Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with cat

Horny Cat is Trapped in the Bathroom

Hwaet — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 09:58:21 -0800

An insane cat has managed to lock herself in the bathroom. The handle looks like this from the outside, where I am. The lock, on the cat's side of the door, is a small metal piece that you push in with your thumb to lock and pull out to unlock. Other than breaking down the door, what can I do? The people I babysit for have a cat who goes into heat (long story, but she's spayed) and then harasses the baby. I don't know how the parents deal with this, but I shut the cat in the bathroom after the cat repeatedly tried to bite the kid's feet and rub her butt in the kid's face. Nice.

Anyways, I put the baby down for a nap and went to let the cat out of the bathroom, where she'd been hurling herself against the door for 2 hours. Apparently in her throes of passion and outrage she managed to push in the sliding lock and now the door is locked.

I've called the super and the parents, but no one is getting back to me. If this were my cat and my house then I'd try to just lean on the door handle until it broke. Does anyone have experience with these door handles? Any trick I can use that won't require the super to bust it down? I'd prefer to get out of this mess with a living cat and an in-tact door, but obviously the cat is the first priority.

What cornless catfood should I buy?

MaryDellamorte — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 17:30:41 -0800

So, apparently corn is bad for cats but it's in all the foods I see in the store. Even at Wholefoods, all the brands have corn in it except for one. I haven't tried Petsmart yet, but I would like some ideas on what you guys use that don't contain corn. I don't mind ordering off the internet either.

Food for a cat with issues

GJSchaller — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 17:22:01 -0800

Cat Food Filter: Cat with digestive issues is no longer eating prescription food. Need help finding new food, or a new vet. I inherited ownership of a cat when a roommate moved out (on good terms) - the cat initially moved with her, but would not adapt to the new living space which already had a cat in it, so she returned to my home where I promised to take care of her. The cat was a rescue, and came from unknown medical background / breed / age. We've known since we had her (before she joined this household) that she's had digestive issues, usually loose stools and / or clenching issues, resulting in sloppy drops, as it were. While we're willing to live with this if needed, we'd like to find a way to help her produce less offensive stools.

The original owner fed the cat prescription food for a while, and then gradually weened her off of this and onto more mainstream food - Fromm Green Pea and Duck dry food, and Trader Joe's wet food. Eventually, she was weaned to just the dry food. She has a Drinkwell fountain that gives her constant running water, and I make sure I keep it clean.

About 2 years ago, the cat's stools became much sloppier, almost liquid. We consulted our vet, who had a case history of the cat, and began moving her back to the prescription food. We had originally been feeding her twice a day, and tried moving her to an automatic feeder that would feed her in smaller quantities four times a day, to ensure she was on an absolutely routine schedule that we couldn't screw up by forgetting, being late at work, etc. In the end, she's had food and mostly eaten it all up until recently, and the stools varied from liquid to solid with no determinable reasons or factors, given all other variables have been consistent. We tried to treat the loose stools with vet-prescribed pills for a few days, but she was so difficult to pill that it was getting to the point of almost hurting her to do so, and she clearly was unhappy with us for a full day after (which didn't help the next day when we tried again), and pill pockets, grinding the pill w/ food, etc. also failed.

In the past 2 months, her stools have become more solid, but she's also eating less and less. She's always complaining she is hungry, even when food is available, and she's visibly lost weight. She eats, but not as much as she used to. We take care to make sure her food and water equipment are clean. She's still on the prescription dry cat food - Royal Canin Veterinary Diets Green Pea and Duck Cat Food (Formerly IVD). We called our vet, asking if we should try another food, and the answer was a rather blase "If you do, it needs to be hypoallergenic" - no additional help or recommendations from what was once a trusted caretaker of this cat, who is familiar with her history. The cold delivery of response was enough to make us question continuing business with this vet.

At this point, I need two things:

1) Recommendations for wet or dry cat food for a cat with loose stools, about 10 years old (we think), that is exhibiting digestive issues.

