Caregiver's cats behaving badly.

lizzywho61, my heartfelt sympathy to you and the black Lab.

I have been through the mourning of numerous cats. Always had at least 2 to 4 cats at any given time. This last time, Charlie's sister, 17 year old cat [litter mate] was into her final week, he was beside himself as he and Sara were constantly together for those 17 years. Afterwards he didn't want to eat, play... just sleep. He was now the lone cat in the house.

We decided to go to the local animal shelter and see if we could find him a new "elderly" companion. We adopted a 12 year old female cat, and he was calmer knowing there was another cat in the house, the two of them would stalk each other for play. I know we have extended Charlie's life plus giving an elderly cat a good home.

Do to our age [early 70's], we decided that "elderly" cats were the best route, as we cannot see ourselves changing cat litter at 85 or 90 years old !!

Thanks CM,

I read online and as usual contradicting articles. One says carry on as usual not to encourage behaviors. The other more compassionate approach.

I found a ball and he got all excited, tossed it in the yard and he just looked at me. He just wanted a pet.

I got everything out for a bath. He was all excited until he realized the Bath was for him and he took off. I decided to wait until the weekend on the Bath.

Just lots of pets, cuddles, and go from there.

Its good to know others have experienced this mourning phenomenon. We like to think of our pets as almost human or have human feelings or something similar. I am now convinced they do.

Oh Lizzywho this is just AWFUL. I'm so sorry.

I can give you two examples, if not quite the same.

Lab collie cross who had never howled in her life (she was about five when this happened) the day after my father passed away sat in the car outside my parents' house and howled her head off.

Head hen, DeeDee, in good health herself, saw me returning home from the vet with her deceased second-in-command, Dolly, in the late afternoon; went straight to her nest box, and was dead when I went to tuck the ladies in at sunset. I can only think that she knew her reign was over and took the noble way out.

Most of my late Staffy's dog friends have seemed to extend some sort of sympathy to me when I meet them out-and-about.

I should ask your vet (if your vet is trustworthy and not the type to think "ker-chingg!") about extra support suggestions and, as you say, administer love and cuddles and normality. Not sure whether it would be better to keep familiar toys, blankets, etc. around for their smell or remove them? - whichever seems more comforting, I suppose.

Love and cuddles to you too 💔

Hi Everyone,
Our 15 yrold Chocolate Lab passed away last summer. Our 12 yr old Yellow Lab passed away yesterday. That leaves us with a 10 yr old Black Lab.

Last night at straight up 11pm I heard what sounded like a human moaning outside my bedroom window. Went out to find the Lab sprawled out on porch head down moaning. At first I thought he was dying but no he popped up and was fine.

I sat and petted him and he tried to get in my lap!

I guess I have a pet in mourning on my hands. I have never experienced pet mourning.

I guess this call for lots of one on one time and TLC.

Any experiences with pet mourning the death of another family pet? I thought this only happened in the movies. Wrong again...

Ringworm is a fungal skin infection, NOT A PARASITE. 😲 I was confused. But this spot that Divo has looks very much like the pics online of ringworm on cats. I'll treat it with cream.

Also, it says that the infection will usually resolve itself, even with no treatment, in 2-4 months time. But I'll get some anti fungal cream and put it on the spot.

It's a great relief to know it's not a parasite. Either way, he's got to get into the vet soonish so I can get him checked out.

Ringworm is very easy to treat Ali; but it's also extremely visible on humans and you can't cover up everything. Pop him along to the vet before you catch it just before your next interview.

Ali, if your kitty got ringworm last summer 2017, it would have spread to more than one spot and other kitty would have it too. I used otc Athletes foot cream on my kitty. It was on his neck so he couldn’t lick it off. It’s very contagious but easily managed. If he can kick off the cream, he may need an oral med from the vet. Yes humans can get it from a cat.

Hi Send,

Glad to see you are back.

Ali,
Yes, you can get ringworm from cats. Ringworm is a fungus that lives in soil. Hopefully your cat has some other mysterious cat skin condition.

I know that humans can get ringworm, a friend got some when we were in middle school, comes from outside, right? I'll be reading up on it today when I can. I don't know if there is any possibility of cat-to-human transmission. ☹️

Yes, Divo needs to be Bisselled and then some...

Send!

been looking for you

do you wanna kitty?

Use the Bissel on D I v o !

Oooo, did you you know you can get ringworm too Ali?

I think Divo has ringworm. 😳 He has a mark on his back that looks like the pictures online, and his former mom mentioned he had gotten out last summer and she wondered if he came back with parasites.

