From Cheryl: I have a question that maybe you or someone has an answer for.
Me: looking at the 38th anniversary of my 29th birthday. Wheelchair & oxygen dependent. SWF looking for my glasses in a one bedroom apartment.
Cat: Simon Shorthair. He’s a big ginger boy who thinks he’s a dog. He doesn’t like boxes or bags, just the crinkley brown paper that comes from Chewy. He was a stray found at McDonald’s (that’s a hint to the issue), neutered but you can’t hear him purr.
Issue: If you guessed weight at the first hint, you’d be right. He’s about 8yo, 22#, tall, long and muscular (mostly). Vet wants him down to 16# by next January-yeah 2019.
Problem: Exercise. He doesn’t play. I’ve already cut his food down to ~1 Tbsp wet and ~1/4-1/2 cups per day. Feather teasers will be chased for 3 catches and on the 3rd he lays down with it and won’t go at it again unless you bop him in the nose with it. Red dot, pretty much the same. 3 strikes and out.
He’d never run on those new treadmills even though he’s semi-reactive to food.
I tried to get him to use stairs by putting a treat on each of the 4 steps. He just went along side and pawed them right in his kisser!
Sorry this is so long but please help me!
I’m hoping that others have helpful advice for you, Cheryl. The only thing I can think of is, since Simon will chase the feather teaser or run after the laser three times before flopping down, rather than trying to turn it into extended exercise/play sessions, maybe try to have multiple play sessions through the day – so that it all kind of adds up. (I’m sure you’ve thought of that, but just wanted to suggest it just in case!)
So how about it – who’s got good advice to help Simon shape up and slim down? Please chime in!
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From Shailynn: My friends senior kitty, Meshoo, is in end stage kidney disease. The vet put her on an expensive low protein electrolyte food that Meshoo doesn’t like. So she’s not eating much. Is there something else she could try?
She is taking her pills nicely though. She’s still using litter fine and doesn’t look to be in pain.
Edited to add: Miss Meshoo passed over the Rainbow Bridge today. She was in her sunny spot. I will miss this girl so much (she was mine before I moved and my friend was awesome and kept her so she didn’t have to be rehomed). I’ll be getting her ashes and was going to make a diamond/gem keepsake. Has anyone done this? I’ve found a few places online.
From Karen: I have a question for the community: can anyone recommend a good quality renal food? My senior kitty just got diagnosed with kidney disease. Luckily, he’s not very picky about food.
Sandy said: In my experience with late stage kidney disease, my cat wouldn’t eat prescription food any longer. I used this food list to try to find canned food with lower protein and phosphorus to provide some possible options. Your friend should discuss Meshoo’s appetite with her vet to see what he or she recommends, but I did spend a lot of time using this food list and reading Tanya’s CRF website and found it extremely helpful. Sending good wishes to Meshoo!
Carolyn said: I don’t know if this would be appropriate in your case, but my vet suggested aluminum hydroxide. Most liquid formulas (for humans) have ingredients that aren’t cat friendly, but thrivingpets.com has a powder version that is tasteless. You just sprinkle it on their regular food. My vet recommended a much lower dose than the website, so you’d definitely want to run it by your vet. The only downside is that it can cause constipation. Sending good wishes to Meshoo and her human.
I know nothin’ about end stage kidney disease, so thank you to Sandy and Carolyn for helping out. (And if you guys have additional thoughts/advice, please speak up!)
Shailynn, I’m so sorry to hear about Meshoo.
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Do you have any plans to let the cats back outdoors, or do you think the screened in porch will keep them happy enough? It seems to me that they have adapted well to posh indoor living.
Fred’s been working on getting the cat fence up – it’s slow going because first it was cold, and then lately it’s been raining a lot. He’s hoping to get it done soon – Archie is turning into a bit of a pain about wanting to go out (he’s always scratching at the door), and Kara’s been pacing a lot. It’s worse on warm, sunny days, of course. The plan is to let them in the back yard during the day and then lock them in (with access to the screened porch) at night. Hopefully that’ll keep them happy.
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Regarding the comment that cats in the wild don’t eat corn. I live on a farm that grows sweet corn for sale as corn on the cob. Every cat I have loves it. They’ll get up on the counter, strip an ear and chew all the kernels off it, just leaving the cob. If I cut the kernels off the cob, they love it even more. This isn’t the same as dried corn that’s used in pet food, but I swear my cats will go after fresh corn and totally ignore meat if I left it out. One cat also loves raw green beans. I don’t feed these things to them regularly, they get a no-grain dry food and split a can of wet food every day. The coyotes around here also eat sweet corn and will devour a watermelon if they find one that’s split.
and
Awww, you made me think about my Midnight, who we loved for 17 years.
