TVCH FORUMS HOME . JOIN . FAN CLUBS . ABOUT US . CONTACT . CHAT  
Bomis   Quick Links   TOPICS . TREE-VIEW . SEARCH . HELP! . NEWS . PROFILE
Archive through January 28, 2006

The TVClubHouse: General Discussions ARCHIVES: 2005 Dec. ~ 2006 Feb.: Hairball Haven: Cats (ARCHIVES): Archive through January 28, 2006 users admin

Author Message
Regee
Member

10-09-2005

Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 3:27 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Regee a private message Print Post    
Serate:

That is to funny. I bank at US BANK here in Omaha, so I printed out your post and took it with me today.

AND DID THEY EVER ROAR!!!!!

Sandy had tears in her eye's along with Celeste, they couldn't believe it.

So they asked if they could zerox it and I said sure you can have it.

They were talking about faxing it to various department's.

So you gave us all a great laugh.

They did say if Eddie ever needed a new home they had one, their's :-).

Reg'ee

Native_texan
Member

08-24-2004

Wednesday, January 25, 2006 - 9:38 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Native_texan a private message Print Post    
Can anyone recommend a good feline psychiatrist.

Last Thursday, I had Sarabelle spayed and declawed (front only) and Miss Dolly declawed (front only). I tried to avoid the declawing but I don't want to think about what it's already going to cost to repair about 4 places in my 2-year-old carpet (they both ignore scratching pads and posts). I took them together so they would provide company to the other.

Anyhow, I brought them home and Friday and all seemed well at first. However, Sarabelle has decided she hates Miss Dolly and hisses and growls if she comes anywhere close. Could this be hormones?

Miss Dolly was doing great until last night. I was sitting in bed cross-stitching and she came up and sniffed around (not something she usually does) and sat beside me for a few seconds. She got up and jumped off the bed. Something assailed my nostrils and looked down to see that she had peed right there beside me on the comforter. Could she be reacting to Sarabelle's treatment of her?

They've also both been sneezing since coming home but are eating although not as much as usual.

I called the vet and he said to give them another week (which will be when Sarabell's stitches need to come out) but I thought I'd check in here to get suggestions.

Jimmer
Member

08-30-2000

Wednesday, January 25, 2006 - 11:26 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Jimmer a private message Print Post    
I don’t know NT – you may need one.

I’ve only had four cats in my lifetime. The first was a great big guy that I got as a little boy. My parents insisted that he be de-clawed, but that didn’t do anything to help the furniture. He scratched away and succeeded in doing a whole bunch of damage even without claws. My wife and I didn’t de-claw our last three cats and they didn’t scratch the furniture at all – of course, they had nice “cat furniture” to scratch.

I’m not sure about the peeing and sneezing. Hopefully, they just caught a little cold and will be back to normal soon.

Jimmer
Member

08-30-2000

Wednesday, January 25, 2006 - 11:37 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Jimmer a private message Print Post    
By the way NT - I didn't mean to imply that your cat's don't have nice cat furniture to scratch. I meant that my first cat didn't.

Hope all goes well.

Native_texan
Member

08-24-2004

Wednesday, January 25, 2006 - 12:31 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Native_texan a private message Print Post    
Jimmer, no offense taken. I didn't spend big bucks on stuff but they had several pieces they could use and ignored all of them. I guess they (to be fair to Sarabelle, Miss Dolly did far more damage) preferred the better quality of my carpet.

I have had declawed cats in the past, but I really tried not to declaw these girls who are are strictly indoor cats. I had always been opposed to declawing until I was given the ultimatum of declawing a cat I had many years ago or giving him up. I tried not let him outside afterwards, but a male Siamese, even neutered, cannot be ignored. However, contrary to all I had heard, Rama could still climb trees and fences with the best of 'em.

Watching2
Member

07-07-2001

Wednesday, January 25, 2006 - 11:28 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Watching2 a private message Print Post    
NT - My first thought is they are going through their own form of post-traumatic stress! Every animal reacts differently to being at the vet, staying there, being around other cats, etc. They just may still be thinking about being at the vet, esp. with the smell of some antiseptic on stitches, etc. I never had my cats declawed until the last 2. The one I have now had to be done to keep DH less ticked that we went off and got her w/o his knowledge. Now this Siamese is way more frisky and rough and tough in play that the last one, but she acted like her declawing bothered her way more than it did the more quiet cat. Everytime she shook her little foot, I felt sooo guilty! She was fine after a few days, but you just never know how a cat will react. Misha has gotten used to "vet smells" since two of my kids worked for our vet at different times, but she also never had to stay there since she was spayed and declawed at 4 mo. I don't know how she'd act if she had to stay for a couple of days again. Hopefully, she'll never have to.

