My little kitty has slipped his collar. I've looked everywhere for it and can't imagine where it is. It was elastic so he must have gotten it caught on something to pull it over his head. He had his license tag, microchip tag and rabies tag on that blue collar. I don't dare let him out until I get another one of find that one. I'm kind of sad about it. Just thought I'd let you know what happened. Thanks for the ear....
oh, babes, are you letting him out already? Do you have coyotes in your area? I agree don't let him out without the collar, but even WITH, he's still awful young to be on his own without you with him.
Yes, Mawzy better keep him inside, They told me at the shelter I was not to let him outside until 6 months old because of predaters. Mine lost its collar and the last time was in the yard and I think she got in a fight with another animal so I have not put one back on her since. Afraid she will hang herself in the brush.
Well, this little guy is almost 6 months old already but he only goes out when I'm with him. He ran out in the garden and up a tree. He just sat there for the longest time looking at me sort of defiantly. Then something spooked him, he jumped down and made a beeline for the back door.
We don't have coyotes here and there's just one old cat up the street that's is really crippled up. He doesn't come over at all any more.
Thanks for your kind words. And, by the way, we found the collar. It was behind the sofa and I have no idea how he got out of the collar. It is elastic as a safety issue and I never dreamed he get out of it.
I don't let my dog out after dusk. I then take him on the leash. My son has 3 acres and he dearly loves running with their 2 labs, but my dog is only 10 lbs, and even if you're not concerned about coyotes (which I am) hawks could easily grab him. Or owls at night. At my own house, (condo) I only walk him on a leash, although sometimes I let him on the deck alone. with a small animal you always have to be aware of the predators.
my chihuahuas instantly attract the huge buzzards that live ont he chimeny 3doors down EVERY time they go out with me to water plants on the balcony they circle very low and scares me silly they have 3ft wingspans. i have even seen them flying low by my sliding dooors which ar full lenght to get a looksy at them lying in the sun INSIDE. no, not letting anything out i worry bout my wild squirrels that i feed at my door there ar lots of coyotes, mex fox and other here right out my door. my poor neice lost her 8wk old chihuahua to a hawk as she stood there watching him 10ft away from her. talk about distraught!!!!!!!!!! just too horrible to think...so beware any animal out alone. and we are in the CITY-:) divvi
Sunshyne, my Siamese-Rescue kitty, Chimichanga, arrived with all his shots and his box and his blankie AND a microchip. THe other Siamese boy that I got a few months ago when he was featured in a tv story about there being no place for him to go, the shelter being full, came with no record of shots or anything else. I got him the shots but not the microchip. My reasoning was that a squashed cat doesn't need a microchip. A devoured cat doesn't need one. He does wear a collar with our phone on it - he's gotten so big now that I'm glad to have a way to tell them apart at a distance, although Chimi also has snowshoes.
They continue to amuse my husband no end.
Divvi, at the zoo, the small building we've turned into a "tropical rain forest" has small monkeys (tamarins) and some birds running and flyiing around loose - oh, and our beloved sloth Carmen too. The building has big skylights. Whenever a bird happens to fly over all the animals see that shadow and crouch and hide and get upset. There ARE hawks around, mostly red-tails, outside.
briegull, the red-tail hawk is a beautiful bird, and one who has visited the tree outside our 2nd floor windows. We all take a break to go look at him, and watch the birds dive-bomb him to protect their nest. We cheer for the birds, until the hawk tires of the constant pestering and moves on to another block! (sometimes up to an hour - he's got stamina!)
Yes, red-tails are great. When I worked at Brown one or two would hang around the Quad, including on some rather small trees just outside my window, all winter long. Apparently pigeons (which we also had) nest all year long, so there are always a few squab for the taking. He'd sit there and methodically dismember his prey. A little gruesome, but you get used to it!
My cat is a year old and is inside/outside in the country. I have seen coyote and red fox here. I worry about her a lot but she has to be "on her own". We do have a woods about 50' from our back door so she does have some shelter of sorts. I haven't put a collar back on her since she got in a fight and the old one was torn off. I was afraid that might be detremental to her safety. Don't know. First its the kids and now the animals we worry about.
Collars aren't good for cats who run free, unless they have that elastic section so the cat can wiggle out if the collar gets snagged on something. I think you're wise not to put a collar on your cat at all, lmohr. But if you live where cats have to be licensed and tagged, not a lot of choice there.
