Am In Loco Parentis of daughter’s cat until July

[Scareofgettingthiswrong]

I have never owned a car before! What do I do? He has been to the vets and has been given the all clear, but it looks to me like he has ear mites. He has black earwax and keeps shaking his head and batting his ears a lot. I’ve started treating them today with something from the pet shop (Otodex). He also has black eye discharge.

I have two chihuahua’s so he is quite aloof and is taking himself off to sit under the radiator on the landing or on the kitchen bench. After a few days of squabbles the dogs and cat are now just ignoring each other. No-one seems excessively stressed and he has been coming for cuddles if I enter the room.

I am using Catsan litter and he eats Whiskers. The dogs are on Lily’s Kitchen wet and Wolfworthy dry, but are eating his Whiskers every chance they get 😂🤦‍♀️. Are these ok for him? Should I be transitioning him on to something better?

With the litter, do I scoop the poos and pees and then change the litter every couple of days?

He is very friendly and lovely, it is actually really nice having a cat in the house!!

He has also had a spot on flea treatment and wormer from the vet.

Take him back to the vets - black discharge is not normal.

He shouldn't be eating dog food as cats require taurine to survive which is added to cat food. They also are carnivores and cannot digest plant based items which tend to be added to dog food to bulk it out.

We use an antibacterial cat litter which means we only need to fully change/wash the tray once a fortnight but we always scoop out any wee/poop as soon as we can.

Make sure the cat has a high place in each room for escape purposes. Top of a chest of drawers or a book shelf, any where where the dogs can't get the cat. They might be getting on for now but things can change in an instant.

Enjoy your new cat, it won't be returning to DD😸

The cat definitely hasn’t eaten any dog food-it is more the other way round-the dogs are scoffing theirs and then going for his too 😭😂. They are being fed in different rooms to stop this. It was more asking whether Whiskers is ok-I know dogs are not really meant to eat Pedigree Chum etc.

Annoyingly he has been to the vets twice now-once when dd found him (he was found in their communal bins and had been there for ages. He was microchipped but the owners never called the vet back) and she gave him a health check, and then we took him back again for his ears and she just gave dd an ear wash to use every day which didn’t clear anything up, so we are already £200 deep including the ear wash. I think we need a different vet.

He is such a sweetheart-he is a big boy but really gentle and lovely, I’m already a bit enamoured 😂❤️.

Congratulations on being adopted!

we need a picture to help

whiskas is basic cat food. It’s the cat equivalent of pedigree chum. It’s fine and he’ll be ok on it but there is better out there.

I would be inclined to try a different vet. Black eye discharge isn’t normal but it can be something you notice more on a white cat.

The black discharge could be an infection, but if he's just seen the vet and the vet has ruled that out, I'd just wipe with cotton wool and water.

Is the whiskers wet or dried? wet food is usually more popular and I would personally be reluctant to change to a different brand just yet if he's settled on whiskers because finding a new home, getting used to new people, dealing with an eye and possibly ear issues - I wouldn't want to risk an upset tummy on top of all that. If he was a stray until recently then I'm sure he's very happy with regular meals/love/warmth and won't be too fussed about foods, he'd probably also be very happy with any leftover chicken you have as a treat.

Well the lack of pics is showing you are indeed new to your job. Being a dcat slave and expecting advice comes with a tax. .. Snap away op..

Get a microchip feeder to keep the dogs out of the cats food.

Yes, Whiskas is fine. It's the cheaper (hah!) end of cat food with Felix and is perfectly okay as it's a complete food (has all the vitamins etc a cat needs). If the cat is eating it THEN DO NOT CHANGE!!! They are nothing like dustbin dogs and are incredibly fussy.

You could do what PP has suggested if the cat is willing. Cooled boiled water and cotton wool to bathe his eyes several times a day but if continues for too long, gets excessive or looks sore then perhaps call the vets up first to see what they think before booking an appointment.

Our boy was on Whiskas wet and dry when we adopted him. We mixed the dry with what we fed our previous cat after a couple of weeks, and gradually phased it out so he only had the Royal Canin eventually. I tried him on Scrumbles as a cheaper alternative and he would eat all the RC and leave those little round balls behind!

With the wet he isn’t as keen, regardless of brand (would only lick the gravy or jelly from the Whiskas) and we’ve cycled through loads. He has Sheba now but often doesn’t eat it all - because he drinks I don’t worry.

We previously had a white cat who sometimes looked like she had black “discharge” from her eyes. The vet said it was tears (usually after being out on a windy day) and dust/dirt, and absolutely nothing to worry about other than cosmetic. I used to clean it with warm water on a cotton pad. I don’t think we would even notice it if our ginger boy had it - the vet was perplexed at me bringing her in!

You are all amazing, thank you!!

Every room has bookcases, all upstairs rooms have chests of drawers, and downstairs has the kitchen bench next to the radiator that he loves, and a 1950’s shelving unit in the lounge, so he picks a square of that and snuggles in.

He was so good today-I did his ears, and then a couple of hours later did his eyes, and to be honest I think he quite liked having his eyes done-he was headbutting me by the end of it 😂. He got some chicken as a well done for being so patient! He is so lovely to have around the place. I have always been a dog owner, and love being needed by them, but there is something so lovely about co-existing with a non-needy animal. He is just so happy to just be warm and fed, and will drop by every so often to say hi.

