Jump to content

Cats: They Own You


A True Kaniggit

Recommended Posts

9 hours ago, The Sunland Lord said:

Thanks man.

It was heartbreaking. We live on the 5th floor of a building, and always kept the windows closed if he was in a room so that he wouldn't jump/get out of our flat. Yesterday, however, I was at my parents' house to take care of our dog while they are away on a trip, and my girlfriend forgot one window open before she went out. This one, fatal time...

We were searching for him all night, and this morning we saw him lying on the ground beneath our building. He wasn't there up until this morning, I know since I checked it 100 times down there and looking from the window as well. Don't know how exactly he ended up there, except he 100% went out the window.

It was too late, of course, when we ran off downstairs to check on him. 

Man, when I took him lifeless in my arms I wept like a baby. 

Ah, that is truly awful. You must be devastated. I am so sorry.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was browsing the kittens people where I live were sheltering & offering for adoption. I noticed one that looked exactly like our previous one, only 3 months old. There were 3 other kittens that were his siblings. I called the man over the phone and asked him if he still has any kittens left. He said "yes, only one, the grey one" (that looked exactly like our previous one). 

I thought I must take him, and yesterday drove to another city to take him home. Now he is with us and still hiding under the bed, only goes out to eat & drink water. We separated him from his mom for the first time.

We were thinking about it, especially my girlfriend because she is feeling rightfully guilty over the lost cat. But we decided we can feel grief and some happiness simultaneously while taking care of our new kitty. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/22/2022 at 5:47 AM, The Sunland Lord said:

I was browsing the kittens people where I live were sheltering & offering for adoption. I noticed one that looked exactly like our previous one, only 3 months old. There were 3 other kittens that were his siblings. I called the man over the phone and asked him if he still has any kittens left. He said "yes, only one, the grey one" (that looked exactly like our previous one). 

I thought I must take him, and yesterday drove to another city to take him home. Now he is with us and still hiding under the bed, only goes out to eat & drink water. We separated him from his mom for the first time.

We were thinking about it, especially my girlfriend because she is feeling rightfully guilty over the lost cat. But we decided we can feel grief and some happiness simultaneously while taking care of our new kitty. 

How is the new kitten getting along?

Has he ventured out from under the bed yet?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, A True Kaniggit said:

How is the new kitten getting along?

Has he ventured out from under the bed yet?

Yes he went out and adapted already, took him to the vet yesterday for the first time ourselves and everything is ok with him. He'll receive the needed vaccines soon.

He was meowing a lot the first night, and overall, but he does it less now. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Bloody cats!

About 5 years ago, aged 12, they decided that the pet-shop own brand cat food just wasn't good enough for them, and the twins went on hunger strike; after a little hunting around, we switched to CSJ, so up a level in quality, and close to double the price.

So 5 years later, and about a week after a delivery of 2 15kg bags, and they've decided that's not good enough either.

Now having to experiment again, and I feel that aged 17, we should shift to "Senior" formula - where tripling the cost seems to reduce the quality (based on the ingredients list) - but... if they'll actually eat the damned stuff...

Dogs are perfectly happy sticking with CSJ (mind, they were happy with the pet-shop's own brand, but that was about the same price as CSJ, for reduced quality)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

New Kitten Alert!  Name is Fitz and he's about 8 weeks.  He's black with darker black tabby stripes.  He's ridiculous.  Our resident ladies are...peeved.  Clover (boss cat and the brains of the business) is merely annoyed.  Katara (floofy adorable idiot) is big mad.  Kitten is in spare room for now.  We rotate him to other rooms and let the ladies in to sniff around from time to time....We are only on day 3, so plenty of time for everyone to settle in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, Mlle. Zabzie said:

New Kitten Alert!  Name is Fitz and he's about 8 weeks.  He's black with darker black tabby stripes.  He's ridiculous.  Our resident ladies are...peeved.  Clover (boss cat and the brains of the business) is merely annoyed.  Katara (floofy adorable idiot) is big mad.  Kitten is in spare room for now.  We rotate him to other rooms and let the ladies in to sniff around from time to time....We are only on day 3, so plenty of time for everyone to settle in.

Welcome and long live Fitz!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A small-ish update on my cat, Mina:

Managed to locate her blood test results and get a copy of them with the help of the veterinarian who neutered her and a volunteer from the animal shelter, so she was reprieved from a second attempt to get a blood sample (very good news, as the first, failed, attempt had distressed her greatly).

