Your daily cat and kitten news

[Epona]

Havnt been on here for a while. Maybe some remember Dexter he was feral when we took him on nine years ago. All is well he still spends a lot of time indoors but likes it in the garden. He never poops in the garden he jumps over the fence and goes into the bushes in the small area of grass , trees.
but the last couple of months he’s become jumpy. He’s always charged upstairs when we have a delivery I get that but he’s become scare if I open a box, sometimes if I close a cupboard door.
I’m especially mentioning it because he was eating in the kitchen this evening I’m creeping around and I took an elastic band off some spring onions. He was off.
As far as I’m aware he hasn’t suffered any trauma involving boxes of elastic bands. He’s comfortable in the house has a lot of cuddles , has various sleeping places variably ends up snoring, sighing and eventually sleeping on his back he even lets me scratch his belly.
It’s quite a serious question. Any of you experienced similar behaviour?

Do you know how old he is?

Could be a number of things, obviously something that scared him at some point is one of them, but you say you don't think that is likely.
It could be that his sight or hearing is starting to go a bit, so loud noises or sudden movements are more scary. (Although this is often age related, it isn't necessarily - cats get a lot of the same problems with their sight or hearing that we do - age related ones would be macular degeneration, retinal atrophy, cataracts for the eyes, and a lot of older cats experience hearing loss.)
Cats also can get dementia much like humans can when they are old.

If I were you, I'd book a non-urgent vet appointment (assuming nothing urgent is going on with his health) - they can check his eyes and ears.
Cats that lose their sight or hearing even completely can adjust very well in a safe indoor environment, so if it is that, try not to be too concerned about his future.

 

[Elpenor]

Car park cat (back home now so seeing it around today) likes the shade to nap in as it’s so warm

 

[Oriole]

does the panel have any thoughts about what efforts should be made to try and socialise these kittens so they are more likely to find homes as domestic rather than feral kitties?

mummy cat may be beyond that, and trap / neuter / release, or re-home as a semi-feral /outdoor cat may be the best outcome for her

i've never had to deal with a situation like this so not sure what the answer is.

would not want to do anything where mummy cat either got seriously pussed off with Monte or took their presence as enough of a threat to move the kittens to somewhere else...

and btw, squee

I'd get mum neutered sooner rather than later especially if she's leaving the kitten to go out and do her own thing.
Re the kitten, it depends on how old they are and how much time you have to dedicate to socialising them. If you search for "Flatbush" and "spicy kitten" the Flatbush rescue in New York has a ton of videos on how they go about socialising kitten born outdoors and how they decide who gets re-homed and who gets TNRed

 

[Oriole]

Here's one of them so you have the channel handy

 

[Epona]

The last couple of days Jakey has gone right off his pill putty which is our usual stress free method of getting pills into him.
Got his last dose of antibiotics into him via the traditional human vs feline pilling method, but found his fortekor (which he has to be on daily for the rest of his life) spat out about half an hour after trying to administer it a couple of hours later.
This is a fucking nightmare

 

[Epona]

Thankfully Jakey is gentle and just looks confused when I am trying to force something into the back of his gob (although it turns out he can spit things a lot further than I'd anticipated), rather than this:

 

[fucthest8]

The last couple of days Jakey has gone right off his pill putty which is our usual stress free method of getting pills into him.
Got his last dose of antibiotics into him via the traditional human vs feline pilling method, but found his fortekor (which he has to be on daily for the rest of his life) spat out about half an hour after trying to administer it a couple of hours later.
This is a fucking nightmare

Pate worked for us with Rollo, I used to break the fortekor in half and put some small balls of pate in with his food, two of which had pill in.

I feel your stress, been there, done that. Sorry that you're going through it.

Also, pill syringe any good? I've never used one, but I've seen plenty of videos where people have a really good knack with them, approaching from the front. Still a two person job mind.

Good luck.

 

[fucthest8]

Lil’ Bob in his corner

View attachment 427049

Is that Bob with a pipe and smoking jacket top right?!

 

[seeformiles]

Is that Bob with a pipe and smoking jacket top right?!

Well spotted

 

[StoneRoad]

Feel your pain, Epona - Good Luck !