She was an indoor/outdoor tortie who adored corn on the cob. She’d drag corncobs home from the neighbors’ trash, and our kids always left a row of kernels on the cob for her when we ate corn.
Cats are such little weirdos. Tubby used to eat broccoli!
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It’s always great to see Jake, especially with his smile. His anti-camera stance is unfortunate, though. My theory is that the digital camera creates some sort of interference with his loon receptors that results in a feline version of nails on chalkboard. No wonder he runs – those are delicately tuned loons, after all.
That sounds about right to me!
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One year ago to this day, you said that you were hanging up your paintbrush for ten years.
So how’s that going?
I hate hate HATE HATE painting. The stupid foster room closet is now painted, and I hope that I’m not required to do more painting any time soon. I declared to Fred that in the future, any painting that needs doing will be done by someone who is not me, but I’m not sure he agrees with me.
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Randomly: would anyone on here get it / murder me if I named a black floofy cat “Dust Puppy”?
I had to look it up – this Wikipedia link was helpful – and I think that would be an adorable name!
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Carolyn: Next up is getting my kitten a sibling. The sister idea didn’t work out, but I’ve been approved to adopt a sweet 18 month old male (as soon as his runny eye clears up.) Wish me luck on the introductions, and if anyone has any good names for a set of step-brothers (one orange, one black and white – but not a tuxie) I’m all ears.
TURNER AND HOOCH. Jesse Pinkman and Walter White! Simon and Garfunkel! Batman and Robin! Starsky and Hutch! Okay, I’m having too much fun.
Carolyn pointed out that I’ve used most of those names, which is TRUE, but they’re good names! Okay, I know you guys love naming kittens, so speak up with your excellent names, dudes.
(Wayne and Garth!)
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So, did the previous owners leave you with any poop colored rooms? I suspect that once they tried that paint they decided not to use it but were too cheap to throw it out.
and
What was the name of color on that paint can so the rest of us don’t make your mistake??
Well, as it turns out, that paint – which I thought was left behind by the previous owners – was actually the paint used by the guys who built the screened porch. And it isn’t NEARLY that dark on the back of the house! Here’s a picture of the side of the screened porch (taken through the window, because I was too lazy to get shoes on and go outside).
See? Perfectly lovely! Here’s a reminder of what it looked like on the walls of the closet:
HORRIFYING.
I don’t see a paint name on the can, though here’s a picture of the label:
(Now you’re going to tell me that the problem is that I tried to use exterior paint on an interior closet, and I ask you: do you think I know the first thing about painting? It should be obvious that I do not.)
I sent Fred off to Lowe’s to pick out paint for the closet, telling him to choose something in the light gray color range, and he did a good job. The color he chose is Comet Dust.
I got it painted last weekend, and the closet is all put together. Though you will be unable to tell from this next picture (the closet shows up as greenish, likely because I had the closet light turned on), no one looking at that room will ever notice that the closet isn’t the same color as the room, so I’m happy.
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Love the beach picture in your room. One you took I believe. Gorgeous.
Yep, I took that sunrise picture at Myrtle Beach in 2016, and it’s my favorite (so far) of all my sunrise pictures. And considering that I’ve taken hundreds of them, that’s saying something!
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Has Frankie been maintaining his bromance with Stefan/Archie/Dewey (I think those were his Amigos)?
Back when we first got Frankie and he and Dewey were becoming buddies, Stefan played a little too vigorously with Dewey (as is his way). Dewey squealed, and Frankie ran over and gave Stefan the ol’ one-two, and Stefan has been a little nervous about Frankie ever since. Frankie and Dewey were buddies, and then they weren’t for reasons I am unsure of, and now they seem to be buddies again. They’re not constantly together, but usually in the evenings when we’re watching TV, I glance over to the back living room, and see them tussling.
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When are there going to be kittens?? I love the Perms but I too have a house full of insolent, lazy, so-and-so’s and need some kitteny cuteness!
