CatLovers Community

I used to have a Tuxedo cat named Blackie -- I picked him up off of a street in Astoria and had him for four years since then.  He was young, about a year or so .. when I found him.  But, his death on June 14, 2007... has been bothering me.  He was always a healthy cat -- we took him to the vet religiously.  We were playing fetch with him and whilst running for his toy mouse ... Blackie froze ... and fell to the floor.  And .. that was it.

Does anyone have any idea what happened to him?  I've always felt as though it were my fault somehow; I'd just like to know if there was a possible underlying condition that no one caught ... or anything like that ...

Thanks guys.

What is your feeding routine for your kitties? Do they have food down all day, or have a specific time when they get a certain amount? How much? What type of food do you feed them?

Both Mayhem and Nova are adult and were adopted as such so Im not sure of how they were fed by their previous owners. When I got them I had never had cats before so I assumed they needed food left down all day, and I did as such. But they are both at least a bit overweight and I've been told not to leave it down, so I've started giving them a certain amount in the morning and when it's gone it's gone and that is that. But I've come across 2 problems, Nova (the more overweight of the 2) will eat from her own bowl and then move to Mayhems so I never know how much food he is getting for himself and it worries me. And secondly just now Nova crawled into the cupboard where we keep the food and dragged the bag out and she has been crying ALL night sitting by her bowl! Shes' acting as if she'd never been fed before in her life!

I don't know what to do.

So one of my kitties is an absolute angel about getting her nails clipped. Doesn't even notice it really. The other one, however, flips out whenever I bring the clippers near. He's fine with me touching his paws, fine with me pushing on his pads to extend his claws, but once he sees or feels the clippers touch his nails, it's a no go. He'll get up and run off or pull his paw back violently. I have tried waiting for him to be sleepy and doing one claw at a time, but it's soooo slow and sometime I don't even get one claw :(. Anyone tried the "kitty burrito technique"? What are your thoughts about it?

.

Hello Friends,

Sorry it has been so long in posting in here but a lot has happened. Sandy(my wife) and Kit Kat my cat have gone through some tough times in last 2 years. We have had to move twice between NC and GA due to many problems.
 I have a problem that I can't figure out about Kit Kat.

We have finally settled in GA and it took her a long time to even venture out of house but she finally did about 18 months ago during warmer weather.. Otherwise she used the litterbox. Now all of a sudden she is pooping on rugs around the house even though litter box is clean. She is getting old we estimate 13 years old as she was adopted. We have used the same litter the previous owner used. Litterbox in same location where she used to use it.

Does anyone have any ideas as I have lived with cats my whole life and this a first for me?

I posted (here) back in November about my parents' cat Carmen who's 13. Basically she has hyperthyroidism, but they'd stopped giving her medicine since it was pretty much like torturing her twice a day, and nothing they tried made it easier. She started hiding and was always on edge. I suggested (thanks to someone's suggestion here) that they ask the vet about putting ointment in her ear instead of an oral treatment, and the vet gave them some ointment. Carmen definitely prefers the ointment to the oral medicine, so mom and dad have been using that since a bit after Thanksgiving. She had a blood test to see if it was working on the 2nd, and they got the results today. She's doing better! The vet wants to see her again in 6 weeks, but so far things are improving. Mom says Carmen seems more alert too. I'm so glad she's improving.

On an unrelated note sorry for no photos (although Carmen is in my icon). I intend to post pictures of my kittens (Lyric and Lyre) as well as some pics of Carmen I took over Christmas as soon as I get a chance.

My Vet had me switch my cat to Purina Veterinary Diets UR st/ox to help dissolve her urine crystals. I was given the dry food along with six cans of wet food to try out. While my cat does drink a lot of water from her fountain, she still should have a little wet food every once in a while.

Problem is, she won't eat it. She sniffs it and walks away. I tried taking her food away this evening and replacing it with some wet food and some dry food on top to see if she'd touch it. She sniffed it, licked it a bit, and then walked away.

