Your daily cat and kitten news

[CRI]

Bought our cat some James Wellbeloved dry food today, seems to have gone down extremely well. Hope she doesn't throw this stuff up.

It's grain free. I think it's the one the neighbour with the diabetic cat that didn't need insulin after all is given, along with mainly wet food.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Idiot cat escaped today, ran under the fence into next door's garden and across their lawn. Sadly they have an algae-filled pond in the middle of the lawn, which he ran 'across'- into. I was immediately behind him, so I grabbed him, but not before he was covered in pond slime. I dunked him in a bath, and cleaned him up, and the poor thing looked so scrawny without all his fluff! He is now clean and dry, but not talking to me....

@ idiot cat

and at bath.

you tend not to know what cat swear words sound like until you have to bath a cat...

 

[purenarcotic]

It's grain free. I think it's the one the neighbour with the diabetic cat that didn't need insulin after all is given, along with mainly wet food.

That's why we went for it, she spews cereals. She seems to love it though, wolfed it down.

 

[trashpony]

@ grinding dead mice CRI! My sister has just found a family living in her house - I might suggest she feeds their corpses to the kittens. She kept their dead hamster in the freezer for 2 weeks waiting for the rain to stop so she might go for it!

I might get some James Wellbeloved today then - I'm nearly out of dry food and they don't really like the Iams I've got them at the moment.

Does anyone know when I can move them off kitten food? They're 10 months

 

[TikkiB]

Idiot cat escaped today, ran under the fence into next door's garden and across their lawn. Sadly they have an algae-filled pond in the middle of the lawn, which he ran 'across'- into. I was immediately behind him, so I grabbed him, but not before he was covered in pond slime. I dunked him in a bath, and cleaned him up, and the poor thing looked so scrawny without all his fluff! He is now clean and dry, but not talking to me....

I had to wash my previous cat Fanny in the bath once when she had a nasty reaction to Bob Martin flea spray (don't ever use that by the way, it is horrible stuff) and I couldn't help laughing at the poor scrawnyness of her. She wasn't a big cat but it appeared 90% of her body mass was just fur. She wasn't happy with me. Also I clearly didn't manage to get all the evilness off so had to take her to the vet for a more efficient wash.

 

[CRI]

@ grinding dead mice CRI! My sister has just found a family living in her house - I might suggest she feeds their corpses to the kittens. She kept their dead hamster in the freezer for 2 weeks waiting for the rain to stop so she might go for it!

I might get some James Wellbeloved today then - I'm nearly out of dry food and they don't really like the Iams I've got them at the moment.

Does anyone know when I can move them off kitten food? They're 10 months

I hope you mean she found a family of mice and not a family of squatters she's thinking of feeding to her kittens!

The dead hamster takes me back 25 years ago when a flat mate's hamster, Jeremy, gave up the ghost. She wanted to take him back to her parents' home in Hertford to bury him, so he was in the freezer for a couple weeks. She was terrified one of us would think he was a crispy pancake and defrost him!

I actually got a free bag of James Wellbeloved as an offer thingie from the pet insurance, so I've been mixing that with the Thrive Complete. Breeze is quite a gut bucket though and would probably eat anything, so her opinion isn't really one to go by!

 

[CRI]

I had to wash my previous cat Fanny in the bath once when she had a nasty reaction to Bob Martin flea spray (don't ever use that by the way, it is horrible stuff) and I couldn't help laughing at the poor scrawnyness of her. She wasn't a big cat but it appeared 90% of her body mass was just fur. She wasn't happy with me. Also I clearly didn't manage to get all the evilness off so had to take her to the vet for a more efficient wash.

Oh no, poor Fanny having a bad reaction to Bob Martin then having to be washed! twice! Actually, I keep hearing that all the Bob Martin stuff is either crap or dangerous, especially the flea treatment. Anyone else heard that or know why?

