Search found 143 matches

by LittlePenBigHeart
Fri Mar 06, 2020 4:23 pm
Forum: Bereavement Support
Topic: My baby boy, just 4 years old
Replies: 4
Views: 962

My baby boy, just 4 years old

On Monday my our gorgeous baby boy, Dylan, died very suddenly, without any sort of warning and it's struck us to the core. We'd been worrying about why he hadn't come in for a couple of hours, calling him out the front and back of the house a few times, and at about half 8, I started to feel that ni...
by LittlePenBigHeart
Sun Jan 14, 2018 9:19 pm
Forum: Health and Behaviour Queries, Help and Advice
Topic: Wet food, cereal free
Replies: 25
Views: 7748

Re: Wet food, cereal free

Lilith - Lucky cats! And you can smile at the price - yours works out at £3.46 for 12 x 85g cans, but it's £5.25 for the same at Sainsburys. I looked up the Canagan, recommended on here, but it's £13.99 for 12 x 75g cans. It would cost more to feed one cat on that than I spend on a healthy diet for...
by LittlePenBigHeart
Fri Jan 12, 2018 4:43 pm
Forum: Health and Behaviour Queries, Help and Advice
Topic: Wet food, cereal free
Replies: 25
Views: 7748

Re: Wet food, cereal free

The majority of food you buy in a supermarket WILL contain cereals, I'm afraid. It's not a legal requirement to declare all the ingredients on the packaging for cat or dog food in the UK (a HUGE bugbear of mine). Some rules of thumb for selecting a good-quality food: 1) Avoid anything that says it c...
by LittlePenBigHeart
Fri Jan 12, 2018 4:31 pm
Forum: Health and Behaviour Queries, Help and Advice
Topic: Congestive Heart Disease/Failure
Replies: 3
Views: 3466

Re: Congestive Heart Disease/Failure

Hi Guinevere I'm so sorry you're going through this. One of my cats passed away in 2016 from Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, which had also developed into heart failure so I know exactly how you're feeling. Have you been placed under the care of a feline cardiologist? When Bubbles suddenly presented wi...
by LittlePenBigHeart
Mon Jan 08, 2018 5:40 pm
Forum: Health and Behaviour Queries, Help and Advice
Topic: Dry, Flaky Skin
Replies: 1
Views: 978

Dry, Flaky Skin

Wondering if anyone can suggest anything. Our two youngest cats are ragdoll crosses, and both are rescues who have a few health problems. One of them is a few sandwiches short of a picnic and we think she might have been a little deprived of oxygen during the birth. She was very wobbly on her legs f...
by LittlePenBigHeart
Sun Nov 26, 2017 2:07 pm
Forum: Health and Behaviour Queries, Help and Advice
Topic: 13 week kittens
Replies: 30
Views: 9717

Re: 13 week kittens

PLEASE don't use Whiskas cat milk!! It's absolute rubbish and filled with sugar. Not a nutritious treat for cats or kittens at all. Please, just don't do it. If you MUST give kittens (or mother cats) a milk supplement, you're better off with Lactol, which is very similar to the milk the mother cat p...
by LittlePenBigHeart
Thu Nov 09, 2017 8:12 pm
Forum: Health and Behaviour Queries, Help and Advice
Topic: Low calorie cat food
Replies: 10
Views: 3935

Re: Low calorie cat food

Please, please, please don't give a food specifically designed to target overweight pets. As AlanC has observed, they don't generally work (mainly because they are a nutritionally deficient food which is usually coated in fat to entice the cat to eat it - yes, that includes Hills and Royal Canin). Y...
by LittlePenBigHeart
Tue Oct 24, 2017 6:57 pm
Forum: Health and Behaviour Queries, Help and Advice
Topic: My cats are ragdolls!?
Replies: 11
Views: 4025

Re: My cats are ragdolls!?

Oh my goodness, what a beautiful boy!! That fur really was something. Absolutely incredible! I had no idea that ragdolls are supposed to be so unable to cope with the outside world. It's very interesting. Pepsi and Dylan are brother and sister. Dylan is generally super confident. He'll do the same t...
by LittlePenBigHeart
Tue Oct 24, 2017 9:29 am
Forum: Health and Behaviour Queries, Help and Advice
Topic: My cats are ragdolls!?
Replies: 11
Views: 4025

Re: My cats are ragdolls!?

Oh, I know. But her comment made me look at pictures of black ragdolls and Dylan and Pepsi looks so exactly like the pictures of them that it does make me think there's a good chance they could be. They don't both go limp when you pick them up (Dylan does but Pepsi isn't big on being held and tends ...
by LittlePenBigHeart
Mon Oct 23, 2017 7:19 pm
Forum: Health and Behaviour Queries, Help and Advice
Topic: My cats are ragdolls!?
Replies: 11
Views: 4025

My cats are ragdolls!?

