Warning to Kitty Owners

[blasterman]

Why not keep your cat *inside* like any vet tells you to? Eliminates the problem and likely will help them live longer.

 

[leeholaaho]

Why not keep your cat *inside* like any vet tells you to? Eliminates the problem and likely will help them live longer.

They are indoor cats,

I am having a tough time trying to get my point across

If you think fleas cannot get to an indoor cat you must live in a bubble

I also have outdoor cats - they have been out winter and summer 24/7 for eight years - thru PA winters - they thrive

 

[Per-Sev]

I am on my second cat my first lived 16 good years and was never allowed outside for any reason but I understand that sometimes they will get out the door before you can stop them. My new cat has got out twice and just gets scared and lays down she does not know what to do of course I am yelling at here so that may have something to do with it. I have heard from my vet that indoor cats can get fleas from us we can bring them in from outside on our pants and socks after we walk through some leaves or tall grass and they can be transferred to our pets. I live in the city and don't have much over growth in my yard and in 20 years have never had any flea problem and I don't use any flea or tick preventatives. I also don't allow other peoples pets in my house because it just scares my cat and I don't know what there pet might carry. Call me over protective but with what you pay to go to the vet these days I just want to be safe and not expose her to other animals I don't know what can be transferred between them but if there like us then I would assume if you bring a sick animal in they could also catch what that animal has if its airborne like we catch things. Cat will turn to there natural instincts when left outside to fend for themselves and just end up either getting pregnant or getting something pregnant and causing a lot of problems I have seen it at my sisters apartment how fast wild cats multiply and they catch them and have to put them down most of the time. If you are a responsible pet owner and are going to let your cat outside have it fixed first there are enough wild cats already and yes my cat is fixed it makes a better pet and if you can't afford it then you should not have a pet to begin with.

 

[fyrstormer]

I once extracted a foxtail from a cat's eye. I had seen the cat running around on my fences for a while but one day he came right up to me and that's when I noticed the foxtail stuck in the corner of his eye. He was obviously in pain but he never made any attempt to bite or scratch when I pulled it out. Poor cat either didn't have a home or had 'owners' who didn't care.

Where I live, though, foxtails are the least of the worries. I've found too many partial remains of neighbor cats to ever let mine outside.

How the heck did you get it out of the cat's eye? I thought the barbs wouldn't let it go backwards -- or do they give way if you pull hard enough?

What's killing cats in your neighborhood? Coyotes or something?

 

[fyrstormer]

Cat owners should also know that over the counter flea meds are pure poison, collars included

...

Keep in mind also they package the bad stuff to look like the real thing you would get from the vet or online

Use Advantage or frontline -

Again check with the vet please before using that junk

Thanks for reading

Frontline is great stuff. My cats never brought home a single flea. I don't know how it works, but it works better than any flea collar I'd ever used previously.

 

[fyrstormer]

Why not keep your cat *inside* like any vet tells you to? Eliminates the problem and likely will help them live longer.

Cats aren't indoor animals. The reason people think cats sleep so much is because when they're kept indoors with nothing to do all day, they get depressed, and anyone who's ever been depressed knows that it makes you tired and cranky. The effect is the same with any mammal. When they're let outdoors (provided nothing hunts them down and kills them), they don't sleep any more than humans do.

People would live longer if they stayed inside and didn't do anything risky either, but what kind of life would that be? Life isn't much if it never accomplishes anything difficult. You've never seen a happy cat until you've seen a cat with a belly full of rabbit.

 

[blasterman]

Cats aren't indoor animals.

Bumpkin attitudes like that are why we have to put down so many rescued cats at the shelters I volunteer for.

We're one of the few shelters that don't euthanize cats when they have FIP/FIV.....something outdoor cats get from other cats. We try to keep them healthy and live out a normal life, then watch them waste away as their bodies fall apart.

Not to mention how many cats we get that are shot, hit by cars, set on fire, and generally will live about half as long because some hill-jack thinks it's fine to keep cats out doors.

Pretty much any Vet will tell you it's healthier to keep cats indoors, and they'll live longer. Or, you can let them roam around and get shot with a .22 like my old next door neighbor used to do. Actually, I think you might actually enjoy that.

