Your daily cat and kitten news

[CRI]

Hope the fireworks aren't bothering too many furries tonight. New Year wishes from me, Breeze and the bunch!

 

[Epona]

Hope the fireworks aren't bothering too many furries tonight. New Year wishes from me, Breeze and the bunch!

Gorgeous photos!

No problem here re fireworks, we have already had several lots go off tonight and they really don't give a shit

 

[Epona]

Not quite foot stomping, but anything like this?

It's an odd one really, I didn't respond to the post cos it's not something I've ever seen and know nothing about, was hoping someone would come along and explain so I would learn something.
I know why rabbits stamp a back foot.
If one of my cats did that I would assume they had somehow managed to get a piece of sellotape stuck on their foot and were trying to get rid of it so I guess my reaction would be to make sure that all claws and toes are present and correct and uninjured, that there isn't a claw hanging off or something.
The only other thing I can think of of is that cats can and do 'knead' with all 4 feet at once, but the description didn't sound like that was what was happening. Or sometimes they 'treadle' with their back paws when they are spraying, but then it is kind of obvious what is going on due to the urine all over the place. When 2 cats are wrestling they push at each other with their back legs, but that too sounds different.

 

[toggle]

Oh ouch! I couldn't resist the temptation to tickle someone's magnificent tummy the other day and ended up with multiple arm scratches (but thankfully no blood!)

my lass got a nip earlier for being loud near the cat who wanted to sleep, then moving too fast towards her. lass fetched the butter to help the cat yakkiing and was forgiven. it's sometimes hard to reconcile the wild, scarry hissing creature that nipped her with the one that was snuggling up to my throat 10 mins later

 

[CRI]

Gorgeous photos!

No problem here re fireworks, we have already had several lots go off tonight and they really don't give a shit

Glad to hear. Thankfully none of my creatures are bothered by fireworks, but, the collie upstairs gets very, very upset poor thing, and her barking can get Charlie upset, so I'm hoping that doesn't happen later.

 

[Epona]

my lass got a nip earlier for being loud near the cat who wanted to sleep, then moving too fast towards her. lass fetched the butter to help the cat yakkiing and was forgiven. it's sometimes hard to reconcile the wild, scarry hissing creature that nipped her with the one that was snuggling up to my throat 10 mins later

Now have weird mental image of small child smothering a cat in butter, am confused as to what you mean and why, this is something I have never heard of. The only thing I can think is that a dab of fish oil off the end of a finger can be helpful in shifting furballs, but only as a long-term digestive process when a small amount is given daily, not in a "fuck the cat is being sick, fetch the butter" sort of way.
I am currently very confused.

 

[CRI]

It's an odd one really, I didn't respond to the post cos it's not something I've ever seen and know nothing about, was hoping someone would come along and explain so I would learn something.
I know why rabbits stamp a back foot.
If one of my cats did that I would assume they had somehow managed to get a piece of sellotape stuck on their foot and were trying to get rid of it so I guess my reaction would be to make sure that all claws and toes are present and correct and uninjured, that there isn't a claw hanging off or something.
The only other thing I can think of of is that cats can and do 'knead' with all 4 feet at once, but the description didn't sound like that was what was happening. Or sometimes they 'treadle' with their back paws when they are spraying, but then it is kind of obvious what is going on due to the urine all over the place. When 2 cats are wrestling they push at each other with their back legs, but that too sounds different.

Gerbils also drum their back feet as an alert to other gerbils that something dodgy is going on. I think you are probably right about checking to see if anything is amiss with the foot or leg. I just remembered this video of the cat drumming to get into the room. Breeze does something like that on the door to the living room if it's closed, but with the front paw, and with an almighty "thwack."

 

[High Voltage]

In exactly 2 hrs 15 mins - Bob will be "officially" 20 years old - he's made it!! Yay!