 

[trashpony]

No, they were mice, not squatters

Geri is the expert on all things Bob Martin I think

 

[Schmetterling]

I use diatomaceous earth as flea treatment but do read the instructions on how and where to put it on the cat.

 

[Manter]

Oh no, poor Fanny having a bad reaction to Bob Martin then having to be washed! twice! Actually, I keep hearing that all the Bob Martin stuff is either crap or dangerous, especially the flea treatment. Anyone else heard that or know why?

I've heard that too. Burns the cat's skin and doesn't actually kill fleas from what I've heard.

 

[Geri]

The Bob Martin flea treatment for dogs used to contain an ingredient called Permethrin, which is dangerous to cats. Some cases involved people giving it to their cats by mistake. However, I've heard of a lot of other cats becoming ill and often dying when using the one designed for cats.

I don't buy any OTC flea treatment, only stuff which I get from the vets.

 

[William of Walworth]

We feel like cruel monsters atm, because Worf, our lovely white cat, has been banned since a few weeks ago (and permanently) from ever having milk, he used to clamour for it and we like softies always gave in (he had a special little bowl!).

But his allergic reaction just became too bad -- scabs and scars all over. Even lactose free special milk for cats didn't work any better (although festivaldeb is now contemplating something called 'hazelnut milk' )

He looks at us in a really, really upset fashion when we refuse him his once-customary milk ...

Cats are NOT supposed to have milk. EVER.

Is this categorical advice that all the experts agree with then? Just asking, not doubting you. I admit I've not read up about it and probably I should have. But I just assumed festivaldeb knew more about what was OK and what wasn't ....

Anyway, they're not having any now (only one of them ever wanted any anyway) and it's been banned from them for over a month now. The improvement to Worf's fur has begun to be noticeable already.

 

[Manter]

Is this categorical advice that all the experts agree with then? Just asking, not doubting you. I admit I've not read up about it and probably I should have. But I just assumed festivaldeb knew more about what was OK and what wasn't ....

Anyway, they're not having any now (only one of them ever wanted any anyway) and it's been banned from them for over a month now. The improvement to Worf's fur has begun to be noticeable already.

Cats don't produce lactase, which is the enzyme that breaks down lactose, the sugar in milk. It can give then the squits or even stomach ulcers. You can get lactose free cat milk, which is unnecessary nutritionally but not bad for them in the same way. We give it to idiot cat as a treat- he loves it, we call it kitty crack

 

[TikkiB]

Oh no, poor Fanny having a bad reaction to Bob Martin then having to be washed! twice! Actually, I keep hearing that all the Bob Martin stuff is either crap or dangerous, especially the flea treatment. Anyone else heard that or know why?

It was awful, she hid from me under the cabinet and was salivating and crying. The vet said he had seen a few cases of similar reactions and he advised people never to use Bob Martin products.

 

[William of Walworth]

Manter : We did try that lactose free stuff for a few days but it didn't really work for ours. Perhaps we should have given him significantly more recovery time before letting him have any ...

Saying that, there never seemed to be any symptoms like those you mention when he was on milk -- he never had all that much in quantity, but we were never aware of squits or stomach problems. His issues were all about skin or fur allergies ....

 

[Geri]

I've always given my cats milk, and it has never been a problem with any of them.

*slaps self for being a bad cat mother*

 

[_angel_]

Cats don't produce lactase, which is the enzyme that breaks down lactose, the sugar in milk. It can give then the squits or even stomach ulcers. You can get lactose free cat milk, which is unnecessary nutritionally but not bad for them in the same way. We give it to idiot cat as a treat- he loves it, we call it kitty crack

Especially with our breed of cats, you have to be hyper careful with them as they have delicate digestion.
There's an old lady two doors down from us who I just know is giving him milk as he comes back with the shits.

Maybe some cats with stronger constitutions manage it without getting ill, but no, cats are not supposed to have milk or dairy. Absolutely not.

 

[CRI]

Especially with our breed of cats, you have to be hyper careful with them as they have delicate digestion.
There's an old lady two doors down from us who I just know is giving him milk as he comes back with the shits.

