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Old January 24th, 2005, 09:55 AM   #1
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Default Hey you cat experts -- CAT QUERIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hiya!!

Well, yes, I had lots o' cats over the years, but I have to admit, it's been a loooooong time since I've actually had one. And I am realizing my mom handled most of the stuff I should've really asked about.

So you cat experts out there... can ya help???

Are cats better with sage and thyme, or sauteed in wine vinegar???

Just kidding, seriously, we intended to buy just one cat, but the shelter person told me it would break its heart to leave its best friend there -- so silly me, I adopted both. (To my family's great dismay).

Unfortunately, it seems some people like to "practice to deceive" -- these cats have never been friends. The second one was actually all messed up, and hid behind the washer for 3 days. It has taken weeks of special attention to get her to trust us. The first cat, Prof. Miller is a fairly young male, about 6 months, and /extremely/ frisky -- (can you say terrible twos???). But he's a dear, and alone as our first choice would've been perfect. But the seond cat, Dr. Brucey, is the messed up one, female about a year and a half, previous mother, scared to death of everything, hardly eats, and Miller tears her up from one room to another if she even peeks her head out from under the couch. (Miller is way too possessive, doesn't want to share /anything/, especially US.).

So i needs your help (the preeeeciooous! we neeeeeds it!!!) . Any ideas how we can help these two antonymous animals get along? We don't want to be constantly disciplining the "mean" one, nor favoring the shy one, there must be a way???

I was thinking a nice pink negligee for Brucey might do the trick...

One other question... for shelter cats, these critters are the /pickiest/ little buggers I've ever seen! We always fed our cats dry food in the morning and canned food at night (and nothing fancy at that). These two act like they were sheltered at the Ritz -- it's Fancy Feast bites or /nothing/!!! We've started adding a tiny bit of dry food to their wet food, per my mom's instructions, and that helps a little, but at $10 a box of 24, and 2 of those boxes a week, we're gonna go broke real quick!!! (Well, not broke, but certainly a little more meager). Help! They won't eat /anything/ else. Not even the best pouch snacks. And forget pate-like wet food -- it's like trying to open a Burger King in Delhi!!!

Any help would be MUCH appreciated!!!!!!!!!!!!!


P.S. - btw, Fancy Feast is really neat, but there's only about one mouthful per can, so we're lucky to get by with 6 cans a day...
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Old January 24th, 2005, 09:59 AM   #2
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Cats come from other planets.

Start with feeding them in separate rooms. Keep them separated for a while, but where they can smell each other, and stick paws under the door at each other.

Try keeping them in the coldest room together so they have to snuggle for warmth, that trick works with getting cats friendly with dogs.
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Old January 24th, 2005, 10:05 AM   #3
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Ooh!! Cool ideas Darth! Thanks!!!
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Old January 24th, 2005, 10:09 AM   #4
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As to your shy cat, cats are notoriously bad at change, so it could take her quite some time to get over being frightened by everything, if she ever does.

Is the male cat frisky as in playful or frisky as in tries to molest the poor lady cat? If he's not neutered, I would get him snipped soon! If he is neutered... sometimes cats just don't get along, unfortunately. Shame on those shelter people for doing that! Cats do get lonely, but they could have found two cats that were ACTUALLY friendly!

As for the food... when I adopted a German Shepherd mix she was very picky (and 20 pounds overweight!) about her food. The woman who had been her foster parent told me that she would ONLY eat a certain kind of dog food mixed with canned food (of a certain type as well). I have NEVER given canned food to animals as anything more than a treat (animals that eat canned food seem to have worse teeth than those that eat primarily dry food. I have a 17 year-old cat with all her teeth as proof of this one!)

Anyway, to make a short story long I talked to a vet about it and she told me that my dog may PREFER a certain type of food, but she is a dog & is incapable of starving herself to make a point. So, I left out the dry food and, even though it took her almost 3 days, she ate it and has been eating dry food as her primary meal ever since (over 3 years now).