2) Recommendations for a vet in the White Plains, NY area that actually cares about its clients and treat them and their owners with some level of empathy, instead of telling them something they already know and leaving them holding the bag. Specialty in cats is a plus.

What has made this cat so crazy?

Pineapplicious — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 20:22:11 -0800

Why has my 4 year old healthy spayed female calico foster cat suddenly gotten so annoying? I have been fostering a 4 year old healthy spayed female calico cat from a local shelter for about 1.5 months. She was at the shelter for several months having been surrendered by someone who couldn't care for her (I don't know the full story, but is seems the cat wasn't abused or neglected). She adapted to life outside the cage in my one bedroom apartment almost immediately. I don't have other animals. She snuggles, plays, sleeps, vocalizes, eats, drinks, pees and poops just like a typical youngish cat.

That is until yesterday when she became the most annoying cat I have ever experienced. She has nearly non-stop been vocalizing (marowww, brrup sounds), has been running around like crazy, and has been scratching the furniture and the walls to excess. She is less interested in toys than she has been and has no interest in cat nip all of a sudden. She is eating, drinking, peeing and pooping like normal. As far as I can tell nothing has changed in the environment. What the hell is going on? And please, what can I do to make the craziness stop?

Emergency cat situation?

gilsonal — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 06:13:19 -0800

My cat just woke me up to show me that she has blood and crystals in her urine. My vet seems to be closed for the 1st. Can this wait until tomorrow or should I try to find another vet in the area to see her? I'm not sure how long this has been going on but she has been sluggish the last couple of days. I had chalked it up to having just made the trip from my mothers where we stayed a week for the holiday. I would prefer to take her to her usual vet, who specializes in cats only, and wonder if waiting a day is safe or if she'll be in too much pain or get much worse as a consequence. Anybody have a similar experience?

Cute, but they'd probably tear your face off

soelo — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 10:45:20 -0800

What were these small cats I saw in the predator house at the Berlin Zoo? My picture is here, and at the time I labeled them "Jaguarinos". Now that picture is the first result when you search Google images for Jaguarinos, but I don't think the name is right.

They are not Sand Cats since the ears are way too small and the colors are wrong. The comments on this blog post lead me to the Rusty-Spotted Cat, but the head shape does not match at all.

Any ideas what they are?

Cat friendly Philly hotel

eisenkr — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 17:39:38 -0800

I need a cat friendly hotel in Philadelphia for tonight. Where should I go? I came home from vacation to find no heat in my apartment. My landlord is on vacation and won't send anybody to fix the boiler until tomorrow at the earliest. Since it's already 40 degrees inside (and dropping) we've decided to check into a hotel. Are there any cat friendly (we have two, they have claws) hotels in Philly?

Do tabby stripes grow or do tabbys grow more stripes?

ish__ — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 18:54:24 -0800

Do tabby cats grow more stripes as they get older, or do their stripes just get bigger? My wife and I have a pair of cats. One is solid black, the other a gray tabby. We've had both since they were very young. We've recently been wondering if the tabby cat has grown more stripes with age, or if the number of stripes are static, and they simply get bigger/expand?

Common sense tells me "both", but does anyone know for sure how it works?

Old pictures are no help - we don't have a good picture of him as a kitten. A couple minutes on google doesn't lead to an answer, but I might not be searching for the right thing.

Why is my feverish kitten twitching?

wo — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:19:17 -0800

Why is my feverish kitten twitching? My 9 month old kitten has had a fever since Sunday. I took her to the emergency vet when she didn't seem to get better on Sunday, and he gave her some antibiotics and an antiinflammatory, and a subcutaneous fluid injection t okeep her hydrated.

Today (Monday) I brought her to my regular vet because she wasn't any better-- still not eating or drinking. She still had a fever, and my regular vet took blood and gave her another fluid injection-- she thinks it might be a virus. She gave me a syringe and suggested I try force-feeding her some high-nutrient wet food if she doesn't start eating on her own. Since she refused food when I got home, I followed the vet's orders and have given her three syringes full of food (mixed with a bit of water)-- 30mL each-- over two sittings.

