CatLovers Community

Buddha, my 18 year old cat, has a peeing out of the box issue. We put chucks down under the box, which absorbs but does not fix the issue. However, we switched a few things around...1. We put the covered box down there to give him 2 places to go. It has deep litter, no Ammo Cat (anti-stink stuff) and is covered. He has peed in it 2 days running. As in, there's no pee on the chuck.

2 we changed chuck brand to a puppy pad, which I don't think is as pleasant.

3 we also started letting him sleep in the bedroom again, but I don't know if that matters.

I wonder if he actually has crystals, or if he was just being opinionated?

If this has truly changed his habits it couldn't come at a better time, as the new apartment we move to soon has light color carpet.

I just read diary of a cat therapist, which helped me think about it all in a new way.

Zara is also called Turrinha which is a portuguese word that mean "little bump", my friends called her that because she bumps her head on to people's hands very vigorously asking for love :)



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The vet said that female orange tabby cats are rare, which was something I wasn't aware of.

She had surgery last week because when I got her she had a huge lump in her tummy. It was an abcess, it was pretty far along and the vet had to remove two of her breasts - the vet added that she was very lucky to be found because the pus was starting to spread and she could have died soon.
The strange thing about Zara is, she was born from feral cats and never had contact with humans, but for some reason she came out and, although she was a little scared at first, she was happy to recieve love from people.
Usually, feral cats run away at the sight of people, so this was odd. But I'm glad she didn't, because now she's safe and has a home with luff and warmness! :D
All my 4 cats have been spayed, even the older ones. Mia is moving to the Netherlands with me and she'll be staying ina house with acess to the street, so it had to be done to prevent babies.







There's some green in her eyes!



Erika and Mia when they came home after surgery.


Not impressed!


Kitty tongue!


Fat thing! The vet actually had to remove some fat to be able to do the surgery.





Overall, the cost of all the procedures was 377€, which is pretty good considering that includes a free overnight stay for Zara, free teeth cleanings for Mia and Erika and antibiotic shots instead of pills, which has an added cost.
The vet was very attentive, she left the cats in a silent room after surgery instead of putting them in a common room with barking dogs like they usually do.I'm very happy with the vet.

Right now I'm in bed with all 4 of them, squished in to a corner of my fairly large bed by their "need" of space :P haha

Thank you for reading!

Ive been sick all day, and decided to look at some LOLcatz...Just to cheer everyone up. Enjoy and post some of your favs or leave comments.. thanks ..

This is regarding my lovely, perfect cat who decided to be ungrateful and pee all over my stuff.

Ok. I think I have successfully removed all or nearly all urine scent from my room (still a little confused about what to do with the rather expensive camera case...) I called the place I adopted her from and asked what kind of litter she was using there. They said it was Swheat Scoop. I went and bought that. (I couldn't find Cat Attract, I'll try that next if this doesn't work.)

I also started smelling some pee in another room and found out she (or one of the cats) was using this old bean bag-ish chair that we used for a dog bed as a litter pad. I excused that one because it's... somewhat litter-ish... I guess.
Put that in garage (my roommate didn't want to throw it away. I know. What?) and cleaned the surrounding area.

Took an extra litter pan (and some of the old brand of litter) and put it in the room where the bean bag used to be. The dogs can get to it to eat the poop, but whatever. I'll check it every morning and if any of the cats do actually use it, I'll figure something out to dog proof it.

As soon as we move, I'm also going to get a big rubbermaid bin, cut a hole in the side and have that somewhere in the house. That will bring us up to 4 litter boxes for 3 cats, one of which pees and poops outside exclusively. So basically four litter boxes (and one extra, extra large) for 2 cats.

I've also begun monitoring her peeing VERY closely. If anything seems amiss, I'll do some sleuthing.

Researched Urinary Tract Infections. If there is one more accident, I'm going to take her in immediately, but I want to try this out first. It's been at least 2 days and there have been no problems. She also doesn't have any of the other symptoms like not peeing very much each time and trying to pee often. As far as I know, she pees everytime she goes into the litter box and her pee blocks seem QUITE large, so I think she's okay on the front. She also doesn't seem to be in pain, though I understand cats generally try to hide it.
Regardless, because of all this, I'm going to take my (and her) chances and wait for a vet appointment.

Also, regarding that, if I do get her tested for a UTI will she have to stay overnight so they can get a sample? Does it generally cost significantly more than a general exam?

Annnndddd some photos.



Still no closer to unlocking the secret to photographing a black cat successfully.

