Today I was talking to a customer at work about her ragdoll and she told me her cat flops to one side often when she's giving her attention. I laughed and said my boy does the same thing and she asked if he's a ragdoll. I said we don't know what he is because he's an RSPCA rescue and she told me it'...
by LittlePenBigHeart
Mon Oct 16, 2017 4:09 pm
Forum: Health and Behaviour Queries, Help and Advice
Topic: Death advice - not happy reading
Replies: 11
Views: 2585

Re: Death advice - not happy reading

That's really good advice, actually. When our last cat passed away it was at home and we were lucky in that he was collected by the most wonderful feline mortuary I've come across. But had we left him longer we might have been stuck in a very similar position. I'm so sorry that your beloved Twitch p...
by LittlePenBigHeart
Tue Oct 10, 2017 6:56 pm
Forum: Health and Behaviour Queries, Help and Advice
Topic: Very strong urine
Replies: 3
Views: 1609

Re: Very strong urine

booktigger wrote:I'd get a sample checked to be on the safe side, it can be an indicator of a UTI
She doesn't have any other symptoms, though? She isn't weeing, or trying to wee more often. But thanks, I didn't think about that. If switching her food doesn't help I'll get her down to the vet.
by LittlePenBigHeart
Sun Oct 08, 2017 6:04 pm
Forum: Health and Behaviour Queries, Help and Advice
Topic: Very strong urine
Replies: 3
Views: 1609

Very strong urine

So, Gizzy has been a little better the last couple of days about the food, but there was something I forgot to mention in my original post - her urine REALLY stinks. It's a normal smell but the ammonia is so intense we can smell it in other rooms of the house when she's used the litter tray in the l...
by LittlePenBigHeart
Sat Oct 07, 2017 2:14 pm
Forum: Health and Behaviour Queries, Help and Advice
Topic: cat litter
Replies: 9
Views: 2997

Re: cat litter

Like MarySkater, I live in England and most of us pretty much do just accept that this is always going to be a problem. Our cats tend to stick to going to the loo in our garden, as near as I can tell, except for one of them who always, always, come in to do her business. But I have seen other cats t...
by LittlePenBigHeart
Sun Oct 01, 2017 7:58 pm
Forum: Health and Behaviour Queries, Help and Advice
Topic: Fairly Constant Hunger
Replies: 3
Views: 1639

Re: Fairly Constant Hunger

Thanks so much, both. She was referred to by the vet as 'slightly porky' when she went for her vaccinations a few weeks ago, and nothing has changed since then. I didn't think about neighbours but actually, I have caught one set of them feeding another neighbour's cat because the cat was a normal si...
by LittlePenBigHeart
Fri Sep 29, 2017 7:12 pm
Forum: Health and Behaviour Queries, Help and Advice
Topic: Fairly Constant Hunger
Replies: 3
Views: 1639

Fairly Constant Hunger

Gizzy is 6 years old and she's always been a little bit of a pig, given the chance, but she's not really one for begging (unless one of us has chip shop chips - then she'll try to snatch them straight out of our hands!). However, in the last couple of weeks she seems like she's hungry an awful lot o...
by LittlePenBigHeart
Mon Sep 18, 2017 6:57 pm
Forum: Health and Behaviour Queries, Help and Advice
Topic: Feeling heartbroken
Replies: 6
Views: 2144

Re: Feeling heartbroken

Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry to read this. It's just the most awful thing to have to see your beloved family member in pain and knowing you can't do anything about it. I'm afraid I can't tell you anything that might be able to help and I have no shared experience that might be of use to you. What I ...
by LittlePenBigHeart
Sun Sep 17, 2017 1:41 pm
Forum: Health and Behaviour Queries, Help and Advice
Topic: Kitten and Raw Food
Replies: 3
Views: 1686

Re: Kitten and Raw Food

First thing to remember is that not all cats are suited to a raw food diet, and it's not generally recommended for very young kittens. If I were to make a recommendation, it would be to try them first on a high-meat diet (but if they haven't been on a high-meat diet before now make sure you introduc...
by LittlePenBigHeart
Mon Sep 11, 2017 4:05 pm
Forum: Health and Behaviour Queries, Help and Advice
Topic: Cat back from vet and 1 of his brothers hisses at him
Replies: 12
Views: 5810

Re: Cat back from vet and 1 of his brothers hisses at him

charlotteparkin wrote:Sad to say Harpo gained his angel wings and passed away yesterday evening. What a fighter, right to the end. Thanks for all your help.
Oh goodness, I am so, so sorry for your loss. I know how hard it is. :( Thinking of you and sending my warmest wishes.
by LittlePenBigHeart
Sun Sep 10, 2017 1:23 pm
Forum: Health and Behaviour Queries, Help and Advice
Topic: Cat back from vet and 1 of his brothers hisses at him
Replies: 12
Views: 5810

