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I'm overthinking this but, this isn't too aggressive? Lychee just seems so annoyed by Shaokao a lot https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xH_ZbIrD2-I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVq-9HFjXkk We still keep Shaokao in another room most of the time, when we're at work or at night and then I usually let him out after I get home from work, put him back in when I go to bed. I just don't want Lychee to be constantly pissed off and decide she hates him forever and then it's a whole thing and I never get my theater room back. Sometimes when Shaokaos out it's just them staring at each other, or minding their own business, but it's a lot of chasing and swatting, or this kind of swatting
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Feb 9, 2023 12:47
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This kind of swatting looks harmless to me, they're not howling, hissing, attacking each other. They don't even pin their ears back! Their body language is fairly relaxed. Maybe you can still only let them meet each other when you're also there, but I think they're not seriously fighting. If you let them spend more time together I'd expect them to adjust. Also it looks like the orange cat is not neutered, that might also chill him out.
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Feb 9, 2023 12:57
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Yeah hes got no shame putting those balls in your face. That's happening soon, it got delayed because of lunar new years and now our work schedule (China does "makeup days" for holidays.) He's also acts a little nervous if he's left out here to himself and starts meowing kinda like a cat in heat. But calms right down if one of us picks him up. He's sorta the opposite of Lychee, she wants her freedom, he wants us to always be there. I kinda wonder if he's got some anxiety from being probably abandoned before.
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Feb 9, 2023 13:04
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Yeah, that's pretty tame play mode. My one calico girl wont even let our siamese boy get that close without hissing. And once she hisses we yell his name and he turns to us and just rubs his head on the nearest surface, pretending to be doing absolutely nothing. And for cheap cat scratchers, I've had success with ones at Big Lots before. Their pet section have been pretty depleted the past few times I've checked (when it's time for new litter boxes I check them out). I like the single post-style ones for a couple of my cats, but cat trees with a big lower beam seem to be best for the whole group. They all like carpeted or the wrapped rope ones. They just need to be tall enough for the longer cats to want to stretch out to scratch on them. Too short and they ignore them.
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Feb 9, 2023 21:52
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redreader posted:What is the best cat scratcher thing you've ever seen? I want to get something good for mine, we have six cats. Preferably something resilient but if cats generally prefer cardboard for scratching, that makes sense. xzzy posted:The most successful for me is a variety of cheap options. Sometimes they like to claw carpet scratching posts. Sometimes it's a sisal one. Sometimes a cardboard panel.  When it comes to scratch fodder go quantity over quality and just expect to buy replacements when they're sufficiently destroyed. I've had good luck with those flat cardboard ones, get a 3 or 6 pack and just have one in every room. Maybe a couple of cheapy 2ft posts in case a cat prefers something vertical. If you ever come across a junk cat tree all the platforms can be taken off and turned upside down for throwdown posts.I put them next to things I specifically don't want them to scratch so they'll always have a 'better' option, like parking next to a nicer car whenever you're in a bad neighborhood. e: And yeah those cats in the videos are fine, maybe not besties but certainly not hostile or aggressive, at least not in those clips. Here's my torty trying to assassinate one of the kittens I'm fostering: https://i.imgur.com/Iu4tbjr.mp4 You have to grade tortys on a scale, so this is basically full acceptance. Takes No Damage fucked around with this message at 10:01 on Feb 10, 2023 |
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Feb 10, 2023 09:52
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So a while back, my cat Tuna was pretty badly overweight, at over 18 pounds. Through cutting back on how much food he gets (down to a total of 1/2 cup per day), I was able to get him down to his healthy weight of around 14 pounds--he's a very big cat. He's more active, and he noticeably goes to high places in the apartment more than he did when he was fat, because it's not as hard for him anymore. He seems to be maintaining his healthy weight well. The problem is that most of that energy goes into seeking out food, or yelling at me to give him food. Whenever I get up to give him attention, it's inevitably him trying to lead me over to his food bowl. Attempting to play with him has pretty limited success before he loses interest and decides that maybe now is food time? And I kind of think it's less that he's perpetually hungry than it is that he just really loves flavor in general. I'd give him treats, but the other vet I went to when he had a urinary blockage (he's on food to prevent that) was very firm that anything outside of that diet was a bad idea--I kind of think that's an overreaction, and it was more due to bad hydration that the blockage happened, but I'm not a vet. I'd like for him to be happier, but even more than that, I'd like for him to stop yelling in the other room every night when I'm trying to sleep. Are there any tricks I could try?
