Pet(s): Photos & Discussion

[Bastet]

8 hours ago, Sandman87 said:

Bath time!

Does it's bath time! lead to wrestlemania?  Because with every pair of cats I've ever had, whenever they had a lovely moment of bathing each other, it regressed in minutes to a full nelson, back legs kicking, someone running off meowing "Mommy, [sibling] hit me!" spectacle.  And then they'd cuddle up again upon getting it out of their systems.

[Sandman87]

30 minutes ago, Bastet said:

Does it's bath time! lead to wrestlemania?

No. The kittens eventually get distracted by something ("Ooh, a bug!") and jump up to go investigate. Catsby is big enough that wrestling against him doesn't really work.

I'm continually amazed at how well Catsby and the kittens get along.

Name update: Mom gets to name one kitten and I get to name the other. Mom decided to name the shy one...(wait for it)...Shy! The other one's name is still pending; rejected names include Mortimer, Vlad, and Poop Monster.

[AgentRXS]

42 minutes ago, Bastet said:

Does it's bath time! lead to wrestlemania?  Because with every pair of cats I've ever had, whenever they had a lovely moment of bathing each other, it regressed in minutes to a full nelson, back legs kicking, someone running off meowing "Mommy, [sibling] hit me!" spectacle.

I feel sorry for my cat Ella, because Diamond is a totally selfish asshole. Ella will lovingly wash Diamond's impossible to reach areas (back of head and ears, underneath her chin) and when she softly headbutts Diamond to return the favor, Diamond either slaps the crap out of her or play bites her and WW3 ensues. Ella usually fights back but then walks away after a minute or two like "You aren't worth my energy".  Diamond is lucky to have such a loving and patient housemate.

[Annber03]

My cats like to fight and wrestle, too. I think, in Lily's case, she's still relatively young, so sometimes it's more that she wants to simply play, but despite being younger than Mitsi, she's bigger than her. So when she tries to chase or pounce at or sniff her, Mitsi gets a little spooked as a result. 

Mitsi's reactions are really funny, though. Sometimes she'll just put her paws on Lily's head and hold them there for a moment, only to run away, but much of the time, if she and Lily are in sort of a face-off, Mitsi will do this thing where she'll try to scoot away...but she'll do so veeeeeeeery slowly. She'll take one tiny side step, then sit there for, like, two minutes just staring at Lily. Then another tiny side step. More staring. And so on. And Lily will just sit there and watch her do this until one of them makes a move after a time. 

I also love when they stare each other down 'cause they look like they're rival gang members preparing for a rumble or something :p. 

[smittykins]

Figures...

(I just got it for her upcoming second birthday.  FTR, she does play with it...usually at 3 am...)

[bilgistic]

3 hours ago, smittykins said:

Figures...

(I just got it for her upcoming second birthday.  FTR, she does play with it...usually at 3 am...)

The girls have one of those. They absolutely tear up the scratcher part while minimally playing with the ball. Fortunately, the new inserts aren't very expensive on Amazon.

[LilWharveyGal]

I have a question for all you cat folks.  My husband brought a cat to our marriage and I brought a fabric-upholstered couch.  We've kept a cover on it but the cover has never laid nicely and is now starting to get snagged.  Kitty's not a big scratcher, luckily, but she does like to "knead" before she curls up.

In general, how do cats do with leather furniture?  I'm dying to get a nicer looking couch/seating area set up but it needs to be one that she can't destroy.

[isalicat]

Depends on the cat, but a very indulgent friend of mine bought a gorgeous real leather Chesterfield sofa and her two cats pretty much destroyed the sides (I truly love all cats but I was appalled). We have a real leather couch and two chairs (plus ottomans) in our living room and my previous tom was easily trained to not scratch them by use of a handy water spray bottle (and he preferred to sharpen his claws outside on the wood fencing anyway). When we were adopted by our current Louis, also a tom, we had waiting one of those horizontal cat scratchers made of sisal on a wood frame and we "seasoned" it with a little cat nip before his arrival. He tears that thing up regularly and has never made a move toward any of the furniture. I think a combination of an alternative scratching outlet that the cat will use and discouragement via a water pistol or spray bottle will work for pretty much any cat. If your kitty likes to knead then perhaps also give her a fabric pillow or blanket of her own to sit on on top of the couch as well.

