In loving memory of Kenis D. Keathley 6/4/81 - 3/27/22 Loving father, husband, brother, friend and firewood hoarder Rest in peace, Dexterday

Bringing groceries in the house, turned around and there she was......

Discussion in 'Everything Else (off topic)' started by BDF, Nov 20, 2017.

  1. BDF

    BDF

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    Thanks for the thoughts of helping 'save' the kitten but I am afraid she is doomed to going to the pound. Sad but what else can we do? The last plan was for her to go after her next Vet. appointment but then we realized that is very close to Christmas, so I guess we will let her stay for that holiday. Oh yeah, then New Year's Day so I guess she can stay for that one also. But soon..... oh yes, soon.

    I have never owned both a dog and cat at the same time but of course it is very common and usually works out. Too bad your new dog is not 'making nice' with the cats. If it is an adult dog, it may <never> be pals with the cats but hopefully you can at least get to a point of mutual tolerance.

    Yes, it really was strange the way this kitten arrived; she walked about 10 ft. into the house, just stood there looking at me and singing louder than I would have though she could have. Later, when offered an open door to leave, she was totally casual about it, looked out for 10 seconds, then just turned around and walked back into the house. As I said, I do not believe she was a feral cat because she has no fear or even wariness of people and was not dirty, wet, or anything else to indicate she had been living outside. She also walked out the open side door a day or two ago, walked to the edge of the sidewalk and just stood there. I walked out behind her, she looked up at me and I picked her up and came back in the house. So it is pretty clear she has chosen to park her butt here.

    Years ago, we had the same thing happen with a medium sized dog; it was hanging around the neighborhood and whenever it got the chance, it would just walk into our house and sit down. My neighbor was feeding him but once he got here, the neighbor came over to feed the dog and he showed her his teeth. ?? Then jumped up on a couch and went to sleep. Never saw anything like that either. ??

    Maybe there is some secret code amount animals like there was with hobos in the 1930's, where they would leave some type of mark showing the other hobos where they would get food and be treated well, and other marks showing places where they would not be treated well. It was just a scratch or chalk mark or similar, but 'they' all knew what it meant. Maybe there is a great pet conspiracy whereby they do the same thing and there is a mark in front of my house?

    I am typing this way off to the left of my desk 'cause Phoebe is curled up in a ball in the middle of my desk, sleeping. Oh yeah, very soon, off to the pound with her..... In the meantime, both her scratching 'pad' (that hangs on a doorknob or wall) as well as her scratching post have arrived and she seems to like both and is using them to sharpen her claws. The Vet. said that this was the best way to deal with the whole de- clawing question: if provided with a place that they like to use, and is acceptable to the 'humans', then generally cats will leave furniture and the rest of the house alone. This way they do not have to be de- clawed in the first place, which is more desirable for the cat (de- clawing is fairly intrusive surgery and can be traumatic to the cat, so I understand- never had a de- clawed cat myself). I do not care how many scratching posts / pads she tears up if she leaves everything else alone. Speaking about the period of time before she goes to the pound, of course.

    Brian

     
  2. BDF

    BDF

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    Quick update: Well, it finally happened: Phoebe went into 'krazy kitten mode' at 4:00 AM this morning. Apparently, the toy of choice at that time is a short piece of yarn and Andrea's fingers. :rofl: :lol: Then a pretty slow, sluggish and sleepy Thanksgiving, with us having (of all things) shepherd's pie for dinner. I tested it out on Phoebe and 1) She LOVES the hamburger (we make it with onion soup mix, brown gravy and some seasoning). 2) She likes the potatoes a lot (butter flavored instant potatoes) and 3) She likes corn kernels just fine although there was a learning curve on how to bit into them and chew them up. Then at 9:00 PM tonight, another longer round of 'krazy kitten mode' involving her under the couch chasing one of her toy balls (with a bell in it) until she worked it out.

    I will have to remember to tell the good folks at the pound she likes shepherd's pie and balls with bells in them for when they play with her. Soon.....

