The cost of keeping a cat

and my kitty

Saan, I don't know what the food-related cause of the bacterial imbalance was. All I know is I was lucky to mention my cat's problem to another friend whose cat had had the same problem with the same food, and that either switching foods entirely or alternating with another food solved the problem in both cases, but that these solutions were not among the remedies suggested by the vets.

By the way, clostridium was the bacteria causing the problem. It's a normally present bacteria which had overgrown, causing both vomiting and diarrhea. After Hillary (the cat) was re-hydrated, she had a course of antibiotics, followed by a short period of special rich/mild food (Hill's R/D.)

cinzia--Thanks for the info; I'll do a little research and see what I find out. It might be a good idea for me to start alternating different brands of dry food anyway. It's so difficult to find quality cat food!

I don't understand my monster. I've tried fresh fish ("I'm not eating any of that muck"), fresh beef ("What's wrong with it if you're giving it to me?") and expensive cat food ("This stuff's too rich for my palate"). Now I buy the cheapest Aldi crap and he guzzles it down like it's going out of fashion... Oh! plus he likes his Iams ("Not the 'Mature' stuff mind - I'm not that old... 11 years in August... a mere kitten").

Daft bugger... but my very good friend (and I have the scars to prove it):

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Now Sin, that is what I would call a cat !

I was an out-and-out dog man, but I'm coming round to cats.

Maybe I'm maturing. Maybe I can now deal with the concept of conditional love.

Sin--I think some of the cheap catfoods have "addictive" additives along the lines of msg. So just like humans and their junk food the cats scarf it down. Once a cat is the age yours is, I don't think there's any going back. Cats can be extremely picky and I think it's best to start them on a varied diet when they are very young.

I put addictive in quotes because afaik msg is not addictive--it simply becomes difficult for someone who is used to having additive-riddled food to enjoy the flavors of unadulterated food.

@ Sin
have to admit I could probably respect an evil bastard like that one - is it a real Tom? Does it hump your leg ?

sin, that is not a cat, that is a carpet with eyes

@Yeti - he's a Maine Coon.. some weird breed that is a cross between bad attitude and the State of Maine. 1 metre long from his nose to the tip of his tail. Claws like razors and a meiow like a dormouse. A cat of very little brain

Still we have a love/hate relationship. The bugger rugby tackles me on the stairs when he wants feeding, and is safer indoors now because he had a penchant for attacking German Shepherds... getting his claws into their rumps and then running like fuck. He's smashed several cat flaps during his enforced retreats back in England.

Yes he's a Tom. But, NEVER lay your wooley jumper down near him. I've nearly lost fingers trying to get him to stop shagging them.

Yup. If you're gonna have a cat, it should be nails.

The problem with having this type of cat is the way the idiot tries to join in your sex life. Between my first wife and Madame Sin there were a few female friends and acquaintances who would get freaked out with him at the foot of the bed kneeding away and purring like a flippin' train. Try and kick him off discretely and he moans like a banshee.

As I said... a cat of very little brain.

At least the cat was at the foot of the bed.

Mum's dog insists on lying between me and the Fritzette when we are back in Blighty. Either Mitzi (sic) is jealous, cold or plain kinky.

My cat fetches rubber bands. She also has ruined every piece of furniture that has any sort of material on it. The frisky sideways jog is worth it all, though.

eep! Be very very careful of leaving rubber bands around when cats are present - they can choke on them really easily.
Also, do you have a cat tree? If not, it might solve the problem of the furniture.

Good luck!

Don't worry... I've had her for 5 years and she's never choked.. they're hair rubber bands and quite large. She just puts one end between her teeth and the other end around her paw and does spins or flicks it across the room and runs after it. And yes, I do have a tree, which she loves, but when she's in her frisky moods she'll take a stab at the furniture still.

The cost of keeping pussy seems to go up by the year, maybe it is because I am getting older??

When I am frisky, I will have a stab at anything

Maybe YOU need a scratching post

meeee oooow!!!

Have fun DJing tonight on your lonesome!

moonboot, your luck may be in one of these weekends

booo.

Very informative thread, thanks a lot for all the info here...

Now I'm scared shitless. Two mieowsers coming in next friday from a Tierschutzverein, so I'm pretty sure they're OK when it comes to present health, but I'm the kind who'd rather add a fixed sum each month that goes by unnoticed than have to deal with a sudden 500EUR expense because they tried to play Superman and fly off the balcony or caught the odd killer-germ or whatever.