[Bastet]

Just now, LilWharveyGal said:

In general, how do cats do with leather furniture? 

That completely depends on the cat.  If she's not much of a furniture scratcher now, she's probably not likely to start scratching leather furniture, but there is always the chance that it would turn out to be a tempting texture; you could get a leather pillow or something else small and see how she responds to it.  (If you keep the claws trimmed, the little snags/scratches from their kneading tend not to be a big deal in general, but I do think they're more noticeable on leather, especially if it's a dark color.)

I'm not a fan of forgoing - or covering - furniture one wants because, hypothetically, a pet might damage it.  Get what you like, employ redirection techniques if the pet does wind up going for it, and only if it's truly untenable do you figure okay, can't have X again until she/he is gone.

[theredhead77]

My cats ignore the couch but completely tore up the fabric on my box spring. I have numerous scratching posts around the house. The key is to find the type of scratching material they like. Mine hate the sisal rope but love corrugated cardboard

[LilWharveyGal]

Thank you all for the input. I have not been a cat co-parent for long and have never had leather furniture, so had no clue if it would work or be durable. 

[Jaded]

23 minutes ago, LilWharveyGal said:

Thank you all for the input. I have not been a cat co-parent for long and have never had leather furniture, so had no clue if it would work or be durable. 

I've read and heard from the kitten cam foster parents who have cats of their own that Microfiber is a good fabric due to the fact that It doesn't rip or scratch easily and can be easily wiped down. 

Edited August 19, 2019 by Jaded

[shanndee]

Sigh. I can't win for losing with Miss Chelsea Chatterbox. She was finally getting to the point were she would let us sleep until 5:30, 6:00 ish (which was *close* to the times when Hubby and I would get up for work). Now Hubby has a new job. Three 12 hour shifts per week, 4 days off. He has to get up at 3:30. Guess who thinks that is start of day, every day, again.

Sad sigh. I may never sleep properly again.

AND the little girl has ANOTHER UTI. Its only been about 6 weeks since the last one cleared.

She is having a rough go (us too).

It is a good thing that we can see how far she has come since we fostered , then adopted, her. It makes the hard times with her easier to take when we can see how much she is changing from the traumatized kitty we brought home. 

[Mindthinkr]

15 minutes ago, shanndee said:

Sigh. I can't win for losing with Miss Chelsea Chatterbox. She was finally getting to the point were she would let us sleep until 5:30, 6:00 ish (which was *close* to the times when Hubby and I would get up for work). Now Hubby has a new job. Three 12 hour shifts per week, 4 days off. He has to get up at 3:30. Guess who thinks that is start of day, every day, again.

Sad sigh. I may never sleep properly again.

AND the little girl has ANOTHER UTI. Its only been about 6 weeks since the last one cleared.

She is having a rough go (us too).

It is a good thing that we can see how far she has come since we fostered , then adopted, her. It makes the hard times with her easier to take when we can see how much she is changing from the traumatized kitty we brought home. 

I’m sorry to hear that she is having another bout of urinary issues. 

Y’all have been a blessing to that adopted kitten. 

[shanndee]

9 hours ago, Mindthinkr said:

I’m sorry to hear that she is having another bout of urinary issues. 

Y’all have been a blessing to that adopted kitten. 

Thank you! That is nice to hear (especially considering how frustrated and unsettled I have been with my lack of sleep! I have had many...unkind thoughts towards her on work days!)

