Seishi, aka Mr. Bingley, has a delicate tummy. He declines people food, but will eat tinsel, string, anything he shouldn’t. And will return you anything he liked yesterday but which nauseates him today.
Mr. Darcy, aka The Night Fury, aka Shu, will eat anything BUT people food. Unless it’s cake. And plastic bags. But he has a cast iron stomach and almost never returns anything. Shu tends to get fat—and Sei doesn’t.
So…after trying absolutely everything, I think I’ve got at least the longest-running answer yet. Sheba makes little packets of two individual portions. I break them apart, one salmon, one fish. I take the covers off, I offer both to Sei and feed him whichever one he goes for. I feed the other to Shu, who eats anything. We have now had two weeks with Sei not returning me his dinner, no matter which one he gets.
Am I a sucker? Oh, yes. Absolutely. And we still have to keep plastic bags out of Shu’s reach. Turns out they use fish-oil somewhere in the manufacture, according to legend, and he’s not the only cat.
Well, I’ve ordered some fish-oil tonic for Mr. Shu and we’ll see if we can have sanity around here.
I’ve found that Maggie will occasionally return things to me without warning, and with quite sudden results.
I have also found that the plastic bags with which the Sunday newspapers were wrapped seemed to hold an attraction to her. Sydney and Sophie weren’t interested, but Maggie would chew on them. It didn’t matter whether they were the blue or the orange plastic bags, she’d chew on them.
Right now, I feed them all Blue Buffalo Healthy Living, which is designed for indoor cats. I used to feed them Purina ONE, but found that they would go through a bag very quickly. The Blue Buffalo was much more expensive, and I used to get it at the local pet store for $50 for a 15 pound bag. Then I found it at a farm supply store for almost $20 cheaper…. The bag will last over a month with 3 adult cats, and while it does cost more, I think in the longer run, it’s actually cheaper, as they’re not getting a bunch of filler material with the essential nutrients. I’m aware of some of the controversies surrounding Blue about their allegations toward rival companies and vice versa. But my girls like it. I just wish the supply store had another variety besides the Healthy Living, just to break up the monotony of the food. I know cats don’t care for sudden changes, but a different variety now and again doesn’t seem to matter to them.
For special kitty treats, you can get dried shaved bonito. As long as Mr. Shu doesn’t decide to chew through the canister to get to his fish!
Ah, cats. Goober, the most non-assertive cat in the universe, 9 and Not-Alpha, is long and lean and has natural appetite control.
I get concerned that he doesn’t get enough food.
Smokey, (possibly) the most assertive cat in the universe, 5 now and The-Alpha, is short and stout and, well, he’s a butterball. But a bit better than he was. He’s the rescued street kitten, stunted by too little food and too much cold before he was given to me.
Smokey is therefore Always Hungry. He’ll eat as much of his food and Goober’s food as he can hold…and often makes himself sick from it…and will never learn. For Smokey, even though he’s never gone hungry since, somewhere in him, he thinks ther4 might not be enough food, so he should always eat as much as he can while he can.
This is mostly at meal times, but he snacks. I give them dry for the whole day and moist once a day. I recently missed that their big water bowl was empty, and was shocked, so I’m checking it daily again.
So I have one cat who gets too much and one cat who gets too little, I think, but neither will change. Goober will hardly ever swat Smokey for doing much of anything. Goober will vocalize to complain and go off elsewhere. He will defend himself, but he’ll hardly ever really get the message across to Smokey. Goober is too peaceful, too much a gentleman, for his own good. Bless his pointed little head.
Separating them, closing a door between them does not work. If there’s no door, each has to see what the other’s getting and wants to eat with him. If the door’s closed? Woe and lamentations! Both get up to the door and paw and meow, frantic to get the other out of the closed door! (Never mind that means one cat is in the open area of the house, a hall or room.) They both want the other to be free, not to be shut in.
They are jealous of each other for my attention, Goober lets himself get dominated by Smokey as Alpha, but they do like each other, will explore or play (unless it’s too rough for Goober) and they will surely tag-team me together. Heh. They cooperate. They like each other, except on food and my attention. (Goober’s senior, with me 5 years before Smokey showed up. I’ve had both since they were kittens.)
