Cat thread

[Mrbloodworth]

Dawww, she looks like Thumpers cousin. I miss Thumpers.

[Sjofn]

Haha, I like her face.

[Sjofn]

Jack has some sort of ISSUE with strangers in the apartment, apparently. When we're at the vet and when he's being boarded, he can deal with strangers. He doesn't like them, but he's not convinced they're going to murder him, and will let them handle him without issue (indeed, he basically just sheds quietly at the vet and lets them do whatever they want to him). But if it's someone he doesn't know in the apartment? HOLY FUCK TIME TO FLIP THE FUCK OUT AND HIDE FOR HOURS. Ingmar has these big-ass claw marks in his arm now because Jack launched himself off Ingmar with all the force his little body could muster. It's sort of amazing.

To be fair, we never have people over, yet FOUR "strangers" have ventured into the apartment in the last couple of days. The end times are surely upon us, and it has Jack concerned.

[Sky]

Jabba is awesome!

Bart's world sucks right now (see pic in Useless Conversation). Jackhammers for an hour and now a hammer drill.

[Bunk]

Harmony. Just 'cause. I did not ask her to lie there.

[Mrbloodworth]

Shes ready.



( Also, big warm light, you should have known! )

[Nebu]

Beautiful cat.  Warms lights attract cats like flies!

[Bunk]

As do large sheets of paper.

[Sjofn]

I want to rub her tummy! But that probably isn't a good idea.

[Samwise]

I somehow managed to dupe my mother into adopting this Maine Coon mix so that I didn't have to.  So far the system of me visiting her pets rather than having my own to take care of has been working out splendidly.

[JWIV]

So, a few months ago, one of our cats passed.   The remaining cat has been increasingly needy and lonely, so we've kicked around the idea of picking up another cat to keep her company, but hadn't really decided on it.  Over the weekend, someone sent out a mail to the local neighborhood listserv that two kittens had been abandoned in an alley.  So, these two are coming home from the vet with us next week.

Female

Male

Together

[Ingmar]

The female looks a lot like Lizzie did at that age, she's going to turn out long-haired I'd guess. Those whiskers are crazy.

We are dealing with a sick cat again, our big guy Jack is having a major ongoing pooping problem. So far no idea what it is, but it is stressing me out because it seems just like how FIP started on the kitten we lost a couple years ago. 

[Hawkbit]

He looks like a black and white tomcat.  Keep your eye on his weight, they can get a bit out of control with eating.  All our B+W cats got fat and paid the price around age 8-10. 

[Sjofn]

Goodness, girl kitten really does look a lot like our Lizzie did at that age (except Lizzie has a white chin and black nose :P), including crazy whiskers. I bet they both get foofy once they're more grown, and then you will get all the compliments at the vet!



Jack is ... I mean, aside from the pooping thing, he seems fine! And all the tests they've run on him indicate he's fine, except he's a little dehydrated (from ... you know. Pooping.). Frustrating. Just work right, cat!

[Mrbloodworth]

Is he getting into something?

[JWIV]

He looks like a black and white tomcat.  Keep your eye on his weight, they can get a bit out of control with eating.  All our B+W cats got fat and paid the price around age 8-10. 

Yah - right now we have a lynx colored short haired that is pretty good with self-feeding, but before he died, the other cat would basically gorge himself, so we've gotten very used to keeping an eye on cat weight, etc.

[Hawkbit]

That's great practice.  I wish we were better, but our cats turn into immense dicks if the bowl even starts to go empty. 

Those kittens are super cute, congrats!

[Sjofn]

Is he getting into something?

Not that I've seen, and neither cat is allowed outside. I am beginning to think he just managed to stress himself out that badly, and hopefully not being wrestled into taking antibiotics or having my mother burst into the apartment will help his innards settle down.

[sickrubik]

Is he getting into something?

Not that I've seen, and neither cat is allowed outside. I am beginning to think he just managed to stress himself out that badly, and hopefully not being wrestled into taking antibiotics or having my mother burst into the apartment will help his innards settle down.

We need to get Chi Sai and Jack together to have a freak-out off.

[NiX]

Any tips for taking a cat on a long car trip? Moving 3000 KM across Canada and we'll be driving.

[Trippy]

There are tips somewhere is this thread but I don't remember which pages they are on

[01101010]

Any tips for taking a cat on a long car trip? Moving 3000 KM across Canada and we'll be driving.

Drugs... lots of drugs. And patience for the cat.  

Having toted my two cats around in graduate school from Baton Rouge to Cleveland and back, then to Miami, and then to Cleveland from Miami... I can say, just be patient with it, keep it in the carrier as it is the safest spot for it and most comfortable for it...unless it is a travel cat - then it should be a breeze. I would open the carrier at times to let them roam, but they always found their way back into the carrier.

Be prepared for motion sickness and refrain from feeding it 12 hours before the ride to minimize the smell and spot. When you stop for gas/break, see if the kitty needs a drink to cool off/rehydrate (in my case, because my cats tended to yell their heads off the first 2 hours with intermittent dry heaving from motion sickness).