It may take the cats longer to eat that "vile, nasty dry food" (cats are FAR more stubborn & willful than dogs), but I bet they will eat when they are hungry.
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Old January 24th, 2005, 10:09 AM   #5
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Have they been fixed?

A "whole" male cat is notoriously aggressive, whereas a formerly male cat is a little more laid back. Usually.

Food issues - well, we've got a formerly male and a formerly female cat. Both were strays and we got them at a no-kill, responsible shelter - they don't adopt out sick or un-fixed cats. We feed them a few bites of wet food each morning - their breakfast - and we feed them in separate rooms because the smaller female (Emma) will scarf hers down then go eat his.

They eat dry food otherwise.

I suggest putting out dry food for them, and let them get used to the idea. When they don't get what they want when they want, they'll warm up to the idea of eating what you put out for them.

Human kids operate in very much the same fashion, BTW.

I also suggest you coax the female into the open and give her the attention she obviously needs, firmly but not agressively. Our Emma was feral for a while, we think; she did not want a lot of attention when we first adopted her. Now she'll climb onto our laps or shoulders and purr, or lean into the scratch on the head I give her every morning.

And she's learned to give as good as she gets in her tussles with Salem, who is a bit larger.

And don't forget to establish yourself as Alpha over both of them - never let them forget who's actually running the show.



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Old January 24th, 2005, 10:49 AM   #6
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Cats... shoot them. No worries Just kidding!

My mom has two cats that are near the same personalities as yours.

The older female one of yours sounds like she may have been abused.

Try playing with her away from the young male... drag a string, etc.. let her make a connection with you.

The male... nueturing usually does the trick

Should have named him Starbuck
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Old January 24th, 2005, 11:36 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Warrior
The male... nueturing usually does the trick
Should have named him Starbuck
Thanks so much, Uww, Dawg and Warrior!!! I really, really appreciate it! These are all /great/ ideas! Yes, both cats have just been made involuntarily celibate

The manically shy one has made tremendous progress in just a month -- yep, I'm sure she was abused. Even after sleeping with her and petting her for hours, a few minutes later if you try and touch her, she bolts off scared as if she never met you. One sad thing, is that we've had to take them out 3 or 4 times for vet visits, nail clipping, etc. Each time we wait till they seem very comfortable, then try the next outing. The aggressive young male recovers quite quickly, but sadly the shy one retreats right back into her non-trusting self, undoing weeks of special effort in getting her to trust us.

One good thing, the shy one has begun to fight back - she had the male shivering in a corner yesterday(!) The male doesn't mean any harm, really - he's just extremely hyper and playful, and gets a bit rough in doing so. The female just wants to be friends ( breaking up is hard to do... ). We took them out today to have their nails clipped (just got back in fact), hopefully that will help them play more nice.

Some of my special efforts have paid off quite well, actually. The shy female simply would not come out from behind things for the first week. Not even for food. So one night, I put the male in my daughter's bedroom (he loves slepping on our beds), and closed the door. Then I gently brought the female next to me in bed and stayed awake most of the night caressing her. Finally, I let both cats out into the living room so they could sleep on the couch (their favorite place), and I slept on the couch myself with my arm around the female so she would feel secure and safe from the male. The very next day, she was a new girl . It's just that vet outings and such tend to undo her trust.

Anywho, thanks SO much for your ideas!!! We will try and get them to eat dry food and be less spoiled. Any recommendations as to which brand of dry food is the most tasty/promising?

Running a cat house in Tennessee
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Old January 24th, 2005, 11:53 AM   #8
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The one thing that I have learned about cats is that they are as complex as their human counterparts when it comes to getting to know or understand them.

I've had cats that jump right out of the box when they get to their new home and act like they own the place and there are others that hide for weeks until they adjust to their new environment.

I agree - I think that the skittish female was pushed off on you with the "personality plus" male... They were probably having a hard time placing her and she might have wound up being put down - shelters can only take so many cats and the "unadoptable" cats are the unlucky ones.