Thanks again. You guys are the best. Like my own personal cat care advisors. ♥

"A lucky cat has survived after being trapped for four weeks in a chilled food warehouse - by eating frozen peas.

The feline managed to survive temperatures of -2C (-28F) for a month in the warehouse before it was finally rescued by the RSPCA.

The 12-month-old black and white tabby cat, who has been nicknamed 'Frosty' by RSPCA staff, is believed to have survived by eating frozen peas and licking moisture off icy food packets."




Source: Daily Fail (read more)

This is my pretty kitty Crisco. She's a Munchkin kitty (who's gotten kinda chubby).





whatcha' got there?








Here's two of me and my kitty:


She really loves to lick my face with her little sandpaper tongue


This gives you a general idea of what she looked like before the chubs happened

I got her while I was living on my own and after about a little over a year I moved back into my parent's house. Where already lived one cat (Missy who I don't have any pictures of at this moment), Malabu the bird, Phillip Jay Frumpalumpakins the ferret and Yoda the dog. Crisco and Yoda became the best of friends, seeing as how Crisco is more like a dog.

She's always been hellbent on bein an outside cat so I bought her a name tag and out she goes. Since then, I've gotten a phone call from just about all of my neighbors telling me she's at their house. She apparently likes to kick down people's doors and barge right in.
The best call being from my neighbor a few houses over. Which went something like this:

"So...you're cat came over to my house. See, I have a dog who normally doesn't like other animals. But um.. apparently has taken a sexual liking to your cat."

Given to me on Saturday night - one toy mouse, deposited on top of my pizza mid meal. Rameses is such a thoughtful kitty!

They are starting to explore their box.

My foster mama had her kittens last Thursday just after midnight.

Here's Karima, getting situated to feed the kids. She's been a most excellent mother so far and taking care of the wee ones. I like to pick names from another language, these are Swahili. The group shots are when the kittens were 1 day old, the individual shots were when they were 2 days old. Meet the Girls Amirah, which means "Princess" Bishara, which means "good tidings" Kali, which means "black" Meet the Boys Kondo, which means "Battle" Sefu, which means "Sword" Hamisi, which means "born on Thursday" Kitten Pile! Toe Pads of DOOM!

So, those of you who remember me will know that I have almost no experience with cats and just got one a few weeks ago. I've been reading up as much as I can, but there's no substitute for actual experience.

Anyway, I fear she's taken to occasionally peeing around my room. I'm so confused (and disturbed) by this!

I first noticed when I put on my jogging pants and they smelled like cat pee. I was pretty concerned, but thought that MAYBE it was ok because we're temporarily living in this disgusting rental house and the carpets are horrid (and I've tried EVERYTHING to get the smell out.) It's just hopeless. It's a gross, moist, dog-friendly house and it smells bad. However, this smell seemed distinctly cat pee and not the carpet.

So then I started noticing a subtle cat pee smell that could just be detected over the disgusting carpet smell as soon as I walked into my room.

So then I was down by a corner for whatever reason and I noticed teh cat pee smell was pretty strong there and some of the dirty clothes that were on the floor in that area had some subtle cat pee smell.

And today, I was trying to organize and clean my room a little more (It's incredibly tiny. There is not really room for my desk, my bed, and my dirty clothes basket so it's hard to keep things organized because every spot to keep things takes on multiple duties.) and I have this big rubber-maid-esque tub full of random stuff - some yarn, winter accessories like hats and gloves, extra sheets, notebooks, unneeded cords and computer supplies and I noticed a few of the things in it smelled like cat pee (mostly my very expensive camera bag and PART of my very expensive, homemade, wool scarf :( )

What's odd about it is that cat pee is usually absurdly strong and it was at least somewhat subtle on all these items. Also, my cat USUALLY uses the litter box. There have been a couple times where it seemed like she wasn't using it so much, but she had finally taken to exploring the other rooms (especially my roommate's room with the other cats) so i figured she had used my roommate's litter box a couple times.

So what is going on? And how do I fix it? I can't stand cat smell at all! I scoop the litter box usually multiple times a day to avoid it.
This problem is freaking me out A LOT. Especially since we're moving in a few weeks and I have been absurdly excited to finally be out of this awful smell. I would hate for her to begin peeing in that house and ruin it!

