Pet(s): Photos & Discussion

[bilgistic]

2 hours ago, SJC said:

Cheeto & Cindi Lou

Yes, they are!😻😻

[peacheslatour]

3 hours ago, MargeGunderson said:

Glad to hear Elizabeth seems to be more perky today!

Yesterday, when I gave Nathan his afternoon treats and I didn't even need to shut the door, I got scared. Her having no interest in food was unprecedented.

[ABay]

Is Cindy Lou named after Cindy Lou Who who was no more than 2?

[bosawks]

A little camping to start off April!

[SJC]

16 hours ago, ABay said:

Is Cindy Lou named after Cindy Lou Who who was no more than 2?

LOL ! Good one !  
She is named after my friend's cat who passed away from feline leukemia.
Cindi Lou the first was named after a famous model.  :-)

[Scarlett45]

Photos of Cosmo this morning, he’s ready in his new Easter bandana my Mom got for him. 

[peacheslatour]

Such a handsome lad!

[Mondrianyone]

What is it about that boy's face??? It's like a love sponge!

[Scarlett45]

17 minutes ago, Mondrianyone said:

What is it about that boy's face??? It's like a love sponge!

Awww thank you. He is a love sponge!

[peacheslatour]

4 hours ago, Scarlett45 said:

Awww thank you. He is a love sponge!

We don't deserve dogs.

[Gramto6]

I'm not a dog person, but that boy is a love!

[nokat]

On 4/1/2022 at 11:45 AM, peacheslatour said:

I'm doing this right now! Thank you!

Cats aren't really good about drinking enough water. They also have relatively short intestines as meat eaters. I think I brought to mind half mouses. 

[Anela]

On 4/2/2022 at 11:04 AM, SuprSuprElevated said:

My Onyx gets Lactulose/Constulose (Rx only) with every meal, but she suffers from chronic constipation secondary to her KD.  I've been told that canned pumpkin can aid with this, but mine won't touch it.

I give Two, a little bit of Mag07 powder (magnesium, to help things along). When he's loud, it's usually because he wants to be moved out of a puddle on his bed, or he really needs to go, but it isn't moving, so he must be in pain. :( So I'm trying to stay on top of that.

On 4/1/2022 at 5:07 PM, peacheslatour said:

I have been trying to get her to eat some chicken broth. I figure if I can get her to eat that, I can sneak some Miralax into it when she's not looking. It's so weird because as I was telling you guys the other day, she's usually a massive chow hound.

Thanks everybody for all your help. You guys are an inspiration!

I give my dog some plain pedialyte, if I think he needs it. I mix it into a bit of plain ice cream, or his water. I need to make more ice cubes today. 

I've been giving him the supplement I mentioned, and the other one he had already started. At first, he seemed to be doing better, he actually had himself sitting up almost all the way, it was spooky. But now he's back to not having much strength in his legs at all. 

One very cute thing from Friday: I was down on the floor, snuggling with both dogs, when my cat George walked over, wanting to join in. He was rubbing his head along Two's head - he loves him - and then I noticed that he was giving him little kisses on the top of his head. It's one of the sweetest things I've ever seen. 

[JTMacc99]

Mmm… wet dog. 
 

 

[peacheslatour]

Quote

One very cute thing from Friday: I was down on the floor, snuggling with both dogs, when my cat George walked over, wanting to join in. He was rubbing his head along Two's head - he loves him - and then I noticed that he was giving him little kisses on the top of his head. It's one of the sweetest things I've ever seen. 

So sweet!

 

[Bastet]

16 hours ago, nokat said:

Cats aren't really good about drinking enough water.

Riley is pretty good about drinking from her bowl, but what makes her an excellent water drinker is how much she loves drinking out of my glass. 

Maddie and Baxter liked to drink out of a flower vase on the coffee table (Riley does that, too) and out of a tabletop fountain (Riley ignores that), but hardly ever touched their water bowl.

One of the cats I grew up would hop up on a bathroom vanity and demand we turn on the faucet.

Chester drank a lot of water (too much at once sometimes, as I mentioned earlier), but the rest were pretty typical cats who got most of their water from their canned food, because they hardly ever drank any by itself.

[Annber03]

Yeah, our cats are generally pretty good with drinking water, too. Our first cat we had would actually meow in the morning and go and sit by the fridge, waiting for us to get the water out for her :D. 

And I remember one day waking up to the sound of something scraping across the kitchen floor, and I was like, "What's that about?" Went into the kitchen, and apparently said cat had finished up the water in her bowl, and so she actually pushed her bowl into the middle of the floor, figuring whoever came into the kitchen next would notice it and get her some more water :p. 