There’s a scene at the beginning of the 1980s Vietnam-based series China Beach where nurse Colleen McMurphy (the fabulous Dana Delaney) is on the beach. She watches the sun rise and then settles on the sand with a book. A while later we hear the sounds of helicopters. She sighs, walks back to the hospital, puts on her operating gown (?), and faces the door. There’s a pause, and then the doors blow open in a blast of air and sound, and organized chaos ensues.
I’ve got my operating gown on and I’m waiting for the doors to blow open.
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I brought in all-new bedroom furniture yesterday, and the bed is really, really high. Once the cat-spection was completed, and they started getting used to the new space, the bed got a 4 cats up (on the bed, that is). The 5th one was my old man, who has always slept on the bed but is too arthritic to manage the high bed. Does anyone have a set of pet stairs that they like and would recommend? I need about 25″.
Would something like this 3-level cat perch work? I bought that (I think) when Miz Poo was getting old and creaky, and put it next to my bed. She used it pretty often, and we still have it, it’s held up well (and comes in different colors). On the down side, it WILL get barfed upon, and carpeted surfaces are always more work to clean than wooden surfaces.
How about it, y’all? Got stairs that you’d recommend? Please share!
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Sneaking up on Jake to take his picture. Poor, unsuspecting Loon.
Maxi, with attitude.
Is a rough life for an Archie.
“Ma’am, we’ve had reports of people floating down here.”
So. Much. STRESS.
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Previously
2017: “LADY! STOP WATCHING ME! GET A LIFE! MIND YER OWN BEESWAX!”
2016: “Hey, lady, I think I felt the baby kick. HA HA HA SUCKER!”
2015: Toby, meerkatting.
2014: No entry.
2013: No entry.
2012: My seedshake brings all the boids to the yard.
2011: No entry.
2010: No entry.
2009: No entry.
2008: No entry.
2007: And then he darted out the front door of the carrier. Because why would it occur to me to check to be sure that the front door was closed? THAT WOULD MAKE SENSE, STUPID.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
China Beach…that was such a great show. Ever thought of naming a litter or a batch of kittens after some of the characters?
Jake looks so kiss and huggable, I’m sure he got blitz-kissed after you took that picture.
This is a wonderful idea. You must have a Boonie!
I love China Beach-and that opening scene is one of the best ever!
When I got my new bed and my little old lady cat was having trouble getting up on it, I decided to get a storage chest for the end of my bed rather than pet stairs and now she uses that to get up. This way when I bang into it every morning, I’m at least getting some extra storage out of it. They have tons of them on Wayfair.
Now there’s an idea. There isn’t room at the end of the bed to place a storage chest, and that is where the underbed storage is anyway, but since the two nightstands and the bed make a straight line across, I imagine that giving him a way to get up to the nightstand should do the trick. Maybe a good cat tree that doesn’t require a lot of vertical climbing. Thanks for the idea!
When my 25 year old’s arthritis made it difficult for her to get on my bed, I bought pet stairs but she refused to use them. After some tumbles, I fashioned my own steps using an overturned laundry basket and a basic wooden chair at the end of the bed.
Although unsightly, this was MUCH better as there was more surface area on each step for her. She would get up on one, orient herself, and then get up on the other, orient herself and then get on the bed, all safe and sound.
I think the reason she didn’t like the pet steps was because each step was too shallow for her to maintain her balance as she moved up them.
I also strapped flat cushions to each (basket and chair) because she was a long-haired cat so the excessive floof between her toes sometimes made her slip; the cushions gave her better grip and offered some softness in case she did wobble over onto them.
Similar to that, in the living room I took a small plastic tote and put that in front of the couch to make it easier for her to get up onto it. The couch was from Ikea so it wasn’t very high and she could manage the leap with a lot of butt-wiggling distance evaluation and test-starts… but once I put the tote there she used it immediately so I knew she found it easier.
All great ideas. I have a folding chair there right now; he can just about manage a chair, but I’d like to have something shallower for him. Thanks for the tips!
I bought a cat tree thAt has ramps and platforms (it is big, but they have smaller ones) from Costco. It has held up well with 5 cats trying to tear it up so far. I think something like it may work.
Robyn, I love the closet color! If you have trouble with the greenish cast, it could be your light bulb. Is it a fluorescent or a CFL? If so, that’s why you’re getting a greenish cast, fluorescent light has a green spike from hell that makes everyone look horrible. Get a bright white or daylight LED for better color fidelity.
On the cat perch: Oh that’s perfect. Thank you!