Here's some info that could be pertain to the issue (though I don't really know. As I said, I know very little about cats)

She is probably about 2 years old and is spayed.
I just got her from a shelter where she lived for 6+ months on February 12.
The accidents PROBABLY started recently, and are probably very rare, but i'm not 100 percent sure. I do know that there is usually a seemingly correct amount of pee in her litter box.
I've never found any poop anywhere but the litter box, but we do have dogs that like to eat it...
One of the places that she seems to have peed is VERY near to her food and water.
The litterbox NEVER gets very full before I scoop.
I switched from an open litter box to a covered one a few days after I got her and she didn't seem to have any issues with it.
I moved the litterbox to a rather odd and harder to get to place a couple weeks ago (so the dogs can't get to it) but this doesn't SEEM to have any correlation to when she peed in the house.
My room is her safe room (which is why I also keep a little box in it) but she's just recently started exploring regularly (perhaps near the time when she started peeing in the room? But I totally can't be sure! I'm so confused!)
Nothing seems to have been drenched with pee because it's just not that obvious.
She just had a vet appointment a few days ago. She is probably very healthy.

Any ideas? I would love you forever if you could offer me any help with this issue. I just cannot tolerate the smell of cat pee! At all! I'm so scared!

Was wondering what some of the signs of a sprained paw were?

My cat jumped down and landed oddly a little while ago and is walking a little gingerly and occasionally holding up her one paw. She isn't limping, just walking a bit gently and is walking to places instead of her usual full gallop. Will keep a close eye on her and already plan on taking her to the vet tomorrow morning if she isn't 100% better by then.

Hey all.

I just wanted to share a little bit about what has been going on with me and, more importantly, my cat Lily.



I had a house full of family during the Mardi Gras holidays a few weeks ago. Lily did reasonably well (she hid for the first two days, then "made friends" after that). As soon as my family left, Lily became listless and depressed. I thought it might just be a mood change after my family left, so I wasn't too concerned until a couple of days had passed and she just wasn't moving a whole lot and hadn't pooped. I'm a registered nurse, and although that doesn't mean I can treat animals (except on full moons...LOL), I still have a little bit of clinical knowledge--considering most animal medications are also used in humans.

I got right on the phone and called my vet, who was out of town. I was so worried about my baby that I called another local vet and got her right in.

Lily is NOT a lover of the vet's office, like most cats. She typically spits, hisses and cuts up any time she is in a medical office. Well, I brought her to the vet and he was basically like, "I'm going to have to sedate her to even assess her." We talked about her symptoms, without examining Lily, and he chalked up her problems to constipation saying, "cats act really off when they are constipated" and sent me home with regimen of Laxatone 4-5 times a day. Heh. Let's just say I have spot of Laxatone in every room of my house. It did NOT go well...

3-4 days of Laxatone go by and she only had a small amount of poop (read: ONE LOG) and she was NOT eating. I called back the vet and he told me that this problem was probably a long term colon issue, like "nervous colon disease" or possibly she had mouth issues. He asked me to watch her eat SOMETHING and get back to him. Well, she picked up ONE piece of food, crunched it and walked away from the food bowl. Of course, I let him know this and he automatically said (remember, this is all WITHOUT assessing my cat...he managed to lay his hand on her fur while I was holding her to see if she was "running fever") that my cat had mouth problems and prescribed Amoxicillin twice a day for FOUR WEEKS, until he could sedate her and clean her teeth. He said to me, "give her about 3-5 days and that medicine will kick in and she will start to feel better and eat." I got about 2 doses down her before she started drooling when I would give her the medicine, so I called him back and said "uh, she's drooling terribly when I give her the medicine...is this normal?" He told me "absolutely, since she has a mouth infection."

I did this for about 3 days until I was miserable. I cried every day because she would just LAY there, not eating (I was told that she would "catch up on her eating when she felt better" and when I asked about liver failure from not eating I was told "cats can not eat for 2 weeks"), looking pitiful.

I finally got on the internet, found the number for a local CAT ONLY clinic, called the Cat Hospital of Metairie (Louisiana) and was told to bring my cat in right away.

There I was given a THOROUGH exam by a team of experienced cat handlers WITH NO NEEDED SEDATION. They drew blood, did a temp, did 2 view xrays, gave her fluids and the whole shebang, without harming my cat. I was cared for as a cat owner and the doc did everything in her power to assess and try to diagnose my cat.

My cat does NOT have a mouth infection. In fact, she doesn't have tartar bad enough for a cleaning! My cat has Hemobartonellosis (infectious anemia) and was very close to dying. Her liver enzymes were elevated (at the beginning stages of liver failure from not eating), she was COMPLETELY dehydrated and she had a fever of 105.5 (normal is 101-101.5). I was misdiagnosed by a doctor who was intimidated by cats, and in MY humble opinion, could care less about my animal.

