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So, little cat behavior question - we had 3 cats, and then a friend moved into one of spare rooms and brought a new cat with her. It took a little while of slow introductions (and a few fights) but they're getting better with each other, enough that we can have him (the new cat) out in the house with the other cats most of the time. There was one of the original 3 cats that we were most worried about - she had a bad experience with being introduced to another cat and it lead to a prolonged territory marking war (the cat she didn't like is gone now). She's been the most trouble with this new cat, but she's getting better with him - while at first she always hid from him, now they can be comfortably in the same room - she just doesn't like being close to him. No pissing/marking at all though, thank god. The question is this - sometimes the new cat will run at her (old cat) like he's going to attack/play, but instead of striking he'll stop short and make a warbling sound (that his owner says he makes when he's upset) - he's standing up straight, not getting low. The old cat will get down low and stand her ground, and make the growling sound she makes when she's upset. What does this mean? Is he just asserting dominance? Is he just playing? I'm trying to figure out what the dynamic for them is going to be. Thanks for any input! Edit: Also here's the old cat back when she got bit and had to have stitches for a HUGE abscess that popped. She healed perfectly (despite having a wound FIVE CENTIMETERS WIDE) and we have declared them indoor cats now. 
Rotten Red Rod fucked around with this message at 03:21 on Dec 16, 2014 |
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Dec 16, 2014 03:10
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So I've read the advice in the FAQ about male cats marking, but nothing has helped and we're kind of at our wits end with one of our cats. He's spraying CONSTANTLY, all over the place, and I just can't pin down what it is we need to do to stop him. This morning I cleaned up the worst I'd ever seen - he sprayed the entertainment center (one of his favorite spots) so badly it looked like someone had dumped a glass of water out on it. He's a neutered male cat, about 3-4 years old. Super incredibly friendly towards all people, and does ok with other cats - there's a (spayed) female cat that he actually raised from a kitten who is his best friend now. He recently had a UTI issue that required an emergency vet visit and he's now on special urinary food and needs to be fed separately from the other cats - once we discovered his issue, I thought that was what had been causing the spraying, but now it seems like it's behavioral, and maybe based on anxiety about food now that he can't eat anytime he wants. We saw him start spraying after one of the other cats went over to eat the scraps out of his bowl, so that seems like part of it - but even now that we put his bowl away after he's done and before letting other cats out, he keeps spraying. He's got multiple spots he likes spraying - his favorites are the entertainment center, the bookshelf, the laundry basket, everywhere in the laundry room where 2 litterboxes are, the bathroom carpets, and the shoe rack, although he'll randomly do it in other places too. We've tried to be vigilant about cleaning up using Nature's Miracle, but there's always one spot we haven't found - and even after I'm confident I've cleaned up every spot I could find, he'll start spraying again immediately. He's not shy about it either - he'll be friendly and purring and affectionate and then walk right over and start spraying in full view of me. We tried a Feliway diffuser for a month, we tried adding and moving litterboxes, we tried new litter, we tried separating the cats in different ways, we tried letting him outside more to get out his energy, we tried playing with him more, we tried feeding him more so he wasn't hungry all the time. Is there something I'm missing, some other detail that might unlock the key to his anxiety? Do we just need to take him to the vet at this point and get him on kitty Xanax or something? Please PI, be my Jackson Galaxy. Rotten Red Rod fucked around with this message at 18:16 on Feb 23, 2016 |
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Feb 23, 2016 18:08
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Reik posted:Do you have a UV light? If so I'd check around the outside of the house and make sure strays aren't coming up and spraying on your house. If they are he could be responding to them. Especially if you let him outside and he met some un-neutered strays around his territory. We do have a UV light for looking for where he sprayed, but we haven't checked the outside, no. What would we even do about that if they are spraying around the outside of our house?
