Cat Chat 2

[cuddlewuffle]

hello! this is my first time posting on here! i have a kitty named Willa, she's my first ever cat, she's about 8 years old and she means the world to me c: she was adopted when she was 3! here's one of my favorite pictures of her:



anyways, i have a couple questions for the community on here!

1. does your cat snore? if they do, does it bother you?
willa snores often when she sleeps, and i've looked it up and there's a bunch of different causes, one of which is being overweight. that's probably the case with willa since she's kinda fat lol but i find it really cute!

2. do you trim your cat's claws? why or why not?
i've tried with willa but she really hates me doing it and the most i've ever trimmed at once is 3. some people say that you must cut them but others say they're fine as long as they have something to wear them down like a scratching post, which she has & uses. she's never once gotten her claws stuck in carpet and doesn't scratch furniture, which is usually the reasons that people trim nails. i'll keep trying tho =w=

3. do you brush your cat's teeth? why or why not?
i don't brush her teeth, but i do give her dental treats. there are differing opinions over whether those work as well or not, so i'd like to see what others think!

4. have you tried any "puzzle" type toys to get your cats to work for treats? if so, have they worked?
i've considered getting some puzzle toys for my cat to try and get her to be more active and work for some of her food, but most puzzle toys are for dogs and i kinda doubt cats would be interested long enough for them to solve it. it would be cool to see what others have found though!

i'm hoping to be more active on this thread in the future! it's nice meeting all of you and your kitties! ^^

[Rainbow Dash]

So my Oma picked up my cat to get him to stop "bothering" her cat (which we don't know what she means but Borabora loves to groom other animals so I guess that) and he "tried to bite her" which he absolutely does not do. My guess is he did a little gum to say "hey stop that" and she freaked out.

So I'm driving down tomorrow to go pick him up. I dunno how I'm gonna make him living here work but now I have to.

1. does your cat snore? if they do, does it bother you?
Not very often. It's adorable when he does.

2. do you trim your cat's claws? why or why not?
I do. I taught him to tolerate it by just randomly holding a foot every once in a while for no reason so he doesn't automatically assume grabbing foot = nail trimming. He's pretty good about it.

3. do you brush your cat's teeth? why or why not?
I don't, his teeth are pretty good and if he does need teeth cleaning I get free non-anesthetic teeth cleaning through my job.

4. have you tried any "puzzle" type toys to get your cats to work for treats? if so, have they worked?
Nope. He's on a diet so no treats until he loses the pounds.

[Sixx O'Clock]

1. does your cat snore? if they do, does it bother you?
Wynnie will sometimes snore if she sleeps in a weird position (like having her face smooshed up against the back of the couch lol), but Pumpkin and Gabby don't. Even when Wynnie does snore, it's not really loud, so it doesn't bug me at all.

2. do you trim your cat's claws? why or why not?
I do sometimes, but generally I just leave them alone. I don't really have any issues with them scratching me or other people (used to have problems with Pumpkin but she's chilled out since then), and they don't wreak havoc on the furniture or anything, so I don't really feel a need to.

3. do you brush your cat's teeth? why or why not?
I don't, but I think I'll have to start with Gabby's teeth pretty soon. She's getting older and I don't want her to have tooth problems like my late cat, Azrael.

4. have you tried any "puzzle" type toys to get your cats to work for treats? if so, have they worked?
No, I haven't tried any, but I want to. Pumpkin gets bored really easily and that usually leads to her wanting to get into the cabinets or tearing up things she's not supposed to, so I wonder if a puzzle toy would stimulate her enough to make her stop misbehaving.

[Elleyse]

Hello! I've got a question. I've recently gotten a kitten, and he's been doing pretty good, but hes a bit wheezy and breaths heavily. Is that a normal thing, or could he be sick, or could he have asthma?

Thanks for any help

[Sixx O'Clock]

Hello! I've got a question. I've recently gotten a kitten, and he's been doing pretty good, but hes a bit wheezy and breaths heavily. Is that a normal thing, or could he be sick, or could he have asthma?

