…… Questions needs for my House Cat Book - please post your Kitty Questions here!
I have two rescue kitties that I suspect were not socialized very well. They were born 5/15 and 6/25. I just got them two months ago and wonder if there is a way to help them learn to like being petted and maybe even held. I do play with them a lot and they love fishing type toys.
jward
passin' thru
Thanks for the response, Melodi (and nightwolf). I thought the additional predation pressures of the farm might warrant leaving him entact. And yes, though I m trained and well versed with banding tools and protocols, the last thing I want is to hurt Bobby Baby. I just got him to know this was a safe place, and didn't want to stress him with a vet. Of course, banding him myself probably wouldn't be the best way to convey this is the safe place where you belong and are loved!
marsh
On TB every waking moment
I adopted three strays - a moma and two of her kittens. She was a very good mama and was socialized, so she must have been someone's at one time. They are all adults now.
Mama Pye discovered a basket of boutique synthetic yarn I had. It was eyelash and other fuzzy sorts. I took all but the gray ones away from her. Even with the brightly colored ones, she will carry the skein/ball in her mouth and make meepy noises. I assume they simulate a kill and have given to call them her "beasties." She usually brings them in my bedroom and drops them on the floor before she gets on the bed at night. Do you think they are kill or are they simulated kittens? (They are all fixed. They don't run free, but have a catio built on side the house in the garden.)
Mama Pye discovered a basket of boutique synthetic yarn I had. It was eyelash and other fuzzy sorts. I took all but the gray ones away from her. Even with the brightly colored ones, she will carry the skein/ball in her mouth and make meepy noises. I assume they simulate a kill and have given to call them her "beasties." She usually brings them in my bedroom and drops them on the floor before she gets on the bed at night. Do you think they are kill or are they simulated kittens? (They are all fixed. They don't run free, but have a catio built on side the house in the garden.)
L.A.B.
Goodness before greatness.
If I had a cat whisker paint brush, I’m sure I’d be an instant artist. With those same whiskers on a drum stick, I’m almost sure it would transform it into a magic wand. Cat’s are aloof when they are not needy, it’s up to you to figure it out. They can bore easy and are always ready to go aloof if a unseen nat flies by in dull candle light as your suddenly boring. OK... I get it... Not!
A indoor cat only magnifies the obvious give and take nature of the relationship. You give them food and litter, they’ll provide you the $3,500 leather sofa / scratching post. As a single crazy two-cat-man bachelor, the scratching post / sofa was no big deal.
The day I introduced my 16 year old black short haired fixed male to my wife it was HAAHIISCK as I attempted to convince her, ‘see, he’s smiling and attempting to say hello but his tongue can’t quite form the word.’ First impressions aside, my wife was terrible allergic to kitty salvia, dander, and anything else a cat sheds.
There was no pleading his case, no coin toss, not even one round of rock-paper-scissors with my wife. My ol’ boy was now destined to go semi-feral, half-kimba in a dog eat dog world. Where I’m at, it’s actually a coyote eat small dog and most cat’s world, but he was going to LOVE IT!
Ty was about 16 when he met his step mom. Ty was short for Tyrant as he was very demanding once he understood the clicking call from his morning Ninja hiding spot from the pull tab of his wet cat food also guaranteed a back stroking session as he ate. We cut back on the back rubs over time, that didn’t work out so well, so it was reinstated in accords to prior Cat protocols. With cats, you can slightly revise the daily routine, but don’t dare attempt to completely drop something from the routine. Cat’s can fake I don’t care aloof very well as they plot the future midnight destruction of the new recliner chair.
When Ty spoke with me of plans for his side patio kitty-condo I was amazed with how easy he made the design with his cat particular catty inference. No actual words, more like catlepthey. The mental commands a human is to adhere to with one blank face catstare.
As it turns out, the freedom of being in a outdoor corridor traveled by his peers and many a raccoon, possum, and coyote was welcome over that of an aggressive squirrel sporting his own balls as he squeezed himself through the coyote proof elevated latched and locked kitty condo I built him. The first time the aggro beast leaped onto the condo, I sensed the cat telepathy attempting a command of me to acquire and acquaint the blacked clawed black eyed furry demon with the B-B gun. Years of extreme mental training thankfully buffered his command. I threw a flip-flopped at the demon as Ty recoiled.
