He's literally in corner of the warehouse looking cute trying to catch Another one today 😂
I can already sense the other cat is trying to hunt some Crawfish.
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- Thread starter Weltall Zero
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I can already sense the other cat is trying to hunt some Crawfish.
A top entry litter box will help a bit with the litter on the floor. Additional advantage is their poop/pee isn't just sitting there fully exposed for you to see. You might also wanna try a litter deodorizer for the smell. I personally haven't noticed a big difference but maybe it will work for you.
$14 at PetSmart. My guy is fine with this.
Cats are very clean animals, make sure to clean the box as frequently as possible.
We have to have a covered box because we also have a shit-eating dog (sigh) and I'm wary of top entry because we have noticed Miss Nellie is not a great climber. We went ahead and splurged on the Litter Robot and are waiting for it to get here. What are my Biden Bucks for if not for buying things I'd never buy otherwise while also ensuring we will survive and be able to pay bills?
But with the covered box with the door flap she still tracks litter everywhere and I am just like MA'AM WILL YOU REMOVED THE GUM FROM YOUR PAWS OR WHATEVER THE HELL IT IS YOU'RE DOING
eta: and we are scooping every day but this girl is a goddamned poop machine, like seriously, where does it come from??? is she bringing friends???
But with the covered box with the door flap she still tracks litter everywhere and I am just like MA'AM WILL YOU REMOVED THE GUM FROM YOUR PAWS OR WHATEVER THE HELL IT IS YOU'RE DOING
eta: and we are scooping every day but this girl is a goddamned poop machine, like seriously, where does it come from??? is she bringing friends???
The front lip on the box I posted isn't that high. Put a litter trapping mat in front of the box. They do a good job.
Yeah, but it's not covered. :( I also have litter mats in front of both our boxes. Maybe it's the litter we were using, idk.
Oh, that's a great idea. I have a lab mix, so he's pretty big... but the bathroom closets where we have the boxes do not have doors! But that's genius. I'll remember that for future houses.
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Does anyone else's cats occasionally get random bald patches? I see one on Jensen every now and then, but never in the same spot and never seemingly for long.
He gets flea/tick/etc meds every month so it's not that, (and he never goes outside) and he doesn't seem to suffer from separation anxiety or something similar as it's never in the same spot or in easily accessible spots like the legs or paws, so I'm guessing it's just him getting overzealous with grooming sometimes.
The one I spotted today is near where his medicine gets applied, so I wonder if he was trying to groom that fur there but couldn't quite get to it.
He gets flea/tick/etc meds every month so it's not that, (and he never goes outside) and he doesn't seem to suffer from separation anxiety or something similar as it's never in the same spot or in easily accessible spots like the legs or paws, so I'm guessing it's just him getting overzealous with grooming sometimes.
The one I spotted today is near where his medicine gets applied, so I wonder if he was trying to groom that fur there but couldn't quite get to it.
Diy cat litter box man!
Get a big enough storage container to house your cat litter box and line with litter mats if you like, cut entrance big enough for kitty and sand down the edges because we're not barbarians (like in this photo)
Affix one of those easy to remove scented glade things if you want some good smells to cover up poopy smells (make sure cat is cool with smell too) and/or a mini battery operated lights so kitty isn't stuck to do business in the dark (but they can see the dark so this is pointless)
Add a little sidecar for pooper scooper
Easy to remove cover so dogs can't get in to eat poopies and humans can scoop up the business
Drill some decorative designs not just for additional ventilation reasons but because you can also drill cute designs to show off
Seriously, my 2 friends did this and it's a game changer, no awkward stares looking at cat relieve itself, dogs eating cat poop and wondering if they're into scat, cheaper than buying a fancy covered litter box, and can done for like $15
Well holy freaking shit! After a little over 4 months finally my new cat is getting along with my other two cats. Since day one the new cat would attack them any chance he got. So we got diffusers and built a 7 foot gate and slowly and patiently inter grated them. Holy shit was it ever a test of perseverance! Today, the new cat was playing with the other two cats and now all are sleeping IN THE SAME ROOM! Ya-fucking-hooooooooo!
