My little tuxie boy (ok – so he’s 10, and he’s not very little, but he’s still my baby!) seems incredibly depressed often. He’s mopey and just lays around looking sad. We tried the calming treats from Petsmart, but he won’t eat them. Our vet recommended Feliway, but it’s expensive. Do you have any ideas? (I think he needs a buddy, but we have another cat that would NOT like another cat in the house – she’d be happy if our tuxie packed up his toys and left, so that’s not an option.) Thank you so much!
GD said: I would get out interactive toys (feather wand, laser, etc) and insure you have daily/nightly play sessions with him followed by a little special treat. See if that helps.
I’m glad you addressed the getting-another-cat issue, that was going to be my first suggestion! I do agree with GD that maybe some extra play, followed by a favorite treat or two, and some one-on-one attention would help.
Also, Alyslinn mentioned that Feliway is cheaper at Amazon than at the vet’s office. I agree and will suggest eBay, too – I get mine from Pets 4 Vets.
If anyone else has any suggestions, I’d love to hear them!
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Robyn – I know you’ve done a chart of which cats get along (or don’t!) with each other – but I am curious about which cats are snugglers with the humans? We’ve got 3 in the house right now and one is literally *always* by my side (or on me) if I settle anywhere, one will sit with her human maybe 1/3 of the time and comes to ask for petting, but then walks away, and the other almost never settles down with anyone, but does come to *demand* head scratches. Where do your cats fall on the human interaction spectrum?
It’s funny that you ask this, because Fred and I had a discussion about this very topic just yesterday morning. We determined that we have four snugglers – Dennis, Stefan, Alice and Kara are the ones who want to be on or up against us. They aren’t hardcore snugglers, and they come looking for snuggles when THEY want the snuggles, but when they’re in the mood for love, they are SUPER sweet and snuggly. None of them are at the Miz Poo end of the spectrum – Miz Poo wanted to snuggle always. If you picked her up to snuggle, she’d stay on you, purring like crazy, forever. So if you consider Miz Poo a 10 on that spectrum and Stinkerbelle at a 1 (because she did occasionally allow a little tiny bit of petting for a moment), our current permanent residents would rank like so:
8: Dennis, Stefan, Alice.
7: Kara (this would be higher, but she won’t sit still. You’ll get her settled in, think you’re going to take a nap together, and then she leaps up, runs off, then comes back and stands over you with her tail whipping back and forth.)
6: Jake. He’ll let you pick him up and snuggle him, kiss him, flip him onto his back like a baby, but he doesn’t really snuggle up to you if left to his own devices. He LOVES to be petted, really likes to be brushed, but won’t snuggle up for a nap or a TV show, much as I try to convince him otherwise.)
4: Joe Bob, Newt, Maxi. They really like to be petted, but don’t want to snuggle, and don’t want to be picked up at ALL. They don’t want to sit in a lap and watch TV, won’t sleep curled up against you. They need their SPACE, thank you very much.
3: Archie. Archie likes us, he likes to be petted, but he does NOT like to be picked up (he goes completely stiff when you pick him up), and he can only handle being petted for a short amount of time. If you’re petting him and he wants you to be done, he’ll hiss at you. He has never ever bitten or scratched either one of us, no matter what we’ve done to him – I can pick him up in the middle of a hiss-off with Stefan and put him outside, and he hisses and growls the entire way, but has never ever lashed out at me. The only time either of us has been scratched by him is the time Fred leaned down to pick him up, and it startled him – which is Fred’s fault, not Archie’s.
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Ste-FAWN is my favourite. He seems like the most chill cat in the world. Is he cuddly with people at all?
He’s a cuddler – and even better, if he flops down next to you when you’re ready to take a nap, and you hug him close to you, he’ll just lay there like a big ol’ huggy pillow and snooze the afternoon away with you and let you hug him the entire time.
I’ve always said that orange tabbies are the laid-back catnip-smokin’ surfers of the cat world, and Stefan certainly holds true to that stereotype.
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I think that is one of the cutest pics over ALL the years!!!
I agree – let’s see it again!
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Who decided coconut needed to be in cat food?? Are there island cats somewhere shimmying up coconut trees and batting the coconuts down to drink the milk? Someone call Animal Planet because this is something we need to see! 😉
Right? Fred posted this on Facebook the day I fed that cat food to the cats: I am regularly amazed at the things cat food manufacturers put in their products to make it seem appealing to people. #CoconutMilkIsntMilk
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A California blogger I follow posted about a Russian Blue they adopted from neighbors who moved to Hawaii. He is allergic to cats, but relented to his children since Russian Blues are supposed to be hypoallergenic. I come to the experts to ask if this is true. He said he is doing fine allergy wise and the cat is a wonderful family member.
I had never heard that, so I went looking. I found this page, which said: Fel d 1, a protein in cat saliva, is one common trigger for people allergic to cats. Remember that cats constantly lick themselves to stay clean. The Russian blue’s saliva contains less of this protein than the average cat. Of course, the Russian blue still produces dander, urine and excretions from the sebaceous glands, all of which can cause allergic reactions. However, it appears that Fel d 1 content in saliva is the strongest predictor of allergies.
That’s pretty interesting – I had honestly never heard that about Russian Blues, and wouldn’t have expected it, since they have such thick fur. You learn something new every day!
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Webster in the background, Felix in the middle, and that big blur of orangey goodness is Stefan.
Webster’s ears just crack me UP.
Felix has the prettiest eyes, doesn’t he?
His ears look even bigger here!
I got the Pounce toy out to distract them while I cleaned the foster room. Felix was all over the toy, and Webster mostly sat back and watched. Eventually, Felix just sat on top of the “mouse”, and the toy made a sad clicking noise, so I turned it off.
These boys have for sure hit their long and lanky stage. Look at how long Felix is!
Yesterday, the boys had their rabies shots. They’ll be with us through the weekend, and then Tuesday evening they’ll be going home together.
I mentioned this when I first introduced the boys, but in case you missed it: they were actually already adopted before I got them. They came here to wait out the time for their last vaccinations. Their people came out a couple of times to visit, and I know they can’t wait to get these boys home. I think they’re going to be spoiled rotten!
Wouldn’t it be nice if I actually got their pictures in the sidebar before they went home? Let’s see if I can manage to make that happen!
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“Look at my foot, innernets. LOOK AT IT.” I love that serious look on Dennis’s face. He ain’t kidding – you better look at and appreciate that foot if you know what’s good for you!
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Previously
2015: Playing with Da Bird. Naturally Stefan had to get involved.
2014: Why do they have to grow up? Whyyyyy?
2013: I think we can all tell exactly what move Scorch is considering here.
2012: No entry.
2011: Finnegan’s face is cracking me up. “THIS ARE MY SPOT YOU GO AWAY.”
2010: Bolitar, at home wherever he happens to land.
2009: Saying goodbye to Mister Boogers.
2008: Poor little monsters, they have no idea what’s coming!
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: For the most part Mister Boogers left the kittens alone, though Oy kept going over and sniffing at him, and he could hardly stand it, and he would growl and raise his paw to smack that kitten across the room, but then I would say “Mis. Ter. Boog. Ers.” in my Mean Lady voice, and he’d put his paw back down and walk away.