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Introducing Albi, our ~ 3mo kitten. He is a wonderful ball of love and claws. I have no action shots, as he does not do that staying still thing unless he's asleep.   oh and  
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Jul 15, 2022 02:50
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| # ? May 26, 2024 21:54 |
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So, I know I've mentioned the F5 Savannah Cat that my roommate has named Murfy, before? Here's a pic of him: He's a handsome devil and can be a lot of fun, but he's also dangerous - 14 pounds of pure muscle, and he's currently in the habit of murdering 2-3 chipmunks/mice each and every day in our backyard, which is a little terrifying. He's also quite good at escaping outside when he's not supposed to, which isn't so bad since he finally trusts me enough to let me pick him up and carry him across the yard (we have an extremely large yard, like at least an acre or so) though I might be more frightened to do that, next time. The day before yesterday, my roommate was taking Murfy on his usual morning walk/murder-patrol around the yard, and at one point Murfy must have seen something because he got very intent on something, and his tail even went all puffy - which is somewhat unusual for him, even while hunting. My roommate made the mistake of attempting to pick Murfy up while he was still in a state of puffiness, which proved to be extremely unwise when Murfy flipped out and bit into his forearm/hand hard while scratching the same forearm fairly deeply with his backclaws in an effort to push away. The puncture wounds from the bites didn't look all that dramatic initially (the scratches looked way more dramatic) but he of course cleaned it out with hydrogen peroxide and dressed it with neosporin. Even so, his hand swelled up REALLY freaking badly throughout the day. My roommate's a bit older (in his 40's) but doesn't really look it - he rock climbs nearly every day and is in extraordinarily good shape. So he went about his normal routine that day (doing some work outside, yoga, some weight-lifting, pullups, etc) thinking it wouldn't be all that bad like pretty much every cat-related wound he's had, even though his hand was pretty swollen and felt oddly dead. Apparently when he took a shower that night, he got really nauseous and sick to his stomach, and wound up puking and curling up on the floor of the bathroom feeling really, really horrible - which is when I found him later that night, sounding sicker and more hosed than I've seen him in the nearly 2 years since I've been living here. Anyway, he's mostly recovered since that night and hasn't gotten THAT sick again, but he's been taking it easy. I think it must have gotten badly infected, and that plus overdoing it physically must have hosed up his body that night. But it's almost 2 days since the bite happened now, and his hand is still really swollen and not working properly. He's going to an urgent care clinic today (finally, I thought he should have gone yesterday) which is good. But even so, this is the worst sort of result I've seen from any cat-related wound.
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Jul 15, 2022 18:00
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kaworu posted:But it's almost 2 days since the bite happened now, and his hand is still really swollen and not working properly. He's going to an urgent care clinic today (finally, I thought he should have gone yesterday) which is good. But even so, this is the worst sort of result I've seen from any cat-related wound. Speaking as a former vet tech who's been bitten by patients.....even if it feels like an overreaction, ALWAYS go get cat bites checked out. Cat mouths are gross, it is going to be infected. Human bites are even worse.
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Jul 15, 2022 18:02
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Holy poo poo just go to see a doctor. Does he not have health insurance or something?
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Jul 15, 2022 18:42
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Cat bites are always an emergency room trip, don't gently caress around with them. Scratches are "okay" because it's generally just the top layer of skin but bites that puncture are serious.. like, life threateningly so.
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Jul 15, 2022 18:44
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Sounds like the roomate is going to end up on IV antibiotics if I had to guess. That cat looks like some serious fuckin business.
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Jul 15, 2022 21:13
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I guess I’m a wuss because as soon as any part of my body starts swelling dramatically I’m hauling rear end to a doctor, personally
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Jul 15, 2022 22:40
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Yeah, I think he was a bit optimistic in thinking "Oh, I'll wait for a day or two and see if the swelling is just going to go down on its own..." because it really didn't, if anything the swelling has just gotten more dramatic since it happened. He left like 4 hours ago to go to the doctor (with his girlfriend) and I haven't heard anything so I'm assuming things are mostly going OK, but frankly it wouldn't shock me if he had to stay overnight. We were joking about him having to get his hand cut off because of this, hopefully that really WAS just a joke  Murfy's really been pretty difficult in terms of behavior, lately. He's given abscesses to both my cat Jackie and my roommate's other cat from bites, both of which had some fairly significant swelling, so I guess this really shouldn't be too surprising that he's done the same drat thing to a human, now. Plus he's been doing this really obnoxious caterwauling when he wants to go outside or something, especially very early in the morning. Makes me appreciate just how well-behaved and sensitive Jackie is, who never bites or scratches except in the gentlest and most playful manner, and never caterwauls at 5 in the morning for no seeming reason. Murfy's still a pretty impressive cat and a total beast, though. He got into a brawl with a cougar a couple years ago and did quite a bit of damage, though he did end up in the vet with a couple little wounds. I think he dealt more damage than he received on the whole though, and I can't think of any other cats I've known who would have even survived that encounter at all!