On Dust Puppy: Oh good. I’m not crazy. User Friendly was an IT comic from the 90’s / 00’s — not sure if it’s still being drawn, and Dust Puppy was one of the best characters on there.
Cat weight loss ideas from Dr. Lisa Pierson’s website.
http://catinfo.org/feline-obesity-an-epidemic-of-fat-cats/
Basically, the dry foods are more calorie dense. So if your cat likes the wet food, start feeding more wet and cut out the dry food. You’ll do better with some of the low carb pate styles like Friskies pate, Fancy Feast Classic, Wellness grain free, etc. and not the gravy style foods that have too many carbs.
You might try making a game out of feeding the dry food. Take 10-15 pieces of dry and toss them down the hallway (or wherever) to get your cat a bit of exercise.
Those low calorie dry food diets just don’t work well for cats. When I switched my cat to low carb wet food, he lost 4 pounds. No increase in exercise, simply reduction in calorie intake with a more species appropriate diet. And he felt fuller on the wet food than the dry food, so he wasn’t always begging for food. Plus his coat got silky smooth on the wet food diet.
Was just about to post this! 🙂 Dr Pierson’s writing on how she got some fat cats to slim down is right on the money.
I’d definitely recommend getting the cat off dry food and onto a good quality (grain-free) canned food. That’s what I did with one of my cats. When I got her she was 20 lbs, and didn’t like to play much either. But as she slowly slimmed down (she’s 15lbs now, 3yrs later), her playtime increased. And she was much happier, also. Better able to groom all of herself, and her fur was much softer, and she had an easier time moving around.
The cat food company websites should have a calorie count, and be careful that you aren’t accidentally going over what an average indoor cat should be eating daily. Once you get him off the unneeded carbs and onto a good high protein diet, he shouldn’t be too hungry all the time. 🙂
I got a feed ball which he will use for treats but he’s been put on Hills C/D for UTI so he’s not interested in working just for that dry food. When he wants to eat he will not leave me alone. So, rather than strangling him, I give him the dry for overnight so I can sleep otherwise he comes back every hour like a furry alarm clock.
Is the C/D canned or dry?
Usually a good canned food will help quite a lot with UTI issues. And I found that when I was weaning my big girl off of dry food, it helped to give her a teaspoon of canned food right before I went to bed, and that seemed to satisfy her until I could get up in the morning for her breakfast.
I so hate the term UTI. Your cat is not on C/D for a UTI.. UTI means urinary tract infections, and C/D is RARELY Rx’d for that. it is given for cats who have urinary struvite crystals.
A cat with a history of Struvite crystals does not necessarily need c/d. they just need a food that is high in moisture (wet over dry) that keeps the urine acidic (meat over plants)
I have had two cats block with crystals, and they are both on a raw diet which keeps them well hydrated and keeps their urine in the appropriate PH range.
If you have a kitty that bugs you overnight for food, you can freeze small portions of canned food and put that out right before you go to bed. It should thaw out in time to keep the kitty from bugging you – or you could buy a timed feeder that opens up in the middle of the night.
But if what you are doing is working for you, then this is a mute point 😀
guess which url is on my clipboard.. Yup. catinfo. Even after I put my cats on a raw diet I gave them dry food for treats. I had to cut it out because of Jack and when I finally did Muffin lost almost a pound.. and they weren’t getting all that much.
For Shailynn: when my beloved Zoey passed away from CRF (same as your beloved Meshoo), I had her ashes made into a memorial glass bead which I wear on a silver chain. It’s a similar style to Murano glass, and I found Elise of Koi Creek Beadwork on Etsy. She offers a range of colours, but I worked with her to make a custom colour which matched Zoey’s beautiful eyes. I can’t tell you how much it helped me to have her with me. Elise sent back the ashes she didn’t use.
Her website is here,with links to her Etsy shop: http://koicreekbeads.com/memorial/index.shtml
The website mentioned above, Tanya’s CRF site, was a godsend and helped both the vet and me with information I needed to make good choices for my girl.
When Zoey wasn’t eating much, the vet gave me potassium gluconate powder to either sprinkle or mash up in food – it’s an appetite stimulant.
In terms of food, she was put on a low protein diet which she HATED, so I supplemented with strained chicken baby food (NO salt, NO spices, NO onion, just chicken) and she loved that.
As her disease progressed she turned up her nose at most things, so vet and I agreed she could eat what she wanted, as we wanted her to have some pleasure in her last weeks and months.
