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VelociBacon posted:I can't close my bathroom door when I shower anymore... I currently have no ceiling in one of my bathrooms to access the plumbing above, closing the door means one cat climbs through the ceiling to harass you in there. I'm glad I was able to get them to stop showering with me, so much cat hair in the drain and they would rub their wet fur on you after you finished toweling off.
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Jul 28, 2023 14:31
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Don't Ask posted:Well, I am now the proud owner of one (1) black cat, male, called Charlie. Update: It's been 13 loving years since this post, and Charlie is now ~14 years old and still going strong. We also adopted Louie ~3 years ago, and most of the time Charlie lets her know he doesn't care for her by hissing and swatting like an rear end in a top hat. Sometimes, though, he forgets, and then this happens: 
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Jul 29, 2023 01:48
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) and ran back under the bed, where he's chilling now.
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I recently adopted my first pet, a 6-year old cat and she’s a real sweet heart. Really well behaved, but getting her to let me clip her nails has been a challenge. Sometimes I’m able to do one if she’s really sleepy, but otherwise she just scrambles out or kicks me when I try. She’s not hurt, but she definitely doesn’t like it. I’ve tried giving her treats when I do it, but when I have food in my hands she’s too excited and won’t sit still for me to clip. Do you goons have tricks for a slippery cat?
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Jul 29, 2023 02:06
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Porstuve posted:I recently adopted my first pet, a 6-year old cat and she’s a real sweet heart. Really well behaved, but getting her to let me clip her nails has been a challenge.
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Jul 29, 2023 03:51
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A cat is never going to sit still for you to clip their nails. You will need to hold them somehow. Before going burrito method I would try pulling her onto your lap and holding her that way, if she's generally agreeable and handleable she might let you do it.
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Jul 29, 2023 07:06
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Porstuve posted:
As the other goons have said, you'll need to hold her down. Cats won't hold still for getting their nails clipped. You can pin her between / under your legs on the couch, wrap her in a towel, or have another person hold her. It will also help if the cat is used to you touching her paws. So touch and pet both the upper and lower side of her paws whenever you're petting her. If she tolerates that well, also gently push her fingers up and down so her claws are visible. Don't actually cut them then, but let her get used to the touch itself. These two factors should make clipping her nails easier.
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Jul 29, 2023 07:20
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pidan posted:It will also help if the cat is used to you touching her paws. So touch and pet both the upper and lower side of her paws whenever you're petting her. If she tolerates that well, also gently push her fingers up and down so her claws are visible. Don't actually cut them then, but let her get used to the touch itself. Just to add to this. If you get your cat used to you patting her all over, then it's easier in the future to notice if they're in pain or discomfort. Regular rubbing her belly, moving her back paws stuff like that can help you notice changes in behaviour in the future.
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Jul 29, 2023 07:27
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One of my cats has rather suddenly become a door dasher. This is... Unfortunate. The other one loves to sit on the top step and watch or leisurely wander around a bit outside which I'm fine with, and this one used to be the same, but now (last day and a half) we are having to rush through the door because he wants to get out and just book it for the woods as fast as his feet can carry him. Any advice on what I can do about this to prevent it from becoming a long term problem? I assume addressing it ASAP is better than waiting!
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Jul 29, 2023 12:48
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Any other changes to behavior? Got sick and trying to hide is my biggest worry. I'll ask my wife if she has any tips about stopping cats from dashing. Luckily our current boys don't try and get out at all, but our lady cat did and she would constantly juke around me. She respected my wife though and would actually not try and get out when she was the one opening the door lol
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Jul 29, 2023 12:57
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Thanks everyone for sharing your advice on the nail clipping. I’ll try and get her used to me touching her paws first then do lap and/or burrito method as necessary 
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Jul 29, 2023 14:57
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Weird Pumpkin posted:Any other changes to behavior? There is another new change to behaviour, yes - him standing at the door and yowling for minutes at a time, taking a break, and then repeating. I think he just really wants to be outside.
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Jul 29, 2023 15:46
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GlyphGryph posted:There is another new change to behaviour, yes - him standing at the door and yowling for minutes at a time, taking a break, and then repeating. I think he just really wants to be outside.
