Post your pet!

[Timex]

AH!! New kitties have been acquired from the local SPCA. As some may recall, my previous cat, King, passed away a few months back. He was a champ, and I had him for 18 years.

This past Friday, I went down to the SPCA and picked up two new cats, Max and Claudia. Max is this black cat:

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And Claudia is this calico:

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Max is around 10 months old, and Claudia is 8 months old. The first day I got them, Max immediately ran around the house exploring, while Claudia hid behind a chair for a while. I eventually got her to come out with a laser pointer, which they both seem to enjoy playing with together, taking turns chasing it and watching the other cat.

At first I was worried that they wouldn’t get along, since Max kept chasing and tackling Claudia and she seemed afraid. I went to take a shower, and when I came out, I couldn’t find them. I eventually found them both sitting under the couch together.

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So they seem to be pretty cool with each other.

Max likes to rough-house, and finds it amusing to charge across the house and either jump over Claudia, or just tackle her and hold her down. She holds her own pretty well though, and usually kicks him in the face. At first I was worried that she was being abused, and maybe she is, but she doesn’t seem to mind that much. To the extent that when I laid on the ground to play with them, poking Max to give him someone bigger to play with, Claudia came over and started patting my head with her paws. Max has taught her to be a bully. The cycle of abuse continues.

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Oh, almost forgot. Apparently Claudia got some URI while at the shelter, and so has been sneezing a lot. She’s also very snuggly, so her favorite pastime has been to crawl up on my chest, lick my nose, bite it, and then sneeze directly into my face. She does this like it’s her job.

I took them to the vet yesterday and had them both checked out, and got some amoxacilin for Claudia, also some eye drops since she’s apparently got kitty pink-eye too. She seems to be recovering fine though, and still runs around the house. I’m hoping that Max doesn’t catch it before she kicks it.

[BennyProfane]

It sounds like Max is just doing typical tomcat dominance stuff, and Claudia is fine. She’ll let him know if he pushes it too far.

I hope they are both fixed (I doubt the SPCA would let loose a cat that wasn’t), but he will still try to hump her on occasion. Again, she will let him know if he goes too far.

I find that almost all female cats we’ve had are less active and aggressive than the males have been, but as long as she’s not hiding, just go with it.

[Timex]

Ya, she seems fine, and doesn’t seem to be afraid of him. She just hides when she doesn’t want to be tackled. The fact that they sleep next to each other suggests to me that things are fine overall.

[Lamalo]

Cats are awesome.

[Nixxter]

Max and Claudia are going to make a fine team! They typically tellz you to get a pair so they can keep each other company when you are not around.

Our current team (Grace and Ginger) are both females. But the two before that were male and female (Cosmo and Gidget). The female in that team (Ginger) was definitely dominant, though considerably smaller. I don’t think you have to worry about whether Claudia is going to be overpowered by Max. Could be she turns out to be the dominant one, or, to at least hold her own from a respect perspective. I believe it has to do with the matriarch aspect of cats in general. But it does also have to do with their attitude, there are cats which are more timid or submissive in aspect, but even then I think there is something about the species and their respect for another that they break off sparring when things go too far.

[Timex]

After week one, they seem to be doing well. They definitely get along and like each other. Max is just much more active and likes to play all the time, and constantly wants to wrestle. At first I was a worried, since Claudia meows and growls during this, but periodically after max gets tired of it, she will then attack him, so she seems to actually like it. At one point while they were wrestling, I got down and started playing with them to just to keep max in his place. He seemed fairly submissive to me, and then Claudia comes up behind me and starts batting my head. So overall, it seems like they are both voluntarily engaged in the activity, and Claudia is not distressed, which is all that matters.

Since that’s the case, it should be beneficial for Claudia, since I think she would otherwise be content to just flop over and be pet all the time. And it’s beneficial for max since I don’t think I’d be up for entertaining him all the time. So they seem like they will provide good exercise for each other, which was the original plan.

Max has apparently started getting up on countertops and stealing stuff while I’m asleep. This morning, I woke up to hearing some rustling in the kitchen. I then hear a thump, and Max comes running into the bedroom carrying a bag of dried coconut in his mouth. I doubt he actually cares about the coconut, and probably just liked the sound of the plastic bag it was in. But since it’s pretty light, it was a reasonably large bag, and it was funny to see him run in, holding his head way up in the air while carrying a big bag of coconut flakes. He was extremely pleased with himself.

[BennyProfane]

After week one, they seem to be doing well. They definitely get along and like each other. Max is just much more active and likes to play all the time, and constantly wants to wrestle. At first I was a worried, since Claudia meows and growls during this, but periodically after max gets tired of it, she will then attack him, so she seems to actually like it. At one point while they were wrestling, I got down and started playing with them to just to keep max in his place. He seemed fairly submissive to me, and then Claudia comes up behind me and starts batting my head. So overall, it seems like they are both voluntarily engaged in the activity, and Claudia is not distressed, which is all that matters.

Since that’s the case, it should be beneficial for Claudia, since I think she would otherwise be content to just flop over and be pet all the time. And it’s beneficial for max since I don’t think I’d be up for entertaining him all the time. So they seem like they will provide good exercise for each other, which was the original plan.