I do enjoy having her in our family, but she can be very trying! 🙂 

[Mindthinkr]

4 minutes ago, shanndee said:

Thank you! That is nice to hear (especially considering how frustrated and unsettled I have been with my lack of sleep! I have had many...unkind thoughts towards her on work days!)

I do enjoy having her in our family, but she can be very trying! 🙂 

My kitties were challenging when they were young.  They mellow with age (most) and I have even protested enough to be able to sleep to a reasonable hour. 

[KnoxForPres]

I drove a vehicle today to a shop and guy followed. While we were there he had to talk and I saw a wonderful calico kitten walk by, then a grey, then another calico!  Next I saw a more adult grey cat. I had to ask. They said they have cats come on and they take them as their own shop cats. Clearly loved. I wanted to ask- does anyone get them spayed or neutered and my guy said it would be overstepping. Question- would it?  What if I offered to?  

[bmasters9]

Here's something you might find interesting: an edition of ABC's 20/20 from Thursday, Aug. 15, 1985, where one of the stories was about America's cats and their owners: the story is called "Equal Time for Cats."

[ratgirlagogo]

5 hours ago, KnoxForPres said:

Question- would it?  What if I offered to?  

What's the worst that could happen?  I mean this seriously.  Do you think that the people might be so offended that you couldn't comfortably go into that store anymore? If so, you be the judge.    If not, why not offer?

Edited August 21, 2019 by ratgirlagogo

[Mindthinkr]

9 hours ago, KnoxForPres said:

What if I offered to?  

I think that would be very kind of you to do. At a certain point I’m sure that they are going to put a cap on how many Shop cats that they are willing to have and feed. I agree with Ratgirlagogo, the worst they can say is no. 

[theredhead77]

12 hours ago, KnoxForPres said:

I wanted to ask- does anyone get them spayed or neutered and my guy said it would be overstepping. Question- would it?  What if I offered to?  

Your guy is 110% wrong. Not overstepping and if they aren't it would not be overstepping to offer to help find low-cost places and facilitate it. No more baby animals (except for baby endangered species and those in the wild wild)!

[JTMacc99]

1 hour ago, theredhead77 said:

find low-cost places and facilitate it

Friends of Animals offers certificates that will be honored by regular participating veterinary hospitals. They're a super duper, pro animal, go vegan, organization, and run a bunch of interesting programs along those lines. 

[Bastet]

17 hours ago, KnoxForPres said:

I wanted to ask- does anyone get them spayed or neutered and my guy said it would be overstepping.

He's wrong.

Thank them for giving the cats a safe space to live, and then say if they're not already fixed, you'd like to help out by connecting them with a local organization that offers free/low-cost spay and neuter services (and, if applicable, covering the fee).

Since your fiancé butting in caused you not to make this offer upon first meeting the cats and learning of their circumstances, now when you go back you can frame it as "I'm so tickled by you taking these cats in and making them shop cats, I've been thinking about them ever since" and continue from there.

Edited August 21, 2019 by Bastet

[Sandman87]

Kitten update: The miniature monsters are now both named. The girl (Mom's cat) is Shy. I had a re-think about "my" cat's name, so now his first name is Mortimer, and his middle name is Zoogz.

[KnoxForPres]

3 minutes ago, KnoxForPres said:

Thanks guys!  I tnought so and needed others to make sure I was right.

Im going back and will make sure the tykes and adult(s) are spade/neutered.  They were very loved and well fed/watered. The cats were happy. Just thought they could get out of control!

[shanndee]

Cousin: You didn't follow the instructions                                                                                        

Me: My "How to Assemble a Cat" manual was missing a page

Cousin: ...it was an important page...

Edited August 26, 2019 by shanndee
Can't fix weird formatting!

[bosawks]

Happy National Dog Day!

[ginger90]

[SVNBob]

8 hours ago, bosawks said:

Happy National Dog Day!

I just find it highly appropriate and amusing that National Dog Day is in August.