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Jul 29, 2023 18:46
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One of my cats has gotten newly pukey in the last couple weeks. He’s 2 now and I got him as a kitten; up to this point he hadn’t been a puker at all and had thrown up less than 5 times. A couple weeks ago he started throwing up digested food pretty regularly. He still seemed hungry though, like he’d beg for treats or eat and then throw it up a few minutes later. I took him to the vet when he started projectile vomiting because I was worried about an obstruction. They kept him overnight, did labs and X-ray and ultrasound, and found nothing other than mild GI inflammation. They took a large quantity of my dollars and sent him home with instructions to feed him half a tablet of chewable Pepcid once a day. Lucky for me, he seems to really like them, or at least he likes the pill pockets and endures the Pepcid. I’ve had pukey cats before, but that was always because of hairballs, bolting food, or not getting fed at the right time in the morning. Finn’s puking habits are new and confusing. Aside from that he’s still acting like his normal anxiously energetic self, and is not acting like a sick cat. Should I just expect this to be his new normal?
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Jul 30, 2023 15:31
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Did you change his food recently? Or did you get new houseplants? Does the cat go outside? Is he stressed for some reason? Do you brush him? If there's nothing wrong with him medically (I'd probably get a second opinion if he's puking that much), then it might be allergies. Or he's getting into something he shouldn't and that's what makes him puke. Or he's just stressed. I'd try changing his food and see if it helps.
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Jul 30, 2023 17:39
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chutwig posted:One of my cats has gotten newly pukey in the last couple weeks. He’s 2 now and I got him as a kitten; up to this point he hadn’t been a puker at all and had thrown up less than 5 times. A couple weeks ago he started throwing up digested food pretty regularly. He still seemed hungry though, like he’d beg for treats or eat and then throw it up a few minutes later. I took him to the vet when he started projectile vomiting because I was worried about an obstruction. Charlie started throwing up every day a few months after I got him, and eventually the vets determined that he has pretty bad food allergies. I switched him over to hypoallergenic dry foods which immensely reduced the frequency of his vomiting. The added expense sucks but at least it's high quality nutrition. Unfortunately the allergies slowly got worse during the years and we had to try a number of additional medications to try and mitigate them. Currently at age ~14 he's on ~15-30mg of oral corticosteroids every day or so which help, and otherwise he's healthy and happy.
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Jul 30, 2023 18:00
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One of my cats occasionally chews on nothing and I was wondering if this is harmful or not. He doesn't have any issues eating food, and seem quite happy in general. I managed to catch it on video, including the sound he makes. Might need to unmute the video. https://i.imgur.com/nMfffyO.mp4
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Jul 31, 2023 09:49
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Could be a tooth or gum issue. Ours was doing that when one of her baby teeth was about to fall out but your cat looks way too old for that. A vet should probably check it out.
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Jul 31, 2023 20:02
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Autodrop Monteur posted:One of my cats occasionally chews on nothing and I was wondering if this is harmful or not. My cat is was doing the same thing and I brought it up at his annual exam. They checked his teeth and he had a lot of plaque and some gingivitis so we scheduled a teeth cleaning. 
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Jul 31, 2023 20:19
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We went away for a night this weekend and I’m a little worried how our cats reacted. My sister - who they’ve met many times and have even taken treats from once - came twice a day and put out their usual meals, but they only ate at night.  This is the same thing we were told they did at the shelter the whole 3+ months they were there, they never ate in front of the staff but their food would be gone in the morning.They seem so comfortable now but it makes me think they don’t really consider our home safe, that they need us to be here with them too. My partner is also convinced they like it when he watches them eat, which is cute, but now I worry that’s a “safety” thing we could be accidentally reinforcing. In a few months we have a weeklong trip, along with my sister. Any advice on preparing our cats? Our options for care are to have our neighbour come by, who also has cats but hasn’t met ours yet, or to board them (there’s a cats only place with great reviews nearby). I thought keeping them home would be obviously less stressful but now I’m not so sure, if they’re going to be terrified and hiding anyway maybe we should aim for maximum monitoring.  But there must be something we can do to help them before this.