So it gets interesting, trying to balance the two. — Putting down a third food bowl means Smokey will try to eat that too, while Goober sticks to his and will only switch to another if he absolutely must. … Or mmaayybbe if Smokey (or I) are not there looking. (He doesn’t mind if I catch him at it, and I don’t mind that he does it. I wish he’d stick up for himself more. But that’s how he is.)
For dry food, they get Solid Gold Katz-n-Flocken, the original flavor (Lamb and Rice, etc.) not the Indigo Moon flavor. A friend first recommended this with my previous two cats, when they had too delicate a stomach when they got older. It was the only dry food they could keep down and digest. So it became my go-to dry food. — The company has since added other flavors. Lamb and Rice is good. Indigo Moon has never worked for any of my cats. There are now new flavors that I have tried, all with success, with these current two cats. — I will buy other brands for variety or to supplement and save money. I’ve had good results with these guys, with Taste of the Wild dry food, either flavor, which is cheaper.
For moist food, I get Friskies or 9-Lives for them. I’ve been known to get Fancy Feast, but that feels like I’m paying for the label and the can, more than the food. — I have never had good results with Science Diet with my cats, despite vet recommendations. The cats will always reject it. Any cat I’ve ever had. (Hmm, haven’t tried it on Smokey. He’d likely eat anything.)
These two don’t seem to want people food, but I don’t make a habit of giving them scraps. I would, however, give them eggs or bacon or other meat leftovers, occasionally, if I thought they’d eat them.
One of my two previous cats had a thing about trying to eat potatoes, such as French fries. I don’t know why.
These two supplement with grass in the back yard, and like the “Greenies” treats, but I haven’t been getting treats lately.
I’d believe they’d like bonito flakes. — My one experience with that was, “whoa, that’s salty dried stuff and fishy!” (And I like seafood.) But I’m apparently not accustomed to Japanese tastes for dried seafood. (I’d tried a Japanese soup with dried bonito, the once. I should try again, to expand my palate / tolerance.)
So…whatever works to feed your cats. I know you know not to give them chocolate or caffeine, or other foods cats can’t tolerate.
On the whole, I don’t have too many problems with my current two. I’m so used to feline quirks by now, not much fazes me. — But I always find it interesting what other cat staffers 😉 find with their feline associates. Cats are always uniquely cats in their approach to things, which maakes them so fascinating to be around.
My one complaint with my current two: I *cannot* convince these two so-and-so’s *not* to walk across my keyboard or graphics tablet. This is a real problem at times. I’m not sure a water sprayer / water gun would be a good idea, around the desk and computer, but I’d really welcome ideas on how to convince these two characters not to walk across the keyboard or graphics tablet. They blithely ignore all words or growls by me about it. Sigh. I have very few rules for what’s off-limits. I wish they’d follow that one.
Still, ya gotta love ’em. They make great companions. I can put up with the small amount of nonsense for all the benefits.
For inexpensive food, if you have a Costco membership, they carry bulk packs of both Fancy Feast and Friskies cans; sadly neither of them are flavors that sit well with the Wonder Twins. Ditto for Amazon; I have a monthly delivery of Fancy Feast turkey & giblets on Subscribe and Save, which is even cheaper than the local Target. I mix it 50/50 with dry kibble. Despite strict instructions that Junior was not to have any kibble, he does very well with the Costco Maintenance Diet, which has excellent reviews for a ‘generic’ dry cat food. The problem is that Junior is a nibbler; he will come back and eat a few mouthfuls here and there over the course of an hour, while Zorro bolts hers (which sometimes leads to upset kitty tummy). It doesn’t help that she will come back and eat whatever Junior doesn’t immediately polish off; this has led to the occasional swat and rude things being said.
Junior’s main issue is still the Midnight Howl, although it has tapered off to early mornings. He starts warming up around 5:30, then hits his stride about 10 minutes later. He makes a quite dependable snooze alarm; he will yowl 3 or 4 times, then be quiet for 5-10 minutes, then another commentary. Both of them are most ‘scruciatingly pushy when it comes to food o’clock!
Sam’s also has bulk boxes of Friskies. Three of the flavours are fine … the salmon not so much although Belle will eat anything that isn’t nailed down. That’s what comes of rescuing a girl from digging through garbage cans looking for food.
Bonito flakes are meant to be steam revived by hot rice, or boiled to make a soup base. Eating them as bought, well, not so great.