    Andrea and I are in our late 50's, and it has been some time since we lost our last dog (Zack, see previous posts). Both kids are long gone and far away, after a stint in Korea and 'The Sand Box' (one in Afghanistan twice, the other in Iraq for 13 months). And to be honest, I guess I just forgot how nice it is to have another living thing in the house with us. Another entity with a personality that interacts with us and requires some attention. I think Phoebe is a neat kitten but the fact is, just about any mammal would probably do, and in the end, they all have their own personalities that we bond with anyway. My son has a small, black cat named Chloe that requires all of her water be 'moving'. Seriously, she will not drink water out of a bowl or cup, it MUST be moving from a fixture. She also demands to be included in all showers; I myself have showered with her (Easy Boys) and it is nothing short of a riot: she sits on the edge of the tub and slaps / laps/ bites at the water flowing past her. In the end, everyone comes out of the shower soaked. And when she wants a drink, she cries and begs until someone cracks a sink faucet so she can drink (and cuff) at the stream. Seriously, she will not drink still water.

    Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting 'Nico' after picking up Andrea (remember, she is in gimp- mode after foot surgery): a black GSD, and a beautiful and wonderful dog. I shared some Milk Bones and got his history from his Dad- Nico is from The Czech Republic where they apparently breed black GSD's

    Brian
     
  3. yooperdave

    yooperdave

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    BDF

    You should thin about making an appointment for dropping off the cat at the shelter (since it seems you are dangerously close to becoming bonded with her).....maybe something in December of 2030??? :p

    I prefer dogs over cats but I think I would even have kept her!
     
  4. Marshel54

    Marshel54

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    Pretty kitty BDF .
    What's wrong with cats and Nov. Must be cat run into the house month.
    This ran in my door about 3 weeks ago.

    Cinimon2.jpg
    Going to take her to the shelter. I already have 3. Right. Still here and has been given main house privileges.
    And you are going to take Phoebe to the shelter. Maybe we can share a ride to the shelter when I take Cinnamon Girl. :rofl: :lol::rofl: :lol::rofl: :lol::rofl: :lol: Doesn't sound like ride sharing will ever happen.
     
    Last edited: Nov 24, 2017
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  5. bogieb

    bogieb

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    Cinnamon Girl - cute. Well, after 3 weeks your other 3 have probably gotten attached so it would be cruel to them to take her to a shelter now. However, if you treat your pets as badly as BDF, then you should take them all to the shelter ;)
     
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  6. BDF

    BDF

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    Yours looks like a Siamese mix.

    Yeah, a car- pool trip to the pound.... that ought to show 'em!

    Brian

     
  7. BDF

    BDF

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    Me too with the dogs but this one is about as far toward the dog end of the 'cat scale' as they get. And yeah, she was irresistible standing in the middle of my kitchen, singing and looking at me.

    Well, she has been here one week but it seems like months, and we are enjoying her thoroughly. She is settling in, getting into a bit more things and places, no damage to anything yet and still gets very affectionate and cuddly when sleepy.

    We were going to de- claw here but the Vet. made a few very good points for not doing that, the main one being that it is not necessary; he said the key to keeping cats from becoming destructive with their claws, mostly by 'sharpening' them, is to direct them to acceptable places to sharpen their claws and not let them choose things like the furniture. So we picked up two scratching posts, one a rigid post (Easy Boys, this is my cat we're talking about here!) with the base also carpeted, the other is a hanging strip of basically carpet. She likes and uses both. So if that continues and she can leave the furniture alone we will leave her claws intact; the procedure is hard on the cat and often results in odd behavior on the cat's part to compensate.

    All of which is not meaningful anyway 'cause the pound will take her with or without claws and she is going..... right after the holidays. Yep, first week of the new year. Second week at the latest. Unless it is really cold and snowy and perhaps too dangerous to drive to the pound but even if that happens, March at the latest. Oh yeah, March!

    Brian

     
  8. bogieb

    bogieb

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    I've had declawed cats that seems to get thru the surgery just fine and stayed their usual selves. Just like fixing them, they don't know they've had surgery, they just know there is pain and soon forget it when it's over. I had one declawed cat that had the hardest pads - when you got caught by them you knew it (and so did dogs).

    The above being said, I haven't declawed a cat since the '80's. Most indoor/outdoor cats never even needed a scratching post although they were always available. The formerly feral cat I have doesn't like any scratching pad/post that I've tried, but he doesn't scratch in the house. He uses a post on the back porch (and a deck post at my previous house). My newest cat has found a chair she really likes (another cat that ignores the post and door knob pad). But, she chose a chair that is only used to hold stuff until I get it put away (or it is used), so I don't care. It is a very old wooden chair that cost me nothing, so she is welcome to it.