She's looking at me like I'm absolutely insane.

Any ideas on how to get her to eat it? How long can I leave it out if she won't eat it right away?

Hi just joined up, and thought I would introduce my better half, Wilbur. 


He is my baby.  He is two years old, a boy, his name is Wilbur.   He is a tonkinese, and as you can see he is extra special and has six fingers.  He is perfectly healthy and one giant lovable fluff.    We are both happy to be a part of the community. 

My bengal, Strider, is five months old.  We have had some issues with his going to the bathroom.  Usually at least one time going poop a day, he will have problem where it doesn't all come out and he will come into the bedroom and you know he was just in the litter box because he smells bad and I basically wipe him with baby wipes and he will often track small pieces on his legs and if he drops the little pieces, the room will smell.  Is this normal for a cat?  He has already been tested for worms and parasites and is clear and he is free fed Evo Cat and Kitten Dry food with occassional pieces of boiled chicken as a treat. 

Update on this post.

I took someone's advice and posted on Craigslist about the kitty. I was contacted by somebody who thought that pretty Polly might be their outdoor cat, Pepper, whom they lost back in November when they moved. Everything added up for the most part, so the man and his children came to look at the kitty today.

Only, kitty is feeling so sickly today, that I think the man took one look at her and wanted nothing to do with the cat.


Kitty today is not eating. She is very lethargic. She meows when she moves a bit or exhales deeply (I don't know if she's showing her distaste in me bugging her, or if she hurts). When I picked her up to show the man, she released her bowels on me.

The man spent a good half hour with the cat trying to "identify" it. Excuse me, I don't care if your cat is an outdoor cat or not that you only see briefly every day or so... You know your cat when you see it if you've had her for 7 - 8 years. He petted her, played with her paws, rubbed her head, all the while saying "it looks like Pepper". But then he made up some excuse about there not being enough orange on her. His kids thought it was Pepper.

He said he'd contact me tonight or so to see about bringing his wife over to see if she can ID the cat, or if they can dig up any pictures. (Their computer crashed, apparently.)

So now, I have what I think is an owner that doesn't want their sick cat back. They don't want to deal with the hassle of a vet bill... or I could be completely mistaken.

In any case... Long story short, I think kitty is staying here another day or two, although my dad is saying he'll be surprised if she survives another 48 hours. She just doesn't feel well... old, emaciated, lost... it's heartbreaking. I just went out and checked on her (5:30), and she's up and walking around... but is being very vocal, meowing consistently but weakly. Tried giving her three different types of food, but she simply turned her nose up at it and walked away like she wanted me to leave her alone (or DIAF :P)

Thanks for all your kind regards, and any suggestions are still being very much listened to. :) I am working together with someone who is trying to get funds together for us to take her to a vet to get checked out, because she said she will take her if she doesn't have any disease. Personally, I have less than 30 hours in the next two weeks at work, and bills to pay which won't permit me making any vet visits for a possible lost cause. (Ugh, that's just my pessimism speaking... ignore it... we all feel it sometimes but don't really and truly mean it...)


Anyway, a video of Kitty/Pretty Polly/Pepper taken today, for the heck of it. (Embed isn't working...)

http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=zx1a83&s=5

Ok so... first time cat owner here.

I am going to talk to my vet if necessary after I get a couple opinions here. I don't want to be wasting her time if it's something normal because that clinic is a mad house!

So, I just got my lovely Jody yesterday.
She is adorable in every way and so loving, it's unbelievable. I couldn't ask for a cat more suited to me, it's really uncanny.

As of now, she's still rather shy. She seems to have taken a liking to me right off the bat and has warmed up to my boyfriend as well (who is here in the evenings, nights and mornings monday to friday so that was important!). I know that cats are generally shy during the first while when living with new people (I adopted her from a vet and she'd been jumping between homes), so I'm not worried that she's been very slow to check out her new environment (she's basically kept under the bed unless I coax her out).