I hadn’t even considered feeding the cats the flakes destined for soup base; the ones I know about are called Kitty Kaviar, and come in a blue canister. Being especially for cats, I think the extra MSG/salt/whatnot is left out.
Re: Bonito flakes. They were with a packaged meal, not ramen, but a soup prep kit. As I recall, you added your own extra seafood, but the kit had you prep the bonito, which was, I think, a couple of thin sheets, as a soup base. Seems like you poured it over rice or put rice (cooked) into the soup. … I’m blanking on what it was, but it’s a very common Japanese soup based on the dried bonito, and I think, kelp / seaweed. Hmm. IIRC, Alton Brown had a show which talked about several Japanese ingredients and how to look for them at the store and find and use them. I can see I need to watch again! (But it’s been a year or two ago, in my poor brain’s defense.)
I like seafood, so I was anticipating something I’d be halfway used to, but I knew that was stepping out there into taste territory I was completely unfamiliar with. I figured that would be good for me. The show extolled the virtues in nutrition and taste and thriftiness. All good, right?
LOL, my reaction? Whoa, way salty and way fishy! (Like the skin?) — I haven’t bought another to try again, but I think now I should rewatch and try again.
I also generally like Chinese-American food, but I realize it’s Americanized. I’m not familiar with most other Asian cuisines, which is odd, since I live in a city with plenty of options for restaurants and likely Asian markets, with many Asian-Americans and native Asians who live and work here. So I think I should branch out and try things. — I’m not big on hot/spicy foods, so I’ll have to be careful. My budget’s still awful. But I can try items from the grocery store, or occasionally explore a little locally.
I figure it’s a cheap enough way to try new things and get some enjoyment. Also, I’d want to be able to enjoy other Asian cooking styles if I get to eat with new people. Better to know and like what potential new friends like to eat, from their home cultures.
I’m very slightly more tolerant of hot/spicy foods because I try to work on it. Tex-Mex and some (not all) Latino cooking can vary quite a bit on mild versus hot, so it’s better to be able to tolerate hotter food occasionally, if a friend should offer the chance to eat together.
Or at least this is the rationale. My social life at present is just about nil. :-/ Budget is still tanked for the foreseeable future, but I’m getting by so far…but really need to boost my income as soon as possible. Working on it as much as I can lately.
(Grocery budget is the very last thing I’ll cut down, since, again, I look at that as a cheap way to enjoy oneself, to enjoy cooking and exploring, besides simply eating. — Both budget and the new bad lighting in my local grocery store have curtailed that, but I’m still determined to try new things every month or every grocery trip.
Re Food Budget: A web site I like very much for inexpensive meals that are fairly nutritious is http://www.budgetbytes.com. She breaks down the cost per ingredient, provides cash register receipts, and has useful hints. She’s based in Louisiana and loves Sriracha. Her later recipes are trending towards items at Whole Foods etc but I’ve found her quite useful.
My two have decided to switch rolls in the last 6 months, my short n stocky Squeaky (who put on a couple pounds when BK came to live with us because she didn’t want BK to get HER food) suddenly stopped being food aggressive and got SKINNY, while BK was still living up to her name (Bitchy Kitty). BK (scottish fold) happens to be arthritic, (its connected to the scottish fold mutation, crappy cartilage) so not very active. Somehow they BOTH started turning up their nose at the Science Diet they’d happily eaten for well over a year, leaving me with a huge bag… sigh…
I changed food and started them on Blue Buffalo to get Squeaky eating again, it worked and she’s back up to her original pre-stocky weight and doing fine. BUT…. BK really likes the Blue. To the tune of about 4 lbs. On a cat that started about 8 lbs. She’s now positively ROTUND! I’ve started feeding Squeaky on the counter (I HATE to encourage counter surfing, but had to do SOMETHING so she’d have a chance to eat before BK snarfed it all down) and put BK on a restricted quantity of diet food rather than free feed, so she’s down a bit, but she’s still a rolly polly. Some time in the next month or so I’ll have to haul her in for her check up and ask the vet to do some bloodwork… This is just TOO big and too sudden a change in her weight and food aggression.
Right now they get a tablespoon of wet food (they don’t care what kind!) mixed with some kibble for dinner, Squeaky gets all the kibble she wants while BK gets 1/2 a cup a day. And Oh, they like the Science diet again. So now I can mix that in with the diet stuff for some variety. Picky little snots!
