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The label should tell you what the litter is made from. I find clumping litter works best for my cats, I find it the cleanest to keep as well, and as far as I know it is only made of clay. My kitten has one watery eye, and the vet just told me to use cotton balls and water to clean the area when her eye waters (it gets very watery). My understanding is that if the eye leaks pus and/or the cat starts sneezing, he/she could have an infection. But my kitten has been like this since I found her (about 2 months ago), I’m thinking there is just something odd with her eye lid or eye lashes that makes her eye water.
Some cats take some time to get used to having another cat around. It’s really up to the cat, so it’s hard to say. Usually I find if they fight a bit or don’t seem to like each other they will work out their dissagreement and become friends in time, sometimes they will just learn to respect each other’s space. But I’ve had several cats who simply didn’t like each other, and they usually just gave each other warnings and avoided each other at best. Be cautious. Keep an eye on the size difference as they grow. Adult males may attack/ hurt young kittens if they don’t like them. If the younger one is a male it would be a good idea to make sure they are both nuetered as they get old enough.
I had a cat kind of like that once, briefly. He wouldn’t go near a litter box – didn’t seem to know what it was for. Be he was a young cat, just barely full grown and some friends had found him as a stray. I didn’t have any luck trying to get him to use a box, he would just go where ever he felt like going. I had to find another home for him. He needed to live out in the country – would have made a good barn cat. Sounds like your cat has just decided that her bathroom is outside, and that’s that. I don’t think it’s laziness (or why would she bother asking to go outside?). Was she ever mainly an outdoor cat? Maybe she has just forgotten her litter box, could an old cat do that?
It sounds like your dog needed alot of special care, and you did so much for him! You made a mistake with good intentions, and you’ve learned something very valuable. Maybe that was his purpose in your life – to teach you that lesson. You have to remember you are human, and certainly didn’t intend to have the effect you believe you had. You never know how else he might have died over time in later years, what other problems he might have had later on. Sometimes animals suffer for days or weeks because they are very sick and we are trying so hard to save them. Sometimes we can, sometimes we can’t, sometimes we save them from one thing, only to lose them to another. I knew a cat with something like diabetes once. It cost hundres of dollars to find out what was making him so sick, he was in the hospital for about a week and went through so many tests, and we finally brought him back to health. He was not a very old cat, he had alot of life ahead of him. But he recovered only to die weeks after recovery, making his owner wish she had just let him go instead of putting him through all the suffering. He just seemed to stop responding to his treatment. Was it something we did or didn’t do? Maybe. We know we all did the best we knew, and at the time you did what you did, I believe you did the best you knew. Forgive yourself, what’s done is done and it’s over now, and hurting yourself won’t change that. You’ve learned a painful lesson, and it’s painful enough to lose a friend.
If you haven’t had mice before: I would choose a glass aquarium over a hamster cage, depending on how big they are. Mice tend to have a bad odor (especially males), I found an aquarium to be safer, less noise (chewing on bars), and it contained the smell better – and a plastic one made cleaning easier. Cedar shavings was the best bedding I found (again, it fights the smell off best) ;). A well ventilated area and a good air freshener may be handy! I used an "Air Sponge". Mice will eat fruits and vegetables as well as a hamster type diet. My mice loved carrots and apples. Mice take alot of patience if you want to tame them. It’s important to handle them often as they will forget you after a shorter time than other rodents will – so I’ve found. If you have trouble moving them to clean the aquarium, I found a cardboard tube was useful (they love to play in them, and you can just pick the tube up and move it mouse and all), be careful cause they can jump to a surprising height and are fast little critters! I found it challenging to find information on mice, there was only two books I could find in the libraries. Bothe of them recomended they live in a shed outdoors if you had more than just a couple, since they do smell. I had only two, and my whole appartment knew it! Males will fight with each other when they are adults – I’d keep them separated. Females are easier to keep.
