Your daily cat and kitten news

[Leighsw2]

Nice that people like the pic, though I was hoping the cat people on this thread could offer some clue to its behaviour? (that was Waitrose skinless and boneless salmon it turned down!)

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Nice that people like the pic, though I was hoping the cat people on this thread could offer some clue to its behaviour? (that was Waitrose skinless and boneless salmon it turned down!)

sounds like s/he was scared - cornered in an unfamiliar environment with unfamiliar people. some kittehs are naturally more friendly, some kittehs are put off dealing with hoomans after bad experience/s.

have they been back?

 

[Leighsw2]

No, it's vanished. I though it might be a feral one (we have them in Brixton) and then I was worried it might be sick. Strangest thing is that it made no sound at all!

 

[Epona]

Aye, sounds to me as if the cat had got in somehow then got scared and wasn't sure how to get back out - this happens.
A lot of cats are very quiet (especially if scared) so I wouldn't worry about that too much.
Hopefully s/he's just gone back home, relieved that someone relocated them back outside the building.

Btw. salmon isn't great for cats (too oily, can cause diarrhoea, fish can also exacerbate urinary health issues that are common in cats) and it isn't a given that they will eat it as they don't really predate on fish much - sure some like it, but not all do. My Sonic would always turn his nose up at the offer of fish. Or try it and drop it on the floor.

 

[Me76]

I would love to get a tracker for Orson as he is the one that tends to roam, but I have no chance of getting a collar on him. We've tried a couple of times and he acts as if we are pouring boiling oil in him and gets his front paws stuck in the collar in his panic to get it off, it's terrifying.

 

[Me76]

Just went on a bit of a Google of trackers spanglechick and you may be better of considering Tile rather than airtag. All the tile models (various sizes) have a much larger range than air tag.

 

[spanglechick]

Just went on a bit of a Google of trackers spanglechick and you may be better of considering Tile rather than airtag. All the tile models (various sizes) have a much larger range than air tag.

Hmm. But the AirTag work on the apple “find my phone” functionality. Which is more or less limitless as it pings off all the iPhones in the area.

 

[Me76]

Hmm. But the AirTag work on the apple “find my phone” functionality. Which is more or less limitless as it pings off all the iPhones in the area.

Oh fair enough then. I was looking at the Bluetooth range which is 33ft compared to up to 400.

 

[philosophical]

One thing that happens if you’re a scrounger cat like my friend Bloom is you develop a good series of looks of anticipation. Like this one this morning.

 

[May Kasahara]

He has such lovely markings.

 

[philosophical]

He has such lovely markings.

On his front legs he has a dark patch on each which is what he licks to wash his face. It’s like he has a couple of ready made flannels.

 

[Agent Sparrow]

My daughters were absolutely smitten today by a beautiful caramel coloured adolescent cat, posing in a window by their school. Actually sitting on a cat tree!

After a bit of a shame rollercoaster today, can I ask about fleas? Trillian had her annual booster today and we discovered she had flea dirt. Vet ran a comb through a small patch of back fur a few times and it came out covered in little black specs. Vet immediately stepped back, said she was infested and basically gave me a scolding - which at the time I thought was well deserved as it’s hard keeping up with an infrequent treatment. Huge panics stations but we’ve now hoovered all the upstairs carpets and beds, and I’ve just sat down to do more brushing.

Thing is there’s absolutely no other flea dirt on her - well maybe the odd spec but nothing like that small patch on her back. I’ve gone over every white patch of her body (most of it) and in most places there’s no signs at all. I found one actual flea (now squished) but only one, and I haven’t felt bitten recently and I’m normally quite sensitive.

So basically
a) how much do individual fleas poo?
b) do fleas tend to only live in small areas of cat,
c) do fleas have designated toilet areas, or
d) has somebody been sprinkling poppy seeds on my cat?

 

[Epona]

My daughters were absolutely smitten today by a beautiful caramel coloured adolescent cat, posing in a window by their school. Actually sitting on a cat tree!

After a bit of a shame rollercoaster today, can I ask about fleas? Trillian had her annual booster today and we discovered she had flea dirt. Vet ran a comb through a small patch of back fur a few times and it came out covered in little black specs. Vet immediately stepped back, said she was infested and basically gave me a scolding - which at the time I thought was well deserved as it’s hard keeping up with an infrequent treatment. Huge panics stations but we’ve now hoovered all the upstairs carpets and beds, and I’ve just sat down to do more brushing.

Thing is there’s absolutely no other flea dirt on her - well maybe the odd spec but nothing like that small patch on her back. I’ve gone over every white patch of her body (most of it) and in most places there’s no signs at all. I found one actual flea (now squished) but only one, and I haven’t felt bitten recently and I’m normally quite sensitive.

