On Cats

[J. S. Bach]

12 hours ago, big jim said:

and one of Hank, who can’t believe his luck with the size of the box he’s got to play in, had some sports seats delivered for my car and before I had a chance to move the box he was in it!

 

Wingnut does not care about boxes; I got one from a train auction that I won and put it on the floor and she totally ignored it after a test sniff or two. I then picked her up and put her in it, a few seconds later out she jumped.

[Nick C]

48 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

Wingnut does not care about boxes; I got one from a train auction that I won and put it on the floor and she totally ignored it after a test sniff or two. I then picked her up and put her in it, a few seconds later out she jumped.

Our two go through phases of liking one particular box, but otherwise don't seem to care about them either.

 

Although Clydie is, for some reason, utterly terrifed of the laundry basket...

[Sidecar Racer]

[steve1]

Do ever really consider how much emotional capaital we have invested in our pets?

 

One of our cats, Olly the b&w, is giving me cause for concern. From being a particularly active animal she has, in the past week, taken to sleeping in one place (office window sill or living room sofa) and rarely budging except to use the litter try. I'm fairly certain she's gained a limp in her front near side leg too.

 

She's never been a greedy cat (unlike Toffy!) but still eats when she's put to her (wet) food. She will munch biscuits during the day though. 

 

It's bothering me and it's made me realise just how much she means to us. The thought of losing her is just, well, do I actually have to say? There have been several other cats that have gone from my life over the years. I know their life spans are shorter than ours. But...

 

steve

 

[big jim]

We still haven’t got over the loss of Mike the mainecoon and that was over 12 months ago, similarly Odin who was 18 months ago

 

The thing with Mike was we couldn’t let him carry on for our own selfish needs because we don’t want to see him go, he wouldn’t have had any form of life if we had decided to keep him alive by having to give him medication every day and it was kindest to let him go with dignity knowing he had a fulfilling end of life with us after he was rescued 

 

it’s difficult to see our animals come and go but sometimes it’s best to think of the animal first if their quality of life is affecting them on a daily basis

[The White Rabbit]

If they are suffering, giving them peace and a final release from pain may be a hard decision but it is the last duty of a friend. 

[Tony Teague]

1 hour ago, steve1 said:

Do ever really consider how much emotional capaital we have invested in our pets?

 

One of our cats, Olly the b&w, is giving me cause for concern. From being a particularly active animal she has, in the past week, taken to sleeping in one place (office window sill or living room sofa) and rarely budging except to use the litter try. I'm fairly certain she's gained a limp in her front near side leg too.

 

She's never been a greedy cat (unlike Toffy!) but still eats when she's put to her (wet) food. She will munch biscuits during the day though. 

 

It's bothering me and it's made me realise just how much she means to us. The thought of losing her is just, well, do I actually have to say? There have been several other cats that have gone from my life over the years. I know their life spans are shorter than ours. But...

 

steve

 

 

Have her checked by a vet - it may be simple, but either way it will give you peace of mind.

[durham light infantry]

New workspace in the new man cave...

 

Good

 

Better

 

 

Perfect

 

[scottystitch]

1 hour ago, steve1 said:

Do ever really consider how much emotional capaital we have invested in our pets?

 

One of our cats, Olly the b&w, is giving me cause for concern. From being a particularly active animal she has, in the past week, taken to sleeping in one place (office window sill or living room sofa) and rarely budging except to use the litter try. I'm fairly certain she's gained a limp in her front near side leg too.

 

She's never been a greedy cat (unlike Toffy!) but still eats when she's put to her (wet) food. She will munch biscuits during the day though. 

 

It's bothering me and it's made me realise just how much she means to us. The thought of losing her is just, well, do I actually have to say? There have been several other cats that have gone from my life over the years. I know their life spans are shorter than ours. But...

 

steve

 

Our British Shorthair, Leyla, displayed similar symptoms and was diagnosed with arthritis in her front left knee...or one of her front left knees, anyway...
 

The vet prescribed Metacam, in liquid form, mixed in with her food. This made a difference but it still give her bother, particularly on cold, damp, North-East Scotland days, but she’s much better than she was. 
 

Next, the vet diagnosed diabetes, an increasing issue in older cats apparently. We inject her twice a day with insulin and again that sorted her out. In fact, it was like night and day and she appeared much happier in herself and more engaging. 
 

finally, a little after that she started vomiting every couple of days. Turns out she had some decay and bacteria on a couple of her back teeth, the bacteria causing her tummy to react and throw food back up. She went in for the teeth to be cleaned but they couldn’t be saved so they were extracted. 
 

and now she is right as rain again.  We thought she was just getting old, but in reality she was in a bit of difficulty and discomfort/pain.  It’s a relief to be able to restore her quality of life.

 

The point of all my rambling is to suggest that your furry friend’s lethargy may be due to something such as the above and easily remedied.

 

I hope it helps?

 

Best

 

Scott. 

[Classsix T]

12 hours ago, scottystitch said:

The point of all my rambling is to suggest that your furry friend’s lethargy may be due to something such as the above and easily remedied.

 

I hope it helps?

 

Best

 

Scott. 

Indeed. Mia got really lethargic and started sleeping in odd places once, off her food too. Trip to the vet revealed she'd got a scratch off something that gave her some nasty germs. A jab of penicillin and she was right as nine pence.

 

Unfortunately our feline pals can't tell us what's going on. That's what we pay vets for.

