I’m very pleased to announce that The Toast has convinced a real, live veterinarian to answer your general and specific questions about pet health (I mean, take your animal to a non-digital vet, though), and we’d love to hear what those questions might be.
Our intrepid vet has worked in both large-animal (cows! horses!) and small-animal (cats! dogs!) practices, and is willing to share the fruits of her wisdom, unless your questions are about reptiles, because she does not care for those and happily refers people to the local exotic-pet specialist.
You can call her Dr. S, and let’s start coming up with some great questions for her to answer! I’ll start.
Is pet insurance worth it?
What do people do with good intentions that drives you particularly nuts?
Should we go to vet school or is it an expensive mess with no jobs?
What are the good pet foods?
What do you think about the wet/dry food thing with kitty-cats?
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Okay, now the rest of you ask things.
Tags: advice, animals, dr. s, health, veterinary wisdom
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grain free food (for cats) — worth it?
Also do you ever just want to steal all the animals and take them home and snuggle forever??
I have the same question about dogs, with regards to the food. I can’t tell if they should actually be eating grain free/low grain food or if the gluten free/paleo trend has spiraled over into pets now (sort of like when you see gluten free labels on body wash or other things that don’t belong inside you anyway).
Dr. S,
So, my little rescue dog that we’ve had for about 3 months has been diagnosed with a luxating patella, and he walks with a funny little gimp in his back right leg. Like, 2 or 3 steps, then hop. Rinse, repeat. He only does this when we’re out on a walk, though, not while walking around at home.
But the weird thing is, we had him for about 3 weeks before he started displaying these symptoms. Is a seemingly sudden onset of luxating patella weird? Or is there a chance it could be something else?
Related: Our vet says that surgery isn’t a great option because it probably doesn’t hurt him, it’s not hampering his movement really, and it’s not even all that guaranteed to fix it. Second opinion?
Thank you!!!!!!!
My pup has that issue, too. The vet recommended these joint health chews that he gets every morning. In the future he may need regular meds, but for now we just try to keep him from overexerting.
Luxating patella sounds like a Bond girl name.
(Sorry about your doggy)
1. How bad of a pet owner am I that I didn’t know there was a thing as pet insurance?
Oh also I keep noticing these little skin-pellets (best way I can describe them, honestly) on one chair where my cat normally sits. Are these just from her grooming herself? Should I be worried?
Ewwwwwwwww!
My cat had those; they look like sesame seeds? Is so, they are worm bits. So gross, I know, but your cat will just need some de-worming
Omg they do look like sesame seeds. Uuuuugh. Ok, both cats to the vet I guess.
Yep, those are dried tapeworm segments. They’re easily treated with an injection but treat for fleas too ’cause the tapeworm lifecycle involves a host, usually fleas. One of those monthly dose things like Revolution has worked well for my doges.
could also be fleas… well, rather, flea eggs. if you wipe your cat with a wet towel, are there little flecks of blood? (sorry this is all super gross)
Ok but exactly HOW NECESSARY are shots for indoor cats? Cats who are AFRAID of the outside and would never accidentally go out there? Or also cats who maybe sometimes go outside but just sit there for 5 minutes and then come back in and never actually associate with stranger cats?
I can’t answer for the vet, but I can give you MY vets answer when I asked her the same question.
“I’m fine with your cat not getting any of the shots for things they might catch EXCEPT for the rabies shot. Even if your cat is never exposed to rabies, if she bites someone, they can ask for a rabies test. The only way to test for rabies is through a necropsy. So get the rabies shot so you always have proof they’re up to date and no one has reason to test for it.”
My cats are 100% indoors, no interaction with any other animals.
Seconding on the rabies. Just this month there was a small rabies outbreak in my area, when the transmitters were bats that had gotten inside. (For reference, Northern Nevada, where there are apparently a lot of rabid bats. I blame Hunter S Thompson.)
Yikes Nevada, what are you doing.
If kitties go outside at all, they can still be exposed to the residual body fluids of random animals who may wander through, and there are some bad-news (vaccine preventable) kitty diseases that are spread through fluids and fomites. I am not a vet. I’m just a person on the Internet, with opinions about cats. I’m probably the only one though, right?
Rabies is something you want to get. My vet told me about a bat that managed to get into someone’s house via the chimney and it had rabies and infected the dog. It’s a freaky disease.
Also if your cat goes outside at all, they’re exposed to a lot of things and they should probably get shots.
What flea medication would you recommend for a cat? I’ve been using Frontline but I have heard rumors that it’s less effective than it used to be.
I’ve used Advantage and that has worked pretty well (not a vet, not an expert in cats.)
Also, is the generic flea medication that costs half as much but has the same active ingredient OK? Because that stuff is not cheap!
We considered the Kirkland Signature frontline-clone, but then read a bunch of online reviews that it made pets’ fur fall out (which could be a well-financed smear campaign for all we know), but it scared us straight into the arms of Big Flea Medicine.
I have heard the generic stuff is ineffective. But who knows… I *hate* fleas so am not willing to risk it.
Comfortis! It’s prescription-only, and it’s the only thing that works for our cat. It used to be approved for dogs only, but it’s now considered okay for cats.
Oh god, I have so many questions. Can I ask multipe questions? I’m going to anyway. Ok, so I have a cat (who is about a year and a half old, if age matters):
– he has spurned my attempts to get him to eat the brand of expensive, actual-meat-based wet cat food that I can get in my small town, and instead only wants to eat dry Hill’s Prescription Diet dental-protection kibble or Fancy Feast wet food. Any opinions on which of those is the least-worst?
– possibly-relatedly, he has developed fairly noticeable dandruff. Is there anything to be done about that?
Have you tried the Soulistic brand of canned (or in pouches!) wet cat food? I get it online from Petco (they run free shipping specials fairly frequently), and it’s not quite as expensive as some of the other fancy actual-meat-based foods. My cat LOVES them, and was pretty finicky about other wet foods I’d tried.
Seconding that dandruff question: my cat (long haired) has had dander for most of her adult cat life (she’s almost seven now)–mostly it’s on her back and right above her tail. The vet says she’s healthy but I’ve never asked about her dandruff issue before.
My cat has issues with dandruff – his vet says it’s just a natural predisposition to very dry skin (my cat is a long-haired cat, for what it’s worth). The things that have made the biggest difference in his skin and coat are:
1) More moist food. The wet food is very good for kidneys/overall health/etc., so we feed him a small amount of moist food twice a day.
2) VERY high-quality, low-carb, meat-based kibble. We use the “Solid Gold” by Katzenflocken. He gets 1/8 cup in the morning, 1/8 cup at night (he’s a fat bastard and on a diet).
3) Salmon oil. This has helped immensely! Check the labels carefully to find one that doesn’t need to be refrigerated, and comes in a pump bottle. Add 1-2 pumps to food once a day (we add it to his breakfast moist food).
My cat still has dandruff, but it is MUCH less than it was and the vet has commented on the amount of improvement.
My cat is long haired too, so maybe that’s a thing. I just started feeding him salmon oil, hopefully that will help!
Ok, my 9 year old kidney issues, toothless cat (she’s TOTALLY AWESOME, BUT MAN THE VET BILLS!) and I just went through a big diet overhaul off Hills Science Diet Kidney kibbles and here’s what my excellent vet and I ended up on and I think if I could go back in time, I’d start doing what I’m doing now when she was a baby because she’s doing so good on her new food. Its like a brand new toothless cat!
1. My vet wasn’t super concerned with the grains issue. She was like, “they’re obligate carnivores so they don’t need any plants, but my opinion is most veggie/grain supplements are essentially harmless fillers”
2. Dry food is the devil. It’s why your cat is getting dried out. If you can’t get your cat to eat anything else, better that than no food, but wet is always better, even shitty brands. You just have to worry that the shitty brand is made in china and has something toxic in it.
3. Shitty brands can have decent mixes of wet food. You can learn to read the labels which is terribly frustrating, but check on the protein analysis, and go higher protein or higher moisture percentages when you can (lower protein, lower phosphorus is recommended for kidney issue cats, so I actually look for 10% ish on my proteins, but everyone else should do the opposite). Look up an article on cat food labels and they’ll run you through all the tricks (like, “with chicken” or “chicken flavored!” has way less chicken percent wise than something labeled, chicken entree.)
4. Cat dandruff and cat earwax and cats that puke a lot are possibly cats with a food allergy. The two most common cat allergies are based on the two most common proteins they get fed: chicken and beef. My cat, aside from switching over to half canned food and half fancy kibbles, no longer eats chicken. She now gets a mix of canned weird animals including duck, rabbit, pork, lamb and weirdly, very weirdly, australian brushtail which I hope to god I never see a picture of because I’m sure it’s really cute (oh god I looked it up, its SO CUTE). My cat is really into the rabbit and the brushtail. She’s also fond of duck and lamb (she only likes eating cute things?). My cat does not like fish, but obviously that’s a traditional chicken alternative. Rotating the foods is also recommended. Keep shaking it up so one, they don’t get picky and two so they don’t develop allergies.
Some nights I stay over at my boyfriends house and also the cat isn’t consistent in eating her nice fancy expensive canned wet food so I supplement with a kibble of similar fancy-ness. It is grain free. It’s Nature’s Variety Instinct Raw Boost Kibble (Rabbit) that she always has around to snack on. It’s a mix of freeze dried raw pellets and regular kibble and I keep it in the fridge to keep it fresher. She picks out the pellets like a kid with lucky charms.
Anyway, she’s now dandruff, ear wax and knock on wood, puke free. She also seems bit more peppy, but given that she’s basically a throw pillow with legs, that’s not THAT peppy.
Which wet food do you use? My almost 3-year old cat has kidney problems, seemingly since birth. I tried the fancy kidney diet wet food and she wouldn’t eat it. The vet said to stick with the Fancy Feast as long as she’s eating and keeping her weight up. But if there’s a better in-between option, I’d love to hear it!
Ok, my cat has kidney function in a nearly normal range now, although it was pretty bad at her worst point, so your mileage will vary based on severity of kidney compromise, and run it by your vet, but as eating is the number one thing to focus on, you don’t have to go nuts tweaking to optimal until you get to “I am eating, and getting lots of water”.
My vet is not a huge fan of the kidney diets for cats that aren’t in the most severe phase of kidney failure. There are two schools of thought on protein restriction- one thought says, go low, one thought says that’s malarky and the jury is still out. What I do think is agreed on for both is that higher levels of phosophorus and the extra work the kidneys have to do from high protein diets can aggravate the kidney issues and may also cause the symptoms that lead to loss of appetite. So by looking for a lower protein food/higher quality protein (the second of which I do not understand that well about 5 minutes after I stop looking it up), you tend to help the kidneys take it easy and help the cat feel good enough to eat which makes them feel better too.
So basically my vet was like, you are going to become a label sleuth. I look for things without chicken or beef because of allergy issue, and i buy things which a protein percentage of around 9-10 percent. You can buy higher than that if you want to do lots of research, but it’s a pain. Here’s an insanely detailed website all about this stuff: http://www.felinecrf.org/diet_and_nutrition.htm/
I am fortunate enough to live in the kind of city where pets get accupuncture from their vets, and thusly live close to a pet food store that has the frozen raw stuff as well as canned catfood made with all kinds of weird animals of the world (here’s their site, see if you can find any of these brands: http://www.pussyandpooch.com/store/pc/viewCategor…. I basically trust any brand they carry after I check the protein percents. the nature’s variety instinct is one that I get a lot of. I’m also getting this new zealand brushtail thing and others. In terms of ones at the grocery store, Newman’s own is at my grocery store and looked pretty decent in the analysis. Also again, particular to my cat who has always been fussy, but she likes a mushy smelly cat food, and not so much into fish. She likes all the squishy rabbit and duck.
Thank you! This is all super helpful! My cat’s always drank and peed a lot and last year her urine was tested and came out diluted. The vet did an ultrasound and her kidneys are small and misshapen. Since then there’s been no real change. Her bloodwork remains fine and her urine is still diluted.
I’m going to check out the links you suggested!
Is there really such thing as a hypo-allergenic cat? I desperately want a cat, but am allergic, and don’t like the idea of taking anti-histamines everyday (but maybe this isn’t so bad?). Alternately, are there cleaning or care practices that would help with allergies?
This is just my own experience re:allergies, I’m allergic to most adorable mammals, but I have a cat and a dog. What I’ve noticed is that my allergies kind of got used to my particular pets to where they didn’t actually bother me after about a month or so after getting them, but if go to someone’s house with pets I sneeze my head off/eyes water/etc. So maybe give it a try?
Interesting! I think I will.
I’m allergic to cats and find some set me off more than others. It doesn’t seem to be a breed thing (although the one Rex cat I have ran into didn’t set me off at all which may or may not be a coincidence) but less-allergenic cats for sure exist.
I’m looking into Rex cats now, and omg, the Tennessee Rex! A T-Rex!
Get rid of all your wall-to-wall carpet and your cat allergy battle is half-won. Also I have a cat that didn’t make my allergic roommate very sneezy. I got him at the shelter. He is black, but I don’t think that this is enough to guarantee non-sneezingness…
I feel like there’s something superstitious going on with these black cats.
They are bad luck for allergy medication companies! Or something…
Siberians and the Cornish and Devon Rexes are less-allergenic cats. I think the Selkirk Rex might be as well, since it’s also a curly-coated cat, just with longer curls. The Sphynx is not hypo-allergenic at all, in spite of being hairless.
Also, I believe females and neutered males are less allergenic than unneutered males, and I think there’s a theory about black cats being less allergenic as well.
The Siberian is probably your best bet, but honestly, so far there is no such thing as a genuinely hypoallergenic cat.
I think you can adapt to a pet, though – my partner was really allergic before she moved in, but now she’s almost never bothered by my cat.
Good thing Siberians are SO CUTE. Also, I’m totally buying into this black cat theory.
CAT ALLERGIES. OK both me and my husband are allergic to cats and we have two insane kittens.
1. If you have carpet, invest in a good vacuum. We have a Dyson. Then use it. We vacuum two or three times a week. If you have no carpet, maybe get a Dustbuster for the corner, and sweep frequently, and get something to de-fur your couch if you have a soft squishy one.
2. Get a Furminator and furminate those bitches. Mine are both shorthaired and it STILL comes out with absolute gobs of fur. Do this once a week and the shedding is super minimized AND it keeps the hairballs away.
3. Do not allow the cats in the bedroom. OK, you can do what you want, but it’s insanely helpful for us to have somewhere to go that is not cat dander-fied and also to spend 8-ish hours in a dander-free environment, Cats are not allowed in the bedroom or to hang out on clothes, ever.
4. Wash your hands between touching the cat and touching your face. Alternately, don’t rub your face in the cat.
Now both of us take allergy pills rarely–maybe once a week? And we’re fine! I am still allergic to Other Cats but these psychos are fine.
Thanks for the tips! I’m glad you and your partner have managed! I’d never really thought about the carpet thing, but luckily I’m moving soon so I will look out for that. Also, I really like the idea of keeping the bedroom separate.
Constant vaccuming and changing of linens will get you a long way with cats. Brushing the cat regularly also helps.
Also you can pet your cat, but make sure that your cat cooties are washed off your hands before you touch your face. Number one way for me to get an allergic reaction.
Lastly if you are allergic to cats its pretty common that you are also allergic to other animal fibers and feathers, so the cat is usually your last straw or starts to trigger a sensitivity to the other things and then it spirals. If you don’t already avoid feathers and fur, I’d recommend reducing down the other animal fibers you have around you as much as you can. Sleeping under a wool blanket with a down pillow and a cat by your side is going to throw your nervous system into all out war. I’m sort of allergic to my cat and we sleep side by side, but if I sleep on a feather pillow then I wake up dead. If I sleep on a weekly washed cotton pillow case over a dustmite cover over a synthetic filling pillow, we do just fine.