Now she's doing this weird twitching thing. Her skin and paws twitch, then she starts frantically licking it. Her ears twitch wildly and she starts shaking her head. It comes and goes in little fits... is it just from the stress of the last two days?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Alternatives to Alternative Cat Litter

PhoBWanKenobi — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 17:09:38 -0800

Are there any decent alternatives to Feline Pine that my kitty will actually use? Sammy Katz and I have been happy users of Feline Pine for almost three years now. I made the switch because he's a notorious litter-tracker and I was looking for something that was environmentally friendly. He had no problems with the initial switch and, though he mostly goes outside (he's indoor-outdoor; we've had trouble completely transitioning him to the inside because we live in a small studio, but we've gotten him down to only going out for about thirty minutes in the morning), he used it happily when he had to.

Until a few weeks ago, when he abruptly started spraying around the house if we wouldn't get up early enough to let him out. We had a vet check him out (everything is fine), and got a Feliway diffuser, which has put an end to the spraying. But he still won't use his box. It's been raining for the past two days, and he just held everything in--for over thirty hours! I had Mr. WanKenobi pick up some different litter from the supermarket, to see if that helped. He got some Tidy Cat and as soon as we filled it, Sammy ran to the box and immediately peed.

So I guess he's not happy with the Feline Pine.

But I hate normal cat litter--I hate the smell, the environmental unsoundness, and the way he kicks it all over the place. I know there are a lot of natural cat litters: have any feline-pine resistant-kitty owners had success with other brands like World's Best or Swheat Scoop (and, possibly stupid question, but Mr. WanKenobi has celiac's disease--would having a pan of Swheat Schoop in our tiny apartment be a bad idea in light of that?), and how are they in terms of tracking and odor control?

Can you help identify this ceramic cat?

Balonious Assault — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:01:04 -0800

LongShotFilter: Can you help identify this ceramic cat? It came in a set of four. Two were broken years ago, and a friend of mine is trying to complete the set for a Very Special Christmas Gift. There are no markings on the remaining two cats to indicate a manufacturer, or anything else that might be a clue. The other remaining cat has the same markings -- white face, belly, paws & tail, and black everywhere else -- and is in a sitting position. If anyone can track them down it's the amazing AskMe community. Thanks!

tall, cat-safe indoor plants?

sentient — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:40:34 -0800

Wanted: recommendations for tall, indoor, cat-safe plants/trees. Superior, NASA-approved air-filtering and oxygen-producing properties are a plus. I've looked the previous askme and have seen the ASPCA list of cat-safe plants, as well as a helpful post on Apartment Therapy (last comment the page), which has some good prospects. But perhaps there are some others.

I'm looking for an indoor floor plant that's more tree-like than bush/shrub like -- maybe five feet tall, or so. It can't be toxic to cats, and being exceptional in the air-filtering department would be nice. Any recommendations?

Quote from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

pamspanda — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 04:16:28 -0800

Maggie The Cat (on a Hot Tin Roof). . . . . . . . Does anyone remember the exact quote from Maggie(the cat) in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof when she looks out the window of the bedroom and says something regarding "the no-neck monsters" (her neices and nephews.) My memory is failing me (again!) I need the exact quote if possible - thanks!

Indoor kitty =/= couch potato. Make it so!

Tequila Mockingbird — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 17:33:52 -0800

How can I make sure my new 3-year-old (indoor) cat gets enough exercise? She's my first, and the concept of fetch is understandably beneath her. When she doesn't have any interest in dangling feathers on a string, what options do I have? What should I get for her? How do you exercise your cat?

Pumpernickel was adopted from a shelter a little over a week ago, and turned me into a cat person within seconds. I've got a large cat tree for her that she delights in exploring, and I want to make sure she remains healthy and at her proper weight. It's just that the toys I currently have don't seem to entice her each time, and I myself am having difficulty thinking up games for a critter that doesn't run around barking. Are laser pointers worth a try, for example?