I'm glad that you are taking the time to put out the extra effort with some real love and attention - it may not change the cat 100 percent, but there will be those quiet moments that make you realize the effort has some benefits.

As for the domination behavior - it's mostly personality, not just gender or "neutering" behavior. There are cats that have dominant personalites and some that are submissive. I have a friend that has 2 16-year old tabbies - they have always been together and have both been fixed, but one cat likes to chew the whiksers off the susbissive male and get a bit pesky with him too.

Cats, like people, need a lot of love, attention, patience and understanding.

Best,
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Old January 24th, 2005, 12:26 PM   #9
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Thanks Gemini!
Wonderful words, and so true too
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Old January 24th, 2005, 07:25 PM   #10
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First of all, my dad was walking in the mall one day, and this women noticed his t-shirt said, "I Love Cats." She came up to him all excited, and told him, that she loved cats too. Then my dad turned around, and the back of the t-shirt read, "Dead Ones."

She wasn't very happy for long.


I like cats. I currently have 8 of them living in the house.

Some of the cats we have brought in assimilate fairly well. Others have spent weeks going from hiding under one peice of furniture to another.

They eventually all got used to each other. Their is still the occasional cat fight, but for the most part they get along.

Of course, most of my cats think they are human, so what do i know.
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Old January 24th, 2005, 09:15 PM   #11
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Thanks for the laugh Excalibur My kind of silly humor
Eight cats? Wow, I can't even imagine. I wouldn't want to change THAT litterbox

Quote:
Of course, most of my cats think they are human, so what do i know
A lot of humans think they are human too - and what do they know?

Fondly,
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Old January 24th, 2005, 09:46 PM   #12
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Well, my Phoebe was abused before I got her, and it took a year of constant attention before she really trusted me. Really, the only thing you can do is give her time.

As to food, when I got her, she was being fed a can of 9-lives a day. I put an end to that. I cut her down to a half a can a day for a week, then a quarter of a can, now she gets a third of a fancy-feast sized can every so often as a treat. She still nags, but once I leave the kitchen, she eats the dry stuff.
I'm no good on helping with the cost thing, tho, because I free-feed her Innova dry, and it's a high quality food, and the cans are Nutro, also high-quality. She is overweight and border-line diabetic, and the switch to Innova has done miracles. In 9 months, she has lost enough weight to be able to almost reach everywhere when she grooms. In fact, when I ran low a couple months ago, I decided to get some Iams and mix it with the Innova just to tide her over, and her sugar leveld shot up really bad, I hand picked every last bit of the Iams out of her food container and threw it all away.
All the food you can find at the supermarket has corn as a main ingredient, and corn is not what you feed to a cat, it's what you feed to what you feed to a cat. It's high in sugar, and is a filler, just there to make them think they have eaten, but ads no nutritional value. Worse than that, it's mostly the cellulose, the outer covering of the kernals, which we can't even digest.

I could go on, but I won't...
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Old January 25th, 2005, 06:01 AM   #13
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Thanks for sharing FG!

I didn't know that about Iams - we thought we were buying a good brand (costs enough anyway). The Iams wet food is definitely no good - looks no better than the bargain brands. Thanks FG, you sure opened my eyes.

It's funny that here we believe cat food is better for cats than scraps. And then you look at the ingredients and realize it's just a scam. I have friends from overseas, and they simply do not have pet food. They feed their pets scraps, and have done so time immemorial. And yet their cats are trim, healthy, and happy. They do not take their animals to vets for shots and neutering and declawing and the like, cuz there are no vets. Yet their animals (not the strays of course), get sick probably more rarely than ours. Perhaps it's that variety of food which they are missing here. Maybe we have scienced ourselves out of common sense? Our vet just told us /never/ to feed our cats the things they love -- fish, liver, scraps of any kind, meat, -- even milk!!! Milk is BAD for cats??? Who knew??? Certainly not /my/ cats in my youth, whom we fed fish (with bones), chicken, meat, any kind of scrap, and especially, milk (and cream!). And they never got sick and lived to a very ripe old age. And enjoyed their mealtime /immensely/.