[AimingforYoko]

Can't decide on this relationship: Siblings or old married couple?

The best part is the dog with the, "WTF did I do?" look.

Edited August 27, 2019 by AimingforYoko

[shanndee]

Cousin: "Tripod? ... She has NO legs in this picture. She's a CAT-er-pillar" :D 

[bosawks]

Separate corners....

[Jaded]

I posted about Mason from TinyKittens in the Cute Animals thread in this section. 

[bmasters9]

Here are my three cats (Harry, Sally and Wilma) at supper, from about 2-3 evenings back, I believe (taken by my sister-in-law Jenn):

[JTMacc99]

This guy attempted to eat the French class field trip paperwork this morning. Now the permission slip has teeth marks in it. 

[Browncoat]

I am virtually booping that nose.

[emma675]

But he looks so innocent!! Look at that face! 😍

[JTMacc99]

2 minutes ago, emma675 said:

But he looks so innocent!! Look at that face! 😍

He's 95% innocent, 5% mischievous playful puppy. Last night at around 8:45, he got a burst of energy and attempted to play with the grumpy old dog. Grumpy old dog played a bit, and also repeatedly snapped at him in a way that probably doesn't count as play. Norman, because he's a golden retriever puppy, was undeterred by Neo's lack of interest in playing and zoomed all over the place. And then unsuspecting me, sprawled out on the love-seat took the full blown flying 45 pound puppy in the gut. He just launched himself at me and flew through the air like a professional wrestler.  My drink went flying. Heh. Stinking cute puppy. 

[PumpkinPK]

WalnutQueen gave me good advice that pets find us.

We have a sad, elderly neighbor with a 5-year old German Shepherd.

The gentlelman has gone into assisted living for the remainder of his life for dementia.  He does not even recognize the dog, heartbreaking for her.  Her life has been turned upside down.

If she does not find a home by Sunday, she is going to a shelter.

I feel like we could be her forever home.  However I am a cat person who has only had Golden Retrievers.

Any thoughts?  Advice?  I am a 95-lb short woman, and this dog weighs as much as me.

Edited September 27, 2019 by PumpkinPK

[ABay]

6 hours ago, JTMacc99 said:

 He just launched himself at me and flew through the air like a professional wrestler.  My drink went flying. Heh. Stinking cute puppy.

Maybe he's part labrador and part luchador.

[Browncoat]

1 hour ago, PumpkinPK said:

WalnutQueen gave me good advice that pets find us.

We have a sad, elderly neighbor with a 5-year old German Shepherd.

The gentlelman has gone into assisted living for the remainder of his life for dementia.  He does not even recognize the dog, heartbreaking for her.  Her life has been turned upside down.

If she does not find a home by Sunday, she is going to a shelter.

I feel like we could be her forever home.  However I am a cat person who has only had Golden Retrievers.

Any thoughts?  Advice?  I am a 95-lb short woman, and this dog weighs as much as me.

How well-trained is the dog?  If she's already pretty well-trained, I'd say go for it.  And I say this as a short, somewhat skinny woman who, once upon a time, owned two Great Pyrenees at the same time.  They each weighed about what I did then, but since they were well-trained and well-behaved, I didn't have any problems taking them both on walkies together, or in the car together or anything.

Shepherds are good dogs.

[AgentRXS]

I would see if the caretaker would let you take care of the dog (at your house) over the weekend to see if you two are a fit for each other. If it doesn't work out, you can let the caretaker know at some point over the weekend so they can bring it to the shelter.

Keep in mind the dog is confused and nervous so its true personality might not shine through. But at least it will give you some idea of whether you think you can handle it. 

[PumpkinPK]

10 hours ago, Browncoat said:

How well-trained is the dog?  If she's already pretty well-trained, I'd say go for it.  And I say this as a short, somewhat skinny woman who, once upon a time, owned two Great Pyrenees at the same time.  They each weighed about what I did then, but since they were well-trained and well-behaved, I didn't have any problems taking them both on walkies together, or in the car together or anything.

