Caregiver's cats behaving badly.

Bird came into the back porch, screened in. I've got it now, without capturng it.
I said, bedtime, go to bed....repeat 6 times. It came to the tray of food and water, and I carried it inside. Easier than the cat! Posted the missing bird, waiting now.

Safe and sound for the night.

Just now, and in the last two hours, a friendly blue parakeet has arrived on my back wall, tweeting. It is so hot out there!
It ate, drank water, and I misted it with the hose.
It won't come to me.
It also sat on my back step.

It is now on the neighbors shady tree, listening to classical music out my front window, and the occasional tweet.

My hand can come within 6 inches of it, but it goes away.

Twirp.

Hubs is not in favor of catching it. The bird is banded, belongs to someone.

Sheesh. Worn out now.

Avoiding the expense of a bird cage, etc.

As the feral cat who hangs out here now rested on the front lawn as I turned into the driveway tonight, a possum ran up the driveway so
I rolled my window down and said, hey, don't you have a rat to chase ?

Flea season is upon us, so I am repeating the natural recipe from last year:

Fleas
Use every means possible, it is not a one time thing.
Place a piece of a fleas collar inside the vacumn cleaner bag.
Spray an online product called "Cedarcide" on bedding, carpet, on your shoes, socks, even lightly on your skin.
Using an essential oil mixture:
In a spray bottle (2 ounce), blend the following essential oils:
8 drops Cedarwood or Sandalwood.
10 drops Basil.
10 drops Frankincense.
8 drops Geranium.
12 drops Lavender.

One will have to see if this actually kills fleas, prevents their eggs from hatching, or just prevents fleas from jumping on a person and biting. But it is natural, except for the flea collar.
Vacumn every day.

DD picked up Bella to go home today.. and Chloe was already so much calmer when I got home from work. I am looking forward to only one dog in bed tonight.. and not on the pillow squishing my head into my neck! And no growling and nipping from Bella.. she is not really into sharing her space and her people ( she lived with us for 7 years and visits weekly) we really hoped a younger dog would be good for her as well as us.. nope,, Bella is a bully!

It was the single claw appearing at the edge of the towel roll that I especially remembered, Send - and the ensuing armageddon!

Send, my two cats (one in particular) like to chew on plastic, mostly plastic bags in the small trash cans. The former cat-mom told me this is a long standing habit for them. I think they just like the texture in their mouth? Because they're not eating much if any of the bag, just chewing up the edges.

It could be menopause after her spaying.
Thanks for answering FF.

Poor Nala, she is also bored. I know now that I should have adopted her sister, also one year old and identical.

Sendhelp, usually with a cat teething [losing their baby teeth] happens earlier on. Have the Vet take a peek into the cat's mouth to see if there is a tooth issue, a baby tooth that won't shake look, or a sore gum that just feels better is the cat is chewing on something hard.

It could also be stress. Or if the cat was sprayed recently, she might be going through menopause. I chewed everybody's head off I was so grumpy :P

Is this normal?
The 12 month old cat is chewing! It looks like teething dog behavior, quite aggressively chewing the side/lid of a plastic file container.

Is it teething?
Does it have worms?
Does it have brain damage from heat stroke before she was adopted?
Is it a side effect of withdrawing from anesthesia/spaying surgery?

Is she a psycho cat?

I read that today, CW, after I tried to give to him in food. And I just looked at the little bowl of dosed food I tried to give Divo, and one of them ate some of it. Next time I'll put it on the paw to make him lick it off.

There are a lot of good tips in the reviews on Amazon about this product. I bought it at the local PetSmart store, but always good to read about the experience of others using it.

I think the major active ingredient is tryptophan, the stuff in turkey and milk that makes one sleepy... and theanine, which is found in green tea... and ashwagandha. The fourth active ingredient is one I've never heard of, Eleuthero root.

I used to take theanine and ashwagandha during the caregiving years, they're natural anti-anxiety.

Ali the directions say you can put it on a paw so they'll lick it up when grooming (I think I'd mix it with a little smear of food).

You did lick it, didn't you? Lol.

Veronica,
I have seen shows like that, and one rounding up en masse feral cats to be trapped/neutered/or spayed/and released. So many cats, so many volunteers.
I think it was done overnight, trapping them when they came for food.

Ali,
You were not supposed to lick it!
(The Zen calming Licks, I mean.)

Find out what's in em, I think you have found the sleep-aid needed by so many caregivers on here. We could get our own ingredients, perhaps in an essential oil.

Report back, because Gershun could really use a good nights sleep, as she has said in the past. Or, we could just go to the pet store or vet!

It won't be the first time an animal med is good for people.

The plan was a good one. What actually happened is that Divo wouldn't eat the Licks calming stuff (I mixed in a little bit of food, put it on a treat, tried to give him a spoonful of it.... no, no, no thanks, nope). Then *I* fell right asleep after lunch and missed his appointment. I called in and they'll let me reschedule. Sigh. We'll try again next week on my day off.

Close enough to a memory CM!
In James Herriot's book: "All Things Bright and Beautiful", he mentions
Mrs. Bond's cats, Ch. 22.

