Robyn – I noticed the robin and I’m wondering do you have the problem of a lot of dead birds with so many outdoor cats. I have three adorable cats and one is a outside cat (even in -40C he will go outside for a little bit) but he’s constantly bringing me dead birds. You would think the birds would smarten up and avoid our backyard!!
I’ll be honest and say that I don’t know how many dead birds we end up with – the outside cats have learned that we are SO not appreciative of their gifts, and so they either carry them away from the house or eat them. Every now and then I’ll find a pile of feathers or a small piece of a wing that indicates that a bird was caught (or maybe nearly caught). We’ve had half-dead birds brought into the house in the past, but far fewer than you’d expect.
When I see a cat running across the yard with something in their mouth, my first reaction is to run for the back door and shut it so that they can’t bring it into the house! Of course, now that I said that, I’m reminded that only a couple of weeks ago, Fred opened the side door to let Newt in, and only realized as Newt was crossing the threshold that he had a small mouse in his mouth. Naturally, he dropped it as soon as he got inside, and the mouse scurried behind my desk. It took us 20 minutes to trap it and get it back outside!
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Dear fellow L&H readers, I have a dilemma I was hoping you could help me with.
About a year ago, we brought in a full-grown stray who was friendly and who we named Buddy. We had him dewormed and fixed and set him up in the back bedroom in the hopes of assimilating him into our gang. We started him on a harness but he would lunge at the nearest cat. We tried this many times and sometimes it went ok, but usually not. In the meantime the other cats were terrified if we even opened his door. The final straw came when I took him out of his bedroom on his leash and he lunged at Rufus, whose leg snapped in two when he leaped to get out of the way. As it turned out, Rufus had/has bone cancer and his leg was successfully amputated and as of now, he’s just fine. It was one of those weird mixed blessings. Anyway, Rufus is the most skittish of all if he thinks Buddy is coming out of his room. Which leads to the problem: Buddy can’t live in a bedroom for the rest of his life, he’s lonely even though we visit him. His tendency to attack randomly any of the other cats means he can’t mingle freely in the house. Do we take him to our local Humane Society, where he may or may not be adopted or do we let him back outside into territory he knows (we’re rural), but risk losing him to a car or coyote? There are so many pros and cons to each and my hubby and I simply can’t stop going around and around. Thoughts?
There were some responses to Dawn in the comments, but I wanted to post question here in case some of y’all had suggestions for her.
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Just curious, why aren’t you putting Arnold in with the younger chicks?
We will, eventually – but right now he’s outside and the younger chicks are still in the brooder box, and I kind of think it’s mean to move him back inside when he’s clearly enjoying being outside.
The day we move him in with the younger chicks is going to blow his MIND. He’s going to go from being the tiny guy to being, like, King Kong.
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I am wondering if I can seek some advice from the wonderful L&H community on behalf of one of my work colleagues. Any solutions I have come up with so far haven’t worked for the problem she has, and I thought there has to be someone out there who has dealt with something similar.
The problem is this – my colleague has a cat who is still quite young – about 7 months old. He was adopted from the RSPCA about 3 months ago or so. He (Casper) has taken to taking a swipe with claws out at my colleague whenever she walks past him, and she has scratches on her legs to prove it! He attacks my colleague, her husband, and their 6 year old daughter, but never their 3 year old twin boys. I suggested spraying him with water whenever he does it but apparently he likes water so that didn’t work as a deterrent. I also suggested to play with him more (and gave her plenty of toys to try) as it might be boredom (only cat and stays indoors) but that hasn’t made any difference.
Any other suggestions? I’m all ears! 🙂
I’m distracted by the fact that he never swipes at the three year old twins. I wonder why that is?
But anyway, I do not have any good suggestions here (unless it’s to suggest using compressed air as a deterrent instead of water – as a bonus, the compressed air doesn’t get stuff wet!), but hopefully there are helpful suggestions out there. Readers? Halp?
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In the first pic, it looks like the baby’s ears have sproinged..?? Did they *all* sproing and I missed it??
It’s been less of a ::sproing:: and more of a slow creak as their ears slowwwwwwly moved upward. Hmm, maybe more of a crackle – like the sound of a ball of tinfoil slowly being crumpled together, you know that sound? That’s totally what it sounded like.