 

[leeholaaho]

Cats aren't indoor animals. The reason people think cats sleep so much is because when they're kept indoors with nothing to do all day, they get depressed, and anyone who's ever been depressed knows that it makes you tired and cranky. The effect is the same with any mammal. When they're let outdoors (provided nothing hunts them down and kills them), they don't sleep any more than humans do.

People would live longer if they stayed inside and didn't do anything risky either, but what kind of life would that be? Life isn't much if it never accomplishes anything difficult. You've never seen a happy cat until you've seen a cat with a belly full of rabbit.

I don't know that I quite agree about the sleeping part of your post.
I have two outside cats who have been out for around 8 years. They have a shelter and a heated water dish for the winter.

I will tell you that they sure do sleep alot, they are out because there is no room at the inn as I have 3 inside cats. Luckily I have a spot in a wooded area that is safe for them. I don't think they ever wander more then a few hundred feet in any direction.

Here is one of them sleeping away

 

[RA40]

Our woofer sucked one of those foxtail seed pods into his sinus. Knew something was wrong by the way he was sneezing. I couldn't see it on a visual look so we took him in. They put a scope into his nose and there was no way it would come out naturally with burrs facing the way they were. They put him under and removed it. Was just short of 2"long. I have it saved in his medical file. Poor dog but like most, after the procedure he was bouncing around the yard again.

Cost was $450 and they did a teeth cleaning since he was under.

 

[TorchBoy]

Did I say all the pets would be dead??
I try to clue people in and I get a foolish reply like yours, maybe you need a dictionary to look up words like siezures and death.

Read it again

I read your post and his comment again and ignoring the American habit of saying "could care less" when they mean "could not care less", Luke's point was a good one - logical, lightly worded, and should have been all that was needed to highlight that you had been careless in your wording. You seem to have missed that. Your response was rude and doesn't do your cause any favours.

 

[leeholaaho]

I read your post and his comment again and ignoring the American habit of saying "could care less" when they mean "could not care less", Luke's point was a good one - logical, lightly worded, and should have been all that was needed to highlight that you had been careless in your wording. You seem to have missed that. Your response was rude and doesn't do your cause any favours.

Got confused - sorry

 

[leeholaaho]

I read your post and his comment again and ignoring the American habit of saying "could care less" when they mean "could not care less", Luke's point was a good one - logical, lightly worded, and should have been all that was needed to highlight that you had been careless in your wording. You seem to have missed that. Your response was rude and doesn't do your cause any favours.

It is not about my cause, it is about the animals, I can give you and your buddy some real troll sites, because it seems that is what you want to be.

You seem to lack the empathy for someone who had a pet die of this poison.

It is nothing more then insecticide

If one person reads this thread and takes a collar off a cat or dog I will have suceeded, while you have only failed at being a bootlicker troll for the other troll.

No need to ban me, I won't be back

 

[TorchBoy]

It is not about my cause, it is about the animals, I can give you and your buddy some real troll sites, because it seems that is what you want to be.

You seem to lack the empathy for someone who had a pet die of this poison.

It is nothing more then insecticide

If one person reads this thread and takes a collar off a cat or dog I will have suceeded, while you have only failed at being a bootlicker troll for the other troll.

No need to ban me, I won't be back

Animals can't speak for themselves, so they need caring - even passionate - people to speak for them. Good on you for taking that cause and making it your own. However, don't attack people simply because they gently point out your wording was careless or your response to correction was rude. Don't attack people by claiming troll instead of defending your cause. As I said, it doesn't help you to get your point across.

As for your cat, I'm very sorry it died of a stroke. The thought occurs to me that I know people who could die of things that I'm not affected by at all, included peanuts, eggs and sticking plasters. Bee stings I am affected by, but certainly not in a life-threatening way. Most of the time sensitivities in humans are caught before they become life threatening, and I'm sorry that didn't happen with your cat. Here's a cat grieving tale for you. (Wow, from almost ten years ago.)

 

[dudemar]

How the heck did you get it out of the cat's eye? I thought the barbs wouldn't let it go backwards -- or do they give way if you pull hard enough?

Can't speak for fishhead, but I did it very carefully. You have to treat it like a barb, push in a little bit then pull out.

What's killing cats in your neighborhood? Coyotes or something?

There really is something in talking about dogs chasing cats... and cats chasing cats. They are VERY territorial and depending on the kitty he/she will fight viciously for it. Especially if they haven't been fixed. Other things are:

-lack of food
-injuries that can lead to infection, eventually death (such as the foxtail)
-susceptibility to sickness/diseases
-hostile outdoors environment (busy streets, people who do sick and sadistic things to pets)

 

[TedTheLed]

Frontline -- been using it for years, seems to be very effective stuff; I put it on at the first sight of a flea over a month ago, and haven't seen one (or been bitten by one) since.

You should use it, it's cruel to let the animals be bitten up by fleas, and or ticks..

My kitty's only threat here is coyotes, and he knows they are out there -- so he asks me to go outside with him, every time!
It's my job to check around the outside of the house..
If he comes up to me inside and says 'come out with me now!'
and I don't get up immediately and follow him out, he'll sit and wait by the open door..

oh, and he comes in before sunset on his own, and if I'm out after sunset, he comes and demands I come back inside! too cute.

just an hour or two oustside time seems to satisfy his hunting cravings..(though he no longer kills anything -- he used to be a big killer years ago -- but no more, odd!?)

 

[McGizmo]

I was over here on Maui one year for vacation and my step daughter let us know that there was something wrong with my Mini Schnauzer's eye. She took him to the vet and the vet gave her some eye drops for him. I can't recall what he surmised the problem to be. To make a long story short, the dog's eye just got worse and I was informed a week or two later that the vet now recommended removing the eye because it was no longer viable. When the vet removed the eye, he found a foxtail behind it. How did it get in there? I don't know and I wasn't around at the time. Norton was a great dog and wonderful companion and by the time his life had run its course, he had other physical problems but for a few years he managed with one eye.

That veterinary clinic lost a customer whether they were responsible or not. I can't imagine the vet was very happy once he realized he had not made the proper diagnosis in this case. There was a leson learned by a few people there, including friends.

I concur with the OP that foxtails are a serious threat to animals!!

 

[fishhead]

How the heck did you get it out of the cat's eye? I thought the barbs wouldn't let it go backwards -- or do they give way if you pull hard enough?

What's killing cats in your neighborhood? Coyotes or something?

Instead of pulling straight back I was able to remove by pulling upwards. It still required a strong pull, but it was mostly embedded in pus in the corner of the eye.

It's coyotes that are killing the cats in my neighborhood. I even saw one with a cat in its mouth when I went out to get the paper one morning. It was standing on the sidewalk at the edge of my lawn. I live in a suburb, not a rural area, yet the coyotes are everywhere - even taking small dogs out of backyards.

No matter how happy you think a cat looks with a belly full of rabbit, I can guarantee you that there's nothing unhappier looking than a once loved kitty hanging limply from a coyote's mouth.

 

[jzmtl]

Cats aren't indoor animals. The reason people think cats sleep so much is because when they're kept indoors with nothing to do all day, they get depressed, and anyone who's ever been depressed knows that it makes you tired and cranky. The effect is the same with any mammal. When they're let outdoors (provided nothing hunts them down and kills them), they don't sleep any more than humans do.

People would live longer if they stayed inside and didn't do anything risky either, but what kind of life would that be? Life isn't much if it never accomplishes anything difficult. You've never seen a happy cat until you've seen a cat with a belly full of rabbit.

That's fine if you live in a rural setting, in suburban and city setting all they do is dig up other people's garden and crap all over the place. I shoot the ones that come screwing my yard, as well as the groundhogs that decimate my vegetable garden, it's unfortunate that my BB gun isn't high powered enough.

 

[Glasstream15]

Our cats are "mighty hunters". We have a 20 X 45 screened patio with the bottom 3 feet of screen animal proofed. A grown wolf might get in but not another cat or coyote. No wolves fo many miles around. Gray Guy and Bright Eyes play out back and survey the outer world like "Haha, you can't get me". They are both about 10 years old and still play and run like kittens. They are NOT spoiled. We are well trained.

That is in a smal suburban neighborhood. My daughter lives out in the country in Kentucky. Her cats go in and out. And if they are out, they are sleeping somewhere. If they are hungry they are inside at the food bowl telling you about it. That includes their Siamese who lived to be 18. He went blind from cataracts at 8 before they got him. But that is in the middle of 110 acres.

There are some cats loose in our neighborhood. You generally only see them for about a year, sometimes less. And then people post "lost kitty" notices. Keep them in and they don't get "lost".

Cats are the most adaptable critters on God's Green Earth. And they are happiest in a loving, caring and safe home.