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Funkysauce posted:So one of my cats is going to see the vet on Wednesday. He's been yowling when trying to poop and he's been dragging his butt on the floor, chasing his tail like a madman and licking his butt. If it's in fact a poop problem, it's most likely nothing too serious.
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Jan 6, 2014 18:56
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If we have a cat on prescription food (Royal Canin SO) and just got another cat is there any reason not to feed both cats the SO food? I'm not sure what our ability to segregate their food will be...
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Jan 6, 2014 19:02
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NewcastleBrown posted:If we have a cat on prescription food (Royal Canin SO) and just got another cat is there any reason not to feed both cats the SO food? I'm not sure what our ability to segregate their food will be... I'd probably say cost? I mean at $2/can why should you if there's not a problem that requires it. I'm not saying cheap out on the food, but I also don't have two cats with different foods. I just know that the urinary S/O is costing me more than the big bags of Blue Buffalo I used to get.
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Jan 6, 2014 19:09
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Iron Crowned posted:I'd probably say cost? I second this. We had the same issue. By the way, I started ordering my Royal Canine SO on chewy.com and it saved us a lot of money!
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Jan 6, 2014 19:44
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Crooked Booty posted:Are you 100% sure your cat is urinating normally? A lot of owners think their cats are having trouble defecating when it's actually a urinary problem. They can look really similar, and urinary obstruction is a very common, life-threatening emergency in male cats. He seems to be urinating fine, he doesn't make a sound when urinating, only when defecating. He drags his butt and leaves poop streaks or sometimes pieces of it. I will definitely check for normal urination when I get home though, thanks.
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Jan 6, 2014 19:48
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Iron Crowned posted:I'd probably say cost? anaaki posted:I second this. We had the same issue. By the way, I started ordering my Royal Canine SO on chewy.com and it saved us a lot of money! The cost certainly could be an issue. There aren't any health reasons to avoid feeding the Urinary SO food to a cat with no history of crystals? It should be noted that the new cat is young and male and if I'm eventually going to have to spend thousands of dollars on treating crystals I'd rather spend that money preemptively and slowly over years of feeding him food that will prevent the crystals altogether. Why exactly is urinary SO cat food prescription only? Petsmart (and chewy.com) won't sell it without a prescription but so far as I can tell it isn't dangerous to feed to a cat that doesn't need it.
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Jan 6, 2014 20:03
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NewcastleBrown posted:The cost certainly could be an issue. There aren't any health reasons to avoid feeding the Urinary SO food to a cat with no history of crystals? It should be noted that the new cat is young and male and if I'm eventually going to have to spend thousands of dollars on treating crystals I'd rather spend that money preemptively and slowly over years of feeding him food that will prevent the crystals altogether. Maybe it's a PH balance thing? There are different types of urinary blockages a cat could develop, if I remember correctly. I wouldn't let my non-blockage kitty eat the prescription food. We ended up finding him a new home because he had spazzy food issues, and Holden who was the sick cat needed a lot more attention and money ($2000+ vet bill!) from us. Why not call up the vets office and ask? I'm curious what they would say.
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Jan 6, 2014 20:14
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Funkysauce posted:He seems to be urinating fine, he doesn't make a sound when urinating, only when defecating. He drags his butt and leaves poop streaks or sometimes pieces of it. I will definitely check for normal urination when I get home though, thanks. I would try to get him in sooner if you could. It could be an issue with his anal glands or constipation both of which can be painful.
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Jan 6, 2014 20:53
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hhgtrillian posted:It kind of looked like it's made of raffia to me. Could it be these: Ordered those just now. Will report back. Thanks!  I know Stanley's a mutt and not a purebred anything but he's MY mutt.
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Jan 6, 2014 21:46
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Maximusi posted:Or you could close the door and put those SST cat things along the door so that it sprays her with compressed air if she tries to scratch the door. That's what I do. Just make sure to replace the canister with Dust-Off because the ones that come with the product are tiny and they don't last long. I wondered if that was doable... how hard is it to pry off the trigger so you can attach the SSScat sprayer? We love that thing, especially for the 1-year-old cat who has an impressive vertical jump. As for cat breeds, my vet put down that mine is a Maine Coon Mix. He does have enough of the classic MC features to qualify, and I guess "OMG SO FLUFFY!" isn't a breed.