I should mention that she's the only pet (aside fish), and getting a second cat is just not possible. I know this is often the very first suggestion, but among other things, when she was adopted we were told that she does better as the only cat in the household.

Thanks, roommates of other cats!

I haven't seen one of these in a while...

tybstar — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 12:46:44 -0800

We need a name for a kitten, before he's not a kitten anymore. We adopted a little (for now) Maine Coon kitten and so far we haven't managed to keep a name stuck to him. Pictures! Details below. He is a very high-energy kitty. He loves water: he'll hop up onto the side of the tub and lick at the faucet after we've showered, and he loves it if we splash a bit of water on the floor in the kitchen doing dishes. He's going to be a big kitty--he's growing by a pound every two weeks, and if he does have significant Maine Coon blood in him, he'll keep growing slowly for a few years.

I want to call him Sylvester McMonkey McBean, but Ms. Tybstar doesn't like that. Something short and two-syllable would be perfect. Previous animal names have included: Speedy, Sorsha, and Minerva. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Meowie.

bunny hugger — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 08:33:23 -0800

Cat shot question. How often does my cat need boosters? I have an indoor cat over 10 years old. He has never been an outside kitty and never will be. I have been taking him yearly for boosters for: feline leukemia, rabies, distemper, etc. He is a healthy boy. Someone, not a vet, mentioned to me that these boosters are not necessary every year and could be administered every two to three years, if at all, after a certain age. Can you point me to trustworthy information on the web on what shots a cat really needs throughout its lifetime?

How did my cat die?

thepalephantom — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 07:14:32 -0800

Please help me figure out what happened. Two days ago I was at home and I heard a strange sound coming from the kitchen. I entered and saw my cat laying on his side, his mouth open, and he wasn't breathing, but it looked like he was trying to. At this point he was still alive. I lost my shit, and tried a panicky-i-have-no-clue-what-im-doing attempt to dislodge what he was possibly choking on, but he went completely limp about 15-20 seconds after I found him, and he never came back. I have no clue what happened. Was he choking on something? Nothing ever came out of his mouth, there was nothing around where he was that would give me a clue either. I checked everywhere around the house for possible poisonous materials but couldn't find anything. He was barely 2 years old. No previous health problems. Has this happened to anyone else... does anyone know what could have happened? I will miss him.

Black cats and blue icing

Mutant — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 08:33:51 -0800

Black cats and blue food dye - oh no!! I made a cake for a party this evening, and whipped up this awesome butter and creame cheese flavoured blue coloured icing.

After decorating the cake and putting it safely away, I was distracted by a phone call before I could wash the icing bowl. During the next twenty minutes or so both of our two cats helped themselves, licking wide swathes of the bowl clean.

I came back into the kitchen and caught both at it. They promptly scattered, so I'm not sure if one pigged out but definitely both were enjoying the icing, and about one third of the bowl had been licked at.

Blue food colouring, ok for us, should be ok for cats, yes? Cats don't seem too bothered, and in fact were begging for more when I put the bowl away.

Now seem to be sleeping it off, but should we be concerned?

Literary paeans to cats?

laumry — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 06:50:48 -0800

Can anyone recommend any literary essays on, or short stories about, cats? Hello all.

I'm making a Christmas present for someone -- I'd like it to be a book of essays or extracts from literature describing cats.

Anyone got any recommendations? I already have:

Doris Lessing's "On Cats"
Robert E Howard's "The Beast from the Abyss", as recommended by Artw in this post
Charles Baudelaire's "Les Chats"

(I'm drawing a blank on short stories about cats.)

