Pets' Corner

Lilymary

@Sandy1964 aren’t they lovely! I bet they wreak havoc from time to time.

@frogmorton , some of my cats have loved a rub down with a bit of kitchen towel, they flop over on the floor as soon as I tear a bit off.

frogmorton

I am going to get a hook put by Daisy's food bowl as suggested by @Mike1 I think @Lilymary then I can catch my puss.

Who is currently in my newly made (with fresh sheets) bed🙄

Kitty

My childhood pal Smutty with a teenage me and friend Diana. He joined our family when I was 2 years old. We lost him when I was 13. Sadly I was at school when he gave up his fight, and mum had arranged his funeral. He loved me to brush his fur, and enjoyed a ride in my doll's pram when I was about 6.

Taken in 1964.

wazz42

Lovely photo Kathleen and a lovely memory.

Thanks for starting this thread Mike - I've enjoyed reading through, and I've got a couple of photos to share. We have 4 cats - 3 sibs and their foster mum from cats rescue who is only 9 months older that the others.

This is Lynx, who is the foster mum - she is a Main Coon but unwanted as she was 7 of 7 and so had hip issues - no good for showing or breeding. She is sitting on the baby bouncer we got for our latest g'ch born in March. She has only used it once and now doesn't want to lie back and watch the world go by - she is keen to get on with crawling (not there yet though) and investigating

Here is Sam, the boy (Mike1 another fish name - Salmon because of his gorgeous colouring when he was young) He goes to 'mum' when he needs a face wash and has decided to become allerggic to fleas - honestly

Pics of the other 2 to follow

xx

frogmorton

Love that picture of you and your sister and Smutty Kath! I bet you still miss him now 😕

Wazz I hope the G Child is the person investigating and crawling not your Lynx! I love the story of them all together as a little cat family 😻Lynx playing 'Mum' to them all bless her.

How do you cope with a ct allergic to fleas?😮 My Late Mum's Late cat was allergic to her flea collar and had a bald patch round her neck for the rest of her life...but actual fleas? That must be a worry😕

Mike1

I have given my Vixen expensive flea drops on the back of her neck since she came to live with me 5 years ago but she increasingly took a dislike to having them, as a result I did not give them to her last October but regularly check her with a flea comb. Despite living in the countryside she has not had one flea for over a year! Whether the drops I gave her have built up over the years or not I don't know but she is happier not having the drops, I have saved money and so long as she doesn't pick up any of the little bu££ers I am content.

Mike1

I am a bit grumpy when it comes to xmas, as there is only me and the cat I do not bother putting any decorations up and here is a good reason not to:

However, my baby sister did get a small tree for her dog which she put up beside her dog bed!

Lilymary

@frogmorton, those cheap flea collars are awful, I can’t believe they’re allowed to sell them, so many cats have bad reactions to them, and as they’re not quick release, cats can get caught up because of them. I never never use them.

I use the expensive drops (either Frontline or Stronghold), but I don’t use them every month like the packaging says. My vet said every six weeks is fine, but tbh I only use them if I see one of mine scratching a lot, so around 3 times a year.

Cats losing fur is often put down to “allergy to fleas”, but in my experience it’s more often down to stress, which makes them fur pull. One of my neighbour’s cats did this as soon as their baby arrived, and stopped once he’d grown up to a more sensible age. They’d put it down to fleas and put her on so many bizarre meds she eventually started fitting, poor thing. I’m positive it was stress. Another friend’s cat was practically bald on its hind quarters, but with three very hyperactive young boys in the house, the poor cat simply couldn't cope.

Most people don’t twig that Cats are naturally anxious creatures, not aloof. They steer clear of situations that make them uncomfortable, including new people. You have to earn their trust. Dogs on the other hand love anyone bearing food!

frogmorton

That's so true about Dogs! So trusting which is why one of our girls is so very busy at the dogs home where she works, (rehoming dogs), nasty people can get hold of them. A Cat would move out!

