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Trip report; just got back from the vets and he was pumped full of pain killers which has made even noisier. They did a urine test sample and it wasn't anything wrong in there. The doc eventually came out and said it might neurological? We do live in a claustrophobic apartment and he is a big boy... Tomorrow will change how he reacts tonight, if he pees fully then we'll take him to the same vet to do some tests to see if he's a nut. If not he'll get a referral to the University veterinary clinic. I am still all kinds of  over this.
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Mar 10, 2013 23:25
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Spudd posted:Trip report; just got back from the vets and he was pumped full of pain killers which has made even noisier. They did a urine test sample and it wasn't anything wrong in there. The doc eventually came out and said it might neurological? We do live in a claustrophobic apartment and he is a big boy... Hm so probably he wasn't completely blocked, just having a painful episode? Sometimes you can stop them from fully blocking during a flareup if you start treating with the pain meds and get it under control before it escalates, so you did fine.  My cat had one of those types of episodes during March of 2011, where it was painful but he was still peeing little tiny amounts at a time, and it went away with pain medication but 3 weeks or so later he actually had an episode where he was totally obstructed. It was after that episode that I started managing what we thought he had, FIC (which is precipitated by stress...his episodes were around finals week during first year of school so it was MY stress that was causing him stress I think...), by environmental enrichment and with a canned food only diet with water added etc. And he hasn't blocked since or even had a painful episode! So it's possible to manage if that's what it is.
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Mar 10, 2013 23:43
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Topoisomerase posted:Hm so probably he wasn't completely blocked, just having a painful episode? Sometimes you can stop them from fully blocking during a flareup if you start treating with the pain meds and get it under control before it escalates, so you did fine. So you suggest I should stop feeding him dry food (at least try it for awhile)? He doesn't like canned food very much, we usually get him fresh kangaroo meat. I just never heard of a cat freaking out and putting itself through that much pain, but hey if you lived here you would understand how tiny of a flat this is. Anyway thanks again now I think it's sleep time, gonna snuggle with the cat though it's his punishment for putting me through that. 
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Mar 10, 2013 23:47
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Spudd posted:So you suggest I should stop feeding him dry food (at least try it for awhile)? He doesn't like canned food very much, we usually get him fresh kangaroo meat. I just never heard of a cat freaking out and putting itself through that much pain, but hey if you lived here you would understand how tiny of a flat this is. A surprising number of feline ailments end up being traced back to various stressors being major catalysts. I think that a lot of cats have some sort of predisposition to a physiological overreaction to stress, which can mess with so many different regulatory systems.
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Mar 11, 2013 01:55
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Another thing is that boredom can be a significant stressor, so if your cat is indoors only, it would help him a lot to get regular play/exercise time. Some people find it helpful to just set a timer for like, 10 minutes, three times a day, to play with the cat and give it mental stimulation. Since he likes kibble, food dispensing balls and stuff that he has to work for can be really good too.
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Mar 11, 2013 02:22
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A couple of years ago one of my cats had a littler of kittens, right after Halloween. We picked up a hot dog costume on deep discount and put it on all of our cats. After I put it on her, I got distracted for a while and forgot that I'd put the costume on her. I came around the corner and saw her wearing this:
Mirthless fucked around with this message at 03:25 on Mar 11, 2013 |
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Mar 11, 2013 03:09
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marshmallard posted:Grumples and Hat have pretty much destroyed the corners of my sofa by using them as a scratching post. What can I do to stop them causing further damage? Do any of the sprays work or am I stuck taping foil over the things and having a horrible-looking sofa? Our cat doesn't scratch the corners too often anymore as we have plenty of scratching stuff for her. To be on the safe side, however, we bought a cheap strip of carpet. Cut the carpet into strips and taped it onto the corners of the sofa. That way if she does go for it when we are not around I don't have to worry about it. We also use a preventive spray and a water spray bottle when we catch her doing it. Seems to have worked.