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Jul 31, 2023 21:28
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So this is Bec: A lovable weirdo who we got as a rescue 4 years ago. This is Asriel:  A cat that lives on our road. Very friendly. Dumb as rocks. Named by a 6 year old boy who likes Undertale and Bec was named by us because my wife and I used to read homestuck, hush you In the good times a couple of years ago, Asriel would come in, make herself at home, play in the garden with Bec, and generally make a nuisance of herself:  Both are very different in their temperaments and friendliness to people, with Asriel being a bit of a party cat while Bec is much more cautious. When they got along in the Summer of 2021 they would play a little together, but Asriel would always play for a little too long past Bec's comfort zone, so he'd lash out and chase her away. In the winter of 2021 she didn't come over as much, but this was because Bec would now not tolerate her at all. Since then they have the occasional stand off and full on fight on our road, but 95% of the time they maintain a respectable distance. Now however... Asriel's owners want to get rid of her. Their eldest daughter who mostly looks after Asriel is moving away and cant bring the cat with her. The parents' son has a disability that confines him to a wheelchair, and they are finding it difficult to look after him as well as their pets (2 cats, a dog, some rabbits). My wife and I are weighing up the options. We have a family, as well as other pets (snake, crabs, mantis), but could afford another cat no problem. We are just worried about Bec and how he'd handle it given their history. I've read up on how to introduce cats - keep one in its own room, mix their toys/scent, limited initial contact and expand it out, etc. However most things I can find are for cats who are completely new to one another. I'm looking for any advice on how best to do this introduction and to help them become mates again. I'm mostly worried that Asriel will still be too dumb to know when to quit. Perhaps they've established a new pecking order and boundaries, but its hard to know if that will be maintained once she's in our house again. Also the other weird thing is that her previous owners are staying put, so getting her used to our house might be undone somewhat if she tries to visit her old owners? Not sure how best to deal with that eventuality. I guess home is where the food is.
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Jul 31, 2023 22:54
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Any advice for a cat that truly, truly hates being put in the carrier / being constrained in any way? I’ve tried coaxing her, I’ve tried brute force, I’ve tried the blanket thing and each time she goes full crazy to get out. I’m going to have to move her twice in a week and I’m even doing it once feels impossible
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Aug 1, 2023 02:10
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kaom posted:We went away for a night this weekend and I’m a little worried how our cats reacted. My sister - who they’ve met many times and have even taken treats from once - came twice a day and put out their usual meals, but they only ate at night. Keeping them at home is the least stressful option, even if they are still stressed. There's not much you can do about it, it's just a facet of cat ownership that they will be sad when you aren't there. Monitoring them will just stress them out more.
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Aug 1, 2023 02:20
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Can anyone recommend cat toys that will stand up to rough play? Leo has broken my da bird, my flannel rope on a stick, various catnip mice, and everything with feathers. Or am I just resigned to keep buying toys that he will immediately destroy?
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Aug 1, 2023 17:41
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I brought my Drake posted:Can anyone recommend cat toys that will stand up to rough play? Leo has broken my da bird, my flannel rope on a stick, various catnip mice, and everything with feathers. Or am I just resigned to keep buying toys that he will immediately destroy? My friend have you heard the truth of the Spring? https://i.imgur.com/vla6VqL.mp4 It's relatively important (in my experience) to get the ones that look like they have more space between the rings of the spring, there are a lot out there that are so tightly coiled they end up not really being bouncy at all. Here are the ones I like: 
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Aug 1, 2023 18:10
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oh my god, The Spring. Those are the ultimate bang for your buck cat toy.
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Aug 1, 2023 18:21
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I bought like a 30 bag of those and I no longer have any idea where any of them are. I assume when I move in a week I'm going to find a gigantic cache somewhere
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Aug 1, 2023 18:24
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morestuff posted:I bought like a 30 bag of those and I no longer have any idea where any of them are. I assume when I move in a week I'm going to find a gigantic cache somewhere They will be: Under the couch Under the table Under the dryer Under the stove On top of the bookshelf (inexplicably how did he even jump that high??) Underneath a pile of clothes
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Aug 1, 2023 18:44
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Rawrbomb posted:You cannot be around 100% of the time for your little bud, so get them a friend to bond with now (soon!). There is a really good chance they'll bond well, and as kittens probably get along better. I don't think there is a huge difference from 1 to 2 cats, aside from more litter boxes, food, and toys. You do want N + 1 boxes if possible, where N is cats. SpeedFreek posted:I currently have no ceiling in one of my bathrooms to access the plumbing above, closing the door means one cat climbs through the ceiling to harass you in there. I'm glad I was able to get them to stop showering with me, so much cat hair in the drain and they would rub their wet fur on you after you finished toweling off. Thank you for the hearty laugh.