Lily is still ill, but the doc thinks we are on the right track to her getting better. I just wanted to write this entry to tell everyone that a second opinion for your "baby" is OK. If you don't feel like you are getting adequate, thorough treatment by your vet, GO SOMEWHERE ELSE. I, personally, feel MUCH better knowing that I am being seen by a doctor who deals/treats ONLY cats and is more of a cat expert. I don't feel like I am being put on the back burner because of a vet who doesn't like cats or one that is scared/intimidated by a hissing bundle of growling fur.

Please be good to your babies and get the best vet you can.


My Lily (PS. I was also told by my old vet that Lily is a bobcat/domestic mix. I was told by my lovely cat vet that she has NO bobcat in her. She's a Manx!)



(Note the "bad kitty" ears)


Ceiling cat sees what you did thar...

i've been a member of this community for too long, seeing too many of all your adorable babies, and i finally decided that enough was enough...so without further ado, here are the heirs to my heart, the lords of my love, masters of my mind, the sorcerers of my soul, and the loves of my life:
 


this is my precious...Kyau Sasha



ever since i first got them at 4 weeks old i've smothered them with love, and now it seems they've taken it upon themselves to being love incarnated.



i hope no one thinks i am crazy, but i'm having a wedding for them in a month or so. i would say anyone who lives near new york and has a feline friend is more than welcome to join because its going to be a blast! i made them a little tux and a dress each, and i got them pretty collars. Albert's going to have a bachelors party, and of course there will be music and tasty treats!



here's my fatty, Albert, getting a  little rowdy with my foot.



sometimes, albert is too much of a casanova for even kyau to handle.



honestly, i've never had a cat who smiles and purrs as much as he does. he's actually more like a dog than anything. one that will just lay in your lap and not move until you do. in any position. maybe he's more like a plush, furry pillow...



My ginger prince: King Albert Digweed III



and the gorgeous Queen Kyau Sasha the Prettiest



doing the cat thing...



i don't even know how to caption this one...

In May, I'm moving to another state and will have to fly with my cat, Sticks. I've already got all the basics covered (bought my ticket in advance and reserved space for him on the plane, bought an airline approved carrier, etc.) but I'm really torn on whether or not to sedate him.

Sticks likes his new carrier. I've sprayed it with "calming spray" and lined with with baby blankets. And he's fine being zipped up in it. But being in any kind of moving vehicle makes him go crazy. He starts howling, and hissing, and pressing his face really hard against the mesh. We're still practicing with car trips, but they're not going any better. I'm not sure if he'd eventually get tired and just...resign himself to his fate, but of course I'd also rather not that be how this happens.

So I'm beginning to lean toward sedation as maybe the least stressful option for the both of us. But I've read a lot of advice, both from the airlines themselves and from national vet organizations, that recommend against it.

I've talked to my own vet briefly about it, and he seems to think that sedating Sticks would be fine.

Does anyone have experience either way? Opinions??

Thanks in advance!

I just brought my ten month old home from being neutered today. He had an overnight stay and aside from being a little bit more tired than he usually is and incredibly lovey toward me, he's exactly the same. I'm slightly relieved. I heard horror stories about lethargic kittens, sickness, ripping out stitches, etc. Phew! However, on the sheet that the vet gave me, it said that he shouldn't be running or jumping for a week. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to prevent this. Any suggestions? Forgive me for my ignorance, first time cat owner here.





This was about a month after I brought him home. He was so sick! They told me he was 4 pounds and he was barely two. They told me he was 9 weeks and the vet said he was probably only six. In addition, it took about two months for him to get better. When I brought him in a couple of weeks ago, they told me that they couldn't believe he made it. He's a little fighter, that is for sure.



My golden, Jake, with Scotty. Believe me, they are usually not this nice to each other.

 I know I shouldn't be worrying & jumping to conclusions but I'm despairing now :( Could really use some advice :(