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Jan 6, 2014 23:39
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NewcastleBrown posted:The cost certainly could be an issue. There aren't any health reasons to avoid feeding the Urinary SO food to a cat with no history of crystals? Well, Urinary SO acidifies urine, which prevents the formation of struvite crystals. However, on the other end of that spectrum, calcium oxalate crystals can form in acidic urine. So I probably wouldn't feed it unless needed.
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Jan 7, 2014 04:30
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Braki posted:Well, Urinary SO acidifies urine, which prevents the formation of struvite crystals. However, on the other end of that spectrum, calcium oxalate crystals can form in acidic urine. So I probably wouldn't feed it unless needed. Speaking of urinary crystals, I have a friend whose cat had crystals of some sort very recently. The vet treated him and gave him prescription food but he was told by his mom to go buy raw chicken in bulk and feed that to the cat. I don't doubt that he followed the vet's instructions and is feeding the prescription food, but is there any reason to believe that raw chicken would help treat and/or prevent urinary crystals? It doesn't make sense to me but I've never really looked into raw food diets so I know pretty much nothing about them or their possible benefits.
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Jan 7, 2014 04:47
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Ev posted:I don't doubt that he followed the vet's instructions and is feeding the prescription food, but is there any reason to believe that raw chicken would help treat and/or prevent urinary crystals? No reason that I'm aware of, no.
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Jan 7, 2014 04:53
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CAPT. Rainbowbeard posted:It's made of some kind of crinkly tissue., and has been dropped in the sink a couple times so it's a little discolored. My girlfriend bought it on clearance at Target four or five years ago, before I met her. She can't remember the name of the brand or even what the item is called. You aren't talking about the Mylar ones here, right?
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Jan 7, 2014 05:26
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I'm looking for advice on cat nutrition/supplements. We have an older cat (~2 years) and a kitten (9 months), both male. The older cat has had health problems since day one, he was desexed really early on (probably around the 3 month mark, before we got him), he was a pound kitten and has had severe cat flu for pretty much forever, and until very recently his pupils never contracted smaller than "gently caress off fight mode". We have had multiple vets check it out and apart from just pretty significant cat flu he is healthy enough. We have to pick gunk out of his eyes every day, he has a constant wet nose and he's just generally a pretty sickly boy. He drinks water and eats and goes to the toilet more or less fine. Sometimes he gets blood in his stool but not all the time so it's not necessarily a pattern. Since we got the kitten six months ago his symptoms have flared up a bit more, but we think that's because of stress as the younger kitten is a bit of a shithead, as all kittens are, so he is constantly being attacked and chased around the house. It's playfighting, but still probably stressful. His diet is a Hills Diet hard food, a 50/50 mix of the gastrointestinal one (i/d) and the urinary one due to a urinary blockage 8 months ago that we don't want to risk repeating. We switched from wet food to dry food ages ago because he was having problems with diarrhea. But we're worried about his eyes and general health now and don't want him to go blind or just generally be sick for ever. Each weekend we feed him a raw chicken neck (or half a chicken wing) that's coated in lysine powder to help with his immune system, flu symptoms, and of course general life satisfaction, but it doesn't seem to be doing a huge amount for his health. I think it needs to be a daily thing so I'm going to buy some wet food and give him a spoonful of wet food mixed with a load of lysine every morning, or even a really thin slice of raw chicken breast that's been dunked in lysine. Is there anything else I can add to his diet to help boost general health? I've heard about salmon oil but that's for the skin/fur. Can we add some vitamin E liquid to his wet food (or the dry food even)? Any thoughts? Sulla Faex fucked around with this message at 14:43 on Jan 7, 2014 |
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Jan 7, 2014 14:39
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Suggestions for getting my roommate's female cat/kitten (about 10 months) to start cleaning her butt? Constantly has lovely little bits left over from the litter box and smells horrendous. She also has anal gland problems, but that's not something I'm willing to help with. I've tried using a wet paper towel on her to simulate the mother cleaning, but it hasn't worked.