I had read them all! Of course, I cannot remember all the details, but you can look these things up online for a Chapter synopsis, and the name of Mrs. Bond's cat.
His books are still very popular.

Isn't there a scene in James Herriot's book about a cat called Bond, I seem to remember..?

Cats rule ok!

I watched one of the animal rescue shows where they were rounding up a hoarders cats. Not very pretty but effective. Catch the cat in a net. Have second helper hold crate on it's end. Grab cat with towel holding front legs back agaist it's body and dump cat head first into crate. The handler is wearing heavy leather gloves like fire place gloves (not oven Mitts Ali) and as complete controle of the front end of the cat. The helper slams door shut before kitty can turn around and escape.

For my own non aggressive kitty I confine her to a powder room and into the crate

Well MsMadge then maybe that cat is not the baddy,, they normally will not poop where they sleep!

The cat I suspect of using the patio as a litter box was asleep on it this morning
not tame at all
ran as soon as I opened the kitchen window

I left a pie tin of water in the shade for it
so hot here still

I bought some relaxing sauce stuff called Zen™ Licks Calming Aid and a soft sided cat carrier so I don't have to deal with the big crate. I put treats in the carrier and both cats went right in after them. 👍 The carrier is sitting with the end open under Divo's favorite chair for him to explore. I think I'm as prepped for tomorrow's vet visit as I can be. 😁

Thanks for all the tips! There are some good ideas in there, thank you!

I thought cat revenge was puking on your pillow...
(cousin's cat did that every time she was p'd off - lol)

FF I know what you mean about the peeing in the crate.. we had a Himalayan that had to go to the groomers in her old age because she could no longer keep up the tons of hair,, so we had to get her shaved like a poodle. I swear every trip home I would suddenly smell "the smell".. and have to rewash her butt, etc when we got home.. It was her revenge!

Ali, good luck in getting that bad boy into his crate.. I remember one time a Vet did recommend that I place the crate bottom down so I could take the cat under his arms and place him into the crate. Make sure the claws are facing forward and not toward you.

My current old boy was a terror when he was young to get into a crate. He yells all the way to the Vets, but within the past few years he is a happy camper because he just loves all the attention from all the cute lab techs and the Vet herself. I use a dog size crate, it's a royal pain to carry because the crate is as heavy as the cat.

I had cats that were easy to scoop up and put into the crate. Had one that would yelp like a dog and pee in the crate. Glad his Vet had a good sense of humor. Always had to schedule as first patient of the day so not to clear out the waiting room with that very loud yelping.

Another cat I had to close all the bedroom and bathroom doors. And start a half hour early because I had to exhaust the cat before I was able to grab her. We put on many miles inside the house :P Oh, that cat would hear the handle on the crate and zoom she'd be in hiding.

Never found putting toys and treats in the crate would work, as my cats would associate the crate with the doctor office.

And put him in butt first. It is supposed to help if the cat cannot see that they are going into the crate. Get the carrier out now. Place a treat or two in there with the towel. Ming will go into her crate sometimes just to nap.

A decent sized bath towel, Ali. Playfully lay it over him, like laying a cloth on a table, then get ruthless, bundle him up and decant into the carrier.

You won't be popular but you will have him in the crate and you won't hurt him (or you).

My charge (Divo, the 18 yo cat) goes to doctor (at The Cat Hospital) for wellness check next Tuesday. The worst part will be putting on oven mitts to get him into his travel crate. I've been thinking I will put lots of toys and treats in the crate, the put it on its back end, so he cannot even think to run out once I get him in there. He's done that before, fought me successfully for freedom from the crate. I don't blame him, I'm just thinking ahead for how to get this wellness check accomplished.

It's only going to be him at this time. The other gal shows no signs of any issue, I'm going to leave well enough alone.

We shall see what vet says about the spasms and if it's just part of being an 18 yo cat, or something else should be checked out.

Vet should have the old records by Monday, so if there's any kind of unusual indicator in test results, vet should be able to see it. Hopefully my description of The Issue will be an obvious symptom towards one or two possible problems, or just due to ... old age. I have no idea at this point what to expect! "Ali, your cat has parasites" sounds just as plausible at this point as "He's 18, did you think there weren't going to be normal symptoms of aging...?"

Sharing what I just heard on the radio about your pets.  It was a question about their pet cat. The vet doctor said that when they do tests, it would be helpful to compare the result with previous ones.  What may seem high to him, might be normal for that pet - based on the previous tests.  He would like to have his clients have a baseline in order to accurately diagnose their pets.  He recommended that when you take your pets annually to the vet, to request a blood test done.  Baseline (especially since pets can't talk.)

Turns out my rescue cat likes Ozzy Osborn music. Just by chance my sig other was watching the Ozzy and Jack TV travel series and was wondering about Ozzy's music. Sig found some of his music on his cellphone.

Lo and behold "Rosie" [13 years old] quickly came out of where ever she was sleeping and acted like she was fond of the music. She does this each time the music is played. Apparently in one of the two previous homes she had lived, someone was an Ozzy fan :)