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Feb 23, 2016 18:33
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Hyperlynx posted:Pros start at twice as much. I'll probably just bite the bullet though. Just make kitty food mountain 
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Mar 10, 2016 18:59
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Rotten Red Rod posted:So I've read the advice in the FAQ about male cats marking, but nothing has helped and we're kind of at our wits end with one of our cats. He's spraying CONSTANTLY, all over the place, and I just can't pin down what it is we need to do to stop him. This morning I cleaned up the worst I'd ever seen - he sprayed the entertainment center (one of his favorite spots) so badly it looked like someone had dumped a glass of water out on it. Update on our cat - he continued spraying constantly and we finally took him to the vet. They tested his urine to see if he really needed to still be on the urinary food - they said that increases his urine production by a lot and may contribute to his spraying, if only the quantity of it. They found no crystals, so he's back on normal food, which is good for my budget, and should end his anxiety about not always having food (and he's stopped waking me up in the middle of the night because he's hungry). They also prescribed Alprazolam (Xanax) for 2 weeks. He's confined to the bedroom away from the other cats and his pee spots while on the Xanax, and we're cleaning the house head-to-toe in the meantime. The hope is that he'll lose his habit of marking while his anxiety is reduced on the Xanax and not need to continue taking it after that period. So far he's doing really well - he's his normal friendly, happy self, very affectionate and playful, and hasn't sprayed once. Has anyone else gone through this, and has the medication done the trick? Did your cat revert back to old habits after going off of it, or did just taking it for a period appear the do the trick?
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Mar 21, 2016 18:20
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Quick question. I have a pair of shoes that got soaked in cat piss - like, inside, padding and inner sole. I've sprayed and scrubbed with Nature's Miracle and Dr. Scholl's multiple times, but the smell won't go away. They're leather shoes so I can't put them through the wash. Any special techniques for cleaning this, or am I just buying a new pair of shoes? They're my favorite work shoes and still in pretty good shape so I'd rather not.
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Mar 28, 2016 23:40
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In the next few months I may have to transport 4 cats on a ~16 hour drive. What's the best way to do this? Is it better just to fly the cats instead of trying to drive at that point? Also, pet hotels. Will they traumatize my cats if I have them at one for a period of possibly a few weeks? What's everyone's experience with them?
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Oct 4, 2016 00:04
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I'm worried about one of our cats, and I wanted to see if anyone in this thread has seen something similar. And yes, before anyone asks, he's already been to the vet once and they couldn't find anything seriously wrong, and he's going in today for an x-ray. He's a little under 2 years old, and was a crazy, spunky kitten - absolutely nuts, energy off the chart, would get in play fights with our other cats twice his size. Until a few months ago - he rapidly calmed down, stopped playing as much, stopped ripping up screens to get outside, etc. I just figured he grew up and his true, chill personality came out. But then we noticed he had started losing weight - he's already a runt, so he's literally full grown and half the size of the other two cats, but he he stated getting dangerously skinny as well. And his chillness now seems more like lethargy - he has no interest in toys, moves very slowly and carefully, like an elderly cat, and spends most of his time sleeping or just sitting in one spot. The ONLY thing that gets him excited is food - we always have a full bowl of dry food out, but he's obsessed with tuna and lunchmeat whenever we get it out. In an attempt to fatten him up, we started giving him wet food every morning and night, which he loves - but even when he gets it, he eats slowly and doesn't always finish a quarter of a can. And then some mornings he's been puking up his food. The two things the vet suggested were changing the dry food, which didn't seemed to change anything, and that he may have a sinus infection, which actually probably WAS true, as he'd started sneezing that week, and gave us antibiotics for that. But the infection likely wasn't responsible for this starting months ago, and he seems to be over it now and is still lethargic. Anyway, it's a bit of a shot in the dark, but please someone let me know if they've run into this before (and tell me my cat doesn't have cancer). We want our goofy, crazy, mischievous runt back 
Rotten Red Rod fucked around with this message at 16:25 on Jul 27, 2019 |
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Jul 27, 2019 16:22
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Rotten Red Rod posted:Stuff The x-ray found he has an intestinal loop. He's going to go in for surgery. I'm not sure how serious or dangerous this is so I'm trying not to freak out. Edit: turns out there's no blockage, it's just a bunch of gas. But that doesn't explain the lethargy, so we're being referred to a specialty center for an ultrasound. Rotten Red Rod fucked around with this message at 17:53 on Jul 27, 2019 |
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Jul 27, 2019 17:29
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LoreOfSerpents posted:It's awesome that you've been following up on this with specialists. It sounds like you're already doing the right thing - getting more diagnostic info and trying to identify what is really going on with the vets. Lethargy and weight loss are hugely concerning so hopefully you caught it early. You knew to keep an eye on his food intake, which is great. If you weren't already aware, you should also keep an eye on litter box habits - is he pooping regularly, does it look normal, that sort of thing. Since they found a bunch of gas, I wonder if his litter box habits changed along the way. Thanks, he's going to get an ultrasound on Thursday (soonest we could get him in). In the meantime, we're giving him wet food twice daily and mixing in some nutrients given to us by the vet. Nothing has been especially worrying about his litterbox habits.