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Aug 1, 2023 19:04
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VelociBacon posted:My friend have you heard the truth of the Spring? My cat managed to destroy these by bending them out of shape so ymmv
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Aug 1, 2023 19:50
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hypoallergenic cat breed posted:My cat managed to destroy these by bending them out of shape so ymmv I feel like destroying a toy is basically the highest compliment a cat can give Like we have these little yarn animal things and when we take out a fresh one our cat we adopted when he was 2 years old will absolutely tear the crap out of it. He loves "killing" the toys
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Aug 1, 2023 19:57
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Speaking of toys I've gotten a new buffalo hide cat toy and one of the cats goes absolutely CRAZY for it, to the point where he actively growls at the other cat if he's even in the same room as the toy. They seem to otherwise still get along, but every time this toy comes out it's immediate "get away this MINE" behaviour. Not sure if I should continue playing with the toy (it's clearly her favorite) or keep it put away with how it makes her behave.
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Aug 1, 2023 20:00
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hypoallergenic cat breed posted:My cat managed to destroy these by bending them out of shape so ymmv yeah. we went through a period with these and got very worried one of our cats was eating bits of them. she def was.
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Aug 1, 2023 21:18
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Eating the SPRING TOYS?  I wouldn’t have guessed that was manageable.Organza Quiz posted:Keeping them at home is the least stressful option, even if they are still stressed. There's not much you can do about it, it's just a facet of cat ownership that they will be sad when you aren't there. Monitoring them will just stress them out more. Thanks. The only thing I can really think of, since familiarity with the sitter didn’t matter, is maybe for me to leave the house more. I WFH 90% of the time, maybe it will help to normalize “empty house” for them a little.
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Aug 1, 2023 21:59
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Yeah Quill bends them sometimes but then they become her favorite because they bounce more unpredictably. Look closely at the spring in that video! I think there's hundreds of different manufacturers, there's no way she could break a piece off these springs but for sure a cheaper more brittle version is going to be available somewhere.
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Aug 2, 2023 13:05
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One of my cats loves the springs, he doesn't destroy them, I do. I accidentally step on them all the time.
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Aug 2, 2023 18:04
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phosdex posted:One of my cats loves the springs, he doesn't destroy them, I do. I accidentally step on them all the time. I'm 215lbs and I step on them constantly, it would never damage them. I think you guys are buying Bad Springs.
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Aug 2, 2023 20:06
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I am guessing the answer is no, and I apologize for asking if it's been asked, but do the cat pheromone spray things work to reduce fighting between two cats?
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Aug 2, 2023 20:10
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Nichael posted:I am guessing the answer is no, and I apologize for asking if it's been asked, but do the cat pheromone spray things work to reduce fighting between two cats? From personal expirence, they do seem to help on some level. Do you have any idea what the source of the fighting is?
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Aug 2, 2023 20:15
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Rawrbomb posted:From personal expirence, they do seem to help on some level. Do you have any idea what the source of the fighting is? I've got five cats who were all strays, four of which I've had since they were kittens. My fifth one, Zeke, moved in like six months ago as my uncle couldn't take care of him. Two of the cats are indifferent to his presence, one doesn't particularly like him but it's manageable, but Mikey, the most temperamental, hates him. I guess it's territorial but it's a house with plenty of space and hang out spots for them all. They don't really need to deal with each other, but Mikey instigates it.
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Aug 2, 2023 20:19
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Don't Ask posted:Charlie started throwing up every day a few months after I got him, and eventually the vets determined that he has pretty bad food allergies. I switched him over to hypoallergenic dry foods which immensely reduced the frequency of his vomiting. The added expense sucks but at least it's high quality nutrition. He was switched over to HF a couple months ago as part of trying to diagnose his overgrooming. He and my other cat both started throwing up when I began feeding them from the second HF bag, which made me suspicious of the bag, but then the other cat ejected her hairball and was fine after that. I transitioned them both back to their previous non-HF food, which didn’t make a difference. He’s still throwing up pretty regularly. If I remember to give him Pepcid in the morning that seems to help, because if I forget he’ll barf later on. I feel bad for him but I’m not really sure what to do, because it doesn’t seem especially food related unless he’s allergic to everything now, and all the tests done at the vet came back normal aside from mild GI inflammation. I guess that could mean IBD of some sort, but there’s no diarrhea in the litter box.
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Aug 3, 2023 18:15
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