Thanks for any help

How often does it happen? Does he throw anything up when he does it? Is there anything he could have eaten that might have gotten lodged somewhere?
There's a possibility it's a hairball, but if they don't throw anything up when they do it, that could be cause for concern. I would recommend you take him to the vet, or at least call and ask them for advice.

[Elleyse]

Hello! I've got a question. I've recently gotten a kitten, and he's been doing pretty good, but hes a bit wheezy and breaths heavily. Is that a normal thing, or could he be sick, or could he have asthma?

Thanks for any help

How often does it happen? Does he throw anything up when he does it? Is there anything he could have eaten that might have gotten lodged somewhere?
There's a possibility it's a hairball, but if they don't throw anything up when they do it, that could be cause for concern. I would recommend you take him to the vet, or at least call and ask them for advice.

Hes only three months old, so I dont think hes going to bring up hairballs soon, and he hasn't thrown up anything. He breathes heavily pretty often. It's also nothing he could have eaten, hes been here a few weeks

[Sixx O'Clock]

Hello! I've got a question. I've recently gotten a kitten, and he's been doing pretty good, but hes a bit wheezy and breaths heavily. Is that a normal thing, or could he be sick, or could he have asthma?

Thanks for any help

How often does it happen? Does he throw anything up when he does it? Is there anything he could have eaten that might have gotten lodged somewhere?
There's a possibility it's a hairball, but if they don't throw anything up when they do it, that could be cause for concern. I would recommend you take him to the vet, or at least call and ask them for advice.

Hes only three months old, so I dont think hes going to bring up hairballs soon, and he hasn't thrown up anything. He breathes heavily pretty often. It's also nothing he could have eaten, hes been here a few weeks

Definitely try to make an appointment with a vet, then.

[Elleyse]

Alright. Thanks Queenie!

[Topsy Turvey]

Also, I'm not really expecting any answers that'll help much but I am hoping I get some good advice because I'm stuck and can't figure out how to help.

General Rundown;
We live on a boat, it's 50ft and there's plenty of space to run around inside and outsid and we have a cat door installed so they can always get outside if they want/need to. On the boat we have two cats one is mine and one is my sisters, my cat is called Fluff and is going on 2 years. She has access to dry food 24/7 and so has never been very food motivated which is a blessing and a curse, she is at a very nice weight and is very playful although I have noticed her start to settle down more. The other cat is Ash and he is VERY food motivated, he spends all his time begging for food and is obese (and on a diet).


Question 1 - How to help my cat;
Fluff doesn't really have a good playmate and because we live on boat she can't spend her days exploring, I have taken her on a walk once or twice but she's not desexed yet so I don't like the idea of her being on shore in case she get off her leash. Because we're on a boat there's not really any places to put bigger structures like cat trees inside and I need something that'll help stimulate the playful side of her and particularly her hunting instinct while I'm not there. But I have no idea what'd be interesting enough that I could leave it as a permanent structure and have her not loose interest, so I could use some advice. This is going to be escpecially important if/when Ash leaves as she likes to try and chase him and stalk him.

Question 2 - The possibility of another cat;
Fluff as I've mention before could use a better playmate and when Ash leaves I don't want her to cling to me all the time and never go out and play not to mention we've had Ash since we first got Fluff so she's always grown up with another cat and I don't want her to miss out on having that kind of relationship with another cat. Overall I think it'd be good for her to get a kitten if Ash leaves but there only one problem, she gets jealous. Ash has never bonded to me so she's never had to share me before and if I give Ash attention she gets pissed off about it and will generally leave us both alone so my problem is that I don't want her to feel like that all the time. I don't want her to constantly feel like shes always second best to this other kitten and I don't want her to leave just because I'm playing with the other cat of giving it affection. I'm also really happy with where Fluff and I are now, over the past few months she's really opened up to me and become very affectionate and trusting towards me and I don't want another cat constantly in our space to jeopardise that. Basically, what do you think, particularly if you've been in a similar situation.

[Wet Bread]

Hope the image works, this is my boy Cooper. He's nearly 10 years old and I love him. He sounds like a pig at all times, lots of grunting and wheezing and snoring. This is because of congestion and allergies, but he gets treatment and is just fine. He also loves catnip and faucet water. I actually just got him a new fountain to keep him happy.