Our cats stay inside. They have full run of the house and the enclosed front porch(Spring through Fall). I nearly lost one of my first kittens when her breakaway collar snagged on a nail on the back side of a step of an open-back stairway. I happened to hear a funny little sound and went to investigate. Luckily I was still able to do stairs slowly at that time, because when I was about half-way down I heard another little noise and spotted her head by the backside of a lower step. I hurried as quickly as I could, went behind the steps, and reached up--thank God only just above my head and lifted her down. There was nothing for her to have put her paws on or against to free herself or even just brace herself to keep from hanging and she was too light to break the collar by her size. I trashed the cllar. Of our current cats 2 are already chipped and the 3rd will be as soon as I can arrange it.
We don't have a lot of trouble with predators in the city, but one of my sisters has lost one cat to a car and paid beaucoup bucks to fix up one shot with a BB gun. Nope. Ours stay in.
My boys have run of the house and screened front and back porches. In Florida that means all year. They show no interest in getting their sweet paws damp outside. I have tags for each of them but they stay in a drawer. I don't think they know they are cats and show no interest in birds. Lizards are another matter. It's creepy finding part of a lizard one place and a tail still twitching somewhere else.
My little guy is microchipped. He has all of his shots and his rabies shot. He goes out in the back yard and in and out of the back door. I prop it open. He only stays out for 10 min or so at a time. But, he's gettig bigger and he will eventually climb the fence. I really keep an eye on him and am trying to teach him to come when I call him. So far he only comes when he's hungry. So, the next plan is to let him outside for a few minutes when he's hungry. Call him in and praise him like crazy when he obeys with 'Temptations." Have you ever tried those on your cats. They just love them. They come in different flavors and the cat just goes nuts for them. I paid $1.79 for mine at Pet Smart.
Yes, Topsy LOVES Temptations as well as most of the treat tidbits. She jumps whenever anyone moves thinking she will get another treat. We have never given her table food or canned cat food and that has helped with keeping her in the house but even with the dry premium quality food she is a large cat. We just give her 2 or 3 tidbits at special times during the day.
Gettting a inside/outside cat was one of our good decisions. Living in the country you about have to let them out part of the time but we also like her inside to keep us entertained. If you have an attached garage I recommend installing a cat door to the garage from the house and keeping the litter box out there. It eliminates the kitty litter odor. However, you don't want to install the door directly outside.
We are cat people, too. Actually, I love most all animals, but we are owned by cats. I have always found them to be so much easier to care for with our busy lifestyle and once you earn their respect, their loyalty is unending. What more could you want??? We have 2 boys (15 and 10) and have recently taken in 2 very young kittens dropped off at my office. One has a disability...born missing one hind foot...it is missing from ankle down. He doesn't let it stop him and is just as active as his brother. We are fostering them for the local humane society in hopes of finding a loving adoptive home. 4 cats in one house is more than I can handle. DH has been enjoying them and it gives him something else to focus on. They are at that hilarious stage and we have both been laughing so much at their antics. A big part of me hopes they are already in their adoptive home. I just worry I won't be able to handle 4 cats with my husband's declining condition.
My two cats (brothers, age 11) are amused at the idea of being handled. They handle the dog, also 11, and believe that they can influnce time. Each year I explain to them about daylight savings time and the impact it has on when they will be fed. Each year they nod as if they understand. In reality, they are a little grumpy about getting fed late.
Four adult cats isn't too bad. Four KITTENS would be awful (and an awful lot of fun) but as Ogden Nash said, the trouble with a kitten is that.. it grows up to become a cat.
When there are multiple cats, their virtue is that they can keep you warm at night, soothed by their purring..
I assume, Mawzy, your little guy is neutered. My younger one wasn't when we got him (at about 6-8 months of age) and he was already being a bit aggressive to the other cats. He's calmed down now, a couple of months later.
I've been uncomfortable giving my male neutered cats dry food only since they really need to have lots of moisture to keep their plumbing working right. So they only get a handful of dry along with a serving of friskies "pate" each day.
I have a friend who saw her kitty dragged away by a coyote. My babies have always stayed inside... I'm sure they'd love to play outside, but I've seen a coyote stalking a cat right up to my back yard. And a red-tail likes to sit on my fence to monitor what's going on in the canyon behind the house. Not to mention idiot drivers running over anything that moves.
They say some 400 pets are killed by coyotes every year in San Diego. We have lots of "green strips" within the city, which makes it very beautiful, and the wildlife lives right among us. Nice when it's a California quail or roadrunner in your backyard, a bit more nerve-wracking when it's coyotes or bobcats.