(I remembered my grandmother who died at 87 and in the last couple of years of her life barely ate anything except for chocolate cake and milky tea. Not ideal, but it was calories, and she thoroughly enjoyed it!)
Same with Zoey – she often had bits of roasted chicken (skin off), cheese cubes (blue and aged were her faves), and the very worst, cheapest cat food around – can’t remember the name, but the one she loved had cheese in it. My theory is her senses were failing, and it was so stinky she could still taste it!
For the person who wanted a ladder for their old man cat, my Mum had the same problem with her cat Blue, and we couldn’t find a ladder anywhere that suited, and that my Mum liked, so instead we found an upholstered storage bench at Target that she put at the foot of her bed. Blue was able to clamber up to the bench, and Mum had a storage spot. Win-win. In fact, Blue loved lying on the bench too!
Might be too high for the old man cat, but you can check if he’s able to clamber to that level by putting a chair near the bed that’s about the same level.
ETA: Just remembered, when Zoey was too arthritic to jump onto the bed easily, I made her a staircase from coffee table books.
Also used them to raise her eating area so she didn’t get acid reflux, a common problem with cats who have CRF.
So sorry about Meshoo. I happened across this website the other day in an unrelated fashion so I will pass it on to you and any others. They do sculptures/jewelry/etc. with ashes from pets/people or both.
http://artfulashes.com/ and another one https://www.spiritpieces.com/
Regarding kitty names, how about Pumpkin and Shoofly (they are both pies and it references their colorings). Also, Phineas and Ferb, Charlie Brown and Linus, Fred and Barney, Crockett and Tubbs (yes I watch a lot of TV).
Thanks for the name ideas, especially the pies 🙂
Shoofly!! One of my favorite pies and now a favorite cat name!
Will Archie EVER relax? Really? How it must prey on you so. 🙂
For Simon. Have you considered metabolic diet (there are various makers) for him? I have had good luck getting weight off my patients with it.
He’s on Hills C/D for UTI’s.
Food puzzles for weight loss…if you even google the words you will come up with tons of info…plus, you can do many of them with things in the house that cost nothing.
“Cats given food puzzles thrive — they tend to be more physically fit and happier. They also have fewer behavioral problems, such as aggression and over-grooming, than cats with regular food bowls, the researchers said. [10 Surprising Facts About Cats]
“[Food puzzles] provide cats with exercise and mental stimulation,” said review co-author Mikel Delgado, a doctoral candidate of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. Delgado is also a certified cat behavior consultant with the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants.
“It gives them an outlet for foraging for their food,” Delgado told Live Science. “As hunters, cats would be working for their food all day if they were not provided with a bowl.”
Cats are natural predators, and usually eat small meals throughout the day when they’re in the wild, Delgado said. But catching prey in the wild is tricky, and cats catch only about half of the prey they target. In contrast, indoor kitties are often given unlimited food, and even those on a diet typically don’t have to work for their dinner, she said.
That said, it’s no surprise that indoor felines have a high risk of obesity, Type 2 diabetes, joint problems and chronic lower urinary tract signs, she said. Indoor cats can also have behavioral problems, including attention-seeking and stress-related behaviors, such as house soiling.
Food puzzles can alleviate those health and behavior problems, Delgado said. In the review, she and her colleagues assessed about 30 cases that they had personally observed of when food puzzles helped kitties. For instance, an obese 8-year-old male cat lost 20 percent of its body weight after using food puzzles for a year, she said.”
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cats-like-food-puzzles/
A great resource:
http://www.fundamentallyfeline.com/videos/foraging-videos/
This article gets a bit weighted down with too much information but it has lots of good tips too.
https://www.fvah.ca/files/2016/11/Feeding-Food-Puzzle.pdf
Thank! I’ll look into this.
Cat stairs–check your local shelters! I found a set of cat stairs on the street. Never been used. I disinfected them everyday for a week (scared of bedbugs, yo) and put them up for my two 20 year olds. Never used them. They preferred to use the laundry basket. So, just saying hit up shelters and such as things like that get donated. My shelter has four or five sets right now, but use homemade plywood boxes with carpet stapled on as the carpet can be ripped off and changed.
If you are near NJ, NY state, PA border, you can have mine.