The kitty-condo was framed with 2” x 3” kiln dried Douglas Fir and connected with 3” electro-galvanized screws on the butt-end joints. The elevated crib was about 24” off the ground and about another 24” tall with a flat plywood roof sheathed in a Teflon type paper and finished with 50% coverage only with cedar siding butting up to the wire pet cage material I used to include a hinged and latched lockable door.
The kitty condo was his first long term experience in the outdoors. He lived just outside the kitchen patio door the last four years of his 20 year reign. I recall my wife relating a time when a storm rolled in and he bellowed a cat call into the fog and tall grass blowing back and forth. Freedom and yet security. The ol boy enjoyed the difference. He’d listen to the sound of my truck upon arriving home, or at night hearing the front door shut peering in to see if the new silhouette matched me. Sometimes he would be in a deep sleep on a cold night on his warm bed, waking like a wobbly old man as I pulled him out and sat him on his carpeted roof top perch for a good brushing and conversation.
Cats in our neighborhood learn to stick close to home in the daylight hours, and inside at night if they are to outlive the number one predators, the coyotes. Ty was telegraphing his ambition to go on a night hike near the end when he was sick. I allowed him his fill of wandering away from, and then back to his caged condo. He was too old and the coyotes too quick on the kill when hunting. I’m sure he understood the last yelps of small dogs in the distance falling prey to the little packs of coyotes that visit the area about once a month. Still he held his ground securely behind the heavy gauge wire, committed to his nocturnal sentry duty guarding his garden corridor and bellowing bravely at ever new smell or dancing blade of grass.
A indoor cat only magnifies the obvious give and take nature of the relationship. You give them food and litter, they’ll provide you the $3,500 leather sofa / scratching post. As a single crazy two-cat-man bachelor, the scratching post / sofa was no big deal.
The day I introduced my 16 year old black short haired fixed male to my wife it was HAAHIISCK as I attempted to convince her, ‘see, he’s smiling and attempting to say hello but his tongue can’t quite form the word.’ First impressions aside, my wife was terrible allergic to kitty salvia, dander, and anything else a cat sheds.
There was no pleading his case, no coin toss, not even one round of rock-paper-scissors with my wife. My ol’ boy was now destined to go semi-feral, half-kimba in a dog eat dog world. Where I’m at, it’s actually a coyote eat small dog and most cat’s world, but he was going to LOVE IT!
Ty was about 16 when he met his step mom. Ty was short for Tyrant as he was very demanding once he understood the clicking call from his morning Ninja hiding spot from the pull tab of his wet cat food also guaranteed a back stroking session as he ate. We cut back on the back rubs over time, that didn’t work out so well, so it was reinstated in accords to prior Cat protocols. With cats, you can slightly revise the daily routine, but don’t dare attempt to completely drop something from the routine. Cat’s can fake I don’t care aloof very well as they plot the future midnight destruction of the new recliner chair.
When Ty spoke with me of plans for his side patio kitty-condo I was amazed with how easy he made the design with his cat particular catty inference. No actual words, more like catlepthey. The mental commands a human is to adhere to with one blank face catstare.
As it turns out, the freedom of being in a outdoor corridor traveled by his peers and many a raccoon, possum, and coyote was welcome over that of an aggressive squirrel sporting his own balls as he squeezed himself through the coyote proof elevated latched and locked kitty condo I built him. The first time the aggro beast leaped onto the condo, I sensed the cat telepathy attempting a command of me to acquire and acquaint the blacked clawed black eyed furry demon with the B-B gun. Years of extreme mental training thankfully buffered his command. I threw a flip-flopped at the demon as Ty recoiled.
The kitty-condo was framed with 2” x 3” kiln dried Douglas Fir and connected with 3” electro-galvanized screws on the butt-end joints. The elevated crib was about 24” off the ground and about another 24” tall with a flat plywood roof sheathed in a Teflon type paper and finished with 50% coverage only with cedar siding butting up to the wire pet cage material I used to include a hinged and latched lockable door.
The kitty condo was his first long term experience in the outdoors. He lived just outside the kitchen patio door the last four years of his 20 year reign. I recall my wife relating a time when a storm rolled in and he bellowed a cat call into the fog and tall grass blowing back and forth. Freedom and yet security. The ol boy enjoyed the difference. He’d listen to the sound of my truck upon arriving home, or at night hearing the front door shut peering in to see if the new silhouette matched me. Sometimes he would be in a deep sleep on a cold night on his warm bed, waking like a wobbly old man as I pulled him out and sat him on his carpeted roof top perch for a good brushing and conversation.
