Cats: They Own You

[A True Kaniggit]

3 minutes ago, Xray the Enforcer said:

Sassy! I love them.

My kitties may be aloof. And act like such praise is their just deserts. 

But as their mortal bridge to our realm, I thank you for the sentiment in their stead. 

[Fury Resurrected]

An update from my feline overlords-

Fernando’s parathyroid and malignancy panel results both came back negative, which rules out the big bad possibilities for his elevated calcium levels. This leaves either idiopathic (a fancy way of saying MYSTERY) or related to his kidneys, which is Bad but not extremely bad. We will retest kidney values and calcium levels next week, we are currently treating it as CKD with diet. Not a lot of data on prognosis of that in a cat as young as him, mostly CKD is for old cats.

Guava is no longer radioactive so it’s nice to not have to manage his litter box as radioactive waste. He has gained .6lb so it looks like the radioactive iodine treatment was successful. We will retest in a month to make sure he doesn’t need a second round and assess if it damaged his kidneys more. He is 16 and in stage one CKD, hoping that is stable.

Hector, who previously needed full anesthesia for a necessary haircut because he is a fluffy spaz, has allowed me to shave him at home with minimal violence. This took about six weeks of sitting in the bathroom with him running the clippers and dispensing treats. 
 

All three remain extremely cute.

[Buckwheat]

On 8/20/2020 at 10:07 AM, A True Kaniggit said:

Come on the internets! 

Don't my girls deserve at least one compliment? 

It's been 16 months ! 

https://imgur.com/a/HD09vnq?

Adorable! Tell them an unknown person from the Internet is sending a compliment.  

[Fez]

Well, after my last post here, my cat went 12 days without vomiting. But now he's done it 3 more times in the past 9 days. But otherwise remains as happy and healthy as always. I remain baffled and am monitoring the situation.

[A True Kaniggit]

Lulu threw up.

So I went to get cleaning supplies.

On the way to the cabinet I stepped in more vomit I didn’t know about.

She planned this shit. She layed a trap. I just know it. 

Edit: Don’t  worry.  She’s not sick. It’s been a really long time since her last hair ball. She’s just trying to get one up. 

[litechick]

Based on my understanding of the definitions, your post confuses me.

Full disclosure, I get my info from the Kitten Lady.

[Lizard Queen]

Jesus Christ, my cat growled much louder than I've heard a cat do. I was laying in bed with ear plugs in, and I heard his growl with no issue. He was a few feet away from me, but I hadn't removed the blankets from my head by that point, so between that and my muffled hearing I was just thinking "what the hell was that noise?"

I removed one of the ear plugs, and I heard the noise again, but it wasn't as loud. With one ear free, it sounded like a chainsaw in the distance, but it must have been 7-ish in the morning. I heard the noise again, but this time I finally rolled over and looked out. My cat was sitting across the room with something dark in his mouth. One of the cats caught a mouse a couple of weeks ago, so I just wondered if he had one. 

Turned out he did. I got him to drop it by shoving a broom at him a few times. He is afraid of the broom, and flees when he sees me grab it. The fact that I touched him with it several times (he was backed into a corner of my closet at the time) before he finally dropped the mouse and escaped said something lol.

 

Anyway, that growl though... It was loud. I have never heard a cat growl that loudly before, honestly not even close.

[Castellan]

On 10/22/2020 at 4:51 AM, Lizard Queen said:

Jesus Christ, my cat growled much louder than I've heard a cat do. I was laying in bed with ear plugs in, and I heard his growl with no issue. He was a few feet away from me, but I hadn't removed the blankets from my head by that point, so between that and my muffled hearing I was just thinking "what the hell was that noise?"

I removed one of the ear plugs, and I heard the noise again, but it wasn't as loud. With one ear free, it sounded like a chainsaw in the distance, but it must have been 7-ish in the morning. I heard the noise again, but this time I finally rolled over and looked out. My cat was sitting across the room with something dark in his mouth. One of the cats caught a mouse a couple of weeks ago, so I just wondered if he had one. 

Turned out he did. I got him to drop it by shoving a broom at him a few times. He is afraid of the broom, and flees when he sees me grab it. The fact that I touched him with it several times (he was backed into a corner of my closet at the time) before he finally dropped the mouse and escaped said something lol.

 

Anyway, that growl though... It was loud. I have never heard a cat growl that loudly before, honestly not even close.

My cat was a great hunter. Other cats I have had either caught zero or just one thing (eg a cricket) in their whole lives. This cat clearly sprang from a long line of farm cats and would have been wonderful for keeping the mice and rats out of my granary, if I had such a thing. She would come to the front door in the night with that weird triumphant deep throated ululating sound that partly just "I have a rat in my mouth, can you hear me???". I'd open the door partway to see and then say No No put it down. SHe'd keep trying to lunge in the door bearing her gift but she had learned and eventually would drop it and run to the kitchen where I would give her some dry food. Then I'd grab the dustpan and brush and run out and put the rat in the garbage bin. She'd come out later sniffing round the porch wondering where her rat had gone although on some level she must have known I had stolen it. I can't tell you how guilty I felt for not acting more grateful for her for feeding the tribe. I felt I should cut it up and pan fry it & share this gift with her....

 

[A True Kaniggit]

My poor Lucipurr.

There’s a lizard laying not 3 inches away from her teeth and claws on the other side of the sliding glass door. 

She just can’t get to it. 
 

I’ll give her some treats later to cheer her up. 

[DireWolfSpirit]

We were gifted a cat door so the cat can come and go as she pleases and it has had wonderful advantages like not needing to play the in, out, in, out game, plus she almost never uses the indoor litter now that she's accustomed to doing the deed out of doors, yea's big-time.