Patience fixes a lot of cat behavior. Sometimes it's a couple days or weeks. Never seen it take 4 months though. He must have been a really stubborn little bugger.
A lot of time the early hissing and batting is just for show. They never really get into a serious cat fight and it just seems like one is going to kill the other. You have to expect they're going to have their territorial issues, but they get used to each other and end up enjoying having a companion.
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I'm way late to this, but does this mean my old childhood cat was very rare? A fully orange female with no red eyes:Yeah, I know a lot more male ginger cats than female. I just googled it and here's a fascinating article about the genetics of it:
Basically, in cats the color gene is in the X chromosome. This means females have two, and males have one. To have a ginger coat, you need all of your color genes to be orange; this is why it's more common in males, since they only need to have their one gene be orange. For females, having an orange gene alongside a non-orange gene creates patterns like calico and tortoiseshell, which is also why they're female-only. Pretty neat!
Are All Orange Cats Male and All Calico Cats Female?
Why are most orange cats are male and most calicos are female? Learn how the color of a cat’s coat is closely linked to its gender.be.chewy.com
It may also be why female ginger cats have redder eyes, as you say (my SO's parents used to have one and she had reddish orange eyes too); perhaps the double orange gene expresses that way.
Also, I should probably have posted about this here last week but my site did an April Fools Day prank where we replaced all the images with pictures of cats... resulting in us going viral for a while hahaha. Everyone loved it <3
This week is the first week all the barriers are down and they are all getting along or at least trying to figure everything out. It's super cool to see. Really happy, except it took 4 1/2 months. 😂
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I'm way late to this, but does this mean my old childhood cat was very rare? A fully orange female with no red eyes:
Also, I should probably have posted about this here last week but my site did an April Fools Day prank where we replaced all the images with pictures of cats... resulting in us going viral for a while hahaha. Everyone loved it <3
I honestly have no clue about the prevalence of redder / yellowed eyes on female ginger cats. I just googled "female ginger cat" and most pics seem to have yellower eyes, so who knows! Also your site's Aprils Fools is the kind I can definitely get behind. :)
Depending on a handful of circumstances, we have a shot at breaking our previous record for most cats concurrently living in our house (which was 13, reached in two separate occassions). Currently, we have our five, plus an additional long-haired calico we're fostering, and a couple days ago we got dropped a pregnant long-haired black stray from the neighbourhood, which may or may not give birth here.
I got an Omega Paw Self-Cleaning Litterbox on Amazon, and have been loving it so far. Obviously, it's not so much self-cleaning as it is self-sifting. Tilt it to the side about 130 degrees and all the clumps collect into that little removable tray.....pull it out, deposit everything into a trashcan, and you are done. I suspect that you will probably want to clean it out about once a month since the walls will probably collect crud and cruft, but it's way way better than having to manually scoop shit every single day.
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Abby
Kirby about to get cat powers. :)
One of our cats is also called Abby (named by her previous owners), which is fitting as she's an abyssinian.
Two pics of the shy brother, The Frog:
Why use the empty couch when remotes are more comfortable?
Resting all day is exhausting....
Why use the empty couch when remotes are more comfortable?
Resting all day is exhausting....
Weird. I like to read on Reddit Glitch in the Matrix. It's basically unexplainable events that happen to people. Ive read a ton of stories in that sub and others of cat owners swear their cats can teleport. There's tons of stories on Reddit about it. So, has your cat ever teleported?
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Cats are ridiculously stealthy when they want. In the case of mine, this usually means medicine time (we joke that they throw a ninja smoke bomb and a log appears in their place), or slipping past us when we go to the kitchen (and then getting locked there until we notice or we go there again, but apparently they think it's worth the price for all the wonderful smells and potential scraps).
One of outs is particularly stealthy, helped by the fact that she's small and really fast /sneaky. We joke she's actually some sort of furry snake.