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How are they not poking each other’s eyes out, flailing around like that?!? They really are so fricking cute!
Actually, they do poke each other (and themselves!) in the eye sometimes. Every now and then I’ll go in and see one with a squinty eye. They get over it pretty quickly, luckily, though sometimes they need a little eye ointment to help out. But kittens are resilient!
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This is so interesting!
My favorite fact: when you’re petting a cat and he raises his tail, it’s an invitation to sniff his butt. HA.
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All right, Love & Hisses medical community… Assemble, please! You’re experts at CRF, Feline Diabetes, anal glands, and probably everything else too, which is why I present to you a new topic: PANCREATITIS.
12-year-old Norman has bouts of extreme weight loss, dehydration, massive gas build-up in his intestines and explosive diarrhea. The latest blood test indicates that the level that changes is in his pancreas and we might be dealing with Chronic Pancreatitis. Connie has already been fabulous at providing a bunch of links on the topic for me, but does anyone out there have experience with it? How do I feed this boy to avoid these attacks?
There were responses to this in the comments, but I wanted to put it here so that anyone with more information/experience/suggestions could jump in. This is from Kelly, by the way, and you can go read more about Norman the stinkpot, here.
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Do you mean to imply that you have a feeder set up specifically for the squirrels? What does that look like, and how does it work?
No, I just refer to it as the squirrel feeder because it’s on a tree further away from the house and for that reason the squirrels seem to prefer it. It’s just a regular bird feeder, and I fill it with generic bird seed. Though I do occasionally buy a bag of squirrel-specific food (corn and… maybe peanuts? I don’t remember what it’s comprised of, it’s been a while since I bought any, but it does say “Squirrel food” on the bag.) just because.
There are a total of four bird feeders in the side yard. The one on the furthest tree is the one the squirrels prefer, and then when that’s empty, they go for the tree that’s nearer to the house (but not nearest). And if that one empties, then they come to the two that are pretty close to the side door.
I used to be really vigilant about keeping the bird feeders filled at all times, but that can get expensive so I only fill them about once a week.
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Great pictures! Have they started purring yet?
No purring from the Royal kittens – at least, not for me. I suspect they might purr while they’re nursing, but Kate’s purring is so loud that I can’t really tell. I’m looking forward to having them purr for me!
I’ve always heard (and have always experienced) that babies who are raised by their mothers don’t purr as early as bottle babies do. If I were bottle feeding the Royals, they’d for sure be purring for me at this point.
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Also, is it just me, or is Leia starting to look like she’s going to be long haired like mama? She looks fuzzier than her siblings.
Leia is definitely on the track to being medium to long-haired. When I look at her and Aslan side by side, she looks much bigger than him, but it’s all floof, he actually weighs a little more than she does.
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Speaking of their weight, I weighed the babies yesterday. Charming is still far and away the biggest, but Jareth is no longer the smallest. He outweighs Buttercup by just a little bit. You can see their weight chart at the bottom of the page, here.
“Who, ME? The biggest? But I am still teeny. No really, I am!”
Jareth checks out the pile o’ beds.
Snuggly tabby lurve.
I love how Charming’s over there on the scale, clearly trying to convince me that he’s just fluffy.
Wake up, grumpy head!
“MOMMA! I don’t have to GO!”
Charming in the litter box. No, he wasn’t using it. None of them have used the litter boxes just yet.
I put out five litter boxes, and they ignored them for a couple of days, and then they started doing what ALL kittens do, what drives me CRAZY, and they started eating the litter. This is why you use plain non-clumping non-scented litter when kittens are first using the litter box. They ALL eat the litter, because they live to drive me nuts. There are other kinds of litter that would be safe to use, like World’s Best, but I use the plain clay because it’s inexpensive and the dollar store down the street carries it.
So they’ve all bellied up to the litter box buffet, and yesterday Charming was actually scratching around in the litter, but no actual usage yet. I’m sure it won’t be long!
Sweet, smilin’ Aslan.
“What goin’ on over HERE?”
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Hey, you know that empty foster room we have upstairs?
“NOT EMPTY NO MOOOOOORE!”
We have ourselves a beautiful pregnant girlcat. She’s about 1 1/2 years old, and who knows when she’s going to give us those babies? Could be tomorrow, could be a couple of weeks (Fred says a couple of weeks. She’s awfully bulgy in her midsection, though.)