Cats in our neighborhood learn to stick close to home in the daylight hours, and inside at night if they are to outlive the number one predators, the coyotes. Ty was telegraphing his ambition to go on a night hike near the end when he was sick. I allowed him his fill of wandering away from, and then back to his caged condo. He was too old and the coyotes too quick on the kill when hunting. I’m sure he understood the last yelps of small dogs in the distance falling prey to the little packs of coyotes that visit the area about once a month. Still he held his ground securely behind the heavy gauge wire, committed to his nocturnal sentry duty guarding his garden corridor and bellowing bravely at ever new smell or dancing blade of grass.
First they need to learn "baby talk".
Can't talk to your pets otherwise.
Maybe Melodi can include a dictionary of sorts.
also you must learn to repeat yourself
many times
"whos a good boy?'"
'whos a good boy"
and on and on
Melodi
Disaster Cat
Great questions and stories guys - I will try to do more complete answers later and/or just put the relevant chapter of the FAQ's here for folks to read.
A couple of quick observations:
Yes, cats are a danger to wildlife and that is the reason why places with no native cats or predators like New Zealand and Australia are working towards having ALL pet cats be indoor cats and replacing barn cats with other forms of pest control.
In most of the rest of the world, barn cats (along with small dogs and ferrets) have been helping humans protect their crop storage since the dawn of agriculture.
In the Barn Cat book, we talk a bit about the problem of invasive feral cats vs your barn cats; and yep sometimes a farmer or smallholder has to protect their livestock, chickens and/or their own barn cats from an invader cat (usually a feral tom sometimes with gang member cats).
One reason for having your own barn cats is that they tend to keep the feral cats at bay and I also talk about rehoming barn cats that become a danger to your own livestock - this happens sometimes too - then rehoming as pets are often the best option.
Siamese emotional meltdowns - we have two rescues "meezers" in our menagerie one is a snowshoe lady and the other is a huge old fashioned apple head tom in a black catsuit.
Smutty (pre-named) is right now yowling outside my office door having been banned a couple of months ago for marking the walls (and I see clients in here) he and Brownie both get very emotional and vocal when they are not getting 24/7 attention from their humans.
We deal with this by a combination of ignoring it when required and let them both sleep with us all night and every night, also special cuddling sessions throughout the day (like every time I go to the bathroom).
The ancestors of these cats were bred for generations to be guardian temple cats who were highly attached to their people and trained like dogs to apprehend potential thieves.
They are a bit more dog like that most breeds of cats and bond with their people more closely than most cats so they suffer emotionally more from separation anxiety than most cats.
As the human, you have to set some boundaries just as you do with a puppy.
The good news is these kitties tend to be highly intelligent and can be distracted by toys, games and other types of stimulation.
Finally
Sit Beside You Cats
Many cats, especially former ferals never really enjoy sitting on people the way Baron Tiger Von Tripod is right now (and making it really hard to type). They love their people in their own way, enjoy being near you, may play games with you and watch you but they may never want to sit on you -ever.
Many will come to the point where they will enjoy sitting beside you and even accept occasional petting, especially if you spend a lot of time just sitting quietly in the same room with them watching TV, reading or quiet activity that isn't startling and feels safe.
Sometimes after several years of sit beside you, they will surprise you and crawl into your lap or more often onto your sleeping form at night.
They do love you, they just don't like being held very much; other cats are like limpets and getting them off your lap even to type this post is very difficult.
So you can blame any typos on this particular post on his one very friendly front paw lol!
Ok again thanks gang and keep um coming I may not answer everything here and now but I am reading and researching - I have to research the feline acne question as I don't know the answer which makes it a great question.
Baron Tiger Von Tripod - a couple of hours after his rescue from under an oil drum and before the amputation of his injured front leg (it was dead and useless).
A couple of quick observations:
Yes, cats are a danger to wildlife and that is the reason why places with no native cats or predators like New Zealand and Australia are working towards having ALL pet cats be indoor cats and replacing barn cats with other forms of pest control.