Shepherds are good dogs.

9 hours ago, AgentRXS said:

I would see if the caretaker would let you take care of the dog (at your house) over the weekend to see if you two are a fit for each other. If it doesn't work out, you can let the caretaker know at some point over the weekend so they can bring it to the shelter.

Keep in mind the dog is confused and nervous so its true personality might not shine through. But at least it will give you some idea of whether you think you can handle it. 

Thank you both for your responses.

Browncoat, it is reassuring to hear of a petite woman handling two large dogs well.  That gives me confidence.

AgentRxs, I won't know much about the dog's training or personality until we meet her.  We have an appointment at 10am today.

This man purchased her from Germany for company after his wife passed away.  He was basically a recluse in the house with his dog.  For exercise, powder breaks, she was just let out into his fenced yard.

Unfortunately, the great idea of keeping her for the weekend won't work, because the son who has her now has to fly back home on Sunday.

I hope it works out, I have not been ready for a pet since my last two passed.  This is exactly the kind of dog I would like to give a home to.  If the owner was in his right mind, it would kill him to think of her going into a shelter.

Edited September 28, 2019 by PumpkinPK

[PumpkinPK]

Unrelated, I saw this cool video while researching Sherperds.  It shows Halle trainf with her sogs for a movie.

[Browncoat]

1 hour ago, PumpkinPK said:

Thank you both for your responses.

Browncoat, it is reassuring to hear of a petite woman handling two large dogs well.  That gives me confidence.

AgentRxs, I won't know much about the dog's training or personality until we meet her.  We have an appointment at 10am today.

This man purchased her from Germany for company after his wife passed away.  He was basically a recluse in the house with his dog.  For exercise, powder breaks, she was just let out into his fenced yard.

Unfortunately, the great idea of keeping her for the weekend won't work, because the son who has her now has to fly back home on Sunday.

I hope it works out, I have not been ready for a pet since my last two passed.  This is exactly the kind of dog I would like to give a home to.  If the owner was in his right mind, it would kill him to think of her going into a shelter.

She is a beautiful girl!  I hope it works out for both of you.

[Mindthinkr]

Bad news:

I was working our in my yard with a guy who comes to help me. Transplanting azaleas. We were going through the house to take some stuff back into the garage. I guess he didn’t close the door properly. When I was coming back in I saw little girl with something in her mouth. Hmm...I thought.  That doesn’t quite look like her catnip toy that she rarely plays with. Then it dawned on me what it was. Wherever could that poor bird have come from? There are no birds in my house. No more catflap like my previous home. Then I noticed that the door was open, I swear no more than 8 minutes when she was trotting into the living room. She had to have gone out, caught it and gotten back inside in record time. She was ready for lunch on the white oriental rug. She’s good about dropping things as I had hoped to save it. Alas, it was dead. (It had a proper burial.) Despite being an inside cat for 2.5 years she still has it in her. Stealth hunter. 

Good news: 

I am up to three kinds of hummingbirds. Both sexes. The Ruby throated, Back-chinned, and the Anna’s hummingbird. They are very territorial and have jet fighter matches. They are also a lot more vocal than I expected them to be. They’ll look and me and make some kind of a chirping sound. I will be sad when they migrate. They are amusing. 

[PumpkinPK]

10 hours ago, PumpkinPK said:

Thank you both for your responses.

Browncoat, it is reassuring to hear of a petite woman handling two large dogs well.  That gives me confidence.

AgentRxs, I won't know much about the dog's training or personality until we meet her.  We have an appointment at 10am today.

This man purchased her from Germany for company after his wife passed away.  He was basically a recluse in the house with his dog.  For exercise, powder breaks, she was just let out into his fenced yard.

Unfortunately, the great idea of keeping her for the weekend won't work, because the son who has her now has to fly back home on Sunday.