We've also found exactly what food he'll eat is meds in - and that's NONE OF THEM

He'll only eat "bad" food with no meds in and now he won't even eat treats with meds in - the little shit

 

[toggle]

Now have weird mental image of small child smothering a cat in butter, am confused as to what you mean and why, this is something I have never heard of. The only thing I can think is that a dab of fish oil off the end of a finger can be helpful in shifting furballs, but only as a long-term digestive process when a small amount is given daily, not in a "fuck the cat is being sick, fetch the butter" sort of way.
I am currently very confused.

it's not a furrball thing that makes her yak, it's a eating prey whole that makes her yak, cause she never yaks when she molts, but often does when she's been out for ages.and she's never sick, just yaks and yaks and yaks. and a small dollop, like broad bean size, of something oily, and butter is by far easier to get into her without mess than liquid oils, helps her pass the irritant. it's literally a coat the mouse-hide, (or whatever other bit of small inoffensive rodent) in oil, so it passes out of her stomach and she isn't yakking every 15 mins for 5 mins for several hours.

and actually, coating furrballs so they can pass them out of the stomach into the intestine can help. cause they don't digest oils in the stomach, so oils lubricate hariballs etc.

 

[Epona]

it's not a furrball thing that makes her yak, it's a eating prey whole that makes her yak, cause she never yaks when she molts, but often does when she's been out for ages.and she's never sick, just yaks and yaks and yaks. and a small dollop, like broad bean size, of something oily, and butter is by far easier to get into her without mess than liquid oils, helps her pass the irritant. it's literally a coat the mouse-hide, (or whatever other bit of small inoffensive rodent) in oil, so it passes out of her stomach and she isn't yakking every 15 mins for 5 mins for several hours.

and actually, coating furrballs so they can pass them out of the stomach into the intestine can help. cause they don't digest oils in the stomach, so oils lubricate hariballs etc.

I have honestly never heard of this.

Coating furballs yes, but you add a drop of olive oil or fish oil to their food daily or use petromalt or similar on a daily basis, have you considered doing that as a daily dietary thing rather than running to get butter every time she starts to heave? (Which I have never ever heard of in my life!)

Are you sure you are not confusing your cat with an owl that needs to bring up 'pellets'?

 

[angryfaceman]

We've checked her feet. They're fine. She does it reasonably often. I'll see if I can video her sometime when she does it.

 

[Cribynkle]

I would look at her feet and see if there is something on the pads of her paws. Otherwise no, never heard of it

Higgins stamps his back feet when he's having a wee

 

[toggle]

I have honestly never heard of this.

Coating furballs yes, but you add a drop of olive oil or fish oil to their food daily or use petromalt or similar on a daily basis, have you considered doing that as a daily dietary thing rather than running to get butter every time she starts to heave? (Which I have never ever heard of in my life!)

Are you sure you are not confusing your cat with an owl that needs to bring up 'pellets'?

we did try a little oil daily with her food, but that didn't seem to make much difference to the yakking.

we don't run for the butter every time she yaks, just when she's yakking lots.

 

[Epona]

We've checked her feet. They're fine. She does it reasonably often. I'll see if I can video her sometime when she does it.

Ooh cool, I think we are a bit stumped, a video might help to work out what is going on, seeing it in context with other behaviour and postures might help. You are sure she's not spraying? (female cats are just as likely to spray as males, and it's the only thing I can think of where a cat is likely to visibly stamp/treadle with the back feet).

 

[StoneRoad]

another animal that stamps their feet as a warning are rabbits (and horses) angryfaceman has your cat been around either of these ?
Her stamping could be an adaptation of a seen behaviour, or something she has learnt that gets a reaction from you

 

[CRI]

another animal that stamps their feet as a warning are rabbits (and horses) angryfaceman has your cat been around either of these ?
Her stamping could be an adaptation of a seen behaviour, or something she has learnt that gets a reaction from you

Not exactly related, but I HAVE noticed Breeze has picked up and uses some "dog body language" with Charlie - particularly "calming gestures" like licking her lips and yawning when he gets in her face too much. It's possible it could be a learned thing.