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Jul 15, 2022 22:57
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My lovely panther baby Sigurd needs to give a urine sample. Our vet instructed us to use these plastic pellet things in lieu of litter and put him in a room alone overnight. We did it with our late Tara, no fuss. Sigurd does not like this, and has refused to pee over several instances. We thought it was the amount of “litter” in the box - nope, adding non clumping did not help. Maybe not overnight, maybe after he eats, he usually pees - lol lmao. All of us are stressed and I don’t think this is going to work. Any alternatives to getting a pee sample? Our main challenges are: - we have two other cats - sigurd is starting to associate “nighttime + dad bringing me into the studio = bad, no peeing at ALL” and that does not seem healthy - we want to avoid a vet appointment to get this piss. If it’s what we are left with, so be it Thankfully Sigurd’s test is stemming from a check up and not something super time sensitive, though it’s been three weeks of attempts. We just want to be done.
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Jul 15, 2022 23:16
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Ha! Apparently James still goes on the Place He Knows He Is Not Allowed, but lately if I just make eye contact with him, make a "shoo!" gesture with my hand and say "off, please" in a disappointed tone, he hops off.
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Jul 16, 2022 00:57
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Hyperlynx posted:Ha! Apparently James still goes on the Place He Knows He Is Not Allowed, but lately if I just make eye contact with him, make a "shoo!" gesture with my hand and say "off, please" in a disappointed tone, he hops off. This is our giant idiot cat and the other cat's food dish, except that she'll flee if she hears us coming near her. You know better, rear end in a top hat!
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Jul 16, 2022 01:02
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One of my cats has a specific meow she only uses when my wife sneezes. I find it really hilarious. If my wife sneezes, my cat pauses a few seconds then does a very soft meow. Only for my wife's sneezes. If I sneeze the cat doesn't react at all. I have no idea what it's about.
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Jul 16, 2022 02:08
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Our tiny little 2.5kg elderly cat put my mother in hospital for two days by biting her, and that was with her going to the doctor immediately for oral antibiotics. I hope your friend is okay.
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Jul 16, 2022 02:11
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Hyperlynx posted:Ha! Apparently James still goes on the Place He Knows He Is Not Allowed, but lately if I just make eye contact with him, make a "shoo!" gesture with my hand and say "off, please" in a disappointed tone, he hops off. Penny has a few things he knows he's not supposed to do. Like scratch my couch. He 100% knows he's not supposed to. But..... he'll sit in front of his scratch spot and stare at me. "Penny...... no." He slooooowly puts his paws up on it and stares at me. "PENNY! NO!" Continues to stare at me for a few seconds and then starts scratching while I grab the water bottle and spray him and he runs off. He knows the whole process that we go through. I think he's doing it just to challenge me. He is very smart. Which is annoying. He's a little dick sometimes.
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Jul 16, 2022 02:12
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I got some more little mouse toys today so I could get free same day delivery on wet catfood and my grey lady Lena is going ham on the one I threw to them. Katya's asleep in the cat tree. I give it a few before I get pinged by Lena throwing her toy around. As for food, I have to sit next to Lena to keep Katya from coming up to push her away from her food. I've gone back to doing a full 3oz can/pouch per cat since he does the same for their dry food and Lena doesn't slap him away. We have an autofeeder now and it's great but Katya pushing Lena off her food is a newer issue. She's more of a grazer than he is so I suspect that's part of it.
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Jul 16, 2022 04:50
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Hyperlynx posted:Ha! Apparently James still goes on the Place He Knows He Is Not Allowed, but lately if I just make eye contact with him, make a "shoo!" gesture with my hand and say "off, please" in a disappointed tone, he hops off. Whenever ours have a lapse of judgement we say, "Hey, make better choices!" and they hop off.