But there have been a few things that have caught my attention...
For one, she has some sort of cough/burp/throat clearing thing going on. It's only once in a while, and then she'll do it once or twice. It almost sounds like a gurgling, but raspy if that makes sense? Could it be a hairball? Nothing has come up yet, but I thought she might just be working on a big on or something? Should this be cause for concern?

Next, I've noticed her licking one spot on her front left leg pretty furiously and it sounds like she's spitting on it or something. Again- gurgling but not raspy, wet this time. I took a look at her arm while giving her a good scratch, but there's nothing there. Do any of your cats have a quirk like this? Spots that they Really like to lick?

Lastly, my highest concern is her drinking habits. I recall reading somewhere that cats drink a TON of water. However, since I brought Jody home she hasn't so much as touched her water dish. My boyfriend and I have done some tests like switching the bowls, trying water from different taps in case they taste differently and I'm going to step out in a bit to buy bottled water to see if she prefers it. I just don't know what to do. This worries me because my apartment tends to get a little on the warm side and although I have the windows open, I would never forgive myself if she were to become dehydrated or get sick. Cats need water! Any suggestions on how to get her to start drinking?
EDIT: Also, she hasn't had a bowel movement or urinated since she got here (yesterday afternoon).
I know this was long, but thank you if you made it through the whole thing!

Thanks in advance for ANY help you can give!

Question about feeding: does anyone have experience with Innova Low Fat Adult cat food?

At Scott's last vet visit, the vet noted that he had pretty much stopped growing (he is around 1 year old) and that he's getting a little chubby (ouch!), and he should be starting adult food. She recommended Science Diet Indoor Adult, so I bought that and gradually switched him over. He seemed to really like it, and adjusted well.

Then I started doing some research and it seemed that Science Diet wasn't all that great. I settled on Innova Low Fat Adult and gradually switched him to that. He seems to like the Innova, but I've noticed that he has been a bit gassier and over-all smellier than usual. I was thinking of switching him back to SciDi, or finding a new brand all together, but then it occurred to me that these issues might be a result of too much switching around in the first place. Any suggestions?

Fyi: He predominantly eats dry food (he gets wet food about once per week), he doesn't eat people food and there haven't been any changes in his litter box usage.

Ever wonder what a cat's tongue looks like up-close? 




Jax, extreme tongue close-up...

When we found Roswell she was six weeks old, living under the porch, with an eye infection so bad her eyes were swollen shut. She's all better now.

Hullo!

New to the com', and here to introduce my fluffy ball of love, Honey.





This is my Honey.

Contrary to popular assumption, he is a dude kitty.

The year before last, my beloved cat Tiger had to be put to sleep due to a horrible, inoperable tumour on the side of her face/mouth. She was only about 12-years-old. I was mortified, and still miss her to bits and always will do.

Soon afterwards, I was on the hunt for a cat to occupy my time. I am on incapacity benefit due to mental health problems (nothing dangerous), so I spend 99.9% of my time caring for pets. I look after the family cat, Spike (who is the son of my deceased cat), my three wonderful gerbils, the family budgie, my Chilean Rose tarantula and my Giant Madagascar Hissing Cockroach.
 I get immense joy out of fine-tuning my gerbil feed and all of the little parts of pet care.

Kayso, back on topic.

We called every newspaper ad we could find, tried to contact so many rescue centres that were out of the way (as there are none near by) but never had our calls returned. Finally we found one rescue place, a Cat Sanctuary, and we went there. Filled out the form, lalala, started getting to meet cats... And, despite it being written down on the form we gave her, and despite us openly talking about it the whole time, the staff woman leading us around suddenly said - "Oh, none of these cats can go with dogs."

Well, that was kind of sucky, this woman trying her hardest to bond me to strange cats, only to say that. Also, on their website and a bunch of forums they had posted to, they claimed it was 'kitten season' and they had literally hundreds of kittens ready to adopt (about two days before we went there). There was not a single kitten there.

So my heart was a bit punched after that.