[supposebly]

Mine have two fountains. They use them regularly. I have them partially as humidifiers. So, it's good for all of us!

[peacheslatour]

17 hours ago, supposebly said:

Mine have two fountains. They use them regularly. I have them partially as humidifiers. So, it's good for all of us!

I'm afraid if we got a water fountain, Elizabeth would think it's a toy. We keep a low container of water for her in the bath tub to play in.

[supposebly]

It's pretty heavy with all the water in there, so even if there was some splashing, placing it on a mat might be helpful there? And with the flower on top, it's actually not that simple to splash around.

I have the flower fountain.

https://usa.catit.com/product-category/drinking/drinking-placemats/

[peacheslatour]

2 hours ago, supposebly said:

It's pretty heavy with all the water in there, so even if there was some splashing, placing it on a mat might be helpful there? And with the flower on top, it's actually not that simple to splash around.

I have the flower fountain.

https://usa.catit.com/product-category/drinking/drinking-placemats/

That's really cool!

[FlyingEgret]

Bella loves her carrier - until she actually has to go somewhere...

[Annber03]

Ha, Lily's the same way with her carrier :D. She'll try and run off when we put her in there to go somewhere, and will meow like crazy while she's in there and frantically paw at the carrier, as though she's trying to look for a way out. 

But when we're not taking her anywhere, and the carrier's just sitting off to the side in the kitchen, unzipped and everything? All of a sudden she'll be like, "Hey, this looks like a good place to sleep." Go figure. 

Bella's a very pretty cat :)!

[Scarlett45]

We had a teeny emergency. Cosmo was limping, and given he is HUGE I attend to paw stuff right away, because it’s not like I can carry him. 
 

But he’s going to be okay. He got a wound on his right front paw pad, they were able to shave it, clean it, and give him pain pills & antibiotics for the next week. He’s going to be just fine, but he did not like being examined. They had to muzzle him and it took TWO techs to hold him so the vet could examine him. 
 

He’s also back in the “cone of safety” until he heals up. 
 

I’ve been a dog Mom for 14 months- I knew enough to bring some high value treats, wild boar with sweet potato. 
 

Oh- he’s lost weight, he’s now 84 pounds. I was hoping to get him to 80 by May, but an 8lbs loss is good though?

[Bastet]

That first picture is such a happy face for someone who's at the vet -- and then there's the last picture, which is just what you'd expect from someone who's been adorned with the dreaded cone.  Poor guy.  But I'm glad it's minor and he'll be just fine.  (And good for him not being quite so huge; slow and steady ultimately wins the race when it comes to weight loss, so obviously what you're doing is working -- good job.)

[bilgistic]

The girls finally got together in the penthouse this evening. The kitty condo was new for Erin's birthday yesterday. She's six! And so is her mother, Lexi, until July, because she was a "teenage mom."

Lexi, left, and Erin, right.

Edited April 6, 2022 by bilgistic

[Leeds]

On 4/4/2022 at 2:28 PM, Bastet said:

Riley is pretty good about drinking from her bowl, but what makes her an excellent water drinker is how much she loves drinking out of my glass. 

Maddie and Baxter liked to drink out of a flower vase on the coffee table (Riley does that, too) and out of a tabletop fountain (Riley ignores that), but hardly ever touched their water bowl.

One of the cats I grew up would hop up on a bathroom vanity and demand we turn on the faucet.

Chester drank a lot of water (too much at once sometimes, as I mentioned earlier), but the rest were pretty typical cats who got most of their water from their canned food, because they hardly ever drank any by itself.

Why is it that cats will drink from anything except their designated water bowl?  I know cats will be cats, but there must be funding somewhere for research on this.  🐱

[JustHereForFood]

5 hours ago, Leeds said:

Why is it that cats will drink from anything except their designated water bowl?  I know cats will be cats, but there must be funding somewhere for research on this.  🐱

My cat likes to drink from her bowl, but she prefers to drink in the bathroom on the edge of the bathtub. Sometimes she insists to have fresh water, but sometimes she is fine if we just move the bowl from its spot in the kitchen to the bathtub. She only started doing this after few years of happily drinking in the kitchen.

[Jalyn]

10 hours ago, Scarlett45 said:

We had a teeny emergency. Cosmo was limping, and given he is HUGE I attend to paw stuff right away, because it’s not like I can carry him. 
 

But he’s going to be okay. He got a wound on his right front paw pad, they were able to shave it, clean it, and give him pain pills & antibiotics for the next week. He’s going to be just fine, but he did not like being examined. They had to muzzle him and it took TWO techs to hold him so the vet could examine him. 
 

He’s also back in the “cone of safety” until he heals up. 
 

