I grew up very familiar with the mantra "hardship builds character."
And I firmly believe that to be true. The more you experience life, the more likely you are to accumulate some bumps and bruises, and to learn about how to navigate through unfamiliar waters. If you are never challenged, you never need to strive to do better. If you never fail, how can you know the glow of success? My life is not convenient. My beloved companion's life is not convenient. (In large part, due to me.) Our morning and evening (and afternoon) routines revolve around creatures other than ourselves. There are days where we wouldn't mind a little less on our collective plates. But at what cost comes easy living? I won't get into the damage we are doing to our planet to maintain our Walmart prices and our dollar menus. It isn't that sort of blog. I'm talking about the cost to one's soul; to our communal well being. How do people walk by the dog cowering in the alley? The kitten huddled at the side of the road? I've had people contact me about cats and kittens they could have easily gotten to safety themselves, but it wasn't convenient at the time. (And by the time I show up, they aren't always there.) I cannot imagine a life that isn't devoted to making the world a better place. Every day, I strive to make my little corner a little kinder, a little brighter, and a little less full of testicles. It isn't that hard. Just be kind. Your life isn't supposed to be easy.
0 Comments
Having two, three or more feline friends all getting along and providing calendar worthy adorableness is a great goal to have. However, sometimes adding a new "friend" doesn't go as smoothly as we would like!
Here are some helpful hints to ensure smooth sailing in a multi-cat household. Slow is best. I know you want everyone to be the best of friends, but believe me; slow is best. Gradual introductions give everyone the chance to get to know each other, at their own pace. By paying attention to your cats' verbal cues and body language, you can best judge how they are feeling, and how to proceed. Cat A is the original cat. A for awesome. Cat B is the newcomer. B for Barbarian invader. Put cat B in their own room to start. This can be a guest room, a bathroom, or a family member's room that cat A isn't possessive of. This lets them get used to being in a new place one room at a time, and it also lets the cats interact under the door. Watch how cat A approaches the door. Is it a slink? A stalk? A saunter? This can tell you if cat A is feeling scared, confrontational, or confident. Growling indicates a readiness to rumble. Hissing is a sign of fear. Meowing is generally interest, but can also be distress. As your cat's person, you should be able to discern the difference. Large dilated pupils, and pinned back ears show that your cat is not ready to meet cat B. Forward and alert whiskers are generally a sign of interest, and bode well for future interactions. Let cat A and cat B interact under the door for the first day. Day 2+ Keep letting the cats interact under the door. You can also shut cat A in a different room, and allow cat B to explore the house. This lets cat B know more about their new and exciting forever home, and also allows the cats to cross scent trails with each other without a direct face to face interaction. Because slow is best! While making dinner, or playing board games, or watching TV...some regular family activity, bring cat B out in a carrier, and set them in the room the family time is happening in. This brings them into the house with the family, and allows cat A to interact with them in a safe way. Cat B should feel reasonably safe in the small enclosed space the carrier provides. Cat A has all the power in this interaction. Cat A can approach as quickly or as hesitantly as they want to. They can go back and forth, without being pursued. And, if their kitty panties are in a bunch about having a new cat in the house, they cannot start a fight with a cat that is safe in a carrier. Based on how the cats are acting with the carrier barrier, you can get an idea on how long it will be before they can have barrier free interactions. When both cat A and cat B are ready for bed, you can take a sock or t-shirt that smells like their person, and rub it on the other cat. This way cat A smells the comfort of their person along with the scent of the new cat, and vice versa for cat B. Some cats are ready to make friends in a few days. Let's say your cats are taking a bit longer. (And that's ok, because slow is best.) I'm a big fan of the use of baby gates. Its a barrier, but its see through. Invest in a tension rod, ($4) and make it so that there is a curtain/blanket over the top of the baby gate. Because we all know that your standard cat can leap a three foot gate without any issue. Use the top of the baby gate to secure the bottom of the curtain, and the tension rod to hold the top, at least 4 more feet up. If your cat has a favorite treat, or wet food flavor, give both cat A and B that special snack at the same time, on their respective sides of the gate. Make sure to leave a few feet between them, so they don't feel the need to protect this precious resource, but you want them to be able to see each other, to associate this yummy ritual with the other cat. Tell them how wonderful they are. Positive associations are great! Let's say that cat A is a 6 year old, and cat B is 12 weeks old. Your introduction took a whole 4 days, because cat A has lived with other cats before, and kittens aren't a territorial threat. However, after a while, cat A loses some patience with cat B and gets a little snippy. Adding vertical space, and additional hiding spaces can really help! Even if you just bring home a couple of cardboard boxes from the store, and put them in different rooms. Feel free to get as creative as you want! The longest is has ever taken BCR's Captain to introduce an adult cat to a household full of cats and kittens was one month. And she took much less time to adjust to the cats in her forever home when she was adopted. It might take a bit more time than you planned, or you might be pleasantly surprised at how smoothly everything comes together. Either way, take it slow, and shower everyone involved with love, and life will be good! Once upon a time there was a kind hearted couple, named Stephanie and Adam. They moved into their house, and saw an outdoor cat. Being responsible and loving cat parents, they assumed it was an owned and cared for cat. They were wrong. Ladybird was once someone's cat, but lived rough outside for at least 8 months...quite the accomplishment when you consider that she is just a year old! Stephanie contacted BCR when she found out that Ladybird was a sweet un-owned cat, who also was acting an awful lot like a cat in heat. BCR took her in, but then quickly discovered that Ladybird was in fact a lactating mama. There were babies out there!