Try to imagine one of us forced to have the same tasteless food, day in, day out, for the rest of our lives. Because it's healthy.

Isn't happiness healthy too?

Sorry FG and all, had to rant again. It's just when I hear things like something I've been told is good for you is actually bad now (like Iams), it always makes me question whether anything I've been taught or seen advertised is actually true...

If money were not in the equation, I wonder how many of our beliefs would go unsubstantiated...?

Puzzled as always,


Quote:
Originally Posted by Flamingo Girl
Well, my Phoebe was abused before I got her, and it took a year of constant attention before she really trusted me. Really, the only thing you can do is give her time.

As to food, when I got her, she was being fed a can of 9-lives a day. I put an end to that. I cut her down to a half a can a day for a week, then a quarter of a can, now she gets a third of a fancy-feast sized can every so often as a treat. She still nags, but once I leave the kitchen, she eats the dry stuff.
I'm no good on helping with the cost thing, tho, because I free-feed her Innova dry, and it's a high quality food, and the cans are Nutro, also high-quality. She is overweight and border-line diabetic, and the switch to Innova has done miracles. In 9 months, she has lost enough weight to be able to almost reach everywhere when she grooms. In fact, when I ran low a couple months ago, I decided to get some Iams and mix it with the Innova just to tide her over, and her sugar leveld shot up really bad, I hand picked every last bit of the Iams out of her food container and threw it all away.
All the food you can find at the supermarket has corn as a main ingredient, and corn is not what you feed to a cat, it's what you feed to what you feed to a cat. It's high in sugar, and is a filler, just there to make them think they have eaten, but ads no nutritional value. Worse than that, it's mostly the cellulose, the outer covering of the kernals, which we can't even digest.

I could go on, but I won't...
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Old January 25th, 2005, 07:05 AM   #14
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A vet will tell you those things because he wants your animal sick. he does not want a healthy animal.

Why? If all animals were healthy, then the vet would have no job.
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Old January 25th, 2005, 10:39 AM   #15
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Also, I heard one of the best things for cleaning a cat's teeth is a chicken wing, raw of course.
Phoebe won't have that, tho, I offer it and she stares at it like it's going to bite her first. She does like raw beef, however.
I know quite a few people who feed their cats a raw-meat diet, which in the wild is what they would eat, the natural diet of the common housecat is bugs and small birds and mamals, with some grasses thrown in for digestion.

And for the supermarket brands, Iams is about the best.
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Old January 25th, 2005, 04:37 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Warrior
A vet will tell you those things because he wants your animal sick. he does not want a healthy animal.

Why? If all animals were healthy, then the vet would have no job.
ROTFL Warrior! And so true!

Thanks again for all the wonderful input FG
I am learning all over again how to take care of cats. Hard to believe so much time has passed I do still remember how to keep them happy though - tender moments with just me and one of 'em, caressing and whispering till he/she falls asleep smiling

OK, cats are always smiling. I knew that

FG, fyi we have several specialty pet stores and that's where we buy everything for our cats. We were hoping to find something nice like Fancy Feast at the local disount warehouse, but no luck there. It's okay, we love going to the pet stores anyway. If you can recommend a good healthy dry food (did I just say that? ), and especially any kind of treat (fabricated treat or natural meat, etc), please by all means pass it on to this amnesiac daggit!!

Oh, I'll bet y'all will laugh at me, we've spent over $500 already on cat trinkets, sheesh. Since they're inside cats, we experimented with several pieces of furniture, none of which so far have been very interesting for them. So I went all out 2 days ago, and bought one of those huge cat trees -- and that was a home run.

'Course the male would rather jump up and type on my keyboard in the middle of a Word doc or PHP script and cancel my session with a rewarding BEEP!!! Makes me laugh though, and that in itself is reason enough to be thankful they're here.

