Author Topic: New meowing furball  (Read 12318 times)

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: New meowing furball
« Reply #25 on: 23 September, 2017, 12:56:44 pm »
There are two of the furry meowing attacking gits.  A boy and a girl.

The claws are sharp and so are the teeth.  Food wise they are getting go cat and whiskas kittens nuggets as well as felix pouches.  Looking at the ingredients list I do not like the ash content of the food.  Or am I being silly.

'Ash' is the mineral content. It's not actual ash; it's the potential ash which would be left after combustion of the organic material (protein, fat, carbs and fibre).

Oh I didn't know that.  Just want them to have good food.  The girlie and I do argue over treats, like dreamies.  I say no.  Maybe prawns, fish and meat as treats.

I thought I'd follow this up. I am neither vet nor pet owner but...
...minerals are an essential part of animal and human diets. We all need sodium, potassium, calcium, iron, magnesium, iodine etc to function normally (and in the case of juveniles, to grow).

'Empty calories' for humans have scant 'ash' (apart from salt) but your kitty will need lots of minerals. I don't know what kittens need but 'treats' might well be the foods with little 'ash'.

Ash is good in moderation.

Re: New meowing furball
« Reply #26 on: 23 September, 2017, 04:57:53 pm »
*All* the things you describe are typical kitten behaviour.  The old human as a climbing frame is great but only if you're wearing thick jeans
I once heard a scream from the first MrsC when the kittens had managed to climb up her legs under the floor length dressing gown she was wearing.
"No matter how slow you go, you're still lapping everybody on the couch."

Re: New meowing furball
« Reply #27 on: 23 September, 2017, 07:40:06 pm »
'ere Gatto, you may find this useful reading https://www.boredpanda.com/funny-cats-catnip/

ian

Re: New meowing furball
« Reply #28 on: 25 September, 2017, 05:32:00 pm »
Lots of scratching posts will help keep claws under control (they'll still use the sofa), but a cat is always going to be able to slice and dice the average human and yes, those claws are very useful for climbing up that average human for a shoulder-based vantage point. Just learn to swear and forbear.

And yes, invest in a bottle of carpet cleaner, because cats can and will casually upend the contents of their stomach as and when it suits them. Even if you're sleeping underneath them.

Oh and get used to cat fuzz being every-fucking-where.

Oscar's dad

  • aka Septimus Fitzwilliam Beauregard Partridge
Re: New meowing furball
« Reply #29 on: 25 September, 2017, 05:44:42 pm »
The latest Tabby Terror atrocity, treat this as a cautionary tale (you're welcome)...

I have a dodgy right eye and need a special lense in my glasses which consequently cost £300 to £400 a pair. I picked up a new pair just last week. Daisy loves chewing the arms of glasses, I forgot so left my new pair lying around. They now have teeth marks.  ::-)   >:(

ian

Re: New meowing furball
« Reply #30 on: 25 September, 2017, 08:02:36 pm »
Oh and random injuries and the vets bills. We've funded plenty of skiing holidays for our local veterinary surgeons over the years. You truly don't want to know how much it costs to consult a veterinary ophthalmic surgeon at 2am on a Sunday morning. Especially when you're standing at the emergency vets running up even more bill. Still, it's cheaper than US healthcare (but shush, don't tell them).

The was the most expensive from Bad Cat. Slightly less expensive was the time she jumped off the balcony in a flying squirrel mode and landed in a recently cropped tree full of spiky branchiness. Oh the time Little Monster Cat eviscerated herself trying to wriggle under something. And the time she had all her teeth pulled out. Etc. Etc.

Re: New meowing furball
« Reply #31 on: 26 September, 2017, 07:56:18 am »
 Vets bills?
We were adopted by Bob the 5kg Killing Machine, he found us when we visited the animal rescue place. What no-one knew was that he is allergic to fish. Yes, fish.
An emergency trip to the vet on a Sunday and two overnight stays, plus medication, drip, and sedation- don't ask, just don't.
(And cheaper 'meat' dry food has ocean scrapings in it too)


Tapatalk puts this signature here, not me!
Too many angry people - breathe & relax.

