Cat care

Life Pets & Domestic Animals
1

This doesn’t really fit the ‘what to do with strays’ section, so here I go.

I let myself get talked into taking a kitten from an animal hospital a few months ago. We’re getting along famously, and I now get to wake up every morning to the sight of industrious bottom licking, so I need some advice about how to proceed. (Never been a father before.)

Most importantly, she was delivered in fairly good condition - just the eye-goo thing that has since gone away - but I have no idea what medication or treatment she has had otherwise. I don’t know what she needs either. Heeeelp!

I think she’s close to six months old now. When is a good time to get her tubes tied, or whatever it is they do? Are there any side effects?

Somebody suggested de-clawing but I’m not happy about that idea. What are the pros and cons?

Next, we need to get out more. She’s terrified of the great outdoors and usually hides in my bag trembling when I take her shopping. (I stroke her at the same time to reassure her. Am I creating a ‘daddys girl’?) In a perfect world she would get over this and learn to walk on a leash - I’ve seen it done but she’s pretty resistant to the idea right now. Suggestions?

The next step will be to introduce her to motorbike trips. I’m presuming that the best way will be to put her in a bag and have someone hold her while I drive until she gets used to it. Does anyone have any experience of this?

The reason for this is that I’m planning to buy a boat and sail away in a year or two. I’ve known people keep cats on boats very successfully, but they need to grow up with the idea - so I need to get her out to the coast every weekend, which means the big noisy machine.

Any and all advice much appreciated.

Oh, and she doesn’t have a name yet. This doesn’t seem to bother her very much, but everyone I know tells me I’m doing wrong. How did cats get along before people came along and started pretending that they were people?

2

I’d say leave her inside if she doesn’t want to go out. One of our cats has the opposite probem - he always wants to go outside. You’re lucky.

Get the opps done about now I think. Check online for that or ask the vet. But most importantly, forget about the declawing. It’s very inhumane. Cats need to scratch. Buy a scratching post and a few bits of carpet (you can buy those little ‘carpet tiles’) to scatter around. Whenever she scratches something she’s not supposed to, move her to the post. She’ll learn. You can trim the claws if you really have to - that’s different from declawing.

Brian

3

[quote]Oh, and she doesn’t have a name yet. This doesn’t seem to bother her very much[/quote] How about ET ? :


4

TSMC…

Now of course I do not suggest that you go see the play CATS, but there is a theory that Cats will choose thier own name…

Here is the poem by TS Eliot

The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
It isn’t just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I’m as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.

First of all, there’s the name that the family use daily,
Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey–
All of them sensible everyday names.

There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter–
But all of them sensible everyday names.

But I tell you, a cat needs a name that’s particular,
A name that’s peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?

Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum-
Names that never belong to more than one cat.

But above and beyond there’s still one name left over,
And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover–
But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.

When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought,
of the thought of his name:
His ineffable effable Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular Name.

By T.S. Eliot

5

btw, she is awful cute…

6

Oh! Your kitty is so cute! E.T. is a fine name.

You need to let her go through one heat (firtility cycle–lotts and lotts of terrible of yauling, “I need a man!” in kitty language) before you fix her so that her reproductive system can mature and so that she will be able to produce the correct hormones for the rest of her life.

Also, do NOT declaw her. If you’ve never been a father before, you don’t have other, human, kids and that’s usually why cats are declawed. But her claws are her only defense and her only way to hunt if she ever does get stuck outside and alone. Without claws she would either be killed or starve to death.

She needs immunizations, just like human kids. Take her to a vet and get her healthy! One important consideration is that cats and dogs here that start out on the street have a 100 percent infection rate of herat worms. She needs a blood test for that and it’s not pretty to get rid of if she has them, but if you don’t they will eventually kill her slowly and painfully. After she’s free of worms, it’s a simple cat treat once a month to keep them gone.

Buy a kitty basket or carrier to take her out on the motorcycle. She needs to be able to see what’s going on to get a grip.

My mom’s cat walks on a leash. It can happen, but she will likely not be happy about it for a good while. Let her just wear the leash harness around in the house to get used to haveing it on. After that you clip the leash on and she may still just sit down and refuse to move, but just give her time. She’s a CAT after all, and it’s a matter of dignity! :wink:

7

We had dinner on a yacht at Porquerolle a couple of years back with an old couple who had five cats living on their 45-footer with them. Those cats appeared to be fat and very happy but you had to be careful breaking out the mainsail as that’s where they tended to sleep!