How cool is this! Every 10 minutes the GPS pings out her current location. I was geeking out! The Paw Tracker even tells you when the tracker is stationary, which is exactly what we needed to know... nursing kittens isn't really an on the go activity! Also, her territory looks quite a bit like a cat's head to me. So neat!
Foster Initial Care Tips
**De-stress the cat or kitten** *Place the cat/kitten in a warm, dark, and quiet room. This will be "his/her room" for the duration of their stay with you. If your kitten has a crate, feel free to put a sheet or towel over it for the first few days. This allows them to feel more secure. *Give the kitten time to adjust. This may take ten minutes or a full week, depending on the animal's age and history. *Monitor for signs of illness and correct any health problems that create added stress (upper respiratory infections, worms, fleas, etc.) Kittens will be wormed and given flea prevention before entering a foster home. *Whenever possible, place cats/kittens together with known siblings or "friends" from the same site. *Create consistent, positive associations with you as the caretaker *Keep up quiet, gentle kitty-talk while you are working with the new kitten. *Feed on a regular schedule (2-3 times per day), and remain in the room, as close as possible to the cat/kitten while she eats. *Gradually introduce touching, at first quickly and lightly, then increasing in duration and pressure until you can pet all over the kitten. If your kitten will not let you use a hand, try touching them first with a feather or a toy lightly until they settle. Once they seem comfortable with it, gradually replace it with your hand until they are comfortable with that. *Gradually introduce play, reinforcing appropriate play behaviors and always keeping in control of the play situation. Always use a toy to play with the kitten, rather than your hand. You want to discourage kittens from scratching and biting your hands, even during play. *After the kitten is comfortable being petted and played with, you can begin to pick her up, always supporting her with both hands. If the cat still seems to be uncomfortable, try making sure that all 4 of its paws have some surface supporting them (i.e. your hands, arms, or chest). Pick a time when she is relaxed, like after an exhausting play period or around naptime. Holding two kittens at one time who are used to each other can make them feel less stressed, not separated from the group. *Practice gently touching the paws, ears, tail, and belly. This will make future trips to the vet less stressful. *Always stop any play or petting just as you notice the kitten acting stressed and end with praise! (signs of stress include dilated pupils, hissing, seeking a hiding spot, or swatting away attention) *Remember that your goal is to socialize kittens to people, not necessarily to each other. After the cat is completely at ease being handled, played with, and cared for by you, gradually introduce the stresses of everyday life, providing hiding outlets for stress/fear reactions. *Introduce typical house cleaning movements one at a time, stopping between motions to praise and pet the cat/kitten. (Oh how much fun we are having with the vacuum cleaner right now!) *Gradually introduce new people; at first only passive, quiet presence. Allow the kitten to approach the stranger in her own time, and make sure the stranger pets gently and speaks quietly for reinforcement. Once the cat/kitten is confident approaching strangers, you may introduce more abrupt or aggressive "pet the kitty" types. Since these kittens are coming from an unsocialized environment, they should be kept indoors at all times, as they are fearful and might make a dash for it. They will be coming with their own litter box and scoop, which should be kept separate from any litter boxes belonging to already existing house cats. (Do not share a litter box scoop.) Important: If anything happens to your cat/kitten in the middle of the night (illness, accident, escape, etc.) please contact BCR. Do not wait until morning! Remember to always work confidently and quietly with the cat/kitten. They pick up on any anxiety you may have, and equally on your sincere desire to help them feel comfortable, secure, and happy in a new home. Obviously, some kittens will progress more quickly, and half these tips won't apply. But since we focus so strongly on feral kittens, and some of them are such little fear filled nutter butters to start, they certainly can't hurt! "You have a face only a mother could love" I jokingly tell Matchbox as I gently clean around her ruptured eye. And then I stopped, and thought about how her mother did love her, with all the fierceness of her feral heart. But a feral mother's love doesn't stop her baby from dying from flea anemia. It doesn't save her from an upper respiratory infection gone off the rails. It certainly can't kiss her eye better, and reverse its ruptured state. I don't doubt that her mother loved her. But this mother, the one with opposable thumbs, and nigh endless patience for sickly kittens is the one who loves her now. I don't love her forever; she's destined for another home than mine. But I will do everything in my power to make her life the absolute best I can. Because that's what mothers do.
