Cat Chat 2

[na'vi.]

ok yes hi I've never been in this thread before but I'm na'vi and I'm here
b/c i really need to share this adorable photo and gush about my cat :)

so this is my calico girl littlecat and I love her so much it hurts- like it
actually makes my head hurt. She's such a sweetie towards me and I
love her to death. She's unashamedly my favorite cat out of the three
I have, she has her little bed outside of my bedroom door and she sleeps
there every night, none of the other cats are allowed in her bed. When I
get up at night to go get water and whatnot she looks up at me all squinty
eyed and chirps at me for affection and an actual belly rub. I still live with
my parents & older siblings and I'm not even kidding this cat loves me and
seems to detest everyone else. I'm the only one she will come up to and
headbutt on the leg and rub up against. Her favorite things including guarding
the yard from the other neighborhood cats (we have a dog door and she goes
inside and outside during the day), she loves taking naps in my bed during the
day, and her favorite place to be pet is right between her little eyes. She's the
best cat and I love her honestly with my whole being. That's about it :)


for those who don't wanna click the link here's a tiny version of the photo but i
promise the larger version in the link is far cuter and easier to see.

[AtlasHyperion]

So recently I asked for some advice about my brother's cat, who I'm fostering for another year or so. He was clawing at things and making messes, and I got some good advice on getting him to stop scratching up the couch. But he keeps getting worse and worse, no matter how much I play with him and take him outside and find him fun things to try. He's been digging up the plants around the house, even though I put some wooden stakes in them so he couldn't get in them to dig (I swear, if that cat dedicated his intelligence to anything else), and just recently there was a vase with flowers on the dining room table and he jumped up and knocked it over, soaking through an entire napkin holder's worth of napkins, most of the tablecloth, and my work computer. Thankfully everything was easy enough to clean up and nothing was that damaged, but I just can't get him to stop. I've tried spray bottles, yelling at him, everything, but nothing's changed. I don't want to accidentally learn that he can't be trusted around more destructive and dangerous things than dirt and water, both of which I also don't want to clean up off the carpets.

What do I do?

[Winstalgia]

we've had chip just over two years and he has never jumped into kitchen counters, at least we haven't seen him do that. Tally jumps on the counter if there is food sitting out (that cat is a vacuum and will eat anything).

We come home yesterday and walk into the kitchen and everyone finds themselves staring into the eyes of chip, and the far cat is the size of the counter part he is sitting on.

It was funny but I'm just curious as to why he thought he could get up there. The cats know when they can't do something. I wonder if it had something to do with Tally.

There's a good chance he probably jumps up there when no one is around to scold him. Cats are annoyingly clever sometimes and will intentionally do things they're not supposed to do when they know no one is home. If it is a problem for you, I (as always lol) recommend a deterrent device. Just set it on the counter when you're leaving home and whenever they jump up it'll hit them with a puff of air or water.

Yeah, they are cleverly annoying.

I figured that's what he does - not gonna lie, he was pretty adorable aha

If it happens again I'll look into it - thank you. ^^

[Thalassic]

So recently I asked for some advice about my brother's cat, who I'm fostering for another year or so. He was clawing at things and making messes, and I got some good advice on getting him to stop scratching up the couch. But he keeps getting worse and worse, no matter how much I play with him and take him outside and find him fun things to try. He's been digging up the plants around the house, even though I put some wooden stakes in them so he couldn't get in them to dig (I swear, if that cat dedicated his intelligence to anything else), and just recently there was a vase with flowers on the dining room table and he jumped up and knocked it over, soaking through an entire napkin holder's worth of napkins, most of the tablecloth, and my work computer. Thankfully everything was easy enough to clean up and nothing was that damaged, but I just can't get him to stop. I've tried spray bottles, yelling at him, everything, but nothing's changed. I don't want to accidentally learn that he can't be trusted around more destructive and dangerous things than dirt and water, both of which I also don't want to clean up off the carpets.

What do I do?

