experienced owner vs. novice

[felisdomesticus]

As you all may have gathered from my handle, I'm an expert cat owner. I've owned them for 25+ years and am always willing to take on ANY rescue cat b/c they just don't freak me out.

On the other hand, I'm a novice bird owner. I love my darling ekkie girl who I've had for about 4 months now. She is even giving me kisses where she used to draw blood from my hand trying to get her to step up. I still freak out when she loses her voice or poops various colors--but I figure, at least I'm asking questions.

My "props to me" segment--My beastie baby boy cat (3 year old bottle-fed by me) just had an abcess lanced and cleaned out due to a foster cat fighting with him. I brought him to the vet, he was treated, blah blah blah.

I was given syringe antibiotics which are easy to give. I also filled a prescription for anti-anxiety meds for this cat b/c I crave a break from the peeing and howling.

I placed half a pill of Elavil in SoCo's mouth and he tried to spit it out. I wouldn't let him and then he must have bitten into it b/c he began to salivate and foam at the mouth, even in pink. The saliva I mopped up was just ridiculous--if I had set him outside, he would have been shot for having rabies. There was LOTS of foam!

I knew he was totally fine and just being a brat.

If I had the same experience with my ekkie girl, I'd be clueless and beside myself!!!! Keep posting what you know about the birds you own. Some of use cat experts need the avian advice!

[Skyebirdsmom]

Hi fellow cat expert too...I've got 4 from my shelter that I work for(no kill cat shelter). But luckily I am a bit of a bird expert too. Birds and cats are my passion. So if anyone has any cat problems, between the two of us we should be able to help them out. I love to help people, with birds OR cats!
Linda & Skye~(also Trouble, Kissy, Panther & Amber)

[felisdomesticus]

it's just funny b/c if I saw Scarlett foaming pink froth from the mouth--I would have freaked out and been beside myself. With my cat, I just said "stop it" and popped another one in his mouth. hehehehe

[Rowan123]

Okay, I have a cat question for you! I have a female cat that is 9 years old, she's spayed and she is the fattest cat I've ever seen. I want her to lose weight for health and grooming issues (she can't or won't clean her back anymore). I leave a bowl of food out for her and my other cat so, if I put her on a diet I feel it'd be a punishment to my other kitty. So I was thinking I'd get her to exercise more - she refuses to play. Do you have any suggestions on how I can help her lose some weight?

[basketbagley]

Originally Posted by Rowan123

Okay, I have a cat question for you! I have a female cat that is 9 years old, she's spayed and she is the fattest cat I've ever seen. I want her to lose weight for health and grooming issues (she can't or won't clean her back anymore). I leave a bowl of food out for her and my other cat so, if I put her on a diet I feel it'd be a punishment to my other kitty. So I was thinking I'd get her to exercise more - she refuses to play. Do you have any suggestions on how I can help her lose some weight?

Has she been checked out by a vet recently? just to make sure there isn't some other kind of health issue? There is all kinds of great dry foods for adult cats that should help with the weight issue. sometimes though, if they've been eating 1 kind of food for a long time, it's hard to get them to switch. it's unfair to your other kitty, but more important for your other cat to loose the weight.

I've never seen a cat so fat it wouldn't clean it's own back! that's a ne wone for me! I've owned cats all of my life till recently. Ripley passed away from heart problems, so now I'm a bird owner! no cats for the 1st time ever!

[JThw8]

Originally Posted by Rowan123

Okay, I have a cat question for you! I have a female cat that is 9 years old, she's spayed and she is the fattest cat I've ever seen. I want her to lose weight for health and grooming issues (she can't or won't clean her back anymore). I leave a bowl of food out for her and my other cat so, if I put her on a diet I feel it'd be a punishment to my other kitty. So I was thinking I'd get her to exercise more - she refuses to play. Do you have any suggestions on how I can help her lose some weight?

I have the exact same situation. One cat who is very small and the other I affectionately refer to as Jabba the cat, but how to seperate the feeding. I just saw an ad the other night (my wife thought I made this up) for a new food specially formulated for 2 cat households, supposed to help overweight cats loose weight and is still helps underweight cats build strong bodies. Sounds like evil magic to me but Im pretty sure it was from IAMS or one of the other reputable companies. If I can find it I may try it out.

found a link...this is the stuff I was thinking about http://www.iams.com/en_US/jhtmls/pro...tml.4_A&_DAV=1

[felisdomesticus]

What are you feeding your cat? Dry kibble is NOT good for overweight cats and the "weight reduction" food is even worse as it all contains a ton of carbohydrates and grains that cats can't properly metabolize.

If she has been checked out by a vet and there is no medical cause, I'd get her on canned wet food--and the best you can find. PetCo sells Natural Balance which is a good canned food. I also feed mine Eagle Pack, Wysong, and Merrick canned formulas that I order from www.petfooddirect.com

This is a very interesting and informative article on the subject:
http://www.catnutrition.org/obesity.htm

[Rowan123]

Thanks for the info. I've had her checked by the vet and she's in good health other than the weight. The article was excellent! I don't know why it never occurred to me to reduce her carbs, especially after reducing the carbs that I myself eat. I think I'm going to have to feed them a couple times a day and separately or else she'll steal all the food. I do have her on kibble but I'll switch her to wet food. I don't think she'll reject it - she loved it in the past when I've given it as a treat. Thanks again - I'll give you an update in a couple months when hopefully my little "tubby" has lost some weight.

[felisdomesticus]

Good luck with her! I can't wait to hear how she does.

I also give my cats some raw foods. They won't eat whole chicken off the bone or in chunks, but if I run some through a food processor with a few chicken hearts and livers, a raw egg, and a dab of plain yogurt, they think they have died and gone to heaven! It's a very messy and time-consuming task which most people don't want to attempt. But you may want to try mixing in a raw egg with her food every now and then. My cats LOVE it!