8

Which points out the importance of feline water safety. Unless you plan on it wearing a little cat life preserver then maybe you need to teach your cat how to swim. I hear it takes lots of practice. But some cats do learn to like the water. Have fun.

9

Can’t all mammals naturally swim ? Except giraffes.
Even elephants and rabbits can swim.
Cats can swim, but they prefer to sleep :laughing:

10

The first cat I had in Taiwan would scratch and fight if you tried to put her in the bathtub with jsut a few inches of water in it, but if you made it deep enough to put her out of her depth, she would quieten down and immediately start swimming, purring so hard the surface of the water would vibrate. Pretty funny, especially if you held her favourite toy under the water in front of her and she’d try to duck her head under to grab it. SHe never did learn to stop the water going up her nose when she did that… That was the coolest cat I ever shared space with.

11

Cats are no good.

12

[quote]Can’t all mammals naturally swim ? Except giraffes.
Even elephants and rabbits can swim. [/quote]

Matthew, you’re a nutter. Where the hell would I keep a giraffe or an elephant? And there’s no way to carry something like that on a motorbike - least not across Taipei.

Funnily, her ladyship is fascinated with water and always sits by the sink when I do the washing up. (Every week!) She actually got one leg in up to the elbow recently, but her one and only bath was a trauma never to be repeated.

Re the motorbike thing: she usually dives into my bag headfirst whenever something scares her outside. Wouldn’t she be better off doing whatever she feels comfortable with rather than being thrown around in a box?

As for names, I was`originally going to call her ‘Swing’, on account of the limited space in which I usually live - there’s just about room for swing the cat! Aha ha!

Little Shit seemed a lot more appropriate for a while, and I still use it occasionally, but basically she’s ‘my little girl’ or ‘darling’ these days. And as my alleged girlfriend is playing hard-to-get at the moment there’s not usually any confusion about who I’m talking to anyway.

So who needs a name?

13

TMWC, given the above info, are you sure that it’s safe for you to have a pussy in your apartment?

14

Almas, in the early days we had to have a hard talk about places where creatures with sharp bits were not allowed to go. (You know how cats love to chase small defenceless furry creatures.)

She got the message but it took her a long while to learn that she couldn’t wake me up in the mornings by jumping on my head. Honestly, waking up with a pussy on your face is a lot less pleasant than the uninformed would have you believe.

15

I know some of you may disagree with me, but I had my two cats declawed (front claws only). They are none the worse for wear, and my leather sofas are unblemished. I had them declawed at the same time they were spayed, so as to spare them the unnecessary trauma of another anesthetic, surgery and recuperation. After cats are spayed, they’re pretty uncomfortable and not too active for a spell, so the tender tips of their toes isn’t as much of an inconvenience as it might be normally. And they were back to their normal selves after a few days.

I know the argument that the cats wouldn’t be able to defend themselves if they were to escape the apartment. If I thought there were any chance of that, I wouldn’t have had that done. And I certainly wouldn’t do it to a cat that goes outdoors. As it happens, my cats would have to escape into the hallway, press the elevator button, get into the elevator, go down to the ground floor, and then hit another button to let themselves out of the lobby.

My cats are happy, well-fed pets, and I have unblemished furniture.

16

that’s cruel and boorish Maoman. wait let me get my tazer.

check this out. man gets three years for throwing a dog into traffic.

edition.cnn.com/2003/US/West/07/ … index.html

when this happens in taiwan and china, and a whole lot of other places, pigs will fly and people here will stop picking their noses and spitting in public.

17

Ouch. Now what can they do when they feel the need to scratch, but don’t have any claws? Declawing is nasty enough to have been made illegal in some places.

Brian

18

I agree. My sister’s been a vet for 20 years and has met very very few who’d agree to carry out this procedure. Shame on you Maoman. None of my three cats scratch the furniture. Provision of a scratching post and two weeks’ training with a squirt gun was all that was needed. Declawing cats is positively medieval, right up there with ripping out dogs’ vocal chords.

19

Hey, my cats purr, they sleep in the sun, and they love it when I pick them up - they are the epitome of contentedness. They don’t apparently feel the need to scratch, because I have never seen them do it. They have also been deprived of their sexuality, but this is another “cruelty” that I was willing to inflict on them in the name of harmonious living. No shame here.

20

My god! Not only a monster but heartless and unrepentant, too. Clearly this guy must be Canadian.