My oldest cat, Tiggy who will turn 16 this June has been having trouble with her waterworks since November last year. It just started off with her leaking blood from her ladybits & then she started losing blood in her pee. So we rushed her straight to the vet where she had an injections & got given antibiotics. She seemed fine for a few weeks after this, then she started to loose blood once again, so we took her back to the vet where she had another anti-inflammatory injection & we got given another course of antibiotics, which she had, only this time things didn't die down & she got worse. She started going outside of the litterbox, straining to go for a pee, leaking pee & blood everywhere & it started to effect her back-end aswell, she's been straining to go for a poo & when she does, it seems to make the leaking/bleeding worse afterwards. 
So we took her back again, this time with a urine sample & it showed up Struvite Crystals & they gave us this special food. Which she has been eating but unfortunately there's been no improvement in her symptoms. :(
She's wetting all over the house, she smells terrible bless her, there's blood in her urine & her bowel habits are terrible. She can't go for a poo without straining really hard, even though we've been giving her this Katalax Laxative from the vet, she strains so hard sometimes that we think she's gonna have a heart attack or something, sometimes she meows in pain too :( 
She has also poo-ed on the floor of my sister's bedroom rather than use the litter-tray. Which in itself is something she has never been like, she was always been a very clean cat & done her business eiether outside or in the littertray, NEVER on the floor. All that only started when she developed these problems. 
She's gone EXTREMELY thin, the vet weighed her & she was only half a kilo!!! I think cat's are meant to be at least 4 kilos aren't they!?! She's like a little bag of bones & looks so tiny compared to our big, bounding male cat Basil, whose only 6 next month. She eats loads though, but recently she seems to have lost abit of interest in her food, plus, she's not been keen on the special food for her crystals. Which I'm worried about cos she's thin enough already, she can't afford to loose anymore! 
Plus, she's been throwing her food up for a good few months now, along with a white foamy gunk... :/ & she's been more thirsty than normal.
We've also noticed that her back leg's seem to be going wobbly on her, like she can't walk in a straight line. :( & She's been having a few falls, like off the window sill & the cabinets she sits on, also, the last time she did her all mighty straining to go for a poo, her back legs seemed to give way on her when she left the litter-tray & she fell flying bless her :( Then it happened a few more times that night afterwards, her leg's kept giving way on her :(
& She's been so lethargic & "off" recently, it's such a shame :(

So as you can see, all this is worrying me & my family to the brink of insanity. We've had her since she was just a year old, her owner was our neighbour & he moved away & couldn't take her with him, so because we already knew her well [she used to pop in for some food & milk he-he], we decided to take her in. So we've had her 15 years now. I was 8, now I'm 23 next month! I've always loved her so much, we all have, she's like a member of the family. We just adore her & it's breaking our heart's seeing her like this, it's so upsetting. :'( We're gonna be taking her back to the vet's this week but we'll probably just be given antibiotics again. :( They just keep brushing us off, but they're not seeing how ill she is & it's beginning to make me ill with the worry. I'm beginning to think the worse now, because of her age, my main worry is bladder cancer as she seems to have all the symptoms...& more! 

I could REALLY use some advice, any help on this would be appreciated. Thank you so much in advance x

Today was so nice out for a change, I managed to get Dexter outside. He liked it hahahaha

Lenny Briscoe looking handsome.


Cat-Face soaking some sun



This lil girl came to visit once, After eating some kibble she went on her way, haven't seen her since..

My cat never used to really be a big scratcher, she's around two now, and in the past few months she's been shredding EVERYTHING. She still has all the same things available to her as she ever did (we've had her since she was two months old and she has a scratching post, toys, etc).

This is really frustrating, she's ruining the carpet and most of our furniture, including some irreplaceable things like a blanket a good friend made for me. I don't know why this would just suddenly become an issue. Any ideas?

As much as I love her I wanted to throttle her when I woke up and saw that blanket in shreds. We keep her claws trimmed and she gets plenty of play time. Softpaws did not work out well for me, always were falling off.

What have your cats ruined/damaged that can't be replaced? Stories would probly make me feel better. The worst thing about cats, as opposed to my dog, is they are totally unrepentant. At least my when dog ruins something she has the good manners to looks ashamed of herself. She's now purring with what I'm sure it total self satisfaction and sitting on the back of my chair.

Cora



Trick and Voodoo




Imp




Goblin




July is our queen!


Treat stole my seat...and she's not giving it back.

Our family's cat Megan had to be put down today.  She was 14 years old and one of the nicest cats I have ever known - even cat haters loved her.  She would follow my mum round like a little shadow and she had the loudest miaow I have ever heard. 

Her breathing was laboured last night and she was off her food this morning, but otherwise seemed ok, my mum took her to the vet as a precaution and was told she wouldn't last another half hour.  Apparently her lungs were covered in tumors.  I'm still shocked by how out of the blue it was, I know she was oldish but she was fine until today.  I just hope she wasn't hurting. 

Anyway, I wanted somewhere to vent where I wouldn't be told to "get over it - it's a cat" and knew you guys would understand.

Here's some pictures of beautiful Meg: