I really had no idea that cats were quite so disgusting....

[paisleyII]

i took in a cat recently, felt i had no choice as stray and desperate (the cat not me) but can't say that i am thrilled about it although i wouldn't get rid off her. all she does is eat, sleep, shit and not much imbetween, gets in the way and demands attention when i am busy working plus goes for us for no particular reason which isn't ideal as she scratches dd sometimes for no real reason but to add insult to injury she likes to be sick reasonably regularly, this evening in my dd's bedroom whilst dd is fast asleep. i have had to clear it up in the dark as don't want to wake her, the cat is however tucking into more food downstairs watching me trapes up and down the stairs with a bucket. i was right all these years to not want a cat, can't believe i bloody am stuck with one now (sometimes i quite like having her but i feel the clearing up of her stinking shit etc outweighs the enjoyment i get from her, at least dd loves her, when she is not being scratched....)

Does the cat go out? You could put the litter tray outside for her to use. Also it would allow her to eat grass which I believe helps with the digestion (I'm not an expert on cats but I do have one). My cat is not sick very often - might be worth getting her checked at the vets if this is a regular thing. Also is she wormed and flea treated up to date?

A good read to help you 'get' cats

she doesn't like going out although has begun to every so briefly. we don't have grass, we have gravel which ain't gonna help. there is grass next door, she goes over the fence sometimes. as for the litter tray, if it hadn't been winter i may have tried that as in the spring and summer i have the back door open most of the time and could have tried it then. i can deal with the litter tray although not overjoyed when she misses and pisses all over the bathroom floor as she did last night. i get up for work some mornings at 4am, to have to deal with a messy poo makes me want to vomit. she has long fur, i brush her as often as i can but she doesn't stay still for long and i am a busy person so can't plan my days around it. not dealing with this well this evening, af has come so hormones are high

ps: she is wormed and flee treated regularly. i don't want to run to the vets, we were only there last week (re vacs and monthly flee stuff). she seems fine in every other way otherwise i would make a point in taking her

I would take her to the vet and mention the being sick and the messy poo, what do you feed her?

We have an enclosed litter tray with a flap on the front it keeps the smell in and also stops them flicking litter and God knows what else everywhere.

the poo isn't upset tummy type, i refer to it as messy as it goes on the sides of the tray and sometimes over the top instead of the ideal scenario of in the middle and buried in gravel my point being that i have to fiddle around with it rather than a quick toss into the toilet the other side of the tray, the poos themselves look 'normal' enough. someone i know what recommending the litter trays with the cover but i can't be bothered with one of those, too big and unsightly for me eye, i would rather deal with the poo as quick as i can. dh freaks when she does one, so childish. he even called me up in a panic the other day when i was at work asking me to come home and clear it up as she normally happens to do them when i am around, which is most of the time, how bloody childish. i always knew if we had a cat i would end up having to deal with it, as indeed i am. it is the sight of the poo, never know where, never know when, but i live in dread of the bloody things. i am pretty sure it is furballs and won't go to the vet unless it became a real problem or if the cat seem in distress which she doesn't. i ahven't changed her diet, she eats and seems to like dried cat food, can't remember from memory which one but it is a good quality one, not some cheap shite off the shelf from kwick save

i meant the sight of the sick, not the poo

Just thought I'd throw in that our vets recommended that we give our cats wet food occasionally as apparently no matter what the quality of the dry food is, it isn't healthy for their digestive systems to have dry food all the time. Ours get a wet food pouch as a Friday night treat

I've never had a long haired cat so you're probably right about the furballs! I don't think you can do much for them. Its just part of their 'charm'. I'm not great with sick either so you have my sympathy there.

I don't really understand your reasoning on why you can't be "bothered" with a covered litter tray cos "too big and unsightly". Having one might contain your cat a bit more when going to the toilet, and equally the poo?

Also if your cat is being sick quite a lot, might it not seem practical to contain it to certain rooms until the issue is sorted? You could stop the cat going in your DD's room merely by closing the door.

I have read a few of your threads and think it is quite clear that you are not really taking to being a cat owner. Perhaps it might be best all round if you re-homed her? It doesn't sound like the best situation for you or the cat.

i've been sitting here on the net for the last hour and had all sorts of ideas come into my head. question - my cat weighs a little over 4kg, i have recently been giving her just dried food instead of a mixture of wet and dry as she doesn't seem overly bothered about wet however i think that perhaps accordign to some of the threads i have read, that this may have contributed to her problem - what do you feed your cat and how often. my head spins as different people/different cat food packaging recommend different amounts, cheers

i knew one of the cat lovers on here would think that because i am clearly not raving about having a cat that someone would suggest that i get rid of her. tbh if someone knocked on my door asking to take her away i wouldn't be that sorry about it but that was why i took her on, onone wanted her and i didn't want her to be stuck in a shelter waiting to see if someone would take her. i am painting a picture of it beinb worse than it is, she gets alot of (nice) attention from me and everyone else in the house, i am just not overly bothered about having a cat and all that goes with it. not everyone that subscribes to the 'littler tray' has to be a madly in love with cats person. she gets fed, love, a warm home and attention. but i am still not crazy about having a cat. not enough of a reason i don't think to take her to a cat shelter and dump her. she is far better off here in a nice warm clean home with love than in a cold builders yard outside where i got her. as for keeping her out of certain rooms in the house, you are right, i should do that but she is nosey and doesn;t like to be kept out of rooms and i haven't got the heart to keep her out of any, call me soft