BK can’t get up on the counter, while Squeaky can, so for the moment it works. The thought of BK figuring out a way to get up there has me a bit nervous! Thank goodness she’s shown very little inclination to be a counter surfer.
I had three cats once upon a time; one climbed like a goat. She could jump up on the washer — I discouraged her from getting on the counter — and that’s where I fed her cooked chicken when she was going into renal failure and was pissing protein to the tune of going from 11 lbs to 6 lbs in about 3 months. The other two were not jumpers. “El Lardo” the black one, is just too durn fat. The white one was just not a jumper. He just didn’t have the oomph! in his back legs. I lost two last year and I’m down to the black one, the fat boy. He gets dry Science Diet. I’ve never fed mine wet food. I’ve always kept plenty of water handy — porcelain pet fountain and a bowl. They’ve never had problems with their teeth or bad breath. I feed greenies treats to the fat boy on the night I go out to knitting, or if I’m going to be gone more than about 3 hours. I put about 9 in my hand and then toss them out on the rug in a wide scatter pattern. He gets them, but he has to hunt them down. (Cats have a hard time picking things out from a background — they traded that trick for better night vision. That’s why when a toy stops moving, they lose it and/or lose interest in it.)
You might try the infamous cod liver oil. I think that you can still get it in some groceries and old fashioned pharmacies. The spousal unit has fads. When Gidget, The House Cat, started to get aged and needed more oil, I took his disused fish oil capsules, pierced them and gave Gidgie one a day.
Off-Topic, submitted for your edification and amusement:
[b][i]Filed Under: “Things That Only Happen In Texas…Probably”[/i][/b]
I just got a call on my cell phone from a town about two hours’ commute from here:
“Yessir, this is [i]Name1[/i]. [i]Name2[/i] said you called. I have a bull over there. My number is [i]Number1[/i]. Thank you.”
For the full effect, imagine this is spoken in an East Texas rural drawl, with the word, “bull,” drawn out into two syllables and with a certain quality of endearment to it. But the whole is said with a neighborly and businesslike frankness. Ah, Texas.
But this is true of any ranching neighbors, though, out in the country.
I take it as a good sign that Mr. Name1 sounded very friendly in wanting to retrieve his bull from his neighbor’s property.
However, he dialed the wrong number. I don’t own land up there, so his bull is wandering around on some other person’s property. Oh, bully.
As I’m sure his bull has some value, monetary or (maybe) sentimental, I’d better return his call and advise him he got the wrong number. I would not want him to go onto his neighbor’s land, unannounced, to retrieve his bull and wind up getting in some trouble (shot?) for trespassing. I’d really hope his neighbor wouldn’t be that trigger-happy, but just in case….
I don’t think I’ll ask for steak. He might not see the humor right at the moment. 😀
Moo-oo-oo!
[i]Later….[/i]
Oh, man. I love my state sometimes. That was special. Called the man back, explained my end of the situation. He apologized for bothering me and said his neighbor had given him the number and he’d maybe written it down wrong, and he’d call the other neighbor. I told him no problem, I didn’t want him to have any problems unannounced with his neighbor, and I have farming relatives, so I understood, and I hoped he retrieved his bull. Heh, the man was slightly embarrassed but like most country folks, he appreciated the neighborly attitude.
Hahaha, I’m so amused. I sure hope that fool bull doesn’t get into too much trouble over there and his owner can extract him without too much trouble for him or his neighbor. Hahaha. It’s getting on toward evening. Trying to get a bull moved out after dark won’t be so easy, I’d imagine. Not that I’d know. I’ve never had to herd cattle before. I’m a city-boy. 😀 ….I have also never had the “joy” of mucking stalls….
Look at it this way BCS, if someone’s prime breeding long legged spotty cow was unintentially bred by a mangy low slung boring brown bull, producing a mutt offspring of no particularly notable parentage and dubious value, said owner of prime breeding long legged spotty cow is going to be PISSED at a lost potentially purebred long legged spotty cow. Yes, disposing of said mutt cow involves a shotgun and a freezer, but still, animal breeding can be BIG money.
