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Fire In The Disco posted:Your cats might outgrow it One of my cats suckled everything - including people and other cats - as a kitten and gradually reduced this as he got older. Now he's around 3-4 years old and suckling is reserved only for my soft dressing gown and two particularly soft throws on my bed and sofa. I don't think he'll ever completely stop  And he wasn't abandoned by his mother or anything, he was certainly over 12 weeks when we got him.
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Jul 18, 2009 17:42
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Fire In The Disco posted:I think it really depends on your cats. I have four, and a couple are loungers and a couple are hiders. Definitely depends on the cats. I have 5, and all of them ignored the hideaways in the cat tree, prefering to lounge around on the open parts.
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Jul 26, 2009 11:02
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hobbesmaster posted:A friend of mine's parents had an 8 year old male and a month or so old rescue they got. The kitten would suckle on the older cat, and he would sit there and roll over and start purring loudly. Hes a very, very weird cat though... One of my adult male cats used to let one of my male kittens suckle all the time. He even groomed the kitten while he nursed, to encourage him. It stopped after a few months though  I thought it was adorable
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Jul 31, 2009 09:49
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BanjoFish posted:He has a favorite chair that he sleeps on, and whenever I pick him up, he just walks back over to it and plops down. Some cats are just like this unfortunately. One of my 5 won't tolerate being picked up for more than a few seconds, and won't sit on peoples laps very often at all. The most you can usually hope for is that he'll come over for a stroke and purr a bit. Conversely one of my other cats will do anything to sit on anyone who sits down in my house, and one of the others will only sit on my lap, nobody elses. On the other hand, if you've only had him a short time, give him a while to adjust. Give him nice treats so that he associates you with good things, and be sure to pet him when treating him. One thing I did with two of my nervous kittens was to hold them while feeding them something tasty (like pieces of roast chicken breast) so that they learned that being held was a good thing. Also try him on some catnip and see how he mellows with that Feliway plugins are also an option if he's a bit edgy.
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Jul 31, 2009 19:04
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Cpt.Wacky posted:So I'm not sure about adopting. Should I go for a kitten? How young/old? Male or female? What about 2 kittens to entertain themselves and not bother the adult as much? Would an older cat, say 2+ years, still be an option? My main concern is that they get along well enough. Kitten will be easiest to introduce. Two kittens will be even better because they will try to play with your adult cat but also use some of the energy amongst themselves when your adult cat doesn't want to play. Male or female doesn't matter; females have a reputation for being slightly bitchy with other females but that doesn't always hold true. Maybe go with 2 male kittens, or 1 male and 1 female. You could go for an older cat if you wanted, but the introduction tends to be much harder. For example, one of my adult cats takes about 48 hours to accept a new kitten (I foster for a local rescue), but he takes 1-2 weeks before he stops hissing at new adult cats. It certainly can work, but its harder to manage for the first couple of weeks, and some cats just won't get on when introduced as adult cats - my Bengal cat spent 2 weeks hissing and fighting with a friend's cat I was looking after, yet she tolerates foster kittens with minimal hissing. Montefarle posted:I'm planning getting a new kitten, but we already have a small dog in our house. He's very friendly and gets on well with all living things so I don't forsee a problem on his end. Is there any way to tell if a kitten will get on well with a grown dog? What would be the best way to introduce the two? Kitten will probably hiss a bit and be upset at the dog, but I wouldn't say you need to worry about them not getting on if they're raised together. We had a couple of dogs when I was living at home, and I bought my first kitten back then; apart from some initial posturing, the kitten got on just fine with the dogs. As he got older the dogs would sit still and let the kitten groom their faces  You do need to be wary of the dog being overexcited though, and bear in mind that if he gets scratched (in the eye for example) it could be nasty. You also need to be confident he wont react to being scratched by biting/attacking when upset. I'm confident my Boxer puppy won't hurt a kitten if scratched, but I still won't let her be around my foster kittens unsupervised simply because her excitement means she can accidentally hurt the kittens (granted, my main concern is that she's already 12kg of bouncing energy). Introduce them slowly, make sure the dog is on a leash so that he can't snap/lunge at the kitten. Helanna fucked around with this message at 09:39 on Aug 1, 2009 |
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Aug 1, 2009 09:34
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Bloodie posted:Is it normal for a cat to shun all food and water after coming into your house? ... she had picked up an upper respiratory infection that makes her sneeze and sniffle a lot Sounds pretty normal in a new environment,and particularly when sick. Try some nice stuff like a can of tuna, or warmed up wet cat food that's nice and stinky to tempt her to eat. Failing that, syringe feed her (I think "pedialyte" is the stuff you want but someone else might have a better idea) to ensure she doesn't get hepatic lipidosis from not eating.