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Feb 10, 2023 16:58
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BrainDance posted:I'm overthinking this but, this isn't too aggressive? Lychee just seems so annoyed by Shaokao a lot That looks like pretty standard play. What makes you think it's aggressive?
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Feb 10, 2023 17:08
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BrainDance posted:I'm overthinking this but, this isn't too aggressive? Lychee just seems so annoyed by Shaokao a lot Yeah that's cute fun playing, they look relaxed and engaged. You have to remember that cats are inherently arseholes and playfight all the time.
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Feb 10, 2023 17:14
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Organza Quiz posted:Yeah that's cute fun playing, they look relaxed and engaged. You have to remember that cats are inherently arseholes and playfight all the time. So, some ways you can tell a play fight from a fight. Nobody's screaming. Nobody's chomping. Cats are batting at each other without connecting. The cat being batted at doesn't appear particularly upset. (As everybody's said, ears forward is "This is interesting"; ears pinned back is "I'm angry/upset.") One cat bats then waits to see what the other cat does.
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Feb 10, 2023 18:01
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Our cats love to chase each other after meals, or first thing in the morning, or because one of them came out of the litterbox and the other one saw it. They just seem to love a good chase tbh Their wrestling is sorta weird because the younger orange one absolutely hates when he gets wrestled down and starts crying, so it's mostly the older one on his back. And then the orange one sorta nips and they bat at each other and get some good kicks in, then chase each other more until there's a tackle. They seem to be enjoying it though, and it's extremely rare any fights or chase end with hisses or anything now so I guess they're having fun? 
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Feb 10, 2023 18:15
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We brought home a bonded pair of kittens (5 m.o male, 11 m.o female, spayed and neutered) on Monday and currently they are hanging out in our guest bedroom to keep them separated from our 11 y.o. resident cat while we are slowly working through the introduction. We are using the tips in the OP and Jackson Galaxy’s step-by-step process as guidelines. I have not done a cat introduction in almost 10 years and back then it went… poorly. I really want to make this experience more pleasant for everyone and I could use the expert advice of the Cat Megathread. Our older cat knows there are kittens in the house but has not shown any signs of aggression. He just seems indifferent and disinterested and doesn’t even go near the kitten room. After a few days, I tried to bribe him with treats to bring him closer to the door but he heard a kitten meow and got scared and ran back downstairs. I thought he was upset but he behaved like his usual happy self right after. He gets lots of love, treats and playtime and I am trying my best to make sure he does not feel neglected. I have started the process of scent swapping by giving him toys/scratchers/beds from the kitten room but he sniffs at them for a few minutes and then gets bored. I am very glad he’s not upset and angry but I fear I cannot get him used to the kittens if he continues to avoid the room or act so disinterested. I already know I can’t do certain things that most guides recommend (like feeding them on opposite sides of the door) because old cat is very set in his ways and will not accept a different feeding routine. I will continue scent swapping but is there anything else I can do to get him more comfortable with the kittens? I cannot let the kittens out of their room for at least 10 more days because they picked up a URI (and tapeworms  ) at the shelter, so swapping rooms is not possible right now.
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Feb 10, 2023 19:01
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If you're seeing no signs of aggression it seems to me it's going ideally. What exactly are you expecting? Them to be new best friends?
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Feb 10, 2023 19:13
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No, of course not! I don’t expect them to befriend each other. My previous cats mostly just tolerated each other, and that is fine with me. I am more worried that when they eventually meet face to face, my older cat will freak out because he has spent all this time avoiding them and so he hasn’t grown used to their presence yet. I definitely think I might be a little too paranoid about it all, though. After all, we just brought the kittens home this week and it probably just takes some time for everyone to adjust to the new situation.