Mandarin just saw a big house centipede and he's freakin' out. I could barely restrain him. He'll eat pretty much anything so I knew what his end goal would be.
I let it go behind a piece of furniture, and now he's moaning and whining, running around the house like crazy. lol
I let it go behind a piece of furniture, and now he's moaning and whining, running around the house like crazy. lol
Our 1 year pictures of our kitty's kittys.
Nia - Orange
Selina - Calico
Winnie - Darker black nose calico
Felix - Tuxedo
My cat does this...
But it's a fuckin scam to get hands within paw-shot lol. She looks at hands and feet as toys, which probably explains how she ended up in a shelter. She's very well behaved otherwise.
But it's a fuckin scam to get hands within paw-shot lol. She looks at hands and feet as toys, which probably explains how she ended up in a shelter. She's very well behaved otherwise.
I got my guy from a shelter about 6 mos ago- he was living with a feral colony when they scooped him up. They said he was fresh and wouldn't eat soft food. He is a bit bitey, but he's a young cat (probably 2 now), but he mostly gets overstimulated during play. It's mostly love bites, he rolls over and lets me pet his belly sometimes. He also eats anything you put down, including soft food.
My cat does this too. I tell him to lay down and he goes to his bed and lays on his side and expose his belly.
One cat gets excited if you rub their belly. The other is like whatever
And the latter cat gives no f and just lay down on the keyboard where I'm working 😂
Also he just learned to knead the bed. He looks at me and does it all derpy. Like is this right.
He's 2 btw.
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That behaviour can be corrected by being firm, never playing with your hands, saying "no!" if she bites them on her own, and redirecting to a toy.
Very important, cats are not dogs: when a cat rolls over and shows its stomach, they're exposing a vulnerable part as a sign of trust. If you touch their stomach, that's a breach of that trust (unless they like it, but most cats don't). It's not an invitation for a belly rub. My own black cat (looks nearly identical, except male, and does the same) will never bite us otherwise, but will give "warning" bites (we call that "the stapler" for how he holds his teeth around your hand) if you touch his belly.
Adorable. Felix has the eyes of a cat ready to attack a camera.
We haven't had any new fosters for the last 2 months, which is the longest we've gone since starting this a few years back. I told my wife I'm going to go crazy if we don't get some new kittens soon.
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Man I wish we lived nearby. We're overcrowded right now with two fosters (one a pregnant mom) plus our own five, and there's more we need to find homes for.
Yoyoyo Catera, we just got a second cat, a lovely 9 year old hug monster that's just so precious (but is also super scared at times)
I feel like we've made some mistakes in introducing her to the existing cat (who can be quite feisty). First off we decided to make our bedroom basecamp, 3 weeks later she still hides under the bed. She does come out after about 5 minutes of being on the bed and then everything seems fine for a while. But after a while it's like a flip switches (sometimes she hears something that scares her but sometimes it seems completely random) and she becomes obsessed with going back under the bed. We have tried to block off her access from under the bed but she always seems to find a way to get back under, whenever that happens we fortify that area but nope she finds another place to slip in again.
So I've been looking online to what the next step will be and it seems like swapping base camps will be next. In this search however I've seen that choosing the bedroom as basecamp can be bed since the original cat might develop rivalry to the new cat because the new one is now in a highly territorial place. And that isn't the only thing that happened, one time the old cat slipped into the bedroom while the new cat was under the bed and a stand-off occured. It was mostly hissing and we kinda wanted to see how it played out since maybe things might go well, but after the old cat swiped once at the new one we immediatelly broke it off.
On to swapping base camps, we have put the new cat in a new room as a test on how it goes and it seems to go well... for a while. Once her "switch" flips again she does everything to get out of the room and back under the bed. This is also where we found out that she has the ability to open doors by jumping on the knob... what a surprise! Luckily we escorted our old cat away from the bedroom before the new one frantically ran in looking for a way under the bed.
