Author |
Message |
Bonzacat
Member
07-08-2003
| Tuesday, May 03, 2005 - 10:54 am
GAL - Thank U! Max is so regal & beautiful! I have two words for you & Daddy: "sport top". Between our two babies and my clutziness, our furniture and computer keyboards would be no more if it weren't for the sippy cup method. (And a light note in this arena - our kitties are so used to not seeing our water in a glass, that if we have company it is not uncommon to see the kitties approaching a guest glass for a sip. It's a little embarrasing if we don't catch them in time......) Thanks Mizin! :-)
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Landi
Member
07-29-2002
| Tuesday, May 03, 2005 - 1:03 pm
this was in yahoo news: http://story.news.yahoo.com/s/nm/odd_australia_toilet_dc
quote:If only they'd learn to put the lid down... CANBERRA (Reuters) - The line for the toilet is about to get longer. ADVERTISEMENT Fed up with the mess created by kitty litter and inspired by the cat "Mr Jinks" in the Hollywood film "Meet the Fockers," an Australian woman has invented a toilet training system for cats called the "Litter-Kwitter." Mother-of-two Jo Lapidge is flushed with success after teaching her family's Burmese cat, Doogal, to use the toilet. "Doogal has fallen in, but he hasn't fallen in by accident, he has done it playing with the water," Lapidge told Reuters. The Litter-Kwitter (http://litterkwitter.com.au/) is a three-step process, starting with a red toilet seat-shaped disc filled with cat litter and sitting on the floor next to the toilet, like a normal tray. Next the red disc is placed on the toilet so the cat can get used to jumping up onto the seat. Then the red disc is replaced with an amber disc with a small hole. When the cat is accustomed to the water below, the amber disc is replaced with a green disc which has a larger hole. The aim is that fastidious felines should eventually be able to use a normal toilet seat. "Because the water covers the smell, it makes the burying or covering up instinct redundant ... To fully train Doogal it took about eight weeks," said Lapidge, adding that she hopes to start manufacturing the Litter-Kwitter soon. But, unlike Mr Jinks, teaching cats to flush could be a little harder.
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Jasper
Member
09-14-2000
| Wednesday, May 04, 2005 - 12:19 pm
Need some advice, now please don't get me wrong I like cats, but don't want to own any and am allergic to them. That said I am having great difficulties with a neighbour whose, not one, not two but three cats use my property as their sunbeds, which I wouldn't mind but they also use my gardens as their toilet and dig up all my plants. Anyone know of anything friendly to break them of this, I spoke to the neighbour but he just shrugged and said what do you want me to do, put them down (what a horse's behind) and walked away.
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Halfunit
Moderator
09-02-2001
| Wednesday, May 04, 2005 - 12:26 pm
Dang Jasper, your neighbour is rude! My cats are afraid of aluminum foil. Would it be too much to run some string around some stakes and attach the foil to the string? How big of an area are we talking here?
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Native_texan
Member
08-24-2004
| Wednesday, May 04, 2005 - 12:28 pm
Jasper, you can put chicken wire or crushed rock in your gardens You can also try sprinkling black pepper in or around the garden and does work. I have often heard of people using mothballs, but would not recommend as they contain pesticides.
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Kep421
Member
08-11-2001
| Wednesday, May 04, 2005 - 12:38 pm
I would capture the kitties and have them adopted out to someone who would actually care what happened to them... what a jerk!! On topic, I heard that pepper is good...cayane or black...supposed to work like a charm...
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Jasper
Member
09-14-2000
| Wednesday, May 04, 2005 - 4:27 pm
I will add, that he waited to say that to me until he had his 9 yr old daughter out of the car standing next to him, and shortly thereafter their one 20 yr old cat disappeared and she was passing around flyers (I'm sure she thought I had done something to him, but he did come home). I don't understand why someone would have three cats only to open the door each morning and let them in at 11:00pm. Thanks for the ideas, I'll be readying my beds soon and think I'll collect the cat poop and leave it on his doorstep (lol), then lay down some pepper to start. Here's a laugh for you, prior to his opening the car door for his daughter I asked him how he would like it if I started throwing my dog poop over the fence into his yard, same thing in my mind.
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Kep421
Member
08-11-2001
| Wednesday, May 04, 2005 - 4:31 pm
Oh leaving the cat poop on his porch is an EXCELLENT idea... I would collect it all in a bag.. .then add a note saying something along the lines of returning his rightful property to him...LOL
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Ophiliasgrandma
Member
09-04-2001
| Wednesday, May 04, 2005 - 4:46 pm
Escalating neighbor disputes is never a good idea IMHO.
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Abby7
Member
07-17-2002
| Wednesday, May 04, 2005 - 5:42 pm
Halfunit, my cat loves to play w/aluminum foil rolled like a ball. add string to it? heaven.
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Vee
Member
02-23-2004
| Thursday, May 05, 2005 - 6:04 am
Jasper, I have been having similar problems so this discussion has been very interesting. I don't want to cause neighborhood disputes, but I am currently writing letters to the town manager explaining my frustration. I really want to see cats have the same restrictions as dogs. My philosophy is: Take care of your own cats by keeping them home...whatever that takes. Now, I find that because of my own stupidity, I have a concern over a family of chickadees who have taken up residence in an old birdhouse that I carelessly set on the deck bench. Yikes! I was wondering what had Fioré acting so crazy when she was on the porch.