Everyone has heard the cliche, "you are what you eat." It's true! If you eat crap, you aren't giving your body anything of quality to work with, and it reflects in your health. Why should we expect cats to be any different? Cats are obligate carnivores. This means that they must have a diet made of meat. Dogs can live and thrive on a vegetarian diet, cats cannot. Look at their teeth...they are made for rending and shredding, not grinding beans. You want the first ingredients in your cat's food to be made of meat. And you want that meat to have a name. Turkey, rabbit, chicken...you know what those animals are. If something says meat, or animal....you are feeding your cat some of the 2.7 million animals that are euthanized in shelters, as well as the poisons that kill them. Or it could be roadkill, or animals that were cancerous and dying and unfit for human consumption. Even spoiled supermarket meat can be returned to the company and resold as pet food. The pet food industry exists to make money, and cheaper is better for them. It is certainly not the case for your cat! Meal means a food has been dried and ground. Turkey meal is great. High in protein, and nutrients. By-products are what's left when all the meat is gone. Chicken byproduct meal is feet, beaks, feathers, spinal columns, and half formed eggs. While it is still high in protein, no one's daily diet should be made of leftover parts. Cats evolved in a desert climate, where they got most of their water from the prey that they ate. This is why many modern day cats have a low thirst drive. If your cat is eating only a dry kibble, they may not be getting enough moisture to support healthy kidney function. This is why BCR makes sure our cats and kittens have at least one wet food meal a day. Cats also like to "find" water. In addition to the regularly placed water bowl(s) in your house, try occasionally putting water bowls in different rooms. Even if its in your bathroom, you might be surprised to see how much more exciting a new bowl can be. Fountains are also fantastic for encouraging cats to drink more water...and they tend to be cleaner sources of water as well! Let's break down two dry foods. One is a common barn cat food, one is a food that BCR feeds our fosterllings. Food one: Meow Mix ~$5: Chicken By-product Meal, Brewers Rice, Corn Gluten Meal, Ground Yellow Corn, Soybean Meal, Beef Tallow (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Ocean Fish Meal, Animal Digest, Salmon Meal, Turkey By-product Meal. (and then all the vitamins and minerals.) I'm seeing leftovers held together with grains. Cats cannot digest wheat and corn. Corn is a huge contributor to diabetes in cats. It also leads to larger, smellier poops. Call me crazy, but more litter box scooping is not my favorite part of having cats in my life! Brewer's rice has been processed from the small milled fragments of rice and is missing many of the nutrients contained in whole ground rice. Its a fiber filler, which again, leads to more poops! Soybean meal is typically fed to farm animals, and has no place in a cat food. Animal digest is a chemically hydrolyzed mixture of animal by-products that is typically sprayed onto the surface of a dry kibble to improve its taste. Its like putting chocolate frosting on a raisin bran muffin. Yum? Meow mix provides protein, fat and fiber, as well as a mineral load that is formulated for cats. It is certainly better than not being fed, but it isn't the best food for a long and healthy life. Food two: 4 Health $8: Chicken, chicken meal, egg product, cracked pearled barley, ground rice, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), salmon, potatoes. (and then all the supplements, vitamins, and minerals) Chicken is a whole meat! That means that your first ingredient here is whole muscle meat. Chicken meal is flesh and skin dried and ground. Egg product is dried eggs, sometimes whole, sometimes only whites, without the shell. Barley and rice are much more digestible than the really glutenous grains, and provide fiber. Salmon is a great source of omega 3 and 6, and potatoes are there to provide a more sustained energy source. Seeing as foster kitten Gemma always wants to steal my mashed potatoes, I believe it! No one says you have to break the bank to feed your cat. If I could afford to feed Orijen and the raw food diet to all my cats and fosterlings, I would! But then BCR's entire budget would go to cat food. And the numbers of cats we could help would plummet. But spending the extra $3 to make sure that you won't be running to the vet with cancer, kidney issues, diabetes etc....PRICELESS. Remember, you are what you eat. Dear Collegetown resident,
I don't know if you still live in Collegetown. I know you left your cat behind. Maybe you graduated, and went on to your shiny and bright future, without a backwards glance at the cat you once professed to love? Was it his gigantic feet that made him an adorably goofy kitten? They are still long and lanky, but less cute now that they are crusted with mud. Or was it how fluffy he was? Without anyone to brush him, he became so matted that it hurt him to walk. And that's how he was when we found him. Nose running like a faucet. Mincing along gingerly and in pain. Unable to fully stretch the way a cat should. There's no way he could hunt like that, so he probably mostly survived off of trash. Maybe that's what made him so sick. He was passing blood; maybe because his guts were full of garbage. There was no one to take notice of him with you gone. And what reason did he have to trust people now? So today, I killed your cat for you. Because after too long on the streets, he was dying and in pain. Instead of living the rest of his life with a family that loved him, or passing of old age safe and warm, he was euthanized on a steel table that was probably the cleanest thing he's rested on since you threw him away. There's no sugar coating this. He hurt too much to walk a foot and a half to use the litter box, so he just peed where he lay. And I can say that now he's crossed the Rainbow Bridge, and is at peace, but the truth is, that you gave him no choice other than to die. And I cared more about his comfort at the end that you ever will. With a sincere fuck you, ~me Browncoat Cat Rescue is joining the 21st century!