Not to mention the 3 fences mangy low slung boring brown bull destroyed on the way TO long legged spotty cow AND the broken hip owner of said long legged spotty cow got trying to beat mangy bull off…
Anyway, adventures of wandering bull could be quite … interesting! LOL
Around here its usually sheep on the highway n the occasional Llamas that go awandering. There was a flock of Emus that would go exploring every now and then a few years back, but the emu craze seems to be over. Cows up in the hinterlands where they may wander off to graze the national forest for years before being wrangled into captivity again, but I think the livestock people have decided fences are a good investment. I haven’t seen any wandering livestock in ages~
I ‘spect you don’t live in Harney Co, OR.
@weeble — Yeah, I can see how it could get “real int’restin’ ” that way. LOL. … And how the owner of a prize heifer might look with less than favor upon the wandering bull’s progeny. I know the prices for livestock can be plenty to fund a college scholarship, since that happens regularly at the livestock show and rodeo. (I’ve been twice, but I’m no working cowboy or farmer or rancher.) Also, I have no objection to a good steak, or to milk or cheese. 🙂
As a city-boy, I’m also non-partisan in the cows versus sheep divide. Anyone’s llamas or emus are fine by me too. Heh.
I have no idea just how much, ah, recreational procreational activity a bull or stallion could get up to. I would, however, be impressed. :snerk:
Lol. My gran’s neighbor used to have a very low-built bull who somehow managed to jump very tall board fences—provided free calves to far and wide, and he was not that fine a bull, except in his athleticism. He’d get out—they’d round him up and there’d be offspring here and there as a result of it.
Well, if the neighbor’s cows have a look of knowing contentment…. :snerk:
Hah, I’d think an extra calf (or a few) of middling but not so modest parentage would be fine enough. While folks may breed carefully, I think I’d take the view that when you really get down to it, cows are cows and bulls are bulls and whatever calves you get are cows, after all. 🙂
Whether the bull was in an amorous mood, or thought the grass was greener thataway, or just had the urge to go gallivanting around, I’ll wish ’em all well.
The man sounded about mid-60’s, just plain folks…gave his full name, very forthright. He reminded me strongly of relatives on both sides of my family. CJ, you probably have relatives and former neighbors in Oklahoma just like him.
Heck, I thought afterward, a few of my relatives, if they’d lived around there, would likely help the man get his bull back. Something that doesn’t always happen, but tends to get lost in big city life, that tendency to help and support each other. (Or maybe that’s a romantically idealized notion and not so true even in the country.)
That man would have no idea why his errant call (and bull) brightened my day, but it’s sure been worth a snicker or two. — I think I’m picturing Ferdinand the Bull from the old Disney short. 😀
Besides having relatives like that, several of the people I went to college with the first time out were likewise from small Texas towns, and some were “real cowboys and cowgirls.” As a kid and teen, each summer (and Bluebonnet season) we’d go around out in the country, seeing whatever was around, historical sites and pioneer settlements (park museums, sometimes reenacted), check out wildlife and landscapes (source material for Mom’s paintings) and so on. Very mild hiking. So I got to see a good bit of central and east Texas that way. I really miss getting out in nature like that. It was a great break from things, growing up. My parents both wanted to be sure I grew up loving and respecting the land, and understood things like my farming heritage, ways of life that were fast disappearing, and a reminder of known and probable Indian ancestors too, valuing nature also.
I’ve rounded up strayed horses, mostly—cattle and pigs I don’t like to deal with on the ground. Ie, I’d rather be on horseback just in case.
That sounds like good horse sense, a better chance that no one, humans or animals, get hurt, and easier to round up and herd them.
Also, that’s hard work and real experience.
My grandmother and her sisters (mom’s side) and aunts (dad’s side) took it as a point of pride that they could tote 100 pound sacks of cotton, working in the fields all day, like the men. This wasn’t too uncommon for farm women; I suppose it still is so. My grandmother’s family were sharecroppers and then farmers. My dad’s family were farmers who owned their own place. (Americans with any familiarity with it will know there’s a distinction between migrants, tenant farmers, and farm owners (“yeoman farmers”).It was a big deal for my great-grandmother and her grown children when she could have her own home and property, thanks to one of her sons. As a high school kid and college boy, I knew this, but didn’t yet understand it fully, while reading The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men.