[Ingmar]

Yeah. Some cats freak out and need a mild sedative for long car trips, others don't give a damn. You can get that sort of thing from your vet; you can also buy "calming" treats at pet food stores, but I'm not sure how effective they actually are. They typically have ingredients like tryptofan, etc (pow!).

[Sjofn]

Poop Update, because I know you were all wondering about it:

Jack appears to have spontaneously gotten better. I suspect it was stress related, and doing all the stuff to make him feel better made him feel worse. Fuckin' cat. 

[Hawkbit]

I drove from Ohio to Seattle over three days with three cats and a German Shepard.  Cats were in small cages, dog was in the open hatch/trunk part of my Vue. 

I didn't drug any of them, but I did spray the cat cages with Feliway about 10 minutes before putting them in each day.  Amazingly, there were no accidents and nobody got sick.  I honestly feel that the Feliway took the edge off the cats during the trip.  It makes sort of a "pheromone bubble" inside the cage.  There was some howling for the first 30 minutes each day, but other wise they were quiet. 

I drove 14+hrs/day and the cats did okay.  I got pet-friendly hotel rooms, put the litter box in the room and let them run around all night. 

The only major issue was on night #2, one of the cats got in the litter box, then jumped into the running shower, then jumped back in the litter box.  The clay stuck to his feet and he basically left wet clay paw prints on every surface of that room.  I'd strongly suggest not staying at the Motel 6s in Kearney, NB and Boise, ID.  ;)

You can buy Feliway from Amazon, you don't need a vet for it.  Expensive, but worked for me.

[rattran]

I simply load the cats in the car with a litter box in the back, plenty of blankets to sleep on, and food and water on the passenger floor. 2 of the gf's 3 cats do some yelling at the start of the trip, but they settle down soon.
I've done 2 10hour trips with them in the last week, one puking incident sadly, but that's why I keep a roll of paper towels and some baby wipes in the car. In 2 days, I get to do another 15hour drive, that'll be the fun one. But 8 to 10 hour drives don't seem to bother them, even the Phoenix/Atlanta drive isn't bad if you don't push the days too long each.

[Miasma]

They roam around the car?  How do you stop them from getting lodged under the brake/gas pedals?

[NiX]

They roam around the car?  How do you stop them from getting lodged under the brake/gas pedals?

I've never known a cat to be in a car and want to be near someone or the noisier part of the car. Not really an issue I'd think.

Thanks for all of the tips. I've only ever had to take the cat on 10-15 minute car rides and he gives off those deep throaty meows from the minute he gets put in the carrier. I'll look into the Feliway. Anything that'll make the trip easier on him is welcomed.

[MuffinMan]

They roam around the car?  How do you stop them from getting lodged under the brake/gas pedals?

I've never known a cat to be in a car and want to be near someone or the noisier part of the car. Not really an issue I'd think.

The one time I let my cat out of the carrier on the trip from Michigan to Texas, he went straight for the pedals. I had to pull over to put him back in and it was not fun. He is... special though.

[Hawkbit]

In my 12 years of having cats, two of the five have gone straight for the pedals.  You'd think I would have learned after the first time, but no.  The first time was bad:  Busy street, 45mph, could have broke the cat (or me and the car).

With the Feliway:  Spray it outside and don't breath it in.  The package didn't say anything about it being dangerous, but I caught a whiff of it and it stung my nose and throat for about five minutes.  I suspect that's why the instructions say to spray the carriers about 10-15 minutes before the trip.

[rattran]

No problem with pedals or blocking the shifter, one curls up on my left leg against the door, the others find comfy spots and sleep. Those deep throaty yowls of despair don't usually last more than 15 mins from any cats I've dealt with, unless you turn up the radio, then they'll go until hoarse. Which is still a win.

[Sjofn]

Tyler didn't so much go for the pedals as going behind my feet. Which made me paranoid the first couple of times he was THIS CLOSE to going for the pedals. I bet Jack would go for the pedals. He's annoying like that. Lizzie would probably spend the entire time looking out the window, though.

[Belasco]

We did a similar distance trip from central Massachusetts when we moved to San Diego a couple years ago.  We had 3 cats and 2 dogs in a Forester, and all the cats were in a single large dog carrier with blankets and a litter pan.  The cat crate was in the back, with the dogs in the back seat with my wife.  About 3 minutes into the trip on day one we pulled over after she yelled, "Stop, one of the cats is open-mouth breathing!"  He was fine, but that was the downside of traveling with a veterinarian.  The plus side was that our beagle, who always gets carsick, didn't on this trip due to easy access to an injectable anti-nausea medication.  We didn't use any medication on the cats, but they did cry for at least an hour each day (less as the trip went on), with about 8-10 hours a day driving time.

We did exactly what Hawkbit did with finding pet-friendly hotels on the way.  La Quinta Inn was always accommodating.  The cats had freedom in the hotel room which made them much happier.

And, since I haven't contributed yet, here's the entire pride (now 5):

[Nebu]

The siamese/Burmese in pic 3 has some amazingly blue eyes. 

Thanks for sharing.

[Sjofn]

Those are some great pictures. Also the fish bag/tunnel thing in picture 3 = lol.