Cat Chat Feline Forum

When I was a child in Scotland, many years ago, if children went "guising" at Halloween, the standard phrase, if someone opened their door to you, was "Please for my Halloween." The child was then expected to do some kind of "turn," maybe sing a song or tell a joke, to ...

Ruth B wrote:Sorry I must be being dim on that joke, i can't see it at all.

Nor me.

That cat appears to be ambidextrous. When my Rocky uses a paw for something, he always seems to use the right paw. As with other cats I've owned, he likes yogurt, and after I've had some, I hold the pot for him so he can lick round the edge. But he's the first cat I've had who will then dip a paw (t...

I have a long haired cat, and the only time I use a trimmer is if I find a mat developing, and it's the easiest way to remove it. Otherwise, I just let the fur grow to its own length, and accept that I'll always be cleaning shed fur from the carpet. Long hair on the feet is common - we tend to call ...

Good news. Rosy will be happier. A very soft brush might be in order at the moment, to get her used to being groomed while she doesn't have much fur.

If your budget will run to a professional installation, I'm sure that's the way to go. Since distance is a minor item, and your garden isn't too big, then it's well worth at least talking to them and getting a quote.

Which brings me onto the next problem. Cat proofing our garden. Can anyone point in the right direction or provide links? Cats climb fences, so you need a "roof" or overhang to stop them. I didn't try to cat-proof my whole garden. I gave them a space 10 feet by 30 feet. The existing 6-foo...

One of my cats is semi-longhaired. She's too wriggly to groom much, although I do run a brush over her if I can get her to keep still. I also check her coat with my hands, so that if she is starting a mat, I can spot it before it gets too big or too tight to the skin. In that case, I use an electric...

I once signed up to donate a small monthly sum to Dogs' Trust ... oh boy. They pestered the hell out of me, even called at my house, sent me a monthly glossy magazine When I lived in England, having adopted two cats from the RSPCA, I also made a small monthly payment to them, and then kept getting ...

In your place I'd invest £50 or so on a night-vision, motion-sensor camera. (Search Amazon for "camera trap.") Set it up in the garden, it should photograph anything that moves, day or night, and then you would know what animal you're dealing with, which should help decide a course of acti...

Beautiful kittens. One thing to keep in mind. Find out what the breeder is feeding them now, and get some of that. Transition them gradually from what they are used to into what you choose to offer them. Re keeping wet food fresh: I'm a user of microchip-coded covered feed bowls: https://www.surepet...

Good to hear. I had a cat with the opposite problem - her adult teeth started falling out when she was 5, and were all gone by the time she was 10. I had her vet checked, there were no apparent problems, and she could still gum-eat both wet and dry food, so on the whole it was a benefit; no dental p...

Can you make an enclosure for him in your garden, so that he can't roam?

I'm glad the insurance company has agreed to deal with it. They will obviously be looking to get their money back from the vets, and they are better placed to fight than you are. Just as an aside, I used to work in a hospital obstetrics & gynaecology department. It was not uncommon for a patient...

Find a Citizen's Advice Bureau and ask them about pursuing a claim through the Small Claims Court. It might also be worth contacting the British Veterinary Association, describe the situation and ask what can be done about an unsatisfactory vet. https://www.bva.co.uk/About-BVA/ Send a letter to your...

If she does need an operation im gonna have to keep her in for at least 2 weeks, how that is gonna happen with 3 kids running in and out, my 13yr old cat going in and out! When my female cat was spayed at 6 months, my vet said I could let her out after 4 days, although she didn't get her stitches o...

I knew someone who wouldn't have a litter tray in the house, and expected her cat to go outside to toilet. If the weather was bad, I used to see her cat pee down the bath plughole. (And scratch round in an attempt to cover it!) I think cats just figure out that this is an indoor place to get rid of ...

For a lot of my life, I couldn't have pets because I was living in shared houses. When I got my own flat, I adopted two cats, one quite a bit older than the other. More than 10 years later, the older one started to go downhill - weight loss, vomiting. The vet said he had a mass in his abdomen that m...

If it was me, I'd have him put to sleep. Maybe I'm naturally cold-hearted, but I accept that humans outlive pets, and I would not let a pet ruin my life and health. What I would not do is attempt to pass him on to someone else. As a less drastic fix, I'd cage him at night, as far as possible from my...

I tried putting the litter tray outside but she came in and messed on the carpet. I don't think you'll be able to stop her using the inside litter tray altogether; she's too used to toileting inside. I would leave the inside one in its usual place, but give her another tray outside. Put her usual l...

It's not uncommon for cats who have always been indoors to feel that the litter tray is the only place they should use, even if it means coming inside to do it. You could try offering her an additional litter tray outside - put some used litter in it to give her the idea. I have an outside litter tr...

You can get creamy treats with the consistency of toothpaste - Sheba make one, which my cats like. I'd be tempted to lay a trail of that up the glass of the lower window, and on to the frame at the gap, to get them interested in it. At least you'd get part of your window washed! (Unless they decided...

Back around 2002, I had two indoor cats. The big one wolfed the food, the little one liked to nibble and graze, so inevitably the big one finished the little one's food. I solved it by putting a microchip cat flap on the door of a crate, and fed my little cat in the crate. Frustrating for the big on...

I presume the house has at least two doors to the outside. Decide on one of these to be the cat access, and build an enclosure outside it. Google animal pen, chicken run, aviary etc for ideas. My cats have an enclosure about 3 metres by 10 metres, and that gives them reasonable scope for exercise. C...

Lilith wrote:

MarySkater wrote: And for those of us who don't have an ensuite loo, the bedroom door is going to be opened at some point...

...In the wee hours?

Thank you, fjm. Your saga deserves to be saved along with the old one about "how many dogs does it take to change a light bulb." (If you don't know that one, it starts: How many dogs does it take to change a light bulb? Border Collie: Just one. Then I'll replace any wiring that's not up to...

bobbys girl wrote:It's all well and good to say keep them out of the bedroom, but two can open the door and one scratches at the door until you give in.

And for those of us who don't have an ensuite loo, the bedroom door is going to be opened at some point...

I'd love to post your story on my Facebook page. Many of my friends are pet owners who would enjoy it. But I won't do it without your permission, and if you're not happy with the idea, that's fine.

Happily I don't have dogs, and only one of my cats does the "wet and friendly" bit - but she does it often.

I've never had a Persian, but what fjm says sounds very sensible, especially clipping her coat right down to start with. I do have a semi-longhair Norwegian Forest Cat, who has no fear of grooming but is too fidgety to be groomed much. She mostly takes care of her own coat, but I run my hands over h...