[luleey]

cute potato chips story doodle!
{{{prettyinpink's kitty}}}

unfortunately for me and the felines...foudn fleas on one of them. which means they all have them. which means....they ALL get a flea dip today after work. there are gonna be some seething cats in da house tonight.

has anyone tried flea powder? im wondering if i should put something like that on the rugs. i'll definitely vacuum again...

[doodlebug]

Hmmm....I didn't know that, blanche! Is this L-Lysine something I'd have to get from a vet or a pharmacy, or is it something from a health food store?

The eye boogers seems to be clearing up - there's still a little leaking, but it's less than it was. Whatever it was, even if it's "done," I've written it in my notebook to mention to the vet next visit, which is coming up in the next few months.

Thanks everyone for your input!

I had a visitor last night, and after I brought her snacks and beverages, Georgie brought her the "gift" of a toy mouse. He loves having company - he's such a charming, well-mannered, and graceful "host." Combining that with how long, dark, and handsome he is, I've started to wonder if maybe, when I named him, I was unwittingly channelling George Clooney.

Also, he got to have a couple of potato chips, which made him ecstatic.

[doodlebug]

Any time I've ever had to give a cat antibiotics, the vets have given it to me in liquid form (clamavox, I think), with a syringe. You just have to hold them and shoot the liquid into the back of their mouth.

I gave Bunny thyroid medication this way twice a day for over a year this way, too. I paid a compounding pharmacy extra to have her tapazole specially mixed in a fish solution. But I tried the pill gun - half the time, she'd still manage to spit it out, and it was ruining my relationship with her....she started avoiding me! It was awful.

miz gb, there's no swelling or squinting, no marks or scratches on her eyeball, nor any other problems with her eye - I checked. The goop was runny (watery) in the beginning, and is now thicker. It seems mainly clear (not cloudy), with a slight, transparent, pinky-brown tint to it...yes, that had me worried, too. But that's the same colour her eye goobers were when she first came here. She was sick when I got her (I would be too, after 2 months in a shelter!), so I'm wondering if this is how it manifests when she's "under the weather"....

There was nothing when we woke up this morning, and nothing now...unless she's cleaned it off so I can't get to it first! Which she hates. She seems perfectly fine in every way, except for the appearance of the eye discharge. Anyway, I am going to give it a few more days, since the average cold or flu usually goes 10 days, and I think this is the 7th day.

[pollystyrene]

How to Give a Cat a Pill...In Twenty Easy Steps.

The trick i do with my dog, and maybe you could adapt it for cats (though they aren't so treat-crazy and Pavlovian as dogs) is to hold up a dog treat so he gets excited for that. Then I get the pill in his mouth and hold his mouth shut (cats aren't as muzzle-y, so maybe this wouldn't work.) While I'm holding his mouth shut, I hold the treat in front of his nose so that he salivates and swallows and knows he'll get the treat if he takes the pill. After 30 seconds or so, I feel him swallow, I release his mouth and give him the treat- usually I'll do it with the extra special treats that he only gets when he has to take medicine.

I know some friends got a "pill gun" from their vet, so you can shoot the pill into their throat before they have a chance to spit it out.

I would hate to have a cat or dog on a maintenance drug. It would suck to do this every day, maybe more than once!

[ms.gb]

cats taking meds...not easy.

i would take your cat to the vet, PIP, just to rule out the urinary thing. its a good idea.

doodle...what color is the eye goobers? and the actual eye area? is one eye puffier than the other? those are some of the things to look for. worst case, carmella gets eye drops. but you have to go the vet to get them.

((carmella's eyes))

[falljackets]

prettynpink, is this new behaviour for her (or did you recently get her and aren't sure?)? it sounds to me like she is trying to get your attention and might need a visit to the vet to check her urinary tract. mister boots started peeing at the top of our stairs in our old condo, even though he would poop in the litter box. turns out he had a bladder infection and was trying to pee in places that we were sure to find.

your kitty might be having pain when she pees and is associating it with the litter box, hence her avoidance of it for urination. it's usually easily treated with some antibiotics, although getting a cat to take meds can be a difficult matter.