For the plants, leave some citrus peels around them. Cats hate the smell of citrus so that would most likely make him stay away.
As for anything he could knock over and cause a mess with, like vases, you'll just have to keep things like that out of his reach. Remember that you are sharing a space with an animal, its in his nature to want to jump on things and rub against things and try to stick his face into the vase, so the safest option for everyone would be to put things like that somewhere he can't reach while nobody is around to watch him. If we have to use a tall vase for some really big flowers, we usually put it in a corner of a room so the damage my cat could do would be minimal, and for smaller vases, we often put them on high shelves or even on top of closets where he has never been able to reach. Only heavy vases are safe out in the open.

[amsie]

my friends looking into getting *ideally* a kitten. she still lives with her parents, who also want the kitten, but was wondering about any advice? like, what are the main vaccinations to get and whatnot? any help is greatly appreciated. they have owned cats before, but that was a few years ago in another country that had many street cats/dogs, and therefor shelter-hunting or breeder-hunting wasn't necessary, as well as vaccinations.

[Sixx O'Clock]

my friends looking into getting *ideally* a kitten. she still lives with her parents, who also want the kitten, but was wondering about any advice? like, what are the main vaccinations to get and whatnot? any help is greatly appreciated. they have owned cats before, but that was a few years ago in another country that had many street cats/dogs, and therefor shelter-hunting or breeder-hunting wasn't necessary, as well as vaccinations.

They should definitely take the kitten to a vet for a first-time exam. The vet will be able to tell them which vaccines the kitten needs, as well as make sure it's healthy and doesn't have any underlying health problems to worry about. They should also get the kitten spayed/neutered.

[Thalassic]

my friends looking into getting *ideally* a kitten. she still lives with her parents, who also want the kitten, but was wondering about any advice? like, what are the main vaccinations to get and whatnot? any help is greatly appreciated. they have owned cats before, but that was a few years ago in another country that had many street cats/dogs, and therefor shelter-hunting or breeder-hunting wasn't necessary, as well as vaccinations.

The health stuff is definitely something a vet will take care of!
Depending on what country you are from, and what the shelters there are like, many shelters already take care of the initial vet visits for a kitten (assuming they are old enough, of course), like vaccinations, neutering, any medical treatments they may need etc, so that's something they could directly ask the shelter they plan on adopting from.

[pizzas and scream]

if it medical advise to ask which is a good food, for the cat who might just have IBS overall? Gary used to eat Frome, now sensitive skin and stomach Hills. I asked first. he had a stool sample months ago and is fine, and when he has checkups blood work come out fine. it was all checked out good in the past, but he pooped in the house this morning and it's like yellow rank pudding. I should call the vet and let her know this. I don't think I can buy whole cooked mice for him to eat. is that a thing?

[Sixx O'Clock]

if it medical advise to ask which is a good food, for the cat who might just have IBS overall? Gary used to eat Frome, now sensitive skin and stomach Hills. I asked first. he had a stool sample months ago and is fine, and when he has checkups blood work come out fine. it was all checked out good in the past, but he pooped in the house this morning and it's like yellow rank pudding. I should call the vet and let her know this. I don't think I can buy whole cooked mice for him to eat. is that a thing?

You wouldn't want to feed mice to a house cat anyway. You should discuss with your vet and see if maybe a diet of real meats and such would be better for him. Things like cooked chicken, turkey, and fish might be easier on his stomach since it's all natural with no additives or anything that might agitate his digestion.

[pizzas and scream]

if it medical advise to ask which is a good food, for the cat who might just have IBS overall? Gary used to eat Frome, now sensitive skin and stomach Hills. I asked first. he had a stool sample months ago and is fine, and when he has checkups blood work come out fine. it was all checked out good in the past, but he pooped in the house this morning and it's like yellow rank pudding. I should call the vet and let her know this. I don't think I can buy whole cooked mice for him to eat. is that a thing?

You wouldn't want to feed mice to a house cat anyway. You should discuss with your vet and see if maybe a diet of real meats and such would be better for him. Things like cooked chicken, turkey, and fish might be easier on his stomach since it's all natural with no additives or anything that might agitate his digestion.

but he would also need organs right? it would take a while to get him to wat to eat that. he'd rather eat blueberry oatmeal, or cinnamon vanilla cream of wheat than a chicken liver. when we first took him home, my mom gave him a piece of cooked chicken. he would rather of played with it than eat it.

would making meat bricks, made from meat and offal be good for a cat? just grind up meat, organs and brains, and make bricks or balls for him to eat? or patties, or crumbles?