 

[CRI]

we did try a little oil daily with her food, but that didn't seem to make much difference to the yakking.

we don't run for the butter every time she yaks, just when she's yakking lots.

I'm more and more convinced there's a connection between diet (particularly the stuff that's in the most common commercial cat foods) and cats who honk up alot (like Herbie - RIP, did). I spotted this article a while back - a study of 100 cats with frequent vomiting and other digestive symptoms, which found only ONE of them had a "normal" small intestine.

The full text article is behind a paywall here but there's a fairly good description of the findings here (although it is from a company that sells raw food for pets, so it's going to be a bit biased!)

There's lots of research stuff behind paywalls - one I can't find now found that although thickening of the small intestine wall couldn't be reversed, GI function still improved considerably for many cats once they moved to a grain free, high meat diet. I'll keep looking for it.

Edit: This article mentions how changing diet can make a difference (but it's not the one I read a couple months back )

 

[angryfaceman]

I have been talking to my fiancée about Heidi and her stamping. Her last cat used to spray a lot and Heidi was a kitten while he was still around. It could be learned behaviour from him. Thankfully she doesn't spray, but does sometimes do the tail wiggling that you would associate with it.

We also think it may link to food. The most common time to see it is her leaning against the utility roo door frame as we're getting her food ready, but she still does it at other times, noticeably against the living room table leg.

Obviously as I'm trying to cathch it on video, she is refusing to do it now.

 

[purenarcotic]

So almost overnight, the cat seems to have developed an intolerance to the James Wellbeloved dry food she gets (when we give her wet food she is fine, when we give dry she chucks it back up a few minutes after). God knows how she can be intolerant to hypoallergenic food that supposedly has nothing bad in it but there you go.

Might try her on a different brand (Applaws always seemed to go down well), it's weird though, being intolerant to the food designed for intolerant cats like.

 

[CRI]

So almost overnight, the cat seems to have developed an intolerance to the James Wellbeloved dry food she gets (when we give her wet food she is fine, when we give dry she chucks it back up a few minutes after). God knows how she can be intolerant to hypoallergenic food that supposedly has nothing bad in it but there you go.

Might try her on a different brand (Applaws always seemed to go down well), it's weird though, being intolerant to the food designed for intolerant cats like.

I just had a peek on the James Wellbeloved site and it looks like only one of their dry foods is "cereal free." The adult turkey one has only 27% turkey meat meal and the second largest component is brown rice. White rice and maize gluten are right up there as well. These aren't things cats can easily digest, particularly in such high concentrations. The one thing that would seem to make it "hypo-allergenic" is it's got a single meat source.

Applaws dry chicken flavour is other way round proportions-wise - over 80% chicken (dry meat, mince, oil, etc.) with only a small amount of non-meat supplements and no cereals at all. Meowing Heads "Purrnickity" is another the Breeze particularly likes - 70% chicken and fish, but does contain a small amount of rice and oats.

Not sure what if any regulation there is on pet food makers marketing their products as good for digestion, hypo-allergenic, natural, etc.

If she gets on well with wet food, it's not essential to give dry. I do leave some Applaws dry or Meowing Heads dry in a dish for Breeze for "snacking" but a bag lasts ages as she mainly eats the wet stuff.

In the past 18 months, I'd say she's honked up a total of 3 or 4 times - generally immediately after eating when she's probably gulped it down too fast. The most recent was when she scoffed without even chewing a bowl of boiled turkey meant for Charlie and straight up it came!

 

[purenarcotic]

I just had a peek on the James Wellbeloved site and it looks like only one of their dry foods is "cereal free." The adult turkey one has only 27% turkey meat meal and the second largest component is brown rice. White rice and maize gluten are right up there as well. These aren't things cats can easily digest, particularly in such high concentrations. The one thing that would seem to make it "hypo-allergenic" is it's got a single meat source.