Affectionately,
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Old January 25th, 2005, 08:05 PM   #17
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Well, I use Innova, and it is a very good one, but it does have the disadvantage that many cats don't like it. Phoebe does all right.
Since you go to specialty stores, take a look at what they have, and read the ingredients. Stay away from anything with corn in it, and go for something that the first two or three ingredients are protiens, at least.
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Old January 26th, 2005, 05:18 AM   #18
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My vet recommends Science Diet and, while the bit about vets wanting your pets unhealthy was very funny, this vet has never steered me wrong. The food has high protein content (including meat) and most pets seem to like it.

On a side note, I adopted a kitten last year. She was about 8 months old & I was her third family, so she had gone through some tough times. I was told that she loved dogs (and she does love my placid elderly Shepherd), but she was petrified of my puppy, he of the high energy and cat fixation. She has been hiding under and on top of things for the last year and I was just starting to think that it would never work, that I would have to find her yet another home.

But, two days ago, she started coming out and facing down the puppy (he loves to play "tag, you're it" and doesn't understand that the poor kitten thinks he is trying to eat her). She finally realized that if she doesn't run then he won't chase her. Last night I was sitting on the couch with the two dogs and she came up, sat in my lap for a bit, walked past the puppy and flicked her tail in his face, then curled up next to the Shepherd. The puppy stared at her for about half an hour, fascinated, but he never touched (he has learned that a cat that stands still is a cat with sharp claws and no problem using them... )

So, some cats take a LOT longer than others to adjust to new situations. Keep up the great work with those lucky cats, Muffit! Thay seem to have found a great home.
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Old January 26th, 2005, 07:58 AM   #19
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Thanks FG and UWW!! I will try out both!!
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Old January 26th, 2005, 10:09 AM   #20
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Hey Muffit sorry for being late to join the conversation, hello to all my fellow cat lovers

I have always had large groups of cats together and taken them in at various ages and I’ve moved many many times so I’ve had the opportunity to see how various cats adjust.

The fact that the older cat is so shy and scared and hiding is not necessarily anything to do with being abused. When I moved this last time I brought my 8 cats with me and everyone of them responded differently one was totally cool within seconds wondering were his food was and 2 stayed hidden in a closet for the first 3 months no matter what I did and I certainly never abused them. I have 4 siblings that I raised from birth 2 were outgoing and 2 were shy and scared, yet I’ve treated them all the same, sometimes it’s just personality. I’ve noticed many times that when cats are stressed out they will attack each other no matter how long they have know each other and no matter how well they get along, so the fact that your two are at odds with each other at the moment doesn’t mean they weren’t getting along before hand. I would give them a good 6 months to get adjusted and to start to trust in their new home as time goes and they begin to relax and feel comfortable you’ll see their personality’s blossom.

I would recommend giving the female some extra attention and reassurance but you don’t have to stay up on the couch all night with her

The male is just being a typical rambunctious kitten full of energy I often find the older cats (especially those females that have had kittens) tend to be tolerant and put up with a lot of silliness from a kitten that they would not accept from a cat over a year old but when they have had enough they’ll let the kitten know! If you have a case of a bad domination scene then what I do is clip the dominant cat’s claws and let the less dominant cat’s claws grow this way it evens it out a little. But that is very rare in fact it has often surprised me how well cats do get along if given time – they tend to work it out for themselves.

As for food it’s best to feed cats dry food so long as it bears the symbol of the AVMA on it it should be good quality. (American Veterinary Medical Association) this means that the diet has been tested on a large group of animals and the animals remained healthy. That the protein included is actually usable protein and not just protein from feathers, horns, hooves etc which a lot of the commercial brands include in their food to bump up their protein ratings. You want to get food that has Taurine in it (but if its been AVMA approved that should be a given) and you want to make sure the food has a phosphorus level or as some labels say and ash level of less than 1.8 this is especially important once you get the male fixed.