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Vacanick
Member
07-12-2004
| Thursday, May 05, 2005 - 6:23 am
As the owner of an indoor cat, I completely understand the frustration over cats roaming in our back yards. Since getting my dog, that really hasn't been an issue for me. Now they go into my poor neighbors yard. She has found that lightly sprinkling red pepper flakes has been enough to discourage them from returning. It's awful that this has to be done ... in a perfect world all pet owners would take responsibility for their animals, but that just isn't so. That's my 2 cents. Vee, it's nice to see you here. Your chickadees have a lovely home. I can imagine Fiore enjoys spending time watching them. We hang a bird feeder in front of our dining room window and KC spends hours on the table watching the birds. It's funny to see.
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Kep421
Member
08-11-2001
| Thursday, May 05, 2005 - 8:49 am
Fiore Reality TV...LOL BB Chickadee!!!
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Seamonkey
Member
09-07-2000
| Thursday, May 05, 2005 - 4:11 pm
Surprised the chickadee didn't assess that as a dangerous location! I used to get doves who would settle into a hanging pot and have their babies.. very neat to watch, but they didn't opt to take up residence last year after my neighbors adopted Coco, who is outside and inside and uses my patio cover to go up and over my patio to get to theirs.. the doves did they're usual check out but wisely went elsewhere. After that I took down the tempting pots. But now I have another neighor cat who is owned by neighbors on the other side .. they are at the end of the next building and we don't share a fence. However Reilley who is a most adorable blonde fluffy/purry/pouncy young adult kitty also likes to visit Coco and his family but isn't so good about the up and over routine and then discovered my indoor kitty. I never know when he will show up and I guess I'm going to have to invest in pepper or something because this adorable kitty wants in and starts clawing the screen.. and in the summer I must be able to have doors open both in front and in back but I really don't want Critter having nose to nose contact AND I don't want to lose chunks of screen. I'm also fearful that Reilley will end up with feline HIV, which we know has been in our area and wish so much he'd been taken to a rescue instead of the pound, where my rather indifferent to pets neighbors found him. He's one of the most delightful cats, very approachable. When I've had to pick him up (to escort him out through my garage) he's just purring up a storm - I really like him and so does Critter but they aren't destined to be housemates. Oh, Critter used to enjoy watching the doves too..
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Juju2bigdog
Member
10-27-2000
| Friday, May 06, 2005 - 8:20 am
Remember to make your daily click at Animal Rescue site. http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/CTDSites.woa
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Vee
Member
02-23-2004
| Monday, May 09, 2005 - 11:40 am
Fioré checking in... Update on the chickadees...sure enough, they thought better of the whole situation and have taken off for safer abodes and the bird house has been removed from the bench.
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Kep421
Member
08-11-2001
| Monday, May 09, 2005 - 11:41 am
taking a break from the chickadee live feeds?
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Vee
Member
02-23-2004
| Monday, May 09, 2005 - 11:44 am
Sorry, Kep, I edited that before I saw your post. Fioré loves to climb up and look over my shoulder when I am at the computer and I just happened to catch her this time. I do think she misses the chickadees. 
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Eeyoreslament
Member
07-20-2003
| Tuesday, May 10, 2005 - 12:11 am
Always Fiore. Never Basil. 
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Puppylov3
Member
01-26-2004
| Tuesday, May 10, 2005 - 5:23 am
okay - who here has used the soft paws - recommendation????? The girls are driving me bats with the constant clawing - namely of ME so I'm considering them but wondered if anyone had tried them and if they liked them. If you have used them how hard are they to put on?
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Gina8642
Member
06-01-2001
| Tuesday, May 10, 2005 - 5:44 am
I just clip my kitties nails. I use regular human finger nail clippers. I bought the fancy pet kind but they were harder to use. My last kitty let me do it no problem, he barely woke up for the procedure. The new ones like it less, but it's still fairly easy to do - Cutie whines a little, but I just have to harden my heart for a couple minutes. The only trick is to cut the nail where it is only nail. That is - avoid the quick. It's the pinker area - equivilent to our cuticle. It has a blood supply and will hurt the kitties if cut. It's pretty far back on the front claws but can come out pretty close to the end along the bottom of the back claws. Clipping keeps the claws dull so they don't hurt me. However, they still want to scratch and can snag furniture - even with the dull claws. I use those cardboard kitty scratchers. I put them at all entrances to furniture areas. Then I have twine scratchers a couple other places. It works fairly well. I'm pretty scratch free and my furniture is no worse than it was after my last kitty.
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Bonzacat
Member
07-08-2003
| Tuesday, May 10, 2005 - 8:32 am
I clip, too. I tried to summon my "inner vet" and use the 'squeeze' kind of clippers that he used (see illustration), but it took me forever to get into position with them. Have settled on the yellow-tipped style on the right, they operate scissor-style and work like a charm. My female cat sits and purrs for the procedure - I think she thinks she's getting a mani/pedi at a spa. The boy, not so wild about it, but over time he has accepted that I am the boss (only where clipping is concerned).
Oh, and like Gina, we use the cardboard scratchers, scratching posts (either carpet or sisal) or condo near where they sleep (then wake up and stretch). It really does help keep the human furniture, bodies and clothing in tact.
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Eeyoreslament
Member
07-20-2003
| Tuesday, May 10, 2005 - 9:17 am
Bonza - a most EXCELLENT picture manipulation!
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Bonzacat
Member
07-08-2003
| Tuesday, May 10, 2005 - 9:20 am

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Cinnamongirl
Member
01-10-2001
| Tuesday, May 10, 2005 - 10:29 am
Keeping Cats out of Gardens http://www.neighborhoodcats.org/info/keepingout.htm
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