[quote author=crazy_psycho_rat link=board=37;threadid=1100;start=0#msg5440 date=1087265443] if you want better ventilation. then get a metal bar cage. aquarium cages don’t have that much ventilation except for the top. so it will smellalot more. a metal cage with bars will have better air ventilation then anything. do not get plastic cages they will chew threw them. and if u clean the cage a few times a week you shouldn’t have any problems with oders. [/quote] This is just from my experience of having mice, and some of the reading I’ve done on it. A metal bar cage is certainly better ventilation for the pets. But one of the concerns I had with young mice (mine were only weeks old when I got them), is that they could push their little heads between the bars and I was afraid of them hurting themselves or squeezing through. They were so so tiny. Mine weren’t able to chew the walls of the plastic aquarium I had, they couldn’t get a grip on it anywheres – they certainly tried, but after almost a year they had still not succeeded. I think glass may be better as well, but I find those are awkward to clean thoroughly. When they matured, it wasn’t cage cleaning that caused the odor. I did some research, and found it was the fact that a male mouse’s scent glands produce a stronger scent, and a different sort of scent (at least to our senses) than those of other rodents. That scent could pretty much fill the room in less than a week (mind you, the room wasn’t very big, and that was part of the problem). I cleaned their home every few days (usually every second or third day), washed it completely, and put in fresh bedding, and it would only take a day or two for it to smell again. It got worse as they got older. There was hardly any waste there, it was more like they were marking their territory. I’ve had male rats as well, and hamsters, and they just didn’t smell like the mice did. I think I had a stroke of bad luck though, I asked for two female mice, and they gave me two males! I only had one aquarium, and couldn’t afford another at the time :- So that doubled my problem (they were competing with each other’s scent?). And did they ever fight when they grew up! I had to give one away when they started fighting. But even after that, the one I kept still had a B.O problem.
I think the worst that could happen is he might swallow a bit of plastic if he chews on them enough. I’d just keep an eye on it in case it gets chewed apart, I don’t think it will do any harm. If it does frighten him initially, and he think’s it’s some sort of threat, he’ll soon enough figure out that it’s not and he’ll get over his fear.
I would check into this more, if it’s an aquatic tank (intended only for fish), which I understand tanks generally are, then I’ve heard it could be toxic on the inside and non-toxic on the outside when it’s dry – depending on the type of stuff used. Because these tanks are ment for fish; once the seal is dry the toxic stuff won’t leach out into the water, and won’t hurt the fish. If it’s the kind that’s toxic on the inside it would be quite dangerous. Ask some people who know alot about fish tanks. I’d take my rat out of there until I knew more facts.
Beautiful dog! Bigger than the one I had (a Belgian Shepherd). I’ve heard it suggested that you bob the tail of a dog like yours, but I wouldn’t personally do that. You may be able to prevent this problem with some training. I trained my dog to go lay down when told, and he would, and he would stay. So when he got too wound up in the house (or when I knew he was going to even before he did), he was sent to lay down, or out to the yard. I spent alot of time outside with him.
Don’t let your little kitten outside 🙁 Especially not in an area where there’s lots of other cats outside. They have to be a certain weight/age before they can be vaccinated, or dewormed – that’s true. I took my kitten to the vet when she was 6 weeks old, and all I could do for her was treat her for ear mites (she was a stray), and come back when she was older and bigger. I’d play it safe and stick with kitten food, if possible the same kind the pet store was feeding him (at least for now). Kittens and cats can sometimes get some problems from foods they aren’t used to (especially milk) – each cat is different. But what you describe sounds like it could be something else. If your kitten seems very sick to you, you should have him see a vet.
This cat of yours reminds me of one of my Mom’s cats who would always do that when his litter box needed cleaning. Perhaps in a previous home she got used to the box always being in need of cleaning. I’d try shovelling the poop into the box, put her in, and praise her while she’s in the box. When she goes back to the box and finds it there later, she might get the idea that’s where it’s supposed to be. I would also keep her box in an area where I could keep an eye on what she’s doing and reward her when I catch her doing it right, and try to correct her before she gets it wrong. Most cats like to dig a bit in litter or soil (big plant pots are favorites), and I think it’s their instinct to burry their poop or something. You might try encouraging her to dig in clay litter – try the clumping kind that’s finer and maybe easier on paws. Perhaps she misunderstood some sort of punishments in a previous home, and learned the wrong thing. It’s also possible she may have been an outdoor cat who never used a litter box much if at all – if so, that lack of human contact may also explain some of her shyness? If she’s sitting in the litter box, but the poop keeps landing outside of it, try a covered litter box where it can’t.
