Cat thread

[voodoolily]

I put my cat on Paxil when he sprayed my record collection.

[Signe]

Do you think he'll get stressy when the baby is born?  Lister was very very stressy and depressed when we first got Magenta, but he got over it in a couple weeks or so.  He was very young, though.  Now they clean each other's ears.

[Sjofn]

That must have been traumatic for your cat. I know I'd be messed up if I was locked in a room with the runs and was told to shit it out.

Yeah, I felt really bad about it, but the other option was to let her poop all over everything in the apartment and that ... was not really an attractive option.

Gilly is doing better, but her poop is still totally foul. Vet hasn't called about the test results yet. Instead they called about Lizzie, because Lizzie's pee concentration is off the charts and they're all "wtf, Lizzie." I'm already adding as much water to her food that she can tolerate, but she apparently just doesn't bother to drink any water otherwise. ><  She isn't dehydrated though, so that's good? I guess?

Fuckin' cats! They're lucky they're so cute.

[voodoolily]

Do you think he'll get stressy when the baby is born?  Lister was very very stressy and depressed when we first got Magenta, but he got over it in a couple weeks or so.  He was very young, though.  Now they clean each other's ears.

My two cats are already getting used to the fact that they're not allowed upstairs anymore, but Sauced's two cats still try to slink up there if they see the gate is open (I have a suspicion that he lets them up when I go out of town, but he denies this  ).

My cats have also been around babies a couple times, but generally avoid kids and don't usually need a lot of mommy time. Sauced's cats are probably never going to come out of the basement, will hide inside the upholstered chair down there until they can sneak out for food under the cover of darkness, and one will probably lick himself completely bald out of the PTSD of hearing and smelling a baby. His boys are kind of socially maladjusted, to put it mildly. 

[lac]

One day when I was but a small boy, I came back from football practise and as I threw the front door behind me I heard the muffled thud of our young cats head getting caught between the door and its frame.
Unfortunately it was a very heavy wooden door with steel plating inside. Twice a year a craftsman would come by to rebalance the hinges because the old stone walls gave in to the weight of the doors massive plating.
The cat went mental and did that whirling around their own axis thing cats do when they break their spine (or so I presume they do). It scared the bejezus out of me and as I was home alone I ran three streets down to the veterinarian who had given her her first shots a couple of days earlier. I told him what happened and the old man took me by the shoulders, looked me gravely in they eye and said 'son, go back and if your cat is dead, bury it. If it's still alive put some food and water close to it and let it be'. They are though animals, he said and with that I went home.
The cat was still alive, she didn't move much and looked absolutely miserable. I rolled up a blanket around her, as she didn't tolerate no touching, and put some water and food close.
She didn't leave the hallway for two weeks but did drink a bit and after a while became cat again, although I never could shake the feeling I made her pleasantly retarded.
My cat and I shared ten more joyful years of growing up until some German tourist ran her over trying to find the massive church he had just passed 30 seconds earlier. Fuckers.

[LK]

We should start a separate cat thread for downer stories. >L<

It's great the cat recovered but oh man I do not want to think about bad things that can happen to my kitties when I get them.

[Sjofn]

I hope you're OK with poop! 

[Lantyssa]

No cat downer thread please.  I'm likely to post and send myself into a fit of depression.

[FatuousTwat]

All my cat downer moments happened when I was really young, pretty much before I turned 4. Only one that has happened since then was my cat Henry disappearing suddenly a year or so ago. I had him for 14 years. Still miss him.

[rattran]

My cats are happy.

Random does occasionally get the whole ocd grooming thing going, he can turn a minor cut or sore into a major swollen bald patch in about a day. He then gets to wear his Stupid Hat for a couple days until he heals.
He's the one with the gimpy ear using Otto's foot a s a pillow.

[Mrbloodworth]

A couple of friends of mine made this PSA. Enjoy!  

[voodoolily]

Not sure if I've posted a pic of my Bock yet, but I took a nice one of him today that I want to share. Isn't he handsome for an old man (he's 11)?

[Mattemeo]

That is one fuckin' charismatic cat. And gorgeous. The colour of his fur is amazing!

[Signe]

He's beautiful!

Here's me with one of my cats:

I will eventually, before I die, get around to posting a picture of my kittens even though they've grown up since the first time I actually said that.  (you know what I mean)

[Ingmar]

Gilly seems to be a lot better, although we still haven't heard test results yet. We did find some ...evidence... that indicated her problem might have been caused by stealing and eating one of those foil packets of parmesan cheese that comes with delivered pizza. 

Not going to stop holding my breath yet though.

[Teleku]

Please tell me hes named after the beer.   

[Yegolev]

I know I'd be messed up if I was locked in a room with the runs and was told to shit it out.

My wife does this to me, it's not a huge deal.

Protip: I got my most recent cats from craigslist.

