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The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

Original poster

We're probably getting a rescue cat soon. What do we need to buy and how much will upkeep cost?

311 replies

QueenStromba · 10/02/2013 16:45

We're moving soon and have found a flat that we're close to signing the contracts on where the landlord is willing for us to have a cat. If it all goes through we'll be getting an adult cat from Battersea. What do we need to buy and where is the best place to buy from? So far we're thinking:

Transport cage
Litter tray
Scratching post (which will probably be ignored in favour of the sofa)
Cat toys
Food and water bowls

I'm thinking a cat bed would just be ignored in favour of climbing all over us while we're trying to sleep, the sofa, the laptop, whatever point on the carpet the sun is hitting. Should we get one anyway?

Also, neither of us has owned a cat as an adult (we both had them as kids - DP for longer) so we have no idea how much it costs to feed them (is it a whole tin or half a tin a day?), insure them and how much vet bills will cost. How does microchipping work? Is it just the one off cost or is there a yearly charge or just a charge if you change any details etc?

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cozietoesie · 25/04/2013 19:32

The vet this evening?

Let's see how it goes. Watch how much you give her in case she's pigging the stuff down and throwing up as a result. Modest and steady.

Good luck - anxiety making, isn't it?

Original poster
QueenStromba · 25/04/2013 20:11

It is bloody terrifying - especially since she's so old. She's not normally a piggy sort of cat at all.

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cozietoesie · 25/04/2013 20:42

As I said - wait and see how she is tomorrow. Seniorboy had a bout of being sick in the early New Year and when I took him in after 2 or 3 days, all she could initially tell was that he had some gingevitis. (Being elderly, he's a bit of a martyr to his few remaining teeth.) The vet didn't know for certain if that was it but gave him an AB injection (and some antacids which he wouldn't swallow and were a waste of a med.) No more problem. Touch wood he's not been sick at all since then.

I don't know if that's got anything to do with it - a cat being sick a lot can be so many things - but I was just thinking that Rice had to have her teeth attended to at Battersea. Just a thought, anyway.

Original poster
QueenStromba · 25/04/2013 21:11

The vet had a cursory look at her teeth - she's a cat who really hates having her jaws forced open though. He also took her temperature (which Rice really didn't seem to mind at all) and had a feel of her stomach and pregnant looking dangly bit - all of which he said was fine. I'm hoping it was all a waste of fifty quid rather than something I have to take her back for - I really don't want it to be worth the £80 excess.

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Original poster
QueenStromba · 25/04/2013 21:14

I can see why people don't take their pets to the vet though if it's so much money - I was expecting 20-30 quid not 50.

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cozietoesie · 26/04/2013 10:34

How's she doing this morning, QS?

Smile
Original poster
QueenStromba · 26/04/2013 15:46

She seems alright today thanks - she hasn't been sick since we went to the vet. Either I was worrying over nothing or the injection worked.

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cozietoesie · 26/04/2013 16:01

Good. I don't know whether she does the 'plumbing' sound that some cats make prior to being sick. I usually have about 8-10 seconds with Seniorboy: just enough time to dash off for a newspaper to put underneath him.

Original poster
QueenStromba · 27/04/2013 16:18

She does wretch for a good 5-10 seconds before she throws up. If she does it while we're asleep that's enough time to wake up, realise what is going on, scrabble for something to put in front of her and to not quite get it in front of her before she pukes. I really should keep some newspaper next to the bed from now on.

She still seems ok. I think she was feeling a bit sorry for herself yesterday though. She'll normally only lie on me for 15-20 minutes and then curl up next to me to sleep but slept on me for about two hours in the afternoon and only moved when I had to move because I was getting a crick in my neck. I don't think she's been like that since the first night when she slept on me all night. She's less clingy today so hopefully that means she's feeling better.

We've not given her the biscuits again and she's developed a habit of finishing her food, asking for more and then wandering off once we provide it. I think she likes the security of knowing there's food there when she wants it because she never did that when we had the biscuits down constantly.

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Original poster
QueenStromba · 28/04/2013 11:16

She threw up again this morning and is being massively clingy. She's alert and causing mischief when she's not sitting on me though.

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cozietoesie · 28/04/2013 11:18

Seniorboy threw up as well - I think it was empty stomach vomiting because I gave him beef pouch and not chicken pouch for his breakfast. Which he wouldn't eat.

Has she eaten or drunk anything this morning?

Original poster
QueenStromba · 28/04/2013 11:33

She got me up to feed her at 6.30, ate about 30g and threw it up an hour or two later. Since then she's had a lick of her food and a tiny bit of smoked salmon I was silly enough to try and eat with her sitting on me. I've got a bit of roast chicken defrosting for her to have later.