The reason being that when cats are fed a diet too high in phosphorus it tends to create crystals in their bladder the crystals eventually build up and block the urethra so that urine cannot be eliminated and then the cat dies, this is often a medical emergency because by the time the cat has reached the point of a total block the cat has less than 24 hrs to live, and often it’s only when the cat has reached this point that an owner notices there is a problem. This is relatively common I used to get a case a week when I worked in the vet hospital. Males are most susceptible to this because their urethra is so much narrower than females. That is why the vets are telling you to avoid some types of foods like tuna juice etc. The occasional treat is fine it’s just if you do it a lot then you can run into problems. This problem tends to be diet related so as long as you’re following a good diet it shouldn’t be an issue.

One of your first clues is often a cat who urinates where they shouldn’t this is often an indication of infection or crystals. Cats if they experience discomfort or pain when they urinate will associate it with a location so they begin to move around to see if that will help this is why they begin to urinate in other places than their litter box. (unless the person takes too long to change the litter then that’s another story) the other tip off is either blood in the urine, or many trips to the litter box or even what looks like straining in the litter box or sometimes they cry out while urinating all of those are serious warning signs and the cat should be taken to the vets ASAP.

But again if you’re using a good diet it shouldn’t be an issue. But it’s always good to have this kind of info just in case or for anyone else who might read this.

Also I would agree with Uno’s vet I worked with 16 vets as a technician and they all said the same thing an animal is incapable of starving themselves to death you just have to out stubborn them lol I used to encounter this all the time at the vet hospital especially if the animal was boarding with us and the owners didn’t bring their pets usual food. The magical number is almost always without exception 3 days, cats or dogs. By the third day they cave. Just put the food out and leave it there when they get good and hungry they’ll eat. Try to avoid feeding cats the wet food it tends to cling to their teeth and rots them.



Do get your little boy fixed ASAP he’s old enough now if you do it before he reaches sexual maturity he will always have his boyish charm and looks if you wait till he achieves sexual maturity not only will you then have to deal with him spraying in the house which you seriously don’t want!!! But I have found it alters the shape of their faces and they tend to be a little harder in terms of personality, ah hormones!!

Hope that helps a little Muffit

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Old January 26th, 2005, 10:41 AM   #21
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Wow, thanks Rowan!!! That's alot of great info!!! Sounds like you have some pretty awesome field experience!!

Fondly,
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Old January 26th, 2005, 10:52 AM   #22
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oops Muffit I forgot to mention with regards to cat toys I find the best toys are the cheapest! LOL I use a cork, a piece of aluminum foil scrunched into a ball, and a pinch of cat nip in the toe of an old sock then tie a knot in the sock. these 3 things work very well to keep a cat intertained and the best part is they cost next to nothing
Also ask your vet to show you how to clip their nails and then get a nail cliper it's very easy to do and will save you money in the long run.
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Old January 26th, 2005, 10:55 AM   #23
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Muffit
Wow, thanks Rowan!!! That's alot of great info!!! Sounds like you have some pretty awesome field experience!!

Fondly,
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LOL a whole lifetime spent in the company of cats It's a debt I'm paying back to the species for one of their kind having saved my life when I was a teenager.
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Old January 26th, 2005, 10:57 AM   #24
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Unfortunately, it seems some people like to "practice to deceive" -- these cats have never been friends. The second one was actually all messed up, and hid behind the washer for 3 days. It has taken weeks of special attention to get her to trust us. The first cat, Prof. Miller is a fairly young male, about 6 months, and /extremely/ frisky -- (can you say terrible twos???). But he's a dear, and alone as our first choice would've been perfect. But the seond cat, Dr. Brucey, is the messed up one, female about a year and a half, previous mother, scared to death of everything, hardly eats, and Miller tears her up from one room to another if she even peeks her head out from under the couch. (Miller is way too possessive, doesn't want to share /anything/, especially US.).
You should have stood your ground more Muffit! Don't get soft and let somebody con you into buying what you don't want. kitten and puppies get broke up all the time at birth and given to new owners. You should have gone back at told that person off.

But, it seems like 'Brucey' part of the family now.