She showed up in someone’s yard, and they took her to the vet and had her examined and treated and then contacted Challenger’s House.
She is very, very sweet. She’s got a huge appetite, and she loves to be petted. When I sit on the floor, she climbs into my lap. I bet she’s going to have some gorgeous babies! This house is going to be filled to the brim with gorgeous kittens. This is going to be awwwwwwwwwesome!
I think she’s a calitabby, but look at her colors. It kind of looks to me like she’s a mix of regular calico colors, and a dilute calico colors. She’s got the dark orange, but she also has light, creamy yellow. Black, but gray, too. Any thoughts on what to call this particular mix of colors?
Oh, and how rude of me. I haven’t introduced you yet!
Meet Khaleesi.
Fred and I have been working our way through the first two seasons of Game of Thrones, and the instant I heard the honorific Khaleesi (Khaleesi is the wife of the Khal; ie, the Queen), I knew I had to use it as a foster’s name.
Khaleesi is the Mother of Dragons, but this litter is going to be called the Targaryens, since the character Khaleesi is Daenerys Targaryen. Her kittens will be named after House Targaryen members (and that list will probably be expanded to include characters from Khaleesi’s storyline – for one, Jorah is in the running as one of the names.) (PS: I really really REALLY want a baby dragon. Someone get on that for me, would you?)
Note that I haven’t read the Game of Thrones books (they’re on the way from Amazon), so what I’m going by is what’s been on the series.
Don’t know how to pronounce Khaleesi? Here you go.
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Newtles, snoozing. Don’t you want to kiss his nose? He’d totally let you.
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Previously
2012: No entry.
2011: Princess Poutyface would like to register a complaint, plz.
2010: Isn’t it amazing how quickly they go from little round roly-poly babies to long and lanky kittens?
2009: I can only stand so much sad meowing from kittens, so I caved pretty quickly.
2008: McLovin would like you to know that he’s the man.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
:O More.Babies.
My week is made.
Sheesh… you are just determined to make me watch that series, aren’t you? 😉
PS— Yay! More babies!
Watch it! You will love it!!!
You really should watch it, Kelly. You won’t be sorry. 🙂
Khaleesi has hijacked today’s show — what a beauty, and what a lucky girl to fetch up at Crooked Acres! And about that Newt question, the answer is yes, so long as said nose wasn’t in the vicinity of a mouse in the near past.
MOAR BABBEEEES!!! your house will be overflowing with kittens! Newtles has the most beautiful pink nose. I’m obsessed with noses, I’m always kissing my Hermes’ nose because it is just. so. beautiful.
Calitabby – a new, delicious word in my English vocabulary. I learn so much here, and on so many levels! 🙂
Robyn, you sure know how to drop a bombshell! I was half asleep, reading about cat problems and kitten adorableness and then… is that Alice? Nope, too skinny. OMG! Lookit those bullseyes! Gorgeous!
I’m a little more awake now, so thanks!
How about a pool of Khaleesi’s birthin’ date (and more money for Challenger House)?
I can’t advise on any of the cat problems except the swiping. Since the cat is young, it’s going to be relatively easy to fix, I think, with the oven glove method and then, claw clipping. They need to establish dominance over the cat, which is easy by putting on oven mitts a couple times a day and playing roughly with the cat. Let it claw and kick, but always make sure to end each session with rolling the cat on its back and holding it gently but firmly until it puts its head back to bare its throat. The idea is gentle but firm. It helps to softly growl while doing this (because it’s a way for the human to blow off a little frustration, too!). Once they notice the cat surrendering more quickly, they can start picking the cat up during the day and rolling it on its back. Once it’s used to that, they should clip its claws once a week or so to minimize damage if it’s still swiping. It probably won’t be. This process will also make the cat happier because it will understand where it is in the dominance order. Right now, it may be a bit frustrated trying to assert dominance over the adults and getting mixed results. The ‘rough’ play will let it know where it stands.
It’s not odd to me that the toddler isn’t getting swiped at because he/she is probably acting dominant from the cat’s point of view.
Hope this helps!
I thought Alice at first glance, too!
Along with the dominance, I’d suggest LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of play time to keep the young, energetic cat satisfied. If it’s getting enough play attack/prey/hunting playtime elsewhere, it won’t feel the need to act out at other times. It could be a mix of behaviors getting in there.