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Mar 11, 2013 04:28
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I'm in the process of adding a second cat to the teenage hellion in hopes that it'll give her someone to bite and attack instead of myself. I've closed off the upstairs of the house for him, and have been taking the current dog and cat up in alternating shifts to do short 15-20 minute visits. He's stopped hissing at the dog completely, but is still hissing at the cat (which is understandable). I've been doing these visits through a baby gate (so he's in his safe room, and the offending party is on the other side), although I did let the dog in to sniff him face to face tonight and that went well. At what point should I let the cats actually interact and see if there's going to be serious scuffles? A week or so? Overall, he seems pretty chill. He was hissing up a storm at everything yesterday -- me, the dog, the cat, the noises from the foster bunnies in the next room, you name it. But today he's much more laid back and friendly and soliciting pets. Also, he's got a fierce 'stache: 
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Mar 11, 2013 04:41
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Rodent Mortician posted:Also, he's got a fierce 'stache: Dat stache.  Someone get that cat a monocle!
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Mar 11, 2013 04:55
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Rodent Mortician posted:I'm in the process of adding a second cat to the teenage hellion in hopes that it'll give her someone to bite and attack instead of myself. I've closed off the upstairs of the house for him, and have been taking the current dog and cat up in alternating shifts to do short 15-20 minute visits. He's stopped hissing at the dog completely, but is still hissing at the cat (which is understandable). At this point I'd just try throwing them together for supervised visits. There's going to be hissing and posturing but they'll get over it. Separate for unsupervised and obv if there's blood.
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Mar 11, 2013 15:03
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Rodent Mortician posted:Also, he's got a fierce 'stache: OH MY GOD THAT CAT.
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Mar 11, 2013 22:25
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bobula posted:My sister is dealing with the lady down the street, who is in turn calling the cat-taking lady (because she won't give my sister her number) and hasn't been able to set up a meeting yet.. Any update? Did you get the cat back?
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Mar 12, 2013 01:43
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Rodent Mortician posted:I'm in the process of adding a second cat to the teenage hellion in hopes that it'll give her someone to bite and attack instead of myself. I've closed off the upstairs of the house for him, and have been taking the current dog and cat up in alternating shifts to do short 15-20 minute visits. He's stopped hissing at the dog completely, but is still hissing at the cat (which is understandable). Just throwing in my support for Eggplant Wizard's advice. Hope your new family member is getting better acquainted and more comfortable with your home and other beloved pets! He's a pretty cute cat, but I'm a little bias because he looks very similar to my cat with the black bandit cap and fierce 'stache. Have you got a name for your new found hellion?
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Mar 12, 2013 15:33
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Things went pretty well last night. Some hissing and head bopping, but they split up on their own and there were no serious tussles. When they seemed to be getting worked up, I'd split them and give everybody a half hour break. The dog he's fine with, which is bizarre because she's pretty big and also obnoxiously friendly and won't keep her nose out of his rear end. It doesn't help that the other cat is still enough of a kitten that  STRANGE CAT gives way to "Hey I can bite his tail" within about 15 minutes. Preferred form of communication is for each of them to lie on either side of a wall corner and slapfight around the corner while growling. Also doesn't help that when the cats are being dicks to each other the dog gets so excited because we're all playing now and wants to join.He does not stop looking   He came with the name Charlie, which he doesn't know and I hate. Is it wrong to name a cat Tom Sellack? Because I don't think that should be wrong.
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Mar 12, 2013 15:52
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Rodent Mortician posted:
FWIW, I was going to tell you that he legally can't have any other name with that moustache. It would be more wrong if you named him anything else.
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Mar 12, 2013 16:19
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Cats can be weird with dogs, any indication he was a dog adjusted cat before you got him?
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Mar 12, 2013 17:46
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Took the cat that has been losing weight back to the vet today. About a mount ago she was 6lb5oz today she was 5lb3oz. Different vet this time said the blood work last time was close to normal in the kidneys and the last vet was probably off on a kidney problem diagnoses. Did xrays and she has a pretty large tumor thats right around the kidneys/liver/and pushing into the stomach  Vet said she only has a week or a few at best . Girlfriend doesn't want to put her down right away so besides feeding her her favorite treat of turkey meat is there anything else we can do to make her more comfortable before we do have to put her down?