My Mum has been gone 13 years the cat longer and her allergy even longer than that probably it was towards 30 years ago the cat had her problem bless her. Those collars were stupid but the spray - remember the spray? They HATED that!

I use Advantage drops for mine, but when we first moved here (in the country so to speak) she was such an amazing hunter I had to have special permission from the vet to use the stuff more than monthly! Luckily I think the population of small rodents has been eaten by now and she's getting older so back to normal 🙂

Mike1

Well, just wasted a few bob on Vixen. I thought I would get one of those laser, red dot things for her to chase around. It arrived, I put the batteries in, I turned it on, Vixen looked at the red dot then immediately realised I controlled it, looked at me with disdain and walked off! Luckily it was cheap, I just hope she likes her interactive cat toy that I got her for xmas!!

frogmorton

Hahaha!

Vixen is a wise cat!

My eldest daughter has a posh version of this for her cat... a battery operated one so she can be lazy and watch from her chair!

Lilymary

My two hear the chain rattle on the laser mouse when I pick it up, and then both will suddenly look at the floor to find the dot! It’s hilarious. But once I get it going they loose interest pretty quickly, as they realise there isn’t an actual object to catch. It gives them a bit of exercise for a while, then they give up.

Mike1

😀

frogmorton

I do it before I let my puss have her treats don't want her gaining weight....you know what the vets are like🙄

She is too clever to be fooled for long, but my eldest's will run for as long as you have the energy!

Mike1

A few weeks ago I bought Vixen one of those new cat toys for xmas, the one where a mouse pops out of one of four holes on a random basis. Anyway, watching the TV I saw an advert for a fish toy which flips its tail when the cat bashes is so I ordered one of those as well. Thinking about it afterwards I thought that maybe getting her to play with more than one new toy at xmas may be a bit much so I put the batteries in the mouse toy and set it up for her. Unlike the cats shown in the advert for the thing Vixen just sits there looking at the mouse pop out until it turns off automatically, only then does she interact with it by putting her paw in one of the holes trying to dig the mouse out! I fired it up again for her this morning and her reaction is the same! I hope she likes the flipping fish!!

Lilymary

I’ve found my cats often engage more with a chase toy once it’s stopped - maybe part of their hunting strategy? ie, wait till it’s stopped rather than tear around after it wasting energy. However, I often find I’m the only one actually “playing” with the toy, and both cats are just sitting there watching me! 😹

frogmorton

I got the flippy fish Mike. Expect Vixen to be a bit shocked at first. My puss leapt in the air it was so funny! I felt quite guilty😳

Mike1

Well, that's the day's excitement over already! Gave Vixen her flippy fish after she had her breakfast and, true to form, she just sat and looked at it until it stopped moving and then she attacked it only for it to start flipping again so she left it until it stopped. I opened her other pressie for her which my Home Help got her, it turned out to be a glittery and spangely plastic mouse which she showed more interest in than the fish. I then gave her a chew which she ignored, turned around and went out.

frogmorton

I videoed my puss with hers she absolutely leapt in the air when hers moved. Now she rarely touches it within my sight but over night it seems to move around the house so give Vixen time!

stellabean

we got a flippy fish for our cars but the noise of the motor sends Meg dog into a panic she is torn between running for the hills and towards it then for the hills.A noise phobic dog is hard to fathom at times. Trainer has given us work to do on the oven issue,recall and jumping on you thing the noise I think will get better with time...I hope! You have to treat your dog with something like bits of chicken as small as your little finger nail, mine are tiny so I have terrible trouble getting hold of them and Meg usually pushes my hand so hard she ends up with loads.