Thanks! I know I am allergic to other animals (HORSES, sadly) but I hadn’t thought of making the connection to other animal products. Definitely wearing a down jacket today, and slept under a down blanket…
Just want to add my voice to the chorus suggesting that you get used to specific cats. I never knew I was allergic till I left home; coming back to visit I suddenly discovered that once I’d stopped living with them, my parents’ cats had started to make me sneeze and wheeze. (This was annoying.) I now have two cats and they don’t bother me unless I stick my entire face into their fur and breathe deeply and rub it around. They sleep on my bed and I pick them up and pat them and it’s all fine. So add my anecdata to the idea that many people do acclimate to their own cats.
This exact thing happened to my husband–he grew up with a rotating cast of like 5 cats, became allergic when he moved out, and we just got a kitty that he is not at all allergic to him.
I’m just imagining a cat trying to tempt you with a purr that really means BREATHE INTO MY FURRRR, silly human.
This is so encouraging! I think I’m really, really going to commit to this soon.
Just how allergic are you? I’m glad so many people have adapted to their particular cats, but I need to caution that this isn’t guaranteed by any means–my fiance, for example, has had his allergies get significantly worse since meeting my cats and now has serious allergy-induced asthma. It’s to the point where even with allergy shots, $600 of air filters, and regular cleaning, I will not be able to keep my cats when we move in together or get married. So please, by all means, go for it! But could you try fostering first, maybe, to see how well you can tolerate a few months of cat?
Oh, I’m definitely going to try and foster first! My parents also have cats now, and I’ll be spending some time at home this summer, so hopefully that’ll help.
There is no such thing as a hypo-allergenic cat, period.
The allergy is caused by the Fel d 1 protein found in a cat’s saliva and sebaceous glands, so the cats fur or lack thereof has little to do with the allergy. The cat licks itself, it dries and the dried protein is in the air.
My roommate keeps letting her two cats run out of water. And I think this is Animal Cruelty, but she’s like, “it’s ok, they can drink from the toilet.” Because toilets involve fresh water.
But I don’t think the insides of toilet bowls are clean. Because, you know, poop. I clean and sanitize it every month or so because it takes ages until it starts to look a bit dirty, but just because it looks clean doesn’t mean it’s not teeming with bacteria!
Am I worried over nothing? Or is letting cats drink toilet water actually a danger? And yes, they do vomit semi-regularly (once a month, sometimes more, sometimes less?) and I think this may be related?
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Also, Toasties: TWICE now she has left for a 5+ day trip while leaving her cats with enough food and water for maybe two days. I take pity on the sods and end up buying them food and refilling their water (NOT MY JOB, and I don’t want to do it regularly because then it becomes my job). I told her that the next time this happens, I’m bringing them to a pet hotel, and she can deal with the expense. She was livid about this idea. I think it’s perfectly appropriate. What to do? Not that it really matters; her schedule is very busy, and she won’t be traveling any time soon anyway.
I can’t speak to the toilet water thing, but about the vomit thing: is it a furball or legit vomit? Sometimes the two look very similar. Depending on the length of the cat’s fur, it could very well be a normal thing. My long hair cat leaves us furballs/vomit pretty much once every week or two weeks.
My Sida-cat vomits every day, nearly. Her sister Kuno does it once a week, easily. Some cats are just pukers, sadly. Not that it should be dismissed (I can dismiss it because I paid my vet much money to test them and they’re fine, just gross.)
Leaving the cats for 5 days without fresh water and food and a clean litterbox is not okay, and i would charge her fees for pet sitting as well.
Yes! Btw, did not mean to gloss over the not providing them with enough water/food/clean litter thing.
Some cat puke is possibly food allergies in disguise. My cat was a “puker” and I thought it was hairballs, but I switched her off chicken and beef and she’s not puked once in the last 2 months.
Also sometimes cats puke from eating too fast or if the bowl is down on the ground it can be when they lift their heads back up. So if your roommate alternates between starving and feeding her cats, they may be gulping it down too fast. You could also try placing an inverted bowl under their bowl to raise it up to a higher standing height.
The water thing isn’t probably the cause of the puke thing. But they do need fresh water. One way to give cats fresh water while you are away is to put a bowl into the sink with the tap turned to a slow drip and let it drip into the bowl. It’s wasteful, but I’ve done it once or twice.
I don’t know. I think it looks like legit, cat-food-ish vomit, but I don’t have the experience to tell. She have short hair but seem to shed a lot, so perhaps it is fur balls? If she brushes them more, will it help?
That’s not hairballs, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that anything is wrong. Could mean they got excited and ate too fast…
Yeah, that’s abusive. Making them crawl through their own waste for 5+ days to go to the bathroom is not ok, either – nor is making you smell the smell. Start charging her pet sitting fees.
5+? Try 30+
How often should she be cleaning it out? She gets anti-smell stuff so I don’t really notice any litter box smell (perhaps I’m just used it it? I should ask a guest). But it has got to be pretty groady in there.
Ugh I replied in the wrong place. See comment here: http://the-toast.net/2014/02/25/veterinarian-like…
My philosophy is, solid matter clumps (be they poop or pee if you’ve got clumping litter) should be scooped every day because scooping a few chunks daily it’s really not that difficult and the cleaner the box is the cleaner it, and the area around it, stays. When the box gets too fully/dirty is when kitty (at least the one I live with) gets mad and starts a) kicking poop out of the box or b) just going elsewhere. And daily cleaning means the box never gets a chance to develop That Smell (which eventually takes over the room it’s in or even the whole house).
Unfortunately for me, my roommate (who owns the cat I live with) is more of a “you scoop the box when there’s more clumps then litter) person though she’s getting better (because I nag her otherwise). Deep cleaning (dump out all the litter, wash box, let dry, add fresh new litter) should be done ideally every 2 weeks or at least once a month.
God I’m a terrible pet-owner, maybe, except our cats our happy little beasts. We have a litter box for every cat, plus an extra, and we don’t scoop but we do deep clean them all once a week. I don’t use clumping litter (because it’s bad for everything, or so I read, and also because TRACKING my god), so pee-scooping is not possible. I do, and this is gross, sorry friends, pick up the poop with toilet paper and toss it in the toilet when I remember to, for the boxes that live in bathrooms.
I am only a vet student, so take everything I say with an enormous grain of salt, but I am definitely on the side of box-scooping every day. One, because cat pee is disgusting and needs to be out of my house. But two, because Toxoplasma (the cat parasite that can infect your brain) is shed in cat poop, but is not infectious to humans until it’s been sitting outside of the cat for a couple days. So cleaning cat poops within 24 hours reduces your chances of getting a creepy brain parasite.
The Toast Commenters, Reducing Your Chances of Getting Creepy Brain Parasites, since 2013
Servicey.
Not a vet, but I can tell you that your roommate is a monster.
She needs to be leaving fresh water and food for her cats sufficient for as many days as she is gone. Even without drinking from the toilet as a backup (ugh), what if the lid is down or the door is closed? Or what if they don’t like doing that?
Good for you for speaking up.
She needs to get someone to feed her cats for her while she is gone. There is no such thing as fresh food and water 5 days later!
When I have had non-cat person roomies, I would have my sister come do it! This is common sense!
I’m back and mad again. What if the cats knock over the water bowl? What if they eat all the food on the first day?
It’s not your job to take care of these cats, but someone needs to.
Also litter boxes should be cleaned DAILY.
That makes me really sad. “They can drink from the toilet” is no way to talk about a pet.
It’s no excuse for letting them run out of water, but cats are very very picky drinkers, and would rather go without than drink water that didn’t meet their standards – so if they are drinking from the toilet, then the toilet water is fine.
Also if they had caught a toilet germ that caused barfing, they’d be barfing all the time.
Good to know! They definitely end up drinking from the toilet, so I guess that means it is safe? And the barfing isn’t a persistent thing, so that’s good.
5+? Try 30+
Edit: I just read this article: http://www.pethealthnetwork.com/lifestyle/how-oft…
So basically not cleaning the litter box enough means they will clean their paws elsewhere in the house (gross. Also this explains why they are so fond of scratching at my bathroom rug. Gross.) and also they will “hold it in” more and this can cause a cat UTI. Eeep. I sent her the article.
Ugh she hardly has time to take care of herself but she got two cats anyway and she just “loooooves” them. And she won’t give them away unless she is certain that they are going to a good home, because it’s pretty challenging to find someone who wants to adopt twin adult cats. Sigh.
It’s really not that hard, she’s just busy and neglectful. Even if she set up auto-feed/water/cleaning, cats get upset when their person isn’t around. They need love, not just sustenance.
Not a one of my stupid (delightful, beloved) pets will drink the fresh water. They search out horrible water spots – the toilet is the most benign one. The flower pot half-full of dirt and half-full of scummy rain water back behind the garage where I didn’t even know it existed until I was chasing the cat yesterday and caught him slurping from it is among the worst.
Cats CANNOT go more than one or two days without food, or they may develop feline hepatic lipidosis. When cats aren’t getting enough calories, the liver starts converting the cat’s fat into energy, however the fat then builds up in the liver and can cause permanent, possibly fatal, liver damage. Your roommate is being an asshole, and the next time you have to repeat your pet hotel statement, let her know it will be a heck of a lot cheaper than vet bills and euthanasia.
Are cat allergies a thing? I’ve had my cat for about six months, and she has had persistent sneezing and booger problems (SO MANY BOOGERS it’s terrible) pretty much the entire time. She’s been to the vet and gotten kitty antibiotics, but it doesn’t seem to have done much of anything. It’s weird, because she seems totally healthy otherwise — clear eyes, healthy appetite, lots of running around and chewing on computer cords and generally being a gleeful little shithead. Soooo what’s up with the snot???
I had to do two rounds of antibiotics to get rid of some nasty shelter crud when I got my oldest – have you been back to the vet to see if you need more drugs? Otherwise, I don’t see why a cat couldn’t be allergic, I guess…
She’s been back a couple times to get all her shots done, but has only had one round of antibiotics. She’s not super snotty all the time, she just has these weird bouts of sneezing (maybe a few times a day?) where she flings boogers all over the place. (AND THEN EATS THEM because she’s a gross monster.) It strongly resembles my own allergic response, so I was curious! But yeah, I should probably take her back to the vet just to make sure everything’s okay.
I’m not a vet but you might want to get a pcr panel test done that deals with upper respiratory diseases. They’re very accurate and they test for a variety of things. I’m sure the vet will have more information. I got one done re: diarrhea for my cat and it turned out that my 2 year old indoor cat had a virus, a bacterial infection and a parasite that could all be causing the diarrhea. Kind of a shock, but it’s essential to know these things.
I have a friend who has a cat that contracted cat herpes (it’s a thing!) when he was a kitten and he gets bad crusties too. He sneezes, has the runniest nose, and wheezes pretty badly, though the wheezing might be related to the fact that he’s old and quite overweight. I am neither a vet not a cat owner, but from what my friend says the cat herpes isn’t a big deal, he just gets sinus medication every once in a while. Maybe your vet can test for it.
According to my vet, yes. I took my cat in for excessive sneezing and snot one time, and they gave her antibiotics. The next year, same symptoms (I had completely forgotten about the previous year). Vet noticed it was almost to the day a year later and suggested it was allergies, probably to dust/leaf mold/other fall stuff that humans are allergic to.
It is tooootally a thing. I’m not a vet but my cat has allergies too haha. She sneezes, has dandruff, and is itchy all the time despite no fleas. My vet said there are kitty allergy treatments but tbh my cat’s allergies aren’t terrible enough that I feel like subjecting her to them. (She also hates eating pills; I have to bury her anti-biotics in her wet food and stand there until I hear her crunch down on them, so….)
my cat had food allergies, and we just put her on reactin (yeah, the over the counter human stuff) and it helped (she had been scratching a lot around her ears and eyes and it wasn’t that severe but she was gouging herself) until we found her a food that didn’t trigger the allergy.
Oh hello, I also have a Booger-Cat. Totally healthy in every respect, except for the flinging of wads of mucus everywhere. In six months he has been on three different antibiotics. The problem would clear up while he was taking the medication, and then recur almost immediately after we stopped giving it to him. He’s been tested for everything and has a mild case of kitty herpes, but not enough to be causing the problem. We could have him checked for nasal polyps but haven’t been willing to do that yet. Our vet told us that some cats just have chronic rhinitis and there’s not much you can do about it. The one thing that has helped is using a nebulizer twice a day for a week about once a month. Otherwise we just keep furniture covered with towels and always keep tissues handy!
My sweet 18 year old black kitty has kidney failure and is throwing up a lot less now that she’s on special kidney food. She is still throwing up every now and then. Is there anything I can do to help her be less nauseated? She is an angel with my toddler. How will I know when it’s her “time” with kidney failure?
I’m so sorry to hear about your kitty. *hug*
My favorite cat ever, CG, had renal disease and eventually renal failure. I had about a year with him after his diagnosis – we had oral medications, special food and I gave him sub-cutaneous fluids in gradually increasing amounts as time went on and his kidneys failed more and more. I don’t know if it’s the same for everyone, but it was very clear to me when it was time for CG. The sub-Q fluids failed to perk him up (and we were at the upper limit of the amount my vet considered safe), and he got very lethargic, thin, his coat and eyes started to get dull-looking, and he just wasn’t himself. It was a slow downslide for him until the end, and then it was very rapid – it was very clear to me that it was his time. I think you’ll know if your heart.
How can I get my cats to live exactly as long as I do?
How many cats makes a crazy cat-person?
But, seriously, I am graduating later this year and will probably be moving for a new job. My one cat flew on a plane when she was a wee kitten, but I’m terrified I will have to fly both of my cats cross-country. They get so terribly stressed outside my apartment. How can I fly with cats so they are safe (in the cabin under the seat, not with the luggage!) and so they feel safe?
I’ve flown with my cat twice when we moved. She’s a very calm cat in general (and doesn’t ever talk, even when she’s scared). I put those herbal anti-anxiety-drops-for-pets in her water for the week leading up to the trip (I have no evidence that they actually relaxed her/ work at all). During the flight she had her favorite toys and one of my t-shirts (smelled like me) to snuggle with.
For the flight, we flew first class–this is my biggest piece of advice. If you can afford to do it. There is more room under the seat there so kitty isn’t squished, you get through security faster and in general the plane people are a lot nicer to you.
Yeah, mine are both super anxious (and one is a nervous pooper, ahem). I have nightmares already where they escape during security and sprint for freedom.
Yeeeeeeah, I recently discovered that my cat is also a nervous pooper… 30 minutes into a 7-hour road trip. THE MORE YOU KNOW.
I am just thankful she’s not a nervous pee-er (is that a word?).
Yeah, I think my cat gets carsick. He will barf and then have diarrhea and then I will pull over at a gas station and put him on the trunk of my car and use all their oil-checking paper towels to try to wipe him off. He is too pathetic to try to run away.
Now I just leave him at home to drink out of the toilet.
“How many cats makes a crazy cat-person?”
More than the number of persons in the house plus 2 does a crazy cat lady make. At least that’s a friend’s theory. Mine is more than the number of rooms in the house plus 1. And that’s rooms, not bedrooms. Carve up your open plan living spaces accordingly.
So: bathroom, walk in closet, room = 3+1=4. I have room for two more!
It can also help to have the kitties get acclimated to the carrier beforehand. I used to put my cat’s kitty treats in her carrier so she would associate it with good vibes. She would lie in it sometimes of her own accord. It meant having an ugly cat carrier out all the time in a small apartment, but it seemed to help during the trip.
At the risk of this only being about cats…
My older cat throws up lately, a bit more than usual. And is peeing in the bathtub relatively often. How disastrous is this?
Corollary:
He was prescribed anti-anxiety medicine, but refuses to take it… ideas?
The Greenies brand pill pockets are pretty magical for drugging cats.
Have you had his urine analyzed for infection? Strange peeing locations are sometimes a sign of bladder infections.