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Mar 12, 2013 18:26
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AtomikKrab posted:Cats can be weird with dogs, any indication he was a dog adjusted cat before you got him? No, he's never lived with a dog before. That was actually more of a concern to me than the cat, because she's four times his size and is an idiot. He seems to actively like her, though, he seeks her out and purrs and rubs against her. Opposites attract, I guess. Edit: This is chillest cat ever. He just wants to hang out and rub against me. The lady who adopted him to me told me that he was too rambunctious and she had to rehome him because it was too much for her to handle with her grandkids moving back in. She was super nice, but man she'd murder Marzipan, who likes to leap off bookshelves onto my head to see if I'm paying attention. Rodent Mortician fucked around with this message at 19:02 on Mar 12, 2013 |
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Mar 12, 2013 18:38
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Gillingham posted:Took the cat that has been losing weight back to the vet today. About a mount ago she was 6lb5oz today she was 5lb3oz. Different vet this time said the blood work last time was close to normal in the kidneys and the last vet was probably off on a kidney problem diagnoses. I'm sorry, I lost a cat to a similar problem a few years ago; (un)fortunately tumors in the gut don't really cause pain that the cat will show, instead she'll just start eating less and less because eating will make her feel sick, and by the time the weight loss starts to show it's almost always too late. I had success with small pieces of boiled chicken, my kitty seemed to be able to keep that down during his last couple days. That and lots of attention and comfort is all you can do.
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Mar 12, 2013 19:44
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Rodent Mortician posted:
Really wanna pet that kitty. Do you have a Higgens to go with that Magnum? Also, used a sleep aid for the first time in a while but I didn't know it would keep my cat from wanting to get up on time either.  Sorry about what you're going through Gillingham, went through the same thing with my Calico a few years ago.
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Mar 13, 2013 04:26
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My poor Arthur. This morning I noticed some mucusy yellowy boogers in both his eyes, talked to a vet tech friend who said it might be the beginning stages of an upper respiratory infection, but that he might also fight it off himself so wait a day and see if any coughing follows. He seemed fine otherwise, played with the other cat and no sneezing/coughing. Now it's around midnight and it's clear his eyes are bugging him, he seems to want to keep them closed or nearly shut, they're probably hurting quite a bit. Welp, it's to the vet in the morning, can't be having him suffering like that. Anyone have any idea what could be wrong with him? (Here's a picture of him in better days, hopefully he'll be back to getting all up in my face soon!) 
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Mar 13, 2013 05:29
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Cobalt Chloride posted:My poor Arthur. This morning I noticed some mucusy yellowy boogers in both his eyes, talked to a vet tech friend who said it might be the beginning stages of an upper respiratory infection, but that he might also fight it off himself so wait a day and see if any coughing follows. He seemed fine otherwise, played with the other cat and no sneezing/coughing. That could still be an upper respiratory infection. Several like to hit the eyes as well as the nose, the most common being an Herpes infection. In cats, it's not (usually) an std, and you can't get it from your cat. With the eyes though, they'd need to be checked to make sure they're not getting hit hard.
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Mar 13, 2013 05:52
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I've had my cat, Clover, for about 1.5 years. Sometimes he coughs like he wants to have a hairball - Sort of a dry cough, with a little bit of that body extension/stretch thing that cats do when they're gonna puke. He has never actually coughed anything up or thrown up. Is there anything I can do to help him with the coughing? I wouldn't mind if he threw up, if that made him feel better. This coughing thing has happened maybe a dozen times in a year and a half, and never with increasing frequency. It's pretty random, as far as I can tell.
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Mar 13, 2013 16:58
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So I got PJ and Omega Red at New Years, and for about a month I had two scaredy cats. I am just posting to show off my boys and reassure new owners that their cats will come out to play if you stay patient. I am now rewarded with this (and now unable to use the computer without kitty love). 
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Mar 13, 2013 18:07
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I find this a bit odd, our older cat was finally getting mostly used to the new kittens after a month or so of having them around. He'd chase them around a bit now and then but had stopped with the hissing and such for the most part. We got the kittens fixed on Monday (boy and girl) and now the older cat has taken a large step backward in his treatment of the little ones with hissing and batting at them as they walk by. He was also very very interested in sniffing them when they first got back from the vet. Is this behaviour change all based on smell/hormone differences after the surgery or what?
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Mar 13, 2013 18:53
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Squibbles posted:I find this a bit odd, our older cat was finally getting mostly used to the new kittens after a month or so of having them around. He'd chase them around a bit now and then but had stopped with the hissing and such for the most part. They smell funny because they were at the vet and drugged up and all that. He'll get over it soon.