So basically
a) how much do individual fleas poo?
b) do fleas tend to only live in small areas of cat,
c) do fleas have designated toilet areas, or
d) has somebody been sprinkling poppy seeds on my cat?

b) - absolutely yes, around the back of the neck and at the base of the tail, which is why vets particularly run a flea comb through those areas during a checkup. They are areas a cat cannot so easily scratch/groom.

It is an absolute pain in the arse to get an infestation but it happens - flea treating the cat alone using drop on treatments (please only use vet recommended ones as some you can buy in shops are quite toxic and may not deal with fleas if there is any resistance - fleas can become resistant to chemicals - you can buy the treatments elsewhere than your vet but please get the one the vet says currently works and make sure to get the correct dose) can take several months to clear it all up - hoovering and spraying (eggs are laid in bedding/carpets etc) will speed that up a bit.

Don't feel shame, it really is a case of "shit happens" if you have animals with fur, usually can't be helped (although keeping up with whatever flea preventative regime the vet recommends certainly helps). It is very easy to bring in flea eggs on your shoes/trousers walking through grass which is where they lay eggs when outdoors.

 

[Agent Sparrow]

Thank you Epona , yeah I read about flea eggs being all over lawns Not sure how you can control for that. I guess it’s getting cold at least now.

She seems happy enough, doesn’t look particularly itchy, none of us sensitive humans seem to have any bites, so it’s hard to know how long it’s been going on for

Are there any sprays you’d recommend?

Photo for tax

 

[Epona]

Thank you Epona , yeah I read about flea eggs being all over lawns Not sure how you can control for that. I guess it’s getting cold at least now.

She seems happy enough, doesn’t look particularly itchy, none of us sensitive humans seem to have any bites, so it’s hard to know how long it’s been going on for

Photo for tax

View attachment 345844

Ah the gorgeous Trillian!!

You might be able to get a sense of the scale of the issue if she doesn't mind being groomed - put down some damp sheets of kitchen towel and groom her over it (just with her ordinary brush/comb) - any flea shit will leach blood into the damp kitchen towel and turn it red or rust coloured.

 

[Agent Sparrow]

On the plus size she seems in good shape for a 12 year old lady

 

[stdP]

Coraline's occasionally picked up a bunch of fleas from her expeditions - we live in an area heavy with other cats*, dogs and foxes so there's plenty of them laying in wait for an unsuspecting mog. I try and brush her every day or so with the flea comb to check but it normally becomes obvious when she scratches and grooms way more often than usual. My partner's usually the only one to get noticeably bitten. As well as the back of the neck and base fo the tail, check their belly and the bit between their rear legs as well if their patience and claws permit it.

I'll second Epona's comment about the flea treatments - get ones from the vet if you can, the supermarket ones are frequently utter shite. We've used a Bayer one called Advocate - a monthly splurge on the back of the neck but we don't need to apply it that often - to very good effect (and usually combine application on the mog with a good hoover and some Indorex flea spray on her usual sleeping areas).

* There's at least seven or eight different cats that'll habitually traipse through the garden and around, usually in set shift patterns at different times of the day to avoid one another.

Speaking of which - here's a better place for it than the "have you turned the central heating on yet?" thread but it's clearly now parky enough for Her Mogjesty to want to spend her downtime on her favourite heated sleeping surface - on my lap at my desk. When I stop stroking her either to try and type something or to reach for the camera I get the "why have you stopped?" look.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

and a brief public service announcement, at the risk of stating the bleeding obvious, but most flea treatments are not interchangeable between cats and dogs - and some may be dangerous to the other species

 

[Dandred]

One of my cats peed on our bed yesterday, not idea why as they weren't locked in they have fresh litter in their boxes. Only found it as I was going to bed. Little bugger.

 

[Agent Sparrow]

Epona stdP we get advocate from the vet though I’ll be honest, its hard to always remember (for both busy life and me crapness reasons) and then it’s easy to start ignoring the phone reminders. She was treated about a month ago though after I did notice a bite, so maybe there is an environment batch out there somewhere.

Vet had the good idea of making the 1st on the month the allocated flea day. I’ve made the phone timer alert an evening one (when we can actually act on it) rather than the morning, and set up some “fail safes”



Regarding household sprays that won’t harm her or the children, anyone had any truck with the vinegar/lemon juice/witch hazel combo?

 

[polly]

What's the consensus on those de-fleaing pills? My last but one cat Oshawott used to pick up fleas all the time, but none of the spot treatments worked. I gave her a pill on the advice of someone from Pets at Home ( ) and it worked really well. But I wonder if they're not very good for the cat?

 

[smmudge]

Whenever I'm mindlessly scrolling, Tilly will sneak in unawares to exactly the place where she'll get mindless belly rubs

 

[May Kasahara]

Gotta love a belly rub-loving cat

 

[LeytonCatLady]

 

[LeytonCatLady]

Lilith only recently seems to have got the memo that she's a cat, as she's started bringing me dead mice in the last couple of weeks (she never had any interest before). A couple of them were still alive and I had to rescue them and put them out the front, where she never goes. The other morning, I caught her playing with my trainer, and realised her victim had hidden in there! I retrieved him, intending to release him into the wild, but he freaked out and legged it under the bed. I've no idea if she caught up with him and he was the same mouse I found dead on the landing yesterday, or if he escaped next door.