Max has apparently started getting up on countertops and stealing stuff while I’m asleep. This morning, I woke up to hearing some rustling in the kitchen. I then hear a thump, and Max comes running into the bedroom carrying a bag of dried coconut in his mouth. I doubt he actually cares about the coconut, and probably just liked the sound of the plastic bag it was in. But since it’s pretty light, it was a reasonably large bag, and it was funny to see him run in, holding his head way up in the air while carrying a big bag of coconut flakes. He was extremely pleased with himself.

I had one cat that loved to bite holes in the bread bags. Didn’t eat the bread, mind you, just bit holes all along the bag. We had to start putting the bread in the cabinet.

Have to be really careful with things like bread ties, though, they will eat those. Or scrunchies, they will eat those too, and then you face either surgery or a dead cat.

[tylertoo]

Harry (Cairn) and Charlie (Labradoodle)

[krayzkrok]

Got the camera out yesterday, time for some Bolt updates! He’s now 8.5 months old, weighs 33 kg (um, 73 lbs), and is a big cuddle monster. He loves playing chase with his mum, Ursa (she’s the smaller one of the two below). It can get quite rough.

Here’s Bolt playing chicken with me. Do I take a photo and risk total annihilation, or do I get out of the way fast?

Ursa takes being chased very, very seriously.

Imminent impact!

Ancient piece of bone that’s been on the ground for months suddenly becomes the latest must-have accessory as soon as one of them picks it up.

[Giles_Habibula]

Beautiful photos, everyone!
Please keep them coming. My girlfriend and I really enjoy this thread, and eagerly check with every update.

I’m always tempted to comment every time someone posts a new pic, but all of my comments would just get in the way, so I just want to make sure and encourage each and every one of you to keep on posting. We’ve loved them all.

[mrcjhicks]

Wrapping up two months with Chloe. First month went smoother than the second month. Mistakes were made - I accidentally got the scented version of her cat litter. That was a disaster, haha. Bad human.

I’ve now had a cat for a full year! Both kitty and owner seem to be happy with our various arrangements. I feed her before I go to bed, and she doesn’t wake me up at dawn by jumping on my head. But seriously, it has been pretty nice having a kitty-buddy around the house. She has unexpectedly shown herself to be a big lap-cat and greets me at the door when I come home from work.

[RichVR]

Greetings everyone. I am sad to report that tomorrow we have to re-home Beaker, my baby. My love. Since Beaky got around 3 years old, he has gotten really bad. For a while he became attached to my wife instead of me. Then he got really bad. Biting both of us and screaming a lot. It has just gotten so bad. He bites us both. It’s hard to deal with him. We found a wonderful home for him. Not that makes me feel good. Honestly I’m incredibly depressed. Tomorrow he goes to his new home. I want him to be happy.

I feel that I have done something wrong. I feel like I have failed him.

I will miss you so very much, Beaker…

[ReptileHouse]

Very sorry to hear that, Rich. Tough situation, but you’re doing the right thing for your feathered buddy.

Here’s Charlemagne, one of our fuzzy guys. We call him Charlie. My wife insists that he was actually lying to us about his name and is actually Charlie Chaplin. I suspect she may be on to something.

[TimElhajj]

That’s tough Rich. Hang in there man.

[krayzkrok]

Rich, is he going through puberty, the start of sexual maturity? I only have a vague idea of the age that this happens in medium-sized birds, so I may be off by a few years, but such a radical change in behaviour could be down to hormones and completely outside your control. I have an acquaintance who has a sulphur-crested cockatoo which was his super buddy for several years, but now it only ever tries to bite the crap out of everyone, or hump them (“Oh, he likes me. He really likes me! What’s he doing?”). Happened a few years in, but that’s only a sample size of 1.

[Timex]

I’m sorry about that Rich, but keep in mind you didn’t fail him. Hell, you went above and beyond by addressing his behavioral issues the best way possible and find him a good home to be happy in.

Avians are tricky, because the larger ones have higher cognitive abilities than most mammals, and their consciousness is likely different than ours due to the difference in their brain structure. They are smart enough to get legitimately upset about stuff, and throw tantrums, but can’t usually convey their emotional state and explain what they are mad about. Kind of like infant humans in that way. Only with razor sharp breaks, which is problematic.

Anyhow, you’re the bird guy, so you probably already know this, but you did the right thing by him, so take solace in that.

Here’s a picture of a Max to cheer you up. He’s just sitting like that, not getting ready to jump down or anything. Just chilling with his front paws dangling.

Max is weird.

[Lamalo]

Yup, some cats are weird like that.

[krayzkrok]

These aren’t my pets, but I’m visiting my mum in Cyprus and she has a couple of young kitties that visit. Now I’m more of a dog person, when I’m not a croc person, and even I think these guys are cute. :) As you can see, they view me with great suspicion.

[RichVR]

I have to check his hatch date, but I believe that he was almost two years older than the hormone time. That would be about 2 to 3 years old. I’ll probably write some rambling thing about him later. We took him to the rescue today, and I’m not up to it right now. Thanks for all your comments folks. I really appreciate it.

[Lamalo]

Not sure if it belongs here or the hardware forum, but here’s a new product called Cat-on-QNAP