Ha, I had a cat years ago who loved lima beans 😀
Regarding the high bed, I have never had a cat that would use pet stairs – kind of annoying 🙂 Anyway, my kitties seem to have a strong preference for ottomans. I have 4 scattered throughout the house – all purchased on Craigslist for $25 or less.
For the chubby kitty: no dry food; canned only, watered down.
Re pet stairs, my old girl instantly took to the ramp I got from Drs. Foster and Smith. This was in the earlier days of the Web, so I’m sure many places will now offer them. Highly recommended.
For Cheryl: My big old Mr.White is holding steady at 16 lbs at 8 years old. Lazy bugger too. He eats a TOTAL of 1/2 cup Purina ProPlan Prime Plus a day.
I thought he would starve. Vet said nope, he’ll get all the calories he needs. He’s a much happier, but still lazy,boy. I’d love to feed him wet or raw. But he turns his nose is at every brand.
Be brave.
Re: Pet Steps. We have this one, which we got to help our under-six-pound senior kitty get on the couch so she can be with her #1 man–my husband. She likes it, often sitting on the top step to await tidbit handouts when we’re eating at the coffee table. She has barfed on it a couple of times, and it was easily hosed down and air dried–the carpet sections appear to be indoor/outdoor, so low maintenance.
https://www.amazon.com/PetSafe-Solvit-PupSTEP-Stairs-Foldable/dp/B000MD57OO/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1518798291&sr=1-2-spons&keywords=pet+steps&psc=1
My house is being worked on. Painters in and out. My two are very shy of strangers and they freak out regularly. As a result, I freak out too. Not a pretty picture. Read how you put Rescue Remedy in the water bowl. I tried it (I use it on the dogs for fireworks) and I am very pleased to report that the level of “freaked outness” has come down about 5 notches. Life is better.
I had the devastating experience of losing 3 boys (all brothers) to Stage 4 kidney disease. Trying to get them to eat anything was so difficult and they were losing weight at an alarming rate. I tried a few different premium wet foods and found that they all liked Weruva’s BFF pouches. I wrote the company to find out about the appropriateness of their food for CKD and got a very informative reply back. The BFF pouches, specifically, are “hydration” based with a higher water content and can be a good alternative to kidney diets. Keep in mind, they had all refused kidney food and I took the info about BFF to my vet and she was onboard since they were eating which was the most important thing.
When my Himalayan headed into her golden years, she used Rubbermaid step stools to get up on furniture. (These were not the ladder type step stool.) They are light and easy to get out of the way when you have visitors.
Thought I would add my experience with having two kitties with kidney failure. We tried the prescription diets too (science diet and hills). They like the SD dry but wouldn’t touch the can. Vet thought it was more important that they eat than not eat and that wet food is more important than dry. He suggested that we also mix the aluminum hydroxide powder to bind to phosphosrus from thriving pets which we do to their wet and they eat it right up. We also use Tanya’s list to try to at least make sure we are feeding foods that aren’t too high in phosphosrus. To avoid constipation our vet has us also mix Miralax into their wet food. We still give them the science diet dry food since they like it. Vet recommended that if they didn’t like the prescription dry to take their regular dry food and sprinkle the aluminum hydroxide powder on it, shake it up in a Ziploc bag, and leave it overnight so that it had time to adhere to the food. We did increase the amount of wet food to hopefully wean them off the dry since wet is better for the kidneys. We also make sure they have plenty of water bowls scattered throughout the house to encourage water consumption. After doing all of these methods for a month, we had the vet run new blood work. The different levels either improved or didn’t increase so we’re sticking to the plan. Hope this helps!
My Wesley is only 4 years old, and though his part-Maine Coon frame allows him to carry a little weight, he was getting fat and lazy. He wouldn’t play with a feather teaser, he’d wait until you put it in a drawer, then open the drawer and pull it out to chew it to pieces. My daughter-in-law’s puppy that was her Christmas present has helped the cat a lot. He and the puppy chase each other and play at least three times a day, very intense running through the house, jumping up on the furniture, the cat has never been this active or happy. They wear each other out, then sleep for an hour and start up again. Wesley also will not eat wet food, any kind of meat, nor anything much except kibble. He does like corn on the cob, fresh green beans, and a few very small pieces of cheese once in a while. I wouldn’t particularly recommend getting a puppy, though, unless you happen to have a railroad car full of paper towels handy.