[Nebu]

I HIGHLY recommend adopting adult cats from the local shelter.  My cats are both fantastic!

[Rasix]

For my last 2, I got one from the Humane Society and one from another local rescue organization.  Both as kittens.  This is mainly because the older male cat I have does really well with kittens and not so well with other adult males.    Of course, if I had to do it over again, I probably would have stopped with two cats.  Four is a lot of work.

[Ingmar]

Ours are both rescues as "older" kittens - like 3 months old, still small and cute but not in the fuzzy giant head kitten stage.

[Sjofn]

Bock is good lookin'!

Gilly and Lizzie are celebrating Gilly's ability to hold her poop again by running up and down the hallway every five seconds today. I'm glad Gilly seems to be better, because now *I* am sick and dealing with cat poop AND a cold is just not something I want to do.

[FatuousTwat]

We got Lilly when she was pretty small (1 or 2 months) and we got Charlie when he was around 5 months. Both were rescues.

[voodoolily]

I've had Goo (Bock's alt) since he was 8 weeks old. He's named after the beer, but mostly because he rears up and head-butts like a billygoat (bock means 'goat' in German).

[Fraeg]

Love the photos and am filled with envy.  Live by myself and travel too much to even have a cat.  At some point would love to have 2 or 3 cats.

[FatuousTwat]

Charlie has found out how to remove his collar, and of course never does it in the house. Anyone have ideas on what I should do other than buy him a new collar ever other day? I usually get the snap-together kind cause I'm afraid of it catching on something and strangling him, is there another solution? He's an indoor/outdoor cat btw.

[apocrypha]

We've used normal, non-snap-together ones for decades and never had a problem. Zebedee is a climber and explorer and she's never managed to either get her collar off nor get herself into any trouble with it.

The difficult bit is finding one in a colour that doesn't clash with her fur 

[FatuousTwat]

He's a tuxedo, so it's pretty easy to find one that matches really well. Lilly is kind of a buff colour so it can be hard to find something that doesn't clash. Certain shades of orange seem to work.

[Signe]

Lister takes his collar off within minutes so I leave it off.  I even bought him a smart looking royal tartan collar!  Hopefully, he'll never get out.  They're both chipped, which is a help.  I suppose non-safety collars are okay for indoor cats, but the SPCA around here reports several cats every year found dead because they hung themselves with non-safety collars.  I might be a worrier, but I'd rather be safe than sorry, I guess.  Magenta, on the other hand, likes her pink, crystal studded collar!  She's black, so it looks very pretty, too.

[Reg]

I was wondering why people bother with collars in the age of chipping anyway. Is it just for decoration? Or flea collars? Or what?

[Samwise]

I'd guess not everyone checks for a chip before assuming an uncollared cat is feral.

[Reg]

I guess the chip doesn't do much good unless it gets picked up by the city who would have a scanner anyway.  My cats have always stayed inside so I never bothered with collars.

[apocrypha]

Our cats have a cat-flap with a magnetic thingy in it so they have to wear collars with the other magnetic thingy that lets them in. And not all the other cats in the neighbourhood at 3 am 

[voodoolily]

Charlie has found out how to remove his collar, and of course never does it in the house. Anyone have ideas on what I should do other than buy him a new collar ever other day? I usually get the snap-together kind cause I'm afraid of it catching on something and strangling him, is there another solution? He's an indoor/outdoor cat btw.

Bock ditched every collar I put him in until I got him the badass spiky leather collar (it was not a safety collar, and it was actuallly for dogs, not cats). He liked that one and kept it on for years (finally lost it a few months ago). You could try a harness if you really want to keep a tag on him. Though in your neighborhood, I'd be too worried about coyotes and cars to let my cats outside.

[FatuousTwat]

I was wondering why people bother with collars in the age of chipping anyway. Is it just for decoration? Or flea collars? Or what?

This.

I'd guess not everyone checks for a chip before assuming an uncollared cat is feral.

I'm worried about someone packing him off. He's way too trusting, and I've had a cat stolen from me before (by some old woman, we could smell red door on Norman for a few weeks before he disappeared).

And about the coyotes and cars, we've really never had a problem with wild animals until a couple of years ago, when a few people lost some pets, then the coyotes/possum/raccoons all vanished again. We're in a housing development (gag), so that might be why. And I've never lost a cat to cars.

[Sjofn]

I bought collars for our cats entirely because if they get out, I want it obvious they are owned by SOMEONE, so people will check for their chips. Gilly hates hers, though, so she is not currently wearing it. She apparently hates collars so much, she occassionally tries to pull Lizzie's off. "Be free of your shackles, Lizzie!"

Gilly is all better, but I have to treat Lizzie for something Gilly tested positive for since Lizzie grooms Gilly. Good times. I can't remember the name of the PARASITE, Ingmar might be able to, though. Still, the poopfest is over, that's the main thing I care about.