And this reminds me, I heard The Ghost of Tom Joad a while back, sung by Pete Seeger with Bruce Springsteen. There’s another cover of it, equally good, by a more hard rock singer, but I can’t recall his name right now. I think there’s another version where he and Bruce sang the song together. Heh,I guess somewhere in me, I’m more a child of the 60’s/70’s than I thought. 🙂 For completeness of the farm and ranch topic.
For those of you who feed your cats Blue Buffalo, apparently there is a class-action suit about misrepresentation of ingredients. Doubtful anyone’s pets were harmed, but if you were paying a premium for premium cat food:
https://www.petfoodsettlement.com/?utm_source=googleadwords&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=Blue%20Buffalo
there were allegations on both sides of the lawsuit from what I gathered. Purina was accused of not putting certain ingredients into the feed, even though the ingredients list stated such were there.
I know that at the pet store, Blue Buffalo cost me $51.00 after sales tax. At the Tractor Supply, it costs me $20 less. So far, my cats haven’t stood up and refused to eat it.
I use it, but mostly because it agrees with the cats. DO I wish the FDA would come down on false claims on animal feed the way they do with the contents of tomato soup for people? Yes. Especially if it’s harmful.
So they still don’t have to? I’d thought there had been a big flap in the 70’s, because seniors (people) were getting moist pet food to save money and eating it, which caused outrage over pet food needing to be safe for human consumption and truth in labelling. (Eek, that people would have to do that, but these days, I’m older and understand more.) I’d want the labelling of my pets’ food to be truthful and safe for them, and yes, if any human were to eat it, I’d want it to be safe for them too. (But I think there might be real dietary differences that might make that latter not feasible, since it’s _pet_ food, not people food, designed for that pet species.) And…geez…things people have to do to get by. :-/
Cats, dogs, and people all have slightly different nutritional needs. Neither you nor your dogs will thrive on an exclusive diet of cat food. But an occasional can of same shouldn’t hurt. The occasional can of dog food won’t hurt you or your kitties, either. Dogs and cats have eaten table scraps for millennia; although, there are a few human-safe foods that are not safe for your furry family — most famously (but not just) chocolate.
My two boys, yorkies, will eat just about any dog food. They are both one of the rare dogs that we can just leave the food out and they won’t overeat. If I take out ham, they go out of their minds. It’s their favorite food.
I wish I had a picture of the younger one a couple of weeks ago. He picked up a cookie from my lap and gently held it in his mouth and when I looked at him, I could see he was thinking, can I have it please? I had to take it away from him but he didn’t complain. He knew he wasn’t supposed to have it.
I sometims worry because my present cat, the one in my picture, never spits up hairballs. She’s a very fluffy longhaired Persian with very dense fur, who does spend some time grooming, but doesn’t manage to keep even her front paws neat. Apart from a few ugh – ugh – ugh sounds and spitting – swallowing reflexes that quickly subside and don’t produce anything, she’s never shown any inclination to get rid of a hairball. This sometimes makes me wonder if the hair might all be stuck in her stomach.
She has days when she eats very little, but a few days later she’ll finish the whole bowl. She’s on kidney-diet kibble with a little bit of moist chicken and rice on the weekend for a treat.
My first cat, her predecessor, was a Persian too, but with a lot less dense fur. He managed to keep himself groomed a lot better than my present cat, but he spit up hairballs regularly, about one a month.
Is my present cat’s not doing so normal, or something I should ask the vet about?
It never hurts to ask, Hanneke. Mine are all short hairs, all groom, but only KikiLaSois throws up hairballs but never food Friendly is a true scarf and barf. But we seemed to have solved the problem by putting high quality catnip in her food. I’m not sure what the deal is but it works. Poor Aloysius now get to eat in a separate space because Kiki was eating all her food and his. He would just sit and let her eat and she was resembling a football.
Snow here, but not the Armageddon the media would have us believe was coming. We are warm and cosy in the house.
Going to watch more figure skating this afternoon. I have really been enjoying Johnny and Tara!
Ooh, smartcat, another gorgeous plate (of yours, I certainly presume) for your avatar!
And we too, a bit north of you in Boston, got a lot of wind with the storm but only a few inches of pretty light snow. It makes it look nice and wintery but not over-whelming like last year.
I hope those who were hit hard by the storm are doing all right.