Applaws dry chicken flavour is other way round proportions-wise - over 80% chicken (dry meat, mince, oil, etc.) with only a small amount of non-meat supplements and no cereals at all. Meowing Heads "Purrnickity" is another the Breeze particularly likes - 70% chicken and fish, but does contain a small amount of rice and oats.

Not sure what if any regulation there is on pet food makers marketing their products as good for digestion, hypo-allergenic, natural, etc.

If she gets on well with wet food, it's not essential to give dry. I do leave some Applaws dry or Meowing Heads dry in a dish for Breeze for "snacking" but a bag lasts ages as she mainly eats the wet stuff.

In the past 18 months, I'd say she's honked up a total of 3 or 4 times - generally immediately after eating when she's probably gulped it down too fast. The most recent was when she scoffed without even chewing a bowl of boiled turkey meant for Charlie and straight up it came!

Ah, that's interesting. We'll go back to the Applaws I think, she loved that stuff and we never had any issues.

Bags of dry last us a long time too; like you we just like to give her a bit for snacking / sometimes use dry as one of her daily meals.

Gives her a bit of variety I guess.

 

[High Voltage]

Well, Robert's back from a visit to the vets - nothing "wrong" as such, but given the problems we had with Rusty last year and how a tumour developed on her back leg and we never even spotted it, I'm not falling into that trap again

Officially, Bob is now 20 and that's 100 years old in humans - so we have to make some allowances for him and his ageing

He's weighed in at 4.17kg - last time weighted 17/11/14 he was 4.18kg so he's pretty stable weight wise - once again, the vet complimented him on is great condition and how good he was for a cat of his age

A general poke, prod and squeeze around tummy, hips and back legs have put my mind to rest that there's nothing nasty growing - although the slightest "me-ooo!" did indicate that he might have some soreness in his hips - probably a touch of arthritis

We've got a liquid version of his kidney meds - Hoorah!

We've also got some potassium binding paste so that we can give him "real" food instead of renal food

The anti-inflammatory and the antacid can be given less regularly, more on an "as and when needed" basis rather than daily - the kidney meds are the important one

So all in all, whilst not a clean bill of health, he's not doing too bad for an old soldier

 

[Puddy_Tat]

happy birthday, bob

 

[izz]

happy birthday, bob

Doubtless Mr Voltage will be along soon to add his thoughts but that's lovely, thank you on Bob's behalf.

 

[CRI]

Well, Robert's back from a visit to the vets - nothing "wrong" as such, but given the problems we had with Rusty last year and how a tumour developed on her back leg and we never even spotted it, I'm not falling into that trap again

Officially, Bob is now 20 and that's 100 years old in humans - so we have to make some allowances for him and his ageing

He's weighed in at 4.17kg - last time weighted 17/11/14 he was 4.18kg so he's pretty stable weight wise - once again, the vet complimented him on is great condition and how good he was for a cat of his age

A general poke, prod and squeeze around tummy, hips and back legs have put my mind to rest that there's nothing nasty growing - although the slightest "me-ooo!" did indicate that he might have some soreness in his hips - probably a touch of arthritis

We've got a liquid version of his kidney meds - Hoorah!

We've also got some potassium binding paste so that we can give him "real" food instead of renal food

The anti-inflammatory and the antacid can be given less regularly, more on an "as and when needed" basis rather than daily - the kidney meds are the important one

So all in all, whilst not a clean bill of health, he's not doing too bad for an old soldier

View attachment 65844

Looking good for such a senior citizen. Happy Birthday Bob!

 

[Epona]

Well, Robert's back from a visit to the vets - nothing "wrong" as such, but given the problems we had with Rusty last year and how a tumour developed on her back leg and we never even spotted it, I'm not falling into that trap again

Officially, Bob is now 20 and that's 100 years old in humans - so we have to make some allowances for him and his ageing

He's weighed in at 4.17kg - last time weighted 17/11/14 he was 4.18kg so he's pretty stable weight wise - once again, the vet complimented him on is great condition and how good he was for a cat of his age

A general poke, prod and squeeze around tummy, hips and back legs have put my mind to rest that there's nothing nasty growing - although the slightest "me-ooo!" did indicate that he might have some soreness in his hips - probably a touch of arthritis

We've got a liquid version of his kidney meds - Hoorah!