He has had one before – but last time we checked, he was just “anxious” she said. Which, well, he’s a little neurotic, so that makes sense. Honestly, the bathtub doesn’t bother me – easier to clean than the litter box. but my bed… not so good.
When mine had a UTI, the vet at first believed it was a personality problem, and tried to give him Prozac… (we got it straightened out during that visit, when he peed all over the table and she was able to sample it…) So maybe you want to medicate him?
ETA oh right, I forgot the part where he’s already got pills that he won’t take. My original advice on greenies pill pockets still stands.
Pill covered in cream cheese. Crush it up in wet food (if vet says you can crush it).
How can a cat refuse to take medication? Is it like a powder on his food and then he won’t eat the food? otherwise you can just force him to take it, right?
If it’s a pill, cats are like small children, they will hold the pill in their cheek and when you let them go will go spit the pill out. If it’s liquid, again, like small children, they will thrash and shriek and liquid goes everywhere. That’s why people wind up wrapping the cat in a towel or something, to try to minimize the struggling.
I had a cat who had to have 1 1/2 pills to get the proper dose. She was not happy about the first pill but would take it, but she felt the second pill (or half pill) was not in her contract and would do almost anything to keep from swallowing it. Eventually I learned how to hold her head so she had to swallow it, but she would be angry for some time after the pill session was over.
After my cat got sick from medication, she started frothing at the mouth at the sign of a pill bottle.
It’s a decent-sized pill, and he just doesn’t wanna swallow. I covered it in salmon, and he still spat it out. For whatever reason, the vet just prescribed him a low dose of a human anti-anxiety medicine. So, maybe *I’ll* just take that and stop worrying about my cat. ha.
This sounds complex but I have a cat that recently figured out that pill pockets contain medicine, so I had to do some pretty extensive research. Also the cat bites like crazy and I didn’t want to lose a finger. Everyone told me to get a pill popper but when I tried that, well, let’s just say that I was cleaning up both slimy pill parts and blood. What I ended up doing is getting gelatin capsules from amazon (thanks, prime!) and crushing the pills into the capsules. I stick that in the pill popper and dip the popper in wet food. My cat will lick the wet food off and actually take the popper in her mouth, so when I release the pill she barely notices (I think the taste was bitter, hence the need for the gelatin capsules). Now when she sees the pill popper she gets excited. Hope this helps–I was about to tear my hair out before I figured this out.
Ask the vet if you can crush it up in a little water or broth, then put it in a syringe. Then to give it to him, kneel on the floor with the cat’s backside between your knees, and control his frontside/face with your non-dominant hand. Use your dominant hand to wriggle the end of the syringe into the corner of his mouth and squirt. This should get most of it into his mouth, and he should get most of the rest as he cleans up the little bit that got on his face.
Takes a couple of tries to get the hang of, but this is the way my vet taught me to give meds to my cat, and it works literally every time. Hopefully the med is okay to put in solution.
CASHEW!! I have a question relevant to guinea pigs: Do vets learn about them in vet school? Is it even worth taking them to the vet for weird shit that doesn’t show up on Google searches of “common guinea pig problems”?
I ask because both my now-deceased pig and my current pig have had weird skin stuff. The vets checked ’em for mites and fungus, found nothing and sent me on my way with an antiseptic solution and $200 fewer dollars. Eventually now-deceased pig spontaneously healed herself and died later of complications from a bladder infection (well, I had to get her euthanized). Current pig just has a wonk-foot and finds the soaking in antiseptic boring. I love my vets and they’re certified in small pets, but still.
I don’t know whether vets get training in guinea pigs, but I’ve had several pigs and their vets were always doing research for things that they didn’t know so that they could treat them. There was a bit of trial and error, especially for the my guinea pig who had heart disease, but they always received excellent treatment.
Ooh, that’s neat! I suppose my pigs’ problems have either been mild or basically fatal, so it may be a misperception on my part that there’s not a lot of treatment information out there.
i think it’s fairly normal that vets do research for all animals and idk, it makes me a bit uncomfortable really – that things are so unfamiliar to them though i know that’s the reality of medicine. like when my cat was diagnosed with tritrichomonas fetus, i had a lot of questions about the drug that is used to treat it and my vet said she would find out for me. when i came back to the clinic, i found that she had just printed out information that she had found online. and the thing was that i had already independently read that very same pdf and it didn’t answer my questions lol – which is why i asked them.
….anyway i found that episode kind of underwhelming. also because she made a big deal of the fact that she’d done research for me and it’s one of the first few things that comes up on google when you search the parasite.
There are usually “exotic” vet clinics that deal in everything that isn’t cats and dogs — I worked as a vet tech at one and we had everything from hamsters to toucans, iguanas to african greys. They can be a lot more expensive and often are only in major cities but they do exist.
A really good alternative is any school that has veterinary science or animal husbandry classes! I got my cats spayed at a local college that did it for free because it was a great way for students to learn hands-on.
Really, really good pet stores are often goldmines of information and care when it comes to smaller animals too, as they tend to have seen everything and often can’t afford to take smaller animals to the vet.
Depending on the vet (in Canada at least) they may or may not have taken a voluntary exotics rotation. However, most vets have access to VIN (Veterinary Information Network) and can consult with others who are more knowledgeable. They also have the option of reading the info and case studies that have been posted.
Generally, if your guinea pig is showing signs of illness then the’re very ill. Being prey animals they hide signs of illness until it’s simply too much for them to camouflage. Prompt vet visits, intensive homecare and active advocating is the best route to walk out with a live pig.
Finally, skin scrapings are not always a guarantee in terms of eliminating mites. They hide, they’re sneaky little buggers. They burrow and they may or may not be hiding in the bits of skin being scraped. My personal preference is to treat for mites regardless of the skin scrape results. Ivermectin in crazy cheap, can be given orally/topically and is really safe. Selamectin (Revolution) is medium pricey but easy to give and requires fewer doses for complete treatment.
1. This is the best thing EVER and THANK YOU, THE TOAST.
2. Dr. S!
I have a rescued lionhead rabbit with one eye (he’s still got ol’ lefty; we think righty was taken out by a predator).
This is going to seem like a question without an answer (or with a really dumb/simple answer), but here’s the story: He keeps running into things in our living room. Like, hard. Sometimes so hard that his teeth click together. It stopped being funny and started being worrisome about a week ago, because he gets up some good speed hopping around, and bonks his head on everything from the cage to the table legs to the wall. My question is, how bad is this for him/what should I do, other than pad everything at bunny-head-level? I don’t want him to hurt himself permanently, but I don’t want to limit him. He really loves to hop. (Duh, I guess, he’s a rabbit) Any thoughts?
Thanks so much!
Do you have hardwood floors? Your bunny might do a lot better on carpeting — his paws might be slipping on parquet or even linoleum.
Mine actually refuses to walk on our hardwood floors because he’s a prima donna (and he doesn’t like going slower or slipping). It’s a great gift, in a way, because I can control where he goes in the house by where I do or don’t put down carpet. And if you’re worried about him chewing up the carpet, you can just get one made of natural jute, or coconut or seagrass, and it won’t hurt him if he does (though hopefully yours is not a chewer).
The doctor will know best, but in my experience as long as the bunny is still active, eating, pooping, and being friendly, he’s just fine (and if he suddenly stops doing any of those things, that would be the time to worry).
P.s. your rescued lionhead sounds adorable!
Thanks very much! His name is Hank Williams. He’s kind of the light of our lives (I know I say that in a safe space here…)
We do know the thing about hardwood floors, and thus expanded the carpeted space in our living room by about 300%, so he really only runs around on the carpeted space (isn’t it funny, that they seem to not like the slipperiness? it is convenient indeed!) He isn’t a chewer either, thank goodness, but it hurts my heart every time his little head rams into something hard. I guess I’m just a softie. 🙂 Sounds like I’m worried about not much of anything, though – I’ll keep an eye on his behavior for sure!
aww. Hank Williams does sound in great spirits, despite the bumps!
Mine is a rescued chocolate Dutch dwarf with white tips on his paws and his nose. His personality is just like they say for the breed: really smart, super affectionate, but also high-strung and a bit of a little Napoleon. I loved having cats, but bunnies are almost more fun (or at least this one, now), and so communicative — I love all the leaping and shimmying! And even the grunting when he is annoyed. It’s nice to be able to share much of one’s dinner with a herbivore, and they smell amazing — especially when he has mint or basil breath!
But I totally know what you mean about a safe space — I don’t volunteer info about having a pet bunny that often to the world at large! 🙂
Sometimes I splurge on really high-quality bulk hay and supplies here — you might like it too: http://www.bunnybytes.com/cgi-bin/start.cgi
your rabbit sounds super cute! especially the grunting. 🙂 thanks for the link – we go through hay like crazy. happy bunnying!
I’m sorry in advance, because I can totally see why you’re concerned and as a pet (though not rabbit) owner I can see how this would be very scary, but this – assuming he’s not really hurting himself!! – sounds adorable.
I am giggling like a not-concerned-about-Hank-Williams’s-head-injuries monster at the whole scenario.
Is there anyway we can give the gift of speech to the cat so she can tell us *why* she’s peeing everywhere?
I swear, this cat is like Goldilocks – everything has to be *just right.* She’s only a bout a year old, and she didn’t used to do this. She’s already been checked for UTIs, and everything seems fine there. Right now she’s on a diet that’s supposed to help with her pH balance or something. After 3 different litter boxes, she seems to like puppy training pads lining a shallow litter-box best – but she’ll still sometimes pee on the sink or on any available rugs. Thankfully not the carpet or any clothes, but it’s still kind of annoying.
(P.S. this is my roommate’s cat, not my cat. I don’t actually like cats that much.)
I don’t know why your roommate’s cat is so rude, but have you tried spraying her bad peeing locations with Nature’s Miracle or similar? If they can smell their old pee somewhere, they often think it will be a nice place to pee again…
Also make sure the litter box is in a “safe” location – somewhere she can surveil her surroundings to be sure no one will sneak up on her, somewhere there aren’t sudden load noises or really anything happening at all.
Yeah, we’ve used enzyme cleaners – but I think we’ve got to throw the rug out. Don’t want to buy new ones until she’s done with this though. The litter box (well, both of them, as the other cat likes to pee over the side of the litterbox and so has to have his own with extra tall sides) are in the bathroom. Roommate hardly ever uses a hair dryer, and the problem cat used to use the litter box there, so not sure what’s up.
Rugs with a rubber backing sometimes smell like peeing places to cats.
Have you considered exorcism?
Have you tried Feliway? I’m toutin’ it lately, because it’s science’s miracle.
I want to leave other people’s questions to the vet, but this one I do think I can weigh in on. My parents ended up taking care of a very troubled cat (very long story) who needs a completely controlled, constant, unchanging daily environment or else he urinates on everything. Sometimes he does it even then. He lives in their (nice, big, warm, well-windowed) basement, with one other easygoing cat for a companion, and the litter must be changed religiously, and he can only be tortured with badly-needed grooming every so often. This mostly works, but just to even get there they had to spend months daily and religiously spraying everything he had ever peed on that wasn’t a litterbox with Feliway. Also they can’t leave laundry baskets on the floor: too litterbox-like. Also he has issues.
Try: Dr. Elsey’s Precious Cat ”Cat Attract” Litter in the litter box. Also give the box a good scrub, or even chuck it out and start over with a new one, the plastic will eventually get saturated with the pee, so sometimes its not the litter that makes them grossed out, its the box.
Also this is a bit whoowhoo touchy feely stuff, but It’s based on the boyfriend’s cat who was having a real territory peeing issue, and the show “my Cat from Hell” which suggested that some of the pee issues can be psychological and if cats feel insecure, giving them a place up high to watch the action/retreat to in times of stress will help. So if she doesn’t have a shelf or something, maybe set her up with one. The peeing issue with the boyfriend’s cat has pretty much disappeared and aside from using that litter and regular cleanings, the other changes were the addition of a cat tree they can climb on, and a tall platform bed, both things which the cats love and there’s less fighting going on too, which seems really strange?
my little cat has the WORST smelling poop ever. like, he consistently clears out the room nearest to the bathroom. he also poops more volume of poop than I even thought possible coming from an 8 pound teenage cat (we think he’s around 9 months, but not sure since he’s a rescue.) we have an upcoming vet appointment and this is on the agenda for discussion, but do you have any suggestions, dietary or otherwise, for dealing with the smell problem? we currently feed him grain-free dry food every day, and only very occasionally treat him to wet food. we also currently go through about one package of incense a week.
Omg my 9 month old rescue cat also has the worst poops! And with grain-free dry food! Why is this happeniiiiing?
Cat puberty?
(caveat: I do not have, nor have I ever had, a cat)
My cat’s about three, but her poops started smelling WAY worse after we switched her to grain-free dry food. It’s foul.
I know personally–my cat is around 5 or 6, and any changes to her diet make her poops into the worst stink bombs ever. Like, literally any small change. Even new treats, or if she’s managed to scavenge something off the floor in the kitchen. I’ve found that a really consistent diet helps manage her poop stinkiness, and she eats wet-food only, which I’ve heard can also help with the smell!
That said, her poops are also RIDICULOUSLY huge. I mean, she’s a big cat (16lbs, just large in general) but I swear they’re the size of her entire intestine track. I think it’s because she goes, like, once a day like clockwork, rather than small amounts throughout the day. Maybe it’s the same for your cat?
Although wet v. dry food is usually a pretty tedious internet argument, I’m curious to hear a real live Toast Vet’s opinion. My cat has digestive issues and so far, special “sensitive” dry food is the only thing that doesn’t give her the runs. :-/ I hope she’s not missing out too much nutritionally but non-apocalyptic poops are top priority at this point.
our cats should start a crazy poops support group 🙁
I would be curious as well. I tried wet food (dry food is like “cereal” according to my vet) but both of my cats are, apparently, recreational pukers. Wet food puke is orders of magnitude worse than dry food puke, so I told my vet I was switching them back, and she told me she utterly understood. Some people seem to think I may as well be feeding them undiluted poison for feeding dry, others think I may as well be smashing their teeth with little hammers if I fed wet. *throws hands dramatically in the air* No winning!!
“No winning!!”
Yep, pretty much. I have no idea how cat food came to be on the level of a religion, but it’s more than a little crazy (I’ve even seen “don’t listen to your vet, they don’t know anything about cat nutrition” advice given online).
Which is why I split the difference and end up with “whatever works best for your cat is the best choice to make.”
That’s about where I decided I was as well. My cats are fat (too fat, we’re working on that), and happy and healthy and I am happy as well, and a happy owner is better for a cat who is dry fed than a cranky, grossed-out owner is for cats who are wet fed and decorating the house with it.
Dry food is the only thing that stays in my cats – specifically Iam’s regular chicken flavor, which isn’t all that great, but whatever, it stays in!
They go crazy for kitty cereal, which is when I put some water on a little bit of food. Still the same nutritionally, but they think it’s a special treat, because their brains are very small.
My attitude about this is “whatever works to minimize all their problems, and eff the h8ers” (I talk like that), but I, too, would like a vet to weigh in!
I worked at a cat only practice for a while and we always recommended wet when possible. Not so much in terms of being nutritionally complete since both wet and dry are typically nutritionally complete as is. Mostly it’s for water content and hydration. Cats are desert creatures and don’t typically drink enough water on their own to adequately hydrate and keep their urinary system happy.
Mixing extra water in dry can be helpful if that’s something your cat can handle. Encouraging extra drinking is always good. My cats go nuts over cat fountains and that’s significantly increased their water consumption. Given that I have three boys I’m hoping that we can avoid urinary issues if we just keep things moving along nicely.
Here’s a few:
-My beagle constantly eats sticks outside — is this a concern? I have a hard time telling if he just chews them up, or gnaws on them like a rawhide bones. Either way, he seems to be fine, but what are the symptoms I should watch out for?
-He has a little cyst growing above his eye that has me worried. The vet says that it’s no big deal, but what would be involved in removing it?