Good luck and keep us posted!!
Love the targaryan name as a family name.
I’ve just watched s01.
I was wondering if you’d use a Game of Thrones naming theme after seeing you and Fred talk about the show! Khaleesi is beautiful. Her babies are going to be adorable!
I think I’m a little in love with Aslan. He’s today’s favourite. It will probably change (again) tomorrow!
This most likely won’t be the last Game of Thrones named litter. There are so MANY great names to use on that show (though Fred has made me promise to never name a sweet little innocent kitten “Joffrey.”)
Thank you Fred!!! Amen!!!
You can use Snow, Stark, Bran….good names like that. Don’t use Sansa…she is too spineless.
Oh, love Tyrion. Great character!!! You have to name the smart one that!
This seems an appropriate place for this link: 12 Cats Plotting to Kill Their Owners!
Welcome to Crooked Acres, beautiful Khaleesi! I’ll bet you’re baking some gorgeous babies right now!
My mind is exploding of the thought of all those kittens under your roof, Robyn. What fun!
Guess I might have to watch an episode or two of Game of Thrones after all…
Regarding the swiper: He likes water? Add vinegar or lemon to the water and see whether he still likes it 🙂
Also, OMG KHALEESI IS GORGEOUS! She’s actually what I’d call a torbie and white, but I’m so in love with classic tabbies. So pretty. Can’t wait to see her babies!
Couldn’t that sting his eyes if he gets the vinegar/lemon water in it? I would do the compressed air, instead.
Never had that happen but I suppose it could. Could also use jasmine.
Khaleesi !!! Love it. As for your dragons, I have put in my order request L-O-N-G before you did, so when I get mine…you may be next in line.
Khaleesi is of the color type GORGEOUS! Yep, her babies are gonna be stunners! I think I am a bit jealous of all the kittens that will be prancing around your house! ::humph:: Perhaps I could bargain with one of my pre-ordered dragons for a litter of kittens? 🙂
Newt is just adorable!!!
You drive a hard bargain, but it’s a deal! 🙂
Ok…6 kittens for one dragon!!! ::shaking hands::
In response to the question about the kitty who likes to swat with claws out:
I have found that my kitties are less likely to use their claws when they have been clipped. It seems as though they are thinking “well since my claws won’t catch even if I do extend them, why bother to try?”
Any one else notice this in their kitties?
Not mine. I’ve just noticed less damage when they do use their claws. I do feel bad sometimes when one is scrabbling with dulled claws to gain purchase, but that hardly happens anymore since my two oldsters aren’t that much into climbing… and now have steps up to all their perches.
Welcome Kahleesi! I was gonna suggest Kali before I scrolled down and read somemore. Kahleesi is 1000 times better though!
You can use Moon and Sun…because of Kahl and Khaleesi
**Khaleesi. Sorry about that! Now i’ve got to get into watching Game of Thrones! HBO should pay you! New viewers!
I had named one of my outdoor strays “Theon Greyjoy” because he was grey, and well, a bit of a bastard. Then a pretty little black kitten showed up and once I determined he was a boy, he became Jon Snow, because he’s wearing the black. Theon has since disappeared, but Jonny shows up occasionally for breakfast.
I’ve told Fred that in a perfect world, we’d get a small litter of two or three gray kittens and we could name them after Theon, his sister, and his father. 🙂
Oh…Arya. She is brave….
http://tv.yahoo.com/photos/game-of-thrones-what-does-cast-really-look-like-slideshow
More kittens! Squee! I’m going to die from their collective cute. And Khaleesi is absolutely gorgeous! I’m crossing my fingers for a ginger tabby.
She is beautiful, and looks like a mackerel tabby and white to me. I have 2 furbabies with that coloration. All 5 in their litter had the same colors, but different marks.
I think mackerel tabbies are striped (also called “tiger”). Khaleesi is a marbled or classic tabby.
So many beautiful kitties! And another gorgeous soon-to-be mama!
Wait, speaking of mamas, Lilybet STILL hasn’t found her forever home? That makes me so sad…
I wonder if the diluteness of some of her coat colors is due to the marbling pattern. In marbled silver tabbies, for example, you can see everything from white to light grey to dark grey to black… maybe the same thing is happening here, just with orange as well as black.