What's wrong with my cat who is now mostly unresponsive after a day of vomiting?

enoent — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:52:35 -0800

What is wrong with my cat? We've been to both the regular and emergency vets in the last 24 hours, and we still don't know what's wrong or why she isn't improving. (Details within.) Our geriatric female cat (about 14 years old) is extremely listless, almost to the point of unresponsiveness. In the past six months, she has been drinking a lot more than usual (polydipsia), as well as urinating more than usual (polyuria), but our efforts to determine what was wrong through blood tests had not been successful (elevated BUN but normal creatinine and phosphorus; tyhroid panel normal). Behaviorally, otherwise, she seemed perfectly normal and active, perhaps even more hungry than in previous months (she's fed a tin of wet food a day, and always has dry food available).

On Thursday evening, she managed to trick my girlfriend and I into feeding her two tins of wet food, and seemed happy to eat both. On Friday, my girlfriend discovered that she had vomited all over the kitchen (food with chunks of solid kibble, some hairball) as well as left stool on the kitchen floor (highly unusual for her!). Friday night, there was more vomiting, of thin brown foul-smelling liquid. By Saturday, the cat was listless and showed no interest in eating or drinking. We took her to the vet, who ran a blood workup (elevated BUN, normal creatinine and phosphate, no elevated white blood cell count, still awaiting thyroid results) and provided sub-Q fluids and suggested a bland diet of baby food. The cat was down from ~ 8 lbs (six months ago) to ~ 6.5 lbs, which was very worrying. Feeding her baby food via syringe seemed fine at first -- she held it down for a few hours -- but it all came up eventually, as this thin brown foul-smelling liquid. Some urine was produced after the vet visit, but no stool.

Late Saturday night, as she became increasingly unresponsive (she normally would put up a bit of a fight if you picked her up) and she continued to sit in a hunched-over posture, we took her to the emergency vet. An examination suggested nodules on the thyroid, and the vet could feel stool in her abdomen. They provided her with more sub-Q fluilds, an antiemetic to help relieve the nausea and vomiting, and 1/4 of a 15 mg mirtazapine to stimulate her appetite. After the mirtazapine, she looks somewhat stoned, and her heartrate is very rapid. Her discomfort hasn't improved since we brought her home several hours ago, and in fact, the mirtazapine may have made her more uncomfortable. In principle, it was *supposed* to perk her up and get her interested in eating again, but it doesn't seem to be having this effect.

Longer-term, I'm hoping that the thyroid retest will give us some clue as to her excessive thirst/urination problem, and then we'll probably need to address any renal issues that show up as well as the possibility of irritable bowel disease or feline leukemia, but I'm honestly at a complete loss as to how to pull her through the current acute issue. The best I can do right now is to try to make it comfortable, it seems, and make sure she stays hydrated with sub-Q fluids and see if she will keep some force-fed bland food down.

But I wonder if we might be missing something obvious. She's an indoor cat, so parasites would seem unlikely. She's had similar vomiting/hairball issues in the past, but has always pulled through them in quick order. We've been in a number of times for urinal tract infections, but urination seems fine and there's no elevated white blood cell count.

Does anybody have any other ideas? Should we pursue other types of screening (X-ray, ultrasound) that are expensive and likely won't actually tell us anything definitive?

Cat's flipping out & I'm 1000 miles away.

Zosia Blue — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:52:20 -0800

I'm on vacation, and my cat/house-sitter is reporting that one of my cats is flipping out. I won't be home for another four days. How can I help them remotely? My two-year-old cat, Phoebe, doesn't like anyone except me, my husband and our other cat. She's sweet and docile and playful with us, but the moment another person's in the house, she turns into a hellion who bites, swats and growls. I knew this week would be difficult for her, but I assumed she'd adjust after a few days.

Not the case. For the past four days, she's camped up in our bedroom without moving and won't come down for food, which is VERY unusual, even if people she doesn't know are around. Our cat-sitter brings the food to her, and she eats some of it, though not all. This morning, she pooped on our bed, and is now hiding somewhere in the house where the cat-sitter can't find her.