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Jan 8, 2014 00:16
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My 5 month old kitten has blockage and is severely constipated. She started vomiting with a tiny bit of diarrhea (along with mucous leaking out of her behind). I took her to the vet, they gave her liquids since she was dehydrated and something to calm her stomach down. 6 hours later we started feeding and letting her drink again in very small doses. The vet did an X-ray and just said it looks blocked up, so we don't know if she ate something that's causing the blockage. The only thing she really could have swallowed was a foot-long piece of string I had laying out, which I can't seem to find. It's been about 48 hours later since this all started, and she still hasn't pooped. I've given her a little bit of Vaseline on her paw for her to lick up, as well as oily salmon cat food in tiny doses every 2 hours. The first day she was very lethargic, but now she seems almost normal and doesn't appear to be in any discomfort or pain. She does meow more than usual though (out of hunger I believe). I'm tempted to go get cat laxatives, but could that be dangerous if she did swallow string? I'm not sure what to do at this point. The vet is telling me to wait, but I don't want to wait until something extreme happens. She's an indoor cat, and hasn't been spayed yet. Another noteworthy thing may be that I was feeding her pure wet food and spoiling her with extremely healthy stuff, then switched to dry friskies food about a week before all this happened. Should I keep feeding her and wait, or what? She's peeing properly but the food isn't coming out, I don't want her stomach or colon to obstruct. Dravsy fucked around with this message at 15:27 on Jan 8, 2014 |
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Jan 8, 2014 15:10
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Spikes32 posted:Suggestions for getting my roommate's female cat/kitten (about 10 months) to start cleaning her butt? Constantly has lovely little bits left over from the litter box and smells horrendous. She also has anal gland problems, but that's not something I'm willing to help with. I've tried using a wet paper towel on her to simulate the mother cleaning, but it hasn't worked. Shave her butt. Being serious...one of my cats has this problem and we shave his butt once a month...only takes a few seconds. Dravsy posted:My 5 month old kitten has blockage and is severely constipated. She started vomiting with a tiny bit of diarrhea (along with mucous leaking out of her behind). I took her to the vet, they gave her liquids since she was dehydrated and something to calm her stomach down. 6 hours later we started feeding and letting her drink again in very small doses. The vet did an X-ray and just said it looks blocked up, so we don't know if she ate something that's causing the blockage. The only thing she really could have swallowed was a foot-long piece of string I had laying out, which I can't seem to find. Do what your vet tells you. If you don't like what your vet tells you then get a second opinion. Treat your animals how you'd treat yourself...getting a second opinion will hurt nothing but your pocket book.
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Jan 8, 2014 17:04
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What's the best butt shaving technology? My cat has this problem, too.
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Jan 8, 2014 17:36
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Eeyo posted:What's the best butt shaving technology? My cat has this problem, too. Either a small, quiet beard trimmer, or you can use safety scissors they sell for grooming at almost any pet store. Some cats will panic with the hum of the trimmer, and some cats won't sit still long enough to use scissors...experiment with what your cat tolerates.
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Jan 8, 2014 19:24
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OssiansFolly posted:Either a small, quiet beard trimmer, or you can use safety scissors they sell for grooming at almost any pet store. Some cats will panic with the hum of the trimmer, and some cats won't sit still long enough to use scissors...experiment with what your cat tolerates. My cat hates it when I mess with that area, so I just pay my vet to do it.
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Jan 8, 2014 19:29
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OssiansFolly posted:Either a small, quiet beard trimmer, or you can use safety scissors they sell for grooming at almost any pet store. Some cats will panic with the hum of the trimmer, and some cats won't sit still long enough to use scissors...experiment with what your cat tolerates. I have a fluffy cat so I have to trim his butt sometimes, especially in the winter when he gets extra floofy. I just use regular scissors, but I also have a delightfully patient cat. I think he'd have a heart attack if I used a trimmer. I think at the groomers they call this a "sanitary shave" or something.
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Jan 8, 2014 20:55
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baxxy posted:I wondered if that was doable... how hard is it to pry off the trigger so you can attach the SSScat sprayer? We love that thing, especially for the 1-year-old cat who has an impressive vertical jump. Not hard at all. You just break the entire top off and it pops off with a bit of force.