Good luck w/your kitties and keep us posted.

Costacat
Member

07-15-2000

Thursday, January 26, 2006 - 8:21 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Costacat a private message Print Post    
I would also suspect that the cats are in pain from having been declawed.

Native_texan
Member

08-24-2004

Thursday, January 26, 2006 - 9:38 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Native_texan a private message Print Post    
My girls seem to be much better. I did not hear any hissing or growling from Sarabelle last night. Miss Dolly is still a little wary of Sarabelle but they did peacefully co-exist on the bed last night. Their sneezing has also calmed down considerably.

I could tell they were still sore until probably Sunday evening when they started jumping up and down on the tall furniture and windows again. Since Sarabelle was also spayed, she wasn't jumping quite as high as Miss Dolly until Wednesday.

I have to say, though, it is very nice not to be having to vacuum up loosened threads from the carpet every day.

Watching2
Member

07-07-2001

Thursday, January 26, 2006 - 11:17 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Watching2 a private message Print Post    
Glad to hear they're doing better, NT! I was such a baby having to have Misha stay at the vet for 2 days when she was spayed and declawed because I couldn't stand the thought of her not being here! Our vet always keeps declaws for 2 days and a spay for one so since Misha had both done at once, she was there for a good few days. They were really good about calling me and letting me call about her. Neither of my kids had started working there yet but if they had, I would have had full access, which would have been great! When my DD worked there I did see an owner come in to visit her cat so they're really good about that.

Misha got sick after her surgery also. She was fine for a few days after she got home and then started with vomiting and some diarrhea. We couldn't figure out what caused it - perhaps the surgical glue our vet uses instead of stitches, but she had me bring her in and they gave her fluids and some meds and she was fine in a day or so at the most. It's so hard when they're not feeling good and you can't seem to comfort them or do anything to help!

My problem with Misha now is her chewing things up instead of scratching. I can only imagine how DH would have taken it if she was chewing AND scratching things up. She has a special affinity for his socks!!! Good going Misha! LOL

Native_texan
Member

08-24-2004

Thursday, January 26, 2006 - 11:50 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Native_texan a private message Print Post    
My little darlings only had to stay at the vet overnight because of the declaw. I called late in the afternoon to see how they were doing and the girl went back to check them and let me know they were fine. I told her to give them a kiss for me and she said she would. After a intentional very slight pause, I told her I meant I wanted her to give them a kiss now so I could hear it. She laughed and said the phone wouldn't reach that far.

I did think about going in myself and seeing them, but I was afraid it would distress them even more if I left them again. Travis and I both had a hard time that night with both of them being gone.

Jimmer
Member

08-30-2000

Thursday, January 26, 2006 - 1:09 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Jimmer a private message Print Post    
It's hard when they are missing isn't it? The other funny thing is that all of the noises in the house that were easily attributed to one of the cats, are still there and you don't know what is causing them.

Redstar
Member

07-08-2005

Thursday, January 26, 2006 - 1:35 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Redstar a private message Print Post    
A co-worker sent this to me...

Human Pets - Instructions for Cats

1. Introduction: Why Do We Need Humans?

So you've decided to get yourself a human being. In doing so, you've joined the millions of other cats who have acquired these strange and often frustrating creatures. There will be any number of times, during the course of your association with humans, when you will wonder why you have bothered to grace them with your presence.

What's so great about humans, anyway? Why not just hang around with other cats? Our greatest philosophers have struggled with this question for centuries, but the answer is actually rather simple:

THEY HAVE OPPOSABLE THUMBS.

Which makes them the perfect tools for such tasks as opening doors, getting the lids off of cat food cans, changing television stations and other activities that we, despite our other obvious advantages, find difficult to do ourselves. True, chimps, orangutans and lemurs also have opposable thumbs, but they are nowhere as easy to train.

2. How And When to Get Your Human's Attention

Humans often erroneously assume that there are other, more important activities than taking care of your immediate needs, such as conducting business, spending time with their families or even sleeping. Though this is dreadfully inconvenient, you can make this work to your advantage by pestering your human at the moment it is the busiest. It is usually so flustered that it will do whatever you want it to do, just to get you out of its hair. Not coincidentally, human teenagers follow this same practice.

Here are some tried and true methods of getting your human to do what you want:

Sitting on paper: An oldie but a goodie. If a human has paper in front of it, chances are good it's something they assume is more important than you. They will often offer you a snack to lure you away. Establish your supremacy over this wood pulp product at every opportunity. This practice also works well with computer keyboards, remote controls, car keys and small children.