I’ve been a dog Mom for 14 months- I knew enough to bring some high value treats, wild boar with sweet potato. 
 

Oh- he’s lost weight, he’s now 84 pounds. I was hoping to get him to 80 by May, but an 8lbs loss is good though?

Poor thing. Paw wounds can't be fun. Is he usually upset at the vet or was it that they were poking and prodding at something that hurt?

Congrats on the weight loss. Almost 10% of his body weight - I'd say it's a major victory thus far. 

I just adore his ears so much!

[supposebly]

I read that flowing water is more oxygenated and that's why many cats prefer it to standing water, even those who need less water because they don't eat dry food.

https://cattitudedaily.com/why-cat-water-fountains-are-a-better-choice-than-bowls/

[Scarlett45]

2 hours ago, supposebly said:

I read that flowing water is more oxygenated and that's why many cats prefer it to standing water, even those who need less water because they don't eat dry food.

https://cattitudedaily.com/why-cat-water-fountains-are-a-better-choice-than-bowls/

I always thought they preferred running water because instinctually it’s cleaner? Or maybe that’s a human thing! Thanks for sharing. 

 

2 hours ago, Jalyn said:

Poor thing. Paw wounds can't be fun. Is he usually upset at the vet or was it that they were poking and prodding at something that hurt?

Congrats on the weight loss. Almost 10% of his body weight - I'd say it's a major victory thus far. 

I just adore his ears so much!

No he’s not usually upset, but he doesn’t like having his paws touched at the best of times, and they had to muzzle him, hold him down to examine him and then shave his paw area! He was very pleasant after the entire thing was over. 

[MargeGunderson]

All this talk about cats and water has made me realize that I never see my cats drink. Eat, sure, throw food in the water bowl, yep, knock it over, check. But actually drink? Nope. Now I want to set up a little camera to catch them in the act. 

[theredhead77]

I had to buy a water fountain, with output that mimicked the bathroom faucet, to get one of my house lions to stop waking me up in the middle of the night to turn on the faucet.

[JTMacc99]

Norman met a puppy yesterday. Heh. 

[JTMacc99]

That was only like six seconds of Norman and the puppy.  He did get down on the ground and engage. Norm's a very sweet and gentle dog, to be honest. 

The whole exchange reminded me of this, like way more than real life should be like a cartoon....

 

[MargeGunderson]

We are a week in to less food for our cats, recommended by our vet as Sophie has a little tummy.  Sophie does not care. She still wants her nighttime treats, but I tell her no and she’s fine. Parker, on the other hand, is STARVING. Today she dramatically threw herself on the floor in front of her empty bowls, crying loudly. I didn’t know that a cat could be hangry, but that’s absolutely the tone of her meow. 

[Leeds]

On 4/7/2022 at 3:37 PM, MargeGunderson said:

We are a week in to less food for our cats, recommended by our vet as Sophie has a little tummy.  Sophie does not care. She still wants her nighttime treats, but I tell her no and she’s fine. Parker, on the other hand, is STARVING. Today she dramatically threw herself on the floor in front of her empty bowls, crying loudly. I didn’t know that a cat could be hangry, but that’s absolutely the tone of her meow. 

Don't mind me, mum, I can eat tomorrow.  Or never.

[supposebly]

On 4/7/2022 at 4:37 PM, MargeGunderson said:

Parker, on the other hand, is STARVING. Today she dramatically threw herself on the floor in front of her empty bowls, crying loudly. I didn’t know that a cat could be hangry, but that’s absolutely the tone of her meow. 

Funny. But it might mainly be the habit of it all. It might help to give a lot less of the small piece of the treat and reduce the regular food. What I learned in the last 3 years, they are the most habit forming animals, worse than I am! 

[Mindthinkr]

Someone suggested that I give my elderly cat CBD for his arthritis pain (front knees). I’m planning to call the vet. She has seen this in him before, but it’s getting worse faster than I would like. My heart hates seeing his struggle up and down his stairs to the bed and occasionally I have been known to give him kibble in bed when I know he’s hungry, but hurts to much to travel to the kitchen. Does anyone have any suggestions or what I should be sure to discuss with the vet? CBD? Otherwise last visit she spent 2 hours with him and found nothing else wrong. (He was given antibiotic eye drops for his red eye circle. It seems to be helping) 
 

[peacheslatour]

Here are some tips I found:

 

Giving your cat a soft, warm bed that is easy for your cat to get into and out of

Providing a ramp up to places they like to rest — such as your bed, a couch, or a window seat

Providing a litter box with one low side for easy access

Keeping everything your cat needs — like the litter box, food, and water — on one floor of your house

Using soft brushes for grooming

Helping them maintain a healthy weight to put less stress on their joints

 

I hope it's helpful.