(These questions sponsored by my completely obsessive dog-mum paranoia).
My 4-month-old vizsla does the stick thing too. Oh, she loves them! Loves them! They’re so good, sticks! And she carries them around so proudly before she begins to devour them! Also acorns, leaves, dirt. One time we didn’t let her out in time and she pooped in the house, and when I cleaned it up, I realized the poop was like 95% dirt.
His poop is so firm all the time because of little bits of sticks in it. I guess he has a high fibre diet?
I am Not A Vet, but my dog had a little cyst above his eye too. The vet gave me some cream for it, which we used for the recommended time, but it didn’t do anything. Eventually, the cyst went away on it’s own! (Much, much later than could be explained by delayed cream reactions.)
Just throwing in my experience, in case that helps!
Thank you! He’s had it for a few years, and I think it’s growing? (I say it is, my husband says it isn’t). I know it’s probably nothing, but I do worry. (I mean, I assume getting it removed would be the equivalent of a human getting a mole removed, or some type of plastic surgery, which seems a little elaborate for a dog).
My dog had a cyst under her eye that our vet did recommend removing, and it cost about $400 (including a biopsy) and was a pretty quick procedure!
Oh, that’s good to know!
my parents’ beagle had the eye cyst too. I don’t think they’re a big deal. The vet said it was benign but they could remove it if they wanted; eventually it grew again and made his eye bleed and so they got rid of it. Quick surgery and a couple days on painkillers and the Cone of Shame for the dog, who is now fine.
Oh this is cool! Hi Dr. S!
My question is about dogs! The family I grew up with only feeds their dogs meat (as in, pieces of steak/chicken), and this seems to make the dogs very happy and healthy. It also makes sense to me, given what I know about evolution and the fact that all dogs are wolves. Is this correct?
If that is right, and I get a dog soon, what should I feed it as I struggle financially through my 20s? Meat is quite expensive, but I don’t want my future dog to be sad/hungry/unhealthy.
Thank you!
Well if it helps, the latest DNA research suggest that dogs and wolves share a common wolf-like ancestor. This ancestor also may have self-domesticated by eating human garbage from middens. At least these are the sorts of things I tell myself when I feel the dog the best dog food I can afford which isnt meat at the moment (we buy some grain-free fish/potato stuff supplemented with liver treats and carrots).
Someone today told me a story about when she used to cook at a steakhouse. There was a woman who came to their kitchen door every night at 9 or so asking for the bones that most of the kitchen remembered to bag up for her. Her tale was that her son worked in the kitchen when he was in high school and brought home steak bones every night to feed their pups, and though he moved on to another job, the dogs wouldn’t eat anything else. She apparently gave very distraught looks to the people if they’d forgotten to bag up bones for her free primo dog food scheme,
So I recommend you find a steak house and be prepared to provide cute pics of your delighted pup devouring steak bones.
As far as I know, domesticated dogs are omnivores, and I THINK I’ve heard that some dogs can have their kidneys stressed out if their diets are too strictly protein? But I could totally be wrong; interested to hear what the doctor thinks.
My dog has eaten a raw diet since she was about 4 months old (give or take, she’s a rescue), and she’s six years old now. I feed her mostly chicken (bone-in thighs, drumsticks, or leg quarters) because that’s what I can afford. I watch the sales and pick up beef when I can afford it.
In my experience, raw feeding isn’t a science, it’s an art – you have to figure out what works best for your particular dog. For instance, the raw feeding rule of thumb is to aim for (over time, not necessarily each meal) 10% bone, 10% organs, and 80% meat. If my dog eats only 10% bone, she ends up getting the runs. But making sure she has some bone in every meal (i.e., a bone-in thigh or drumstick) keeps her regular. Just like people, every dog is different. Same goes for the amount to feed; depending on metabolism and activity level, each dog may need more or less food.
The only rules not to break are: no cooked bones (they get harder and brittle and can puncture your dog’s insides or break their teeth, whereas raw bones break up easily and the dog can crunch right through them); no large bones (like, cow leg bones are not good, they are too hard and will break teeth); no sawed off bones (again, if they are sawed into pieces like steak bones, chances are they are too hard and have sharp edges); always feed more meat than bone.
There are some really great (and also really terrible) resources on the internet. The biggest help to me when I started out was joining the raw feeding group on Yahoo! Groups (really). When you join, you can browse/search through the archive postings to find answers to just about any question you can imagine.
We moved last fall and I switched to a highly-rated vet closer to our new place. The new vet asked me what I was feeding my dog (I have never had a vet do this!) and I was honest. I expected her to give me a hard time about it, but to my surprise she said that she didn’t have a problem with it, she just wanted me to get some extra tests done to make sure my dog’s kidneys and whatnot were working right (because that can sometimes get out of whack for raw dogs). She checked out just fine!
I convinced my sister to switch her beagles to raw a few years ago. Before raw, they were both on heavy medications. One took meds for epilepsy (and without them she would have really terrible, frightening seizures) and the other took meds for hypothyroidism. After switching to raw, the one dog is totally off the epilepsy meds (in consultation with her own vet!) and hasn’t had any episodes. The other dog still has to take her meds, but at a much smaller dose than she needed before.
One last thing: poops. Raw dogs have teeny, tiny poops compared to kibble dogs. Like, my dog is about 40lbs, and her poops are smaller (and much less stinky) than the poops of my sister’s 20lb beagles were (before they went raw too). Also, since most of what comes out is truly waste in the sense that it’s mostly bone leftovers, poops that are left out in the sun tend to just dry up and disappear. I mean, it doesn’t happen overnight, but most poops eventually turn white and just melt away when it rains. (This is only relevant if you have a yard that you don’t use, which we do – I still bring poop bags when we go on walks, I am not a poop-leaving monster.)
Another thing (I could go on all day about the benefits of raw feeding!): fur. My dog has shiny, soft, puppy fur all over her body. It is seriously amazing, and I credit this to the raw diet. On the Yahoo! forum, people write in with anecdata about how even switching their older dogs to raw made their fur softer and shinier.
Okay, done preaching.
Why does my cat like airplanes so much? He stares, transfixed, every time there’s one on the television. Only airplanes, not birds or Supermans. Just planes.
Only a veterinarian can answer this
This is kind of dumb, but how do you tell the difference between dandruff and flea eggs? I’m afraid she’s getting fleas again and I haaaaaaaaate it. I never see fleas on her but she’s a medium hair black cat, so. I probably would miss them anyway.
You will know if there are fleas, because they will bite you.
They dooooooooooo but part of me has panic attacks convinced that the bites I get are from other worse bugs.
There are no worse bugs. Burn down your house immediately.
Grossness alert:
You should be able to tell if there are fleas by their poop in the cat’s fur – it is made out of cat blood, and so looks dark when dry but is red when wet. So get all up in there, and if you see little dark specks take them out if possible and wet them on a paper towel – if they turn red then fleas are afoot for sure. Someone above also recommended wiping the cat with a wet paper towel and looking at it, might work better on short hairs though.
Not a vet, but get a flea comb and run it through your cat’s fur. If you pick up any little black flecks (and I mean tiny; smaller than a sesame seed), those are flea poop and your cat has fleas. Dandruff will be all white. The black flecks are easier to spot than the fleas themselves. My family’s outdoor cats often got fleas, so I know.
Hi Dr. S! My cat Karl…. is driving me insane. He whines, WHINES, whines alllllll the time for food. Every time I even take one step in the direction of the general area in the house where his food is located, he scampers towards his bowl.
We’ve done the full blood panel and the urinalysis – and he’s perfectly healthy, the little shit! The thing is, we used to have him on Taste of the Wild venison kibble, which he scarfed down, but still did his whole dramatic routine. I wanted to put him on wet food because I thought the water content would help with his hunger issues. We’re now on Dick Van Patten’s Natural Balance exclusively, and he used to love wet food as a treat, but now he doesn’t even eat much of it – just comes upstairs and whines at us for — something. ARGH KARL WHY. There is food in his bowl. Good food! Expensive, high quality food! He’s obviously hungry, or for whatever reason doesn’t like the food he used to, but how many different kinds of food can we try out on him? Nothing seems to satisfy him. Does he want me to stand there and watch while he eats? (I really don’t want to do that twice a day). We also bought him one of those calming pheromone collars, to no avail.
Sorry if I sound unhinged and desperate! I am a little. Haha… ha. Seriously, I want him to be happy! (and also stop crying at me all day)
This is 100% not a vet answer, but it is an answer from the experience of having a super whiny cat about food, especially at 5am (even though I have never fed him at 5am). The trick is that I trained him to whine to someone else who does not listen to the whining, which means the whining eventually mostly stopped, and he does not come to me for food. Less cryptic: I bought him a food robot/automatic feeder bowl that feeds him on a programmed schedule. It only works with dry food (which is all he can have anyway), and some cats are more trainable than others, but he no longer wakes me up in the mornings or comes to me when he wants his food: he just sits and stares at the automatic feeder bowl and waits for it to dispense.
Also, automatic pet feeders are one of the best things on Amazon, because the user photos are full of people’s hacks to make them impervious to pet attacks.
Also some cats are just crazy loud howlers for no reason.
I never laugh out loud when I’m reading, but this
“he no longer wakes me up in the mornings or comes to me when he wants his food: he just sits and stares at the automatic feeder bowl and waits for it to dispense”
made me snort involuntarily. I want one of these now, just to mess with my cat (he thinks flashlights are gods. He would entirely lose his shit over an automatic food dispenser. I mean like actually he might have a heart attack or some kind of transcendent experience).
He has a very… vacant, watery stare. I’m not sure much is going on behind it.
Ah. He’s different from my buddy then, who has a LOT going on in his brain…it’s just that none of it is very effective. He has definitely formulated a religion based on reflected spots of light on the ceiling. I think an automated feeder would turn him into a polytheist.
Well, this is timely for me and has finally forced me out of lurkdom! My beloved 11-year-old boy cat just got home from a nine day stay at the vet. To make a very long story short, he had a urinary blockage and it was very, very scary. His vet catheterized him and he passed the blockage, but he started to re-obstruct when he pulled the catheter. The vet repeated this process with no luck, and Boy Cat was scheduled for a perineal urethrostomy urgery. HOWEVER, the day before he was scheduled, he ripped out the catheter himself (despite wearing a giant cone of shame) and the vet was able to get a steady stream of urine from him. My vet was concerned that Boy Cat was overly stressed to undergo surgery, and sent him home with medication and Royal Canin Urinary SO. It’s kind of on a trial basis–he’s urinating, but only in dribs and drabs, which the vet said would be normal for a while because he is inflamed. He is definitely urinating in little spurts (albeit not in his litter box, which is usual for him). Biggest problem right now is that he’s not eating much of the prescription food. He’s very finicky and has been eating crappy Fancy Feast for years (which is terrible for cats with FLUTD) because it is usually the only thing he will eat consistently. He’ll occasionally eat a better brand food, like Weruva, but I’m of course afraid to even try that with him now. Are there any alternative diets for cats who have had a blockage? He has tried both varieties of Royal Canin SO and also Science Diet C/D.
Aaaand, this is the longest post ever. This is why I should remain a lurker!
Oooh, yes please on any alternatives to Royal Canin. My boy went through the same thing, though the perineal urethrostomy was not required at the time, it may be a possibility in the future. But he’s not a fan of the food.
A random vet here…Hills c/d and the royal canin both help prevent crystals forming in the urine which is part of what causes the blockage. The other part is bladder inflammation (thought to be set off by stress) which leads to inflammatory “goop” in the bladder – goop+crystals=concrete in the wee wee tubes. The only treatment sown to be effective in reducing the frequency/severity of the stress->bladder inflammation attacks is wet food (of any type) since it produces more dilute urine. So if he won’t eat the prescription diets, the next best thing is any wet food
I remember when my cat had a similar problem, the vet sent me home with three different kinds of food to try (all prescription) — so there are definitely others out there, though I don’t remember the brands, alas.
From the medical point of view, what’s the number 1 biggest/most annoying/frustrating thing pet owners do that you wish they wouldn’t?
I absolutely want to know more about pet insurance! It seems like a scam and there are a lot of ugly reviews online.
My question: how bad are stairs for dachshunds (and dachshund mixes)? I know they should avoid them if possible, but does that mean we should rule out any houses with stairs? Here is the doge in question on top of a mountain.
That photo inspires me to do great things with my life.
Awww! Your dachsie is adorable! I also have one – and one with a very bad back at that. I am not a vet, but my pup has had multiple slipped discs (and, luckily, rebounded both times).
We currently deal with stairs and jumping on couches and the like by picking him up, no matter what. It is hard to get those little buggers to stop sometimes – they think they are invincible! But once you train them to stop, it works out pretty well. I am sure people think I’m babying my dog, but I’d rather carry him up and down the stairs if it means avoid more disc issues!
I have stairs, and the dog may not use them, because there is a gate and he lives in the downstairs and not the bedroom area upstairs. If I bring him upstairs (like for a bath), I carry him up, and I could do the same if I wanted him to be able to sleep with me. So even if the vet answer is “no stairs!” you can still potentially buy houses with stairs!
So I take care of some feral cats (they’re all spayed and neutered and more or less live on my porch). Recently I noticed the long-haired one has a mat on his side. I need to cut this off him, right? Of course, he’s the only one who is NOT COOL with being picked up or touched, so do you have any tips how I might accomplish this without massive scratches or trauma for him? Do I have to take him to a groomer, or is this something I could maybe do on my own, armed with blankets and some clippers?
1. How can I tell if my dog has the mange? He doesn’t seem to be scratching that much, but I’ve developed rashes over the past month that are consistent with having a mangy dog.
2. Advice for getting your overweight small dog down to a normal size? I walk him every day, I feed him the vet-recommended amount (he’s on medicated dog food), I feed him apples and carrots as treats, but I also give him a small bone every few days, and a little cheese (because he loves it so much!). So, advice for pet owners on how not to let their dogs manipulate them into feeding them more?
Regarding #2: My small pup would eat and eat and eat if I let him. And he acts like he’s starving if I give him the vet-recommended amount of dry food. Luckily, my vet told me I can give him green beans (good protein; low fat) along with dry food to stretch it a bit! So, I microwave half a handful with each feeding (he eats twice a day). Seems to help!
Do cats need outdoor access to thrive?
Also- I just made an account, and the two comments I’ve left so far have come with an automatic thumb up, which makes me worried I am thumb-upping myself. How do I stop this?!
All accounts get an automatic thumbsup for some reason.
Good to know, thank you!
I think it’s like tip jars: when I was a barista, my co-baristas and I would put a dollar in for good luck/to encourage others to tip.
They will tell you that they do, but it’s all a ruse to obtain plant materials that they can then barf on your bed. And also for some reason they want to catch fleas, because they think it’s funny to watch you freak out.
Please note: I am asking these questions because animals being put down is something that saddens me, even though I understand when it is done it is usually the best option for the animal. It’s an unpleasant reminder that the world is not a nice place. I’m not asking loaded questions (“how do you feel about being a murderer hurr durr”)
Do you euthanize animals? And assuming you feel some sadness even though it was the best option, how do you deal with the sadness?
I had to put down my best friend dog who I raised from an 8 week old puppy about two years ago. She was only 4, but she had had a very serious injury and no amount of money/time/surgery would have fixed it. It broke my heart. It still breaks my heart.
How do you deal with the sadness? Allow yourself to feel it. It’s okay to feel incredibly upset, depressed, sad, guilty, mad– whatever. This is a hard decision that you’re making on someone else’s behalf. This is a beloved pet. What helped me was reminding myself that I was doing the best possible thing for her. I was honoring our friendship and time together by making the hard decision and being there for her in her last minutes.
God I loved that dog.
I appreciate your advice but I was actually looking for an answer from the vet out of curiousity. I didn’t mean to bring badvibes to the comments section and remind everyone of their former pets but apparently I have a knack for it.
