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Oooh, good thread! OK, so question time! I've read the thread about nutrition, but I couldn't find any mention of feeding regimen. What I mean is - how many times a day do you feed a cat, when do you feed them wet food, etc. With the cats we owned growing up, we let them eat freely all day from dry food & fed them wet food once in the evening. Is this a good feeding schedule? I'm assuming it's specific to the cat, but what's a good regiment to begin with? Also, should we start our kitten out on different food than we plan on feeding it as an adult?
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Aug 20, 2009 22:36
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| # ¿ May 4, 2024 00:38 |
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Meow Cadet posted:Does that help at all? Your plan of free feed dry all day and an extra wet meal at night sounds fine. As far as switching foods, it all depends on what food you start out on, and what food you think you want to switch to. That was perfect! I just wanted a little confirmation that it wasn't a big no-no to feed this way - I grew up in a house of cats, but we weren't the most researched family. StrangersInTheNight fucked around with this message at 01:38 on Aug 21, 2009 |
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Aug 20, 2009 23:13
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Oh man oh man! If things work out, we'll be heading to the shelter tonight to pick out a kitty! The local shelters are so oversaturated, I'm happy to give a pet a good home. 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?
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Aug 25, 2009 17:27
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Helanna posted:First, consider getting two HondaCivet posted:Confining them to one room for a bit is a good idea, it gives them a safe place to stay while they get over the move. They'll let you know when they are ready to come out and explore. My apartment is pretty small so I just let them have their run of the place when I let them out. They should be OK in a house as long as they explore on their own and can learn their own way around. Awesome, thanks for the input! I know it's best to get two, but we're hoping to bond the kitten as a companion for our rabbit, who's been lonely. Myself and the bf both feel suddenly having two cats will be a lot for the rabbit to handle all at once - plus, it might create a "three's a crowd" situation where the cats bond and the bunny is still fairly lonely (or the cats might even get mischievous and gang up on the bunny, which is the last thing we want). This, combined with the fact that my boyfriend has never lived with a cat before and is optimistically cautious about the whole affair means we're only getting one. Our apt is a small one-bedroom, so we're thinking it should be ok to let the kitty wander...we might keep it in our bedroom for the first few days, just to be sure.
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Aug 25, 2009 19:57
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They keep each other entertained while you and your boyfriend are both out working. Kitty on their own will get bored, and possibly destructive.
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HondaCivet posted:I'm not a rabbit person but if you want the rabbit to have a friend, wouldn't another rabbit be better? This has come about for two reasons. One is that I've wanted a cat for a while, and the added benefit is that the cat can be a companion for the rabbit. Before people in this thread start saying anything: http://www.rabbit.org/journal/2-11/cats-and-rabbits.html Also, our vet has vetted for the fact that they can be great companion animals, with patience and care. I meet way too many people who think rabbits & cats cannot get along because cats are predators and rabbits prey - a guy at the shelter berated me about it last night because he didn't know any better. But they can actually work well together. It's just like any two animals, you have to be careful and sensitive to their emotions during the bonding process. HondaCivet posted: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. Oh, of course - we'll be supervising any contact between them for a long while, to make sure nothing happens. My worry is simply that instead of cat & rabbit bonding, the two cats will bond the the rabbit will be left out or picked on.
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Aug 26, 2009 18:35
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Hey guys! So I just got a cat. He's a 3 year-old male - I was originally going for a kitten, but this guy called out to me, was much more chill and sweet than a kitten would be, and was on the chopping block at the shelter. He's been home for about a day, and has hidden under the bed the entire time (which is to be expected). HOWEVER, he has a cold, and the vet at the shelter took a look at him before releasing him and gave me anti-biotics. He won't get out from under the bed and his sneeze/cough is getting worse. I'm worried about him, but I also don't want to force anything. I've tried giving him his medication in wet food, but he's not having it. Should I force him out later tonight for his anti-biotics? Or should I let him be to come out on his own time? I can't decide which is better or worse, strong-arming him for his own good but possibly really freaking him out, or letting things progress naturally at the risk of his illness getting worse...
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Feb 21, 2010 21:53
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/\/\/\ Thanks guys! Yeah, I think I'm gonna force him. He's not gonna be happy, and I have to do this every day for ten days! Kitty is gonna hate me by the end of this. Oh well. Get better, kitty!