I've suggested rattling the food container, bringing the litter box up to the bedroom, gently petting her, etc., but now I'm at a loss. Do you have suggestions how to make this easier on our cat (and our cat-sitter)?

Phoebe likes food, glitter balls, our other cat (who, unfortunately, doesn't like her) and being groomed behind her ears. If those details are relevant somehow. She's a very healthy kitty.

Maybe she just needs a crazy straw...

nevercalm — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:25:48 -0800

Not really worried, more just curious about my cat and how she's been drinking water...she dips her paw and then licks the water from it, repeatedly. My cat Smudge is a real doll, and like many cats, totally fascinated by water. She's there every time fresh water is poured into the dish, trying to drink out of the jug and then spending some quality time with the bowl. Taking a bath? She's right on the edge of the tub, with that "how do you DO THAT????" look on her face.

As of late, she's developed a strange habit...she seems to exclusively drink by dipping her paw in her water dish and then licking up everything she can get. She then repeats this until, presumably, she's had her fill.

She's done a version of this since she was a kitten, but we always interpreted it as "finding the surface," trying to figure out where the water is in the dish so she didn't submerge her nose. For the past month or so now, she's pretty much only using the paw.

Anyone had a similar experience? She's pretty normal otherwise, so I'm not thinking this is something to worry about....but it's a pretty strange little quirk. Is she just another weird cat, or what?

Faint of butt

ignignokt — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:14:09 -0800

While I was driving him home from the vet yesterday, the cat took a dump in his carrier, which was made of cloth. (He was in the front passenger seat.) After taking care of that, I noticed it still smelled like cat feces in the car. I didn't see any stains on the seat, and I had to go, so I just rolled down the windows and went to work.

Later that night, it still smelled like cat poo in the car, but I had a bad, tiring day, so I left it alone and hoped it would be better today.

Unsurprisingly, it's not. So, I guess some secret poo liquid got onto my car seat. What method for getting rid of it and the smell maximizes efficiency and minimizes effort?

Stay Away from the Banana Plant

billysumday — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 05:13:19 -0800

My cat is slowly killing my indoor banana tree by scratching the hell out of it. Now what? I live in Central Pennsylvania and in the spring of this year purchased a dwarf plantain plant/tree. It grew very well outside in the summer but now that the weather has taken a turn for the cold, I've brought the plant indoors and have placed it on a small table in front of our large south-facing window. It's continued to thrive and is still sprouting new leaves, but my cat is intent on killing it. He loves to scratch at its trunk and tear at the leaves. He doesn't dig at the soil or eat the plant, so I don't need advice regarding that. Just: how to keep the cat away from the plant? I'd prefer to find a solution that saves the tree while keeping it aesthetically pleasing - i.e., I'd rather not wrap the tree in aluminum foil. My strategy thus far has been to shoot him with water from a water bottle when he gets up in/on the plant, but now it's like he just jumps up there and looks at me for attention. If I don't shoot him, he'll cry and then scratch at the tree until I do shoot him, at which point he runs away. He's a bit challenged in the brain department.

Are there any sprays or anything I can use that would cover the plant in some sort of anti-cat repellent? I did some Googling but came up empty.

Thanks, mefi.

Somebody hurt my cat, how do I find out who did it?

Zebtron — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:29:57 -0800

Teenager next door had a party that spilled over into the field behind my house. My cat shows up severely injured. How do I get to the bottom of this? Last Friday night the next door neighbor's teenage son has a rather large party in their back yard. Kids left their yard and were hanging out in the field behind my house. My cat later shows up and can barely walk. X-Rays at the vet show that she has a separated vertebra at the base of her tail but the tail itself has no injuries that would indicate a dog got her or she got caught in a gate. The Vet's conclusion is that somebody grabbed her by the tail and flung her. When I confront the parents and teen their response was "we didn't see anything, but we'll ask around." My daughter knows some of the kids that were there and has been checking Facebook to see if somebody might be bragging about it. I'm incredibly angry about this and would like to find the culprit. Anybody have ideas on how I can find out?