There were always tales when I lived in Houston as a child of alligators coming out of Buffalo Bayou and grabbing small dogs and (rumored!) kids. I kept hoping, but never saw one...
Stephanie K-G: if you're used to the 4 and have a routine for their care, you'll manage just fine, and the caring and entertainment they provide you will be a positive among the negatives you have to deal with. Don't give anything good in your life up. Enough gets taken from you; hang on to the good stuff as long as it makes sense to o so.
The year before my DH was diagnosed I had 6 cages of rescue Guinea Pigs, 2 cats and 2 dogs, and had just placed the rescue hamsters. That same year I placed 4 of the Guinea Pigs (2 cages) and we adopted (eventually 3)kittens, because I knew we were losing one of the older ones and didn't want the 1 left alone. Later that Fall I chose to place the 4 remaining (Special Needs) Guinea Pigs, because DH's health was deteriorating. The following August DH was hospitalized and Diagnosed. A few weeks after he came home, I was pushed to reduce the pet population to facilitate getting in home help. 2 of the newer cats went to a new home and then the oldest (my white one) died. We were down to 2 dogs and 2 cats. I chose to place the larger, younger dog because she was unruly and not dependably housbroken and I couldn't get that done with everything else going on. Just over a year after he was diagnosed, a crisis situation came up with a kitten and I arranged to take her in over a weekend(until a shelter could be reached to take her on Monday). Sweetie is still here with Johnny Cash and Luna, and our Boston Terrier Otis(OT) who thinks he's a cat. We've gotten some fish too. They are peaceful to watch and don't take a lot of daily care.
They are companions, entertainment,responsiblity, and so much more. They can get us through a day when not much else is going well.
I have a friend whose Lab was gored by a deer in her back yard. you think you'd be safe with a big dog... and this was in Connecticut, Just 35 miles north of New York City. you 've got to watch them.
When we lived in Orange County, California, a coyote came down into our yard and decided to sun himself. We lived right up to a forever wild mountain, and it was a single ridge unbroken by a road for several miles.
There was a dead tree up on the mountain a few lots down from me. The hawks and vultures lived that tree.
You had to be nuts to keep an animal outside where we lived. Or even allow it outside.
Starling- where did you live in Orange? My husband lived in Villa Park and my stepson still lives there. We go to visit several times a year. My husband used to belong to Cota De Casa shooting club which they no longer have but I hear about it ALL the time. His favorite memories. I love the old city of Orange and a restaurant called Citrus Grille.
Sorry Briegull, my previous post upwards on the list was talking about her 8wk old baby chihuahua..oh my, lets dont even think of babies! yipes. thats awful about buffalo bayou but born raised houstonion i dont doubt it abit. all along the coast there are gators. many dogs parks in ft bend county also post 'signs' about them..regardless, when its your pet being taken by a predator you feel horrible. divvi
Divvi, I know you're younger but is your husband from Houston too? I was born there in '35 and lived there until I guess '65. We may have gone to the same schools!
Carosi, did I see white cat? Deaf?? I've had white cats off and on most of my life, some deaf, some not. I adore them. Right now, no whites, just a ME coon-ish, a black probably part Siamese and then the two new young bluepoint applehead boys who currently are careening around the house and occasionally smashing together and bouncing off like repelling magnets. I tell myself they're getting exercise!
p.s., we had a special needs guinea pig - I think they must inbreed. Also iguana, rat, and most memorably a crow, who travelled cross country with us in a small cat cage in the airplane (before being released into his large flight cage). HE kept the cats in line!!
Here we are going off topic again. I have a Maine Coon and a rescue cat. I love apple heads. Don't understand why the powers that be decided to "improve" the breed. Did you know that Maine Coons and their close relatives the Norwegian Forest are the only two American pure-breeds that are purely natural. No gene or breeding alterations. They are just as they are meant to be.
briegull---Angela was all white with the most gorgeous green/gold eyes. I got her at 9 weeks. You're right, often white cats, especially with blue eyes, are deaf. Angela lost her hearing at about 11 1/2. She'd come upstairs at night and come into the darkened dining room and yowl. I'd wave my arm and kinda holler softly, "It's okay." and she'd hush down and come on in to snooze on the couch near me. Other than that, the deafness never seemed to bother her. From the day I got her she was an indoor kitty. She most definitely wanted no part of being out, even if held in your arms. She was perfectly content to watch the outside world from the enclosed porch windows.