My cat has an unlimited supply of dry food, he eats about half a cat bowl a day, and also as many wet pouches as he wants - usually 2 or 3. He is very small for a tom cat (neutered - not sure if that makes a difference) I don't know what he weighs. He is not a greedy cat he eats what he wants and will leave the pouches half eaten untill he fancies some more. He is very active, he is allowed outside during the day and we live next to a farm and open countryside so he gets up to all sorts.

oreo - thanks for response. my head is spinning really. everytime i have looked at the packing details ie when in a supermarket as the recommended daily intake it differs. on the internet this evening i have been reading many different comments (not here, elsewhere) where alot have said a/do not give just dried food and b/do not over feed cat ie do not leave food out all day, give ie 2 or three separate feeds. it reminds me of when i had dd, constantly being given conflicting advise. i thought i could give her 50g of dried in the morning and 50g of dried in the evening, this is what vets originally told me to do. then i would switch and tried a 100g of (wet) pouch food ie in the morning and 50g of dried in the evening.....it's like having another baby but with fur

Oh GTFO.

Take your cat to the vet please - as most replies have asked you to do as an initial course of action.

You need some advice WRT to feeding and toileting - but more than that you need to ensure that Puss isn't poorly.

what does gtfo mean

Google is your friend

charming shirleyknot - i knew what it meant, i was being sarky. what a pathetic unecessary agressive thing to say, really full of yourself aren't you. just because i have been vocal in admitting that i don't love having a cat and thus feel as most of the posters do on here. i look after the cat very well, she gets everything she needs including love/attention. if i didn't care about the cat i wouldn't spend alot of time asking people/going on the net learning about the bloody things, spending ages in supermarkets trying to get it right about food etc despite constantly being told differing things to do and not do. i still stand by what i have said in that i don't quite 'get' the cat owning thing per say even though i understand why some like you love it. i know of a few cat owning people who don't either particularly like their cat or they just don't get much out of it/aren't bothered, still doesn't mean they don't look after it well as they do. i won't give her up to a shelter, i won't give her up anyway as my dd loves her as does my dh, they don't have to clear up after her shite. and i don't need telling to take her to the bloody vets in a way that implies i neglect her. on the contrary, i have taken her three times in the 5 weeks i have had her, and not because i had to either, i was being overly careful and caring about her, just my heart is rather near empty, i can't turn it on even though outwardly i am loving to her, YOU get off your high horse, hate the MN's posters who blow their own trumpet and talk down to people, YOU should GTFO :)

I have taken in a stray neutered male recently.

I think he is great for a cat and the family love him but he is driving me mad at night. He sleeps for a while (until 3 ish) then its scratching, snorting- he cannot mieow properly, sounds more like he is being stepped on; hurling himself at the bedroom doors, snoring and grunting like a bloody pervert if we let him in, demands feeding (which I will not do other than leaving a little dried food in the night) and refuses to go out at night. If i 'kick' him out he sits on the kitchen window sill and scratches and dribbles all over it.

The few nights he has stayed out he has returned looking like a defeated cage fighter-scratches all over his face, once with rat blood all over his neck (i think it was rat blood) so that puts me off as cannot face the vets bills should he really get in a fight.

Short of drugging him, what can I do?

Morning Paisley, I hate cleaning the litter tray too. I suppose DD is too young to be bribed to do it? (My method, but dd is 12 and will do almost anything for cold hard cash). The covered litter tray - yes, it does take up more space, but it does keep flying bits in.
I give mine as much dried as she wants and one pouch a day. She goes out and eats grass (and rats and pigeons) She's very occasionally sick. I fear the long coat is the main cause of her vomiting, and not much you can do about it, you're grooming her loads already, but they need to self groom for emotional reasons.

oreo - I am going to pop into the vets this morning and see what they say (she hasn't been sick since, just the once) and also ask them about her food (this morning i gave her a wet pouch)

nursenic - have you got a cat flap? Into kitchen, keep door into rest of house closed at night. And try not to think about him decimating the local small furry animal population. Although I'm delighted mine is doing it, we're in an old house and before we got her we had rodent infestation issues, which she has dealt with very effectively.

I can understand not being entirely happy with having a pet you didn't choose to have... I still consider myself a dog person, even though I don't have a dog anymore and I have two cats, lol.

One of mine is great, the other I find a bit bemusing, she's sweet when she wants to be, but I'm fairly sure she's only in it for the food :D I'd never do anything to be cruel to her, but it's to me not like having a real pet, in that, she'll only play when she wants to, or be affectionate when she wants to and she'll randomly decide to be all bitey or disappear for the day - I know that's what cats are like, but I do sometimes wonder what the appeal is.

I wouldn't complain about her though, because I chose to get her, knowing full well what cats are like - but yeah, I can understand being a bit peeved if you've taken one in rather than chosen one.

Covered litter trays are so much better, they can't miss and they can't kick litter everywhere, I know they advertise themselves on you not knowing they've used them, but you do, you can still clear them straight away - it just stops the mess spreading.

Cats are a bit sicky, but if it's more than once or twice a week, I'd be taking her to the vets, even if it is just furballs, you can get stuff to clear them.

Dry food makes one of mine sick (she's ill, it didn't used to) because she eats it, then drinks and it swells up so she's sick, I'd try leaving food down all the time and see if that makes a difference, in case she's over eating because there's a limited supply if you see what I mean.

Make sure she has frequently changed water available to her. Preferably in more than one place. Cats can be precious about drinking from indoor sources and you've said she doesn't get out much. And try a zoom groom.

Oh, and tell your DH to get a grip. He called you to come home because the cat pooed??? Buy him some disposable gloves and let him get on with it.

randommoment

All the neighbourhood cats like the cat flap.

Our cat does not. Which is a bit of a nuisance...