In most of the rest of the world, barn cats (along with small dogs and ferrets) have been helping humans protect their crop storage since the dawn of agriculture.
In the Barn Cat book, we talk a bit about the problem of invasive feral cats vs your barn cats; and yep sometimes a farmer or smallholder has to protect their livestock, chickens and/or their own barn cats from an invader cat (usually a feral tom sometimes with gang member cats).
One reason for having your own barn cats is that they tend to keep the feral cats at bay and I also talk about rehoming barn cats that become a danger to your own livestock - this happens sometimes too - then rehoming as pets are often the best option.
Siamese emotional meltdowns - we have two rescues "meezers" in our menagerie one is a snowshoe lady and the other is a huge old fashioned apple head tom in a black catsuit.
Smutty (pre-named) is right now yowling outside my office door having been banned a couple of months ago for marking the walls (and I see clients in here) he and Brownie both get very emotional and vocal when they are not getting 24/7 attention from their humans.
We deal with this by a combination of ignoring it when required and let them both sleep with us all night and every night, also special cuddling sessions throughout the day (like every time I go to the bathroom).
The ancestors of these cats were bred for generations to be guardian temple cats who were highly attached to their people and trained like dogs to apprehend potential thieves.
They are a bit more dog like that most breeds of cats and bond with their people more closely than most cats so they suffer emotionally more from separation anxiety than most cats.
As the human, you have to set some boundaries just as you do with a puppy.
The good news is these kitties tend to be highly intelligent and can be distracted by toys, games and other types of stimulation.
Finally
Sit Beside You Cats
Many cats, especially former ferals never really enjoy sitting on people the way Baron Tiger Von Tripod is right now (and making it really hard to type). They love their people in their own way, enjoy being near you, may play games with you and watch you but they may never want to sit on you -ever.
Many will come to the point where they will enjoy sitting beside you and even accept occasional petting, especially if you spend a lot of time just sitting quietly in the same room with them watching TV, reading or quiet activity that isn't startling and feels safe.
Sometimes after several years of sit beside you, they will surprise you and crawl into your lap or more often onto your sleeping form at night.
They do love you, they just don't like being held very much; other cats are like limpets and getting them off your lap even to type this post is very difficult.
So you can blame any typos on this particular post on his one very friendly front paw lol!
Ok again thanks gang and keep um coming I may not answer everything here and now but I am reading and researching - I have to research the feline acne question as I don't know the answer which makes it a great question.
Baron Tiger Von Tripod - a couple of hours after his rescue from under an oil drum and before the amputation of his injured front leg (it was dead and useless).
Jez
Veteran Member
Our rescue cat came to us already declawed on the front claws. I've found that he really enjoys "sharpening his claws" on my laundry hamper that has holes in it that he can grab with what's left.
One question. How do you get an older cat to exercise or play? How much time should you try to get him to play to keep him healthy?
One question. How do you get an older cat to exercise or play? How much time should you try to get him to play to keep him healthy?
Melodi
Disaster Cat
Declawed cats will sharpen their "zen" claws as we called them, while this procedure is now outlawed in much of the world and should be in the US, getting a rescue in this situation is not uncommon and these kitties do have some special needs but your vet can best advise on that.
Getting an older cat to play and exercise depends on the kitty and how elderly they are, but like older people, they tend to slow down, have difficulty moving and often get weight-related issues (too fat, too thin etc)
But even the most fragile, elderly kitty will usually enjoy a few string toys swung for them to bat at (one old guy we had used to play with his eyes during his last months) and with luck they will do a bit of leaping, running and jumping. An elderly cat may also be encouraged to move by rolling a ball for them to chase or tossing a mousie for them.
The human often has to do some of the work, that when they were younger the kitty would have done for themselves but anything that keeps them moving is good, as an elderly person its time for more walking and less running.
Sometimes the best thing in the world is a couple of young kittens introduced to the household because they will play with each other and often Grandpa or Grandma can't resist joining in the fun - but you can't be certain of this, the elderly cat may simply hiss and demand a kitten safe-space (and they should have access to one anyway because kittens have too much energy for most elders 24/7).
Also remember elderly cats, like elderly people, tend to go blind, deaf or lose their sense of smell which is another reason you may have to help them to play. They may not see that string toy until it gets close enough to bat their nose or hear the bell in the rolling ball anymore.