We have had two all white cats over the years....one had beautiful blue eyes and the other had bright green eyes. Neither was deaf, but oh boy, did we wear a lot of white hair on our clothes....LOL!
When I lived in an apartment complex, many years ago, one of the neighbors had two, tiny, coal-black cats. She would walk them every evening. No leash, she'd just march around the complex and those cats would follow right behind. She traveled a lot, and I'd care for them when she was gone. Once they'd learned I would give them bits of cheese when we got "home", they would follow me for their nightly walks, too.
We had a pair of red-tails who nested right outside my company's building. They would swoop past the windows, gorgeous. Every now and then, we'd find pieces of a rat or mouse on the sidewalk (blurgh.) One day, we saw a beautiful snowy egret perched on top of the building next door. The hawks were flying above, and that egret was not about to take off while they were there. Stayed where it was for over an hour...
But the hawks weren't always in control. Another time, a very young hawk was on the same perch where we'd seen the egret, and three or four ravens were circling above, ready to let the poor thing have it if it was dumb enough to fly. They kept diving at him, trying to get him to move, but he just hunkered down. He knew he was outnumbered!
jules, I lived in Lake Forest. The part I lived in wasn't the original Lake Forest and it wasn't Old El Toro. We were actually in the foothills of Saddleback mountain. We were very close to Cota de Casa and actually regularly went to the supermarket just outside one of their gates. I once met my boss who lived there in the supermarket. He was literally shocked to see me there because he knew I didn't live inside the gates or in the town the supermarket was in. But it was the second closest supermarket to where I lived. To explain just how close I was, the other side of the mountian in my back yard was Mission Viejo. My lot line bordered on the forever wild and the other side of that was another town.
Our area was a lot like Cota de Casa as far as what it looked like. Lots of forever wild mountain ridges. Lots of watered areas filled with wild flowers to hold the slopes. February, which was when spring started, was amazing.
Thanks for the reminder not to get rid of the happiness. The kittens are delightful. I have vowed not to have more than 2 cats. We had 3 at one time and our home is not very large and difficult to find places to have litter boxes. Our oldest will probably not be around much longer and I am dreading this more than I normally would. Pugslie has be my DH's cat. When he was kitten my DH was working out of our home so they had a lot of alone time. Pugslie loves me, but he is definitely his daddy's boy. I dread what this is going to do to DH when this time comes. "My boy", Nathan, is coming around, finally, to accepting the babies. They are getting bigger and he beginning to be amused by them, too. Last night for the first time Nathan tried to play with Baxter and bathed him a little. It was funny when Nathan realized I caught him interacting with Baxter and he was all embarrassed that his macho male cat image was being destroyed. I have been thinking that God sent Baxter and Bailey to us because Pugslie is fading...Pugslie came to us as TJ and Karlie were fading. Life does go on...
You know, we haven't addressed this here as far as I know, but a lot of us have had pets - multiple pets - over our lifetimes and over our marriages. Watching them decline and die, usually at home, is always very sad, and having to explain the death to our kids has been equally sad. BUT: it has given us perhaps a more accepting, fatalistic view of life: we live, we decline, we die. We ALL do, animals and people. And when you hold a pet as it dies, no less than when you sit at the side of a loved one, there comes a exhaling of breath at the finality of it. As Stephanie says, life goes on...
At the zoo, a lot of the young keepers are of course animal lovers (not all; working at the zoo is a city, union, job and there have been some who have thought it would be cushy, didn't really like animals and didn't last long there). They have not been accustomed to participating in the cycle of life and are massively destroyed when one of their favorite animals dies. BUt mostly they, too, come to acceptance after a few years.
I'd forgotten about ALL the funerals we've held in our back yard. The kids used to put up little crosses. We sang songs and had prayers. We all wept. My daughter's pet turtle was the worst. She grieved for days. Then we went to get her another one and found out they aren't allowed into the country any more. Then she really was sad. But she found a pregnant mother cat with the mange. Our mother duck and 5 ducklings got killed by a racoon. We salvaged 4 ducklings. I had a huge cardboar box that a sewing machine had come in. I fixed it up with litter and a light for warmth. Guess where. In the kitchen. I felt like I was a saint for allowing that. Those birds had to have their litter changed every hour. I tolerated it for one week (actually 6 days) and then my husband and the kids had a shed for them outside with a roof so the racoon couldn't get back in.