We've also got some potassium binding paste so that we can give him "real" food instead of renal food

The anti-inflammatory and the antacid can be given less regularly, more on an "as and when needed" basis rather than daily - the kidney meds are the important one

So all in all, whilst not a clean bill of health, he's not doing too bad for an old soldier

View attachment 65844

Bless him, he's absolutely lovely and it's great to hear that despite being classified as very senior, he doesn't have any immediate health concerns. I hope he continues on in a similar vein for a good while yet!
I think a bit of joint stiffness is not at all unusual in such an elderly gent, a heating pad to sleep on can help a great deal with that, also it's worth asking your vet whether a supplement such as glucosamine would be suitable - I have heard it can be wonderful for stiff joints in cats but in a cat of that age would just want the vet to give the OK wrt liver and kidney health before giving any dietary supplements.

 

[Cribynkle]

Well, Robert's back from a visit to the vets - nothing "wrong" as such, but given the problems we had with Rusty last year and how a tumour developed on her back leg and we never even spotted it, I'm not falling into that trap again

Officially, Bob is now 20 and that's 100 years old in humans - so we have to make some allowances for him and his ageing

He's weighed in at 4.17kg - last time weighted 17/11/14 he was 4.18kg so he's pretty stable weight wise - once again, the vet complimented him on is great condition and how good he was for a cat of his age

A general poke, prod and squeeze around tummy, hips and back legs have put my mind to rest that there's nothing nasty growing - although the slightest "me-ooo!" did indicate that he might have some soreness in his hips - probably a touch of arthritis

We've got a liquid version of his kidney meds - Hoorah!

We've also got some potassium binding paste so that we can give him "real" food instead of renal food

The anti-inflammatory and the antacid can be given less regularly, more on an "as and when needed" basis rather than daily - the kidney meds are the important one

So all in all, whilst not a clean bill of health, he's not doing too bad for an old soldier

View attachment 65844

Nice one Bob!

 

[izz]

Bless him, he's absolutely lovely and it's great to hear that despite being classified as very senior, he doesn't have any immediate health concerns. I hope he continues on in a similar vein for a good while yet!
I think a bit of joint stiffness is not at all unusual in such an elderly gent, a heating pad to sleep on can help a great deal with that, also it's worth asking your vet whether a supplement such as glucosamine would be suitable - I have heard it can be wonderful for stiff joints in cats but in a cat of that age would just want the vet to give the OK wrt liver and kidney health before giving any dietary supplements.

He's such a gentle, darling cat as well, he simply doesn't know he can use claws and teeth on hoomins, he's never ever bitten or scratched or even hissed despite unspeakable things being done to him. I had a scratch once when he was panicking about being put in the carrier and that's it, even when he was in the vets and on a drip he was still very gentle. He did 'Meoowwrr' once when having his temperature taken but that's about it.

 

[trabuquera]

View attachment 65844

All I can think of when seeing this pic is Bob thinking

"20 years - more like 100 of your puny human years - and I've just about got him trained to provide me with the proper comforts ..."

 

[Vintage Paw]

I'm really chuffed Bob is doing well. He's a gorgeous little thing. I'm sure he'll be more than happy that he gets some nice food now

^ re the discussion about dried biscuits, Orijin do high meat content, 0 grain content biscuits. Charlie was on them and loving them lots until he developed his thyroid problem (he's been on wet food ever since - which is fine now his teeth are out and he needs the extra moisture to stave off kidney problems anyway). I'm afraid I gave my excess to the PDSA or I'd offer to send some to you to try. They are one of the brands that do slightly smaller bags rather than a 2kg or nothing scam that many of them do, so would be easy enough to try out. I believe petplanet or zooplus sell them.