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bltzn posted:Our very needy cat wakes up around 3-4pm and gets extremely demanding for attention, which makes getting work done pretty difficult. We don't really have scheduled play with him, so I'm thinking I should start doing it, but I'm not sure what the best time for it is in order to get him to wait patiently until we're finished work. Should we play with him after work so that he knows that he'll only get play time when we're away from our desks? Should we do it right when he wakes up to placate him until his dinner time? I’ve heard to play before meal time, but I’m also not totally sure how to structure it or how often to put out kitty meals (we’re doing 3x/day currently). I think if you build a routine they might adjust their energy levels around it, our cats have definitely changed their schedule since they came home (but they were also younger then, idk). I’d be interested if more people have suggestions on this, too!  Pollyanna posted:I feel a little better.  It looks great.
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Jan 16, 2024 06:33
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 05:10 |
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We have both extremes. Licky girl doesn’t care at all as long as she’s comfortable, she’ll purr while we’re doing her claws. Her sister is difficult. She hates her paws being touched and panics if we try to restrain her at all (including in ways she’s now okay with us handling her normally). We’ve had our cats nearly a year and outside of vet visits we’ve only been able to trim her claws ourselves twice, and she’s due again.  Our attempts to entice her with treats aren’t really working. She’s a lot more motivated by toys, but I’m not too sure how to combine that reward with an activity where I’m trying to handle her sharp, sharp paws…
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Jan 18, 2024 21:27
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I don’t want to argue one way or another but I do want to post a dissenting opinion on it being a no-brainer purchase you should stretch your budget to reach. We have our wide open, non-automatic litter boxes all in plain sight living spaces and no one can stop me.  Both pine and walnut litter do a great job with controlling smell. We vacuum and scoop frequently so there’s nothing gross to look at. I care less about aesthetics than I do about cleanliness, and I won’t risk our cats being scared of an expensive purchase and not using it.No one should feel like not buying this is a “worse” option, it feels like a choice that has to be based a lot on personal circumstances and preferences of you and your cat(s). I’m the wrong person to answer since I don’t own one, but what problem are you hoping it would solve? For whatever it’s worth to those of you who put stock in Jackson Galaxy’s opinion as a cat behaviourist, he straight up recommends against it. Vet opinions I’ve seen are split. If you have one and it’s working for you and your cats then great IMO, I’m not here to convince anyone to stop using one. But I don’t think it’s so cut and dried as the clear winner everyone should strive for.
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Jan 28, 2024 02:13
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rofl I mean I could be off here too, if the question is as simple as “does the litter robot work as well as advertised” it sounds like a resounding yes!
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Jan 28, 2024 05:34
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Offer another reward e.g., praise. Do this at the start of the training session, escalating to treats at the end so they’re motivated to keep going for that bigger reward. I’d just phase it in very gradually, like maybe one trick without a treat to start if they’re used to getting it every time. I have no good ideas on “stay” or promptness though. It’s amazing how many tricks your cats already know, we’re still working on our basics! (This is because we’re bad at doing it frequently, not because our cats aren’t game.)
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Jan 28, 2024 21:09
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Forgive me for not knowing the whole history here, but Rotten Red Rod I would love to know that you spoke to a vet about your cat no longer using a litter box. Because I hear that and my “kitty arthritis or other medical issue” alarm bells start ringing. Some of the recent advice has me doing the same for real.
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Feb 3, 2024 00:30
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Found out we have fire alarm testing scheduled for Friday, first time since the cats came home. Does anyone have advice? I think our cats are more likely to hide than to dash out any doors. I’m debating if we can feasibly get them into their carriers and into the car, maybe, instead of having to be actually here for the alarms going off. But we have a solid 8-hour window for when they might test our unit. Better to be in a place they know is safe with a horrible sound, or better to avoid the sound but be in a scary place?
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Feb 14, 2024 22:57
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Ours were feral so they’re probably not destined to be adventure cats sadly, but we’re doing everything we can to build their confidence so who knows. Maybe! Unfortunately we don’t have anywhere we could take them for the day, friends and family will be working, or have allergies, or have a renovation going on right now. It’s reassuring to hear other people have had their cats home for alarms going off without issue. It’s so loud, I can’t imagine how bad it must be for them. But seems like it’s best to let them hole up in one of their hiding spots. I still feel bad about that as an experience, but hopefully it’s the less stressful option.  (And just to reassure people no I wasn’t thinking to put them in their carriers all day! It would have required me spying on how close the crew was getting to us and hoping I could get them corralled in time, which they’re usually good about but who knows how much they’d cooperate if they’re already hearing other alarms sounding…)
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Feb 15, 2024 07:05
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You can (and it sounds like you’ve already started to) do a lot of work to accustom them to being picked up and going in the carrier, but that all takes time for them to learn. It took our cats months to realize nothing bad was going to happen when we picked them up. A year later carrier is doable but not seamless. Once our vet(s) had seen our cats for an initial checkup they were comfortable prescribing a low dose of gabapentin for future visits. It’s probably worth a call to see if your vet has any recommendations along these lines. Otherwise your best bet is probably purrito and top-entry into the carrier, but another trick that’s worked for us is putting the carrier in a comfy hiding spot our cats would be inclined to go to anyway, like a closet, so once something weird is happening (e.g. why did you shut the door, what’s going on) they just go hide there to begin with.
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Feb 23, 2024 22:48
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Also agree on trying to diagnose causes. I wouldn’t give up and accept that level of smell, no way. Was going to ask if you just had one box but beaten. Is it clumping litter? drunken officeparty posted:Bladder stone was dissolving at her re-xray 2 weeks ago. She had been basically back to completely normal for weeks but yesterday started doing the frequent long litter box trips and licking again. Waiting on a call back from the vet Sorry, that sucks. 
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Mar 8, 2024 02:22
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Pine pellets were fabulous for everything EXCEPT tracking. For that:VelociBacon posted:get the extruded walnut stuff
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Mar 8, 2024 06:26
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 05:10 |
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Took the girls for their annual checkup. The vet gave licky girl a thorough exam, watched our videos of her attempting to eat wet food, and concluded there’s nothing wrong with her and we’re overthinking it. She’s a healthy weight and not dehydrated. Cat gonna cat, I guess. The only vet suggestion that we haven’t already tried is to straight up immersion blend the food into a paste like a tube treat. We’ll give it a shot sometime soon lol. jimmychoo posted:good god why is it so hard to figure out what food to feed my kitten? i’m trying to transition him to adult food now that he’s older than 1 year but the online discourse of whether to go the heavily standardized brands like Royal Canin vs grain-free brands is so confusing to me. feels like there is absolutely no consensus at all. is the pet nutrition thread still active at all? what do y’all feed your kitties? I got very helpful advice when I posted there a year ago, worth cross-posting if you think you need to, but the thread basically told me to chill out like the responses you got here.  We’ve tried raw food, big brands like Hill’s, brands like Tiki Cat and Open Farm and Orijen… our cats have had beautiful glossy coats on all of them. As long as it’s labelled nutritionally complete it’s fine. Try wet food if you can and if they’ll eat it, because lots of cats won’t drink enough water. I don’t think there’s any consensus past that.I’m so sorry, but I’m glad that you pushed for a second opinion to get the information you needed to make the right call.
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Apr 8, 2024 08:09
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