When we tried to get her into the cat transporter to visit the vet again in order to get her feline leukemia shot, she rebelled, becoming extremely frightened and resisting our every attempt. We turned up for the vet appointment anyway (sheepishly, without the cat), but the vet was understanding. She instructed us to leave the transporter out for a few days and urged us to feed the cat a tranquilizer pill (which I was loathe to do). We followed her instructions and the tranquilizer made Mina clumsy (as if drunk). We'd left the transporter in the corridor for a couple of days, and giving her an extra small helping of food that day and then putting some treats inside the transporter worked well.

So she got her shot (she was very well behaved), but remained clumsy for a few hours and not quite herself for the next two days (just lying around lazily and not asking for a play, which is not at all like her), but then went back to normal. We need to get a further appointment for her 3-in-1 booster, as you have to wait at least two weeks after the feline leukemia shot. Since her last visit to the vet was not at all traumatic We'll try to do without the tranquilizer for the next appointment.

Anyway, thank you for all the advice. Here's a picture of Mina lounging in the living room :)

Mina pic 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, Mentat said:

A small-ish update on my cat, Mina:

Managed to locate her blood test results and get a copy of them with the help of the veterinarian who neutered her and a volunteer from the animal shelter, so she was reprieved from a second attempt to get a blood sample (very good news, as the first, failed, attempt had distressed her greatly).

When we tried to get her into the cat transporter to visit the vet again in order to get her feline leukemia shot, she rebelled, becoming extremely frightened and resisting our every attempt. We turned up for the vet appointment anyway (sheepishly, without the cat), but the vet was understanding. She instructed us to leave the transporter out for a few days and urged us to feed the cat a tranquilizer pill (which I was loathe to do). We followed her instructions and the tranquilizer made Mina clumsy (as if drunk). We'd left the transporter in the corridor for a couple of days, and giving her an extra small helping of food that day and then putting some treats inside the transporter worked well.

So she got her shot (she was very well behaved), but remained clumsy for a few hours and not quite herself for the next two days (just lying around lazily and not asking for a play, which is not at all like her), but then went back to normal. We need to get a further appointment for her 3-in-1 booster, as you have to wait at least two weeks after the feline leukemia shot. Since her last visit to the vet was not at all traumatic We'll try to do without the tranquilizer for the next appointment.

Anyway, thank you for all the advice. Here's a picture of Mina lounging in the living room :)

Mina pic 

She is so pretty!!!

Never feel bad about having to use a tranquilizer to get a cat to the vet. It’s best for the cat, you, and the vet if it comes to that. 

Also, I know some veterinarians…they say that the biggest reason for missed appointments among cat owners is not being able to corral the cat.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Chataya de Fleury said:

She is so pretty!!!

She is! She's a blue tortoiseshell, which is a slightly unusual coat color.

7 hours ago, Chataya de Fleury said:

Never feel bad about having to use a tranquilizer to get a cat to the vet. It’s best for the cat, you, and the vet if it comes to that.

I can't help feeling a bit bad about it (she looks really stunned and clumsy, and we were afraid she might fall from a table or her cat tree), but yeah, she needs to go to the vet. I think I can get her to be cooperative without drugs, but if I can't then she'll get a tranquilizer. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mentat, I love your tortoiseshell cat, so beautiful!

I had a very similar experience with my cat DJ regarding the carrying cage Mentat recently. 

She was an abused cat we rescued, her first owner had very rapid onset Alzheimer's and began badly abusing his new cat his family got him, so it wasn't anyone's fault really, but DJ bore the brunt of the situation.  As a result, the first 3 families they tried to rehome her in returned her, as all she did was hide in fear underneath/inside/whatever she could find.  We were her last chance, and I wasn't going to give up on her.  So after a week with us, she finally came out one day, and hopped up on my lap, pushing and purring.  We've been ride or die together ever since.

Anyhow, her first vet appointment to get her shots updated and a health check was a few days ago.  I'd been loathing this day, as I was very concerned about how this was going to affect her new found disposition.  I did the same things you tried Mentat, left the carry cage out for several days, and enticed her into it with treats.  She even slept for a couple hours inside it once, as DJ loves declaring her "ownership" of new things such as chairs, sofas, gaming racing chairs, you name it - it's "hers".  