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Jul 16, 2022 14:09
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Pennywise the Frown posted:Penny has a few things he knows he's not supposed to do. Like scratch my couch. He 100% knows he's not supposed to. But..... he'll sit in front of his scratch spot and stare at me. "Penny...... no." He slooooowly puts his paws up on it and stares at me. "PENNY! NO!" Continues to stare at me for a few seconds and then starts scratching while I grab the water bottle and spray him and he runs off. He knows the whole process that we go through. I think he's doing it just to challenge me. He is very smart. Which is annoying. This is Katya when she's mad at us for ?? We've had to move plants around because she would perch just within reach, stare us dead in the eye, and slowly lift a paw to repeatedly swat at it until you react. She also figured out door-handles and cabinets within the first week so unfortunately she's smart as well as vindictive. Kimchi is a little dummy but she does copy Katya so we had to try and train 2 cats not to have toddler temper tantrums, lol.
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Jul 17, 2022 17:15
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InvisibleMonkey posted:This is Katya when she's mad at us for ?? We've had to move plants around because she would perch just within reach, stare us dead in the eye, and slowly lift a paw to repeatedly swat at it until you react. She also figured out door-handles and cabinets within the first week so unfortunately she's smart as well as vindictive.  
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Jul 17, 2022 21:10
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Funny/weird/nice cat stuff: my parents' cat Penny has always been one of the most anxious cats I've ever met, but also one of the nicest and smartest when she would get really comfortable. She's getting to be around 12 or 13 years old, and suddenly in the last year she's chilled out like, drastically. She used to run away and hide at the slightest noises, get super distracted and spooked by stuff like the high-pitched whine of a TV turning on, that kind of thing, but these days she's hanging and napping comfortably in the presence of all kinds of stuff that would have freaked her out in the past. They've been trying for years to help her relax, but now it genuinely seems like she's starting to lose her hearing and it seems to be the best thing that could have happened to her. They had joked about how they thought that might be happening, and then recently they heard her start to roam around the upstairs at night yowling very uncharacteristically; not like, in pain, just weirdly loud and random. They were worried but I realized that in itself is something animals sometimes start to do when they lose their hearing, because they can get confused about how their voice doesn't sound the way they're used to or whatever. I'm kinda just sharing it because it was so unexpected and nice for her. Anyone had an experience like that, or, any advice for ways to prepare for a cat going deaf?
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Jul 18, 2022 13:01
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Pennywise the Frown posted:Penny has a few things he knows he's not supposed to do. Like scratch my couch. He 100% knows he's not supposed to. But..... he'll sit in front of his scratch spot and stare at me. "Penny...... no." He slooooowly puts his paws up on it and stares at me. "PENNY! NO!" Continues to stare at me for a few seconds and then starts scratching while I grab the water bottle and spray him and he runs off. He knows the whole process that we go through. I think he's doing it just to challenge me. He is very smart. Which is annoying. Extremely "Emmanuel Don't Do It" Energy from this post https://twitter.com/p4ndr_/status/1548017731936497665?s=20&t=noC8bgjEzYPe6KMOFBHaQQ
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Jul 18, 2022 13:04
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Yeah it seems to be a thing that happens to some super anxious cats as they get older. My friend's cat Diesel was like that too, I barely saw her for the first 12+ years of her life but when she got Old I could just go up and pet her and she was fine. My own super anxious cat is 9 this year and I'm hoping she chills out the same way.
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Jul 18, 2022 13:10
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dpkg chopra posted:Extremely "Emmanuel Don't Do It" Energy from this post Haha, this reminded me so much of our cat too. She'll be sitting there, paw in the air, while we yell "DO NOT DO IT, KATYA, I SWEAR TO GOD" while she stares at us defiantly like "...or what, bitch". We'll also pull out her full name for effect if she's being a Problem, "Yekaterina Petrovna Zamalodchikova". She has chilled out a lot now that she's grown and has a little sister she can annoy, she's also less food-motivated which was a major motivation for acting like that.
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Jul 18, 2022 16:49
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When it's cat discipline time when either me or my wife are scolding a cat, the cat gives no poo poo no matter what we say or do.. just get that defiant "what the gently caress you gonna do about it" cat gaze. But when the second human shows up and starts scolding then it's OH NO time and suddenly they gotta get out of there because poo poo just got real.