Talking about cats eating weird human food! Prince Petey absolutely loves pineapple. I pop a can open and he’s instantly beside me begging. Plus he and Andy love sweet stuff like frosting. Of course, they also love yogurt, cottage cheese and regular cheese. Even Gus eats the cheese. When I first got Gus he loved popcorn.
Am I the only one that chortled at seeing that the poop paint was a “custom manual match”? I can only what they were trying to match…If it was the exterior color, someone needs glasses. 🙂
Pet stairs:
I got these at Chewy for my senior. She loved them. They fold up so are easy to store.
https://www.chewy.com/solvit-pupstep-plus-pet-stairs-small/dp/53687
My vet said that cats prefer ramps over stairs when they are arthritic. This ramp is expensive, but worked well for us when my cat needed it. https://cdpets.com/products/tall-climber-platform-pet-ramp-12-wide
Treat ball for the cat that won’t play. Put a few pieces of kibble in it and lock the holes so the kibble almost comes out. The one I have is big enough not to get stuck under things. (I use this trick when my boy is picking on my girl too much, he’ll bat at that thing and push it with his nose for an hour, he’s super food motivated. After he’s lost interest in picking on my girl, I fix it so he can get the food out)
Weight loss= raw diet
Urinary issues = raw diet
Kidney disease = raw diet. (http://catinfo.org/#Kidney_Failure)
Yup, I’m one of those stand on a soap box people, but I’ve seen a raw diet ‘fix’ so many issues it isn’t even funny. I have two cats that blocked with crystals and a third who had urinary issues as a kitten and they are all doing beautifully on a raw diet. I had a diabetic cat who went into remission on a raw diet. I have had cases of IBD be cured on a raw diet. Food is life and the right food makes all the difference. I know that the leading belief for kidney issues is to go low protein, but that is what we do for omnivores and it does not translate to obligate carnivores. Giving an easily digestible source of protein is what matters, and going low protein actually produces more waste for the cats to filter out. I have several cats who are up there in age and are staring to show issues with their kidneys (they all started life on a dry food diet) and vets keep recommending me to put them on a kidney diet, but I won’t because of Dr. Pierson and Dr. Hodgekins (who wrote Your Cat)
Getting up on a high bed: When we had Em, we bought one stair runner at Home Depot, chopped it to make two stairs, got some wood to make stairs and covered it with carpet. we put it away when she passed, then pulled it back out when Ollie was dying from VAS and had we removed the tumor from his flank near his leg. We put it away and then pulled it back out when Muffin started showing signs of arthritis. She used it, but she also liked the big plastic tub we bought for storing things in that we put at the end of the bed one day because we were filling it up and she sat on it and wouldn’t leave 🙂
as for the cat eating corn.. I have a cat that eats corn based litter because he grew up on dry food and was conditioned to eat it. I am left to wonder if her cats eat a dry food diet.
Speaking of corn, my Kitty Cat, Jada, likes popcorn! When her “puppy”, a Cavalier and I indulge, I also give her several pieces and she chomps them right up.
Shailynn-I’m so very sorry for the loss your your Meshoo. I smiled at her name, my daughter named our kitty Mewlan-was Meshoo named after Mushu?
Cheryl, I think you got a lot of good ideas from the other commenters-but wanted to add-do you have a cat tree? Our cats love to run up ours, and once they are at the top, they seem very playful-so I get a few exercise minutes with them when that are up there. Robyn made a very good point about doing a few minutes at a time, multiple times during the day-that all adds up. I remember Jackson Galaxy talking about it in one of his shows-cats aren’t really interested in sustained physical exercise (join the club!) but those small bursts of playtime really help.
Cheryl-one of my favorite movies is The Philadelphia Story, what about C.K. Dexter Haven and Macaulay Connor? Long I know, but if you are a classic movie fan, might be fun. I think I just love saying C.K. Dexter Haven!
Dear Reader who wants to get a black cat and name it Dust Puppy. I get it. I am a HUGE fan of User Friendly. Please make sure you let us know when you have your Dust Puppy!
I have a huge tiger named Brasov (I didn’t name him. My late sister did). I call him dust puppy and puppy dusty. My mom slipped up this week and started calling him puppy after hating his nickname for the past 8 months
Late to the party for the brother cat names…Ben & Jerry! Those are my cats. Once I stopped at a Ben&Jerry’s ice cream stand at a festival and was all excited to tell the person working about my cats. The teenage boy was not impressed and said “yeah, we get that a lot”. But my vet office liked the names – always said “here comes the ice cream kitties!”