One son's lizard died a sad death. He went down the drain in the bathroom. Since we didn't have a body, we had a memorial. Frogs, salamanders, cats, birds, fish--no dogs. My children had a deprived childhood--no dogs.
Now the cycle starts all over again. We have the one little black neutered tom--he's six months old. Getting VERY bold and VERY strong. I think he needs a companion. DH isn't so sure. I wish someone would bring one over and then there wouldn't be an argument.
Mawzy-we too have left pet graves whenever we moved. Each time I said no more but always took in another. My last boy died in my arms and I thought I would die too. I have a 16 yr. old red Maine Coon and a 6yr old rescue boy-also red. For some reason I always wind up with boys. I'm happy to have them to share my house (actually they let me stay)
I think I understand. It started out that I picked out a cute little black kitty and brought him home. We made a nice bed for him, a litter box and gave him wonderful food. We play with him every day, pet him and talk to him. However, I'm now finding that when he meows, I stand there asking him what he wants. I try to figure out what hes telling me with various behavior. Now, that's nuts. That kitty has taken over this place and he acts like he just bought and paid for it. He sits on my lap for a while. Gets up and then goes and sits on DH's lap. He loves to play with DH's bathrobe tie.
We really love that little guy. He's so cute and funny.
Mawzy, we talk to our Topsy too. Just like she is a person. When she wants out she goes to the door and meows. When she wants back in she jumps against the window to let us know and I will say to husband, "Your baby wants back in". and he will get up and let her in. It is bad we have to talk to the pets for conversation isn't it. I wish, sometime I had got a pair instead of just one but now that she is a year old and being a in and out cat it wouldn't work out. Too hard to keep the little one inside.
Our oldest old lady cat, age 19, says, quite clearly, "wanngoOUT" at the door. When she's outside she usually does not want to come back in unless we've left her out for several hours (she doesn't go anywhere outside our yard, she has a nest in the well of a basement window where she's always dry and warm). She says, quite clearly, "donwanna" when she's asked if she wants to come in. We actually have always let our cats be indoor/outdoor (including several deaf white ones) but never before they were a year old or a bit more (earlier is like letting teenagers drive too young!) and never at night. But now we have coyotes around ( in NEW ENGLAND!) it really isn't safe anymore. Mawzy, I would guess your guy would resent sharing the house with a new cat. Our Chimi seriously minded Max for months, and I regretted getting him. But he turned into such a sweetheart, and now Chimi's ok with him.
I love talking cats!! When Nathan wants a treat he says "I want one". One time when DH was giving him a playfully hard time, Nathan turned around and glared at my DH and said, "leave me alone". Granted the words are slurred, but very distinctive. I talk to my boys all the time and yes, I am convinced they understand.
I'm sure Noche` would really resent another cat. If I got a spayed female about his age it MIGHT work out but I wouldn't bet the rent on it. He seems frightfully territorial.
And, all of you who talk to your pets, I'm sure really do understand you. I know mine does. :)
Okay who likes boxers? I have 2 of them. Somehow when we bought our house 10 years ago my DH and I made a pact and we stuck to it for 2 years NO DOGS. Well DH said one of his co-workers looked extremely tired as she came to work and was asked if she was ok. Sure she said I just helped my dog birth 7 puppies. Awwww he said can we come see them. Well 8wks later we took a puppy home that kept coming up to us and looking at us with pleading eyes. She was a brindle boxer and have not been sorry a day that she picked us. We have friends who volunteer at a rescue farm and she said they just rescued from a puppy mill a beautiful fawn boxer, well that is all it took. I took one look at her and it was love at first sight. She apparently was caged her whole life and nothing but tons of love to give. She never saw grass, she had to be taught to go a flight of stairs 2 adult dogs how was that going to work. My lightning fell in love with her too, they share the same food dish, water bowl and you don't see one without the other. It is good that I have a kingsize bed cause they also sleep with me. You all are right about the life cycle and I don't know how much longer they will live since their life expectancy is not much over 9 years so I still have some time left to enjoy them. Jenene
Jenene, me too- I can also hear the boos and hisses! We have a 6 yr. old Shih Tzu - our baby. She is my DH's comfort blanket. Whenever he is having a bad time, she crawls up on his chest, gives him kisses and just lies there. He takes so much comfort in her. She sleeps at the foot of our bed, but will move up against him whenever he gets restless. Amazing!