Anyone want to talk cats?

[DumbledoresGirl]

I have a few concerns about my cats. Can anyone advise/comment?

1. they have just come out of a cattery (not my first choice of cattery, which was fully booked, although I have used them before) where they were for 2 weeks and they are perpetually starving. The cattery woamn commented on how much they ate but I think she starved them as they are eating non stop right now. Do you think they were starved or is this some sort of comfort behaviour they are exhibiting?

2. They both have colds (sneezing lots). Is this anything to be concerned about? My beloved childhood cat died of cat flu so I find it quite hard to be blase about a cat sneezing although they are not obviously ill eg no third eye lid/ lack of energy. Are cat colds common or anything to worry about? Is it common for cats to catch things in catteries? I am really concerned about the cattery all round and hope not to use it again.

3. My cats are great outdoors animals - loads of hunting going on (to supplement the tins of cat food they devour!) Today they have caught frogs and bats (neither for the first time). Is it OK for cats to eat whatever they catch? Basically I am asking, they can't poison themselves, can they?

4. I have never got to grips with what sort of treatment they are meant to have on a regular basis. eg flea treatment/ worming? Can anyone say what regular treatment their cat gets please?

Can't help witht he cattery stuff as we are very lucky in having lots of 'catty' neighbours who look after Luce when we go away. Could yours be just reacting to being back in a proper house instead of a 'sterile' cattery?

In terms of regular treatment, she has her cat flu injection annually, together with worming tablets. She also has a 6 monthly Program flea jab (as she likes to play with squirrels yuk). Not cheap but once you start them as kittens, you find if difficult to stop iyswim.

Hope they feel better soon.

Mine have had one flu jab and a worming course (they are only just a year old) but nothing for fleas. I can't work out if the flea treatment is necessary or advisory.

We only started the flea jabs when Luce got them for the umpteenth time and we had to spray the whole house to get rid of the buggers.

We know she fraternises with squirrels and hedgehogs and eats birds (revolting creature I know!)

Getting Head lice are bad enough without having to comb the cat too!

we use the frontline flea stuff which is done every month. Seems to work fine.

WRT them eating a lot, we had a neighbour look after ours when we were away, so he was till in our house, and when we got back he was ravenous for almost a week. THINK IT WAS COMFORT EATING!

I typed a longish post and it just disappeared!!!

Give me a moment to re-type!

Would definitely get flea treatment, they are an absolute nightmare to get rid of of you get them.
Our cat got fleas when she was quite young, and despite spraying everywhere, treating cat etc etc we ended up having to get the bloody house fumigated because the fleas had gotton under the floorboards!

Cattery sounds dodgy IMO-no cats should come out sneezing-could indeed be a sign of catflu-don't worry though,it isn't always fatal.
Starvign hungry-VERY unusual-cats,unlike dogs have a self calorie regulator (God I wish I did)and will never over eat-they eat what they need.Fat cats of course have a different metabolic rate )just liek me I guess ).

As for decular treatment-I use frontline every 6 months or so and will worm every three months-especially if eating wildlife.

Bats and frogs won't poison them....although some toads will make them really froth at the mouth....

Bet your cats are really glad to be home though.

Please do Aero!

Thanks for comments so far. Please anyone got any advice re the colds? One of them has just massively sneezed again and, because of losing my childhood pet to cat flu (it may sound ridiculous, but that was the worst loss of my life at the time and very stressful for years afterwards) I am really fretting about these colds even though their behaviour and appetite are unaffected. I don't want to waste money on a vet's bill though! (I mean, if it really is nothing to worry about).

DG, if you google cat sneezes, there are a few website stha tell you about it. Whilst some of them mention cat flu, lots iof them mention allergies and common colds, sometimes when they have been to boarding catteries or came from a shelter. Have a look!

1. it does sound like they're trying to make up for not getting enough food, it could simply be a comfort thing but if they didn't do it before when you'd returned i'd say it's ether
   a) she wasn't feeding them as much as they're used to.. some people give much smaller portions so it may not have been intentional (i'm always astounded to see how much food dp gives our cat as the norm... much more than i ever would).
   b) they could have worms which would make them hungrier.

2. are they vaccinated? if so they should be safe from the more dangerous bugs but keep an eye on them to be sure

3. most cats have a pretty good sense of whats safe and whats not... and most poisonous animals TASTE poisonous eg; toads

4. i don't bother with fles treatment unless they have feleas, if your not sure stand the cat on a sheet of white paper and rough up his fur.. if there are lots of little black grittybits on the paper he proablyhas fles.. these are the droppings. there are loadsa treatments. i wouldn't bother witht he collars for an outdoor cat as thay tend to lose them after a day. try a few drops of tea tre oil on the nape of the neck and a good comb with a flea comb. the bet way to prevent and treat worms is drontal...just go into the vets and ask for a tab, most won't ask to see the cat as it's pretty standard medicine

HTH

The cats miss us while we are away and despite Granny staying here and looking after them (they know her as she lives with us), they naturally eat less during that time, and in general over the summer I find.

