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Animal companions in our happy homes

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  • Boogie wrote: »
    How is A today @Pigwidgeon?
    Much better! :smile: Thanks for asking. She and I were just talking about the fact that a week ago this morning she was SO sick, and I was SO afraid "that" time had come. She's currently snoozing next to my chair (which is how she spends most of her days). I am grateful for the 15 years we've had so far and for whatever time we still have left. :heart:


  • BoogieBoogie Heaven Host
    Excellent news!

    👏🏼
  • HuiaHuia Shipmate
    Does anyone want a cute tabby who will get in your way help you make beds and prepare for visitors?
  • Yes please! Always room for one more cat....
  • RossweisseRossweisse Hell Host, 8th Day Host, Glory
    {{{{Pigwidgeon}}}}
  • HuiaHuia Shipmate
    Helpful tabby is no longer on the giveaway list, she did a sterling job at keeping the visitors entertained. Annoyingly they played some bitey games with her so I need to spend more time again persuading her that fingers should not be bitten.
  • RossweisseRossweisse Hell Host, 8th Day Host, Glory
    Oh. good. @Huia!
  • In the past week we’ve acquired a cat and her kitten from a local rescue centre. I was a little reluctant to take them both, as neither of us has any experience of kittens - or of having two felines at the same time! They’re living in one room at the moment and we’re letting them explore other rooms under supervision if they want to (the kitten does, the cat is unsure).
    The cat is absolutely adamant that she wants to remove her food from the dish and eat it on the carpet under the table, so I’m having to cut it into minute blobs so that she can’t.
  • HuiaHuia Shipmate
    Aravis, good on you for taking on rescue cats.

    Just a thought on the mother cat - You may be able to get free or cheap pieces of carpet samples from a place that sells carpet and put her plate on that. It could save you from so much cutting and save your carpet too.
  • I’ve put the bowl on a mat but she drags the food across the mat onto the carpet...it’s ok if I cut the food up extremely small, then she can’t do it. She was rescued from a house with 31 cats and I think her instinct is to grab food and retreat to a corner before anyone steals it. The kittens were born as soon as she got to the cat refuge (literally within a few minutes).
  • She’s a nice cat, very affectionate and has taught the kitten to wash herself properly and use the litter tray
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Aravis wrote: »
    ... She was rescued from a house with 31 cats ...
    Crikey! :flushed:
  • Aravis wrote: »
    The kittens were born as soon as she got to the cat refuge (literally within a few minutes).

    My dog was one of a litter born on the way from "death row" to a no-kill shelter. I don't know whether she was one of the puppies born in the car or if she was born once they got to the shelter.


  • Well this was a first. I let the dog out at 10 and then she comes back and lays on the floor by my chair until I am ready for bed at 10:30. Last night she wanted out at 9, so I let her out. When she got back she kept standing in the door to the den staring at me and then turning toward the bedroom, I just ignored her. The next think I know I hear a loud thud. She had put her weight against the closed bedroom door, gone in and put herself to bed. Guess the girl had a busy day and was just tired.
  • Does anyone have any tips on encouraging kittens (ours are now 7 months old) to go outside for their toileting needs. We have a catflap which they use regularly, but always come back in to use the litter tray. Getting tired of emptying it.
  • Put the litter tray outside. And then on suitable soil. And then get rid of it!
  • I have the opposite problem - I want Elizabeth to pee in her litter tray!

    However, since I started to keep a diary, in the hope of working out why/ where / when she was peeing elsewhere in the house, there has not been a single accident!

    (It's not been a huge problem, perhaps twice a week, but I want to sort it!)
  • RossweisseRossweisse Hell Host, 8th Day Host, Glory
    Aravis, bless you for taking in those cats.

    Gracious Rebel, it's much better for the cats and for wildlife if they stay indoors. Few love their cats as much as I, but I love birds, too, and cats kill millions of them every year. And cars, dogs, coyotes, foxes, birds of prey (if the bird is large enough and the cat sufficiently small) and cruel people kill millions of cats. Litter pans are a pain, but they're better than most of the alternatives.
  • BoogieBoogie Heaven Host
    edited February 2020
    It’s most unusual in the UK for cats to be kept indoors. We have about 10 in our street and all are outdoor/indoor cats with catflaps.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Over here* cat-flaps wouldn't really be practical for several months of the year - they'd let in too much cold - hence indoor cats.

    * I'm not sure if Ross is in a cold bit or a hot bit of Over Here
  • HuiaHuia Shipmate
    Aroha is an inside/outside cat. I do ensure she comes in at well before sunset and doesn't go out until well after dawn to cover the main times cats hunt. She spends far more time inside than any other cat I have had, which may change as she gets older.

    In NZ, where there are no large predator animals (apart from humans) it is more traditional that cats were put outside at night and free to wander during the day. This is changing as housing density increases.

    Another factor driving change is the establishment of fenced, predator-free "Inland island" sanctuaries. In one new subdivision the developers are trying to make the area cat-free because of the native birds nearby.