Just thinking while waiting for Oldcat and the other experts to weigh in…
Khalessi is definitely a classic, or blotched tabby patterned cat. Aside from one problematic side near the back, she looks non-dilute. There are a couple of ways to get ‘dilute orange’ colors without being genetically orange. One is the ‘rufousing’ color that makes a brown tabby brown. Cats with high levels of that can look nearly orange in places. Low rufousing gives a ‘grey’ tabby, even though the stripes are still black.
Another reason could be that the region is part of the agouti hairs between stripes, and the bands naturally make the area paler.
When I look at the picture with the yellow toy, the agouti hairs appear paler grey with black stripes, and the bulls eye and back looks flat and less black. On the other side, the agouti hairs look redder, as in a brown tabby. There is a gene that makes silver cats silver, which would make all hairs be white at the base, stripes and agouti hairs. But here this would only have to be present on half the cat.
I’ve noticed that when I trim my black cat’s hairs, he looks duller and grey, as color fades away from the tip. Perhaps the hair on that one side is damaged.
And now that the mild explanations are out, the wild answer could be that she is a chimera – two different genetic cats mixed together.
But my guess is that the big difference is the rufousing being present on one side and mostly absent on the other.
I got my kitty-boy Jasper from Brooklyn Animal Control and he was wild wild wild. He was a swiper and a biter (his early nickname was “Vampire Kitty”)—which, given that it was summer and I was in shorts and bare feet, was. . . a problem. I REALLY wished I had known about the establishing dominance thing, but I came to a similar type of solution that Doodle Bean mentioned: I got a stuffed bear and would play-smoosh that into him to kick and bite and otherwise get out his aggression, and kept the squirt bottle handy for when he lost his mind. Most importantly, I figured out that he’s a really emotional boy and that he’d get wound up if I got wound up, so instead of getting ticked off, I’d deliberately scale down my response. (Clipped nails and lots of kisses when he was good also helped.) It took some time, and while he’s still emotional, he’s also calmed down a lot: now if he grabs me, it’s to scritch his face.
Just FYI, I buy “chopped corn” in 50# bags for $15 at a local store that sells feed, fertilizer, and gardening stuff. My feeder gets tons of Mourning Doves, sparrows and the occassional cardinals or blue jays. Oh, and squirrels. I’ve found the chopped corn an economical way to watch entertaining birds, plus the “seed” isn’t going to sprout in the grass.
What a great idea!
Welcome Khaleesi. I have to admit, I didn’t hit the button to hear it (I am at work), but I have visions of it sounding like calisi…which means in my head she is now named after a virus. sorry – had to throw that out there. 🙂 No matter what, she is lovely…..all those colors and the pattern – wow. Of course, if she were at my house, that means she would have black kittens. Just sayin’.
I agree with the litter thing – I use the clay cause at the rate they eat it, use it and throw it around, it is just cheaper. I live for the day when tiny kittens FINALLY get the hang of the box, stop eating the litter and I can change over to clumping.
Yay for kittens! and new ones too! Mummy cat is so lovely! 😀
Khaleesi!! Oh wow!! More gorgeous kittens to come!! Don’t think I can be more dead from cute than I am now with beautiful Katie and her Kittens! Yay! Take care
x
oh, little Targaryen kittens. And the options for names is priceless.
I have a different tactic for the swiper.. I tend to communicate with the cats on their level. They need to learn that what they are doing isn’t going to elicit the response they want. when they play with each other and do something the other doesn’t like the response is usually a high pitched meow as if to say ‘ouch’ and all play stops. The offender will then lick the offendee (the one that meowed) as if to say “sorry” in an attempt to play nice. in time they learn just how to properly interact with one another. If you react by pulling away or running away or wrestling with the cat, it is simply going to encourage them. I bet he doesn’t swipe at the younger boys because their “OUCH” probably naturally sounds like a kitten meow..
You need to not react. If you can’t do that because the claws hurt, either trim them close or put soft paws on them. Either way “Ow” in a high pitched meow like tone or simply say “no”.. but which ever you choose you have to be consistent.