Look at that baby. And yes, you co exist with cats. They live in your house. They aren’t all that needy (except at 3am when they decide they can’t find you.)

My younger daughter (the one who still lives with me) and I joke that at 3am he is shouting “Pouch!!!! Pouch!!!!” As it doesn’t stop until some whiskers hits his bowl 😂😂.

Update on Mr Binny:

He is so wonderful. I have always firmly been a dog person, but now I am a dog and cat person 😂😂. He is massive, and the kindest, gentlest cat I have ever met.

I have had to clean and apply drops to his (initially very sore) ears and eyes daily, He originally really didn’t like this, but the offer of cheese afterwards helped. He still hates the eyes, but actively leans in to the ear-cleaning! I think he must have had ear mites as his ears were bald with scratching and covered in scabs, and the amount of stuff that kept coming out was just awful. The fur has now grown back and he is scratch free!! Yesterday was also the first day the cotton wool was clean after wiping the outer ear, which felt massive!

He has moved on to Kirkland cat pate and really likes it, and I have changed his litter from catsan to Pets at Home clumping wood shavings. Clumping litter is a total game changer!! And standing on wood shavings that he has kicked out of the litter box in the middle of the night is almost unnoticeable, whereas standing on catsan on the way to the loo was a rude wake up 😂😂 (his litter box is in the bathroom).

He had smoked salmon and scrambled eggs for his Christmas dinner-it is going to be so hard giving him back in July 😂😂❤️.

He is an absolute joy, and I totally get the cat hype!!! 🐈

What a handsome chap! I somehow missed your first post earlier in the month but all caught up now.

Both my dearly departed Boycat, and his sister Girlcat (still with me) loved/love having their ears cleaned. Boycat would go into a sort of trance when I did his, and Girlcat leans into my finger (with kitchen roll or tissue wrapped round it of course) & tries to get me to go as deep in as it fits & sort of waggle it around. There's nothing wrong with her ears, she exudes a fair bit of wax but been checked by the vet, she just loves it.

It may be time soon to start dropping hints to your DD about how well he has settled in with you, how happy & content he is there, what a shame it would be to give him more upheaval in his life etc. 😉

Remember possession is 9/10th of the law.....

Why is he not with your daughter now? And do you have to give him back? Just tell her how well he has settled with you. Surely it would be unfair on him to uproot him again?

The back story to Binny is that, at my old house, we had communal bins. He was regularly seen in the bin store, but obviously, you just think "that is someone's cat", give them a fuss and move on. We were moving in the September, so dd was still at mine over the summer break.

Just before we moved we were making more trips to the bins as we were clearing out and he was always there, inside the big Biffa bins, come rain or shine. We felt sad for him and eventually brought him in as he looked really thin and was covered in scabs, and he was absolutely ravenous. We took him to the vet and he was microchipped, so we agreed to take him home until the owners called back. They never called, and this was 4 months ago😥. Dd lives in a second year student house, and said that she would keep him until we heard from the owners, as my (at the time one dog- the puppy was still in her mum's tum) was terrified of him and would lunge and bark at him, which made him stressed and he would hiss and try to scratch her. We have always had pets, so dd was feeling really lost without one, so it seemed like a good solution. She asked the landlord, he said it was ok, and dd was paying an additional £25 a month to have him there.

One housemate absolutely loves him, and regularly asks dd to forward Binny updates and makes cute memes of him etc, but the other really hates him. She insisted that he be confined to dd's bedroom, which was awful for him, and he was making the place smell as he was really stressed and spraying etc. In the end dd and I decided that it was best that he come to live here, and when she moves into her new place in July with just her and her boyfriend (who loves Binny) he will go and live with them there. A little bit of me hopes that they decide that maybe it would be better if they chose to rescue a cat together from a shelter and that he can stay here as he really is settled-yesterday I caught him grooming the older dog that was originally hissing at him! I don't think I could go back to just being a dog household now, having a cat has somehow completed the family!

If dd rescues another dcat thats 2 saved.. If she got 2 even better!! Seems ah shame to upheave him again.. And ddog has a new friend.. Never underestimate the bond that can grow between the 2 species....

@Stormyweatheroutthere , your logic is impeccable!! I think I might have to "take her along with us" when we go and see the cats, she can fall in love with one (or two so they don't get lonely, as you know, re-homing a pair is far more difficult!) and then we can keep Bin!! There is also the added bonus with Binny in that his ears must have been bad for a long time, as he seems to be completely deaf, so he doesn't mind living with my high-pitched 7 year old and my very barky puppy. It might be hard to find that again.

Awww. Is Binny definitely male? I see ginger black and white in that last pic which makes me think calico...

Nah, he's the same sort of colouring as by boy Tobias - except Tobias is completely brown tabby on the top half and almost completely white on the lower half. His tabby colouring shades from a black strip about 2 inches wide across his spine, to nearly ginger on belly and legs.

He is definitely a boy-the vet checked him over and said he was 100% male. We don’t know if he has been neutered yet, but I can check when I take him to get his vaccines. He can’t get out of our back garden as the fence is so high, but I don’t want to be the reason behind a mass influx of kittens in the village if he ever escaped out of the front door!

You can usually see a Tom's balls, if he lifts his tail in greeting they should be visible, if you are able to take a picture the Litter Tray can help! Plus if un-neutered he will have a more definite square -jawed Tom face and may be prone to spraying to mark his territory