    I am thinking that as she gets older I might have a catio built so she can be outside, yet contained and protected.
  • I’m expecting to let our cats roam round the back garden once the kitten has been neutered (which probably won’t be till May/June).
    Our previous cat made it very clear that he was an indoor/outdoor cat and that nobody would confine him to a house. He only once (as far as I know) caught a bird, though he occasionally killed mice outside.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    The cat who owned us for a few months while her regular staff were in France was mostly an indoor cat, but if the weather wasn't too filthy, she'd instruct us to let her out on to the deck and have a bit of a patrol, just to make sure the other creatures in the garden knew whose garden it was.
  • Truffles is currently an indoor (apart from a 5 minute trip outside) cat as it’s winter; come April/May she’ll become an outdoor cat but I do prefer her to come in at night. After many years of refusing to use her cat flap (thug-cat next door scared her off it) finally I have helped her realise it’s the way to feline independence, although of course she does prefer her staff to open the door for her.
  • Elizabeth sits by the back door and meows. I open the door and she sits there, admiring the view, contemplating the weather etc while an icy blast swirls round the kitchen. She goes out sometimes, but is usually back in within ten minutes. Then she seems to ponder it, decide the weather couldn't actually have been that cold, and sits by the back door meowing again. A quick check usually confirms for her that yes, it really is that cold outside, by which time the temperature in the kitchen has dropped again.


    I'm not sure if she'll spend more time outside once the weather warms up.
  • The Maisie cat has just become even more valuable, following a visit tot he vet. She has been sneezing a lot recently, with a weepy eye. So off we went. She was a very good girl at the vet, except she wanted to get back in her carrier all the time, presumably because that would get her home and away from this intrusive woman. The result of her examination is a course of expensive antibiotic (and I will have the joy of giving her a pill twice a day, I just hope she will take it in tuna) and a return trip next week to see if her swollen facial glands are just an infection or something worse....
  • Cats in my experience don't take pills hidden in food. They will eat around it. Best way is to hold the cat's head back with mouth open, then pop pill into back of mouth, then stroke throat as it goes down. Not as tricky as it sounds, and even easier with an accomplice to hold the cat whole you administer the pill....but I have done it myself many times.
  • She took 2 of the three half pills in the tuna, but I had to do as you say for the third one. And now I expect to have to do that each time, since she won't be fooled by the food again. I am currently feline enemy number 1 in her eyes.
  • MooMoo Kerygmania Host
    Years ago we had to give pills to our dog, and it was a struggle, until one day we accidentally dropped some. When she saw us quickly reach for the pills on the floor she rushed over to pick them up and swallow them. She only got one; we grabbed the others. From then on, when we had to give her pills, we would make sure we had her attention, then drop the pill, apparently by accident, and frantically try to grab it. She always beat us to it.
  • I love that idea, Moo! I may have to try that if dipping the pill in peanut butter ever stops working!
    :lol:
  • With ours it was really cheap cheese,
  • BoogieBoogie Heaven Host
    I have to fool Tatze. I hide the pills in little balls of liver paste. Give her two pill free then one with a pill in and so on.

    Otherwise she just licks them clean and spits them out!
  • My dog used to eat the cheese and spit out the pill. My Vet suggested peanut butter, which seems to adhere better. Of course it also makes a big difference that her current pills are tasteless gelatin capsules, not yucky-tasting pills.

    She's so fond of her "special treats" that when we changed from twice a day to evenings only, she still insists on her morning "treat." I now dip a piece of dry dog food in peanut butter and give that to her at breakfast time.
  • Our cat loved Greenie Pill Pockets. No problem at all. pop pill in the Greenie, press it closed, down it goes.
  • Tuna did the trick tonight. Onward and upward.
  • Our ancient and much beloved cat came to the end of her life last year.

    Now the 14yr old retriever is showing worrying signs of AncientAge.....& our home is frequently smelling of disinfectant.
    😥
  • BoogieBoogie Heaven Host
    Sorry to hear that @Ethne Alba :cry:

    Echo is enjoying the wolves on TV https://photos.app.goo.gl/crAP3hFJRb4JGvkB6
  • Boogie wrote: »
    Echo is enjoying the wolves on TV https://photos.app.goo.gl/crAP3hFJRb4JGvkB6
    That is SO cute!
    :smile:


  • The snow freaked Minnie out this morning. Dashed out of the door with her usual enthusiasm, then stopped dead and stared. "Aaargh! The garden is covered in weird white stuff! The pigeons have taken over the world!" (wish my Other Half had had the presence of mind to video it)
  • HuiaHuia Shipmate
    Boogie wrote: »

    Echo is enjoying the wolves on TV https://photos.app.goo.gl/crAP3hFJRb4JGvkB6

    Echo is thinking That's what I want to be when I grow up.
  • And now we are a home without pets.

    Well, there are a couple of fish in the pond outside but ........
  • MaryLouiseMaryLouise Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    So sorry, Ethne.
  • HuiaHuia Shipmate
    Ethne Alba, I'm so sorry to hear that. :cry:
  • :hug:
    Sorry to hear that.
  • Oh what a sad thing, to be a home without pets. Hugs for you.
  • Thank you...... it is just So blummin’ Quiet!
  • I'm so sorry to hear that, Ethne Alba. (And I know that it won't be long until I'm in that situation, so I really empathize.)
    :cry:
  • jedijudyjedijudy Heaven Host
    I'm so sorry, Ethne Alba. That is such a hard thing to go through. Many hugs.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    So sorry to hear that, Ethne Alba. I've never had a pet, but I'm currently making the acquaintance of Harvey the Cockapoo and Larry the Labradoodle, whose humans are my two nieces and their partners, and realising that I'd be very sad if anything happened to them.
  • RossweisseRossweisse Hell Host, 8th Day Host, Glory
    I am so sorry, @Ethne Alba. It must be terribly hard to be petless.
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