You also want to praise the living daylights out of him when he is NOT swiping you. It is going to feel weird and silly, but it will help.
providing lots of extra running around time with fishing pole toys or laser dots will wear him out so he is less likely to swipe. Avoiding areas that he likes to lay in wait will also help. if he likes to hide in one spot, block that spot so he can’t hide there. if he always does it when you do x, then change up the routine a bit.. throw a toy before you do x to distract. pick him up and give him love and attention till he can’t stand it any more then put him down.
and lastly, ask him not to do it. this one is pretty important. Keep asking, be disappointed when he can’t resist.. Remember, he is still just a baby, and that prefrontal cortex (the part that deals with reason and control) is small in an adult cat.. but is almost non existent in a kitten..
I’m not a fan of squirt bottles or compressed air, because it communicates what you want but in a completely foreign language.. Imagine if you went to a country where they didn’t speak English and when you did something you got yelled at. No idea what they are saying, so there is no real way of knowing what it was that you did that made them yell. Over time you might be able to narrow it down to one thing, but since this thing comes naturally to you and you can’t fathom why someone would want you to stop doing it, it just confuses you. You are not aware that you are hurting anyone, as it is natural behavior and completely acceptable in your culture..
This works. At first I wasn’t sure this was the way to go with my cat, who was a swiper and a biter, and I felt silly exclaiming “OW!” whenever she would get me. Ignoring was easier, I would just grit my teeth through the pain and not react. I eventually figured out her cues for wanting my attention or wanting to play – I adopted an adult cat as my first cat and it took a while to figure out how to communicate. Now that I respond better, she doesn’t swipe or bite much at all, and I know she understands that I dislike it because sometimes she still makes that swiping motion – only she’ll pause before making contact, look up at me, and just kind of pat me instead. It’s the cutest thing ever.
Your photos make me happy!!! Always!!!
I saw this video and I really love it!
Hey, if you’re watching GoT and want the backstory they don’t have time to get to in the tv series, check out this playlist of DVD extras narrated by the actors from the perspective of each house. Helped me tremendously! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KovO3g62PE0&list=PLJuooKETN6QhFK1imvh3kWdc3PIFirLlW
For Casper the Swiper: what worked for us when we adopted a tiny feral kitten was to immediately put her in “her” room by herself for a while whenever she swiped or bit at ankles. Sometimes, we’d be the ones to go into the other room and shut the door. It took a while, but she eventually stopped doing that. She, too, only swiped at adults, never little ones.
We tried the me-owch thing, but she didn’t really care that she was hurting us, though she would “comfort” the dog if the dog yiped. Little sh*t! We still miss her and she’s been gone almost 20 years.
HOLY COW
Newt AND the possibility of double the kittens?
Robyn, you have just saved, nay, not just this terrible Tax Day of a Monday, but the entire week!
**does happy dance**
For the birds. We have two barn cats that are major hunters and we wanted to do something to help the birds. I did some looking around on the internet and found these cat bibs. I ordered two and they have been working. The one cat was too good of a hunter even with the large bib, so I got some neoprene and made him an even bigger bib. They have been working great. I have not had any half alive birds or piles of feathers since. I check the bibs and collars whenever I pick them up and make sure all is well. I also ordered the break away collars to go with the bibs and they have been great. We lost one bib early on.. but I found it. I think we have been using the bibs for about 6 months. They will not help much with baby birds who can’t get away, but it has helped with the adults.
http://www.catgoods.com/
Are you SURE she’s pregnant? 😉
Oh the intense fabulousness of kittens!
Hmm. I would say she’s a dilute torbie (tortoiseshell and tabby mix) with white. Her baby girl kittens will probably give you an answer — unless she decides to be difficult and not give you any girl babies!!
Stripes on most of the body are too dark for dilute.
SQUEEEEEEE !!!! I nearly fell off my chair when I saw who is living in the guest room !!! She is absolutely GORGEOUS, such amazing coloring. I have a soft spot for calicos and torties. I think she might be bakin’ an orange boy !!!!!!! I do hope there is an orange boy !!
Aslan has stolen my heart. I wish I could make him mine. All the Royals are growing so fast. It is so amazing to watch.
Newt I do want to kiss that sweet little nose of yours. Come on over for a cuddle !!!
Hugs and chin scritches to all the kitties at Crooked Acres !!!!
More babies!!!! And Khaleesi is so gorgeous — I’m predicting a multicolored litter. Game of Thrones is a great source for names — lots of families. I’m about halfway through season 2 on DVD, and am thinking I need to read the books…
That’s reasonably safe – you’d expect half her boy kittens to be orange and half the girls to be torties no matter what color dad was.