Oscar's dad

  • aka Septimus Fitzwilliam Beauregard Partridge
Re: New meowing furball
« Reply #32 on: 26 September, 2017, 08:55:53 am »
When Barry the Cat fell out of our bedroom window is cost c£900 to fix his fractured pelvis.  I can't work out whether its cheaper in the long run to pay for insurance or just pay the vet bills; ours are insured.

After returning to rude health Barry got himself run over  :'( and then we found out it costs £180 to cremate a cat.

Despite all the moaning you'll struggle to find a cat owner who would have it any other way.  Our three make us smile at least once a day, more often than not its a LOL moment.

Jaded

  • The Codfather
  • Formerly known as Jaded
Re: New meowing furball
« Reply #33 on: 26 September, 2017, 10:38:30 am »
Learn how to pick them up by the scruff of their necks. As kittens they are fine but you shouldn't do it with a heavy cat. Holding the scruff of a heavy cat can make it compliant though.

If one is being rather difficult, with your third hand tap it gently and fairly rapidly on the head. It will stop being difficult.
It is simpler than it looks.

Eccentrica Gallumbits

  • Rock 'n' roll and brew, rock 'n' roll and brew...
Re: New meowing furball
« Reply #34 on: 26 September, 2017, 12:39:25 pm »

If one is being rather difficult, with your third hand tap it gently and fairly rapidly on the head. It will stop being difficult.
This also works for erections.
My feminist marxist dialectic brings all the boys to the yard.


Basil

  • Um....err......oh bugger!
  • Help me!
Re: New meowing furball
« Reply #35 on: 26 September, 2017, 01:14:55 pm »
 ;D
Admission.  I'm actually not that fussed about cake.

Gattopardo

  • Lord of the sith
  • Overseaing the building of the death star
Re: New meowing furball
« Reply #36 on: 26 September, 2017, 01:55:52 pm »
That is the next, insurance or not.

essexian

Re: New meowing furball
« Reply #37 on: 26 September, 2017, 04:14:08 pm »
That is the next, insurance or not.

As cats always seem to get seriously ill at night/the weekend or worse, bank holidays, the answer to that is yes IMHO.

Our recent trip to the Vets with Posie was pre insurance and resulted in an overnight stay on a Sunday and a huge amount of tests to find out what was wrong with her. The total costs: £2 000. If a cat lives for 15 years at £10 per month (you can get cheaper: its like car insurance, there are different levels of cover), the total cost for insurance over their life will be less than one Posie trip. Also, the insurance we now have pays for cremation and all that as well, so it's worth it.

One final thing....have I missed the photos of the furballs?


Re: New meowing furball
« Reply #38 on: 27 September, 2017, 08:56:09 am »

OK - insured furball photo of Bob - who doesn't look like a 5kg Killing Machine, but is, believe me.
I suggest that you look at Animal Friends for insurance - they were among the cheapest for us, don't appear to be evil, and as long as the vet fills the forms out correctly*, they pay out quickly.
(*You'd have thought there would be 'a system' / vets would be used to form completion- but ours are rubbish at paperwork, but excellent in every other respect)


Tapatalk puts this signature here, not me!
Too many angry people - breathe & relax.

Eccentrica Gallumbits

  • Rock 'n' roll and brew, rock 'n' roll and brew...
Re: New meowing furball
« Reply #39 on: 27 September, 2017, 10:36:50 am »
Second vote for Animal Friends. The money was in my bank before I got the letter saying they'd approved the claim!
My feminist marxist dialectic brings all the boys to the yard.


Gattopardo

  • Lord of the sith
  • Overseaing the building of the death star
Re: New meowing furball
« Reply #40 on: 02 August, 2018, 02:53:37 pm »
Oh, I should have mentioned, your curtains and soft furnishings are definitely doomed. Should you doubt what I'm saying please feel free to pop round to our place.

You were/are right.   Should post a picture up of a pair of curtains...  The furballs love the curtains, to hide behind and sly attack the other.  Climb up and the most amazing thing to watch is to see them jump and fly in to the curtains claws out.