We now have a youtube channel, where you can watch adorable videos, like this one, of Wee Angus MacGallifrey suckling on his favorite blanket. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EsDpSg5D7M You should check us out! Subscribe and share with your friends to help more friendless felines find forever homes! When fighting the good fight, especially with feral cats, it is easy to feel overwhelmed. There is one of me, and millions of feral cats. Add in the scads of people contributing to pet overpopulation, and it can make a girl feel a bit jaded. Luckily, 99% of the people I trap feral cats with are good hearted folk that want to make a change for the better in the lives of the cats who share their space.
Five years ago, I began trapping feral cats for a woman that had become overwhelmed. She had 50 adult feral cats living under her trailer. Over the spring and summer, (and a little into the fall) we trapped 46 of her adult feral cats. BCR took 36 kittens into foster care, and every single one of them lived! There was a two year stretch, without any kittens. Then in 2013 there were two tiny black kittens. The woman who fed them scooped them up, and we tried unsuccessfully to trap the mother. This year, 2014, was the year of completion. The first time I tried to trap the mama cat, she sauntered into the trap, ate all the food, and lightly sauntered out again. I came away from that attempt with one lone kitten. I named him Robin in honor of Robin Williams, and vowed he wouldn't be without his family for very long. The next week came and went with no luck. But today! August 26th, 2014 is the day that the last uteri left the land! Mama cat got spayed, vaccinated for rabies and distemper, and treated for fleas. Then she went back to her colony, and the two remaining kittens came to BCR to be fostered with copious amounts of love. This is a wonderful example of how TNR works. Five years ago, there were 86 felines living in one place. Today, due to predation, illness, and no more breeding, (not to mention the socialization and home finding for all the kittens) and that same colony is down to roughly 15 adult cats. And now, it is done. There will be no more. That ladies and gentlemen, is a beautiful thing. PS There are still many cats out there that BCR will be trapping and helping. This chapter, however is complete. Cats are wonderful, empathetic companions that delight us with their antics. They can also be horrible nightmare beasts that throw up right where you step out of bed, and crap in your shoes. The most common reason cats are surrendered to shelters is inappropriate urination. (Otherwise known as peeing where they shouldn't.)
