The kitten & cat thread
So last night at about 3am i heard growling and meowing outside. I quickly ran out and grabbed the breaker bar from my miata and ran towards the noise.. a raccoon had cornered my neighbors outside cat and they were fighting. They ran from behind my jeep when i went towards them so the cat walked away and is hopefully fine but yeah.. keep your cats indoors people.
We finally started letting Annie (our momcat) back outside this weekend. She spent the first year of her life living rough outdoors and she's been trying to get back outside for the last couple months now that the kittens are fully independent. She's always been a good kitty but she has super chilled out now that she's an indoor/outdoor kitty again.
I've got a chunk of useless space behind the house that acts as a sort of side yard. I'm tempted to clean it up and build a kitty enclosure. Ingress/egress would be accomplished through a window with a flap door. The idea is that everyone can get some outdoor time but not be completely exposed all day, and to keep any aggressive critters at bay.
Kinda like this:

Anyone have any experience with such things?
I've got a chunk of useless space behind the house that acts as a sort of side yard. I'm tempted to clean it up and build a kitty enclosure. Ingress/egress would be accomplished through a window with a flap door. The idea is that everyone can get some outdoor time but not be completely exposed all day, and to keep any aggressive critters at bay.
Kinda like this:

Anyone have any experience with such things?
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 34,381
Total Cats: 7,504
From: Chicago. (The less-murder part.)
I wish I had always kept certain kitties in, even though they wanted out. It would have saved a life a few years ago.
Additionally, I let a vet talk me into putting a momma cat down who trusted me many years ago. She was a pregnant stray. I found good homes for the kittens but when we took her to the vet for immunization because we planned to keep her she came up fiv positive. I still regret not keeping her and letting her be ours. I feel guilty because she trusted me and I let them put her down. I miss her.
So many kitties to help, so little control over circumstances sometimes.
Keep them in as much as you can.
Additionally, I let a vet talk me into putting a momma cat down who trusted me many years ago. She was a pregnant stray. I found good homes for the kittens but when we took her to the vet for immunization because we planned to keep her she came up fiv positive. I still regret not keeping her and letting her be ours. I feel guilty because she trusted me and I let them put her down. I miss her.
So many kitties to help, so little control over circumstances sometimes.
Keep them in as much as you can.
Smoke almost fell off the cat tree earlier today (fell off the edge, but caught himself with his claws and was hanging). Later we noticed that he was walking strangely, spinning around on his back-right foot. :( We're at the all-night vet now.

--Ian

--Ian
Well, there's nothing wrong with his leg, so it's probably neurological. His blood pressure is very high ("210" -- not sure how that relates to the two numbers usually given for human blood pressure) and they speculate he may have had a stroke. :( For now he's got blood pressure medication and and another appointment tomorrow morning.
--Ian
--Ian
Well, there's nothing wrong with his leg, so it's probably neurological. His blood pressure is very high ("210" -- not sure how that relates to the two numbers usually given for human blood pressure) and they speculate he may have had a stroke. :( For now he's got blood pressure medication and and another appointment tomorrow morning.
--Ian
--Ian
I guess kitties dont have 2 numbers.
So Smoke went to see the kitty neurologist today. They're doing some blood tests, but the signs right now point towards a stroke. His BP today was 150, which they said is possibly within the normal range for a cat who's stressed out from being out of balance and at the vet, so apparently the BP meds are working. Still waiting on the blood test results, but if it was a stroke then they say there's a good chance he'll recover most of his function within a few weeks.
So some decent news, at least.
--Ian
So some decent news, at least.
--Ian