[prettynpink]

yeah, I came home last night and found 5 different spots that she had peed on, including a plastic bag and my pink leather boots. I cleaned her litterbox and she's only been pooping in it. She just isnt using the litter box to pee in. The litter was completely dry.

I think that she used to be an indoor outdoor cat. Maybe thats the issue.

[pollystyrene]

My parent's cat likes to pee on plastic bags that are left on the floor. She's so weird.


I don't think your cold could transfer to the cat. Sounds like a little eye infection or allergy- I'd give it a couple more days.

[doodlebug]

Yeah, I was going to suggest that....I think if a grown cat is a paper-peer (hee!) then it's not about re-training her...you just have to make sure there's no piles for her to pee on. And watch any clothes or blankets you keep on the floor!

I had a cat like this once - I took her from an acquaintance when she was already 8. She peed on everything. Ugh. Once she peed on a boyfriend's leather jacket. And once, when I was living with a girlfriend, she left POOP under her desk! (Of course, in both relationships, we were at the breaking up stage, so maybe it was all deliberate on kitty's part.) Anyway, I had to limit her options. In retrospect, though, I suspect a kitty version of depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder - she was treated quite badly (hit, yelled at) by the new wife of the guy who gave me the cat (which is why I ended up with her). If I'd known then that they could give kitties psychiatric meds, I would have signed her up right away. Anyway, you might want to ask the vet about it.

You also might want to look into a bladder infection or other issue related to her urinary/reproductive health.


I have a question. Carmella's left eye is watering...well, it started out watery, but now it's goobery. She gets a little blop of goop forming on the fur below the inside of her eye (to the side of her nose). It's been doing it off and on for about a week. She's not squinting, and she seems otherwise healthy and happy, possessed of a good appetite and her usual fiesty personality. She did have goobery eyes when I got her, but they went away after about a month of healthy food and love and veterinary care.

I am experiencing a few flu-like symptoms right now myself, including stuffy sinuses...I picked up a bug on a recent trip. I don't know if it's possible for a cat to pick up a human disease, but she does sleep right beside my head every night....??

Anyway, I know it could be anything from a cold to serious respiratory issues to eye problems. I'm just wondering what others think on how long I should let this stuff go on before I take her to the vet?

[prettynpink]

Darkness apparently likes to pee on piles of paper... has done this to bills galore. Not pleased.

Any suggestions as to what I can do? Her litter box is clean.

Also, she has lots and lots of energy no matter how much we play with her... anyway I can encourage her to chill?

[luleey]

my boy cat did the paw-water thing, but only as a baby. now he just slurps it right up.

[ambercherry]

i miss my cats...they're with my parents, so i get to see them only once in a while. anyway - my girl cat sometimes eats with her paws - but mostly she would just pick out the bits of food from her bowl, put them on the floor and eat them that way. both my boy and girl cat stick their heads into glasses/bowls to eat the leftovers.
my boy cat, when you're eating a bowl of cereal or something else in a bowl (and have it at mouth level, so he can't get into it), will actually try to bring it to his level with his paw (does that make sense?). it's very cute, but sometimes annoying.
and, for a while, my boy cat would only drink water from the faucet - straight from the faucet.

[Onna-Otaku]

I had a male cat once named simba who used to pick up fish in his paw and eat it like that.
God I miss that cat. he used to stick his whole head into glasses of milk.

[doodlebug]

Hmmm....is it only girlcats? Or has anyone witnessed a boycat do this?

It's very cute, I have to admit. Although it's hard to peg Carmella as the "dainty" one, since she is a little toughie who frequently body-checks Georgie out of the treehouse.

[pollystyrene]

My parent's cat does that too- my mom lets her lick the inside of the yogurt cup after she's done with it, and she starts by sticking her paw in and licking the yogurt off, but after it gets close to the end, she shoves her whole face in there, and gets yogurt all the way back by her ears. I guess the daintiness only goes so far.