A cat I lived with had to be put down a few years ago (he ran away and returned months later, hypervigilant and miserable and none of the meds the vet tried him on improved his symptoms).
I still feel sad about it and miss him, and that makes me wonder how a veterinarian would deal with any feelings of sadness they have dealing with pets that are suffering/having to euthanize them on a regular basis.
When I had to put down my 18 year old cat, I actually felt really bad for the Vet… I was a sobbing, ridiculous mess, and at one point said “I don’t want her to die here!” I sent him a Thank-You card that week 🙁
My cat has crystals in his urine, so is on meds and really expensive specialty food, with an overhanging possibility of the meds and food not doing their intended purposes some day, and boyo needing to go through very expensive surgery to remove his remaining junk. Is there any chance this might ever clear up on its own, or should I just start a surgery savings account for him as an inevitability?
Also, before the mandated lower protein diet, he’d get bits of liver and such as occasional treats. Other kitty is perfectly fine and no dietary restrictions, but boyo will steal whatever he can. So I’ve not been giving either of them special things. Would occasional bits of meat harm him further when he’s meant to be very low protein?
Is it bad for the cat to drink out of the toilet? If so, how bad? Because she seems to like it, and will sometimes choose the toilet over her water dish even when the water dish is spotlessly clean and full of delicious non-toilety water. How hard should I be trying to stop her?
Toilet water is refreshed more often than pet bowl water, and also has a larger surface area from which to evaporate chlorine (which cats do not care for). They are also sometimes offended by the scent of the soap you may have used to wash the water bowl. They are very picky about drinking and will generally make the cleanest choice…
We do live in a place with very chlorine-y water! Maybe I’ll try giving her water from the Brita pitcher instead of straight from the tap. It does seem sort of unfair that I get the nice filtered water and she gets the gross tap stuff. (On the other hand, we used to live in Portland, where the tap water is so clean and delicious, and if anything she was even more obnoxious about only wanting toilet water. CATS.)
If my dog happens to have what seem like mini-asthma attacks occasionally (mostly when he seems excited we’ve been gone for a long time), is there anything to do to help him? Does he have asthma? My strategy so far is just to hold him and calm him down, and seems to work, but it’s a little bit scary to watch!
I don’t love my cat; he is too stupid to love. I don’t have a question; I just wanted to tell you guys.
sure, you say that now… but then you’ll accidentally kick him again, and chase him looking for forgiveness.
Clearly you did not introduce him to right literature when he was a kitten.
When I first got my cat, she was also too stupid to love. I used to apologize to her for her general dumbness. But we must have grown together or something similarly children’s bookish, because she has become the most amazing companion. I don’t know how long you have had your cat. It took my cat about 4 years to become interesting, but probably 9 years before I was blown away by how cool she is.
hes 11 and he sucks
At what point should you start feeding your dog senior food? We do not know the exact age of our 75 lb Rhodesian Ridgeback mix but he is no younger than 7 years old. Do we wait until he shows more signs of aging besides gray hair? Is it only necessary if he starts having problems with eating?
I would also like to know this! My totally healthy 10-year-old shepherd mix still eats normal adult food.
At what point will rabbits stop being classified as “exotics”? Because they are simple creatures and their checkups and spayings do not need to be so expensive.
My guy calls Lucybun “the gold-plated rabbit”. But I lurff her.
Hi Dr. S!
My cat was a feral kitten, so he’s always had a lot of anxiety about food and he also has separation anxiety. This anxiety has caused us a lot of problems.
1) He bites. Mostly me, occasionally my partner. He scratches too, but mostly he bites. And this is the first thing he does to let us know that he wants to be fed. We have done everything we can think of to stop the biting – we’ve overfed him, we’ve sprayed him with water, we’ve shut him in a separate room and then let him out when he calms down, we’ve grabbed the scruff of his neck and held him down by it (we’ve never lifted him by it), we’ve made loud noises at him, and I even gently bit him back once. I know you’re supposed to reward good behaviour in cats and not punish bad behaviour, especially with anxious cats, but good behaviour means “don’t bite the crap out of me unprovoked” and I don’t know how I’m supposed to reinforce that with rewards. Also, my vet says that he’s a very dominant cat and he can’t be allowed to dominate me.
2) He really, really hates that we don’t let him into the bedroom with us at night. He used to sleep with me when he was little, but my partner is actually allergic to cats and it seemed like a good idea to have one room in our house with less cat hair and dander.
3) He weighs twenty pounds when he should weigh twelve at most. We’ve tried portion control, but that exacerbates the biting/scratching. We’ve tried diet food, which worked except that he threw up like seven times a day and also the vet-prescribed diet food had almost literally no meat in it and I worried that he would die of malnutrition if we fed him that way long-term.
We do play with him and cuddle him and talk to him. He is not being neglected, just overfed and locked out of the bedroom at night. Also, he already has a four-foot cat tree (he sleeps on the base and ignores the wide variety of lovely scratching surfaces in favour of clawing the coffee table).
I am at my wit’s end with this cat. Does he have to be allowed in the bedroom with us? Can we keep him fed and feeling secure without making him into an enormous blob fatting around the house? Does he need kitty Prozac? Does he need a kitty friend, or would he just dominate another cat until I had two crazy animals? I feel like I’m doing everything wrong, and I don’t know how to do better, and my vet just shrugs and tells me that some cats are assholes when they reach social maturity.
That sounds tough :/ When he bites, is he playing/attention-seeking or being aggressive? My formerly-feral-kitten loves to play really rough and used to bite people’s feet if he wanted attention. He mostly grew out of feet-biting and we’ve mostly convinced him to play-bite more softly and not to use claws and to attack his fighting toys when he wants to be rough.
He puts his ears back and his head down, so it certainly looks aggressive. I do think it is ultimately about attention, because he calms down as soon as I feed him and then he’ll come cuddle or something, but it doesn’t seem playful.
That sounds different, so I don’t know how helpful this is, but one thing that was suprisingly effective was squealing “Owww!” at a really high pitch. The theory (although I can’t remember who suggested it) was that since he had no siblings and was separated from his mother early, he might not realize that biting hurts and that yowling/squealing is how cats express pain.
I solved my cat’s biting issues by getting him a little sister to bite. Now he bites me once every couple months, instead of once every couple hours.
Listen, from my recent experience, putting an asshole cat with another cat will not likely reduce your stress. lemonadefish seems to have had a different experience, but some days I would rather get bitten than listen to a cat fight and still get bitten in the end, anyway, you know?
My used-to-be barn cat doesn’t bite but he is fat, and he does poke me in the face with his paw when he’s hungry in the morning, and I often awake to his face looming over mine because he’s watching for my eyes to open. For the past 2 years, he only wants to sleep on my pillow next to my face. Luckily I am not allergic, but I would prefer he not sleep in bed.
He has a super annoying meow and talks a lot, and he has separation anxiety. It was fine when I was single and lived alone, but he does tend to drive other people crazy. He follows me around like a puppy and meows his annoying meow if I’m in another room and he can’t get to me.
He refuses to play like a normal cat, and restricting food intake (while I still do this) hasn’t made a dent in his weight, nor did diet foods. I wish I could say it gets better, but it doesn’t. I love him, because he is sweet and the fat makes him extra cuddly, but he’s a huge pain in the ass. The vet says there is nothing wrong with him. He’s 13 now and will probably live to 100.
Sometimes I think I should get a babybjorn for my cat, because he likes to follow me and sit on me and knock the book out of my hands (right now he is trying to get between my hands and the keyboard). Someone invent this and I will buy one. I think it will help a lot with the needy cats.
i don’t think your cat will die of malnutrition of a vet prescribed diet food.
Do rabbits really need vet checkups?
I took my rescue bunny exactly once, and the vet was adamant that people shouldn’t adopt rabbits as pets because they have weak backs; he actually made me demonstrate that I knew how to pick up my rabbit and seemed really shocked that I did know how to do it safely. Plus when he showed me how to clip my rabbit’s toenails, he made 9 or 10 of my rabbit’s nails bleed, which really reduced my confidence in him (at home I don’t have any assistants to hold the bunny down, and yet I still manage to avoid bleeding the vast majority of the time). From what I can tell, rabbits don’t need vaccinations and don’t really get many treatable diseases, especially indoor house rabbits like mine. Yet I still feel guilty that he hasn’t been to the vet in 5 years, and I ignore reminders from the vet. My rabbit is 6 years old, and he is still bouncy and frolics in the morning to celebrate breakfast and so forth. Do I need to bring him in or is it okay to just keep up a good usual healthy diet and skip the vet?
God, how did you even get a rabbit? I wanted to adopt one but the local House Rabbit Society wouldn’t deign to answer my emails, and you can’t adopt one without their say-so. Shelters won’t let you have them unless you’re experienced with rabbits. I have a bad feeling about the whole nonsense as a result.
Obviously you just need to rabbit-nap one.
Considering that my “ideal” bunny is a cottontail (i.e., natural bunny from the yard), you’re probably right.
P.S. I am only saying that they are aesthetically the cutest rabbits of all to me, not that it is in any way proper or realistic to have one at home. Oh, their fat little bottoms and pretty brown fur! <3
Haha, I had to call and make a phone appointment, and then pass a little oral quiz with the House Rabbit Society here. But it wasn’t hard — they kind of prompted me on one answer even.
Maybe try calling instead of emailing?
I thought it was totally worth it to get a bunny from the rescue society, because (in addition to it being a good cause) they litterbox-trained my bunny for me, so I didn’t have to. And they were really honest about which rabbits took well to litterbox-training and which didn’t. I ended up with a bunny who doesn’t need or have a cage, which I love — just some places under the sofa etc. to hide out & sleep during the day.
Wow, your bunny sounds great! I didn’t know they could assess their personalities so well. Does the fact that your bun doesn’t need a cage mean that he doesn’t chew on all the electrical cords and stuff?
Thanks so much for your advice, too!
Jeez that’s crazy! When I was a kid my dad just constructed a hutch in our garage, then we walked over a barn down the street that had a “rabbits for sale” sign. Sigh. Simpler days.
maybe you just need a different vet?
very true!
I guess the further point is, a trip to the vet is always inherently stressful even if the vet is good, because in addition to not being used to bunnies, vets usually see dogs at the same time in the waiting room and the animals can freak out on both sides. My bunny has been known to start hyperventilating with fear. I don’t really want to go through that unless there is a good reason!
My bf and I adopted a rescue dog that unfortunately came with an ear infection. She is afraid of the ear drops and the syringes after a week of us administering them (we missed the last two days because she snapped at the bfs face). The follow-up trip to the vet showed that the infection is still present and we have been prescribed another type of antibiotics that we have to give for twice as long, twice a day, and both ears. So far we are trying to associate the drops with delicious treats but havent managed to get any medication in her ears yet. First, any tips on administering them with the least amount of trauma. Second, I feel terrible not being able to treat her and worry about harming her hearing or worse by working on not scaring the bejeesus out of her.
This doesn’t directly address your question but something to consider if the infection recurs: my dog had a recurring yeast infection in her ears that didn’t go away until I changed her food to something without chicken or corn in it. I had no idea an ear infection could have a food allergy basis, but hers did.
Good to know for the future. Thanks!
Depending on the size of your dog, perhaps wraps him up in a towel securely, like you were making a burrito, and then administer the drops?
It sounds mean, but I would use a muzzle. I have to get the vet to put one on my dog when he gets his annual shots, otherwise he snaps at the vet or the nurse. He is a super happy go lucky dog, he just doesn’t like getting needles. The muzzle doesn’t hurt, and he actually relaxes when they put it on because he knows fighting is pointless. If it was something where you had more time then I would say a slow intro with lots of treats, but since you need to do it right away I would more worry about not letting her hurt you or herself.
How worried should we be about rawhide chew toys for our dog? He loves them, but I have seen really different opinions to them online (from positive to THOSE SHOULD BE ILLEGAL). We don’t let him have them when he’s alone or at night when we’re sleeping, but I would be so upset if something happened because I gave him a dangerous toy. He’s about 9 mos old and 25 lbs if that matters.
Seconded. Mine won’t chew on stuff that’s not foodish, and other food-based chew treats she gobbles up super fast, so I will occasionally will give her little knotted rawhides; they’re so small it’s hard for her to get a grip, so they occupy her for a bit. I’ve also heard conflicting reports on those Greenies teeth cleaner chews (like, that they’re full of wood pulp and can damage the digestive tract? It sounds alarmist, but…), so we’ve stayed away from those.
Oh! I have another question. I have a cute little cat (about two years old now). I’ve had to try and give her oral medications before and it’s very difficult. I’m wondering if there is a good way to train her to be more comfortable with taking medications from me before she gets sick again.
Better to work on your kitty-straightjacket techniques…
Did your vet show you the tricks for really good, fast pilling methods? If so, never mind, but if not, having these demonstrated can make a huge difference! Like, how to get her mouth open in half a second with one hand (there is basically a button you can press), etc.
Also, pill syringes are really helpful for very difficult-to-pill cats. But never mind if you already tried that.
Oh, I should have said: I mean more like, liquid medications. The vet has demonstrated them for me but getting the cat to not spit her giardia meds all over everything and everyone was a trial.
Can you cover the pill in butter or cheese? That’s how I get my dog to take pills.
There are things you can buy called Pill Pockets that are made for that! It’s a treat with a hole in the middle where you hide the pill. I found out they make cat ones because I accidentally bought them for my dog.
Hi Dr. S! I have two cat questions:
1. I feed my cat Fancy Feast classic wet food in the mornings, and a scoop of Iams dry in the evening. We found her as a stray and weren’t about to spend a trillion dollars on expensive food before we knew she would be ours forever. She seems to like this combo! Some catmoms I know are horrified by this, and I’ve repeatedly heard that I’m “feeding my cat McDonalds every day” health-wise. Is this the insane cat person version of smug mommyblogger criticism, or are they right? (She has put on a little weight in the last few months maybe?) The expensive stuff is just a little cost-prohibitive for me right now 🙁
2. HOW DO I GET THIS BEAST TO SHUT UP AT 4 AM AND NOT SCRATCH EVERYTHING TO PIECES/KNOCK SHIT OVER UNTIL I WAKE UP? I’ve tried ignoring her (she escalates the behavior), I’ve tried bad-smelling sprays (she LICKS AT IT), I’ve locked the door to my room (she slams her body against it), I’ve tried to exhaust her the night before (nothing tires her out). Should I call an exorcist or is there something else I can do?!
I would also like the answer to #2! He seems to think any attention is good attention at 5am so spraying with a water bottle, picking up and removing from the room etc. just encourage him.
Definitely call an exorcist.
Also how long can you stick with ignoring? This almost entirely worked for my more annoying cat, but it took a while. Like weeks maybe. Annoying weeks. And then she relapsed hardcore last time we moved, and yowled for hours every single damn night, and I nearly had her taxidermied, but then I unpacked a box that she used to sit in, and I gave her her box back, and she just sits in that and doesn’t bother anyone 99% of the time…
I agree that maybe we haven’t given it enough time–she is very, very stubborn. She is just very talented at worse behavior! We got over the clawing at our mattress, but now she’s clawing on a different chair, and also climbing from the windowsill to the top part of our double hung windows and scratching at the blinds and the glass in the middle of the night, aahhhhhh!! So horrific. Our apartment is so small and it’s really hard to sleep through.
She’s extremely personable and outgoing even with strangers, but she freaks out about food and our comings and goings. She was a stray (we suspect she was dumped in our alley), so maybe those are her insecurities from a past life? Hopefully she’ll get over being ignored without taking it as a grave insult soon, I neeeeed sleeeep!
A water gun might be in order as well, so long as you can shoot her without looking like you are awake…
I’ve tried this but she’s usually watching my every move so I think she knows. Even when I flat out spray her she comes back in like 5 seconds. Maybe I need a cross and a silver stake (I think I’m mixing up my evil spirit defenses but just to be safe).
