One of my cats doesn’t hide under the bed but in it. She goes under the bed and rips the lining off the underside of box spring and climbs inside. Shes done it to 2 beds now. In the event of a fire beyond throwing the bed out the window no clue how we’d get her out.
In other exciting cat news, we had to take another to vet yesterday to get a large chunk of her fur shaved off because she’d got something on it that had stuck it all together. I’m surprised how forgiving she has been so far. If only she knew the worst is yet to come because they found a tooth that needs extracting.
So our older, female calico is having issues. She scratches a lot, and our vet – who’s also my sister in law – thinks it’s allergies. We tried a shampoo on her, and it seems to be making things worse. She’s scratching some areas so much she’s pulling hair off and injuring herself. She might have an infected wound on her head because of this, for example. We’ll find out today.
The next step would be steroids, but with her kidney issues, and the meds she’s already on for her kidney and thyroid, might be too much. I’m just really worried. She’s my first cat, and a world without her in it would be harder to live in.
Is she scratching with her hind claws? Yeah, that’s really hard to stop if that’s the case. If she is licking and biting the fur off, you could try a “Cone of Shame” but I’ve never managed to keep one of those on a cat for very long, they are remarkably adept at removing things. Try putting one of those pet diapers on one sometime…
Have you tried a topical ointment? We’ve been told that some of the topical anti-itch things (probably mildly steroidal) are actually okay for cats too.
On our old dog, we had to use the cone of shame for it seemed like off and on for a year because he would bite himself raw… turns out it was his food. He had an allergic reaction to fillers in the dog food which caused him itch and develop a rash which of course he would bite at. We changed the food for both dogs and solved.
Welp, Murphy is gonna get some steroids for a few weeks, some more bathing, and fish oil in her food! Hopefully that’ll help her feel a lot more comfortable.
My cats don’t require a change, at least not yet, but if you have a local butcher, I think a number of them grind raw pet food these days.It might save you some of the work and blender hassle although it’s not cheap. If you have a Kitchenaid or like mixer, they have grinder attachments.
Yes, hiding in the box springs is a natural cat hiding place and hard as hell to extract them. There have been at least 2 maybe 3 vet visits canceled due to the cat deciding that he didn’t want to go the vet and wedging herself into the box springs. Eventually with a combination of treats and toys, and just ignoring them will cause them to leave their safe space. Not all useful info in the event of an evacuation or a vet visit
Absolutely gorgeous shot, @Timex.
Took me a second to realize she is trying to touch it through the screen.
Might you possibly have more of Claudia (in any setting)?
Hah! You’ve made Friday night so much better for me, as the gf is coming over, and I have another Scotch photo to show her. She’s become a bit obsessed with your cat, I’m afraid. She loves this thread, and every animal within it, be she’s latched onto yours for some reason. She’s had a lot of bad days lately, and this thread never fails to instantly cheer her up.
Much appreciated.
You take totally awesome action shots, dude!
edit: Is that Bolt? She loves Bolt. Also Smaug, in his unique way. She knows many of you guys’ pets by name now, and calls them out when she sees them.
Anybody else that wants to contribute to cheering her up, please feel free to post. This thread is basically all I’ve got in my arsenal to comfort her. I am generally pretty awful at comforting.