    But yeah, why spend the money if you don't have to before taking her to the pound anyway?
     
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  9. Marshel54

    Marshel54

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    Brian. I believe we are a couple of splits off the same round.
    We did have one of those "Crazy Kitty" moments.
    Cinnamon went to the litter box on 2 different days and started throwing the poop out. That reminded me of a joke that I heard at a GTG.
    Since she appears to have some Siamese in her, I believe I may rename her and give her a Chinese name. Ho Fung Po. English translation, Who Flung Poo.
     
  10. Stephiedoll

    Stephiedoll

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    You kids are clowns:rofl: :lol: and I'm glad you are giving them forever homes, at least until the weather gets nice enough for the big road trip. You all sound like good parents.:thumbs:
     
  11. Marshel54

    Marshel54

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    Sure will. Teach them not to be freeloaders.:thumbs:
     
  12. BDF

    BDF

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    Well, Siamese cats are smart and maybe she figured the box needed to be cleaned..... :) Cats can get pretty finicky about their litter box, I have seen cats leave 'presents' right beside a box they do not care to use. It is actually kinda' funny..... at anyone else's house.

    This new kitten used a large potted plant of my wife's her first day or two here, and my wife claimed she urinated in it. I moved the plant into the laundry room, which can be (and is) closed off from the house, to isolate it from the kitten and it has been sitting in that room for a few days now. And that is most assuredly NOT urine she left in there. She covered it nicely so we cannot see it but I think it is starting to ferment. Works for me, I never liked the plant anyway, and at the rate it was going, it would have been 400 years before it would be firewood anyway. Good kitty! :rofl: :lol: Now she might be able to stay here until tax day.... but then OFF to the POUND with her!

    BTW, she is really liking the woodstove. Maybe a little too much- she is not showing what I would think is the proper respect for it, at least around the bottom. But once the fire is engaged, she will sit in front of it and watch the fire or lay down just in front of the ash lip. And get so hot I do not know how she does not burst into flames.

    Brian

     
  13. BDF

    BDF

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    We are concerned about her getting outside. At this point she is still interested in some outside doors at least some of the time and I have zero confidence that she will not get out at some point; if she does ever get out, she will have to have her claws. I would not de-claw a cat and then allow it to be outside; that would be like violating the Second Amendment of the Cat Bill of Rights. 'The right to bear claws.... shall not be infringed.'. :) The plan is to keep her as an inside cat but that is our plan and we have not gotten a consensus about that from her yet.... :rolleyes:

    My mother had a pair of kittens de-clawed maybe 20 years ago, and both of them would sit with their front feet up off the floor, like squirrels for a long time afterward. I have to believe it was painful for them for quite a while. So again, if I can control and 'steer' her claw sharpening and minimize or eliminate any damage to the house from those claws, I would prefer not to do that procedure at all. In fact, the particular Vet. I used will not de- claw cats himself although there are other vets. at the practice that will do it, and my Vet. recommended another practice altogether because that other practice uses a laser, which the man claimed was far kinder to the cat. The practice I uses 'surgically excises them with a scalpel', which sounds a lot better than 'they hack them off with a knife'. But as I said, if I can keep her in the house, and cannot keep her from destroying parts of the house or furniture, I will have her de- clawed.

    Brian

     
  14. Midwinter

    Midwinter

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    If you let her go outside, she will get her mojo out in the yard, and will be less likely to be destructive in the house. When our cat was a kitten, we accompanied her outside to get her used to her territory. We live in town, so for wildlife we have possums, skunks, and woodchucks, no coyotes or fishers. The most dangerous animals for her are other cats, of the male sex. I think that's why she stays in our yard, and doesn't wander the neighborhood. She wants to stay close to the cat door, and safety. She has a summer cat door in a window, but we take it out in the winter. She also has a year round cat door, into the garage, then into a crawlspace, then through another cat door into the basement. This setup minimizes heat loss. She does all of her peeing and pooping outside. She has a litterbox, but only uses it if there is literally 2 feet of snow outside. She loves being out, and in warmer weather spends most of her waking hours in the yard. In cold weather, not so much. This is just to give you an idea what having an indoor-outdoor cat is like.
     