That sounds rough! It doesn’t really sounds like actual scratching is your problem, more like demon possession with scratching as a symptom, but the most effective anti-scratching I’ve ever found is double-sided tape. My cat switched to RNL-approved scratching surfaces right quick!
Thanks! I’ll give that a try, or else I’ll start wrapping myself in alumnium foil. She’s very good about using her scratching pads EXCEPT during this time or if she wants to get our attention. Definitely demon that happens to have claws.
Is she doing this because she’s hungry at 4am? Because, see my comment above: sometimes an automatic feeder robot helps with that.
I feed her dinner right before I go to bed, so she has food then. Maybe I need to feed her three times a day instead of two? She gets through the amount of dry food I give her in about 24 hours, sometimes a little less, so I don’t know if it’s a problem or not…maybe she’s not eating enough? She’s definitely gained a pound or two since she moved in, so I’m not sure.
i used to jam the door with towels underneath so it wouldnt shake regardless of cat banging. sometimes she managed to pull them out and sometimes not so not the best solution 😛
My cat was super vocal and learned to open the bedroom door. So I had to to block the door and invest in earplugs. It toook a couple of months, but he lets me sleep in now and doesn’t try as often with the bedroom door. He has regressed a bit, but I think the answer is time. Just ignore the little guy, and she’ll stop.
Crap, I have more questions.
Why does my cat like to chase her tail for, like, a half hour straight? Sometimes she gets her claws stuck in her tail and then she cries (I cut them!).
Also, my 7 yr old cat has asthma and has been on prednisone for ~6 years. I cannot afford inhalers from the pharmacy ($200/month, last time I checked) but the long term side effects of the steroids are so scary. Any suggestions?
Maybe her tail is evil.
Also what I am learning from this thread is that cats are jerks. Fluffy and cute, but still jerks.
Terrible annoying creatures who are just waiting for an excuse to shit in your bed.
Great Article!
Oh, also, are there possible long-term repercussions from dogs eating chocolate, even if they seemed fine at the time? I have a very very food oriented beagle who has eaten chocolate on several occasions throughout his life (the last occasion being at Christmas where he opened a wrapped present from Amazon. Ironically, it was a gift to his dad from my brother’s cat). Every time he’s eaten chocolate, we’ve monitored him very closely for any usually behaviour or symptoms, and he’s always fine (sleeps normally, drinks normally, poops normally, normal temperature). However, even if his immediate reaction is fine, are there implications for his long-term health? Is he cutting years off of his life every time he gets ahold of some chocolate?
My understanding is that it’s poison in pretty much the same way alcohol is poison for humans – sure, it *can* kill you, but it most likely won’t unless you put a lot of effort into it. But I am not a pet scientist…
And some dogs approach chocolate in the same way humans do alcohol — gonna have a good time, even if it kills them.
My chocolate-eating dog (like, two whole boxes of brandy-beans at xmas) eventually got kidney disease, but she also regularly ate cured leather and drywall, plus basically everything else under the sun, so I don’t think chocolate was really the culprit.
Some dogs (including mine) seem to be part goat. I keep trying to tell him that he doesn’t have multiple stomachs.
My understanding is that dark chocolate (baker’s chocolate, etc.) can cause cardiac arrest in a large enough quantity. When I’ve seen dogs come in to the vet for this, the staff have a chart where they line up the dog’s weight with the amount and type of chocolate. Some dogs go home, some stay for observation and some get their stomachs pumped.
Oh, I have another question! How likely is it to be able to introduce two adult male cats and have them actual get along? Given the pathetic way he follows the neighbour’s cats if I take him out, I think my cat would like to have another cat around, and I’m considering either adopting a second or trying out fostering, but it seems like most of the rescued cats in my area are male. Is getting/fostering a male cat a terrible idea?
Maybe try fostering and see? Often if there aren’t any lady cats around, they won’t have anything to fight over, but you never can tell…
I’m not a vet but my male cat (who hates anything/anyone new) got a male cat brother. The new cat was a laid-back man cat who had lived successfully with other cats previously. It took a few weeks for my jerk cat to get used to the chill cat, but they ended up loving each other. Unfortunately it did not solve jerk cat’s separation anxiety like I hoped it would.
I’ve done it twice where it worked fine! The first time one cat was about 4, the other maybe 3. The older cat was the original cat and he was NOT happy at first; we kept them separated for a little bit until he calmed down. They fought less and less but it did take months for them to calm down for good. They were best friends for YEARS after that. The second time, it was the same original cat (he was 11) and the new guy was about 9 months. The new guy hated our original cat at first but after a few months finally forgot he was mad and they became BFFs.
TL;DR: Cat friends are great and I think it could work, depending on the cat.
This question is probably better suited to an animal behaviorist, but here goes nothing!
When walking on a leash, our foster dog acts aggressively towards other dogs, people on bikes, runners, and occasionally the innocent person walking down the street. He barks, snarls, lunges, and tries to jump up on the offender. When we’re inside our home, he’s very calm and loving (although he play-growls when we play tug-of-war, and always wants to be close to us/on top of us if we’re sitting down). How can we get him to stop (or control) the craziness when we’re out walking? Besides only walking him at 5:30 AM and 11 PM.
Are you me and my dog because that is my dog and my dog walking schedule? We have been working on avoiding confrontation (hard as we live in a city and downtown) and trying to cut off the reactions with sitting and treats. We are teaching her to sit and then watch us and she gets treats for this and for not reacting. It has reached the point where she is better with people but still a disaster with dogs but we were told by a behaviorist that it takes six months to a year of steady work to get to the point where she wont flip out; we’ve only had her for a little more than a month now. Our walks consist of us on lookout duty and a lot of turning around and jumping snow banks to avoid dogs.
Man, this was my dog! It was AWFUL: when he’d get really worked up, he’d turn all 75 lbs of his frustration on me and there was a good 6 months wherein he ripped every single coat in the household. Interrupting the reaction, treats, and teaching him to regulate his own emotional response and 2 years later, we’re good 99% of the time. He still really hates motorcycles and bulldogs, but other then that, we’re pretty good. It’ll be ok! You’re doing the right thing!
My dog does this. I think it’s called leash aggression if that helps you google for solutions.
How is he with people coming into your home? My rescue loves people but is too jumpy still to be uncrated for most visitors (she has big angst about guy visitors, which is problematic given that most visitors are here to see our teenage sons) – crating calms her a lot when people are around, and she visits the crate just to chill sometimes, so I know she likes it, but she freaks the fuck out if visitors get between me and the crate. (Maybe I should, duh, move it so it’s not next to a path to the door.)
Basically, she’s super protective of me, and displays similar aggression on leash sometimes. I usually cop out of training her past it by making my husband or kids walk her (also I’m lazy) but it’s not a great solution.
My foster does not like people, especially men, coming into the home. We have had her for awhile now, and probably haven’t helped this behavior, but we also haven’t had the time/cash to have a behaviorist work with her. Poor thing. She has got to go very soon because of personal changes. It breaks my heart.
Her next foster/adopter will have to work on her stranger danger. At least she is great on the leash, good in the crate and lovely with “her people.” All our work with her with other dogs has panned out, too, so I know that she can change. She actually loves learning.
Ugh. This is not a question!
I’m about to go dog whisperer on you! Are you sitting comfortably? Are you holding the leash taught? You could be transferring tension to your dog, the leash should be limp and the dog should walk beside you (according to Caear Milan). My dog is the opposite, shes fine on the leash, but barks off the leash. Shes thankfully not aggressive it’s more of a warning bark of (you are strange I dont like you stay away) she has never attacked, but because shes a doberman people run away screaming.
I gotta agree with Charlotte – Cesar knows best! Try watching a few episodes of the Dog Whisperer where he deals with this kind of behavior. No joke, it will really help you out. You’ve got to be relaxed, confident, and ready to react right away to correct any issues while out on your walks. Cesar also demonstrates how to deal with the aggression and behavior calmly and how/when to reward. It does take a lot of work, but I think you can do it!
And there are episodes on youtube!
Why is my cat so noisy? I think the answer is “she’s just like that” or “she wants wet food or treats,” but oh my GOD. She walks around the house meowing and crying like her partner has taken to the sea. They have kibble available all the time, fresh water all the time, the litter box scooped at least once if not twice daily, the run of the house except bedrooms, toys to play with, and two humans who give cuddles and belly rubs and playtime. And yet here she is, sitting beside me, alternately meowing and purring. The vet checked her out OK more than once, so she’s just……chatty, I think.
WHY IS SHE INSANE.
Um…. are you sure her partner *hasn’t* taken to the sea? Really really sure?
Maybe our cats should be pen pals. Sometimes I wish I’d hurry up and go deaf already.
Sometimes deafness sounds like a blessing. One cat can’t really meow, so she chirps and burbles instead. The other one……nonstop noise all the time. She meows ALL THE TIME. All the time oh my god. Right now she’s sitting at my husband’s feet while he brushes his teeth, meowing because that MAY be a sign he’s about to play with her.
Dear gods, I think you & I have the same cats. Sida can only meow when she’s in the cat carrier, and then she is an opera singer. Any other time all she does is open her mouth and let little puffs of air come out instead of meow. Kuno, on the other hand, is loud, cranky, demanding, attentive, talkative, chatty and just generally never shuts the hell up. “Good morning” can be said for hours by her, in strident tones.
Veterinarian shout-out–I knew there had to be more than one of us lurking here! You’ve inspired me to de-lurk in solidarity. I’m only sorry there haven’t been any large animal questions yet (that’s what I work on, too). Anyway, I have no questions, just wanted to exchange a virtual high-five with other Toast-loving veterinarians. Real doctors treat more than one species! Huzzah! (/goes back to lurking)
FIND A CURE FOR MY MARE\’S PSSM.
Another vet chipping in to say “hi”. We are all lurking out here.
My cat only has six teeth, and will only eat Friskies Savory Shreds in Chicken, or Salmon. I’ve tried all sorts of “better” food(Wellness, Castor and Pollux, Merrick…a bunch of others), but he’ll just pick at it and ignore it. Help me get my cat to eat something else, at least occasionally!
He’s just not a food obsessed cat – I mean he’ll yowl if he’s hungry, but I can leave food out and he won’t gorge himself or anything.
(He also has a collapsed lung, asthma and herpes. He’s pretty pathetic, but he’s the best cat.)
Awwww your cat!
I made the mistake of feeding my cat Friskies a time or two, and he went fucking insane for that shit, and turned into a beast – a whining, greasy, weird beast. I basically had to starve him out to get him back on Wellness. Well, what I actually did was mix Wellness into Friskies in incrementally larger amounts until he ate Wellness again. And he stopped whining ALL THE TIME and got less greasy and is generally the happy-go-lucky asshole I dote on again.
awww, I have an asthmatic cat too.
One of my cats is fat. She is also mildly disabled, with a shortened kinky tail and I think wonky hips – she carries her back half ‘oddly’. She is greedy and steals food. Now, our vet doesn’t seem to have much of a problem with either of these but we see him once a year for the booster shots.
I worry about this and her future a weird amount. How much do I need to worry about my gimpy, compulsive eater, fat cat?
Also, her sister’s thicker than pig shit and she has seperation nxiety. How do you fix seperation anxiety in an animal so stupid she sometimes forgets how to food?
ps: I think my cats might be inbred.
Ok, I have one!
I have a new kitty that we got about a month ago. He was found abandoned and gross on the street by a friend, and the age guess is maybe 5-6 months.
We want another kitty or maybe two other kitties. Is there an ideal timing for this in terms of the cats being pals and not enemies? Should we get another kitten or young cat while he’s still young? Or can we wait until he’s a bit older with no real difference? What about getting an older cat?
As far as I know, which is not very far, it is much better to introduce cats when they are young and not middle-aged assholes.
what are your thoughts on dressing your pet up in costume? mine is always not NOT willing and seems to enjoy the treats he receives afterwards, but he doesn’t ever look happy in the photos.
Do it, post photos, yolo.
This vet may disagree, but my vet’s office actively promotes this (they even hold pet-costume holiday parties), so SOME vets are clearly in favor.
i can’t figure out how/if i can post photos in these comments but for anyone who might be interested in a valentines themes dog photoshoot: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=101521803…
Blargle.
My step-mom LOVES to dress her pure-bred rottweilers up, and once dressed them as prostitutes for Hallowe’en. And yes, I had a lot of very expensive therapy as a teenager, and yes, I’m pretty sure she ended up paying for it all.
I have three!
1) My Maine Coon rescue snorts a lot, and wheezes a bit. Is it because I let him get fat? Or what? Should I be worried?
2) The same cat likes to scratch and bite, a lot. My approach is generally “don’t do things that piss him off”. My boyfriend and I have discussed how, if we have kids, we will just train the kids (DON’T TOUCH THE CAT) instead of the cat. I mean, getting mauled is an effective disincentive, right? Is there a way to stop my cat from being an asshole? He’s actually quite happy and likes to cuddle, and pees in the right spot, etc, but when you touch his belly or pick him up on an off day or do anything else worthy of corporal punishment, watch out.
3) My boyfriend’s cat moved in almost two months ago. They now can relatively peacefully co-exist in the same space when we are there, but there are still lots of spats. It appears that bf’s cat is really passive, and unable to effectively defend her territory except by FREAKING OUT every time my cat goes near her. My cat is big and aggressive, and I’m pretty sure he just abhors a power-vacuum and thinks “welp, gotta get mine” and kind of pushes her territorial boundaries all the time. Do you have any advice for this situation? We have Feliway, and a cat-tree, and extra scratchers, and more litter boxes than I ever thought possible.
Okay one, I am laughing so hard at some of these cat stories. Cats are so weird.
TWO. My cat is a ridiculous piggy eater. (Like, she snorts when she eats it’s ridiculous.) She’s also hungry ALL THE TIME I SWEAR. I mean, during the day she’ll sleep and ignore us well enough but an hour and a half to two hours before food WATCH OUT. She really desperately wants food 99% of the time but I refuse to give her a kitty buffet (dry food all day) because I know she’ll just eat it all. Why is my cat so hungry? Am I not feeding her enough???
For the record, my cat is a pretty big domestic longhair. She’s 16lbs, but you can see the outlines of her ribs and the vets all say she’s not really overweight; she just tends to look kind of fat because of her ridiculous fur and scar tissue area from getting fixed. We adopted her from the pound about a year ago, and promptly switched her over to wet food only. She gets half a can in the morning, a quarter of a can at 4:30, and then another half for dinner. That quarter of a second can is literally the only thing that keeps her from turning into a starved beast in the evenings. If you forget to give it to her, SHE KNOWS and won’t stop whining until we feed her. Wellness suggests like, two cans for her size/weight, but she was even heavier before we figured out this routine and has now reached a stable weight. (When we fed her a can and a half, she went back up to 17lbs, so we cut it down.)
I’m pretty laissez-faire in life (this baby-led weaning thing people are talking about sounds like the only way to go) and I would be inclined to give her a bit more food. Did she whine at 17 pounds? Maybe 16 is a really low weight for her and she is legit hungry all the time. I looked pretty normal when I weighed 30 pounds less than I do know (when you could see my ribs) but I was hungry alllll the time. And probably whiny, let’s be honest.
She whines regardless. She loves food and dinner time so so much. To give you an idea: the shelter found her on a main, restaurant filled street. She weighed 17lbs. That was her weight OFF THE STREET. I’m 100% sure she was living the gourmet life, eating restaurant leftovers, before the shelter found her and we adopted her.
She’s a really anxious cat in general (jumpy, clingy, separation anxiety) and has had at least two owners before us. (When the shelter read her chip and contacted them, they said they’d moved away and given her to someone else. So who knows what happened.) We’re not sure what happened in her previous life, but think it may be the cause of her food anxiety as well as her other anxieties? Idk, she’s just kind of a piggy and eats like every meal is her last.
Awwww anxious kitty! I feel so terrible for anxious cats – like, CBT isn’t going to work on you, eh, kitty?