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Jul 29, 2019 21:39
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Yeah they did all those blood + fecal tests on the first vet visit (pre-xray). So the ultrasound discovered the bladder infection? Hopefully it turns up something treatable like that and he can get back to his normal self. Interesting to note about the hemp supplement - I'll keep it in mind.
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Jul 29, 2019 22:57
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He refused to eat this morning so my wife is taking him into the pet ER where we were scheduled to have an ultrasound Thursday
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Jul 30, 2019 15:48
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There's so much advice out there about how to introduce cats, and in my previous situation I tried all of it to get one of my cats, Batman, used to a roommates' cat. Almost nothing we tried worked, and he was extremely anxious all the time and sprayed EVERYWHERE. Like, every day I would come home and the TV stand, the all our shoes, all our bookcases would be drenched and stinking. What FINALLY seemed to help was that we put him on Xanax and kept him separated from the other cat for about a week - he still never really got along with him, but at least the spraying finally stopped. After that roommate situation ended, we just knew that he probably wouldn't do well with any cat that he hasn't known since it was a kitten, and there's nothing we can do to change that part of his personality. Will they work it out on their own? Maybe. But just as easily, one of your cats could always be terrified of the other cat. Cats' personalities just seem to vary too much for there to be any reliable methods for successfully introducing them, in my experience. TMMadman posted:I didn't see it mentioned in your post, but you could try Feliway to help reduce their anxiety, but it doesn't always work in these kind of situations. I spent a lot of money on Feliway for absolutely no effect.
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Jul 30, 2019 21:08
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Yeah if there's no spraying and no really severe fights you might be fine. They might just never really like each other and avoid contact, and that might be the best result.
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Jul 30, 2019 21:13
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We had to put down our cat. The ultrasound was inconclusive and they wanted to do an endoscopy, but his bloodwork showed he was anemic and possibly bleeding in his intestine, so they would have to do a blood transfusion before it was safe enough to put him under, and and and... It was all too much. It was clear he was just getting worse and it was pretty futile.  Bye Robin.
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Jul 31, 2019 04:29
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kanonvandekempen posted:I guess my question is if I'm doing the right thing reaching out to her? If she's hiding in her cave, should I even be petting her or should I just leave her alone, even if she does seem to enjoy it? Better to let her come to you. Sit in a way that she can make eye contact with you, but has plenty of escape routes if she wants to come out, then try to coax her out with treats and toys - but don't reach into her hiding spot. Watch the way Jackson Galaxy does it on My Cat From Hell.
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Jul 31, 2019 13:53
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Aw, that's sweet. I had a super shy kitty too - I was the only one he trusted, and the only time he would sit on my lap was when I was alone in the house playing video games, so I wasn't trying to force him - it was on his terms. Then he would climb into my lap, purr, and fall asleep.
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Jul 31, 2019 17:07
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It's really tough to try and buy the right food for pets, since the cheap poo poo is, well, cheap, and the better stuff is usually just made by rebrandings of the same companies that make the lovely stuff. Unless you're a vet (who are usually paid to recommend certain brands anyway) I feel like we're really just choosing food off of what the bag looks like.
