Strange Cat Behavior

Advice and commiseration wanted.

We have a 3 year old long-haired cat named Zathras who has a fetish/obsession with all things plastic. This has been going on for years: we can't use plastic trash bags or plastic shower curtains; we go through our mail quickly to throw away any plastic wrap, etc. I don't understand why he does this, but it's become routine and not a huge deal.

Today, however, he decided to branch out. Today, Zathras ate part of a plaster cat statue that was painted silver. It wasn't a large amount, just two kibble-sized pieces that likely broke into smaller pieces.

I've already contacted our vet to let them know. They told me to try to get him to eat some Laxatone and keep an eye out for vomiting or diarrhea.

But what I'd like to know, really, is WHY. This branching out concerns me. What is he going to try to eat next? 

So, has anyone experienced anything similar? 

hi all -

i'm new to this community and would like some help.

i have 2 8-year-old female cats (sisters, one tortie and one sealpoint mix). they are indoor and sadly declawed (front only). they are VERY spoiled (of course!) and have had minimal interaction with other animals.

i just moved in with my boyfriend, 2 bedroom 1 bath house. he's got a 5-year-old purebred dalmation, also very spoiled and sadly untrained. being a dal, she's super hyper and LOUD.

we have pretty much divided the house, the cats have the bedrooms and bathroom and the dog has the living room, kitchen and backyard. the divider is one of those tall babygate things that humans can walk through with a little latchable door at the bottom for the cats.

we removed the dog and moved the cats in, and they had free reign of the house for about a week (minus backyard), with the gate in place. then we moved the dog back in, it's been about 4 days.

of course the kitties have been hiding. the dog is curious. in their few interactions, the dog chases them into hiding, and the cats hiss at the dog through the door. they avoid passing by the gate because they know they will see said dog. they have gotten slowly better, venturing out from under the bed, etc.

soooooo i guess i'm wondering how the heck to get them socialized without permanent (mental and physical) damage.

we are going to try to crate the dog and let the cats sniff. since moving the dog back in, the cats have stopped using the little door in the gate because usually the dog is standing there whining. i think they're ready... what do i do? has anyone had experience with this? i'm tired of dividing my time between the halves of the house... and worrying that my cats think i betrayed them... and feeling bad for the dog... and obsessing on all of this!

thanks!!

Usually what I come here for requires a vet visit, but I just had a question.

We have a new kitten and she's the most precious little furball of a kitten I've seen in a very long time. Her fur is so long that when her ears go backward, they disappear. We noticed today that she lays her ears back into her fur when she sleeps. I've never seen a cat do this before and I was wondering if there was a particular reason why. She isn't showing any signs of ear trouble, there aren't any mites, she's in good health. It was just peculiar.

I was away on vacation and the pet sitter noticed Spitzer was rather thin. He took Spitzer into the vet, had blood work drawn and was sent home with an antibiotic.

And the labs came back with a glucose > 400 !!!

The sitter wasn't equipped to handle learning about insulin and glucose testing, so I arranged for Spitzer to be boarded until I've returned from vacation and have time to meet with the vet.

Anyone dealt with this before ?

I'm pleading with all of my LJ friends to say a prayer for Tom. I was finally able to get him to the vet and pay money I don't have to spare to get the minimum treatment I can afford. The vet said this is the worst he has ever seen him in 5 years -

He wants to to do blood work again for organ failure in two weeks. My poor baby has lost almost 5 pounds since they saw him last. He looks so frail. Now, he's not eating and I'm having to force feed him baby food via syringe per the vet's instructions until I can get him back there. My heart is heavy that I may lose my baby boy soon :(

Please, if you will, say a silent prayer for Sir Thomas - I am not ready for the Rainbow Bridge....

My parents have six cats- a mom who we took in, and the litter she turned out to be carrying. They've lived with us their entire lives (a year and a half) and most of them are the sweetest-natured animals you could ever see. They've never been abused, or given any reason to dislike or distrust people. Basically, there's no reason that I can see for them to lash out.