Fwiw, my boyfriend’s very very anxious cat responded very well to the Feliway plug-in, and is less anxious now, although still adorably weird.
You are a good cat guardian.
It sounds like she’s been checked out recently by vets and all that jazz, so it’s probably just that she a hangry beast. My concern if my cat was doing that would be possibility of diabetes. Our older cat was ravenous and big (but she was a shorthair, so it was actually obvious that she was not the slimmest, as opposed to just really hairy with an appetite), and she was also drinking lots of water. Long story short, she was diabetic and our vet didn’t catch it for a while. Might be worth getting her panels done at the vet if they haven’t been done recently?
Oooh! Oooh! Token large-animal person here! My horse gets the worst thrush. I have owned many over the years who would get a little bit in the winter but this guy is just swiss cheese feet from November until…July?Commercial topicals have no visible effect.
We live in the coastal NW, so putting him somewhere dry is not really an option. Even in a stall he’d be in wet bedding most of the night because he is also a complete slob when confined. Farrier says to start soaking little cotton bits in iodine and/or bleach and cramming them into the swiss-cheese holes. The internet says that will create pressure points that will lead to abscesses.
Thoughts?
I’m not Dr. S, but what kind of topical stuff have you tried? Pledgets (little wipes designed for cleaning yeasty crap out of dogs’ skin folds) can be helpful–use a hoof pick to pack them around the frog. Dry cow ointment (antibiotic ointment that comes in a tube with a little tip for squirting into a cow’s teats) helps in some cases, too. Or you can use a syringe to swish out the holes with dilute betadine every day, which is basically what your farrier said, minus the little bits of cotton. Obviously, this advice is coming to you over the internet from someone who has never seen your horse or his feet…when in doubt, ask your vet (which I’m sure you would do anyway, just throwing in a disclaimer!).
I have been using dry cow ointment, and it seems to be making some difference. I have had good results from No Thrush/NT Thrush powder, but that becomes less effective when you live in a swamp. 🙂 Other products? Almost too numerous to count. All of the usual big name brand ones. Coppertox, hoof heal, absorbine something something …I also went out last night, did a soak/wash with antibacterial dish detergent followed with painting betadine on his soles. I just feel like as my work schedule doesn’t allow me to see him more than every other day, there are minimum 36 hour intervals when I’m not actively treating. The idea of using the cotton bits was basically to hold the topical against the foot for longer.
Try switching his bedding to gravel or wood chips with soil underneath – that way, even if you don’t have time to muck, you can just toss some more gravel/chips on the wet spots until you have time to shovel it out. Keeping the feet dry is really, really important unfortunately. You can also try boots that are made for endurance horses or horses that have thrown a shoe – that combined with some of the treatment that runciblecat is talking about might keep his feet protected long enough for him to start to heal.
I’m a boarder, so changing the environment isn’t my call. He is boarded in a small pasture with a shelter, and of course this time of year in this part of the country, that means muck everywhere, even when you make a concerted effort to clean. I am actually one of those endurance riders who does the barefoot/boot thing, so that is something I have access to doing already. Believe me, in this sport you becaome obsessive about hooves. I just feel like the limitation of the local climate and my work schedule leave me wanting a treatment that sticks to the hoof a bit longer. I am more concerned about this one particular part of the advice I received: Whether a topical applied to something that could be wedged into the hoof would cause more harm than good because of additional pressure.
I just had him moved to a stall with a gravel run last night. I can’t afford to do that long-term, but perhaps we’ll see enough improvement over the next several days to re-evaluate from there… :-/
This is bringing me out of lurkdom too! I’m an obsessive dog parent (rescue schnoodle). He was “surrendered” by the family who had puppy mill purchased him as a puppy and raised him with their children for some unknown amount of years and then decided that his schnauzer bark was excessive and he was thus disposable. I’m crazy about him – we’ve gone through lots of training together and I buy him incredibly, almost unbelievably, expensive food because he’s such a picky eater (seriously – if the cube of cheese it too big, he’ll spit it out and grumble, “J’accuse!’ at you). I honestly just want his life to be as healthy and happy as possible so I’m super open to suggestions/feedback!
So, here’s my thing. Poor pup has some separation anxiety. This was much, much worse when I adopted him 2.5 years ago but it’s still there. He bark/cries in his kennel when you leave the house, chews anything you leave in there with him (crate pads, towels, rope toys, etc.), and I make him wear a seat belt harness in the car – partially for his safety when I’m driving and partially because he would follow me into interstate traffic if he wasn’t buckled in. On the other hand, at least he’s flossing in the kennel?
I have a job that requires travel for part of the year but allows me to work from home the rest of the time so I even moved to the same town as my family so that he always has loved ones to stay with when I’m away. Little dude is almost always with people – if we are gone for more than 2-3 hours, my family is either with him or he’s at daycare. I’m just wondering if there are other things I should be trying. I’m super hesitant to try meds – the studies/articles I’ve read indicate they don’t always work and he’s not harming himself. I’ve tried Bach’s remedy and thinks like the Thundershirt but I haven’t seen a difference (and the Thundershirt was NO match for his terrier teeth). I’ve thought about additional training just to keep his brain and body active (like maybe agility training or comfort dog training). Any awesome recs?
This novella brought to you by Kate and the wonder schnoodle Wilson.
I’m so late, but my question is so weird – google turns up nothing!
My cat, a boy rescue cat, about 7 years old, chokes himself. If I leave the laundry hamper, or a box about neck height (on him) out, he leans his neck on it, lifts his front feet, and hangs there (by his neck!!) until he starts choking. I try my best to limit everything I leave around, so nothing is the height he likes, but what is he dooooooing? I feel so bad for him (I guess, I don’t know what he is doing, maybe it’s auto-erotic?). He’s perfectly healthy, according to his vet. Thank you!
I am so sorry I have nothing to offer here, and I am sure this is really scary and upsetting for you, but I cannot stop laughing about it. Why are cats so fucking weird?
Yes. What. I am not sorry. I am laughing out loud. Cats, man. CATS.
I guess since he has always done it, it doesn’t really bother me. I’m just curious about it. He’s soo weird!
Sent from my iPhone
ahhhhhh omg this is so timely, thank you
First: I keep finding my cat’s claws around my apartment!!! (I have only had her since January so I’m really twitchy about this.) This is normal, right? As long as I’m not finding bloody pawprints around the place we’re good?
And second: I have a legit roach phobia, and one of the only things that helped me with it last year was spraying the shit out of my apartment with Bengal (made in Baton Rouge, used in the Deep South, astronomical success rate), which is mostly permethrin and some other stuff — not good for cats. But now that I have a cat, and we’re approaching all the bugs coming out of their winter hidey-holes, I am starting to feel the anxiety ratchet up again but I don’t know what to do. Can I trust her to kill roaches??? Should I board her for a night so I can spray my place down without fear of murdering my adorable, sanity-providing cat? Or will putting her at the risk of kennel cough cause enough anxiety on its own that I should just trust her to be MURDER CAT and defend my honor???
thank you veterinarian <3333
It’s just claw sheaths, they are a regular shedding item.
Boarding your cat for the night will not protect her from the permethrin – that has to hang around, or it wouldn’t do its job. She will kill some roaches probably, but just recreationally, not enough to count for extermination. Put boric acid everywhere you can – along the inside backs of cabinets and such. Also you can sprinkle it on the floor and then vacuum it up – a little will stay behind to cut up the roaches, but not enough will stay to harm the kitty. This will help some, but will not get all of them… Maybe try to caulk up any tiny cracks you can find to try to keep them out? I’m sorry, I just don’t think there are any really effective cat-safe options…
Diatomaceous earth? It’s not great for cats (or people!) if they breathe it, I think, but you could put it in all the cracks and stuff – I am also paranoid about roaches and put a bunch under the couch and was worried I would destroy my cats’ lungs, but they just steered clear of it.
The food grade stuff is less bad for you/ your kitties, since it doesn’t have the silica that the pool grade stuff does (and silica is truly terrible for lungs). Bonus with the diatomaceous earth is that it also takes out silverfish.
Thanks for the clarification! Yeah, I think I’ve only used the food grade kind, though I’m under the impression that it’s still not great to breathe. I get vindictive pleasure from using it because I’ve heard the way it works (don’t dissuade me!!) is that it basically destroys any sort of little critters’ exoskeletons, and I like to picture roaches and silverfish and house centipedes (SHUDDER) being decimated and crumbling to dust. HAHAHA! Stay out of my house, tiny monsters! But I guess it’s that same slice-and-dice characteristic that makes it not ideal, though not immediately life-threatening, to mammalian lungs.
The MSDS sheets for the food grade stuff are generally pretty reassuring- from what I can tell the harm from it is basically the same as repeatably breathing any kind of dust.
That is also the mechanism I’ve heard, and I find it very heartening indeed…
Yes, yes, yes to the diatomaceous earth! True story: I put it down all around every floorboard and threshold in my father-in-laws house 4 years ago. Haven’t seen a roach since! And before that, he was using a rotating and escalating series of poisons, reapplying every 4-8 weeks, and he was still overrun with roaches. Bonus: it also helps with fleas, and any other type of insect.
On the roaches, I’m not an expert of any kind, but I can tell you what I’ve done. We lived with a cat in the roach heaven that is NYC, and we used Combat Source Kill bait stations. They’re small plastic puck-shaped things containing some roach-bane (Fipronil or Hydramethylnon), with a small slit that roaches can fit into and cats can’t. The roaches supposedly carry the poison back to their nest. They worked well for us for roach control–they last for some months, and when we’d start seeing roaches again we’d just put out a new round of bait stations. I didn’t check with a vet but the website says they’re safe for pets: https://www.combatbugs.com/faq.
DO NOT trust your cat to kill roaches; she may be excellent at killing them, but–grossness warning– she may still decide, one night while you’re sleeping, to TAKE THE ROACH INTO YOUR BED SO SHE CAN KILL IT THERE RIGHT ON YOUR PILLOW.
You don’t need to ask a veterinarian, you can just ask me: don’t go to vet school. Don’t. Don’t. *cries quietly into pathology notes*
Second year? My sympathies…second year is the worst. I’m sure you’ve heard that before, but I think it’s true–it’s the peak of the hours and hours of lecture and soul-deadening memorization, with no end in sight. Things will be much better once you get to clinics, honest. (Not addressing the bigger question of “is vet school an expensive mess with no jobs,” which is being discussed in great detail in other corners of the internet.) Anyway, best of luck to you–I know it’s tough, but do try to take a break from studying once in a while to venture outdoors or have dinner with friends (or, you know, sleep). Hang in there!
Thank you! I had a lot of stupid life stuff and the flu coincide with the beginning of second year second semester, which I think is the worst possible time, so I am possibly being overly dramatic. Luckily, spring break is in a few weeks and I plan to spend all of it in sternal recumbency on my couch.
I’m in first year, and this just makes me scared and sad *cries into physiology notes*
Giiiiirrrrrrl (assuming you are a lady because we know the stats on vets), if you can get through anatomy, you can do anything. Just start studying for pharmacology really far in advance and try not to get the flu. We can do it!
This is bringing me out of lurkdom too! I’m an obsessive dog parent (rescue schnoodle). He was “surrendered” by the family who had puppy mill purchased him as a puppy and raised him with their children for some unknown amount of years and then decided that his schnauzer bark was excessive and he was thus disposable. I’m crazy about him – we’ve gone through lots of training together and I buy him incredibly, almost unbelievably, expensive food because he’s such a picky eater (seriously – if the cube of cheese it too big, he’ll spit it out and grumble, “J’accuse!’ at you). I honestly just want his life to be as healthy and happy as possible so I’m super open to suggestions/feedback!
I am never adopting another cat, I clearly need to quit now while I’m ahead and am allowed by my two relatively normal cats to sleep through the night.
My roommate has a cat that gets weird twitches in his head and neck and sometimes his front legs. They look like a series of shivers (myoclonia). Sometimes his pupils are different sizes and I’ve seen him at least once with a lazy eye. He’s not a bright cat but apart from these episodes (that last only a couple seconds in total, but happen multiple times a day), he behaves normally (no drooling or full body seizing). She says he’s been this way since he was a kitten (he’s 9). Is this of neurological concern?
Okay: YAY. So glad to have this. Hope you’ve got strong typing fingers, because clearly we are a question-y bunch.
My rescue German Shepherd. Well, she was supposed to be a 3 month old GS per the rescue society, but it turned out she was 6-7mo and more of a mix. (And so pretty and sweet and loving.)
Anyway, we are bad trainers and she’s a wonderful girl and she and Old Dog (13yo boxer mutt) get along really well and life is dandy… but she’s not polite about peeing outside. She’s got a couple of indoor spots, and we keep her effectively away from most of them, but there’s this one rug we can’t keep her from and she thinks she can and should pee there sometimes.
Hide the rug until she’s fully trained? Try yet more ‘no go’ / odor neutralizer products in hopes that one of them will work? Crate her at night? Crate her when we’re not home? (We don’t, since the other pets have the run of the house. It doesn’t seem fair & 90% of the time she doesn’t pee except when she’s outside.)
(Note: she’s as likely to pee on the rug when we’re all home & w/in sight of the door & taking her on regular walks – not that she pees on walks, she’s very picky about her spots – as she is when we’re off at work/school for hours at a time.) (We know that changing her behavior is our responsibility and that it’s ingrained now and will take consistency on our part; we just want the rug to stop smelling in the meantime.)
Thanks!
Can you give us some straight talk about tooth-brushing? I’m a pretty pragmatic cat-momma – growing up all my cats were outdoor cats who were all eventually and inevitably killed by fishers, except for one who had kitty leukemia and died of some combination of that and old age – so I tend to err on the side of thinking my (2, now indoor) cats are resilient, if lovable, little predators and I don’t worry too much about them unless something seems seriously wrong. But when we took our younger (boy) cat to the vet last, the vet told us that his teeth had a lot of plaque and we either needed to brush them with our fingers every day or plan on bringing the cat in to have his teeth cleaned pretty soon, which would involve them putting him under and would be expensive. And that yucky teeth can lead to kidney failure eventually. Anyway, we tried toothbrushing, but we are busy people and it was really gross and stinky and the cat freaked out and it was a whole big thing, so eventually we got some of that stuff you can put in the drinking water to dissolve plaque and some treats that are supposed to help with teeth-cleaning and figured we’d see what happens when we bring him back next year. Is this like literally the worst attitude we could have? Was our vet just trying to scare us, or is this a serious and imminent danger? Does the water stuff actually help? (It’s been a few months, and he doesn’t have terrible bad breath or trouble eating or anything that would indicate horrible decay.)
We tried to brush our cats teeth but they were NOT having it, but our pet shop sells thise kitty chew toys which are catnip stuffed (to encourage chewing) and covered outside with fine netting which helps clean their teeth.
All I’m saying is, my friend just had to have a few of her cat’s teeth removed because there was too much plaque and they were rotting or something. Sad news. So yes it seems worth it to keep your kitty’s teeths clean!
My mom had to have her cat’s teeth removed too. Like, ALL OF THEM. So sadly yes, if your cat is prone to plaque then either have the cleaning done by professionals or brush them with your finger daily. I, personally, will pay to have it done at the vet when it becomes an issue because I like all my limbs intact.
My cat has adopted this pair of my dress socks (“Sock Baby,”) and I think she’s trying to tell me that Sock Baby is very, very sick. She carries him around in her mouth and meows and warbles mournfully in a way I’ve never heard her meow in any other setting. Sometimes she drops him at my feet and looks up at me and yowls like I should give him CPR probably. Generally I think this is weird but really a problem, but lately she does this thing at like 4am when she brings Sock Baby into bed to tell me he’s not breathing. Why is she doing this? How do I make it stop? Is this causing a ton of distress for my cat, or could it cause distress if I just took it away from her? I want my socks back.