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Jan 8, 2014 20:59
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Buttsdate: Apparently there was an unknown problem with his feeding tube which was causing food to come up through the opening and caused an infection. New vet got a consultation from an internist, removed the tube, cultured the site, and gave him antibiotics. She's going to check him out again Friday.  He's eating a ton now on his own, so he might not need a new one placed, though!
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Jan 8, 2014 21:43
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Yeah that's basically what happened with Oona. It kinda came loose on his own and there was some gunk in there and they said "gently caress it she's eating on her own." It looked kind of gross and they were worried about infection but I think it was ok. It's been so long now it's hard to remember since the relief at everything working out sort of clouds my memory. On the minus side, you can't hear her purr anymore unless you put your ear to her torso, but she is alive so whatever.
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Jan 8, 2014 23:38
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Count of headphones destroyed by rear end in a top hat cat: 2 in the span of one month. One of my cats apparently LOVES the taste of headphone cables, because while I was at work that fucker destroyed a second set of headphones. Yes, I forgot to roll up the cable, which is absolutely my fault and I accept that. However, the fact that I left them out for a grand total of eight hours to have the cat shred the cable into bite-sized pieces really chaps my rear end. Until his recent streak of cable chewing, he has never done this before. I have a bottle of the bitter apple/grapefruit chewing deterrent stuff, but it doesn't really stay on the cable, and reapplying it daily is a tremendous chore. Obviously I'm also a big dumb idiot who forgets to wrap up the cord on occasion because I've never needed to do it until now. What the gently caress, cat? Is this an (expensive) phase? Anything else I can do short of impotently raging at my stupid cat (as well as myself for forgetting) and buying a new pair of headphones like a good consumer? Cat Specs: 2 cats, 1 male (rear end in a top hat) and 1 female Both 1.5 years old, and have been together since about 2 months old. Everyone is healthy and up on their shots, and they eat the good stuff. They also get a fair amount of playtime with us humans, and mess around with each other during the day.
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Jan 9, 2014 00:09
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Not strictly a cat question, but I'm hoping fellow cat owners have advice. I have two cats. My boyfriend has two cats. We will be moving in together this summer. Together, this is four cats. This is two cats too many for pretty much any apartment complex to allow. Neither of us would even consider giving up a cat. Do apartments/townhouses negotiate on this?
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Jan 9, 2014 00:19
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Dienes posted:Not strictly a cat question, but I'm hoping fellow cat owners have advice. I'm sure some will and some won't. I would say you'll just need to ask specific places if they will make an exception/write it into your lease or find some place that doesn't set a limit. Some may require a higher pet deposit or something.
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Jan 9, 2014 01:21
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Cpaka posted:Count of headphones destroyed by rear end in a top hat cat: 2 in the span of one month. I've never found a solution. The bitter stuff works but it's more likely to rub off on your face and hands than on the cat. Maybe leave the old pairs out with the bitter crap on them?
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Jan 9, 2014 03:18
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NewcastleBrown posted:If we have a cat on prescription food (Royal Canin SO) and just got another cat is there any reason not to feed both cats the SO food? I'm not sure what our ability to segregate their food will be... We have one cat that had stones removed and is now on the awesome Royal Canin Urinary SO for life. We buy the dry food though (neither cat really likes wet food, as a treat now and then the two don't even finish one can). We just feed them both the expensive stuff. I have a horse, so paying ~$20/month to feed two cats isn't a big deal (hey, I pay 15 times that per month for the horse!). It's been several years and both cats are fine. The other cat gained a bit of weight, which was a side effect our vet noted with the food (especially for cats that don't need it). So cost is the only issue, but like I said, cost is pretty relative. The "big" bag costs $68 and lasts my two cats (on free choice feeding) over 3 months. The bag might last over 4 if I portioned out food every day, but I'm a big softy that believes animals should be able to eat when they want to (and I don't need tiny alarm clocks running around the house freaking out if I get busy at dinner time).
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Jan 9, 2014 04:58
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Dienes posted:Not strictly a cat question, but I'm hoping fellow cat owners have advice. If it's not corporate (run by a huge company that has a billion other properties) they might. In practice, as long as you only have 3 or 4 I've never heard of anyone noticing or caring. The only people who ever came into apartments I've lived in have been maintenance dudes and they certainly don't care.