Maybe some cats with stronger constitutions manage it without getting ill, but no, cats are not supposed to have milk or dairy. Absolutely not.

Last cat I had when I was in America 30 years ago - no matter how many times I told the old lady next door not to give him milk, made no difference. He came back to ours to puke though.

Confession - I do let Breeze have the last slurp of milk at the bottom of the cereal bowl. She doesn't bother if it's something worthy like muesli or bran flakes. Minute you pour a bowl of Lucky Charms though, and she will not get out of your face until you surrender that last teaspoon of sickeningly sweet skimmed milk.

If she's pestering and dinner time is still a ways off, I'll give her some cat milk. Sometimes she's like, "Yay, cat milk!" Other times it's more, "Where's the Lucky Charms then?" I think the idea of cat milk is particularly for cats who don't seem to drink water but don't get enough moisture from their food - so they'll be less likely to get crystals in the urine/urinary infections/kidney disease.

 

[toggle]

Cats don't produce lactase, which is the enzyme that breaks down lactose, the sugar in milk. It can give then the squits or even stomach ulcers. You can get lactose free cat milk, which is unnecessary nutritionally but not bad for them in the same way. We give it to idiot cat as a treat- he loves it, we call it kitty crack

afaik, they will keep producing lactase as adults if they don't have a break in getting milk after weaning. it's only if they start getting milk as adults they have a reaction.

we give catmilk to ours when we're keeping her in, or if she's off her food. at least then we know she's had something with liquid in. and if she refuses that or the cat treats we would know she was really ill.

 

[sim667]

It's grain free. I think it's the one the neighbour with the diabetic cat that didn't need insulin after all is given, along with mainly wet food.

Its what I was told to feed mine (dry only).

I switched brands to another, which is especially for persian cats. Apparently persian cats or those with persian bloodlines get dickie tummies a lot.

 

[trashpony]

My mum was worried one if the kittens might run out when we were parking (he was snoozing against a parked car wheel) do she made me get out and pick him up.

He wasn't happy about being woken

 

[CRI]

Oh yow, that looks nasty! Are you okay? Little (well, not so little) bugger.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

 

[trashpony]

I'm fine apart from looking like a crap extra from a vampire movie. Smarts a bit. I've also got a lovely claw mark between my nose and my lip. He really wasn't happy!

He's been out and about for the few hours and my mum has wondered if it's because he's ashamed

 

[Puddy_Tat]

I'm fine apart from looking like a crap extra from a vampire movie. Smarts a bit. I've also got a lovely claw mark between my nose and my lip. He really wasn't happy!

He's been out and about for the few hours and my mum has wondered if it's because he's ashamed

either that or he's got the taste for blood and is out in search of more victims...

 

[trashpony]

either that or he's got the taste for blood and is out in search of more victims...

Or he really is completely lacking in road sense and is squished

 

[Puddy_Tat]

come home safe, vampire kitteh

 

[trashpony]

Or he really is completely lacking in road sense and is squished

Or is shut in the attic

 

[Cribynkle]

Or is shut in the attic

Well that's one way of making sure he doesn't do it again

I hope your wounds aren't too nasty, it must have been a proper deep sleep he was in! Our Higgins gets very bitey when he's woken up

 

[Epona]

My mum was worried one if the kittens might run out when we were parking (he was snoozing against a parked car wheel) do she made me get out and pick him up.

He wasn't happy about being woken

Ouch! Hope you heal up quickly.

When Sonic was young (young enough to be stupid-playful, but old enough to be full adult weight) he was playing around on the bed one morning, fell off the headboard or something onto my face - not entirely sure what happened as I was asleep at the time (or at least I was up until the point when he landed) - but I ended up with a massive scratch from him landing hind-feet-first on my face and sliding off, it went from my eyebrow, past the inner corner of my eye, down one side of my nose, across my lips, and it ended at my chin. For a few days I looked like I'd been in a fight.