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Feb 21, 2010 22:56
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ChairmanMeow posted:He'll come around. I know how hard it is. My cat gets so far into the back corner of the bed and can't comprehend why I'm holding her eyes open when they already hurt. It really is the worst. He's gotten a lot more chill, and even slept in our bed last night and today (I'm home with a cold as well, hah). However, he doesn't seem to be eating as much today. I'm gonna give him a little more time - he finally ate his wet food around 6pm or so last night. But if he hasn't shown any signs of eating by later tonight, what should I do to make sure he gets some sustenance? I don't want him to not eat -> get weak from not eating, which would just cause him to huddle under the bed even more and then fall really ill. Would Pedialyte be good?
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Feb 22, 2010 23:04
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He ate Science diet. They gave me a little "cat kit" and so he's got it as dry food free access right now. He's not touching it too much. I have a better food and I was going to transition him over to when he was no longer sick, by mixing the two (to minimize tummy upset). I'm gonna try warming wet food up... EDIT: No dice. He just sniffed it and stared at me. It's possible he's been eating some of the dry food without me noticing - I've been trying to give him some alone time for adjustment, so maybe he's eaten and I just haven't seen it, although I hesitate to assume. I've made the vet aware of what's going on, but I won't be able to be around tomorrow to keep an eye on him (urgent work matters). I can rush him to the vet Wed morning if he still hasn't eaten, but I might have to try and force feed him something tomorrow night. Any advice on that? EDIT 2: Vet just e-mailed and confirmed that I should syringe feed him tomorrow night, if he hasn't eaten. Hooray. StrangersInTheNight fucked around with this message at 00:50 on Feb 23, 2010 |
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Feb 23, 2010 00:22
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/\/\/\ I'll try that later tonight. We have a humidifier going for him, but maybe the steamy shower will help more. I'm picking up some feeding syringes on the way home, because at this point he hasn't eaten, pooped, or peed for an entire day. Scheduling a vet visit for Wed morning. Agh. This is all super-stressful because both myself and my bf are horribly sick too, AND I think our rabbit may have caught the virus from the cat. I just want to rest up but I end up staying up late taking care of these guy and not getting sleep due to loud kitty sneezes/coughs and general anxiety about animal health.
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Feb 23, 2010 18:55
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CAT UPDATE: The steamy shower seems to have help loosen up the mucous a little, but he's still refusing to eat, even stinky warmed-up food. I was able to pick up some lycosine today (with a vet's recommendation), but he won't have it. I'm very happy to have come home to find urine lumps in his litterbox though - so he's drinking, hooray. I'm giving him some chill out time (the shower was not a happy experience), and then forcing some food into him so he'll be able to get through the night. I also noticed what appears to be a swollen anal gland, so it's good we're going to the vet tomorrow morning. Kitty! Don't die 
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Feb 24, 2010 01:20
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Good advice! Sorry for dominating the thread these last few posts. Went to a new vet that was close by, and was not impressed - even though my regular vet is over an hour away, I'm definitely gonna go back to her. This vet took a look and said the cat was fine and I was over-reacting, he was kind of dismissive of me. He showed us a gentle way to force feed the cat, gave us some special concentrated food and sent us along. That said, he also found ear mites and gave us some stuff for that, so it wasn't a wasted journey. I'm just happy the cat's ok and we know how to handle this until he gets better 
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Feb 24, 2010 18:12
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| # ¿ May 4, 2024 00:38 |
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pandafan posted:Hey guys, Yeah, I'm not sure one way or the other. If he's got dark build up, I'd take him to a vet and get an ear mite check - we just took our new kitty in for an unrelated issue, and asked about his ears thinking he just had waxy problems. Turns out he had a heinous ear mite infestation, and so he got an injection of Invectin, an ear drop to put in his ears twice a day, and an ear cleaner to be used once every other day with q-tips. The reason is because mites are particularly tenacious. If your cat's got mites, olive oil is just going to get rid of the surface level visible mites and mite poops, but not really take care of anything you can't see deeper in the ear. (Of course, now I'm all sorts of worried about the cat spreading mites to us, which is rare but can happen - before we knew he had them, we were sleeping with him cuddling our heads, eek! I'd even slept basically ear-to-ear with him. Combined with him sleeping on our pillows during the day, colour me paranoid.) Also, my kitty is now eating of his own free will, hooray! He's very stinky though - since being sick, he's neglected his cleaning duties. I was planning on just letting him get himself back together once he got well, but would it help him along to give him a bath? StrangersInTheNight fucked around with this message at 19:31 on Feb 26, 2010 |
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Feb 26, 2010 19:19
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