Mike1

Well, a rather traumatic couple of days with Vixen. She has a cat flap which is linked to her chip so only she can come in and out, she has an aversion to other cats and often sits at the flap growling at any other cat which comes into the back garden. Anyway, she did not come home on Sunday night, she goes out around 7.30pm and, depending on weather, comes in and out all night but she is normally around when I get up between 3 and 4am. As she was not in I started calling her from 4am and she usually appears when she hears me but in this case she didn't. Eventually I saw her sat on the back door mat outside the flap just before 9am. When I opened the door she hobbled in and when I tried to bend over to stroke her all I got was a hiss for my trouble. She ate some food and then went and hid under my bed. Later on when I was sat in my recliner she limped in and jumped up to snuggle between my legs; she would not let me stroked her let alone inspect her leg, all I got was hisses and a couple of bites! Anyway, to cut a long story short my baby sister was able to take the pair of us to the vets yesterday with Vixen not making a fuss whatsoever. The vet had to give her a double dose of tranquiliser before he could check her over and it turned out she had been bitten by another cat and become infected. He shaved her leg, cleaned out the wound and gave her painkillers and antibiotics. When we got home about midday Vixen just lay on me for hours, she tried to get up a couple of times and immediately flopped back down again. Sister also got her a litter tray as I intended to keep Vixen in for a couple of days but that intention failed last night when she made such a fuss to go out that I let her. When I got up this morning I couldn't find her indoors so went out to call her, getting increasingly anxious in the process. She didn't respond at all and I was winding myself up because I let her go out. Anyway, half an hour later she crawled out from under my bed ready for some breakfast which I duly gave her along with a dollop of liquid painkiller that the vet gave me. So there we are, panic over for now!

frogmorton

OMG! Mike poor Vixen!

The poor little girl. Sounds like she has to fight her corner where you live bless her and she knows it hence the growling at her cat flap. I wonder what state the other cat was in🤨She needs to go to self defence classes.

It sounds really sweet that she lay on you for hours after you got back from the vets. She knew all was well now and must have felt in much less pain. How is her wound healing?

They just can't tell us when they are in pain can they? One of my village friends her cat was really 'odd' on Monday morning and they thought her time had come (she's 17) they rushed her to the vet and it turned out to be an OVERactive thyroid so treatable this time.

My puss is due her annual overhaul on Monday coming. I always dread it in case they find anything. They are going to pop in another chip because hers has migrated and won't work in the chip cat flap so it's on manual all the time. To be fair we haven't had any visitors so far luckily.

We just love them too much don't we Mike?

Take care of each other and Vixen - behave!

Mike1

Thanks, I had a look at her wound this morning and she is healing well thanks. Good luck with your furball on Monday. When I took mine for her check up last year I warned the vet that she was feisty as I could not go in with her, when they brought her back out to me the vet said that she could not complete the full check up but confirmed that her teeth were in good order (she bit the vet)! Apparently the comment about her teeth was added to her computer record 😸

Lilymary

@Mike1 , oh poor you, I hate it when the cats stay out, I'm usually in a state of near hysteria by the time they come home. I've fenced my garden now so they can't get out, it was expensive but it was worth every penny for my peace of mind and their safety (the road can get quite busy and I know of at least 5 cats that were run over outside my house). It means I'm not out in the middle of the night rounding them up or rescuing them from cat fights.

And poor VIxen. Cats do find fights traumatic even without injury, poor things. The infected wounds knock the stuffing out of them too. But it's sweet that she came to you for comfort after the vet trip. If she still keeps hiding away after a few days there may be something else bothering her, and another vet trip may be in order. I'm sure you'll know to spot any changes in behaviour, and hopefully she'll be back to normal soon.

Toby was getting more and more withdrawn recently, and started sleeping under my computer station. I knew he had dodgy teeth, and was due a check up, so I took him in and they ended up taking out 5! (He's only 3 yrs old). A relic of his tough start in life. It was his first major vet visit, and he was really traumatised by it. He's never a lap cat other than a brief snuggle in the morning - he doesn't seem to see the point of it and wriggles away most times. We're just there to feed and entertain him! Anyway, after I brought him home from the vet, I was sitting on the edge of the bed and for the first and only time, he crawled onto my lap and curled up and went to sleep. I was really touched that he does see me as a safe place when the chips are down.

Mike1

Thanks. More cuddles from Vixen yesterday, she is eating well, purring more and is almost back to normal; just has to grow her fur over the wound site.