My Pippin and Merry’s momma is a Khaleesi. When she was first brought into my MIL’s house she was named Emma and was that all the way through her pregnancy and raising her babies. But as soon as my SIL took her home she and her daughter renamed her Khaleesi. She’s a sleek grey tabby cat with quite a pointy face. Pippin looks like Corby and Merry looks a lot like Jareth. Her third baby, whom we decided not to keep but was named Gandalf while we had him for a few weeks, is the only one that turned out like her and is a grey tabby. He went to my other SIL and she renamed him Storm.
Welcome Khaleesi, can’t wait to see what your babies look like.
I have a mama cat with this coloring. She had both orange and brown tabbies as well as one with the same beautiful coat.
Khaleesi is such a beautiful cat. And more baby kittehs! What a great start to the week! 😀
That little face on Charming is killing me. God. So adorable.
More babies coming!! Your house will be overflowing with cuteness!
I call that combination of colors gorgeous. She’s a beautiful cat. How will you handle so much kitten beauty??
I’m imagining a scene in your house, in the not too distant future… when both litters of kittens are running wild through the house.. Kittens everywhere! Kittens in cat trees, kittens on couches, kittens on beds, brave kittens up on the walk ways, kittens under tables, kittens under foot! Oh my gosh, I wish I could be there when that happens! I’d sit in the middle of your floor and let them all crawl all over me! I’d be a kitten bush in the middle of the room!
Ok, I’ll roll up my imagination and stop now. But not before I kiss Newt on the nose, because he’d totally let me!
OMG, Khaleesi is so gorgeous! Calicos and tabbies are my favorites, and she’s a perfect mix of both. And tubby little Charming cracks me up!
P.S. I know I need to start watching “Game of Thrones”, but I heard there’s a lot of gross stuff. (And yet I adore “The Walking Dead”; go figure!)
The Walking Dead has more gore. You are safe with G of T.
I want a baby dragon, too! Why does Dany have to have them all? Sure i’d sit in a fire with them so they could hatch. BTW, you get that the Targaryans are mad , right? Mad as hatters. At least Viserys’s been taken care of 😉
My daughter and I have decided we might hate you a little bit because we are so jealous of your baby kitty bounty. Heh. Not really, but we don’t have space for our own fosters at this time and we live vicariously through your blog. It’s really especially bad because your new pregnant mama looks like our dear departed Handy, love to Calitabby kitties!
Khaleesi is stunning. Absolutely gorgeous. I hope she has a dozen babies and they all look just like her. (Oh come on, you could totally handle an extra dozen.)
With how round Khaleesi is…either she’s due soon, or she’s got a huge litter in there!
Thanks for all the responses so far to help with little Casper the Swiper!! I will be passing them all along to my colleague and will let you know if she tries any and whether they work!
I have a cat with pancreatitis – though it isn’t ‘chronic’ in the sense that yours is, Kelly, by the sounds. Toby (my cat with pancreatitis) has to be on special low-fat (no fat really) food for the rest of his life, and if he doesn’t, I had better get the paper towels ready, because I will have a lot of vom to clean up. 😐
Both of my cats are on Hills Science Diet Z/D which is the hypo-allergenic food – we give them the dried food and the cans. We originally had Toby on I/D when he was diagnosed which is marketed as a gastro-problem food, however when we needed to change Abby to Z/D for her dermatitis, throwing up issues, etc, the vet consulted Hills regarding the suitability of Z/D for Toby (in case of accidental ingestion), and they confirmed that Z/D is their recommendation for cats with pancreatitis in any case. So we switched them both over and there haven’t been any problems.
Raw chicken, tuna and springwater and cooked (plain) rice are also very low in fat and suitable for cats suffering from pancreatitis, though Toby ALSO has urine crystal issues so he only gets a bit of raw chicken as a Sometimes treat, and that hasn’t seemed to hurt either of his conditions.
I really hope this helps Kelly, and anyone else who is dealing with a cat with pancreatitis. Good luck!!
Seafood can be very bad for male cats. It puts pellets in their bladders that can block the uretha (sp?) and cause death….
Hi GD – that is why tuna is a Sometimes treat. We get his urine crystals checked at the vet regularly and they are fine, even if he has had some tuna.