The Official HTF Cat Thread (5 Viewers)

[DaveF]

Part of me also wants to get 2 kittens so they can have companionship and grow up together. But perhaps going from 0 to 2 is too big a step.

In any case, I enjoy reading about your cats and the photos.

I recommend if you're going to get one, get two. It's no cure all, and increases your responsibilities. But it can help them out, giving them some extra companionship. The downside is it does bring in more pack and dominance issues which can be annoying and hard to fix.

If you have a spouse / SO, it means no one ever lacks for a cat.

Well, that's not really true. My wife often hogs the cats, leaving me catless. I've proposed a third cat would solve this issue, but I harbor suspicious she'd find a way to steal that cat from me as well.

The important thing is to understand if you're a cat person or a dog person. Then get two of those

 

[DaveF]

We have had success sticky tape. Cats hate sticky so they will avoid the area. The only issue we found was the side that stuck to the furniture left a bit of residue.

You can get strips of this tape at any pet store.

We tried everything on kitchen counters.

Sticky tape was a disaster. Because the cat got the tape stuck to their leg, panicked, and tore around the house like a bat out of hell, getting the tape more tangled and creating household chaos.

You know the only thing that works? Pretending not to see cats on kitchen counters.

 

[DaveF]

Another household tip: bookmark this page or similar.
https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/toxic-and-non-toxic-plants?field_toxicity_value%5B%5D=02

Roses are fine. But I can no longer buy Irises for my wife. Not after poisoning her six month old kittens the first time.

 

[Mike Frezon]

The important thing is to understand if you're a cat person or a dog person. Then get two of those

Excellent advice!

 

[DaveF]

Those are dogs to make a cat person convert

 

[LeoA]

Or have both, as I do.

 

[questrider]

How is Smudges health at 18 1/2? My longest living cat made it to 16 before kidney problems set in. My current buddy is 10.

Smudge has lost a bit of weight in the last couple of years to where he is really too thin considering he used to be a 12-13 lb. cat. But that's expected now that he's geriatric. And nowadays he's interested in eating all the time to the point where any time I get up he races to the kitchen and meows incessantly like a siren. I also suspect he's lost a bit of his hearing. Either that or he's just ignoring me in his old age. Other than that, he still runs around, plays with a laser pointer or anything on the end of a string, and uses the litter box (which is tucked away in the basement). I know what you mean about kidney problems though because that's usually a sign that the end is near as I've experienced that with some long-lost cats in my past. That's the proverbial hammer I keep waiting to fall because once that sets in and they stop using the litter box it's essentially—and sadly—over.

Wow, I spoke too soon. This week Smudge has decided to stop using the litter box for the first time in 18½ years and has been urinating on the linoleum floor in the bathroom. And so it begins. I know how this goes and will simply have to enjoy all the time I have hanging out with him because this is something I cannot tolerate for too long so the end is near. The funny thing is that five minutes after I watched him do it (while he watched me watch him) he trotted down into the basement, hopped into the litterbox, and dug around in the litter. So he knows where the box is. I'm afraid at his advanced age that he is experiencing dementia not unlike Alzheimer's where he is forgetting things from minute to minute.

 

[DaveF]

Upon whom shall I cast my benevolent gaze?

 

[LeoA]

We had a indoor cat that wore a collar for years (They're definitely deadly for outdoor cats), and she managed once as we were going out the door to slip partway out of it and was choking. Two minutes later and we'd of been gone. She never wore one again.


And Tiger, whom I lost last April less than week before his 18th birthday due to cancer, started doing that a few months earlier. He had a urinary tract infection and peeing was painful, so he associated going in the litter box with pain.


I wouldn't be quick to give up on a beloved family pet, especially if it's going on the linoleum floor of your bathroom where it's easy to clean and he won't be causing any damage.


It might be as simple as taking him in for a checkup and treating a possible urinary tract infection.

 

[questrider]

I wouldn't be quick to give up on a beloved family pet, especially if it's going on the linoleum floor of your bathroom where it's easy to clean and he won't be causing any damage.

It might be as simple as taking him in for a checkup and treating a possible urinary tract infection.

Thanks for the advice. It's not that I'm quick to give up, I've just been through this several times before and am preparing for the worst in my head because with his age the inevitable is, well... inevitable. It's not just the linoleum floor—while doing it he's also spraying on the wall and the wood baseboard trim. And it's making my other cat very interested in the area as well due to the residual smell that occurs no matter how much I clean and disinfect the area. He is due for a veterinarian check-up so I'll do that here in the next week or so and hopefully it is as minor as treating a possible urinary tract infection. But as I said, I just know how this goes when a beloved pet gets to this age in that there is only so much you or a vet can do for them.