When the prescribed hour came, I got her into the cage, and into a vehicle.  She started honking, howling, meowling...crazy sounds I never thought her capable of making.  I was so upset that 1/2 way to the vet's place, which is only a 4 minute drive, I almost pulled the pin on the whole enterprise.  Something told me to just push through and get there.  When I did, I went inside and informed them that my cat was flipping out, and I didn't want to expose neither her or the other customers/pets to the show she was putting on.  They slipped me in the back way (very kind, and wise), and right into an exam room.  

I opened the carrier, and DJ sheepishly "low crawled" out, and then just gave me that "how could you do this to me" look.  The vet was right in, and immediately began petting DJ, and wouldn't stop commenting on how soft her coat was.  She did a thorough exam, checking from her teeth to her tip of the tail.  Then, unbelievably, she picked her up and cradled her, rocking her back and forth while petting her (this I couldn't believe, as DJ is still very skittish around anyone new, and will "hit the road" when new folks come over, and hide under my bed until it's all clear).  The vet then said "oh, she's purring for me".  I responded, "no, she's not".  Vet - "oh yes she is", and spun her towards me so I could hear her.  Yep, purring.  W T F!?

She then put DJ down and put a little paste of tasty treat stuff down on some paper on the exam table, and DJ being the foody that she is went right for it.  BOOM, shot 1 in one side, shot 2 in the other, all within a few seconds.  Surprised me, and my cat as well, DJ never even blinked, being busy with her new found treat.

So, the visit I had been dreading was over, handled by an incredibly skilled and kind staff.  People who are kind to animals have always been a hook for me, and this vet and her staff went far out of their way to make this event not just better, but surprising for me - and DJ of course.

So, shots and check done, declared to be probably 6 months to a year younger than we were told initially, and in excellent health (could stand to lose a pound or two, but NBD, as she's already on the high quality food they sell at the vet for overweight cats).

Crisis averted.

 

DJ - DJ

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, SerHaHa said:

Mentat, I love your tortoiseshell cat, so beautiful!

Thank you! You have quite the stunner yourself! I love DJ's blue-grey coat.

It's hard to know exactly where Mina came from before I adopted her. She appeared one day in the inner courtyard of the building where I used to live. I initially thought she belonged to the neighbour who lived on the ground floor, but I got quite upset one day when it was raining and cold and I saw her sleeping outside, taking refuge under a balcony. The second time it happened I hollered one of the neighbours and asked them about the cat. The story they gave me was that the previous tenant of the ground floor flat owned three cats and had left with two but abandoned the third. I got in touch with a rescue shelter and with the real estate agents who were renting the flat (who assured me that there was no cat left behind and that it must have gotten in somehow). They also refused to let me in to the flat to get her, because they said the flat had already been rented to a lady living in Barcelona (who hadn't been able to move there yet because of the pandemic). Eventually a cousin of the current absentee tenant who lived near by was found, and they let me and a lady called Nuria from the local cat shelter into the building. She used a cat trap with some food and I spied from my balcony and told her when the cat was in the bag. The cat was taken to the shelter, where she was neutered and checked for diseases, and then I adopted her and took her home. She was initially very shy, but we gave her a room to herself which I would only enter to feed her and that helped. She would also hide a lot (and as I'm sure you can attest cats are extremely adept at hiding and will fit into places where it didn't seem physically possible for them to squeeze into), but eventually she got used to me. I still remember the first night she left her room and walked around my bed while I pretended to be asleep! She does seem to have had human contact at some point in her life, she definitely wasn't feral.

Her first vet was great. A large no-nonsense woman with a lot of experience who just handled Mina like she was a baby. She looked and prodded where she wanted and even put Mina belly up and got no protest! The new vet I don't like as much. She's young and relatively inexperienced, and it shows.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please continue with any and all stories of shelter cats who find homes.  Tonight I have 2 foster kittens who are cavorting with no knowledge that we have about 36 hours before I surrender them to a better life.  I hope it is a better life.  I give all the nose scratches and tummy rubs possible but in the end, it has to be someone else who adopts them and gives them a forever home.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, litechick said:

Please continue with any and all stories of shelter cats who find homes.  Tonight I have 2 foster kittens who are cavorting with no knowledge that we have about 36 hours before I surrender them to a better life.  I hope it is a better life.  I give all the nose scratches and tummy rubs possible but in the end, it has to be someone else who adopts them and gives them a forever home.

You are socializing them and preparing them for a great home life!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
  • 4 months later...

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...