grab me and bite, I redirect him to his toys, but about 75% of the time he then jumps back up to me and starts trying to kill my hand or elbow. I've started leaving the room at that point. I stay out for a few minutes, and when I come back he's generally much more chill. Sometimes when he's super excited he also jumps up and starts trying to chew on me. I play with him at that point with wand toys or just sitting with him, but it's not always enough and I have to leave again. I know he's probably teething and it's annoying for him. I've been keeping an eye on his teeth but haven't seen any changes. Anything else I can be doing to a) help him be comfortable and b) stop him shredding my hands and arms. The preschoolers I work with are absolutely horrified by how scratched up my hands are.
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May 24, 2022 00:25
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That's how you inform cats about bad behavior, disengage and walk away for a while. It takes them a while but they can figure it out. Yelping in pain can help too. Just get up and leave completely. Unless the cat has made up its mind it wants to bite stuff, then you get to live with a chompy cat forever.
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May 24, 2022 00:29
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Quill will bite me somewhat hard but be very gentle with everyone else. I'm just her sparring partner. Its never bothered me so I never redirected with toys and stuff and she seems to enjoy playing that way.
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May 24, 2022 01:13
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eating only apples posted:I've done all the reading and watched all the videos (a lot of Jackson Galaxy's content has been really helpful) but I'm still not sure I'm doing things right. I sometimes find that kittens can be overzealous when they aren't getting enough exercise and stimulation. Is he getting a lot of attention and playtime consistently throughout the day?
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May 24, 2022 01:35
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There Bias Two posted:I sometimes find that kittens can be overzealous when they aren't getting enough exercise and stimulation. Is he getting a lot of attention and playtime consistently throughout the day? Yeah he's almost never alone in the daytime, he has two humans who play with him regularly, we're trying to set the boundaries. He seems to sleep through the night and wake up ready to play, and we're fortunate enough that someone is always there for him. We're actually trying to make time to leave him alone for a few hours while we go out for dinner or something, otherwise he'd never be rid of us. He makes his need for space clear and we leave him alone when he clearly wants to be alone. e: I'd also like to know what about my post implied that he isn't getting lots of attention and stimulation? just for future reference VelociBacon posted:Quill will bite me somewhat hard but be very gentle with everyone else. I'm just her sparring partner. Its never bothered me so I never redirected with toys and stuff and she seems to enjoy playing that way. He's drawing blood with both teeth and claws, I'm sure to him it's just sparring but I'd like him to learn the boundaries. Disengaging and walking away seems to be the way to go. Thanks cat thread. eating only apples fucked around with this message at 02:10 on May 24, 2022 |
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May 24, 2022 02:06
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Don’t take it too personally - most people who randomly post here will bring up various issues and then neglect to mention something sort of critical, like… “My cat bites a lot what should I do?…. Oh yeah, he gets locked in alone for 10 hours every day while I’m at work, what does that have to do with it?” That sort of thing.
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May 24, 2022 02:42
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Are you able to get another kitten? That might help him learn how to cat correctly without being a dick about it.
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May 24, 2022 02:53
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kaworu posted:Don’t take it too personally - most people who randomly post here will bring up various issues and then neglect to mention something sort of critical, like… “My cat bites a lot what should I do?…. Oh yeah, he gets locked in alone for 10 hours every day while I’m at work, what does that have to do with it?” That sort of thing. Oh that's fair. I did post here before he arrived (and was told to chillax). Yeah it's nothing like that, no dripfeed bullshit, little man gets all kinds of attention and most of the time he's brilliant. mcmagic posted:Are you able to get another kitten? That might help him learn how to cat correctly without being a dick about it. I pushed for two but the landlord would not allow it. Doing our best with what we have.
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May 24, 2022 03:12
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eating only apples posted:I've done all the reading and watched all the videos (a lot of Jackson Galaxy's content has been really helpful) but I'm still not sure I'm doing things right. At 3.5 months, he’s really young and has gobs of energy, and still learning what’s acceptable. Agree with the above: walk away or move him away without emotion when he screws up. Worst case, give him a ssssssss hiss while walking away or moving him away. He’ll figure it out. Play with him until he’s worn out and doesn’t want to get up any more,. Sounds like a lot of work, but he’s really young, so it shouldn’t take too long. Before meals. Happy kittying!! Otteration fucked around with this message at 04:23 on May 24, 2022 |
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May 24, 2022 04:21
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Yeah just keep it up and he'll get the idea. I don't think anything about your post implied he wasn't getting enough play time except that sometimes that could be a reason for being overly excited and bitey when cuddling, so it was worth asking about.
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May 24, 2022 04:28
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