Cat thread

[Samwise]

It was awesome for a week or two, till the dumbasses knocked it over and broke it.

Sweep the leg!   

[Sjofn]

Jack has already attempted to make the laser pointer go on his own accord (he climbed the bookshelf, knocked the pointer to the floor, then batted at it for a while before meowing at me), I don't know if I would want to add yet another thing that encourages him using his little brain.

[Genev]

We don't have any toys for Hobbes, just use branches in the garden, but we did buy him a pet duck teddy when he was a kitten.
The thing was bigger than him, he'd drag it around Everywhere. He doesn't do that anymore, but he's still Very attached to the thing, even though it's not in stellar condition anymore, and he uses it to wash himself (he cant reach some places because of his 1 front leg), washes it himself, uses it as pillow, and while he's getting older and less playful, one of the easiest ways to get him to react is by taking the duck and poking him with it.

We occasionally find it on the mats in front of the doors as well, if it's there it's to let us know he wanted to go outside but we werent there so he kinda installs himself there with the duck, or puts the duck there and wanders off to go eat or so

[Sky]

I tried the laser pointer with Bart, he just watches my hand.  

There's an old saying: The difference between a dog and a man is when a man points at the moon, the dog looks at the hand.

[Bunk]

That saying is completely accurate for every dog I've had.

Harmony loves the laser pointer. She knows the pointer itself is associated with the magic prey, cause she gets excited as soon as I pick it up, but she only pays attention to the dot.

Maybe Bart's colorblind?

[Sky]

No, he sees it. But once he figures out where it's coming from, it's game over. I can almost hear his thoughts of, "Oh man, you got me again you bastard."

[Signe]

Check the side of his neck.  If there's a little mark, he's probably being controlled by an alien intelligence. 

[Sjofn]

Dogs actually understand pointing, though. Better than any other animal. 

I am almost ready to declare that Jack has learned "speak." Coupled with Lizzie knowing "sit," I feel my work with the cats is done.

[Mrbloodworth]

So this weekend.

Mango knocked my girlfriends glasses off the nightstand. Then Carried them to the Cat mat.

Right now, it seems Mango only cares about a few things. Food, attacking springer, and the cat mat we have.

[Reg]

You're lucky. One of my past cats used to steal thngs from me and hide them in his litterbox.

[Azazel]

So this weekend.

Mango knocked my girlfriends glasses off the nightstand. Then Carried them to the Cat mat.

Right now, it seems Mango only cares about a few things. Food, attacking springer, and the cat mat we have.

Leonard never paid the slightest attention to my old glasses when I put them down next to the bed lamp at night. When I got my new glasses, I heard him playing/rattling with something a few times, which when I woke up to tell him to shut up turned out to be my new glasses each time. Right up to the time I found them across the room with his teeth marks gouged into the left lens. Now I'm very careful to put them into a case when I go to sleep. I also need to buy another new pair of glasses... 

[Sky]

Bart knows that glasses = noms. After he's done his little cuddly kitty routine to wake me up, reaching for my glasses is the signal he's accomplished his mission and noms are impending.

I really need an automatic feeder.

[Signe]

Yesterday, Sir Carl, the wobbly half blind gorgeous pussy my nephew rescued, went to the vet clinic for the Saboe families traditional ball lopping session.  Poor Sir Carl.  Anyway, the vet fell in love and kept him there, possibly to rehome him, possibly just to keep him.  YAY MR. VET GUY!  This vet takes in special needs rescued cats. 

Sorry, cmlancas.  If you're still interested, I could get you the vet info but I have a feeling the vet might just keep him.  Never know. 

I'm happy and kind of weepy too.

[Sky]

I do not approve of posts about neutering with that avatard.

[cmlancas]

Yesterday, Sir Carl, the wobbly half blind gorgeous pussy my nephew rescued, went to the vet clinic for the Saboe families traditional ball lopping session.  Poor Sir Carl.  Anyway, the vet fell in love and kept him there, possibly to rehome him, possibly just to keep him.  YAY MR. VET GUY!  This vet takes in special needs rescued cats. 

Sorry, cmlancas.  If you're still interested, I could get you the vet info but I have a feeling the vet might just keep him.  Never know. 

I'm happy and kind of weepy too.

Well, the price of getting an animal shipped down here wax going to be an investment, and we're actually having issues with our dog and fear aggression.  He's super sensitive and hates to do things wrong.  When he thinks he's done things wrong, he pees.  When he pees, he knows he's done something wrong.  Then when you go to tell him it's okay, he thinks you're going to punish him and goes Cujo.

We're really nervous about even keeping him right now.

[Signe]

Oh dear.  I hope he'll be okay.  Call that Caesar Rivera or what ever.  The dog whispererer.  er.

[MrHat]

Turns out our new shelter kitty has ringworm.

Yay pet ownership!

[Signe]

Aww, poor baby.  That's the worm that comes out only when you're not looking at your cat, right?  You should hide.  Actually it's not even a worm, it's a girl.  Anyway, have you had any experience with it?  It's a huge pain in the ass and it's really contagious because it stays dormant in everything for ages.  Rugs, curtains, etc.  The only good thing about it, although uncomfortable, it's not fatal. 

My sister and her husband (who is allergic to cats)  just spent a fortune on Sir Carl, the stray my nephew found - shots, neutering, etc. - and one of the vets at the clinic is going to keep him after all that.   She doesn't mind.  She's the sort who can't stand to see anything or anyone suffer.  Especially animals!

[MrHat]

No experience with it but I just bleached the hell out of the bathroom and tried my best to clean every last inch of 'his' room.

Won't matter I think.  :(

[MuffinMan]

Ringworm is a skin infection caused by fungus. No actual worms involved.