Edited April 11, 2022 by peacheslatour

[Mindthinkr]

35 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

 

I hope it's helpful.

Yes, thank you. I’ve done all of those for his comfort and convenience. He’s 18 and a half and it’s just starting to progress faster. 

[peacheslatour]

The article I got that from also suggested NSAIDS  and acupuncture. Of course you'd want to discuss all of the options with your vet.

[Mindthinkr]

Just now, peacheslatour said:

The article I got that from also suggested NSAIDS  and acupuncture. Of course you'd want to discuss all of the options with your vet.

I’ll, discuss meds with my vet, but acupuncture sounds good. That’s a great suggestion. 

[Bastet]

Adequan is great for pets with arthritis, because it doesn't only reduce inflammation and relieve pain, it also stimulates the body to produce cartilage and joint fluid.  There's a canine formula that can be prescribed off label for cats.  It's a series of eight injections (IM is best, but subQ is believed to be fine), given twice a week for four weeks (some vets prescribe a maintenance dose after that, but the manufacturer says there's no evidence that helps).  I highly recommend discussing it with your vet.

[CoderLady]

Keep this in mind: from https://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/digestive/c_ct_aspirin_tox

Aspirin should only be given to cats under strict veterinary supervision. On its own, aspirin can be toxic to cats. In combination with other medications, the effects of aspirin can be more rapid.

Once ingested, aspirin forms salicylic acid, which is then distributed throughout the body. Aspirin toxicity is a particular concern in cats because they lack the enzyme critical for metabolizing salicylic acid properly.

Cat owners must follow their veterinarian's orders strictly if cat aspirin is prescribed for any reason.

[MargeGunderson]

@Mindthinkr, one of my cats had laser therapy for her arthritis. Unfortunately it didn’t work for her, but it might be an option. She was also on buprenorphine at one point, which did help her chronic pain. 

[Mondrianyone]

My husband knows a lot more about CBD oil than I do, so I'll ask him, but I don't think there's any downside to trying it--i.e., toxicity even if she licks it off. I've seen a couple of remarkable results in people who've used it.

Also glucosamine and chondroitin, which I don't know if anyone's mentioned yet. And hyaluronic acid, as long as I'm throwing out long chemical terms I barely comprehend. But it was recommended to us for our dog when the vet still thought he was having joint issues. It's supposed to help keep the synovial fluid in the joints lubricated.

I have to go lie down after that last paragraph.

[luv2lurk]

I am following this conversation about cat arthritis with great interest. Because my cat can no longer jump and I don't know what to do.

When I took Harlequin to the Vet in December for annual check up and 6 month blood work I mentioned that I thought my cat might have arthritis since she was gingerly setting down with hind quarters to lie (hope that makes sense).

The Vet responded by saying the cat had probably had arthritis since age 10 and all that could be done was some oil treatment. To be fair, we were also dealing with treatment for vestibular symptoms (crooked head, lack of balance). So there was a good cleaning of dirty ears, antibiotics and steroids. And suddenly I had a kitten back.

My Tortie is 20.5 years old, but she is clearly a fighter. She was diagnosed with Kidney Disease 5 years ago but somehow it has stayed at late Stage 2 (as of December bloodwork). When I remind the vet that she gave this cat 1-2 years to live upon initial diagnosis, she now says - well it was caught early. All through Covid, the Vet has let people in. She operates out of the main floor of a house (which was previously occupied by lawyers). So she is accessible, but now I am asking for your thoughts.

Starting in January, Harlequin fell when jumping up. So I created a step box for her so she did not have to jump, just step up to the couch. That worked for a few weeks. Then she started peeing in inappropriate places (including on me!) So I installed an additional litter box on the main floor of the house and that seems to have solved the peeing problem.

But now, I am dealing with an isolation problem. Harlequin just chooses to sleep on the floor in front of the fireplace (there is a futon cat bed she is now ignoring). When she is awake she just sits or stands staring at me. Except when I put treats on the step and then couch - she will make that journey! But stay on the couch for about 10 minutes before gingerly stepping down.

Also, she is eating well -  a can of food per day intended for an 8 pound cat - and she is about 6.5 lb. And drinking well - I need to purchase stock in cat litter

So, I need ammunition (your thoughts) to take to the vet!

[Anela]

Two hasn't had much of an appetite, since late last week. I hope that we aren't coming to the point of having to make that decision. He's been having his panics at times, and I've been down there, and he calms down when I'm cuddling him. I had an ice cream for dinner, because I now have no appetite. I'm not ready to lose him, but I'm also never ready for that. 

[SuprSuprElevated]