I'm right in the middle of my moving planning/prepping/doing, plus still working full time, so not a great time to take half a day out to take him into the vet. If he's had it all this time, I guess he'll be ok for anther couple of weeks, yes?

Bissell's Little Green Machine is awesome Ali, and pretty cheap too.

I woke up to the sad sound of Old Man cat getting sick right next to me. I tried to encourage him to move off the white fur rug next to my bed, onto the wood floor which would be much easier clean up, but no such luck. There's also a bit of poo on the rug, too. All of which I've sadly stared at a few times while I contemplate that -- I'm moving in the next couple weeks and while I love this rug, it was bought pre-cats and isn't a cat-friendly rug. Their hair and all kinds of other goo gets stuck in it, might as well just throw it away and not have to clean it or take it along to the new apartment.

If I had a small wet vac, maybe I could better clean rugs when the cats get sick on them. As for the white fur one, it's a done deal, because it's long and shaggy, you can't clean it fully although I've been trying for months to clean it after each incident. I need short pile rugs only that clean up easier.

Bettina,
Can you let the cat out for a bit? Some people allow their cats to be both indoor and outdoor pets.
When a neighborhood cat visited, he would want to go out at 4 a.m. so we stopped allowing him inside.

Having a cat neutered can help with some behavior issues.

Sorry he ruined your couch, but I totally understand the differences from caregiving stress vs. the cute antics of a pet being therapeutic and a welcome relief.

Go kitty!

Has anyone seen the video with cat toy? onefastcat
A treadmill in a huge circle.

For three nights in a row, Tweety gets back in his cage by himself. Then he got out by himself at 7:45 a.m., even though the cage was covered, including the door.
Phrases he is being taught are:
"Where is hubby?"
"I can't talk"
"I am a bird, and I can't talk"

So far, he has not talked.

I rescued a young tom cat, and although he's pretty tame he still has some
bad outdoor habits. Such a booting his poo out of the litter box and across
floor or peeing in laundry basket (on clean laundry--grrr)

He's a bit of a hellion, has ruined the only expensive couch I've ever owned,
causes chaos when possible. But his furry hair brained antics are adorable
in comparison to the other chaos I deal with in caregiving and related drama
(much unnecessary) . To think that before I started caregiving I would have
thought that dealing with rambunctious kitty was a hassle. Bwa ha ha ha
Such a lightweight

I am sure tweety will be very happy in his new home.

MsMadge was correct, I am the new owner of Tweety.
Hey Gershun! Can you post yet? Everybody having trouble posting, make sure you are logged in each morning, imo.

Tweety just said: "I tawt I taw puddy-tat!".

Your welcome Send. I hope Tweety will bring you lots of joy and entertainment.

Thank you, Smeshque!

Jesús te está mirando

How do you say: "Jesus is watching you!" in spanish?

Tweety is such a happy birdie, has the entire backporch as his own climate controlled room. Tweets up a storm, hubs recorded it, plays it back to him, and
Tweety is twirting again!

His owner probably went right out and bought another so the kids would not find the bird missing. Like they do with goldfish, you know, tell the kids, bury it in the backyard dilemma; or buy a new one before they find out, flush it down the toilet dilemma. Now, that sounds cynical, sorry. However, I am expecting the owner to make an effort, circulate flyers, make contacts online.

Yesterday, I tried playing music in different languages-bird related to spanish.
To teach it to talk, maybe play a phrase over and over on a loop because I get sooo very tired of repeating myself, Lol. "Where is hubby"; "Where is hubby?"

Thanks for asking about MY birdie! Ha ha ha.

Need to think upsomething good for Tweety to say.....

How is Tweety doing, has his owner turned up yet?

Here I thought it was the raccoons knocking the bird bath basin off its pedestal. Turns out it is a beautiful feral, speaking of ferals, Madge. No I am not bringing it in. White with some orange tabby. Hope it doesn't break that basin, it is cracked. Stupid design, the basin rests on a bolt that sticks out of the pedestal.

Seems the feral cat got sick in the driveway overnight and I had to clean it up this morning on my way to work or I’d run my tires through it

of course I didn’t want to take the time to find a shovel in the garage so I grabbed a plastic grocery bag and looked for a makeshift scooper in the house - there on the kitchen bar was the hoca newsletter -

So Chloes nails grew overnight... I am scratched, mom and hubs are scratched, FIL and cousin are scratched.. so off to the vet we went for a mani. She did very well.. no drama at all!