PM me if you need any more suggestions or if there are specific issues.
I will be dealing with cat dementia in the book which sometimes also is a factor.
First they need to learn "baby talk".
Can't talk to your pets otherwise.
Maybe Melodi can include a dictionary of sorts.
Baby talk helps but a cat reads your soul. Animals can read people better than people do.
Melodi
Disaster Cat
True and like dogs they understand quite a lot of human language but seem to respond better to that "baby-talk" tone of voice, possibly because of that connection between domestic cat evolution/similarity to human infants thing.
There was a great headline a few months ago along the lines of: "Cats know their names they just don't care."
That isn't quite true, cats do know the names we give them and they often respond to them (just not if they don't feel like it lol) but they learn words like "out, in, food dish, nighttime, sleepies, mousie, toy and of course V-E-T" which is why almost all pet owners spell it (that works for about a month).
They also have their own language and we will go over some of that in the book, it is mostly based on eye contact along with movement rather than verbalization.
They do make sounds of course, but the meow may actually be an attempt by cats to imitate us - they do it naturally as kittens to call their Mom and when in distress (the "mew") sound but they don't chatter at each other the way they chatter at us.
I tend to think that cats see us the way The Teacher is shown in the Peanuts cartoons - big blobs that stand there saying "bla, bla, bla" or "wa, wa, wa" so they Mow-wa right back at us.
20Gauge
TB Fanatic
That for us took a bit of time. They were brother and sister. Give it time and keep doing what you are doing.
Why does my cat stare at what appears to be nothing for 45 minutes? Personally, I think it’s just to make me look up and stupid, but cat says nothing. Generally, if something is there I will eventually see it. But lately: NOTHING. Imagine it’s a sound I can’t hear, but do wonder if it’s not “messing with the human “ at times. “What is it? Get it girl!” Ah, my little black Diana with claws rather than horses.
Melodi
Disaster Cat
The cat may be saying I love you, or it could be seeing into the next dimension universe over...seriously a cat may sometimes does this and we know they can see frequencies humans can - what they see is anyone's guess.
Flashyzipp
Veteran Member
Why does my feral cat turned house cat hate me and love my husband? ?
I have a female cat who is in good health. She has been a house cat since I found her as a 6-8 week old kitten on the side of the road. She has 3 clean litterboxes to choose from in the house, yet insists on peeing on any carpet or rug she finds on the floor.
How can I stop it??
How can I stop it??
Grouchy Granny
Deceased
Melodi -
Hope this thread is still open. After having had a number of cats over the years....
They all have different personalities, no matter where they came from - feral, shelter, or adopted me (had several do that).
I currently have one who loves to steal quarters and only quarters. She plays with them for awhile then hides them under the closest area rug. Just dug out 1.50 in quarters from the one in the living room. Cat toys are completely useless to my 4. They would rather play in a box, with a plastic bag or a wadded up piece of paper. Had another one who liked to rifle through wallets and steal dollar bills.
Male cats for some reason tend to be more talkative and loving. I currently have two Riley (black and white tuxedo) and Mikey (also black and white) and they demand their daily share of pets and really like keeping you company while in the bathroom. Also very loud in letting you know the food dishes are empty.
The girls are more standoffish - Lena who is the youngest and is the quarter thief will sleep with me but refuses to be held or picked up. My vet learned the hard way - he now handles her with welding gloves and the "cat bag". Stuff the cat in the bag which kind of looks like a laundry bag with lots of holes in it and hold her down while giving shots. Furbie (aka Furball) is also pretty standoffish, but insists on sleeping right against my stomach. Some nights its impossible to roll over since I'm the filling in a cat sandwich.
Cats can live a long time! Unfortunately we lost the grandma cat last year (Pia - yes, it does mean what you think it does and she could be) who was 23. I've had several others go into their 20's as well. They were all indoor/outdoor cats.
According to my vet most Siamese are very prone to heart issues - I lost 2 of them to heart problems within a year of each other. I prefer the good ol Heinz 57 variety of cat, but have also had several that were pedigreed (no I did not buy them, apparently the for rent sign was lit on my forehead and I got conned into taking them).