Had that with Hilli, especially with the stuff I had to give by syringe three times a day !
Currently having similar with Ben de-dog - he's got wise to almost all the ways we've tried to hide painkillers in his food - why can't they make the tablets meat-flavoured, the wormers are ?

 

[manji]

Do you know how old he is?

Could be a number of things, obviously something that scared him at some point is one of them, but you say you don't think that is likely.
It could be that his sight or hearing is starting to go a bit, so loud noises or sudden movements are more scary. (Although this is often age related, it isn't necessarily - cats get a lot of the same problems with their sight or hearing that we do - age related ones would be macular degeneration, retinal atrophy, cataracts for the eyes, and a lot of older cats experience hearing loss.)
Cats also can get dementia much like humans can when they are old.

If I were you, I'd book a non-urgent vet appointment (assuming nothing urgent is going on with his health) - they can check his eyes and ears.
Cats that lose their sight or hearing even completely can adjust very well in a safe indoor environment, so if it is that, try not to be too concerned about his future.

Thanks he is 9 years old. Im guessing his eyesight is ok where I generally sit looks out on the intentionality overgrown garden if he’s sat with me and bird goes past the window he’s surprisingly reactive , when he’s in the garden he is reactive to a insect flitting around .
I don’t think its the hearing , loads of examples but the flick of the elastic band make him react.
It’s a quiet house, generally the neighbours keep to themselves. I’m not keen on lots of noise these days. I tend to have the TV on low volume with subtitles .
I like my music but listen to it on headphones. We live in a cul de sac so not many cars . I’m sat here now all I can hear is the tapping of the keyboard. Dexter is sprawled out on my daughter’s bed, a very warm cosy room . He’s had some food and wouldn’t jump up and have a cuddle with me until I put the iPad away.
Everything points to him being healthy and happy except for the jumpiness.

 

[manji]

After my post yesterday evening Dexter went out and snoozed on the neighbours shed but on the shed the other side is Rocco a nice cat but a lot younger. Fairly sure Rocco wants to play with Dex generally but Dex isn’t interested. Not sure what’s going on here a they both chilling or is Rocco ready to pounce when Dex walks along the fence to come back inside ?

 

[philosophical]

On my way to the shop this morning I was spied on from the school gate.

 

[Saul Goodman]

Dad!... DAD!
I brought you a present!

 

[Epona]

After my post yesterday evening Dexter went out and snoozed on the neighbours shed but on the shed the other side is Rocco a nice cat but a lot younger. Fairly sure Rocco wants to play with Dex generally but Dex isn’t interested. Not sure what’s going on here a they both chilling or is Rocco ready to pounce when Dex walks along the fence to come back inside ?

Hard to say, but if there is a bit of a border dispute going on and Dex is getting pounced, that could well explain why he's a bit jumpy, even when he's safe indoors.

 

[Epona]

Dad!... DAD!
I brought you a present!

View attachment 427214

Is that a collared dove? That's quite impressive, they're fairly big.
Wish we could explain to our cats that we'd rather they stuck to pest species!

 

[pogofish]

I'd say they were both guarding the borders of their "exclusive" territories.

 

[Saul Goodman]

Is that a collared dove? That's quite impressive, they're fairly big.
Wish we could explain to our cats that we'd rather they stuck to pest species!

It was

 

[polly]

I love collared doves Can't bear the killing this time of year.

Ken just cronched down a big fat bluebottle The noise

 

[Saul Goodman]

I love collared doves Can't bear the killing this time of year.

Same. I try to do the catch and release thing but this one was DOA.

 

[Epona]

Pate worked for us with Rollo, I used to break the fortekor in half and put some small balls of pate in with his food, two of which had pill in.

I feel your stress, been there, done that. Sorry that you're going through it.

Also, pill syringe any good? I've never used one, but I've seen plenty of videos where people have a really good knack with them, approaching from the front. Still a two person job mind.

Good luck.

If he won't eat the putty tonight (all the other medication has finished now, so we're back to one pill a day instead of 5 - hopefully he was just a bit bored with me shoving pill putty at him multiple times a day) I might try putting it in something else, I don't have any pate in but I could try a bit of cheese, I am sure I have related tales on here of his love of cheese and the hilarious if somewhat annoying fridge-raiding days of his youth Hopefully it won't cause an issue with his pancreatitis, mind you the pill putty is about 90% poultry fat.