She’s telling you that by fixing her you robbed her of her only purpose in life.
Juuuuuuust kidding! o_0
Have you tried throwing Sock Baby? My cat does this when she wants to play fetch.
I just… I’m sorry because I know this is a real issue that is distressing you and your cat, but… I cannot stop laughing. Because, Sock Baby. Sock Baby needs CPR. WHAT IS GOING ON INSIDE THIS CAT’S BRAIN?!
Oh man, I love cats. They’re batshit insane. I guess I’d also suggest throwing Sock Baby in case she just wants to fetch it but then again she might get offended and who knows what she’ll do next. Cats, man.
My 11 year old doberman male lost a lot of weight in his back legs in a period of 6 months, he weighs 35 kg the vet said he was fine and to feed him more, but we already feed him three times a day and he usually doesn’t finish it. His back legs are getting weak. He also has some open wounds on his body but the vet said they were due to him sleeping on the hard floor which doesn’t sound right to me.
Bunnies! My sister has a rabbit and people keep telling her to get a neutered partner for the bunny, should she?
(WHAT CAN I BUY FOR A LARGE DOG WHO CHEWS WALLS TO SLEEP ON???ANYONE!!!!)
Have you seen the platform dog beds? (http://kuranda.com/) The rescue greyhound group I got my grey from uses them for the dogs who are unstoppable chewers.
(Also, his back end– have you talked to a vet about spondylosis? My 12 year old elderly grey has also lost weight in her back end in the past year, and her legs sometimes just go WHOMP out to either side when she’s standing still, and she has to re-right herself. My vet diagnosed her with spondylosis, which isn’t uncommon in greys and other large dogs, and we have her on daily Metacam doses for anti-inflammation.)
Thank you for telling me about spondylosis! I’m not in charge of his vet visits but I thought a competent vet would notice so I’ll pass that on, and I was looking into kuranda but I was hoping someone has actually tried them but if a shelter uses them that’s all I need! We have him on a suede futon at the moment which has helped with the chewing , he really doesn’t like to chew it and the height is brilliant he can’t stand it on the floor but his doggy partner in crime has a pee problem (which I think is due to her being spade too young, the vet says we give her too much liquid, this vet is stupid right?) so we need something washable. I’ll order it today once I’ve decided on a size!
His legs don’t do that but I took him on a vigorous walk after christmas because he was so sweet to the kids and afterwards he was falling asleep standing up and promptly fell, this look on his face awwwh bless him! He was so confused.
Did the loss of weight scare you? It really freaked me out but as I said the vet said hes fine.
Yes get another bun, Charlotte’s sister! Buns love companionship and cuddling. They can bond with their humans and be happy but having another rabbit to nap with and groom each other all day is really the best for house rabbits. Rabbit rescues will often ask you to bring in yours to meet with a few different bunnies and see who gets alongish and who starts fighting immediately. If the bunny would like a friend he will sniff and be nervous around a couple of them that he likes.
Thank you I shall pass the recommendation on!
How do I train my cat to not wake me up at 4:30 am? She is on diet food and is always very eager for her breakfast. Also, how can I tell if she would get along with other cats? She cuddles with this pillow which is super sweet, but kind of sad, and it makes me think she needs a friend.
My cat is the sweetiest and clingiest little thing to me but when she met my sister’s cat, she became single-mindedly interested in attacking her. My sister’s cat is also female and she’s old and she really just wanted to be left alone but my cat was determined to encounter her and fight her to the death. We kept them segregated but my cat kept on trying to sneak into the room where my sister’s cat was. She managed it once and we broke it up quickly but yeah, she was definitely the aggressor. The strange thing to me was that my cat was actually a shelter cat – I had just adopted her a few months back, so I presumed she’d be okay with other cats but nope. I don’t think you can really predict cat interactions.
There is no solution but getting a door for your bedroom, I’m afraid. And possibly earplugs.
I only feed my cat once a day, at night, because she was such an asshole in the morning.
I would default to “would not get along with other cats”.
Do not ever respond at 4:30 am. Pretend you are dead. Eventually she will give up.
1. What should a prudent vet do when faced with an animals that they can’t examine because they’re being too aggressive? I.e. is sedating a cat who hasn’t been examined in two years, who is middle-aged and obese safe? I have qualms about allowing my cat to be sedated or vaccinated without an exam tbh.
2. Do you think that vets should be obliged to tell owners of all the risks of medication or only the reasonable risks? I’m asking because my cat had an extreme reaction to a low dosage of metronidazole that she was on for a few days (went blind, had seizures) and I wasn’t informed of this risk though I specifically asked the vet for the side-effects. I’ve looked up vet practices in my province and it seems to be the consensus that informed owners of the reasonable risks is sufficient, but it isn’t for human drugs. Why do you think that vets, who obviously care about animals, don’t think that they deserve the same consideration as humans in issues of informed consent?
Why is my cat changing color? He is a regular six-year-old cat who started off life as a black kitten with one small patch of white on his chest. Within the last three years, he has slowly been transforming into a white cat, with small patches of white appearing, growing, and merging together. Now, only his face and his legs and tail are still black! I took him to the vet, and he said the cat was healthy, but couldn’t explain the transformation. And no, it’s not from greying or getting older–his fur is very white!
WHAAAT this sounds amazing. My black cat is turning brown from sitting in the sun so much, but this is actually awesome.
He’s a Percheron mix!
Maybe he’s a Siamese mix? From what I understand, there’s a close relationship between black cats and Siamese cats (iamnotafelinegeneticist), and the color can change over time.
If you google “siamese cats change color”, you get a bunch of hits.
(Also, this has sort of happened to my Siamese mix. When I got him, his body fur was a very light tan, and over the past year, it’s been slowly changing to a dark brown.)
Someone keeps replacing your cat with different cats. It’s a very elaborate prank.
You may be right! And that someone is ultimately building towards leaving me with a black-faced sheep.
Is there a specific age at which a cat is old and needs to have more frequent checkups? I read in a book somewhere that after age 7, they should have checkups ever six months. Is there any basis to that because that’s only about 40 in cat years isn’t it?
My vet has never said anything about my nearly-ten year old cat coming in more often…
I have a question re: career path. My little sister loves and is amazing with animals, and is also good at science. She’s young (13) and her current dream job is to be a vet, as young animal lovers are apt to do. I want to encourage this (because my parents might not…), and I hope she doesn’t grow out of it.
Basically my question is, how did you get to where you are? Would you encourage others to be a vet now? What kinds of skills do you think are important for potential vets?
Why am I so hellbent on getting another dog? I have a very elderly greyhound (almost 13), a bitchy cat who’s decided to live in my closet (she’s 14) since my toddler became mobile, and I’m due with #2 in June. But I CANNOT stop looking at dogs on Petfinder.
How much of an asshole am I for wanting a dog that’s going to be kid-centric? We know we want a large dog who’s kid- and cat-friendly (because my family’s cats have a history of living forever to spite the men in their houses), and while I love my friends’ pits and pit mixes, they’re the vast majority of what’s in shelters and I don’t have the energy to deal with the NEEDINESS of a pit. We have been tentatively discussing going to a breeder but that is just a font of liberal guilt and how do you find a breeder who’s not totally terrible?
There’s NOTHING inherently wrong with going to a breeder, or in going to a shelter. If you are looking for a dog who has certain general personality traits, like how Goldens are often good for kids, and there’s not a breed-specific rescue (if you wanted to go that route) then go to a breeder! I know there are a lot of shelter dogs out there, but YOU need to do what is right for YOU and YOUR family. Just educate yourself, go to a reputable breeder, and get a wonderful dog that will make you all happy.
Do look for a breed-specific rescue though! There are all sorts of them. My office manager probably spends 50% of her work day arranging to have dogs flown and driven around the country to be breed-specifically rescued…
Plus, you can get an adult dog (if you’re not willing to put up with the puppy years) nd often they’re less expensive than a breeder.
There’s a Golden Retriever rescue in my general area that I kind of want to check out when it’s time to get a dog but they won’t consider me unless I have a fenced-in backyard. Sad. 🙁
That’s how we came to have a greyhound! We loved Great Dane personalities but couldn’t afford a) great dane puppy prices or b) the heartbreak of another Dane dying at 6. We researched the three local greyhound rescue groups and adopted our grey when she was 9 and she’s, for the most part, pretty healthy and very sweet and gentle. She’s the perfect apartment dog.
My parents adopted a Golden through a local Golden rescue and that dog is the spawn of Satan, but I blame my mother for that.
My cat does this really strange behaviour that I’ve always wondered about: he’ll go get his favourite stuffed toy from the basement and drag it upstairs while making this really odd, sad-sounding meow in his throat. He’ll drag it around, kind of slowly with a crazy look in his eyes, doesn’t want to play, seems agitated if we try to take the toy away from him. Sometimes he’ll drop it and lick it while doing a little trilling noise, then go back to the weird routine again. This happens pretty regularly, probably once a week at least. What the heck is he doing??
Secondly! Sometimes when he’s purring really strongly he’ll suddenly seem to have… an asthma attack? Kind of crouched over wheezing. Do cats get asthma? Is it just like a hiccup kind of because he was purring too hard? What should I do when this happens? Right now I kind of crouch real low next to him and talk to him soothingly. Is this something to worry about? He’s healthy otherwise, runs around without a problem.
That’s more or less the behavior that my asthmatic cat has when he has an asthma attack. I’d recommend asking your vet! My cat’s fine, he’s just on asthma medication, but he’ll hop right back up after his attacks and go on with his life. He’s about 12 now, and we adopted him with the asthma when he was about 7, so it’s a problem, but it’s not a gonna-die-tomorrow problem.
My roommate’s cat would do that all the time with his stuffed animals, I’m pretty sure it’s nothing to worry about, but I have no idea what it signifies. My roommate’s cat is male, so I don’t necessarily think it’s a maternal instinct.
On the other hand, I did once open my bedroom door in the morning to discover an entire pile of toys he had placed there during the night.
Oooh I have another behaviour question!
My cat, who is quite large and well-armed, has declared a fatwa on all dogs. He growls at them through the window, and the few, ill-advised times I have allowed dogs at my house he was gone berserker. Great danes, pugs, a pair of hunting dogs. I have the literal scars to prove it. (I was SO worried he was going to blind my friend’s pug.) If I lock him up, he will literally throw his body at the door to try to break it down to get at the dog. I think it’s because he was attacked pretty viciously by a coyote in his street days (but man, I wouldn’t want to be that coyote).
Any advice? His rescue organization was like “Oh! Just don’t bring dogs around, then.” I mean, it’s a solution, I guess.
Another large animal question! I have a farm with grass-fed pastured blah blah animals. Some of these animals are sheep and they get worms. I can’t find a good, reputable middle ground between the conventional vet who says “worm them every month no matter what!” (which I don’t want to do because medication resistance is a thing) and the hippies who say, like, “just give them apple cider vinegar and they’ll live forever!”
How much of this can be managed with pasture rotation, good nutrition, and all the right minerals and stuff? What about during the winter when they are in the barn? (I live in the wet PNW and it is too muddy to be out in the winter.) Obviously I want to treat them when they are sick, and prevent them from getting sick if possible, and I’m not anti-vax, but I also don’t want to give medications just for fun. How do I find a reasonable way to handle this?
My sister got a cat when she was little and then she grew up and went to college and then she got married and it still lives with my parents and it’s STILL ALIVE. That cat is over 20 years old. I went to visit last weekend and she jumped up on my lap and purred like a motorboat and stuck her little claws in me when she was kneading, which I then had to manually retract because she couldn’t be bothered to do it.
1) Is this cat a zombie cat?
2) How do you kill a zombie cat?
3) Can cat-zombism be transmitted to humans?
I have questions! How can I trim my rabbit’s nails without accidentally trimming his toes? I have one of those animal nail-clippers but last time I successfully trimmed one nail and then pinched his toe on the next one (did not break the skin THANK GOODNESS) and then gave up.
RABBIT BOOGERS:
Sometimes the bun gets the sniffles. What does this mean?? One time he had a runny nose and we took him to the vet and she gave us some drugs, and we gave them to him for a week or whatever it said on the bottle and he’s never had snot coming out his nose since, but sometimes he just is a little sniffly.
Dr. S! I just adopted a small dog from a rescue who is a little over a year old. He is fixed but he relieves himself inside ALL THE TIME. He is on a schedule of food and water in designated amounts and designated times, I work part time so he goes out every hour or two. I walk him twice a day. We play with toys. He seems happy. He gets a treat and lots of pets when he goes outside. But when I do go to work (or sometimes leave the room for like…15 minutes) there’s a mess on the floor. Why is he not getting the housetraining thing???
Why does our cat eat everything? I always thought cats were finicky eaters – growing up, our pets were picky about the kind of food, and this seems to be the case for others – but our cat seriously has a thing for ALL THE HUMAN FOOD. She eats totally improbable human food. Some of her favorites include: spicy tomato sauces, Doritos and tortilla chips, bagels, corn bread, and coconut flakes. We’ve had to totally cat-proof our kitchen; we are not intentionally feeding her these terrible things, but if the food is not closed in an air tight container with a latch she will tear the packaging open and eat whatever she wants during the day. She also steals food off of our plates if we do not diligently guard our dinner. My vet looked at me like I was a monster when I asked her this and was very vehement that cats SHOULD NOT eat human food, but it isn’t like we are feeding her this on a plate. She will dump over the trashcan and climb into the sink. We can’t set food down EVER.
She is a healthy weight for her size (abt 8 pounds and petite), and we feed her wet food in the morning and evening with a small scoop of dry food in the afternoon. She eats her cat food (and she scarfs that down too; we have to serve her small portions or she eats too fast and throws up). We love her to death, but it really is ridiculous.
Hello, kind-hearted vet who is undoubtedly overwhelmed by all these questions! I have one to add to the mix. My husband and I adopted a 5 1/2 year-old rescue dog last August. He is a Shih Tzu/ Havanese mix best we can tell. He has always had a bit of aggression with us (especially around food and toys, but certain things, like being kissed on the head, will always cause him to growl). Over the past six months, he’s mellowed with me a lot and I feel like we have a great connection. But with my husband, his aggression actually seems to be getting worse. It’s to the point that if my husband tries to pet him, or sometimes even when he just looks at him, the dog will begin snarling and barking….
The past two nights, this has happened when my husband tried to get into bed with us to go to sleep. When it comes to discipline, the dog is also fine with me (I can easily guide him to his “time out” mat and get him to stay there until he’s released), but when my husband tries to discipline him in the same way, the dog goes crazy and tries to bite him. Aside from my dog simply being a misandrist, is there any reason you can think of that this might be happening? We’d love to get some training for him, but we have very little expendable income and trainers seem to be crazy expensive. Thanks!!
I’ve got a question about my 9 yr old male cat who marks (sprays) when he’s agitated and/or new scents come into the house. We are at our wits end which is really sad because we love our neurotic little guy to bits.
He uses his litterbox just fine. But he has pyschotic episodes that pop up due to uncontrollable events. He sniffs something weird on our shoes, he sprays. He’s particularly upset at our new leather sofas, he sprays. We’ve spent a fortune on medication (kitty prozac), CBT, running his blood work (clean as a whistle), checking for bladder problems (negative). He is very well groomed and tended, he never has cause to “ask” for food, water, or litter change because we’re on top of it twice a day. His caretaker also provides the same treatment when we’re out of town.
We even broke ground and constructed a brand new room in our house, complete with perch spots and comfy furniture, just for him to have a chill-out space. And every so often, something that we can’t control triggers his neurotic spike. He/Still/Sprays.
HALP!
So, Chocolate. It really kills them, right?
Where are the responses of Dr. S? I’m dying to know what she says about all of these questions!
She is sending me the answers to her first two selected questions and a long general thing on nutrition!
Our adult parakeet , after the bay was hatched has developed a crud like stuff caked on its beak, any idea what that is?
Is there any harm in using furminator on a husky?