As for regular treatments, we use frontline about every five weeks or so (mark reminder on calendar). Well worth the expense as we've once had to de-flea the house (from visiting cat, but yuk), so peace of mind is paramount as far as fleas are concerned and frontline does work. They can be bought online for less than at your local vets though (can look out the site I use for you if you like). I also buy a drontal tablet from them every three months or so for worming from the same company.

Can you ring the vet and ask for advice re the sneezing? Our cats both sneeze from time to time, but not worryingly so. ie, there haven't been any other symptoms.

[waving emoticon]

PT: I have wondered about worms but thought they were safe as they were wormed last year and I wasn't told to do it again. But now reading other comments, i ambeginning to wonder if they should be wormed more frequently. TBH I thought they just weren't fed enough at the cattery. They get through 2 big tins a day at home in addition to their catches.

Yes they have had their flu jab and I am told that the flu my childhood cat died of is the type they are vaccinated against these days, but even so googling cat sneezes as Littlerach suggested does come up with cat flu worryingly often.

BTW, another question, if they were vaccinated last year (it was nearly a year ago) would the vets contact me to revaccinate or is it down to me to remember when they need another jab?

We used to have cats. We've had 3; our first died tragically of feline AIDS. We had to give our last cat away on the birth of dd, who has a severe allergy to cats.

The point of this is: I do not hate cats but since we no longer have one, neighboring cats use our garden (& even the house if the door's open!) as their toilet/vomitorium & I'm so fed up that I've caught myself dreaming of shooting them.This will probably set me up for tons of abuse from cat-loving MNers but I just can't take the cat shite anymore!! Any ideas for keeping them out, apart from getting another cat of our own (impossible because of dd's allergy)?

depending on the tab worming needs to be done every 3/4 months so defitely do it again. drontal is by far the easiest as you don't have to do all that weighing the cat to work out how much to give them crap.

some vets will remind you but if it's been a year they're certainly due a booster so bring them down and ask about the sneezing while your there to put you mind at rest.

Is drontal a tablet? Sorry if this has been said already. Their original worming medication was a liquid that you indeed had to measure acoording to how much they weighed (though the vets weighed them for me and told me the dosage) and I found it impossible to get them to take it on their food as they obviously didn't like it (also making sure one cat didn't eat the medicine meant for the other). In the end, a nurse wormed them with one tablet when they went in for neutering. Why couldn't they have done that originally?

Anyway, the point it, is drontal easy to use? I can see a trip to the vets is coming up. I really need them to explain all the options and regular treatments needed in very plain simple words!

Sansouci-Orange peel,citronella spray or plain old "get off my garden".

They don't know it's "your" garden and their owners can't stop them so maybe give the above a try....

Hi DumbledoresGirl! Sorry to hear your cats are sneezy! I used to treat my cat with Frontline flea stuff but it is so expensive I didnt bother this year just shoved a flea collar on her instead and it seems fine so far! but it is true - having fleas in your house is a real nuisance. If your cats catch lots of wildlife they are more likely to catch fleas and worms. And the only way they could poison themselves would be if they ate an animal which had eaten poison which would probably be dead anyway, so the cat wouldnt eat it I shouldnt think.

Have no suggestions re the sneezing - sorry.

Hi DG, my cat gets wormed every 3 months and de-flea-ed at the same time. I do have to make sure I write it in my diary though as I often let 6 months go by before I remember!

The sneezing doesn't sound like a good sign but then again I am no expert on cats health tbh. Have you looked for any websites dealing with cats' health?

drontal is a tab and should be easy enough to give depending on how good your cat wrestling skills are either that or wrap it in a piece of meat.. some will notice though and spit it out.

bit of a tangant but i used to have a cat that woul eat the tab out of my hand.....

My childhood cat who died of flu had to have tablets all her life as she had a hormonal problem and she used to eat them out of my hand too - apparently they were yeast flavoured and cats like yeast!

I am not confident about getting tablets into these two though.

QE, sory being thick again, you de worm and de flea them yourself, not take them to the vet?

Yes I googled cat sneezes as Littlerach suggested and did not like what I read. The only thing I can hold on to is the fact that they are well otherwise, unlike my cat who died of the flu - she was plainly ill right from the start.

DG-I de-worm and de-flea mysef but if you are concerend,most vets will do for a reasonable fee-or even try blue cross-am sure for a donation they would help....

DG, I usually pop into the vet and just ask for the flea treatments - I don't actually take her with me. They cost about £20 for 4 tiny tubes which you squeeze onto the back of their neck. The same with the worm tablets although this time I bought them from Tesco's.

If you have trouble doing the worming or de-fleaing yourslef then you can make an appointment with a nurse and take the cat in and she will do it for you but quite likely charge you an amount that would require you to remortgage your house!

The 4 tubes are 4 separate tratments in case you were confused....btw!

£20 times two for my two cats is quite a lot! Oh dear, I am beginning to wonder if we can afford all this! It is not as if they are old and needing lots of treatment for complaints. I mean, it is going to get a lot worse isn't it?