Thanks, Raesean. It’s an unfired spoon rest. I seem to be recovered from the Lyme And now have energy to be in my studio for longer periods of time.
Now that I’ve had a chance to look I don’t think we even got six inches go very light snow.
There are more pictured on my blog http://the smartcat.blogspot.com. Or my FaceBook page where I have to b be Suzi Caswell.
Okay that’s enough of winter, you can go home now.
Seriously, I hope everyone who endured much worse is well and kicking.
I agree with Smartcat, it’s never harmful to ask, because it might alert the vet that there could be a potential problem and something that detected early, could be prevented or treated. Even if there’s no problem, it tells the vet that you are paying attention to your cat’s behavior.
Only one of my cats leaves hairballs (at least, that I’ve been able to determine), although Birdie (the one in my profile picture) would deposit them at various intervals and places around the house, usually right where I’d step on it in the morning on my trip to the bathroom. E-w-w-w-w!!!! But at least, she was getting them out and they weren’t a potential blockage to her g-i tract.
It could be far worse. Mr. Junior is medium-long hair, and although he will generate the occasional hairball (and as you observed, deposit it right where you can find it on an early a.m. trip to the bathroom!), it’s worse when he gets, shall we say, a Klingon. Trying to chase a cat who needs his bum wiped through the house doesn’t have enough gross adjectives 😀
Ah, yes, occaisionally one of our three cats can’t quite manage to fully “separate,” shall we say, while in the cat box. They go streaking out from the box and through the house, seeing if speed will achieve the desired separation distance… followed by myself to apply distasteful “mechanical” aid.
She will probably pass them in the litterbox. It can…but you might also provide some green grass to munch on. That often stimulates a regurgitation.
She comes out and nibbles a bit on a long grass stem most mornings when I go to feed the chickens, and has her own catflap into the garden, so she always has access to grass, though she’s very much a fairweather cat.
I’ll ask the vet when we go for her yearly checkup and vaccination tomorrow, but hearing from Smartcat and Joe that not all their cats spit up hairballs has soothed my worry about it already – I thought all cats did so.
SHe may be doing her hairball thing outdoors. Cats and horses can have special notions about what to do where. Some do one thing at one end of the catbox and the other at the other. The garden may be her special place for hairballs, especially after she’s had the grass.
Also, it relates to diet. Cats who don’t eat food with grain and corn may produce a hairball only very, very, very infrequently.
Hanneke, Have you considered combing her or brushing her with a special brush designed for this? If you’ve never done it before you’ll have to do it a little at a time. We comb ours and it reduces the hairballs considerably. Elderly long haired cats whose saliva doesn’t do a good grooming job we have had to have sheared, especially under the armpits and in the groin area where you get the most hellaceous knots and tangles. One of ours loved his “poodle puppy cut” and looked forward to having the knots and tangles out so he could stretch.
Yes, mine needs a thorough combing twice a week . If she’s managed to avoid the midweek one by staying on her safe pillow next tomy chair (from which I don’t pick her up and on which I don’t comb her) I may need to cut out some tangles during the weekend grooming session. I’ve got special blunt-nosed but sharp scussors for that, and she sits obediently still for it, but doesn’t really enjoy the haircare sessions. My first cat did, so he got combed almost daily, but for her twice a week means she has some days without this chore while still not going long enough between to get many tangles. The underfur on her hip does get a bit matted sometimes, as she always tries to lie down on it when she’s being combed so I can’t reach it. Cmbing tgat out really thorougly at least once a month means about two handfulls of fluffy wool removed from her person, under no protest – she just looks long-suffering “Do I really have to lie here much longer, and change sides, too?” . Then when we’re done, she hops down, and demonstratively sits with her back to me to groom herself “See, silly human, this is how you get your fur smooth! All that combing wasn’t necessary at all!”, goes off for some food, and then comes back and forgives me for the grooming session. She’s such a sweet-tempered cat.
Mine was shorthaired,and still got hairballs frequently. Summer and early fall were worst. I gave up and got a ‘Furminator’, which removed enormous quantities of undercoat. (It’s a brand-name shedding comb, remarkably effective, and it doesn’t seem to bother most cats.)
All this cat talk has me missing mine very much. My last passed a couple of years ago and I’m too old and too disabled to take care of one again.
Enjoy them while you can.