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Aug 1, 2019 20:45
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Wile E. Toyota posted:One of my cats exclusively shits right next to the box. Why. He doesn't go anywhere else in the house. He knows not to poop on rubber mats or carpet so I put down some mats around the box, but he just poops as close to the box as he still can while avoiding the mats. He does pee in the box 99% percent of the time at least, with just a few exceptions. If there's no stressors and nothing physically wrong with the cat, he doesn't like something about the box or its location. Move things around. Try moving the box to where he's pooping. Try a different type of box - higher sides maybe, or lower if that's what you have. A bigger box if it's a small one. If it has a lid, take it off - if it doesn't, get one. Try a different litter. Clean the boxes more. Move his food around - maybe if his food is near where he's pooping he won't want to do it outside the box. Adding another box is still something you want to consider as well. Yeah, it's cramped, but would you rather that then poop on the floor?
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Aug 2, 2019 20:41
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Get that cat to the vet. Personality changes often mean health issues, and even if it's just mental, there are things they can do. (Yes, they prescribe anxiety medication for cats.)
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Aug 5, 2019 03:15
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Duckman2008 posted:I have a one year old cat who meows a good bit. As of yesterday, cat def lost his voice, so his meow is super hoarse like if a person lost their voice. He's probably fine but you should watch him for any other signs of sickness, and take him to the vet if you suspect anything. Cats are real, real good at hiding their pain.
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Aug 9, 2019 17:51
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My long-haul cat travel tips - get yourself one of these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L36K7EE/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Enough room for 2 cats and a small litter box. You can easily unzip a small part if you need to get in there without letting the cat out, and you can put the flaps down so they can't see out. Strap it in securely - we surrounded it with other luggage so it wouldn't fall off the seat. I also put some food in there, and each time I stopped I would give them a small dish of water to drink (and then take it out again when we started moving). They might not touch any of those the whole trip, but it's good to do it anyway. Don't let them out at any point, even when you're stopped - you don't know how they'll react. We put them in there with a blanket and some catnip, and they meowed a bit, but calmed down after an hour and either slept or just stayed still and quiet. No, they didn't like it, but they weren't traumatized. It worked well for the whole 10 hour drive. And yeah, they might use the litter box as a bed. Cats do weird things when they're stressed.
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Aug 14, 2019 20:31
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One of my cats loves drinking the water from the shower left on the metal track the shower doors are on. She'll sit there and wait for us to be done with the shower in anticipation. Also, yesterday I found a piece of poop (under the bed, not the litterbox, of course...) with a big piece of plastic in it. Like, the label from something, or some packing tape. About two inches long. Likely the same cat as above, as I've seen her chewing on plastic and ripping tape off boxes. I'm frankly a bit amazed, and quite a bit worried that she's going to hurt herself. Guess I need to be more careful with the recycling...! Rotten Red Rod fucked around with this message at 16:43 on Aug 20, 2019 |
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Aug 20, 2019 16:40
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The only time I've had issues with litter tracking is if the litter is in a bad place or the cat is getting elderly. Our litterboxes are currently all in a closet with a cat door on it, and I just vacuum/mop in that closet once a week. We've also got one in the bedroom for the new kitten, and at first I had one that was too small which created issues, but now that we replaced it with a larger one it's fine. Give them ample room to poop and a little buffer space to wipe their paws and it generally shouldn't track to the rest of the house. You still need to vacuum/mop more often due to hair and hairballs, but that's pretty much universal for dogs and cats.
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Aug 20, 2019 23:07
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Sounds like a litter box with a lid or side entrance only would also help in that situation.
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Aug 21, 2019 21:24
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All my cats are obsessed with being in the bathroom if someone is using it. Just a few days ago our kitten jumped in the toilet while I was mid-stream. Pretty sure he's learned not to do that again. How many of you can say you've peed on your cat?
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Aug 22, 2019 23:12
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Yeah I pretty much never attempt to "punish" my cats because I know it'll just piss them off.
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Aug 23, 2019 14:03
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That makes sense, actually. Cats often don't like to drink from water that is near their food source, probably an instinctual thing that avoids bacterial contamination. Same reason they prefer running water.