  15. bogieb

    bogieb

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    Funny, my cats will be outside all day (in fenced area), then come inside and head straight for the cat box :picard:.
     
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  16. BDF

    BDF

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    I grew up with cats that went outside at their pleasure (though we had to open the door- no 'cat' doors). The problem we had was we kept losing them, mostly to cars but the occasional one to a dog in the neighborhood (I grew up in a very calm, very normal 60's and 70's neighborhood so these were not fighting Rottweilers or anything similar). Lost several cats to cars, usually the normal way, under the tire(s) but also lost one that chose to lay down (and sleep?) inside the bottom of a radiator fan housing..... not pretty when the car was started. So my concern is really about the longevity of the cat, which I believe is better for inside cats than outside cats. These days, it also eliminates the cat's exposure to feline lukemia and AIDS (though I would like to think Phoebe is not 'that kind' of a cat, I know better. :rofl: :lol: ).

    Brian

     
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  17. BDF

    BDF

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    :rofl: :lol::rofl: :lol::rofl: :lol:

    Well, if I ever visit your house, maybe I will use the cat box and that will take some of the heat off of your cats. You will think back fondly on the days when ONLY the cats used the box..... :bug::hair::rofl: :lol:

    Many years ago, I picked up a kitten from the local pet mill at the mall after my wife lost her last cat. That thing was a 'piece of work'. Besides insisting on actually walking ONTO our plates while we were eating (and she was immune to any amount of correction), she would go into her box, urinate, cover it up very nicely, then jump out and defecate on the rug in the living room. And I do not mean one time but as the normal method. We could not deal with her and back to the mall she went; the manager told me he would not give me back my money, which was something like $12, and I said I would gladly pay HIM just to take her back. In fact, that was the last cat we had until this one, and that was over 30 years ago. Some memories are more painful than others.

    Brian

     
  18. Midwinter

    Midwinter

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    Did you have male cats or female, that got run over? Were they neutered/spayed? I'm not trying to make a point, just curious.
     
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  19. BDF

    BDF

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    Let's see: all cats I have ever had were spayed / neutered, even as a little kid, my parents always did this with all pets, as I do now with all my pets. Clearly, the world does not need more stray cats or dogs. :-( And I cannot get them to behave properly.... I lecture and lecture but it falls on deaf ears and the next thing I know, someone's belly is swelling, all the while the animal is claiming it was still a virgin. Yeah, like I believe that story more than once!

    The cat that got swept by the fan blade was an adult male. A young female kitten was killed in the next door neighbor's yard by a neighborhood dog; she got caught against a picket fence and could not run / hide and the dog caught her. The dog was not vicious. Three females lost to cars in the road, and one female my mother ran over..... a little over a mile from the house. Yeah, that one was strange: we were driving along when a rear tire hit 'something' that was not in the road in front of us and my mother (driving) saw something white get thrown to the side of the road. We went back and looked around on that side of the road and found a white 'thing' hiding behind some hedges along the front of a house; the 'thing' turned out to be one of our cats. Took her to the closest vet. and he said she had a broken jaw, nothing could be done and she needed to be put down. Took her to our regular vet. and he said the broken jaw was no problem but the roof of her mouth was broken and she would not be able to eat. Ended up wiring her jaw together (bottom canine teeth to each other, the jaw was broken down the middle), sutured the roof of her mouth and we fed her with an eye- dropper for a long time. Also she had nerve damage in a front paw and lost the use of it. But eventually she recovered fully, even the radial nerve that the vet. said would be permanent. In fact, quite a few years later, that same cat went to Florida with my mother, ate a poisonous lizard (again, outside of course) and again the vet. said she would not survive. Went into a coma in 'cat intensive care' but kept ticking and eventually again recovered. So in an odd way, one could say that cat was killed outside.... twice. BTW- she lived to be 22 years old!

    Brian

     
  20. Midwinter

    Midwinter

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    So the females that got run over were probably out hunting. In my experience, the females are the more obsessed hunters, the neutered male more people social. Ours is fairly good at catching mice; trouble is, she lets them go so she can catch them again. Some of the die of injuries sustained, but I think a lot get away.
     
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