Lastly - they learned tricks from the dogs! Both my dogs scratch at the back door when they want in or out. Now Riley and Furbie do the same thing. Those are the only two I let out, Mikey and Lena are both completely indoor cats. Of course my dogs also learned from the cats - Ash (the Miniature Schnauzer/Lhasa Apso Mix rescue) now sleeps on the back of the sofa just like the cats do - sometimes the back of the sofa is wall to wall dog/cat combo all snoozing in the sun together.
Hope this thread is still open. After having had a number of cats over the years....
They all have different personalities, no matter where they came from - feral, shelter, or adopted me (had several do that).
I currently have one who loves to steal quarters and only quarters. She plays with them for awhile then hides them under the closest area rug. Just dug out 1.50 in quarters from the one in the living room. Cat toys are completely useless to my 4. They would rather play in a box, with a plastic bag or a wadded up piece of paper. Had another one who liked to rifle through wallets and steal dollar bills.
Male cats for some reason tend to be more talkative and loving. I currently have two Riley (black and white tuxedo) and Mikey (also black and white) and they demand their daily share of pets and really like keeping you company while in the bathroom. Also very loud in letting you know the food dishes are empty.
The girls are more standoffish - Lena who is the youngest and is the quarter thief will sleep with me but refuses to be held or picked up. My vet learned the hard way - he now handles her with welding gloves and the "cat bag". Stuff the cat in the bag which kind of looks like a laundry bag with lots of holes in it and hold her down while giving shots. Furbie (aka Furball) is also pretty standoffish, but insists on sleeping right against my stomach. Some nights its impossible to roll over since I'm the filling in a cat sandwich.
Cats can live a long time! Unfortunately we lost the grandma cat last year (Pia - yes, it does mean what you think it does and she could be) who was 23. I've had several others go into their 20's as well. They were all indoor/outdoor cats.
According to my vet most Siamese are very prone to heart issues - I lost 2 of them to heart problems within a year of each other. I prefer the good ol Heinz 57 variety of cat, but have also had several that were pedigreed (no I did not buy them, apparently the for rent sign was lit on my forehead and I got conned into taking them).
Lastly - they learned tricks from the dogs! Both my dogs scratch at the back door when they want in or out. Now Riley and Furbie do the same thing. Those are the only two I let out, Mikey and Lena are both completely indoor cats. Of course my dogs also learned from the cats - Ash (the Miniature Schnauzer/Lhasa Apso Mix rescue) now sleeps on the back of the sofa just like the cats do - sometimes the back of the sofa is wall to wall dog/cat combo all snoozing in the sun together.
duchess47
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Update on George and Smokey. I've got both of them on Cosequin mainly because I never know which dish George will eat out of. I sit with them when they eat, morning and evening and Smokey behaves since I'm there. George occasionally turns on Smokey and his tormenting and beats the daylights out of him, just not often enough. Smokey forgets George really does know how to defend himself. George is very vocal (hubby says he's saying Mom and Smokey is beginning to pick that up from him. They do both understand everything I say to them.
Walrus Whisperer
Hope in chains...
An addendum to this: DO NOT stick ur fingers in the crate to sooth kitty. He will either chomp on them or hook u with the claws, causeing u to suffer greatly and or having an accident. You will survive that angry buzzing hive sound without loosing ur digits.
Esto Perpetua
Veteran Member
Meezer slave checking in. They really do imprint on you. If I run errands, I'm not out of the house for five minutes before she paces, yowling at the top of her lungs, through the house because she has to know where I am every waking minute. And yes, she does understand many words. Outside, noms, crunchies... She also knows when we're talking about her and she knows her many names. We got her from a breeder and I had her spayed ASAP.
Here is my question: Why is my cat carrying pipe cleaners around(she plays with them)like they're kittens or prey? I toss them into her tower when I mop the kitchen floor and she'll climb up there later and carry them, one by one, to her food dish.
Is she carrying her "babies" to the food dish so they can eat(like maybe she wanted to be a mom cat like the other female kitties she remembered but couldn't because we spayed her)or is she fetching her food out of the tower and putting it by the food dish with her other food(mountain lions will hide big prey and come back later to eat it)
Love reading about your barn cat experience and knowledge.
Here is my question: Why is my cat carrying pipe cleaners around(she plays with them)like they're kittens or prey? I toss them into her tower when I mop the kitchen floor and she'll climb up there later and carry them, one by one, to her food dish.