 

[Pickman's model]

Thankfully Jakey is gentle and just looks confused when I am trying to force something into the back of his gob (although it turns out he can spit things a lot further than I'd anticipated), rather than this:

View attachment 427162

the thirteenth task, which hercules refused to talk about

 

[LeytonCatLady]

If he won't eat the putty tonight (all the other medication has finished now, so we're back to one pill a day instead of 5 - hopefully he was just a bit bored with me shoving pill putty at him multiple times a day) I might try putting it in something else, I don't have any pate in but I could try a bit of cheese, I am sure I have related tales on here of his love of cheese and the hilarious if somewhat annoying fridge-raiding days of his youth Hopefully it won't cause an issue with his pancreatitis, mind you the pill putty is about 90% poultry fat.

Hope it works.

 

[fucthest8]

If he won't eat the putty tonight (all the other medication has finished now, so we're back to one pill a day instead of 5 - hopefully he was just a bit bored with me shoving pill putty at him multiple times a day) I might try putting it in something else, I don't have any pate in but I could try a bit of cheese, I am sure I have related tales on here of his love of cheese and the hilarious if somewhat annoying fridge-raiding days of his youth Hopefully it won't cause an issue with his pancreatitis, mind you the pill putty is about 90% poultry fat.

Yep, cheese was the other one that worked! Didn't have to be much of a layer of it, no need for a massive ball of cheese, just a bit bigger than the pill.

And yeah, swings and roundabouts on the fat content vs getting meds in.

 

[fucthest8]

Is that a collared dove? That's quite impressive, they're fairly big.
Wish we could explain to our cats that we'd rather they stuck to pest species!

Ah, don't, reminds me of having to finish off a pigeon we found hiding in a shoe rack. Mortally wounded, I couldn't let it suffer

 

[Epona]

Yep, cheese was the other one that worked! Didn't have to be much of a layer of it, no need for a massive ball of cheese, just a bit bigger than the pill.

And yeah, swings and roundabouts on the fat content vs getting meds in.

I am going to tell a tale from the fridge-raiding days of his youth - as you've been here and on this thread a long time you've probably heard it before, but others may not have and might find it funny.

He is honestly not the brightest spark. But he had a high cheese-drive as a youngster - that's like a prey-drive, but the prey is yellow fatty dairy goodness wrapped in plastic in the fridge.
He quickly worked out that he could open the fridge door with his paw in order to get to the cheese. A couple of times we found the fridge door open and basically just fang marks in the block of Cheddar. He'd ignore meat or fish, it was the cheese he craved.
At some point, he clearly thought he could pull off a bigger heist, and removed an entire 500g unopened pack of Cheddar from the fridge.
The idiot cat decided that the safe place he should take the Cheddar to was under my sofa in the sitting room. While we were both in the sitting room
We were sitting watching telly and we were treated to the sight of this complete moron slinking as low to the floor as he could get, as if that was going to make him invisible, with a large block of vacuum packed Cheddar gripped by the edge of the plastic in his mouth and swinging precariously as he tried to creep slowly and silently across the sitting room right in front of both of us - we both started crying with laughter and Jakey knew the game was up.
The only thing the scene needed was Mission Impossible theme music

 

[Epona]

The Pink Panther movie theme by Henry Mancini would also have worked as suitable heist music - given that he is pink and a miniature panther

 

[seeformiles]

Ah, don't, reminds me of having to finish off a pigeon we found hiding in a shoe rack. Mortally wounded, I couldn't let it suffer

I had to despatch a dying rat in a similar scenario. Not pleasant but you have to do the right thing

 

[Saul Goodman]

He quickly worked out that he could open the fridge door with his paw in order to get to the cheese.

I had to put a lock on my fridge, for the same reason

And don't ever leave a Christmas turkey thawing in a zipped-up insulated Aldi bag. Turns out those bags are no match for cats' claws

 

[stavros]

On my way to the shop this morning I was spied on from the school gate.

View attachment 427211

"Oh fuck, the kids are back from half term today."