With a little bit of context, our questions are:
How do we get the new cat to not panic and try to get under the bed? Is blocking her access off to the bed the right solution here or does that cause her to exhibit other problems?
Was choosing the bedroom as base camp a mistake and how do we get around this possible rivalry/jealousy the old cat has?
I feel like we've made some mistakes in introducing her to the existing cat (who can be quite feisty). First off we decided to make our bedroom basecamp, 3 weeks later she still hides under the bed. She does come out after about 5 minutes of being on the bed and then everything seems fine for a while. But after a while it's like a flip switches (sometimes she hears something that scares her but sometimes it seems completely random) and she becomes obsessed with going back under the bed. We have tried to block off her access from under the bed but she always seems to find a way to get back under, whenever that happens we fortify that area but nope she finds another place to slip in again.
So I've been looking online to what the next step will be and it seems like swapping base camps will be next. In this search however I've seen that choosing the bedroom as basecamp can be bed since the original cat might develop rivalry to the new cat because the new one is now in a highly territorial place. And that isn't the only thing that happened, one time the old cat slipped into the bedroom while the new cat was under the bed and a stand-off occured. It was mostly hissing and we kinda wanted to see how it played out since maybe things might go well, but after the old cat swiped once at the new one we immediatelly broke it off.
On to swapping base camps, we have put the new cat in a new room as a test on how it goes and it seems to go well... for a while. Once her "switch" flips again she does everything to get out of the room and back under the bed. This is also where we found out that she has the ability to open doors by jumping on the knob... what a surprise! Luckily we escorted our old cat away from the bedroom before the new one frantically ran in looking for a way under the bed.
With a little bit of context, our questions are:
How do we get the new cat to not panic and try to get under the bed? Is blocking her access off to the bed the right solution here or does that cause her to exhibit other problems?
Was choosing the bedroom as base camp a mistake and how do we get around this possible rivalry/jealousy the old cat has?
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I wouldn't stress too much about it (literally; cats feel people's anxiety and it compounds the issue). The new cat needs a hiding place to retreat to when stressed; if she has decided that spot is under the bed (a very common spot), then that's fine. Don't block it because it's going to cause her to stress so much more. I wouldn't change the base camp at this point; your bedroom is fine (ideal, even, as she can get used to you while you sleep, and realize you're not a threat).
Your old cat isn't jealous; it's just being territorial due to an "intruder" in your territory. The proper way to introduce cats to each other is to get them used to each other's scents first. You do this by having each cat sleep on their blankets, and then let them smell each other's blankets, perhaps even exchange them. This will ease their interactions when they finally do meet, like acknowledging someone as your neighbours before they knock on your door.
Protip: I have a cat that knows how to jump to knobs and open doors too; if you want to keep them separate for now, and the door doesn't have a lock, a good way to prevent this is jamming a rag between the door and the frame when you close it. It will make the handle harder to turn so that the cat's weight isn't enough (be careful that the rag isn't so thick or folded over so much that opening the door may may damage the handle, obviously).
That said, at some point they're going to have to meet "in person"; growling, hissing and some long-range warning swats are all natural to an extent. As long as it stays at that stage and doesn't progress to the "tangled light-speed whirlwind blur" of actual fighting, you should try to keep your cool, and let them do their thing.
We got a 3rd cat who was much feistier then our other two and finally after 5 months! They all get along and no fighting. Our first cat is extremely shy and it took until this week, 5 months later to come out of his shell and except the new Cat. I honestly thought we'd never get them integrated or ever get to this point. We were so frustrated at one point we had another family member, who had offered to take the new cat (who is very personable and loved by anyone who comes in contact with him) and at the last moment we were in tears and couldn't give him away. So we kept at it. Switching rooms, snack time treats, gates, diffusers, etc....