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Aug 2, 2009 08:11
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Crooked Booty posted:one big pupil is a very common presentation of FIV and FeLV. Is that one big pupil specifically, or the eye itself? One of my foster kittens has one eye smaller that the other, but the vet wasn't overly concerned (not my usual vet, but one who seems to be filling in while my vet is away) - he speculated that it could have been due to the mother cat having feline panleukopenia, and took some photos to show other people/colleagues/vet students. He didn't seem to want to do any tests though, since the kitten otherwise seems healthy. Should I be concerned enough to go back and push for blood tests?
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Aug 8, 2009 18:07
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Victor Nightingale posted:1. Are some cats less allergy-causing than others? I doubt this is the case because 5 minutes of reading tells me the issue is their saliva, not the dander/hair as I originally thought. Both dander and saliva are frequent causes of allergies. Anyway, yes there are some cats known for having less than others; Siberians and Russian Blues apparently. Also LaPerm, Sphynx, Devon Rex, and Cornish Rex due to their different coats. Doesn't help you if you're allergic to the saliva rather than dander though. Victor Nightingale posted:2. Are there medications that I could take to mitigate the effects of the cat? I could just take this claritin stuff every day (each pill lasts 24 hours), but I'd rather not do that if there's a better option. There's an injection you can get I believe, that lasts longer. I'm not allergic to any animals so I don't know for sure. Victor Nightingale posted:3. What's the chance that I would "get used to" the cat, and have less of an allergic effect after a while of heavy medicating? Definitely  A lot of people get used to their own cat and still react to other peoples animals.Victor Nightingale posted:4. Am I crazy? Is this something that there's no way around, and I need to get some fish instead? No it's worth a shot! Other things you can do is avoid letting the cat in the bedroom, use a HEPA vacuum regularly, try not to do stuff like stroke cat then rub your eyes
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Aug 16, 2009 12:41
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teepee posted:Can I keep the kitten? Or is it too risky to keep a non-vaccinated kitten at home with another cat? Am I freaking out over nothing? Are all kittens disease-ridden furry balls of doom? It is a risk, yes, but as long as your own cat is fully vaccinated, I personally wouldn't be too worried about it. Then again, I'm not sure how prelevant FeLV/FIV is in other countries. There's other viruses to worry about as well of course, but those are nasty ones. When I foster kittens, I tend to keep my own cats seperated from them, but the first litter I had, one of my cats took a shine to the litter and wanted to spend all his time in with them, grooming and playing with them. Given that they were an orphan litter of only 5 weeks, I decided to let him mother them, once I'd had them vet checked, and watched them for a few days to see if they had any obvious signs of a contagious illness. If you've already had the kitten a few days I'd say any potential damage is done, so you may as well keep them together until you can vaccinate. For the record though, you don't have to wait til 12 weeks to vaccinate. The kittens that I foster for an animal rescue get their first vaccines at 9 weeks, second vaccines at 12 weeks, and rehomed after that point. I've seen 3 different vets with the foster kittens I've had (depending where I'm told to go by the people in charge :P) and they all agree that 8-9 weeks is the age for vaccines. If he's only 5 weeks old at the moment (which is very young to be away from mother cat), you should consider giving him some milk replacement in a bowl to supplement any wet/dry kitten food you're giving him. Rufus T. Turnbuckle posted:I'm rather confident her cat hates me. Tough situation Have you tried Feliway plugin to see if that affects the cat's behaviour? None of my cats dislike men or anything, but one of my cats is pretty stressy and nervous with new people, and seems better when I'm using Feliway in the house.Other than that, you might try a second cat as company. That would help from the point of view that they might compete for attention, or at least the older cat would see the new cat being affectionate with you and not being hurt or anything. My oldest cat was a bit of a bastard as a kitten and adolescent, but rapidly became more affectionate with us once we got more cats. Not sure if that was just him growing up, or because he saw the other cats getting lots of lovings. Helanna fucked around with this message at 10:36 on Aug 23, 2009 |
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Aug 23, 2009 10:32
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Quote is not edit
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Aug 23, 2009 10:36
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StrangersInTheNight posted:A few last-minute questions - my boyfriend and I both work. While we are gone during the day, where should we keep the kitten? Should we allow him/her to wander freely, or confine them to the bathroom or something? My only worry with this is that the litterbox won't be living in the bathroom but in a closet, so it might be confusing to start it out in the bathroom and then move it. As for cords - our house is bunny-proofed, but cats are climbers so there's no guarantee he won't get into things. I've got some bitter apple spray I plan on spraying on cords, so it should be ok to let him wander? First, consider getting two They keep each other entertained while you and your boyfriend are both out working. Kitty on their own will get bored, and possibly destructive.It would be worth keeping him confined at least initially, let him explore under supervision until you're sure you've secured the place as best you can. Don't shut him in the bathroom every time you go to work while he's a kitten though! Each time I've got a kitten, I've spend a few days at home, supervising, then started going back to work and just letting kitten(s) roam around the house. As for the litter tray concerned, cats have a good sense of smell; probably won't be an issue for you.