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Aug 26, 2019 17:56
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Those are great until they inevitably break. They also tend to be a huge pain in the rear end to reassemble after cleaning the filter. I gave up on them entirely.
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Aug 26, 2019 18:54
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If a cat is trying to play with your hand, yes, you should always substitute a toy. If they want to wrestle, I like using those catnip-infused stuffed cylinder "kitty kicker" things. Don't wrestle them with your hands, they're not dogs - cats claw and bite as part of their play and our fur-less skin doesn't do well with that. If you do, you're training them that it's ok to bite and scratch people and they'll do it more. If the cat is attacking your feet while you're trying to sleep... You gotta kick the cat out of the room while you're sleeping. There's no real good solution for that. Rotten Red Rod fucked around with this message at 20:22 on Aug 27, 2019 |
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Aug 27, 2019 20:13
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All of this should go with the caveat that there are some cats that all the training in the world won't fix. I was taking care of a friend's cat for a while who was really food-focused, and even though I would feed him at 7 AM every morning on the dot, no matter what, around 4 AM, he would wake me up and try to get fed. He would get on top of me and meow, find a noisy, crinkly thing on the floor and jump on it, and knock everything off my end table to try and wake me. If I kicked him out of the room, he would meow and scratch at the door so loudly I'd have to go a step further and lock him in the bathroom instead just to be able to sleep. Not once did I feed him early, ever, but he always did this song and dance every morning.
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Aug 29, 2019 22:28
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One of my cats goes fuckin' nuts for floss.
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Aug 30, 2019 18:08
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I'm sorry. She is indeed beautiful and she sounds like she was a wonderful cat.
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Aug 30, 2019 20:25
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By not getting animal control and shelters involved you're just kicking the can down the road. I'm betting those cats aren't fixed, and are probably going to just make the problem worse and worse by making more and more strays.
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Sep 3, 2019 22:52
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Yeah my cat loves licking the shower water off the metal shower door track, specifically. Another one just loves having a clean water, and will go for a drink as soon as I refill their bowls, probably while it's cold.
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Sep 4, 2019 17:43
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We had a cat that helped us discover a hot water leak under our floor by lying in the same spot in the hallway every single day. Cats will always seek out the warmest spot to lie...!
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Sep 4, 2019 23:16
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I'd budget about $50/month per cat. That might be a little on the high side for just food and litter for one cat, but keep in mind you're going to need vet appointments too, even barring emergencies. There's no sure-fire way to ensure cats will like each other, other than getting a pair that's already bonded or getting kittens. If your local shelter only has 3 cats, maybe you can get 2 that have spent some time together at the shelter, assuming they keep them together?
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Sep 5, 2019 22:03
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TeenageArchipelago posted:Going to be honest, I thought that all of those ~$500/year sounded absurdly low, but apparently not??? Yeah, $500 a year sounds about right, but again that's assuming a healthy cat with no chronic medical issues. The moment those start happening, throw that budget out the window.
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Sep 5, 2019 22:26
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explosivo posted:Anyone have recommendations for a slow feeding bowl for wet food? Both of my cats have issues around feeding time, Leela scarfs her food down to go see what Finn's eating, and Finn sometimes pukes because he eats so fast. I looked through amazon and saw a couple but wasn't sure how many of those were specifically for wet food. Try putting the food in a coffee cup tipped over on its side. The cat has to reach in and pull the food out to eat it, a bit at a time. Andro posted:Are cat running wheels worth it for kittens? My guy likes to RUN, but I’m in a condo with no safe place to take him outside. Get/build the tallest cat tree you can, they'll incorporate the climb as part of their run. He looked like a beautiful, sweet cat. I'm sorry. Rotten Red Rod fucked around with this message at 02:24 on Sep 8, 2019 |
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Sep 8, 2019 01:18
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| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 07:56 |
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Yeah one of my cats made that noise for a bit when being introduced to a new kitten, but is totally fine with him now. Just give it time, unless they're exceptionally territorial most cats have a hard time really seeing a kitten as a threat.
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Sep 9, 2019 16:11
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