Waking your human at odd hours: A cat's "golden time" is between 3:30 and 4:30 in the morning. If you paw at your human's sleeping face during this time, you have a better than even chance that it will get up and, in an incoherent haze, do exactly what you want. You may actually have to scratch deep sleepers to get their attention; remember to vary the scratch site to keep the human from getting suspicious.

3. Punishing Your Human Being

Sometimes, despite your best training efforts, your human will stubbornly resist bending to your whim. In these extreme circumstances, you may have to punish your human. Obvious punishments, such as scratching furniture or eating household plants, are likely to backfire; the unsophisticated humans are likely to misinterpret the activities and then try to discipline YOU.

Instead, we offer these subtle but nonetheless effective alternatives: * Use the cat box during an important formal dinner.

* Stare impassively at your human while it is attempting a romantic interlude.

* Stand over an important piece of electronic equipment and feign a hairball attack.

* After your human has watched a particularly disturbing horror film, stand by the hall closet and then slowly back away, hissing and yowling.

* While your human is sleeping, lie on its face.

4. Rewarding Your Human: Should Your Gift Still Be Alive?

The cat world is divided over the etiquette of presenting humans with the thoughtful gift of a recently disembowelled animal. Some believe that humans prefer these gifts already dead, while others maintain that humans enjoy a slowly expiring cricket or rodent just as much as we do, given their jumpy and playful movements in picking the creatures up after they've been presented.

After much consideration of the human psyche, we recommend the following:

cold blooded animals (large insects, frogs, lizards, garden snakes and the occasional earthworm) should be presented dead, while warm blooded animals

(birds, rodents, your neighbour's Pomeranian) are better still living. When you see the _expression on your human's face, you'll know it's worth it.

5. How Long Should You Keep Your Human?

You are only obligated to your human for one of your lives. The other eight are up to you. We recommend mixing and matching, though in the end, most humans (at least the ones that are worth living with) are pretty much the same. But what do you expect? They're humans, after all. Opposable thumbs will only take you so far.

Native_texan
Member

08-24-2004

Thursday, January 26, 2006 - 1:56 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Native_texan a private message Print Post    
Redstar, that was great. I especially liked Waking Human at Odd Hours. Sarabelle prefers to wake me up at about 6:25. My alarm goes off at 6:30. If pawing my face doesn't work, a claw up my nose is (was) sure to do the trick.

Miss Dolly does not wake me up. She waits until she sees my eyes open and then pounces.

Watching2
Member

07-07-2001

Friday, January 27, 2006 - 12:32 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Watching2 a private message Print Post    
ROFL .. That was GREAT Redstar!! * While your human is sleeping, lie on its face. I can attest I've had that happen to me by more than one feline in my life!

I finally figured out why Misha acts so naughty at a certain times, esp. late at night. That's when I can get the computer from my DS and she does not like NOT having my attention! Now if I were to lay down on the couch and let her sleep on top of me, it wouldn't be an issue. The computer for her is like the phone was for my human kids! Do'h and here I thought it was just her late-night antics! Stupid Human! LOL

Redstar
Member

07-08-2005

Friday, January 27, 2006 - 11:07 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Redstar a private message Print Post    
LOL - Emma hates it when I "pet" the computer instead of her!

Native_texan
Member

08-24-2004

Friday, January 27, 2006 - 11:40 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Native_texan a private message Print Post    
Watching, I so understand about the computer. An almost guaranteed way to find either Sarabelle or Miss Dolly is to sit down at my desk.

This week, after a very long break, I have resumed my cross-stitch addiction to make my niece a wedding sampler. Each night, Miss Dolly allows me about an hour of uninterrupted stitching before she demands attention. She will decide she wants to lay in the exact same spot as the pattern, so I pull the pattern out from under her and move it. She then decides that maybe that is a better spot, so I again pull the pattern from under her and move the pattern back to its original place. She then decides that the first spot was the best after all. Strangely, as soon as I put everything away she finally gets comfortable.

P.S. This morning my girls were laying side by side on the bed so it seems that peace has been restored.

Mameblanche
Member

04-13-2005

Friday, January 27, 2006 - 12:16 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Mameblanche a private message Print Post    
My cat Scooty is the same way in the evenings, she gets fed up with me sitting at the computer and not only does she want some attention - she is doubly p'od cuz she thinks its HER chair! LOL.

Biscottiii
Member

05-29-2004

Friday, January 27, 2006 - 11:01 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Biscottiii a private message Print Post    
Serate - loved the kitty credit card letter. That was a Hoot!

Redstar - the Human Pets - Instructions for Cats
was so true and too funny (naturally I had to email it to everyone I've known in This and other Past Lives immediately! Thanks!