Is she carrying her "babies" to the food dish so they can eat(like maybe she wanted to be a mom cat like the other female kitties she remembered but couldn't because we spayed her)or is she fetching her food out of the tower and putting it by the food dish with her other food(mountain lions will hide big prey and come back later to eat it)
Love reading about your barn cat experience and knowledge.
Buddy
Do cats get senile in later life? I feed him and after a couple of bites, he walks away then comes a couple of minutes later to get me to feed him (crying at the top of his lungs). He will be 19 this spring. He eats on top of the dining room buffet and sleeps in the sun there. I have to pick him up now and put him on the buffet. Sometimes he forgets and jumps up himself. Then looks at me like to say "Aren't you going to pick me up?" Then he is embarrassed because he is already on the buffet.
We lost our 16-year-old this last summer and the 19-year-old cries a lot. I have been trying to find at least one more kitten to be his companion but our shelter sells all the kittens to labs. I found this out by someone who no longer works there. I tried to buy a kitten online but there were so many scams I never did find a legit cattery.
Buddy
Do cats get senile in later life? I feed him and after a couple of bites, he walks away then comes a couple of minutes later to get me to feed him (crying at the top of his lungs). He will be 19 this spring. He eats on top of the dining room buffet and sleeps in the sun there. I have to pick him up now and put him on the buffet. Sometimes he forgets and jumps up himself. Then looks at me like to say "Aren't you going to pick me up?" Then he is embarrassed because he is already on the buffet.
We lost our 16-year-old this last summer and the 19-year-old cries a lot. I have been trying to find at least one more kitten to be his companion but our shelter sells all the kittens to labs. I found this out by someone who no longer works there. I tried to buy a kitten online but there were so many scams I never did find a legit cattery.
Buddy
Melodi
Disaster Cat
Yes this thread is still open, we are working on the book now so good timing.
Two quick observations:
1. Carrying toys to the water dish - that is "prey" behavior - in the wild many cats wash their prey if they can and it is common to find toy mice (or pipe cleaners) in the water dish or sometimes in the food dish.
2. Yes, cats can get dementia, it can come on as early as 14 or 15 or wait in very-long lived cats into the 20s or never happen at all.
Signs are extreme yowling at night and wandering as if lost, this is the one most cat parents notice the most especially when the cat isn't usually known for signing "the song of my people" at 3 am and suddenly it is almost non-stop.
The best way to treat this is with love and understanding - just like you do with a blind kitty, you make sure their downsized world is as constant as you can make it, that they get lots of pets, maybe sleeping with you under the covers, etc.
Remember they are scared and lost - there are often litter box issues that may force you to downsize their world mostly to a bathroom or other easy to clean place, hip issues can mean walk in cat pans are best (we used cardboard boxes and took down one side).
If you have to isolate bring a comfy chair or something into the bathroom so you can spend time with a cat while you read on a tablet or book etc.
Obviously a vet check is in order and kidney problems often affect cats in old age as well, so you want to make sure kitty isn't just in a lot of pain, sometimes dementia is hard to be certain of but old age frailty is treated in similar ways.
Finally - building a wonderful outdoor run (with the heated area in some climates) is a great solution when a new partner is seriously (as in deadly) allergic to the kitty - I have cousins that allergic so I understand the problem and three cheers you sorted it without rehoming the cat!
That's some feedback for now - great questions!
Two quick observations:
1. Carrying toys to the water dish - that is "prey" behavior - in the wild many cats wash their prey if they can and it is common to find toy mice (or pipe cleaners) in the water dish or sometimes in the food dish.
2. Yes, cats can get dementia, it can come on as early as 14 or 15 or wait in very-long lived cats into the 20s or never happen at all.
Signs are extreme yowling at night and wandering as if lost, this is the one most cat parents notice the most especially when the cat isn't usually known for signing "the song of my people" at 3 am and suddenly it is almost non-stop.
The best way to treat this is with love and understanding - just like you do with a blind kitty, you make sure their downsized world is as constant as you can make it, that they get lots of pets, maybe sleeping with you under the covers, etc.
Remember they are scared and lost - there are often litter box issues that may force you to downsize their world mostly to a bathroom or other easy to clean place, hip issues can mean walk in cat pans are best (we used cardboard boxes and took down one side).
If you have to isolate bring a comfy chair or something into the bathroom so you can spend time with a cat while you read on a tablet or book etc.
