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BrainDance posted:So Lychee and I are having a problem, I'm going to be trying a few things to solve this but thinking someone might have some better insight into cat psychology than me here. Sorry I don't have anything super useful to add but wanted to mention I wish Quill would be afraid of water/wet floors, it's really hard to keep her out of the tub. We've had to move the litter outside of the bathroom specifically so we can leave that door closed so she doesn't go stand in the tub (we're worried about her licking at the puddles in case there's soap etc in there).
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Oct 9, 2021 03:48
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I suspect agitating the litter as you replace it causes the attractant to get put into the air, it's like when you walk into a public bathroom and you suddenly have to pee because it has that smell.
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Oct 10, 2021 00:37
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Ballz posted:Any advice/recommendations on pet insurance? I had my cats on Banfield's Wellness Plans for the longest time, but their prices have gotten ridiculously expensive in recent years and any time a cat needed something more than a dental cleaning or a shot Banfield would just say "go to the emergency clinic" where I'd end up paying full price anyways. Trupanion is well recommended to me here. I still don't know if it's economically wise, the quote I got for Quill was ~$60/mo CAD (~$40 USD). She'll be getting anything she needs, I'd just take it out of my savings anyways, so I was just looking at insurance to see if it was financially smarter.
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Oct 13, 2021 04:33
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Raenir Salazar posted:Whats the trick to get a cat to use a new scratching post? I held my cat's paw and showed her that you can scratch the post.
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Oct 18, 2021 04:04
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Tulalip Tulips posted:Ugh my indoor only cats have fleas and I have no clue where they could have come from. I have never had to treat for fleas and will obviously wash all bedding and vaccum but I' not sure what the best way to get rid of them from the cats. It's just drops on the scruff of the neck, I didn't even need to bring my cat to the vet, I just picked it up myself.
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Oct 30, 2021 23:41
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Just a little update, Quill is now about 18 weeks old, doing amazing, eating really well and having no issues. She has all her shots and is going to be spayed sometime in the next month or two. She's still really lovely and I don't regret bringing her into my life at all. She plays rough with me but is extremely gentle with everyone else she knows at home and all strangers. I love showing her off. https://i.imgur.com/wPMGH0G.mp4
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Nov 5, 2021 21:37
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Okay how much should I be feeding Quill? She's 5 months old now, about 5.5lbs, and she gets 1.5 cans of this royal canin kitten food every day (half a can with each meal, three times a day). She's starting to get to the point where she eats the whole meal in one sitting or so, whereas before she ate maybe 2/3 of it and then ate the rest over 2-3 hours. She looks on-target for weight, still has clearly defined hips and such, definitely not 'heavy'. The royal canin insert doesn't make any sense to me:  So if the cat was 7-12 months, the range is 3 to 2 1/4 cans in 24hr? But if they're 5-6 months the range is 3 to 3? That doesn't make any sense to me. e: used a calculator and it suggested 2 cans per 24hr. We also add about a tablespoon of dry food with the three feeds so maybe a tiny bit less than 2 cans of wet a day. VelociBacon fucked around with this message at 06:32 on Nov 17, 2021 |
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Nov 17, 2021 05:46
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xzzy posted:The rule of thumb is 20 calories per pound. So if you want to be precise that's what I'd use to start with, going up to 30 per pound if kitty is high energy. Organza Quiz posted:I think growing kittens also have more leeway to just eat as much as they like. I've seen a lot of fat cats but never a fat kitten! Alright, thanks both. It's more a selfish thing where I don't want to go through having to reduce the amount I feed her and having to see the realization of betrayal in her eyes. My vet doesn't want to spay until 6 months, I'm worried she'll have an estrus cycle before then (and thus be more at risk of cancers later in life), should I find another vet to do the spay 'early' or should I just get it done at 6mo? Thanks.
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Nov 17, 2021 12:28
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gloom posted:The transmission of cat knowledge makes this especially funny. You are now about to witness the strength of cat knowledge
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Nov 18, 2021 07:05
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Iron Crowned posted:I have to drink my milk in the kitchen while I make breakfast, because if I try to drink it with breakfast, my cat is on top of it. The problem is she puts her paw in the milk, in the classic "testing the water" thing cats do. Wait is that why they do that? I thought it was just a dumb playing thing.