Re: Cat back from vet and 1 of his brothers hisses at him

The one that's really difficult, is it Metoclopromide, by any chance? What we resorted to doing in the end was buying gastro-resistant, animal-safe gelatine capsules that we could cut the pill up and shove into. Then we hid the capsule in his food and he was great about taking it. The others were al...
by LittlePenBigHeart
Fri Sep 08, 2017 7:25 pm
Forum: Health and Behaviour Queries, Help and Advice
Topic: Cat back from vet and 1 of his brothers hisses at him
Replies: 12
Views: 5810

Re: Cat back from vet and 1 of his brothers hisses at him

I'm so sorry to hear about Harpo. We had a maine coon who passed away in February 2016 from heart failure. Unfortunately, HCM is extremely common in maine coons (something I didn't realise until Bubbles was diagnosed). Sadly, by the time discovered anything was wrong, his HCM was very advanced and h...
by LittlePenBigHeart
Mon Sep 04, 2017 7:26 pm
Forum: Health and Behaviour Queries, Help and Advice
Topic: Coughing
Replies: 8
Views: 3365

Re: Coughing

It is pretty common, yes. They can get a little bit of fluff or hair or something else they've accidentally hoovered up caught in the back of their throats and that can make them cough without actually bringing anything up. However, as you say, it's a good idea to take your cat to the vet anyway, ju...
by LittlePenBigHeart
Sun Aug 27, 2017 2:38 pm
Forum: Health and Behaviour Queries, Help and Advice
Topic: New Rescue House Cat
Replies: 10
Views: 3083

Re: New Rescue House Cat

Some cats are just like this and it might be that he's more settled at night while you're asleep. It could be, if he calmed down with the Feliway, that he's aware of other cats outside of his territory and feels unsettled for that reason. But in all honesty, if he's not urinating in any unusual plac...
by LittlePenBigHeart
Sun Aug 13, 2017 8:05 pm
Forum: Health and Behaviour Queries, Help and Advice
Topic: Not good news for Blackie ... or us
Replies: 19
Views: 4536

Re: Not good news for Blackie ... or us

Oh my goodness, poor Blackie. :( Please do keep an eye on him and make sure he's weeing. Can you keep him in a room with you, equipped with a litter tray? If he's drinking and not managing to wee (which should still be possible, even if he really can't bend down and ends up spraying somewhere) after...
by LittlePenBigHeart
Fri Aug 11, 2017 9:45 pm
Forum: Health and Behaviour Queries, Help and Advice
Topic: Trod on Blackie's paw
Replies: 7
Views: 2119

Re: Trod on Blackie's paw

Oh no!! So sorry that this happened. It is awful when you do something like this, isn't it? The guilt feels like it'll swallow you whole! But in all honesty, they're a lot more resiliant that we tend to give them credit for and it sounds like he's doing okay, overall. I remember years ago, we had a ...
by LittlePenBigHeart
Thu Aug 10, 2017 7:20 pm
Forum: Health and Behaviour Queries, Help and Advice
Topic: Itchy cats
Replies: 2
Views: 2538

Re: Itchy cats

I agree with Ruth B that the Frontline may have lost its efficacy. For whatever reason, using the same spot on treatment over and over again seems to eventually result in it working less effectively. Like Ruth, we switched to Stronghold and that did the job for quite some time. When that ceased work...
by LittlePenBigHeart
Thu Jul 20, 2017 6:09 pm
Forum: Health and Behaviour Queries, Help and Advice
Topic: How to get rid of fleas?
Replies: 6
Views: 2772

Re: How to get rid of fleas?

I did a long post to someone about flea treatments a little while back. I've posted the link to that thread below:

http://www.catchat.org/felineforum/view ... =13&t=6216
by LittlePenBigHeart
Sun Jul 16, 2017 9:32 pm
Forum: Health and Behaviour Queries, Help and Advice
Topic: Cat Play Behaviour
Replies: 3
Views: 1614

Re: Cat Play Behaviour

This is incredibly common in older cats when younger cats are introduced. We've had the same thing with absolutely all of our cats. There are ways of dealing with it, and with Bengals in particular, it's really important to keep up their play/hunting time because they're such an active breed. Do you...
by LittlePenBigHeart
Sun Jul 16, 2017 9:25 pm
Forum: Health and Behaviour Queries, Help and Advice
Topic: Make cat food smell more appetising?
Replies: 10
Views: 7586

Re: Make cat food smell more appetising?

When you say 'posh food', what food is it? Cats should really be on a higher meat diet than any of the supermarket brands offer. They're carnivores yet ALL (without exception as far as I've seen) supermarket brands, from Whiskas and KiteKat, Felix and Gourmet, Sheba and own-brands, contain merely 4%...
by LittlePenBigHeart
Fri Jul 14, 2017 6:50 pm
Forum: Health and Behaviour Queries, Help and Advice
Topic: Bee sting!
Replies: 10
Views: 3855

Re: Bee sting!

I'm glad to hear that a bee sting, even in the mouth, can heal okay. Ria hunts insects, including bees, in the garden. I had visions of her getting stung in the tongue or throat and choking to death. I'll just hope that, if she does get stung, it's not in too sensitive a spot, and maybe then she'll...