Cat Chat Feline Forum

Goodbye everyone. Not sure yet whether I will join another cat forum. I am glad that the site will remain, as I have directed many people to the sound advice in the FAQ section (especially lost cats) over the years.

I will miss this forum. It has always been my go to place for cat advice.

Tilly is using the litter tray I bought for my first cat Sally over 40 years ago. Some of the cat beds date from Misty and Honey's days. There are also a few of Sally's toys still around! Cat flap and cat tree are new, though, as the old ones didn't survive Badger and Tilly's kitten hood.

Following on from Kay's remarks, mine have always preferred to strop their claws on the garden shed.

I can only say the same as the others, I'm afraid. My experience of cancer in cats has been uniformly bad and treatment has been useless.

Back in the Covid year of 2020, Tilly went 13 months without a booster (why her vaccination due date is now July, not June) as our Vets were only doing urgent work. Getting a booster at 12 months did not count as urgent! I usually only take her in when the annual reminder comes through the post. I a...

Not heard anything about that. Tilly got her annual booster early last month without any problem. She would have told me if there was any possibility of putting the vet visit off!

It is the most wonderful thing in the world when you get a lost cat back.

I use the local Farm Supplies shop. Not sure what their Whiskas in gravy supply situation is like as Tilly is not keen on it but not been any problem with other brands. Never any problem with cat litter, either.

Might not work for you, but I trained the microchip catflap by putting it propped open in a gap in a wall of boxes in the bedroom before installing in the back door. Badger went through straight away, but Tilly was much more reluctant to oblige.

I lost my 5 year old cat Badger to cancer, it is devastating to loose them so young and there being nothing you can do about it. You did the right thing, however hard it seems now. Operating on your lad would have just put him under more stress to no good effect.

Definitely real sheepskin - I bought it in the local wool shop. I doubt fake sheepskin would be anywhere near as warm. For the first few days, I placed it on the patch of floor on the landing beneath which the central heating pipes run (and where she frequently slept). After that, put it on one of h...

Tilly considers that I should be her heat pad and expects to be cuddled in cold weather!
However, I bought her a sheepskin rug for Christmas (stripy grey to match her fur) which she adores, is as effective as one of those heat pads and much more economical.

Its quite normal for the Maine Coon part of them as well.

Some years ago now (probably about 20) I missed one of my cats booster shots due to some reason or other I do not recall now. She just had the normal booster about half a year later than she should have done according to the strict yearly programme. No problem and Vet said it did not matter. Tilly w...

As the owner of a Maine Coon, I would certainly recommend them. They tend to be laid back and goofy. In addition to what booktigger has said, I would also suggest looking at older cats in rescues.

No experience of the Catmate elite. I have a Sureflap pet door on which the timer works fine.

I didn't have the problem you have with keeping Tilly amused, as my other cat Badger spent most of his time in the same room as Tilly, keeping her company. He slept on the spare cat bed I had put on top of her cage to be ready for a quick change of bedding when Tilly spread her food all over her bed...

Oh dear, the troubles with cage rest. If its any consolation, you are not alone! Litter, food and water all over the place - had all that with Tilly. My Tilly escaped in her first week of cage rest - and did a bunk out the open room door and through the cat flap which I had left open for my other ca...

My experience with Tilly makes me think her Pancreatitis was food related - she has not had any more bouts since I cut milk out of her diet. How that relates to other cats, I don't know and I am not going to undertake any experiments on Tilly to find out if there really is a link!

From experience with my Tilly, it can take two weeks at least for her to recover from a bout of Pancreatitis.

None of the three kittens I have had have eaten the clumping clay litter, or shown any inclination to.

I try and keep a 2" depth of clumping clay litter (Pettex) in Tilly's litter tray which seems to be enough to foil her attempts to dig her way out the bottom and stop the clump sticking to the bottom. I would not use anything other than clumping litter as it is so much easier to clean out with ...

Just to say that cage rest is survivable. My Tilly had some 9 weeks of it some 8 years ago when she broke a metatarsal bone. The first week was the hardest. How big a cage have you got? I found having two cages with passage between them helped as the extra space meant her litter tray could be in one...

In similar circumstances I took in my first cat Sally when she was only 8 weeks old (she may have been younger). She was found dumped by a roadside. She was an only cat all her life and never had any problems with single kitten syndrome. Indeed, I have never heard of it until now! So I would say kee...

Whilst I would agree with most f what Mollycat says, I would say that the Maine Coon and the Norwegian Forest Cat got the way they are (big and long haired) by natural selection. So far as anybody knows, that is. Human involvement was restricted to providing places in a cold winter climate requiring...

The timer can be set to prevent exit between set times - entry is controlled by the microchip. You can't make sure they are in on time, but you can make sure they don't go out again after they are in. In Tilly's case, I set it so she can't go out after dinner and she is very rarely late for dinner.

What you need will depend on the size of your cat. I have a Sureflap Pet door which has given good service for the past 8 years, and which is large enough for my Maine Coon, Tilly. They are not cheep, but worth it. I think you will find the more versatile ones cost in the £80-£100 range. The extra f...

Did angry man put any missing cat posters up, or advertise his cat was missing in any way, like contacting local cat rescues and vets?

Didn't have your problem when I got my old Misty back after his being lost for 9 weeks - he wouldn't go out and I eventually had to carry him out only for him to shoot back in again! I would follow fjm's advice re only letting him out before meal times for a while.