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Jan 9, 2014 05:21
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Dienes posted:Not strictly a cat question, but I'm hoping fellow cat owners have advice. Four cats seems like too many cats to have. Three is pushing it and four is where it becomes weird, I think.
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Jan 9, 2014 05:30
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You shut up, sir. We had 3 but due to emergency reasons have 4... but we live in a house, so it's all good. They even all share one litterbox (which is automatic or it wouldn't work probably).
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Jan 9, 2014 05:40
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Sockser posted:Four cats seems like too many cats to have. Three is pushing it and four is where it becomes weird, I think. You would have hated my house growing up. People would bring Manx cats that escaped the local BYB to my mom's zoo because they thought they were bobcats or injured. She would bring them home and rehab them. At one point we had 14 looking for homes, with 22 litter boxes and 75 lbs of cat food a month.
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Jan 9, 2014 05:42
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Cpaka posted:Count of headphones destroyed by rear end in a top hat cat: 2 in the span of one month. My current count? 2 pairs of earphones, 2 macbook power cords, 1 electric blanket cord (actually, that one still works), 1 pair of work USB earphones (that was fun to explain), 1 kindle charger and every single Levelor blind cord in the house. My solution? Put. Everything. Away. Or, lately, I have started wrapping some things in bubble wrap hoping that it stops them. I've tried everything from the bitter tasting stuff (which left me gagging for a week and stuck to everything I didn't want it on) to a little bop on the nose. If you find a solution, I'd love to hear it.
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Jan 9, 2014 06:39
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Sockser posted:Four cats seems like too many cats to have. Three is pushing it and four is where it becomes weird, I think. No, four cats isn't too many, but it's enough. We've got four, but then again, we also have a 1400 sq feet house with an enclosed outdoor area for the cats. No way they're going to run free with a highly trafficated road less than 100 yards away. Kidney Stone fucked around with this message at 08:31 on Jan 9, 2014 |
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Jan 9, 2014 08:24
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baxxy posted:I think at the groomers they call this a "sanitary shave" or something. I had my cat boarded at the vet, and had them do this, I wrote "sanitary butt shaving" in the "other section" I hope they at least got a laugh out if it.
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Jan 9, 2014 16:47
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Cpaka posted:What the gently caress, cat? Is this an (expensive) phase? Anything else I can do short of impotently raging at my stupid cat (as well as myself for forgetting) and buying a new pair of headphones like a good consumer? Your cat will very likely never stop doing this. I had a ferret who liked to chew through headphones as well, but she never touched any other cable. Just something about the texture of those thin cables was delicious to her, and any headphones left where she could get at them were promptly destroyed. All you can do is keep them away from your cat because you can't trust him not to be an idiot who loves ruining your nice things.
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Jan 9, 2014 17:12
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Update on my guy: The vet examined him and said his bladder was normal, no blockage, no impacted anal glands, no feces in him. She said the same thing another goon mentioned which was KEEP AN EYE ON HIS URINATING and to let her know if it's him peeing that is the problem. She gave him his shots and off he went. This AM we woke up to find he didn't eat anything and there was puke and poop on the floor. He went into the litter box and pooped again but I saw there was no urine from last night and he'd been yowling and scratching. He was all lethargic and sleepy. My wife called vet and they told her lethargy and sometimes vomit can be a side effect of the vaccinations. She said he was yowling again and there was no urine. At this point the vet told my wife, GET HIM HERE RIGHT THIS SECOND as it could be a life-threatening problem! My wife has left work and is rushing home. I'm trying to leave as well, I will keep you all updated. I'm a loving wreck right now.
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Jan 9, 2014 17:14
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Serella posted:Your cat will very likely never stop doing this. I had a ferret who liked to chew through headphones as well, but she never touched any other cable. Just something about the texture of those thin cables was delicious to her, and any headphones left where she could get at them were promptly destroyed. All you can do is keep them away from your cat because you can't trust him not to be an idiot who loves ruining your nice things. My cats are this way too...I have to keep all my USB cords and headphones off the floor. This time around I bought a good set of headphones from Best Buy and paid for the Black Tie service plan which covers them for like 3 years for ANYTHING that could possibly go wrong where they stop functioning. For an extra $20 it may be worth it.
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Jan 9, 2014 17:20
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