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Feb 10, 2023 19:31
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a dental question: so our girl (2.5 year old tortishell rescue) got a rough diagnosis as suffering from feline stomatitis about 9 or so months ago, when we took her to the vet for drooling, eye watering, obvious pain. she got some sort of shot (the czech vet wasn't super clear) and the symptoms cleared up and haven't returned, but the vet warned us that it was probably likely that we would have to have her teeth removed. we've been putting some supplements in her wet food as per advice of another vet, and we haven't had a flare up yet. but how likely is an eventual flare-up, and is it worth removing her teeth? i'd like to spare her the rigors of the surgery and the pain as much as i can.
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Feb 10, 2023 20:09
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Wish for Rain posted:No, of course not! I don’t expect them to befriend each other. My previous cats mostly just tolerated each other, and that is fine with me. Him being disinterested is pretty ideal. Maybe you can give him some treats by the door? And maybe slide some treats under the door for the kittens so they can all hear eachother? It’s probably fair to assume he can already smell and hear them; it’s seeing them (and them seeing him) where it might get a bit chaotic.
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Feb 11, 2023 04:39
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Wish for Rain posted:No, of course not! I don’t expect them to befriend each other. My previous cats mostly just tolerated each other, and that is fine with me. You should probably accept now that your old cat is going to freak out when confronted with kittens, no matter what you do first. He will also almost certainly adjust to the presence of kittens eventually but he is going to be upset for a while, he is an old cat and they are kittens.
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Feb 11, 2023 05:15
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About the only thing Freddie wants to eat is dry food. How bad is it if he just stays with dry, spaced out through the day? He seems to love Fromm chicken a la veg the best, but the catfooddb entry for it only shows 3/5 for ingredients, 2/5 for nutrition. The article itself doesn't load, which is odd. He's 2nd floor only since integration with Taters failed multiple times, and we do play with him a bunch, I just wish he'd consistently eat one wet food. He'll eat one for a day and then ignore the exact same variety the next day. I've got the Wellness chunky chicken that he loved the heck out of from earlier this week in his wet food bowl now but he barely ate any.
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Feb 12, 2023 03:40
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Rotten Red Rod posted:That looks like pretty standard play. What makes you think it's aggressive? It's mostly my wife being worried, but it was also very constant and sometimes it'd get worse like with Lychee doing the "4 swipes in a row and a hiss" thing, but they've mostly gotten better. Just kind of hanging out today. Though that might be Shaokao's cough medicine slowing him down, I'm not sure what they gave him. He had these coughing fits about once a day for the past couple weeks, and the vet won't vaccinate or neuter him until that's taken care of. We got x-rays and blood tests and that's all clean so, I dunno, maybe he's still recovering from something that happened to him as a stray.
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Feb 12, 2023 06:28
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Well, I had people over to my place for the first time in a long time, and apparently my place reeks of cat piss without me being able to tell. Even after I completely replaced the cat litter, washed the litter box, and then mopped the floor  . I mopped in case it's still residue from when Wolfgang had his urinary problems.I need a recommendation for a good cat piss remover, one I can mop the floor with. I've also got to clean a cat carrier backpack, which I tried using all the rest of my Nature's Miracle on according to the directions, but now I just have a cat carrier that smells half of piss and half of Nature's Miracle, so it's not working very well for me! E: oh, and for bonus points: if anyone knows how to actually tell whether I've got rid of the smell not, I'm apparently desensitised to it, that would be very helpful
Hyperlynx fucked around with this message at 07:57 on Feb 12, 2023 |
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Feb 12, 2023 07:45
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Hyperlynx posted:E: oh, and for bonus points: if anyone knows how to actually tell whether I've got rid of the smell not, I'm apparently desensitised to it, that would be very helpful A great indicator is whether your colleagues at work still avoid you or start approaching you again
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Feb 12, 2023 11:59
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MJP posted:About the only thing Freddie wants to eat is dry food. How bad is it if he just stays with dry, spaced out through the day? Assuming he drinks enough to not be dehydrated and hasn't had bladder problems, there is nothing wrong with that as far as I am aware.
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Feb 12, 2023 15:43
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What’s a good toothbrush for a big cat that’s not cooperative? I tried to brush his teeth and fur a lot as a kitten but he has always hated all of it, his patience wears thin pretty fast. Some of the toothbrushes I see have optimistically tiny handles. I think I’d want one that does inside and outside at the same time but haven’t used one before.