I found this one was ROTFLaughable!:

* After your human has watched a particularly disturbing horror film, stand by the hall closet and then slowly back away, hissing and yowling.

When my kitties Thelma & Louise are tired of telling me it's time to go to bed (after I stay up LATE watching the end of a movie & they are tired of hearing "Just a LITTLE BIT MORE!") ...this matches their technique totally!

Scares the biscuits out of me - every time! So funny to read the description in print. Bisc

Baby
Member

01-08-2006

Saturday, January 28, 2006 - 3:37 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Baby a private message Print Post    
Hi all,

I have a few questions regarding older kitties. If anyone can help, I would really appreciate it..thanks! At what age is a kitty considered to be an older or mature kitty? Is it normal for an older kitty to become more demanding and want attention ALL day long? And is it normal for their potty habits to change like going number 1 anywhere next to the liter box but not in it? Thanks for any help one can give to shed some light on these questions!

Shadoe
Member

11-04-2004

Saturday, January 28, 2006 - 5:46 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Shadoe a private message Print Post    
Baby, how old are we talking here?

When I think of the litter box, did the kitty use the box before and just stopped? Is it just sometimes or all the time now? Does kitty use the box for bowel movements?

It could be that kitty is not well or has some urinary problem or does not like the box or litter or can't get into it as easily now.

You could try different litter or a lower litter box. You could also ask a vet.

The demand for attention could be related or not. I have one cat who wants attention all the time; Shadoe is forever tapping me on the arm. Who knows maybe she is just patting me.

Whoami
Member

08-03-2001

Saturday, January 28, 2006 - 6:03 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Whoami a private message Print Post    
She could be patting you Shadoe. I think our animals do try to figure us out and communicate with us by the behaviors they see us do. In the dog thread, I mentioned a couple of days ago what one dog we had would do to get some treats. This same dog (its okay to talk about dogs in a cat thread I hope? LOL), when I went to brush her the first time....of course she was wiggly and wanting to know what that strange thing was. So I let her sniff it, and then brushed it on her coat and let her sniff it some more. Then she took the brush from me (by the handle) and proceeded to stroke it down my arm! That was one smart girl!

Baby
Member

01-08-2006

Saturday, January 28, 2006 - 7:02 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Baby a private message Print Post    
Thanks Shadoe,

I am fairly new posting (long time lurker) and wanted to meet you. I just really like your attitude and the way you look at life. You sound like a neat lady!

Ms. Baby is almost 14 yrs. old. I did just get a new litter box before this started. The one I had before wasn't working out because she would hang her little touchy outside of the box and the urine would end up on the rug. So, I now have a covered litter box so that won't happen again. She does use the box for bowel movements. I guess that is what really baffles me. She will use it for one but not the other.

As far as attention goes, she has always been very spoiled and since I am homebound, we truly have been constant companions. But, now she is to the point where she wants me to sit and talk with her while she eats, she doesn't like me on the phone, she doesn't like me to leave the room that she is in and she doesn't like me to have anyone visit! She just really gets jealous and wants my attention whenever she wants it.

I am in an electric wheelchair and she rides around with me all of the time. She will ride on the back top of the chair, on the arms of the chair or on my lap.

I love her dearly and she has been a wonderful companion but this is getting to be a little too much at times! I just don't know what to do?

Shadoe
Member

11-04-2004

Saturday, January 28, 2006 - 7:02 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Shadoe a private message Print Post    
Whoami, you may be right. If I try to pat her when she taps my arm, she moves away. It's like she is saying I don't want to be patted, I just wanted to pat you.

As for the cat brushes or combs, when I put them down on the floor, they attack the brush!

Baby
Member

01-08-2006

Saturday, January 28, 2006 - 7:05 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Baby a private message Print Post    
Shadoe,

I forgot..she is eating fine. If anything, she eats a bit more than she use to. She definitely is not overweight though. She probably weighs about 9 pounds or so.

Shadoe
Member

11-04-2004

Saturday, January 28, 2006 - 7:15 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Shadoe a private message Print Post    
Baby, I would definitely give a call to the vet to ask about maybe a urinary problem or something like that. At her age, you want to be sure it is not a medical issue.
Also, I have another question.
Did both the old and new litter box have lids? If just the new one does, maybe try taking the lid off and see what happens. Is it in the same spot? Is it the same size?
If you still have the old box, maybe try putting it back and see what happens. If she prefers the old one, try to get something like a plastic boot tray to put under the litter box to catch her 'accidents'.
I would still give a call to a vet to see what they say about it. I am sure a vet would have other questions to ask you like frequency etc.