One day whilst i was at home, my parents went to go and pick up Tiger's ashes for me. Whilst there, they asked the receptionist if she knew any rescue places with cats or whatnot, and they were given an address. Off they went, only.. They got totally lost. XD

In the midst of being lost, in the middle of the countryside, they came across a sign that said 'Kittens For Sale'. They decided to follow said sign down a tiny, narrow, twisted, offroad root until they came to a lovely little farm.

They came home to inform me that they had reserved a three week old kitten for me. o_o Apparently all of the kittens were calico, apart from this one - who was black and white with grey on his back.

When he was of age, we went to go and pay and pick him up, and I was in love. Honestly, I didn't want a kitten, I wanted to adopt an adult, but I soon got used to this small, mewling ball of fluff following me everywhere.

In the spring of this year, he will be two-years-old. He still mewls and follows me everywhere. The grey vanished and he got incredibly fluffyand he went from being tiny at one and a half years old, to suddenly shooting up and becoming the longest cat I have ever seen.

He is like a small, shouting stalker.

This is my Honey Monster.






















He enjoys chasing anything that moves (particularly my ankles when I am trying to go.. anywhere), being held upside down and cradled like a baby, being rocked back and forth (this causes him to purr like a madman) and eating anything in existance.

He is my semi-long haired, black and white, tuxedo moggy of joy.

;3 Apologies for the long, rambling post.
 

I managed to find a local home for the kitten I posted about last week :D The new owner will also continue bringing him to our hospital for the next shots and to have him neuter :) I was so sad to see him go, I really had grown attached to him! He went from being skittish to being a complete love bug in the time he was with us :)

I thought I'd post and update on him and share a picture and a video of him :) Thanks for your help you guys!



Excuse all the barking and meowing on the vid :P We had a full house of animals lol.

My cat, Oswald, is experiencing eye pain/goopy discharge/sensitivity to light. I have a vet appointment for him tomorrow and I've been looking up cat eye diseases online and it looks pretty scary. Has anyone here experienced eye trouble? I'd like some advice/guidance/support. :C

My cat won't drink today. She has eaten her usual amount, but I know she didn't touch the water while I was at work, and I've spotted her over there twice eating and she'll look into the water bowl and stare at it but won't drink it. I've already rinsed out the bowl twice, the second time really cleaning it. I decided to ask about it right away, but I'm hoping that it's probably nothing serious. I just found it strange for her.

Mayhem absolutley refuses to let me brush him, which doesn't work out so well considering he is long haired. He hisses, claws, attacks me, you name it he does it whenever I try. He gets mats constantly and I don't know what to do anymore. I bought a trimmer, in hopes that he would at least be civil enough to let me shave him a LITTLE BIT. That ended in my hands torn up and him more angry than ever. I am so frustrated and upset, I don't know what to do anymore. I can't take him to a groomer because he'd attack them. Help!

... kills a kitten? That sounds stupid!"
-- Juniper






OMF NOMF OMF NOMF OMF OMF
Myth busted.


Sebastian looks dignified.


... Myth busted.


Sebastian and Juniper scope out the soft-sided carriers.


Sebastian and Juniper catch some Zs.


!!! SEX KITTENS GONE WILD !!!


Enough wild for now. Mommy's lap is nice.


The cats in their usual haunts while daddy plays Fallout 3.
Juniper and Jupiter seem to have melded into one single mutual ear-licking entity.


Jupiter will end you.

My cat is about a year old and has pretty big paws. I was wondering if this was an indication that he would be growing into them or if he'd just be adorably awkward and slightly clumsy forever? Do cats grow into their paws like dogs do when they're puppies?

She looked so cute all curled up in her bed.




I disturbed her nap, the poor dear.







Bath time!



















Such a pretty tongue.




Fangs for looking!




Hehehehehe...

Minerva is getting so big...and gorgeous. She has an extremely long tail, longer then her body and she has face tufts like a little bobcat. I still think she has some maine coon in her :)

Art by Tascha

Cat #4. When you work at a vet hospital they tend to rack up quickly.