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Nov 18, 2021 13:19
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drunken officeparty posted:How do cat brains interpret wiggling toes under a blanket? Do they know it’s my toes under there and play along for fun, do they actually think it’s a small prey animal, or do they not even understand the concept of “under the blanket” and the moving bump itself is what they are attacking? disclosure: I've studied evolutionary behavior but I'm not an evolutionary biologist. I think what you're finding is an example of innate behavior in response to a stimulus. In this situation, the action is coded for genetically but the entire pattern of response to the stimulus isn't pre-programmed. This makes it different from something like Fixed Action Patterns (yeah they're FAPs) which are basically an evolutionary thing where a shortcut between a stimulus and an action exists. It's essentially the biological version of an If, Then statement. For example, the red dot on the end of a seagull's beak:  This triggers a fixed action pattern in gull chicks where they open their mouths to feed, make themselves seem vigorous and healthy, cry loudly, etc. You can replicate this response by putting a red dot on basically anything and lowering it above an occupied nest. Other examples of this in birds includes placing an egg-shaped rock near the nest of certain species: they'll come out and roll the rock back into the nest as if it was an egg. You could place a rock or egg there and remove it as soon as the mother bird leaves the nest to 'get it' and they'll still do the same action of pulling a non-existant egg back to the nest with their beak as if it was there. The cost of doing this is pretty low in terms of leaving the nest briefly and the associated risks, and the benefits are very high if an egg did manage to get out of the nest somehow. The reason all this exists is that it's relatively expensive (in terms of needing larger brain areas, consuming more glucose, oxygen, etc) for bird brains to do hard processing on a range of sensory inputs to make determinations about things. So long as the reaction to the stimulus is relatively harmless, it's a benefit to the animal. On the flip side, if a fixed action pattern came about (via genetic mutation as all do) that made animals come out of safety all the time in response to a common stimulus, you wouldn't expect that expression to help in the survival or reproductive success of the animal and it wouldn't be passed on. In the case of the cat attacking a foot under the sheets, it feels like too much ongoing processing is required for it to be a fixed action pattern so it's just the cat doing cat poo poo basically, coded for because it's advantageous for cats to expend energy on behavior which should have a high chance of securing food.
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Nov 27, 2021 20:37
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Maybe give a treat when you hear the siren so he learns to associate it with that. I take Quill in to get spayed in 15 min and I'm dreading it. I feel awful not feeding her this morning.
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Dec 2, 2021 16:32
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xzzy posted:Unless she pulls at the staples then it's a couple weeks in a onesie and a cone of shame. How essential is the onsie? The vet mentioned it's not a great option because it doesn't let the area breathe.
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Dec 2, 2021 22:58
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pidan posted:It's mostly an alternative to the cone of shame, that allows the cat to be more normal otherwise, e.g. grooming her feet or curling up. Won't the injured area have a bandage on it anyway? Alright, thanks. I thought the onesie wasn't enough by itself. I ordered three sizes of onesie and will try it out. Thanks!
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Dec 2, 2021 23:33
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Thanks guys. Got Quill back and it's been really rough. She peed in the carrier before we even left the vet, she was screaming and freaking out, ripped the collar off in the carrier in the car on the way back, was running around jumping everywhere freaking out about the bandage where her IV was, Ugg. Finally got that dressing off and she's behaving super normally which sucks because that means we can't get a cone on her. Just trying to distract her enough that she eventually gets tired and lets me put that on. She doesn't wear a collar normally and I finally got one on which is a small victory. I guess I'll try the cone later but I don't see that working. Also she's super hungry and keeps trying to eat everything so I've been giving her just a bit more than the half portion we were instructed to (several hours after she got fed for the first time and she doesn't seem distended at all). She's not showing any signs of being uncomfortable or sleepy at all. I was expecting her to be totally out of it for a day or so??
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Dec 3, 2021 05:12
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Lord Zedd-Repulsa posted:As long as she's not tearing or constantly licking at the area, don't worry about the cone of shame. Kittens are amazing at recovering from drat near anything. Thanks. I got the cone on her for about 20 seconds before she pulled on it so hard it brought the collar up and started choking her so I cut it off. Ugh.
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Dec 3, 2021 06:29
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ThingOne posted:Hell, one of my cats is pushing ten and he can still do standing jumps to the top of the fridge. This one seems quite tough and usb rechargeable means you don't have to keep buying batteries. Note: Canadian Amazon. https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B08399RKBF?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
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Dec 6, 2021 22:08
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Wait, cats don't like coffee grounds? I let Quill sniff the coffee beans every morning and she seems to enjoy the routine of it.
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Dec 8, 2021 23:21
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my cat is norris posted:Fleur had her big girl surgery this morning. The vet called to let me know that she did very well and that everyone has been cuddling her and that she looks super cute all wrapped up in a blanket. Cute! I JUST made the appointment to have the sutures removed next week. Can't wait to just Have a Cat and not be stressing about the next thing coming up.