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Aug 25, 2009 17:38
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Camembert posted:Clumping cat litter: I've heard that kittens aren't supposed to be on clumping cat litter because if they ingest it it can cause problems and such. At what age is it alright to be placed on clumping litter? Regardless of age, am I supposed to start on non-clumping and then switch to clumping if I see the cat doesn't seem to show interest in eating it? Regarding clumping litter, yes kittens can eat it and it would cause problems. However all of my cats (5) had clumping litter as kittens and all of my foster kittens (10 so far) have used clumping litter from 8 weeks and up, with no problems. It really really depends on the kitten; use it, watch them, make sure they show no interest in eating it. If they dont seem to think it's food you should be fine. Not a single cat I've ever owned has ever tried to eat it. One of my foster kittens didnt like it though, and pissed on the bed until I put out a box of pine litter for her instead! For vaccines, they get one to start with around 9 weeks (with the rescue I work with anyway) amd then a second one 2-3 weeks later. After that point, they need an annual booster for the rest of their lives. Frequency of worming treatment very much depends on the product; you should be taking the kitten to the vet as soon as you get it for a checkup and deworming anyway. Bear in mind that dewormers bought in pet stores wont work; you need the real stuff. Personally I use Milbemax but I don't know for sure what's used elsewhere; even here some vets use other products like Drontal. StrangersInTheNight posted:the cats might even get mischievous and gang up on the bunny, which is the last thing we want. Bear in mind that an energetic kitten - particularly one without a playmate - is going to bite and scratch and pester your bunny ceaselessly. Bunny may not appreciate that, and I'd be worried about the kitten getting kicked. Helanna fucked around with this message at 21:59 on Aug 25, 2009 |
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Aug 25, 2009 21:55
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Feral_Shofixti posted:Aside from good cat food (I read the pet food thread), a litter box/litter, some catnip, and some toys, is there anything you can suggest for a young-adult cat that is very, very human-friendly but recently abandoned? He does have (a few) fleas, I'm not really sure if I should just go with the flea-dip or if the collars or pills are the way to go there. Don't use a flea collar. Take him for a vet checkup just to make sure everything is okay, and the vet will be able to give you decent flea and worming medications. The stuff you buy in a pet store is awful; at best it won't work, at worst it will harm/kill your cat. Good that you adopted an abandoned cat though We need pics!!
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Sep 4, 2009 10:47
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That solution works too as a temporary measure, but as Feral_Shofixti has a paycheck incoming tomorrow, might as well head straight to a vet and get a real product like Advantage, while also taking care of any other potential health issues.
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Sep 4, 2009 22:29
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d8 posted:Most cats will self-regulate with catnip. They'll eat some or roll in it until they're happy and then walk away. I'd guess that there are some that just don't know when to quit, though I haven't met one yet. One of my cats doesn't understand self regulation. I came home one day to find he had opened a drawer, pulled out 2-3 packs of catnip, opened them all, strewn them everywhere and rolled/licked/played in them. He was still blissfully laying in a pile, guarding it from the other cats and occasionally taking a mouthful when I got home from work. Judging from the behaviour of the other cats, I'd say that catnip had been out of the drawer for quite a while, yet Nesquik was still protective of it and had clearly gorged on it (and tried to stop me from cleaning it up). He didn't suffer any ill effects though!
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Sep 5, 2009 10:15
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My cats love "kookamunga", but can't find anywhere in NZ selling it online Found this though: http://www.cyberpets.co.nz/catalog/Cats-(11)/Toys-and-Treats-(43)/Pure-Catnip--NZ-grown-(1238).html
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Sep 7, 2009 11:29
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