Some of them will bite while playing, but one goes further than that. He'll bite without provocation- often when he's being patted. And I don't think it's an attempt to make the attention stop, because he'll frequently jump up next to you, meow for attention, and then bite when you extend a hand to pat him. And while his siblings never bite hard- they don't do more than nip- he chomps down, and you have to shake to get him off. Sometimes he grabs you with his paws while biting, sometimes he doesn't. Scolding, saying "NO," tapping him gently on the head- nothing seems to deter him. If we withdraw attention, he just waits until we start patting again and bites. Is there any way to stop him from behaving like this? Or anything that might be causing it?

x-posted to practicalcats

Hello I'm not sure if I've posted here before so I will give a little background before I ask any questions.

I am currently living in a four bedroom town house with three other people. We are all either college students or former college student. I am a former college student who will be moving back to my home town after the grad ceremony. One of my roommates has had two cats for quite a while and she will be moving out at the end of this month as well. My other roommate recently adopted two cats from the Humane Society. So at the moment there are four cats in this place. I love cats but I could never own one myself since they trigger my asthma. The only way I've been able to live with my roommates' cats is by keeping the door to my room shut so that they can't come in. I go out and pet them sometimes, briefly but I can't stay near them for too long.

As far as my question, I want to know if it is possible for a spayed female to experience heat-like symptoms even though she can't actually have a litter of kittens. One of the new cats, a calico named Texas, has started showing signs of being in heat and trying to present her herself to my other roommate's bobcat mix Twitwi (who is neutered). I talked to Texas' owner and told her that her cat's been cooing, lifting her rear, licking herself, and rolling a lot. I also told that I caught Twitwi trying the mount her. I asked her "Are you sure she's fixed?" She told me that she has to be since she came from the Humane Society and that maybe what I saw was just Twitwi trying to play with her.

Needless to say, I was a little insulted that she didn't take me seriously but I want to know, are there any circumstances in which this could still happen to a spayed female? Should I encourage my roommate to call the Society? Should we just not worry about it?

Thanks in advance for any information you guys can give me.


>>>Update<<<

My roommate took both her cats to the vet today and was able to verified that Texas is in fact an intact queen. So she will need to revisit the vet in the near future to be spayed. My roommate has opted to contact the Humane Society and have them take the cat in for the procedure since they messed up and gave her an animal hat had not been fixed (which is illegal here in California). I hope they don't give her a hassle.

My little girl cat isn't fixed yet. I haven't been able to come up with the 95 dollars to get her spayed yet, but that's another story.

My questions are:
how long do female cats stay in heat?
how often does it happen?
and is it normal for them to throw up at least once a day while they're in heat??

Yesterday I tried switching my 9 month old kitten from Royal Canin kitten food to Evo. I had always read that the first three ingredients in cat food should be real meat, and I had never seen any food that met that. When I learned of Evo and how it is grain free and has all natural ingredients it just made sense and seemed like the healthiest option.

I don't think she likes it. I haven't seen her eat any and this morning I found a mess of it on the floor by her dish. It looked as if she had been digging out the Royal Canin and just eating that. My question is how do I get her to eat it? Will she just get hungry enough and eat or is this a losing battle? You would think it would be so much tastier. I am wondering if I should have bought the regular Innova instead.

I really want this to work and for her to like a more natural food. At the same time I am not exactly rich (yay student loans and graduate school) and I don't have the money to try several different foods just to have to buy something else. What do you feed your cats?

My husband and I are thinking about getting a companion for our cat, Jasper. He's a somewhat large (~13 lbs) orange tabby and he's 10 years old.

He's lived with us in our apartment for the last year as the spoiled only pet in the house. But prior to that he lived in my parents house since kittenhood, and shared the place with a completely spazzy torti female cat, a golden retriever, and a springer spaniel. He was best buds with both dogs, but he would constantly harass the other cat. He didn't fight with her, but he would pester her and then watch her arch and hiss and bug out. He thought it was funny.

So we're unsure what to do. He's a healthy boy, but we think he's lonely. We both work, so he's on his own much of the business day, and when we're home he tends to follow us around and wants to be in the same room with us at all times. I thought it would be a good idea to get him a friend.

But who to bring home? A younger cat? Older? Male? Female? The only cat he's ever lived with is my brother's crazy torti (and she's been nuts since birth). I don't want him to pick on whoever we bring home, but I also don't want some young adult to be running circles around him and upsetting him either.

Has anyone ever successfully introduced a new cat in with an established older one? What worked, didn't work, or did you have things that just failed miserably that I should avoid?