THE NEW CAT ROOM! (or the Cat Room #2)

Olga...you can call me Diane....VN or VNN can stay on the other threads! Tequila is much better now...He is off medication and breathing nicely with no coughing. We are due back for a checkup next week.

So glad to hear about your Mags. I could never be without a cat for long

Does anyone else have a cat that sits on their head to be fed at 4 am? Just curious....

Glad that Tequila is on the mend

I like Mags too. I think a month is probably about right - if she was younger it could be less but .... just to make sure that she's certain of where her home is.

She's obviously already getting you well trained The image of her running ahead and squeaking was delightful

Ummm to amuse her? - ping pong balls, those little practice golf balls with big holes in (Paddy picks them up and drops them in himself's slippers to amuse himself), catnip mice, screwed up paper, cardboard boxes with holes in is a real hit with Rosie but Paddy can't quite see what the appeal is! other than batting Rosie as she scrambles in and out of them , string with things tied on the end ..... You'll know all these anyway, I can't think of anything fantastically original.

She'll probably sleep most of the time you are at work anyway.

Paddy stayed out all night last night and flatly refused to come in even when himself got up for him. He crashed out all day exhausted! Spring in the air?

I think I saw the flying cat that Steve is talking about. Sometime last week, the local news did a story on a beautiful persian cat that had climbed up into a huge tree. The owner called the fire department, but before they got there the cat decided on its own to jump - straight out, and down about 80'. Bumped a little on a shorter tree on the way down, but landed on it's feet and ran for cover. Owner reported that it was fine.

They showed the video twice on the news, and I felt sick both times. 80' is a long, long jump. I'm glad the cat is fine.

Ok all you cat people, I have a problem that I think is insolvable, but maybe ... just maybe .... someone will have an idea.

I have 3 cats (MacDuff, Gracie & Babu). Gracie is a foundling. She showed up on my doorstep on a bitterly cold day 2 years ago, a little ball of fluff that fit in my hand, a bit skittish but playful, and with a purr that can fill a room.

In most ways she's a sweetheart ~ always happy to see me, will play any sillyass game I can think of (right now we're taking a break from modified ping-pong), likes to travel with me as long as she gets the front passenger seat, occasionally develops a skin rash so that we have to visit the ever-so-dreamy Dr. Andre. But there's no escaping it, her formative babyhood was not what it should have been. You know -- when her mama should have taught her good potty habits.

In the house, it wasn't a big deal. The litter boxes were in the basement laundry room, in a tiled corner that I could hose down when needed. But here in our new condo it's becoming an issue. You see, Gracie pees like a boy. Not a boy cat, but a boy human. She stands in the litter box and lets loose. She seems to be proud of how high she can pee. Maybe she's trying out for the kitty fire department ("If you can piss this high, the F.D. wants you!).

I've gone from normal to high-sided litter pans (but not too high because MacDuff is now 12 and not so agile), then ones with tops. They're better, but she can still find the seam between top & bottom, or sometimes she just aims out the entrance opening. It's disgusting. I mean even my male cat MacDuff squats to pee.

Since moving to the condo, I've spent way too much time on her potty habits -- either cleaning up the mess, or trying to think of a solution, or wandering the litter pan aisles of all pet stores. I did spot one litter pan that might do the trick -- it's shaped like an igloo, completely covered by a dome, and the cats have to follow a spiral path in -- but it's huge. It wouldn't fit anywhere in my condo, unless I can balance a piece of glass on top and call it a coffee table.

I can't figure out what to do, because I cannot be there to correct her each and every time she visits the litter box.

Any ideas?

(Or maybe I should just count my blessings that she does squat for the other job. Although she doesn't cover either of them. Definitely poor potty training!)

Ah, I see! Lots more places to nap. (She's just discovered my bed. Or finally developed the confidence to jump on it today! And is fast asleep on it right now.) And things to climb up on & jump on me from a great height! Thank you, ul. I will arrange all that post haste! :wink:

Ah, that's better! Okie dokie, Diane it is!



Excellent! And a welcome reprieve for you, too, for a bit! I trust the others are well, too?



Diane, my poor old Flatty used to like to sleep on top of my head on cold nights! He thought that was pretty good! Luckily, though, he didn't demand food in the wee small hours! And which of your critters is up to this hi jinx? Tsk tsk, so thoughtless!

Yes, A few accompanied outdoor ventures at first, Vivien. Then, bit by bit, let her spend more time out there & introduce her to the cat door. (Which is firmly shut at the moment.) Lucky I'm working part-time at the moment, hey?