[doodlebug]

Sooooo....this is new.

Since Georgie is a boy, and therefore more susceptible to urinary tract infections (UTI), I want him to drink as much water as possible. Thus, I let him drink his water out of a glass beer mug that sits on the little bookshelf in the entrance hall. (He prefers it because it's like mommy's water, and because it's NEAR mommy's water.)

Carmella, being a little imitator (probably a Libra), has recently taken to hopping up there and drinking out of it too. Which just made me notice something....does anyone else's cats do this?

When Carmella drinks, she dips her paw in the water and licks the water off her paw!!

(She also make a bit of a splashy mess.)

[deschatsrouge]

Once Lalou had a stand off with the neighbors chihuahua Daisy. He and Daisy are enamies. It was very much like stand off at the OK Corall, she at one end of the alley, he at the other. She was barking at him rabidly, then he made his move, he took off at a full gallop and Daisy was taken by surprise. All she could do was run the other way with her tail between her legs barking all the way until Lalou had the the alley all to himself. Then he sat down and washed his foot. I was soooo proud.

[laurenann]

both of my cats are fighters.

we got sharpie when she was a kitten. we spoiled her rotten and let her play with us too rough. so now she has no problem with biting and scratching humans. she'll refrain from scratching or biting too hard when she is mad at me - hah, like last night i was holding her like a baby and she grumbled and just kinda smacked my face with her paw - but she always ends up drawing blood when i try to play with her.

we adopted maggie a few months ago. they said she was out on the street. she is very sweet to me - never bites or scratches - and needs lots of loving, but she really put sharpie in her place. which is kinda sad, since sharpie was here first, but maggie had a rough life so far and knows how to be the boss. i got maggie so sharpie would have another cat to play rough with, and that seems to be working out okay. there is a really subtle difference between their playing and fighting though! my boyfriend thinks i am nuts, but i swear i can tell the difference - you busties know what i am talking about.

[Onna-Otaku]

Gideon loves pets and head scratches, but if you don't pay him attention, like, if you try to sleep, he'll attack your feet under the covers. He's very irked right now that we haven't given him any wet food in a while. right now he is facinated with a paper bag. he skips in between attacking it and using it as shelter.
funny cat.

[doodlebug]

Heh heh, that's funny, PiP. You should defintely get her a kitty buddy!

I have not yet decided whether Carmella is very smart, or a little bit retarded. She is very cautious about the dumbest things, and sometimes fearful. One time I moved the cat bed so that a piece of the blanket fell over the side, and she spent an age creeping up on it, approaching it with one swatting paw out. She does all kinds of stuff like that. BUT she's been very clever at imitating me and George, especially George.

Carmella is also VERY powerful, fast, and fiesty - she's definitely got a strong survival gene! I don't think I've ever had a cat who would have been able to beat her in a fight. Not that she goes around trying to fight all the time - she's very interested in peace! And also getting lots of pettings. But she does nip if you touch her the wrong way (I've almost got that out of her, but not quite), and she'll scrap if she's pushed, and I've also observed her reflexes during playtime. (She's not the kind of cat you could pet during playtime - she'd take your hand off!) She's definitely a fighter....I don't know if it's natural, or if she honed it from spending her first year and a bit in a household with a "cat lady," where she had to negotiate with god knows how many other cats.

George is the opposite. He never, ever, ever puts a claw out to human or animal, and you can stick your fingers in his mouth (I do this when he's yawning!), and he'd stop himself from biting down, even reflexively. Bunny (r.i.p.) was so gentle that she must have completely civilized him in that respect. The other day, when he was washing Carmella's face, she made as if to nip him. He took one front leg, stuck it straight out, and gently tapped her softly with his outstretched paw, twice, on the top of her head. It was SO funny. Of course, she took off after him.

What are everyone else's cats like? Fighters or lovers?