Step one. Find out what the problem is. There are two reasons cats pee outside the box. It is either a medical or a behavioral issue. Its best to go to your vet first, to rule out any medical issues. Pain while urinating can cause cats to seek out a place to pee that doesn't hurt. Which leads to random spots all over your house. Step two. Collect a sterile urine sample from your cat. Your vet can supply sterile litter that looks like ice cream sprinkles for your cat to pee in. This may require them being locked in the bathroom by themselves for a bit. Your veterinarian will analyze the sample for blood, white blood cells, and crystals. This will tell them if your cat has a urinary tract infection, or something more serious. A clean urine sample means that the problem is not medical, but behavioral. Which is both a good and bad thing. Hooray, your cat is healthy. One the other hand, why are they doing this to you? Cats can't tell you that they are really upset that you've changed things in their life with words, so they do it with their toilet habits. New people or pets in a cat's life can trigger a stress response, as can moving, a different work schedule, etc. Step three. Identify what has changed. Look in the mirror. Repeat these words. "This is probably my fault." That's the hardest part. That boyfriend you have that your friends aren't crazy about? Since he's been spending the night, your cat has been peeing on his pants, and your bed. She doesn't like him either. That adorable puppy you adopted? The one that chases the cat,and whines when no one is paying attention to him? What a racket! This is a huge disruption to what used to be a peaceful daily routine. Time to pee in every corner there is. Sometimes it can be an obvious thing, other times, its a bit more subtle. With multiple cats, there should be multiple litter boxes. The general rule is one box per cat, plus one. Some cats share boxes without any issues, others are territorial about where they go. Sometimes, especially in houses with a large age range between cats, a younger or more dominant cat might ambush another cat going in or out of the litter box. This makes that cat feel unsafe about using the box, so they go somewhere they can keep an eye out for trouble. So what can you do? With the litter boxes, keeping them clean can cut down on a lot of problems. Scooping every day can eliminate problems that stem from having a very fastidious cat. An unscented litter is best. Trying an open box and a hooded box can help determine how they're feeling about the litter boxes in general. Some cats like to see what's going on while they go, others like to feel more private. One of my forever cats is a high peeing cat. His stance guarantees that without a hooded box, he pees on the wall. He's not being a jerk, he just likes taking up a lot of space. If an area smells like a litter box, cats will use it accordingly. Even if you address the life change that stressed them out in the first place, if the places they've gone outside the box isn't well cleaned, they may return to it. Jerks. Nature's Miracle makes an enzyme based cleaner, or you can use baking soda and white vinegar to scrub the spots. Get up as much of the urine as you can with paper towels or a sponge. Mix 50% white vinegar and 50% water together in a container. Let that soak a bit, and then blot it up. Dump some baking soda on the spot. Don't be stingy! If the baking soda turns yellow, vacuum/sweep it up, and apply a new layer. Mix a quarter cup of hydrogen peroxide with a teaspoon of dish soap. Scrub that in ( I like using a toothbrush) and let set for 15 minutes. Blot up the remaining liquid, and add another layer of baking soda. When the baking soda has dried completely, vacuum/weep up, and your house should be odor free! If you have the space, try feeding them small amounts of wet food on a dish where they went outside the box. You don't sh*t where you eat! If a new pet is causing the stress, add more vertical space or hiding places for the original cat to utilize. Cats should be introduced slowly...if they have terrible first interactions, they tend to hold grudges. I'm a huge fan of baby gates. Have the new cat be in their own room, with a door that is kept shut. The cats can interact under the door for a few days. Then, you can put a baby gate up in the doorway, with a blanket blocking the top bits. ($4 tension rod comes in handy here.) This creates a visual barrier that inhibits the cats from leaping over the gate and getting into a fight. Using wet food or treats on either side of the baby gate allows the cats to associate each other with something positive. Make sure that they can see each other, but aren't so close that they feel possessive of their resources. Hissing comes from fear, growling comes from anger. If you have a lot of vocalizations, take it slow! Its far better to have a drawn out introduction than live in a war zone. Happy cats will play with each other, and socially groom. Unhappy cats will spat with each other, and mark up your house. With dogs, make sure that introductions are low energy and reward the canine appropriately for good behavior. Putting the cat in a carrier so that they can see the dog without the dog being able to get to them often works, especially if you have the dog stay laying down, and treat good low energy interest. With effort and attention, everyone can get along! Another layer of support is Feliway, a synthesized pheromone that mimics what feline mama's exude. This ~usually~ has a calming effect. I use it when I have new arrivals that have been dumped, or come from traumatic situations. It can be mildly calming, or eliminate issues altogether. This completely depends on your cat and the environment. It has no smell that you can detect, and can only help. I recommend the plug in over the spray. It emits pheromones continuously, and can be used either in the room where the trouble is happening, or in the room where the cat spends the most time. Rescue Remedy also makes flower essences for pets that you can rub on their ears to soothe their rumpled emotions. Cats that are fed a high quality wet food are far less prone to urinary tract issues than cats that subsist only on dry food. Even doing one meal a day of only wet food can make a drastic difference in lower urinary tract health. So. Your plan of attack with a "problem" kitty. Ascertain if it is health, or lifestyle related. If it is health, up the water intake, and administer any medications prescribed by your vet. If it is a behavioral issue, look at what has changed recently in you and your cat's life. Make the house feel as safe as possible. Stay on top of the trouble spots, so that inappropriate elimination doesn't become a habit. And above all, don't get discouraged. You can do this. Good luck! |
AuthorThe Captain of Browncoat Cat is a self proclaimed crazy cat lady. Of course, we're all mad here... Archives
July 2022
Categories |