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Feb 12, 2023 16:18
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Hyperlynx posted:Well, I had people over to my place for the first time in a long time, and apparently my place reeks of cat piss without me being able to tell. Even after I completely replaced the cat litter, washed the litter box, and then mopped the floor But! The problem is likely that you don't even know where the pee is. Buy a black light from Amazon -the reviews will tell you which are the right frequency for cat pee - and look at what fluoresces. I'm very sure there's a lot more misdirected pee than you think.
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Feb 12, 2023 16:31
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BrainDance posted:I'm overthinking this but, this isn't too aggressive? Lychee just seems so annoyed by Shaokao a lot This is like a 1.5 on a scale of 1 to something you should be worried about. I've had fosters who really had issues with eachother and you'll 100% know with all the fur and blood flying all over your house.
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Feb 12, 2023 17:47
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Arsenic Lupin posted:Nature's miracle has been reformulated and is no good any more. Try Anti Icky Poo. Thanks! I didn't know black lights could work on pee, that's amazing!
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Feb 12, 2023 22:10
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Also, vinegar is great for neutralizing the odor rather than masking it. I wipe it up , then spray the cleaned area with vinegar and let that sit for a minute. Luckily, vinegar smell goes away on its own too.
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Feb 12, 2023 22:31
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Kramdar posted:Also, vinegar is great for neutralizing the odor rather than masking it. I wipe it up , then spray the cleaned area with vinegar and let that sit for a minute. Luckily, vinegar smell goes away on its own too. Wait what? I could have been using vinegar this whole time?! Huh. I already use it for cleaning stubbornly stinky stuff. I quick Google says that it works because the pee is alkaline, so being acidic the vinegar breaks it down. Nice! I'll get me an appropriate blacklight and test it out. So why does anybody use anything else, then? Vinegar is a drat sight easier to get, if not cheaper.
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Feb 13, 2023 01:30
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Cat urine is not alkaline, it's slightly acidic. But it's not a fixed number, it can shift based on diet. There's certainly no shortage of web hits bragging how awesome vinegar is but I don't think it does anything except make the house smell like vinegar for a while and cover up the cat piss.. as the vinegar smell fades you don't notice the piss smell anymore. Kinda like your poo poo don't stink when you're in the bathroom but if you leave and come back it's disgusting. Unfortunately I don't know of any actual studies on the effectiveness of vinegar, so maybe it does work. But all that's out there is bloggers or people trying to sell us stuff. Either way, I stick with an enzyme cleaner for pet mess.
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Feb 13, 2023 02:20
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The stench caused by cat pee isn't the alkalinity. It's the organic molecules that linger.
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Feb 13, 2023 02:29
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Wait, doh, I should actually know the pH of my cat's piss since he's on urinary food to correct it, since he had crystals. It's 7, according to my FB posts from when he had just had his problems fixed, down from 8. That's alkali, isn't it? E: at least, that's what it was when I took him for a checkup to see if the new food was working, last October.Arsenic Lupin posted:The stench caused by cat pee isn't the alkalinity. It's the organic molecules that linger. Huh. TIL that acids and bases are not organic. I figured that the stinky organic compound was alkaline, and happened to get broken down in the process. But yeah in that case I can't see how vinegar would do anything other than mask the smell. Unless it breaks down the organics anyway? Hyperlynx fucked around with this message at 03:31 on Feb 13, 2023 |
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Feb 13, 2023 03:19
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7.00 is neutral pH by definition, but things don't need to get far from that to be considered significantly acidotic or alkaline. Your blood is 7.40 and a pH less than 7.30 is already concerning, for example.
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Feb 13, 2023 03:22
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VelociBacon posted:7.00 is neutral pH by definition, but things don't need to get far from that to be considered significantly acidotic or alkaline. Your blood is 7.40 and a pH less than 7.30 is already concerning, for example. Oh whoops, I thought neutral was 6.5. I've never been that great at Chemistry
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Feb 13, 2023 03:26
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If vinegar worked for half the things people will eagerly assure you it works for, nobody would be buying Simple Green or your house cleaner of choice. Same goes for baking soda.