 

[May Kasahara]

Void

 

[stdP]

Epona stdP we get advocate from the vet though I’ll be honest, its hard to always remember (for both busy life and me crapness reasons) and then it’s easy to start ignoring the phone reminders. She was treated about a month ago though after I did notice a bite, so maybe there is an environment batch out there somewhere.

Just had another look through the cat medicine cabinet - there's another one we've got from the vet called Bravecto that might be worth enquiring about.

We've not tried it out on the mog yet as we've still got Advocate (we tend to buy a year's worth when she goes for a check-up/vaccine booster); they didn't have any Advocate in at the time and gave us this stuff called Bravecto an alternative. The key part is that a single application is meant to last for three months, so if it works you might be able to drastically reduce the number of doses you need in a year. But as I say we've not tried it yet so no idea on its efficacy or any deleterious side-effects yet but it might be worth you looking in to/asking about.

Bear in mind that even on a fully de-flea'd cat, a simple traipse outside through the wrong patch of grass or a cheery rub against the wrong neighbouring cat can result in a cluster of fresh fleas coming in to the house and getting a few good meals in before anything you've put on the cat or the furniture can poison them, hence why I like to give Coraline a quick brush when she comes back indoors if possible. She's pretty much an indoor cat these days (only goes out between ten and midnight usually) and doesn't get on with any of the other cats so I suspect we're spared the worst.

P.S. Don't think I had the pleasure of meeting Trillian but I hope she gets better soon. If it were me I'd probably end up doing what Coraline hates and lock her in the bathroom to give her a thorough brushing and flea-crushing episode; gross, but it's the fastest way of getting your cat back up to snuff.

 

[ddraig]

There was no fighting thankfully!

 

[Epona]

Just had another look through the cat medicine cabinet - there's another one we've got from the vet called Bravecto that might be worth enquiring about.

We've not tried it out on the mog yet as we've still got Advocate (we tend to buy a year's worth when she goes for a check-up/vaccine booster); they didn't have any Advocate in at the time and gave us this stuff called Bravecto an alternative. The key part is that a single application is meant to last for three months, so if it works you might be able to drastically reduce the number of doses you need in a year. But as I say we've not tried it yet so no idea on its efficacy or any deleterious side-effects yet but it might be worth you looking in to/asking about.

Bear in mind that even on a fully de-flea'd cat, a simple traipse outside through the wrong patch of grass or a cheery rub against the wrong neighbouring cat can result in a cluster of fresh fleas coming in to the house and getting a few good meals in before anything you've put on the cat or the furniture can poison them, hence why I like to give Coraline a quick brush when she comes back indoors if possible. She's pretty much an indoor cat these days (only goes out between ten and midnight usually) and doesn't get on with any of the other cats so I suspect we're spared the worst.

P.S. Don't think I had the pleasure of meeting Trillian but I hope she gets better soon. If it were me I'd probably end up doing what Coraline hates and lock her in the bathroom to give her a thorough brushing and flea-crushing episode; gross, but it's the fastest way of getting your cat back up to snuff.

I've not heard of Bravecto so can't give recs or otherwise - I'll look it up tomorrow and see what I can find out though, if I remember.

I think the other advice given here is good, I find fleas a bit tricky to crush and they can easily get away while you are trying to do it - but you can get a bowl of warm water with fairy liquid in it, flea comb the cat to find any live ones (concentrate on the neck and base of tail as that is where they are most likely to congregate), and then pull any live ones off the flea comb and submerge them in the soapy water - fairy liquid I believe affects the surface tension of water meaning that the fleas will drown whereas they wouldn't in plain water - whatever the reason, it does kill them.

Don't get the soapy water on the cat's fur though as they will ingest it when they lick it off, you have to be a bit careful with cats due to this - comb them with a flea comb, grab any live ones from the comb between your fingers, then dunk your fingers in the soapy water, rather than transferring the detergent from the bowl to your cat.

 

[stdP]

Aye, the soapy water trick does work (and yup, one of the biggest effects of detergents is to make the water "wetter" by lowering the surface tension) but this method always ends up with me getting wet hands whilst trying to manhandle an unhappy cat (who swiftly becomes a damp and very angry cat) but I'm lucky in that I've got good enough eyes and reflexes to make crushing them a relatively easy disgusting affair.

Incidentally, I do the brushing in the bathroom mostly because it's got a pale tiled floor; any fleas that are fast enough to jump off the brush are easy to spot on the floor where I can usually pinch them before they can jump back on the cat.