Downside to this are two things though. The cat door has a nasty cold air draft when the weather gets too inclement. The other issue I have is how prolific of a hunter the cat has become. She averages about 10 gifts a week that she proudly and loudly brings into the house (through said catdoor) during the nocturnal hours.

So it is what is, the door is still worth it. I mean she has to run out of things to kill out there eventually right?

[A True Kaniggit]

24 minutes ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

We were gifted a cat door so the cat can come and go as she pleases and it has had wonderful advantages like not needing to play the in, out, in, out game, plus she almost never uses the indoor litter now that she's accustomed to doing the deed out of doors, yea's big-time.

Downside to this are two things though. The cat door has a nasty cold air draft when the weather gets too inclement. The other issue I have is how prolific of a hunter the cat has become. She averages about 10 gifts a week that she proudly and loudly brings into the house (through said catdoor) during the nocturnal hours.

So it is what is, the door is still worth it. I mean she has to run out of things to kill out there eventually right?

My two cats are both indoor cats. I don’t trust the stray dogs in this neighborhood. 

[KingintheNorth4]

My day is oh so fucking great. One of our cats is currently stuck in a neighbor's tree and won't come down because she's spooked, so my mother had to call the fire department and we're waiting for them to come back with a ladder currently. And did I mention that it's about to fucking storm also?

Once she's down from there, she's gonna be grounded for a good long while, and deservedly so.

[felice]

54 minutes ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

We were gifted a cat door so the cat can come and go as she pleases and it has had wonderful advantages like not needing to play the in, out, in, out game

Having a cat door she's perfectly capable of using when she wants to doesn't stop ours from insisting on playing that game!

[Fury Resurrected]

Here’s your periodic PSA to please consider keeping cats indoors only unless leashed or on a catio because there are many communicable cat diseases they can catch (FIV, feline leukemia, feline herpes, ear infections, upper respiratory infections, tick borne illnesses, fleas, mange, ringworm, etc). There are also hazards presented by bad humans, cars, and predators. And lastly, they are a destructive invasive species to your local ecosystem. The “gifts” they are bringing you can give your cats parasites and diseases and are creatures that are part of an ecosystem your cats should not be. Cats are truly devastating to songbird populations, many of which are threatened. Your cat may be healthy in spite of it, but it’s not a healthy practice for your cat (my grandma is 86 and lives on vodka and cigarettes somehow too, but that doesn’t mean my sister should let her kids try to duplicate that) and it’s also bad environmental practice.

If your cat insists on going outside, that cat is a great candidate for leash training. I have three cats who are happy leash boys to varying degrees and am more than happy to share tips on this process.

[KingintheNorth4]

The firefighters got Chubbs down from the tree, though she did put up a good fight. 

[A True Kaniggit]

1 hour ago, Fury Resurrected said:

Here’s your periodic PSA to please consider keeping cats indoors only unless leashed or on a catio because there are many communicable cat diseases they can catch (FIV, feline leukemia, feline herpes, ear infections, upper respiratory infections, tick borne illnesses, fleas, mange, ringworm, etc). There are also hazards presented by bad humans, cars, and predators. And lastly, they are a destructive invasive species to your local ecosystem. The “gifts” they are bringing you can give your cats parasites and diseases and are creatures that are part of an ecosystem your cats should not be. Cats are truly devastating to songbird populations, many of which are threatened. Your cat may be healthy in spite of it, but it’s not a healthy practice for your cat (my grandma is 86 and lives on vodka and cigarettes somehow too, but that doesn’t mean my sister should let her kids try to duplicate that) and it’s also bad environmental practice.

If your cat insists on going outside, that cat is a great candidate for leash training. I have three cats who are happy leash boys to varying degrees and am more than happy to share tips on this process.

I believe someone on the forum shared a story some time ago about a neighbor who came home and found their outdoor cat hanging from the mouth of a dog.

I agree with the bolded wholeheartedly. 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

It should probably be noted that your cute little cats are actually predators. And house cats spending their spare time outside are one of the driving factors in the reduction of the singing bird population. If you let your little predators out, at least make them visible to their unfortunate prey so that they can get the hell out of Dodge.

[A True Kaniggit]

5 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

It should probably be noted that your cute little cats are actually predators. And house cats spending their spare time outside are one of the driving factors in the reduction of the singing bird population. If you let your little predators out, at least make them visible to their unfortunate prey so that they can get the hell out of Dodge.

Bells! Both of my cats jingle when they walk. Just in case they ever do somehow slip outside without me noticing. 
 

(Though it does ruin their game of ambushing each other)

[A Horse Named Stranger]

9 minutes ago, A True Kaniggit said:

Bells! Both of my cats jingle when they walk. Just in case they ever do somehow slip outside without me noticing. 
 

(Though it does ruin their game of ambushing each other)

Well here someone claims that bells are not nearly as effective as people hope.

No idea how well based NPR articles are tho.

[DireWolfSpirit]

Our human population per square mile is a wonderful 6 people, usually everyone knows each other as well, so we have very few troubles with cars or bad humans causing pet problems.

Of course it follows that this leaves hundreds and thousands of acres available for all animals to use in this area.

As I mentioned the cat is a prolific hunter, mostly field mice, although I do believe she has taken down a few birds, certainly nothing approaching daily or even weekly though.

As for ticks, fleas, tapeworm and the like, she hasn't had fleas or worm problems in the 11 years since we found her as a kitten and got her shots and fixed. She is remarkably healthy, happy with a lush calico coat and white face.

She will continue to have the freedom of the cat door and coming and going as she pleases.