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Mar 13, 2013 19:01
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uptown posted:I've had my cat, Clover, for about 1.5 years. Sometimes he coughs like he wants to have a hairball - Sort of a dry cough, with a little bit of that body extension/stretch thing that cats do when they're gonna puke. He has never actually coughed anything up or thrown up. Is there anything I can do to help him with the coughing? I wouldn't mind if he threw up, if that made him feel better. This coughing thing has happened maybe a dozen times in a year and a half, and never with increasing frequency. It's pretty random, as far as I can tell. Ozma does this. The vets were a bit baffled about it. Love gave some meds to soothe her throat and another a steroid injection. My current vet suspects its a symptom of a herpes flare up and so we have her on lysene powder. She still has the odd fit though. Let me know if you find a solution.
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Mar 13, 2013 19:49
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Hi there cat thread. I have a question for you guys. I just sort of inherited a cat. A few months ago, my old college room mate moved in and brought Montgomery, his cat with him. While he's an amazing room mate, he is an abysmal pet owner. My room mate's uncle just died and the cat belonged to him, so my room mate adopted him. He was feeding him terrible food, bought no toys or anything at all for him, and when he moved the cat from his old house to mine he brought him along in a big plastic tub with a locking lid and had to keep on cracking it so the cat could breathe. Anyway, since Montgomery has been here, I've been spoiling the poo poo out of him and he of course loves me. Turns out though, I'm pretty highly allergic to cats. I'm not exactly sure what I'm supposed to do here. I've already sent my room mate a text (he's often times gone for multiple days in a row) about it but I'm pretty worried that he'll just say to leave the cat locked in the basement (which is where my room mate lives) all the time. Which, I don't know if I could do in good conscience. So my question, which I realize took me way longer to get to initially was; what kind of experiences have you guys had with allergy prevention methods? After some googling, I'm not finding anything definitive. It seems like shots are the way to go? I basically just want to find a way that the cat doesn't have to be locked in the basement 24/7 and that I can sleep through the night without waking up because I can't breathe. Edit; I also just realized that if I can keep the cat in the common area and off of my floor, I'll probably be fine. My room mate and I share the first floor but the whole second floor is mine. Will a standard baby gate type thing work for keeping a cat out? I feel like they can just jump right over them, but maybe there's something there? I'll take any advice here, the cat is a real sweetheart and I'd really like to find a way to keep him around. Chili fucked around with this message at 12:24 on Mar 14, 2013 |
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Mar 14, 2013 11:06
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Let's get this out of the way:Chili posted:when he moved the cat from his old house to mine he brought him along in a big plastic tub with a locking lid and had to keep on cracking it so the cat could breathe. Chili posted:Will a standard baby gate type thing work for keeping a cat out? I feel like they can just jump right over them, but maybe there's something there?
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Mar 14, 2013 13:16
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If you have the money for an air filter, consider one. Also, they make anti allergy cat wipes that come in a pack like wet baby wipes that aren't too costly. I used to be allergic to both my cats but apparently have adapted. Hope the same happens for you.
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Mar 14, 2013 13:34
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Cat introductions are moving along. Marzipan and Sellack are generally getting along well, but Marzipan is a huge problem. She's still very kitteny and will go into kitten murder mode and basically attack Sellack over and over again for no real apparent reason. He's very docile and will kind of yowl and knock her off and try to walk away, but she'll literally following him all over the house continuing to jump on him and bite him. Eventually he'll get irritated and then they'll be a real scuffle and I'll separate them. 15 minutes later, she's gearing up again. I was actually going to leave them out together last night while I was asleep because they'd been doing fairly well, but then she just would not leave him the hell alone. She even jumped him while he was trying to use the box. World's most patient cat. Is this a bad sign, or is there a way to ramp her down?