Oscar's dad

  • aka Septimus Fitzwilliam Beauregard Partridge
Re: New meowing furball
« Reply #41 on: 02 August, 2018, 03:03:39 pm »
Oh, I should have mentioned, your curtains and soft furnishings are definitely doomed. Should you doubt what I'm saying please feel free to pop round to our place.

You were/are right.   Should post a picture up of a pair of curtains...  The furballs love the curtains, to hide behind and sly attack the other.  Climb up and the most amazing thing to watch is to see them jump and fly in to the curtains claws out.

 ;D

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: New meowing furball
« Reply #42 on: 02 August, 2018, 03:26:42 pm »
Our furballs have mostly left curtains alone, except when attempting to evade capture.

They were mostly outdoorsy feral when very young.

ian

Re: New meowing furball
« Reply #43 on: 02 August, 2018, 07:27:49 pm »
There's two good reasons we (a) don't have curtains and (b) have cheap(ish) Ikea furniture. They both have sets of very sharp claws.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: New meowing furball
« Reply #44 on: 02 August, 2018, 07:42:28 pm »
They seem to savage the carpets, which were fitted by the previous residents but there's little visible damage.
I set eyes on this place 19 summers ago.

ian

Re: New meowing furball
« Reply #45 on: 02 August, 2018, 07:54:21 pm »
Once upon a time, a few months into our tenure in a splendidly new executive townhouse (hey, that's what it said in the Zoopla description, but then it was in South Norwood) we obtained two new kittens (our old cat had just died, and whereas the plan was to take a break from pet ownership and go to NZ for a month, much pining resulted in new kittens instead and we've still not gone to NZ).

To minimize the potential for kitten-derived mischief with computer cables and the like, we kept our offices on the top floor closed. So one Saturday afternoon while we were out taking a stroll through the Kentish countryside one of those kittens took the opportunity to spend several hours attempting to tunnel under those doors. Through the carpet. The new executive townhouse carpet that had cost many, many thousands of pounds (honestly, one the big disappointments of being a grown-up is that you have to spend your money on crap like carpets).

That's one of the many reasons that kitten came to be known as Bad Cat.

Gattopardo

  • Lord of the sith
  • Overseaing the building of the death star
Re: New meowing furball
« Reply #46 on: 02 August, 2018, 10:35:52 pm »
Ah bad cat, or just very determined?

Maybe write a story, bad cat would make an interesting character.

Oscar's dad

  • aka Septimus Fitzwilliam Beauregard Partridge
Re: New meowing furball
« Reply #47 on: 03 August, 2018, 08:54:50 am »
The Tabby Terrors who are now 2(ish) have given up trying to wreck home furnishings. 

Small TT, Daisy, has now adopted both our neighbours, one in particular, and spends as much time in their house as she does in ours, not that the neighbours mind - thankfully. 

Larger TT, Victor, is proving to be something of a daredevil.  He can now catch and kill pigeons, and enjoys eating them from the inside out  :sick:  Whilst we were on holiday he sustained an injury to his rear left flank which has been comprehensively stitched by the vet (c£450 including overnight stay  ::-) ) and he now has to live in a cage wearing a Cone of Shame for about 2 weeks.

Re: New meowing furball
« Reply #48 on: 03 August, 2018, 06:38:21 pm »
get them started on dry cat food as soon as they are old enough - if you buy decent quality food it is graded by age. Make sure they always have access to clean water - change it often even if they haven't emptied the bowl.

I lost both our cats to kidney problems, and the vet attributed this to our use of dried cat food


Mrs Pingu

  • Who ate all the pies? Me
    • Twitter
Re: New meowing furball
« Reply #49 on: 03 August, 2018, 06:47:15 pm »
Ours were put on dried food formulated to prevent bladder stones after Mojo got them when fairly young. They both lived to 20. Mojo did have kidney failure by the end but that's just one of those geriatric cat things like hypothyroidism and diabetes (yep, tick both of them too) that tend to turn up from living long enough.
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.