This morning I was woken at some ungodly hour (for the last day of my holiday break!) by the sound of this critter madly scuttling up & down the length of my (little, polished wood) passage. Yes, you know who! I tried to interest her in ball chasing games a couple of days ago. Not interested. But this morning she was!!!! Is this a sign of life from now on? A feline alarm clock?



Thanks for the suggestions, anyway, Vivien. My god, it sounds like it must be pandemonium when those two get going!



Must be, but I hate it when they do that! It realy worries me. I'll bet himself & yourself were worried, too!

Oh, I thought it was a figment of Steve's imagination, Tico. (Sorry, Steve!) I couldn't figure out what to make of it! I guess this intrepid cat's used up one of it's nine lives, hey? Amazing.

Tico

I love your cats' names! MacDuff, Gracie & Babu! Lovely! You should start a cat naming service. You'd be rich in no time!

As for Gracie's toilet habits: I wish I could offer a solution, but I honestly don't have one. In my experience (& having owned many a rescued cat) often you're stuck with some of the habits they've developed from long before you took them in. My last cat, Flatty, for example, was such a messy eater. Food would just fly all over the place! It seemed he just couldn't keep it in his (huge!) feeding bowl. So lots of newspapers were required under his feeding area. I tried lots of things, but nothing worked. In the end I just learned to live with constant cleaning up. Luckily, like your Gracie, he was an absolute delight & a wonderful, loyal cat. He also had a bit of a "wild" streak, from lots of time on the streets during his earlier life. You couldn't keep him locked up inside too much, as a result. (Until he got older & very ill, poor dear.) So, Tico, I'm stumped as to what strategy you can use with Gracie, I'm sorry. Maybe one of the other cat folk here has some suggestions? You write beautifully, BTW. More please! I'd love to hear more about MacDuff & Babu, too!

msolga,
Mags will be busy enough for a month to make herself home and she will entertain herself- lots of naps to be ready for playtime with you.
Kiki got lots of toys from the children- he never was really interested in cat toys.
And of course no scratching pole or scratching tile, no cat hammock, no cat basket.
It is his house and we are allowed to stay with him.

That's amazingly generous of him, ul! A very discerning cat, by the sounds of it!

Tico, that dome-shaped litter box sounds like the one we have. It is big! What I love about is that Nisse cannot run out of it after he used it like he did when we had a 'normal' covered litter box. He jumped out telling us 'hey, look what I did!' - of course he dragged out lots of kitty litter... So the dome thing with its funny entrance is good for that. But from time to time one of them - BigDice says it's Mysan, I say it's Nisse :-) - still manages to pee through one of the seams... Not nice... You know it...

And I am very happy to hear that all the cats are fine - I was a bit worried about Tequila!

It's always good to know that I'm not alone in this problem. I think that I've solved the peeing through the seams. Yesterday, I bought & installed some weatherstripping around the the lid edge, to overlap the seam. So far, so good. But she still managed to "shoot" through the entrance hole at some point during the night. <sigh>


Thank you so much, although I'm not sure that the topic is so enlightening! But you realize that now you've complimented me, I'll be too shy to write more.

Olga
Of course we're all waiting to hear!

And you've (almost) named her after me! kinda!

I was at a friend's place on Saturday and he had some wonderful toys - one was a sort of bunch of feathers on elastic on a stick - a bit like a fishing line. One of his critters used to drag it up to you to play with it (and her!) Great fun!

I've seen those. A friend has a couple of abyssinians (spelling?) that liked those...

A2k allergic cat lover, checking in.

My mother didn't like cats, so we never had any. My aunt did have a dog, and so I started out liking dogs.

Time went by.

My ex came with two cats, a momma and a kitten. Kerchoo!!!

I'm allergic to dogs too, but not quite as much.

Anyway, I tune in here on the cat threads to keep up with cat life..
Msolga, I am so sorry about Flatty.

Aw, go on, Tico! Rave away! Go for it!

And of course cat poo is a fascinating topic! Well, for folk who have to use litter trays, it is! I hate the stuff! Sifting & sorting to remove the "clumped" bits! Arghhhhh! It seems so undignified!

Allergic to cats and dogs, osso? That's a bit tough for an animal lover!

& thanks for the sympathy, too.

actually I have a question about cats, or rather one particular cat.

He's not ours, just a regular visitor, checking up on our welfare...not.

But he's developing the weepy eye syndrome. I'm not going to pay for a vet to look at him but if there is a simple remedy I can apply without getting slashed to ribbons, would be interested to know. thanks.

Any other symptoms, Steve? Like sneezing?

no. He snores a bit.

The weepy eye problem is in the corner of the eye going onto the nose. It doesnt seem to cause him much discomfort but looks as if it should be sore.