I hope it works out, I have not been ready for a pet since my last two passed.  This is exactly the kind of dog I would like to give a home to.  If the owner was in his right mind, it would kill him to think of her going into a shelter.

Sad news, she would not have been a fit for us.

Apparently she was never socialized, and has never been around women.

She was initially, well, protective of her territory around even my husband.  But she did finally settle down around him (he's a big guy).  But she would have torn me apart.  We spent quite some time there but she never got better with me.  I could not get close enough to even give her a treat.

Thw man caring for her said that even if we wanted her, he would not have let us have her, for my safety.

[Browncoat]

That's a shame.  She may be very difficult to rehome.  Did you meet her on neutral territory, or in her established territory?  If it was her territory, maybe she'll be less agitated in more neutral territory.  Not that that helps in your situation, but hopefully shelter staff can work with her.  We have a couple of really good shelters around here that will work with potentially problematic dogs and help them find forever homes.

I am really sorry for both you and the dog, on many levels.

[PumpkinPK]

2 hours ago, Browncoat said:

That's a shame.  She may be very difficult to rehome.  Did you meet her on neutral territory, or in her established territory?  If it was her territory, maybe she'll be less agitated in more neutral territory.  Not that that helps in your situation, but hopefully shelter staff can work with her.  We have a couple of really good shelters around here that will work with potentially problematic dogs and help them find forever homes.

I am really sorry for both you and the dog, on many levels.

Thank you.

I thought I was sharing a happy story when I posted this morning.

Sorry to all whom are saddened too.

Edited September 28, 2019 by PumpkinPK
Eta: obviously not happy, but a happy ending.

[Bastet]

My parents' cat Chester has IBD, that has probably progressed to small cell lymphoma (we did not put him through another colonoscopy to biopsy again, as whether it's now the lymphoma or "just" an extreme case of IBD, the treatment is the same - steroids and a chemo drug with minimal side effects).  He was adopted from the shelter six years ago, as an owner surrender stated to be eight years old.  He had quite obvious intestinal issues, but nothing amiss on standard tests, and after several months of food testing to eliminate any food allergies as the culprit, colonoscopy and biopsy indicated IBD and ruled out cancer.  His symptoms were managed for years on a raw diet, but late last year he started needing mild steroid therapy and this year a major flare-up indicated it was time for the full court press of prednisolone and chlorambucil.

He is otherwise healthy (very; he has the kidneys of a cat far younger, when they're often the first to go), tolerating the treatment well with only one side effect, starting to put the slightest bit of weight back on, and still a very happy boy - absolutely no change in his personality or enjoyment of life.  He looks terrible, though, because he's skinny and has bald patches (the steroid causes hair loss, so much of the fur in places where it's minimal to begin with - e.g. his heels, the outer edges of his ears - has fallen out and his various shaved patches for ultrasound, IVs, etc. grow back in only minimally). 

The neighbor across the street - who has a cat and dog of his own - knows, through conversations with my parents, the overview I've just outlined for you.  I've been cat-sitting this week while my parents are out of town, so going back and forth between my house/cat and theirs.  Leaving their house this evening, I ran into the neighbor, who, in the course of brief chit chat and upon spotting Chester jump into the bay window to watch me leave, said, "I wouldn't spend any money on that cat; he looks terrible."  I said, "Then I'm glad he's ours and not yours."  (He just chuckled.)

The worst part is, when I told my mom about it, she said he'd made a similar remark to her recently.  (Nicer than me, she replied, "We're happy to do it.")  Seriously?  Piss up a rope, jackass.  

I don't have any current pictures on my computer, but here's Chester back when he had more fur and more fat, basking in the glory of having won the wrestling match with the much-larger Bandit over a toy (despite Bandit's fur and the toy's feathers on the rug, it wasn't a violent match).

(And, yes, those are "thumbs" - he's polydactyl, with one extra toe on each paw.)