[cmlancas]

Oh dear.  I hope he'll be okay.  Call that Caesar Rivera or what ever.  The dog whispererer.  er.

He had a good week this week, so we're encouraged.  Kitties might be in the picture in the next month or so.

[cmlancas]

Oh dear.  I hope he'll be okay.  Call that Caesar Rivera or what ever.  The dog whispererer.  er.

He had a good week this week, so we're encouraged.  Kitties might be in the picture in the next month or so.

[Signe]

Somebody check cmlancas' pupils!  Quick! 

[Sjofn]

So I was making a SimCat in the Sims 3 yesterday, and Jack was all OMG STRANGER CAT about it. It was very odd. The end!

[01101010]

 

[NiX]

That's awesome.

[Bunk]

Yes, that is.

So Harmony got herself a UTI. Sunday night, I think she went back to the litter box something around 45 times in a matter of a few hours.
Took her over to the vet in the morning (cool - animal hospital within walking distance of my new place). Vet prescribes antibiotics as expected. Advise the vet that Harmony does not like pills - at all. Last time, I had cases where I held her mouth closed for three minutes and she still managed to spit them out after.

This time the vet gives me a liquid version. I still have to roll her in a blanket like a burrito first, but it stays in her mouth! Much easier overall, plus I only put the eyedropper in her mouth rather than my fingers.

Worst part of going to the vet - seeing all the cute puppies I can't have. Lady had a six month old Malamute/Shepherd. It was a fifty pound puppy, but I still squeed a little.

[01101010]

Yes, that is.

So Harmony got herself a UTI. Sunday night, I think she went back to the litter box something around 45 times in a matter of a few hours.
Took her over to the vet in the morning (cool - animal hospital within walking distance of my new place). Vet prescribes antibiotics as expected. Advise the vet that Harmony does not like pills - at all. Last time, I had cases where I held her mouth closed for three minutes and she still managed to spit them out after.

This time the vet gives me a liquid version. I still have to roll her in a blanket like a burrito first, but it stays in her mouth! Much easier overall, plus I only put the eyedropper in her mouth rather than my fingers.

Worst part of going to the vet - seeing all the cute puppies I can't have. Lady had a six month old Malamute/Shepherd. It was a fifty pound puppy, but I still squeed a little.

Liquid is much easier with cats. Until they sneeze or spit that stuff all over you - worse when they figure out that it is the way to get out of the shitty tasting stuff. I liked having a family vet that would sit down and show me how to do the syringe thing. That is pretty much the easiest way to give any cat its meds.

[Signe]

It is easiest.  I found that you just push the syringe into the corner of the cats mouth and they can't help opening it and giving you enough time to squirt the medicine in.  I'm lucky that both my kitties are very passive and I never have to worry about scratching or biting... except Lister when preparing his food.  He likes to nip at your ankles and legs if you're feeding him.  Having two cats who have had serious medical issues - Lister's costing $6K last time! - has made always remember to ask if the meds come in liquid form.  Lister is so big that someone needs to hold him while I push a pill down his throat until he swallows.  He might not scratch, but 16 lbs of squirm is a bit too much for me to manage!

[Ingmar]

Bunk, if they didn't give you a painkiller for the UTI you might want to ask for one if she's still visiting the litter box constantly while waiting for the antibiotics to start working. A painkiller helps a lot with the 'feeling like they need to pee' symptom that causes that.

[Rasix]

My cats are complete dicks about taking antibiotics.  One spits back the liquid, so you basically have to try and shoot it almost down his throat.  My other cat hides and then fights and then is limber enough to get out of a towel wrap.  He also spits back the liquid.

Recently he had gotten a bad infection in his chin due an unknown allergy.  Two attempts at liquid antibiotics produced almost no results, because honestly, it's almost impossible to give him a normal dose.  Even one go with an injectable didn't do much. Finally, we switched vets and she recommended a steroid + injection, and that finally cleared it up. 

Our regular vet seemed a bit crestfallen that we changed vets, but two visits where he didn't seem to have a solid plan of action convinced us that he didn't have a handle on the situation.  Indecisive vets just piss me off.  Let me know what you want to do, don't give me a shit load of "this might work".

[Nebu]

sub cu or IM is the best way to give a cat an antibiotic... you need to find a vet that will let you administer this way. 

[Bunk]

The Vet suggested a shot was an option, but she stated it wasn't as thorough of an antibiotic and preferred giving it orally.

I read about trying just the corner of the mouth trick - problem is, the moment she realizes what I'm doing she goes in to full Tazz Whirlwind mode. Wrapping her in a blanket first is pretty much my only option. After a couple days she's calmed down about it a fair bit.

She looks at me immediately after like I just committed the ultimate betrayal - then I pick up her favorite brush and three seconds later she's forgiven me.

She got over the rapid trip to the box thing pretty quick, so I don't think its hurting her much anymore. Surprisingly it didn't affect her appetite either, last UTI she had, she tried starving herself to death.

[Signe]

[proudft]

I've been using these Pill Pocket things for a week or so for our cat's medicines:

http://www.amazon.com/Greenies-Feline-Pockets-Chicken-1-6oz/dp/B001FSJCPK/

There's a salmon flavor too, I just basically picked chicken flavor at random.  They actually seem to work pretty well.  The cat gulps down one a day filled with 3/4s of a pill-worth of two medicines (1/4 of one pill and 1/2 of another, sort of crammed inside).  

Note: our cat is an idiot, and loves treats.  I've also been very careful to not touch the outsides of the treats with my pill-tainted fingers in case there is any bitterness or other bad taste to the medicine.  But so far, so good as a pill-delivery mechanism.