I wouldn’t give her milk – cats are often lactose intolerant. Do you eat meat? A bit of leftover cooked meat from your own meals wouldn’t hurt her and wouldn’t cost you much, just don’t give her small bones. She’d probably eat just about any sort of left over cooked meat. Cats love canned fish, if you eat tuna she’d probably share it with you, and she’d love the juice from the can if you put it in a dish for her. I’ve read that some cats have allergies to fish. But I feed it to my cats a few times a week and they love it (especially sardines). Cats will often eat dog food too. The only problem is that it just won’t be a nutritionally complete diet for her (cat food has stuff added to it specific for a cat’s nutrition needs). But it would keep her from going hungry.
Perhaps she want’s to hide? Is it possible to put her box in a covered area where she can feel like she’s being sneaky? 😉 Also, cat’s don’t like their bathroom to be too close to where their food is. Perhaps put her food there after it’s cleaned up. She might get the hint that it’s not a bathroom area (but if you’re not lucky she might look for another out of the way corner…). Also they can be very picky about their bathrooms (and about their general environment as well), if the box isn’t kept clean they don’t want to go in – some more so than others. You might try limiting her to a room for a while where she might be more inclined to keep it in one spot (perhaps keep her in your bathroom for a while), because she couldn’t just run away from it into another nice clean room (might make your clean up a bit easier too). Have you had other cats that might have sprayed or peed there? Maybe there’s a smell she recognizes that you can’t smell, and she doesn’t understand why it’s not ok for her to pee or poop there too. You could try putting something there to mask the smell she might be picking up. A pet deoderizer or something? Perhaps something with a smell she doesn’t like. If that’s the only area she does it in, that could be why. Kittens can be so stubborn! My little Zoe is about 3 months old, and every time I give her heck for going behind the T.V to play with the wires, she just runs right back as soon as I put her down (is it spite?), I feel laughed at! I’m going to have to block the area somehow so she just can’t get in. Maybe that would work for you? Encourage her when she get’s it right. When you catch her doing what she’s supposed to do, give her praise, perhaps reward her with a treat for it now and then – to make sure she has a possitive association with it.
Perhaps it’s just an unfamiliar environment that’s confusing and freaking them out a bit. They probably still smell the other, (uninterested) cat, besides not being in their familiar home, and just aren’t themselves. Cat’s become different creatures when they are freaked out. I once had a little wee tabby cat who (almost any time the dogs came into the house) wouldn’t settle down until all the other cats (all of them bigger than her), (and dogs) were all put in their places and stayed there – and she was boss! My mother called her "old battle-axe". Now and then she’d resemble the Tazmanian devil cartoon, but she never caused any serious injury to the other cats (or dogs), and was normally quite friendly with the other cats. Sometimes this would take an hour, sometimes it would never seem to settle down. Perhaps your cat’s have had some established "pecking order" of theirs confused by this other cat? Once things go back to normal in their environment they’ll probably settle down. Do you have even a cat carrier you could use to seperate them initially? – or, perhaps borrow one? Depending on how bad their fighting has been, you might let them have it out a bit to sort themselves out? Sometimes cats will fight a bit with each other without really hurting each other, and it settles down once they’ve settled their dissagreement – then they become friends again, or at least respectful of each other’s space. If their fighting is bad enough that you feel it’s not safe for them, throw a blanket over them to break it up, or throw water on them. Give it some time.
Was this kitten orphaned at a very early age? If she was fed milk by hand, perhaps she just associates fingers with food and security. I wonder if this might turn into hand biting as she gets older? My daughter’s cat used to have a habbit of purring and calmly enjoying gentle affection – then suddenly attacking the hand that was stroking her – sometimes biting very hard, and scratching with her hind claws. (I think this came from someone playing mouse with their hand at one point). I would put her down and scold her quite firmly when she bit hard. Now… she hasn’t completely stopped biting… but she does it so incredibly gentle, she’s just playing… I can’t hold it against her entirely, I just gently take my hand away. I think she wants a mouse, she seems to mistake a hand for a toy. I found that if I just keep my hand still and don’t move it, she stops almost as soon as she starts.