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Dec 9, 2021 18:38
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How can you tell a hairball from vomiting? Hairballs have... a big mass of hair in them or something? Quill was spayed last thursday, she was mewing this morning and really acting strange by the front door to the apartment like she wanted to get out into the hallway. I thought maybe she was just still in heat a bit (she was during the spay) so I gave her some pets and brought her and some toys over on top of the bed. She mewed again and then kinda wretched onto the bed, very thin fluid with some partially digested food. She went out and did the same in the living room 10 min later. She's had a normal bowel movement today, and she's super energetic and wants to play and jump around and run about like normal kitten stuff now that she's vomited. She's about 23 weeks old. Her incision looks good to me, no redness or drainage. there's a small lump under where one of her sutures is but she doesn't react to palpation the way I'd expect for an abscess and I suspect it's either a seroma or inflammation from the underlaying sutures. She doesn't really ever go for her sutures but she did NOT tolerate a cone or donut (she was freaking out jumping all over and we were more worried about her incision site than anything) so we picked up some onesies that she's been wearing. About an hour after her vomiting she was going to her food bowl so I gave her some food and she ate it all with a normal appetite. I called the vet and she said to just watch her and that she'd be more worried if she was lethargic etc. I'm open to hearing about other thoughts. It's possible she ate something she shouldn't have and was just clearing. Fabulousity posted:The magnificent tabby beast in the below photos went into sudden kidney failure and had to be put down at the end of last month and he was only 4 years old. He was so sweet he gave us all diabetes. gently caress this reality. I'm so sorry.
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Dec 12, 2021 01:56
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Huge thanks to everyone. I know a lot of this is New Cat Dad stuff but I can't help but worry. Here's a not great photo I just took while she's sleeping: There's definitely a small area where there's some swelling/fluid under the skin kinda distal to the rearmost suture. I can't say I remember seeing it before, but she's also letting me palpate it and she's actually purring when I do so I can't imagine it's an infection. It's absolutely not firm and I don't get the impression of a loculated abscess in any way. Withdrawing the skin from the underlaying fascia I can identify where the sutures are underneath, and they seem intact and midline. It seems mostly like some free fluid that's collecting in the area as it heals. Guess I'll just keep an eye on her/it. 
VelociBacon fucked around with this message at 02:57 on Dec 12, 2021 |
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Dec 12, 2021 02:32
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Thanks guys. I'm going to post a cropped version of her incision (sans nipples) onto my IG story and ask if my vasectomy site looks infected. For the sake of something fun for the thread, Quill lays on my desk on a nice fuzzy blanket and it's beside one of my bookshelf speakers. I just figured out today that she's been turning the volume on the speakers down every now and then I guess playing with the knobs on the back of the speakers. I was wondering why my windows volume needed to be 80+% to hear anything.
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Dec 12, 2021 04:15
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VelociBacon posted:Huge thanks to everyone. I know a lot of this is New Cat Dad stuff but I can't help but worry. Here's a not great photo I just took while she's sleeping: Just following up my post - went to the vet today and they said everything looks great, healing really well, no infection no hernia no seroma, just a bump from the underlying sutures that should resolve in time. They removed the external sutures and I'm so relieved I could weep. She's currently doing exactly the poo poo she has been doing for the last 2 weeks since she was spayed so to her it was just a weird vet trip I guess. Time to just enjoy having a cat and not be worried about the next thing coming up. 
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Dec 17, 2021 02:16
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Elvis_Maximus posted:curling up against my chest and purring up a storm Love when Quill does this !
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Dec 27, 2021 20:59
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Drunk Driver Dad posted:Is it weird the vet didn't do any testing? Or maybe he just wanted me to try the hypoallergenic food first to see if that would help? I guess maybe changing her litter brand might help too. Either way, he didn't seem worried that it was anything life threatening. She's not acting weird or anything, so I don't think she's in any kind of major pain or discomfort at least. But it's a bit alarming. I literally just found almost a handful of hair she shed since yesterday, although I guess the whole vet and bath ordeal probably accelerated that a bit. Did they sell you the hypoallergenic food or were you supposed to pick it up somewhere else? Human physicians (real ones not naturopaths) aren't allowed to own their own pharmacies attached to their clinics for this reason.
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Dec 31, 2021 04:29
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Fabulousity posted:Also any ideas as to what this guy is? Handsome as hell
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Dec 31, 2021 23:56
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I'm so sorry, horrible situation and I can't imagine. Only you and your vet will really know if it's time. I'll be thinking of you a lot as I go through my day and hope things go as smoothly as possible for you given the circumstances.
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Jan 7, 2022 18:02
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Elvis I'm sorry, that's heartbreaking.