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Feb 13, 2023 05:13
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Arsenic Lupin posted:If vinegar worked for half the things people will eagerly assure you it works for, nobody would be buying Simple Green or your house cleaner of choice. Same goes for baking soda. That's why I always mix vinegar and baking soda for cleaning, each work on half the things so together they work on all the things!
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Feb 13, 2023 05:34
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Well, I did just order a blacklight, so I guess I can test it out and then buy some other cleaner when it doesn't work I have found vinegar works really well for cleaning the stink off of some things in the past, so it does seem plausible to me. Eg, stinky foot smell in these things:  Actually mine aren't that colour, and having found this pic I really want a pair!
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Feb 13, 2023 06:06
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Urine contains urea, which decomposes into carbon dioxide and ammonia. Most of the odor of cat pee comes from the ammonia. Ammonia is a base, and can be neutralized with an acid, like vinegar. Cat pee also contains organics that are not affected by vinegar. These are pheromone-like chemicals that are a cat's signature for marking their territory. They're mainly for cats to smell - some are human sensible and some aren't. The cat will come back to the spot as the odor fades to recharge it. Cleaning with vinegar only will leave the marker chemicals (the ones that glow under UV light), so cats will still return regularly and refresh their marks even if the urea and ammonia are gone. Something like dish soap would probably take care of those, or rinse it with dilute peroxide solution to break them down. Enzymatic cleaners will break down these marker chemicals quickly and gently to protect fabrics and finishes, so the cat does not come back to renew their mark. It should also have some stuff to neutralize the ammonia/urea so it's a one-step clean-up.
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Feb 14, 2023 05:52
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Turns out my cat grinds her teeth when she eats. I had thought it was just her tongue making the sound but watching YouTube videos of the sound are near matches. Going to the vet this Thursday anyways. Fingers crossed it's not a symptom of anything major that the Internet leads me to believe
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Feb 14, 2023 06:06
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Deteriorata posted:Urine contains urea, which decomposes into carbon dioxide and ammonia. Most of the odor of cat pee comes from the ammonia. Ammonia is a base, and can be neutralized with an acid, like vinegar. Appreciated! Ok, enzymatic cleaners it is. In my case, my cat problems weren't territory marking, so I could probably get away with using vinegar and leaving the marker chemicals there, but I'm not going to because that's gross. e: wait, hang on. Could I literally just mix up some enzymatic laundry detergent in water and use that? Or do I especially need something cat specific? Hyperlynx fucked around with this message at 07:21 on Feb 14, 2023 |
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Feb 14, 2023 07:15
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Looking for advice on my cats strange pooping habit. Background: we've had our first two cats for over 3 years now, litter mates that share everything and are quite happy about it. ~10 months ago we brought in a new kitten and, other than being a bit more aggressively playful than the older cats like, no major behavioral problems. Up until about a month or two ago, he never gave us any issues litterbox-wise. But recently, he has started occasionally popping outside of the litter box. Not randomly in the house, but just like a foot in front of the box on the floor. It started out as a once or twice a week thing but now he may do it almost every other night. And it is almost always at night while we are sleeping. At first we figured maybe a new air freshener we put in that room was throwing off the scent, so we removed it. That didn't work. Then we figured maybe since the first 2 cats have used those litter boxes for longer, maybe he has decided he wants his own box somewhere else in the house. He has played in that box for a few days now, but not pooped in it. But this morning what did we find but poop ~a foot away from the new box. I don't suspect anything medical, he has been eating/drinking/pooping and peeing all normally other than this one weird behavior. And every time he does it, he will either throw litter out of the box / use litter that was already tracked onto the floor, and make it into a little pile to poop on. It's never a poop on bare floor, he always makes an attempt for it to be on some litter and cover it with what litter he can. It's hard to know exactly what he does and why because again, it's only at night while we are sleeping. Never while we are awake at home or even away at work. I may try the cat attract litter, but he was using the boxes just fine before. And still does outside of these specific poops.
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Feb 14, 2023 16:54
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That was instructive, Deteriorata. Thanks. Dweepus, is there only one litter box for three cats? Add another, at least.
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Feb 14, 2023 17:07
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