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Jul 18, 2022 16:51
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xzzy posted:When it's cat discipline time when either me or my wife are scolding a cat, the cat gives no poo poo no matter what we say or do.. just get that defiant "what the gently caress you gonna do about it" cat gaze. But when the second human shows up and starts scolding then it's OH NO time and suddenly they gotta get out of there because poo poo just got real.  not much keeps her down.
gloom fucked around with this message at 22:24 on Jul 18, 2022 |
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Jul 18, 2022 21:02
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Heyo. This might be better off in the vet thread but here goes: We recently adopted a big, friendly black cat from a Cats Protection shelter. Has a history of teeth problems though (FORLs to be specific). The vet has given the OK, we were lucky to pick him up after he had recovered from the teeth extraction. The insurer I've currently gone with won't give him dental insurance until he's been problem free for 2 years. Just wondering if the insurance is worth the fuss in general because it's the most probable thing to go wrong. I'm in the UK if anyone has any recommendations and the boi (Bagheera) is an old gent of 10 years. Here he is:  And he is registered with a vet and everything. Terratina fucked around with this message at 21:56 on Jul 18, 2022 |
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Jul 18, 2022 21:49
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According to my cat psychology book it's not useful to scold cats, they don't make the connection that they did something wrong. Of course on can say no! NO!! to startle them away from something you don't want them to do, but yelling at them after the fact leaves zero impression on the little cat brain other than "humans sure love yelling". So that's how I've treated my cat this whole time, no scolding, just gentle redirection, and she's a really well behaved cat who comes to me when she's unsure about something. It's certainly possible I just got lucky, she's been a sweet cat her whole life, but still.
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Jul 18, 2022 21:57
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If you raise your voice at quill (like say, for clawing at a screen door) she will put her ears back, do the activity more excitedly while staring you in the eyes, and if you move toward her she will trill loudly and sprint away. I just have a spray bottle.
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Jul 18, 2022 22:02
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pidan posted:According to my cat psychology book it's not useful to scold cats, they don't make the connection that they did something wrong. Of course on can say no! NO!! to startle them away from something you don't want them to do, but yelling at them after the fact leaves zero impression on the little cat brain other than "humans sure love yelling". Yeah this.
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Jul 19, 2022 01:18
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I just got a new shelving unit. James was up in it almost instantly, but also seemed to think he'd get in trouble for it (he will not). He was skittish, and got down immediately when I moved anywhere in that direction. So in his case he is worried about getting yelled at, but does things he thinks I'll yell at him for anyway. Ah, cats! Lately I've been cutting out yelling at him when he's annoying (he screams for early dinner every. single. night) and it's been much more pleasant for both of us. Bonus pic of Wolfgang, currently perched on my back: 
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Jul 19, 2022 01:35
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dpkg chopra posted:Extremely "Emmanuel Don't Do It" Energy from this post 
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Jul 19, 2022 02:46
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 Saraphina, the shelter room's newest cat, is such a sweetheart... to people, at least. Very soft, very friendly, loves laps, hates any other cat being within 5 feet of her (which is not easy to avoid at the shelter). Don't get new guys in often and figured y'all might enjoy. I'll figure out how to work with her best eventually.
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Jul 19, 2022 03:41
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I bribed -cat with treats to let me put a Kitty Holster brand holster on him; two days ago he got treats for smelling it, yesterday he got treats for letting me drape it over him, today he got treats for letting me velcro it shut. He didn't claw me or bite me or make angry noises during the process, but A Pork Eclipse Now said it looked like Albi was unhappy in the harness, and I could tell he certainly wasn't thrilled with the experience. My understanding is that this is going about as expected, and "I velcro it shut around you, you get a treat, I take it off you" is about as much as I should attempt for another week or so. Am I on the right track?
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Jul 19, 2022 16:31
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Typically, if a cat is genuinely upset with something you are doing, then within the space of 5 seconds you will be bleeding profusely and the cat will be 10 yards away under or on top of some furniture. If a cat is just acting grumpy then you're fine.
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Jul 19, 2022 17:19
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We use more of a warning tone or say their name to get their attention while they're committing criminal acts, we never scold after the fact. Time-outs is the most negative reinforcement I'll use but someone has to be really committed to being an rear end in a top hat for that to happen. They clearly know what's allowed and not allowed, it's really funny when Kimchi tries to steal Katya's food and does this super obvious cartoon criminal walk across the room. zonohedron posted:I bribed Sounds like it's going really well tbh, some cats will never not be weirded out by harnesses but I've had some great success doing it with baby-steps like these. At a certain point I let Katya hang out for a little bit in her harness and after a few times she was hardly noticing it any more.