So to answer your question our very shy cat is just like yours. He considers our room, bed, and closet his safe zone and continues to be. We just let him come out on his own and on his own timeframe. Never pushed it and his natural curiosity got the best of him and eventually came around not to be scared of the new cat and now they are very comfortable around each other. The weird thing is the very feisty cat learned to be more gentle with our shy guy. He seemed to be less aggressive and more patient the more time went on. It was very sweet to watch. We did switch rooms and where at nights we had the new cat in our room and the other two got the run of the house. We switched that daily so they get used to each other smells.
One of our cats has learned how to open doors too, so I ended up buying some child locks to fit on to the doors - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07SSYTN7P/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
My cat may have a new bf, but I'm not sure. Our landlord has a new orange cat that likes to come into our apartment to eat our cat's food. He also hangs around the place and "plays" with my cat. I'm trying to figure out if it's harmless playing or if they're legit fighting. They don't hiss or screech at each other and often lay around each other very calmly. But sometimes, mine's hair will stand up like I've seen her do after an actual fight.
tl,dr: How do I know if my cat is fighting her new bf or if she's just playing?
tl,dr: How do I know if my cat is fighting her new bf or if she's just playing?
Our little buddy of almost 8 years old has been diagnosed with advanced HCM. According to the vet he has weeks to months until the medication he's taking will not be sufficient anymore to provide adequate heart function. I always knew I would be devastated if something like this would happen but the magnitude of pain and grief has really overwhelmed me. When I first heard the news I almost passed out and it feels my girlfriend and I cried for 3 days straight. We are very privileged to have been able to take some days off to process it.
Only now more than 2 weeks after getting the diagnosis I can get through the day with crying only once. The only thing it takes to set us both off is him doing something cute or silly and us realizing how precious these moments have become. We've been told to keep monitoring his breathing and behaviour and that it's up to us to decide when the quality of life has lowered beyond the point where keeping him alive is cruelty. I am obsessively watching him all the time counting his breaths and questioning every little thing he does whether it's normal behaviour or not. His breathing is definitely elevated all the time, and he does not make any mad dashes across the room or sprints up stairs in three leaps, but other than that he's just being his silly mischievous self.
I'm really dreading the moment where we have to put him to sleep but I know it's coming. For now we're doing our best to enjoy his company and we've thrown seven years of behavioral training out the door, he's basically allowed to do anything now (and he knows it). He's my first pet and my girlfriend and I rescued him from a shelter right around the same time we moved in together 7 years ago, in that way he is also intrinsically connected to our love for each other. I don't know how I'll live down him actually being gone.
Sorry for the bummer post, I needed a bit of venting. Here's a picture of us in happier times.
Only now more than 2 weeks after getting the diagnosis I can get through the day with crying only once. The only thing it takes to set us both off is him doing something cute or silly and us realizing how precious these moments have become. We've been told to keep monitoring his breathing and behaviour and that it's up to us to decide when the quality of life has lowered beyond the point where keeping him alive is cruelty. I am obsessively watching him all the time counting his breaths and questioning every little thing he does whether it's normal behaviour or not. His breathing is definitely elevated all the time, and he does not make any mad dashes across the room or sprints up stairs in three leaps, but other than that he's just being his silly mischievous self.
I'm really dreading the moment where we have to put him to sleep but I know it's coming. For now we're doing our best to enjoy his company and we've thrown seven years of behavioral training out the door, he's basically allowed to do anything now (and he knows it). He's my first pet and my girlfriend and I rescued him from a shelter right around the same time we moved in together 7 years ago, in that way he is also intrinsically connected to our love for each other. I don't know how I'll live down him actually being gone.
Sorry for the bummer post, I needed a bit of venting. Here's a picture of us in happier times.
I fostered this cat for three weeks and he died this morning. He was found with a broken mandible and with FIV (HIV but for cats). They performed surgery and after he was done, I offered to foster him until he got better and they could find a permanent home. Due to FIV (I assume), his wound would not heal, and it kept getting infected. The lady in charge of this organization that saves animals would come over daily for antibiotic injections, I put vitamins in his food, and we put ointment on his wound. Nothing really worked, and last night, I saw him vomit and literally fall over. He did get up, but he had stopped eating at about noon (and only chicken, he ignored his cat food). When I woke up this morning, he would not move from his spot, and pretty soon, he was laying in weird positions, staring blankly ahead, and breathing was labored. The lady finally came and rushed him to the vet, but about an hour later, she told me he died.