 

Touch wood Olly won't have anything to worry about, best wishes, C6T. 

Edited January 8, 2021 by Classsix T

[scottystitch]

The aforementioned Leyla, regal in the sun...

 

 

[didcot]

Pepper has settled for the night

[BR60103]

One of our previous cats had a really loud, long purr and a two-tone meow.  I would have liked to get it on a sound chip for a locomotive or DMU.

Suggestion now out there for anyone with the technical ability.

[pH]

I thought I had posted this already, but I can't find it. If it is a repeat posting, I apologize.

 

[kevinlms]

On 08/01/2021 at 07:57, big jim said:

We still haven’t got over the loss of Mike the mainecoon and that was over 12 months ago, similarly Odin who was 18 months ago

 

The thing with Mike was we couldn’t let him carry on for our own selfish needs because we don’t want to see him go, he wouldn’t have had any form of life if we had decided to keep him alive by having to give him medication every day and it was kindest to let him go with dignity knowing he had a fulfilling end of life with us after he was rescued 

 

it’s difficult to see our animals come and go but sometimes it’s best to think of the animal first if their quality of life is affecting them on a daily basis

Going off topic here, but our Bo, an Old English Sheepdog (a rescue dog, very rare for an OES, who fell instantly in love with my wife, at the rescue centre and basically demanded she take him home - a great decision for everyone) was not well at all. So we took him to the vets obviously.

The wife sort of suggested that we would do anything to keep him going. I suspect one of the vets had been reading on an experimental treatment and suggested we try it.

 

It turned out to be a disaster and to cut the story short, the treatment reacted with him and he had to be put to sleep. The wife was upset and suicidal and took a long time to recover.

In fact she didn't really until a couple of years later, she mentioned how she felt to the vet and he asked her to come back after hours to discuss it.

He told her how sorry they all were at the practice and in fact we could have sued them, for how things went. She is OK now, but I certainly don't remind her.

 

So think carefully about any significant treatment, we won't be making that mistake again. It wasn't hugely expensive, but would never put any animal through that type of treatment.

 

Sorry to go off topic, but we now have a Bearded Collie, Jamie and he is much loved, except right this moment, as he has rolled in something disgusting and I have to go and clean him!

[Edwin_m]

4 hours ago, pH said:

I thought I had posted this already, but I can't find it. If it is a repeat posting, I apologize.

 

What did they have to do to get seven cats to stay in the same pose long enough to take that photo?  

[SHMD]

1 hour ago, Edwin_m said:

What did they have to do to get seven cats to stay in the same pose long enough to take that photo?  

 

I strongly suspect all they did was just put the boxes down and wait.

 

As they say, "you can lead a horse to water, but there is bu&&er all you can do with a cat!"

 

 

Kev.

[Sidecar Racer]

[Welly]

Cat and layout featured on Reddit: https://old.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/ktpr1z/strapping_a_camera_to_a_toy_train/

[big jim]

That’s was originally on Twitter, @johnlawton10 a train driver from Yorkshire 

 

I made the comment on there that the last bit of film reminded me I needed to buy a new pencil sharpener! 

[J. S. Bach]

A portion of that line has catenary, I wonder if it is hot. Very good trackwork, the video was quite steady even over the switches.

[SRman]

13 hours ago, SHMD said:

 

I strongly suspect all they did was just put the boxes down and wait.

 

As they say, "you can lead a horse to water, but there is bu&&er all you can do with a cat!"

 

 

Kev.

 

That's why I have to try to grab a camera and snap shots as quickly as possible when they pose perfectly for all of 0.2 of a second!

IMG_20171101_182504 cropped by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

Edited January 10, 2021 by SRman
Corrected a typo

[Gopher]

Back seat driver.  Barney in front and Lucy behind.  These two have a strange relationship.  Barney has always been king cat and quite used to bullying our other cats as the whim takes him.   Lucy our stray who came to stay does not take any s*** from him. She is much younger and more agile.  Drives him up the wall.  He tends to follow her round to see what she is up to.      

[Dick Turpin]

What you can't see here, is that the log burner is working, and that Minstrel loves the heat from it!

[great central]

This seems to be the default location and pose for Amy at the moment. The other main occupation is sitting on the end of the table nearest the food drawer, demanding she be fed.

She 'appeared' a few years ago about the same time as a tabby Tom cat.

At the time I was refurbishing the shed as a modelling workshop, new roof insulation, etc.  That stopped as they were fed in there and Amy tended to stay and sleep on a chair, it was around this time of year so at least they had shelter and food.

After a few weeks it was possible to make a fuss of Amy but the Tom did a runner as soon as we opened the house door despite it being about 20 yards away.

A concerted effort one day saw Amy 'captured' and brought into the house.

A short while later, a precautionary visit to the vets we found out she hadn't been speyed, despite spending several weeks in close company of a tom wasn't pregnant, phew! Estimated age at the time around 2 years, she's now probably 5 or 6, I lose track of the time.

After her op and return home she doesn't really leave the house unless someone goes outside with her and even then rarely goes outside the garden.

She can run, very fast if she's caught outside in the rain

As for the Tom, he's still living outside being fed in the shed so I lost my workshop as it has to be left open for him because we never know when he's coming for food, sometimes several days apart, others two or three times a day.

He spends quite a lot of time at the moment in next doors 'garden room' so again he has shelter. We've named him, at my suggestion, (Sh)Eddy. Still can't get anywhere near him so doubt we ever will.