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Jul 20, 2022 19:39
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Ugh, taking my guy into the vet in an hour; he's a pukey cat by nature and is on a special food that helps but he still occasionally pukes like if he's eaten too fast or whatever, but it's been happening a lot the last few days. Hasn't eaten much and it feels like what he has eaten is mostly getting thrown back up. He was just at the vet for an annual checkup and all the blood and fecal tests came back okay so I didn't think much of it initially but yeah it's been going on for too long and I'm worried so back to the vet we go 
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Jul 20, 2022 20:11
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My roommate and I have spent the last two days constructing a cat "enclosure" for our four cats - though primarily it's intended for the use of Murfy (the big troublesome Savannah who gave my roommate an infected bite last week) to unwind a bit in the early morning when everyone else is asleep, and do a little less caterwauling and more chilling out. But all of them have been LOVING it so far... That window that my reflection is in is the one that we open, and we put a little landing platform there for them - plus some food and water. There's a sort of door to the left, and a plastic igloo-shaped cat-hut inside the enclosure to the right . Actually the one who has probably gotten the most of it so far is Mini-Scratcher, our young ~2-year-old semi-feral who only allows me to touch him. He's been loving the fact that he can obsessively go inside and outside and back inside again as often as he pleases, now. In some ways it feels slightly overkill because the entire yard (which is probably 2 acres or so in total) is completely enclosed by a theoretically cat-proof fence, but given that lots of wildlife threatening to cats (foxes, cougars, sometimes bears) make it over the fence and into our yard on a regular basis, I think it was essential. I don't really like leaving Jackie unattended outside for any amount of time longer than a few minutes for that very reason, but now I can let her be in the enclosure for as long as she wants and I can do other stuff.
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Jul 20, 2022 21:33
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explosivo posted:Ugh, taking my guy into the vet in an hour; he's a pukey cat by nature and is on a special food that helps but he still occasionally pukes like if he's eaten too fast or whatever, but it's been happening a lot the last few days. Hasn't eaten much and it feels like what he has eaten is mostly getting thrown back up. He was just at the vet for an annual checkup and all the blood and fecal tests came back okay so I didn't think much of it initially but yeah it's been going on for too long and I'm worried so back to the vet we go Not great, it could be worse I suppose but he's got an obstructed intestine, possibly because he ate something he shouldn't have and now it's causing a backup. He got fluids and some meds to hopefully help him digest but if he throws up again after eating in the next day or two we have to take him in for surgery.
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Jul 20, 2022 22:04
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I had a cat in that exact situation a month or two ago. They took him in for a few hours and gave him three enemas. He immediately stopped vomiting and I now give him 1/4 of a teaspoon of miralax every night on his food. He thinks it's some kind of treat. Edit: they recommended I take him in for fluids for three days afterwards, and also gave him fluids on enema day too. Wow, he was so gross. We had to give him a shower a few hours after he came back. redreader fucked around with this message at 06:27 on Jul 21, 2022 |
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Jul 21, 2022 06:24
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Thumposaurus posted:I got a free cat wheel off of Craigslist what's the best way to get these fuckers interested in using it? I have a cat wheel, and the trick to getting Pan to use it was getting her to hang out around and on it, then getting to the point where she would sit on it without immediately jumping off, then getting her to take a few steps at a time on it to get use to it moving, then encouraging her to walk on it to reach my hand for pats, which then unlocked The Secret Of The Wheel for her and she started using it even without me there to encourage her. Basically I'd say the stages are 'make cat not afraid to be near wheel > make cat not afraid to be on wheel > make cat not afraid of wheel moving > help cat realise they can control the wheel's movement'. Pan doesn't care enough about food or toys to be motivated by them, so I just gave her positive attention for each stage of progress. If your cat is food motivated I could definitely see the same process working, but with 'treats for being near wheel > treats for sitting on wheel > treats for small steps on wheel > walking on wheel to reach treats'. It took maybe 2-2.5 months from introduction to Pan's first time using it alone. Now she uses it multiple times a day and has worked her way up to sprinting on it at full speed (though 90% of the time she spends on it she just walks sedately). I have it set up near my balcony door, so she can yell at birds and passing strangers while she exercises  
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Jul 21, 2022 08:21
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redreader posted:We had to give him a shower a few hours after he came back. Lmao yikes
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Jul 21, 2022 13:37
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