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Original poster
QueenStromba · 28/04/2013 20:30

She seems to be a bit constipated. DP caught her dragging her bum across the sofa cushion and I had to pick a large bit of poo from just next to her anus. After scrubbing the poo mark from the sofa, I found another two in the hall and a small lump of poo on the bath mat. Her litter had been kicked about but there was nothing in it. Looks like she tried to go for a poo in her litter tray but it got stuck, she wiped on the bath mat and got a bit out and wiped a further three times before she dislodged it and I picked it off her.

I'm a bit worried this means that she's a bit dehydrated. Should I give her some cat milk tomorrow to encourage her to drink?

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cozietoesie · 28/04/2013 21:35

QS

I'd actually be thinking of getting her to the vet. The vomiting and the constipation could be linked and yes - she could get dehydrated but I suspect the vet will best advise you on that. At the least, I'd give a
phone, especially with these periods of lassitude she's having.

I had this with Seniorboy who is now on a mild laxative from the vet to assist and hasn't had any more pooing problems.

(If she suddenly has an enormous big poo and returns to normal, I think I'd still go but in a more relaxed fashion in the next few weeks.)

cozietoesie · 28/04/2013 21:37

PS - I'm conscious that you went to the vet a short while ago so they may be prepared to talk you through it rather than having another expensive visit.

Original poster
QueenStromba · 28/04/2013 22:26

She's not really been having periods of lassitude - she's been sleeping/dozing/resting the same amount as she normally does, she's just been wanting to do it on me more than normal. I guess that's the kitty equivalent of a child wanting their mummy (and only their mummy) when they're sick. She's actually been behaving normally since about 1 and has been eating ok and has even had a wee since the icky poo incedent.

I'll see how she is in the morning. If she throws up again/hasn't done a full poo/is being really clingy then I'll give the vet a call. He seems like a decent chap - when we got all worried about her D&V when we first got her he advised us to take her to Battersea rather than taking our money.

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cozietoesie · 28/04/2013 22:38

If she's been eating and drinking OK then that's better news. She may have been having a one-off constipation. I'd wait and see how she is tomorrow then.

Good luck to Rice.

Original poster
QueenStromba · 29/04/2013 10:31

She hasn't been sick or clingy so far today. She also hasn't had a poo but it's still early. I got her some cat milk and she's had a bit of that so hopefully it will help.

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cozietoesie · 29/04/2013 10:37

Good that she's not been sick - but keep an eye on the poo situation. (A great thing about housecats is that you always know precisely how their insides are working.)

Original poster
QueenStromba · 29/04/2013 10:52

She's had a poo now and got all but a mini turd (bath mat again) in the litter box.

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cozietoesie · 29/04/2013 10:59

Her poos might have got a bit dry if she hasn't been pooing regularly. You don't have longish hair do you by any chance? That will sound like a daft question but I've found that cats can sometimes ingest some hair from their owners and if it's longish (ie more than an inch or two long) then it can sometimes connect poos up the intestine so that a poo could be out of the body but still be dangling for a minute or two - by a hair! (Sorry if TMI.)

Original poster
QueenStromba · 29/04/2013 11:33

DP and I both have waist length hair so that could well be it. The little bit on the bath mat didn't look dry.

She seems to be enjoying the cat milk and it's not stopping her eating her food or even drinking her water. I might start giving it to her every day - the extra calories and fluid will probably do her some good.

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Original poster
QueenStromba · 06/05/2013 15:11

She's not had much of an appetite since Thursday. I thought it was because we had a decorator in on Thursday and Friday and she was a bit put out by it. I'm not sure exactly how much she's been eating because we always have a fishy tin and a meaty tin on the go which makes it hard to keep track. All she's had so far today is a little bit of milk and a lick of her food. She's still affectionate and has the odd running about like a mad thing episode so she seems alright in herself. Could it be the hot weather that's bothering her or should I be worried?

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cozietoesie · 06/05/2013 16:21

Has she got water down for her, QS? And how has her tray been? (If they get a bit constipated, their intake sometimes drops.)

Original poster
QueenStromba · 06/05/2013 16:44

She's just eaten the 70g or so of fish flavour that I put down when she wasn't interested in the chicken flavour, plus some of the chicken stuff. We didn't get up til 10 this morning so I'm thinking that she might have polished off her supper and her milk just before we got up. She does have water too.

There was a wee and a poo in the litter tray when I got up but she hasn't been since. She's been doing about as many wees as normal but fewer poos - three every two days rather than two a day. I think she's been doing fewer poos since she's been eating less rather than the other way around.

Its 24.5 degrees in the flat today. She's flopped out sleeping on the other side of the room to the window so I've got it open even though it's not cat proof - I'm closing it if I leave the room or if she stirs so there's no danger of her jumping out of it. I think a trip to B&Q is in order to get some chicken wire to cat proof the windows is in order.

I'm thinking hooks in each corner of the windows to hold the chicken wire in place?

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