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Mar 14, 2013 13:38
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duckfarts posted:Nope! Unless he's fat as gently caress and can't jump or climb worth poo poo, this is not likely to work. The barrier must be high enough so that the cat can't jump on top of it, and thus get over it. You could try constructing a floppy plastic baffle maybe, like a plastic sheet that's curved over so 1) it's high, and 2) if the cat tries to jump on it, it'll bend and the cat will not be able to stay up there and climb over. It has to be something tall and not porous at all. My parents used to try to keep my cat out of my room when I was little by putting up 2 gates on top of each other. She would still climb (not jump, climb) over both of them to come sleep down at the foot of my crib. She was  as hell and slept in my bed drat near every night of her life
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Mar 14, 2013 13:45
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Rodent Mortician posted:Cat introductions are moving along. Marzipan and Sellack are generally getting along well, but Marzipan is a huge problem. She's still very kitteny and will go into kitten murder mode and basically attack Sellack over and over again for no real apparent reason. He's very docile and will kind of yowl and knock her off and try to walk away, but she'll literally following him all over the house continuing to jump on him and bite him. One of our kittens was like this. We had to basically give one of our cats a safe room to use the litter box. I don't have any tips for ramping down the kitten behavior, but you might put a litterbox somewhere out of the way and keep the kitten out of that room. Maybe put Sellack in there for a few hours a day and let him in when he wants to hide.
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Mar 14, 2013 14:21
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duckfarts posted:Let's get this out of the way: Yeah, I'm aware. I didn't say I did it, there's no reason to yell at me. It's his cat and his responsibility. duckfarts posted:
He's definitely spry enough to jump that high, I guess it wouldn't help. Huntersoninski posted:If you have the money for an air filter, consider one. Also, they make anti allergy cat wipes that come in a pack like wet baby wipes that aren't too costly. I used to be allergic to both my cats but apparently have adapted. Hope the same happens for you. I don't think an air filter is in my budget, and the wipes sound helpful but probably aren't going to help me not wake up in the middle of the night because I'm having trouble breathing. I mentioned shots earlier, does anyone have any experience with those?
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Mar 14, 2013 15:43
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uptown posted:I've had my cat, Clover, for about 1.5 years. Sometimes he coughs like he wants to have a hairball - Sort of a dry cough, with a little bit of that body extension/stretch thing that cats do when they're gonna puke. He has never actually coughed anything up or thrown up. Is there anything I can do to help him with the coughing? I wouldn't mind if he threw up, if that made him feel better. This coughing thing has happened maybe a dozen times in a year and a half, and never with increasing frequency. It's pretty random, as far as I can tell. My cat Willow does this too, maybe once or twice a month. I noticed it usually happens about 15 minutes after she eats, so my best guess is she sometimes swallows some air from eating too fast and she's doing some weird catburp.
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Mar 14, 2013 16:17
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Rodent Mortician posted:Cat introductions are moving along. Marzipan and Sellack are generally getting along well, but Marzipan is a huge problem. She's still very kitteny and will go into kitten murder mode and basically attack Sellack over and over again for no real apparent reason. He's very docile and will kind of yowl and knock her off and try to walk away, but she'll literally following him all over the house continuing to jump on him and bite him. Stop separating them. They need to work it out. He probably needs to give her a solid beatdown.
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Mar 14, 2013 16:18
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Any tips on making old, arthritic cats more comfy? My old lady cat, Nora, is 18 and you can tell her joints are a bit creaky she gets around well enough, she's just significantly slower and doesn't jump up on things anymore. She also sits a bit weird, more on her side than on her feet, which I see often in arthritic dogs. She gets up and down a bit slower, too, but shes OK otherwise. My mom has some big cushy blankets and pillows around the house for her, and she loves those. We're debating moving a litter box on the other side of the house to make it easier for her, as the litter boxes we have now are down a small flight of stairs. I was also thinking of possibly getting a heated bed or mat for her. Do they give joint supplements to cats and is it worth it at this point?
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Mar 14, 2013 17:49
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Shnooks posted:Any tips on making old, arthritic cats more comfy? My old lady cat, Nora, is 18 and you can tell her joints are a bit creaky
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Mar 14, 2013 18:18
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Chili posted:Turns out though, I'm pretty highly allergic to cats. What kind of allergies are we talking about? Hives and rashes or just stuff like runny nose, dry mouth, watery eyes, etc. I'm very allergic to all animal danders and experience the watery eyes, nose etc. very heavily for hours. I take generic loratadine (Claritin) every day and my allergies have all but completely stopped with my cats. It takes a few days to work into your system but I don't have any issues anymore. No experience with shots or the like.
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Mar 14, 2013 18:35
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Paul Proteus posted:What kind of allergies are we talking about? Hives and rashes or just stuff like runny nose, dry mouth, watery eyes, etc. Hm, my symptoms sound pretty similar to yours, I'll give that a whirl.
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Mar 14, 2013 18:56
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