Obviously a vet check is in order and kidney problems often affect cats in old age as well, so you want to make sure kitty isn't just in a lot of pain, sometimes dementia is hard to be certain of but old age frailty is treated in similar ways.
Finally - building a wonderful outdoor run (with the heated area in some climates) is a great solution when a new partner is seriously (as in deadly) allergic to the kitty - I have cousins that allergic so I understand the problem and three cheers you sorted it without rehoming the cat!
That's some feedback for now - great questions!
Yes. On Sunday or anytime after 5pm. $$$
I have a question for Melodi.
Our indoor 3yr old male black shorthair was meowing up a storm, walking backwards, laying on his side, stretching, claws out. I watched him for a few hours and he only got worse, so I ended up taking him to the vet, after 5pm so emergency hours. It is a blocked urinary track. Other than feeding male cats the special food, is there anything else that we can give him to keep this from happening again? This cat has a brother and I really do not want a repeat of the vet bill. Are there any supplements that work to keep the crystals from forming?
Fake Shemp
Banned for resurrecting the mayonnaise thread
Sebastian
Sebastian
This maybe a bit of help to someone. Always loved cats but had a rather deadly allergic reaction every time I was about a cat. My allergist said that I was not allergic but what I described was a true alergic reaction. It was bad as in very. Just before the 2017 eclipse what appeared to be a Russian Blue kitten appeared on our deck already spayed as it turned out. Wife and children were not to be denied and I loved the cat. Turned out it was the industrial fragrance in the cat litter not the cat itself.
What about the oddities of cats? I posted here on july 30,19 about this wonderful but odd behavior of our kittie:
sweet kitty habit
So we have one of those rubber rugs in the basement that connect like a puzzle and have edge pieces about a foot and a half long, maybe an inch wide. Our one year old kitty rips off the edge pieces and places one or two or three of them in our bedroom doorway....every night! We figure this is his version of presenting us with dead mice and so we heap love and praise on him. I have even seen him place 5 of these in neat rows and spaced exactly the same distance apart. Lately he has added a cat toy from his basket! He is such an endearing kitty!
sweet kitty habit
So we have one of those rubber rugs in the basement that connect like a puzzle and have edge pieces about a foot and a half long, maybe an inch wide. Our one year old kitty rips off the edge pieces and places one or two or three of them in our bedroom doorway....every night! We figure this is his version of presenting us with dead mice and so we heap love and praise on him. I have even seen him place 5 of these in neat rows and spaced exactly the same distance apart. Lately he has added a cat toy from his basket! He is such an endearing kitty!
Melodi
Disaster Cat
Yep, sweet kitty is bringing you kills; researchers are split if cats do this to feed their humans or to teach them to hunt (since obviously we don't know how) I suspect both are true depending on the cat.
Cat allergies - MOST (not all but most) people are actually allergic to oil on the cat's skin, it is sometimes possible for an allergic person to live with a cat if someone else baths it once a week.
An older cat will hate this, but I know of at least one situation where a 16-year-old Siamese was able to keep living with their family for their last six years.
Start with a kitten and sometimes they even like the water or at least they accept their horrible fate...
Norwegian Forest Cats are the best breed for someone in this situation, as the oil on their fur is different, they are descended from domestic cats, but not quite domestic cats.
Even when very oily (we called on young cat "Statoil" when she was a teenager) they tend to not kick off standard cat allergies and again, bathing is also not a bad idea - show cats have to be bathed anyway.
There are full instructions in my barncat book on bathing kittens and cats and if someone needs extra help here just PM me.
Cat allergies - MOST (not all but most) people are actually allergic to oil on the cat's skin, it is sometimes possible for an allergic person to live with a cat if someone else baths it once a week.
An older cat will hate this, but I know of at least one situation where a 16-year-old Siamese was able to keep living with their family for their last six years.
Start with a kitten and sometimes they even like the water or at least they accept their horrible fate...
Norwegian Forest Cats are the best breed for someone in this situation, as the oil on their fur is different, they are descended from domestic cats, but not quite domestic cats.
Even when very oily (we called on young cat "Statoil" when she was a teenager) they tend to not kick off standard cat allergies and again, bathing is also not a bad idea - show cats have to be bathed anyway.
There are full instructions in my barncat book on bathing kittens and cats and if someone needs extra help here just PM me.