 

[ChristopherG]

There are tear away collars you can get. They definitely work as my Zoe went through 2 before I decided to stop wasting the money.

 

[Elizabeth S]

Another household tip: bookmark this page or similar.
https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/toxic-and-non-toxic-plants?field_toxicity_value%5B%5D=02

Roses are fine. But I can no longer buy Irises for my wife. Not after poisoning her six month old kittens the first time.

I knew there were toxic-to-animal plants, but that is an extensive list! I've only looked at 5 pages and see several very common indoor plants, including my favorite asparagus fern. Oh well, I guess no plants for me. (I have one small container with cacti from Christmas right now.)


It's a wonder outdoor cats survive at all surrounded by all those deadly plants!!

 

[David Willow]

Look what FedEx dropped off at my house yesterday.

 

[LeoA]

And if it's like my cats, there's a cat bed within sight of the cardboard box yet I bet he settled down and fell asleep where he was.


The new cardboard box laying on the floor always seems to win out.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Thanks for the advice. It's not that I'm quick to give up, I've just been through this several times before and am preparing for the worst in my head because with his age the inevitable is, well... inevitable. It's not just the linoleum floor—while doing it he's also spraying on the wall and the wood baseboard trim. And it's making my other cat very interested in the area as well due to the residual smell that occurs no matter how much I clean and disinfect the area. He is due for a veterinarian check-up so I'll do that here in the next week or so and hopefully it is as minor as treating a possible urinary tract infection. But as I said, I just know how this goes when a beloved pet gets to this age in that there is only so much you or a vet can do for them.

I haven't read all this thread about your elderly Smudge, but at the age of 18+ years it is a certainty that he his suffering from renal failure. A 15 year-old like is likely having some stage of renal failure.


There is a treatment, but not a cure, that can help a cat to live longer with a better quality of life, or at the least to give whatever days or months remain to him, a better quality of life. Daily hydration, subcutaneous fluids, can do wonders for a geriatric pet. I am currently hydrating one cat and have done it to as many as 3 at a time.


Often vets don't suggest this to cat owners because too many wold recoil at the idea, but it's not hard to do. Ask your vet about it. Don't delay.


Nothing can cure old age, but you can treat it. Your vet can tell your how much he should get daily. There are also conditions that would prevent you giving hydration.


My vet wrote an RX and i buy the ringers solution by the box (12 1000 ml bags) from a local pharmacy and the box costs $60, so $5 a bag. 100 ml may be the right amount and in that case one bag would last 10 days. In addition to the fluids, you also need an IV kit and the needles, all of which are not expensive. If they are pricey from the vet contact a local humane organization and they may be able help you out.


The only other thing you need is the willingness to do it. Even if it only gives your cat 6 good months, isn't that worthwhile? I've experienced the value of daily hydration at home. It is being done often enough that an article about home hydration was published in Cat Fancy.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Upon whom shall I cast my benevolent gaze?

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While I can't see all his toes, they seem quite prominent. I almost think he's a polydactyl. I love poly's, we used to have three and all were the sweetest, lovingest cats you could hope to know.

 

[DaveF]

We had a indoor cat that wore a collar for years (They're definitely deadly for outdoor cats), and she managed once as we were going out the door to slip partway out of it and was choking. Two minutes later and we'd of been gone. She never wore one again.

Were the break-away collars? That's key.

 

[DaveF]

While I can't see all his toes, they seem quite prominent. I almost think he's a polydactyl. I love poly's, we used to have three and all were the sweetest, lovingest cats you could hope to know.

I don't know I'll have to check.

Dash is the sweetest, cuddliest cat ever. He purrs audibly and viscerally, like a coffee purcolator . He's unfortunately an anxious little cat, and he's the one that causes us problems with peeing in corners. (sigh)

 

[LeoA]

Were the break-away collars? That's key.

It definitely wasn't, but it was such a scare 20 years ago, that I wouldn't even want to try with a safer design.

 

[Johnny Angell]

I don't know I'll have to check.
Dash is the sweetest, cuddliest cat ever. He purrs audibly and viscerally, like a coffee purcolator . He's unfortunately an anxious little cat, and he's the one that causes us problems with peeing in corners. (sigh)

Ask your vet about amitriptylene. It might cure his fear.