I know there's no real blame, but I still can't help but wish I could've done something differently. Even though I only had him three weeks, I loved him and I hope he felt loved and cared for. I wanted him to live a long and happy life, whether with me or someone else, especially since he had been through some serious shit.
RIP Mishy, you were too good for this world. I wanted to include pics but I'm on mobile.
I know there's no real blame, but I still can't help but wish I could've done something differently. Even though I only had him three weeks, I loved him and I hope he felt loved and cared for. I wanted him to live a long and happy life, whether with me or someone else, especially since he had been through some serious shit.
RIP Mishy, you were too good for this world. I wanted to include pics but I'm on mobile.
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Absolutely don't worry about it. I'm very sorry about the situation, and like many others in this thread, I can only imagine your pain. One of our cats has been doing very badly at times due to a combination of conditions, and although she's a true fighter that's bounced back with the proper treatment (she's on daily subdermal solution for a couple weeks), but her kidneys are failing so we know it's a matter of time.
Your post made me look a bit into cat organ transplants but it doesn't seem to be a thing except for kidneys (and unfortunately for us, even the latter not in Spain), not really due to any sort of specific surgical difficulty, but just because there isn't a proper infrastructure for donating pet organs, keeping a stock of them, etc. I find this so utterly sad. :(
I'm really sorry for your loss; I understand all too well a few days is enough to form a deep bond. :( Yeah, FIV makes it all the more difficult; it's unlikely you could have done anything more for him than you already did; if anything, I wish most cat owners, let alone foster homes, were so vigilant provided so much care as you did.
If this was your first foster, I hope the harrowing experience didn't turn you off fostering other cats in the future, but I wouldn't blame you if it did, either. Hang in there; we're here for you.
i got this off amazon.
works great.
like any other fur grooming tool, works best if you are outside. but after a few brushes the thing gives off an static cling so its easier to stick on it.
works great.
like any other fur grooming tool, works best if you are outside. but after a few brushes the thing gives off an static cling so its easier to stick on it.
Can't imagine how hard this must be, just remember that it's so sad because of how much happiness you've had with him!
Sounds to me like you did all you could and that sadly the fate of the cat had already been sealed. I'm sure the little one had a good time at yours
As for my cat situation: I would like to thank you guys for the advice! Yesterday we decided to do another little introduction and a lot of things went really good. We got them together at a neutral space, where there's also enough space to roam and hide from each other. It started out with some hissing and scouting each other out. Where at the first introduction they actually smelled each other, this time they kept some distance at least. After about 30 or so minutes the old cat (Nala) decided to get up to the high ground. The new cat (Luna) kept doing her thing while Nala kept eyes on her from the high ground. This went really well and they had been in the room with each other for 2 hours where they even both let their guard down and slept.
At the end of the session we decided to open all the doors so Luna could go rushing back to the bedroom and enjoy the rest of the night while Nala got all her space back like she always has. This is where things went wrong though, Nala was about 1 meter away from neutral ground door and Luna was on her way out from that door. When that happened they locked eyes and before I could step in they started chasing each other. I think the mistake we made here might have been that we didn't think that now Luna was entering Nala's area and thus Nala wanted to protect it (Nala was the one who started the chase). Luckily we were able to seperate them before any damage was done, there was some arm swinging but no hits I think (no blood drawn).
I think we're just gonna try the introduction again in the near future and do some more site swapping. Is it a good idea to try and introduce them again this soon after a (mild) fight or is it better we wait it out a bit.
I also want to say thanks again to the don't stress it advice because without it I would be stressed out af because of the fight but I realise this is just what cats do and well being too protective is also bad!
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I'm glad it helped; I realize it's the kind of advice that's far, far easier said than done and can seem rather unhelpful, like "drown less".