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Jan 8, 2022 23:34
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InvisibleMonkey posted:Cautiously optimistic that Katya disapproved of the almost empty thing of salmon oil we mix through her kibble once a day, maybe it went bad before we could use it all. We left it out for a few days and since I opened a new one she's finished multiple meals start to finish today. I think she gets bad associations with food in general after a couple of lovely meals, she refused to eat wet food for a while after she had a stomach bug of some kind even when she got better after a few days of meds. Must be a cat?? Super happy to hear Katya is eating again!
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Jan 11, 2022 20:49
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Raenir Salazar posted:
Looks just like Quill! 
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Jan 17, 2022 06:09
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Royal Canin seems well regarded? Quill gets three cans (3oz cans) a day and it's around $180/month.
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Jan 20, 2022 01:29
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Rust Martialis posted:Just dropping in for a PSA: Aquarium guy and general nerd here, Activated charcoal is an absolute magnet for iodine. If it's expensive to get distilled water there you could find a water fountain that uses a filter with charcoal in it. The petkit eversweet gen 2 has it for example.
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Jan 22, 2022 02:19
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Arsenic Lupin posted:Does this thread have an opinion on a good brand of cat tower? We specifically need a tower-style tree because we don't have a lot of floorspace to give up. I need one that's fake fur and sisal, NOT carpet, because one of my cats is too fond of clawing carpet already. (Just spent two hours hand-whipping the edge of an Oriental rug the cat decided to destroy.) I don't really know the difference between carpet and short fur but I've really liked this one, it's perfect at least for Quill: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B08PBM8VV8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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Jan 22, 2022 22:33
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Elvis_Maximus posted:They're both definitely going to be treated yeah, otherwise there almost certainly going to end up passing it back and forth again. Both will be undergoing the treatment at the same time Who is applying the dewormer? Assuming you've been getting the topical stuff, is it being applied directly to the skin?
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Jan 24, 2022 21:55
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Really happy with Royal Canin wet food.
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Jan 26, 2022 17:39
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Quill has a little bit of a limp on her front left leg. She's still playing and walking around on it. GF is extremely concerned, I don't like to see it either but think it's worth seeing how it looks in 1-2 days, what's the play here? We think she may have landed funny on it when she was leaping to attack us for what it's worth.
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Feb 1, 2022 06:26
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Devorum posted:One of my cats is always getting baited by his brother Morpheus into doing bad jumps (Morpheus is fast and agile, Calabraxas is solid and a little clumsy) when they're playing and ends up limping for a couple of days every month. Antivehicular posted:Also check for color (maybe not possible on a black cat) and warmth in that paw, to make sure blood flow is okay -- cold or pale paws can indicate there's an obstruction. We had a car develop a pronounced limp that turned out to be a blood clot in that limb. Thanks! She seems a lot better today. Honestly even yesterday she was jumping around and stuff so I don't think it's that serious.
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Feb 1, 2022 20:18
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LifeLynx posted:My cat's always been very food-driven, but he's gotten crazier over the past few months. He knows exactly the places we don't want him to go and makes it his mission to seek and destroy. The Christmas tree is always a problem, thankfully that's gone, but he'll climb onto the table by the window and knock things over, claw at my chair and then try to destroy my computer (already got a nice scratch one monitor from him pushing over another), or loudly chew on cardboard until his mouth gets sores on it. We can't figure out exactly what he wants, but it's a set schedule: Out of curiosity, why do anything but wet food? I thought it was one of those things that's just strictly better for cats.
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Feb 6, 2022 08:09
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D34THROW posted:I wish I could get ours to use wood pellets. They're dirt-loving-cheap and we already use them with our rabbits. However, Princess lives up to her name and will protest-shiss on our bed if we dare deviate from the Special Kitty green label/box Walmart-brand litter. She will not use Frisco, or TidyCats, or any goddamn more expensive or cheap litter, it has to be SK or she refuses to use it. Have you tried the walnut pellets? I know from what you're saying it seems like a lost cause but our cat likes it. I cleaned and changed her litter today and went out to take the garbage out, when I came back in Quill was standing in her litter box, she had ?wiggled her feet all the way to the bottom of the litterbox so the pellets were halfway up her legs, and she was making this trilling sound of absolute contentment. When she saw me watching she immediately stopped and walked away. Haven't seen her do that again today.
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Feb 12, 2022 08:52
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Quill just ate a little bit of hummus, like maybe a tablespoon or so, I know garlic is bad for cats, what should I do? I fed her right away and added water to the food also. How worried should I be?
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Feb 18, 2022 04:46
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