Haven't got a cat right now, but i do like cats. And there some breeds of dogs i won't mind owning. Lets just say i can't own one right now but would in the future.

Hmmm? Can i suggest making sure the scared cat get some time outdoors? If the messed up cat is really scared right now and doesn't venture out much. It going to be one of those cats that will develop a habit of being scared most of the time. i think it fair to mention there are too kinds of cats; outdoors and indoors.

I can always tell both, cos outdoor cats are hard to scare. They are friendly, curious types you see outside houses aware of their surroundings and venture outdoors all the time. true they might turn 'federal' i.e. wild somewhat but are generally the kind of cat that makes a damn good pet.

Indoor cats might display that kind of behavior as well, but usually do so indoors. Thing is, some people put indoor cats outside and their the ones that aren't as adventurous and are the paranoid type! Scared of every little thing, fearful, accidently wind up dead due to the fact they aren't use to being outside and don't adapt well to being outdoors.

While that doesn't happen in the strictest sense. Cats do come in two kinds.

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A vet will tell you those things because he wants your animal sick. he does not want a healthy animal.

Why? If all animals were healthy, then the vet would have no job.
Warrior you have a dark sense of humor?

Yep, i like cats hope to get one, just don't know when.

Take care of Prof. Miller and Brucey won't you.

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Old January 26th, 2005, 11:12 AM   #25
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I would not recomend putting the scared cat outside at this time she would likely run away or hide someplace and not come out. She does not recongnize Muffit as her new owner or this house as her new house and cats are notorious for taking off when they are freaked out! I had one cat for 13 years and everytime we moved no matter how long I kept him inside (once we moved I even waited a full month!) He would take off and head for the old place, one time he walked 10 miles back! It's important to minimize the stress level not add to it putting her outside while she is still adjusting to the inside would only add to her distress Especially if she has never been outdoors you want to take that slowly or you'll lose her.
As for outdoor/indoor cats I used to have all my cats outdoors all the time but eventually I had enough! My outdoor cats have been hit by cars, attacked by dogs, eaten by coyotes, caught in traps, broken legs and abcesses from cat fights, I caught one lady putting my cat in her car because she thought my cat was so nice and friendly and wanted her! So after many years of this crap I decided that's it! now they are all indoor cats (much cheaper on the pocket book and their health and my heart!!) I do have a run though that we built alongside the house and we put a cat door in the side of the house that leads directly into the run so the cats can go outside when ever they like and I don't have to worry about them anymore!!
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Old January 26th, 2005, 04:42 PM   #26
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Old January 26th, 2005, 04:53 PM   #27
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Emma likes pill bottle caps, the little plastic ring from used-up scotch tape, the remains of the New Year's Eve poppers (you know, the plastic 'champagne bottles' with streamers)......



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Old January 26th, 2005, 10:16 PM   #28
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FWIW, when we adopted a couple of kittens a few months ago we initially let them hang out in a room with no closets or easy-hiding spots; then just let them explore and get used to the room. We took shifts just being in the room, not trying to mess with them but being responsive to their approach. After they seemed satisfied that we were okay we gave them the run of the house, where they quickly put the dog in her place and sent our older cat packing off to therapy. So much for needing to give them a soft touch.
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Old January 27th, 2005, 07:38 AM   #29
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Thanks Lord Kingjason, Rowan, FG, Dawg and Cranky!! Wow! When I started this thread, I never thought I'd get so much wonderful feedback!!

Maybe I should adopt a real beaver???

Quote:
Emma likes pill bottle caps, the little plastic ring from used-up scotch tape, the remains of the New Year's Eve poppers (you know, the plastic 'champagne bottles' with streamers)......
Brucey's favorite toy are the graphite rods from our nuclear reactor. She loves pulling them part way out and listening to the alarms go off!! What a kidder!!

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Old January 27th, 2005, 05:03 PM   #30
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Thunder, thunder, THUNDER!

Thundercats Hooooooooooo...............!!! Oops wrong kind of cats..



Heh take it easy Muffit!

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