So question to all cat owners - how do I get an insurance for them? What is a reasonable coverage scheme and where's the place to get it for the best value?

You could ask your vet to recommend or simply buy one of the cat-lover magazines such as "Die Katze" from any kiosk or bookstore and you will find pet insurance advertised. I seem to remember when considering it that it did not really seem worth it - I believe it does not cover regular jabs and stuff, only illnesses.

I got my kitty a great ceiling-high cat tree on ebay for €30.- She loves it, but so far it hasn't stopped her from climbing everything else as well (including me).

Kat - time to get out the squirt bottle(filled with water). For two days, it 'seemed' like Poopy wasn't pooping (ha!). Then I went to water the plants and found two covered up poops in the big palm tree. The palm tree is planted in Ceramis, which, if you don't know it, looks just like kitty litter but is a terra cotta color. Little shit. So, I caught her twice heading for the palm tree and she got the water twice. She hasn't gone back since.

Also, you need to play with her on her cat tree so that her scent gets on it and then she will love it. Poopy doesn't climb anything except that now.

Yesterday, she had her first encounter with a dog - she didn't enjoy that too much.

Nooo.. it's a rip-off. Cats don't need to go to the vet that often at all.. but if you're going to let it outside you'll need regular vaccinations which could add up, but it's still not as expensive as insurance..

If you want to be really mean, you could add a little squirt of lemon juice in there, too.

Don't bother with insurance for your pet. Just take the money you'd spend on it, and transfer it every month to a savings account just for your kitty. You'd probably be better off.

Are you CRAZY???

If I did that to my cat I know exactly what he would do. He wouldn't flinch. He'd look me dead in the eye, roll up the fur on his front legs (so you could see his anchor and 'muvva' tattoos) and then he'd come for me.

Either that or he'd wait until the dead of night and then see how much blood he could get out of ripping my feet to shreads.

@ Sin
If that cat ever has kittens let me kno

Genie, I don't want to sound too negative, but I have gotten all my cats in the past from animal welfare organizations or Tierschutzvereine. They were ALL ill! The most incredible cat I've ever had came from a welfare organization in Berlin. He was huge, weighed 9 kilos, wasn't fat at all but had a flaw with his heart. He was the only cat there that I was allowed to take, they told me that he was the only healthy one. I really got to love him, he was the best, the cattest cat I've ever known. He didn't take any shit from you. Then his heart started packing up and after about DM2000 in bills from the vet he had to be put down. I will never forget that. It was terrible watching him suffer like that.

I had three other cats from these people as well. The one had cancer and they didn't know. The other a bad food allergy that needed special medical care. All of them were supposedly healthy. Really have your cats checked up by a private vet immediately after you picked them up. I have the feeling that these vets at these organizations aren't very honest about the health of their little patients. Good luck to you, I hope they are healthy and that you have loads of fun with them!
P.S.: I had the superman flying cat thing already happen to me as well, costs 1000 Euros, not 500.

I've been told that if this cat sires kittens I have to inform the authorities first. Highly unlikely though... you should have known him before he had his tubes cut (all other components remain ~ NOBODY tell him he can't reproduce - OK!). Madame Sin says that when she kills him... um... I mean, when he dies a natural death, we're gonna have tropical fish. I haven't the heart to tell her that I want a pair of Maine Coon brothers... red tabbies this time... thought about calling them 'Ronnie' and 'Reggie'.

Thanks for the warning MB. These cats we're getting are little and seemed healthy and playfull when we visited them last Saturday. They're around 3 months old, and as far as I know, diseases are always expressed very strongly in cats this young.

For example when I was living with my parents we had a cat that gave birth to 5 little gremlins, one of them was completely black and the sweetest thing that ever walked this planet. He was the most playful of the lot and had a nice habit of using your face as his playground... irresistable anyways. Then suddenly he started shying away from us, lying in the corner or in an empty plant pot and behaving peculiarly mysanthropic.

After a few days like this, when he started coughing up blood, we realized he was sick. Bronchitis. Fixed him up with some anti-B from the vet and he was himself in no time. But my point is that the tell-tale signs were there, and as far as I could see with the two new candidates, all's well at the moment.

You sure seem hooked on cat, mister. I know how it feels. I am stalking the neighbourhood kitties hoping to at least get to see one now and then. If you do get yourself two new Maine Coons, make sure their hearts are ok. Maine Coons are susceptible to heart diseases - most very large breeds are.

Sure. It might also be that I just had some bad luck in Berlin. Afterall I had most of the animals coming from the same places, maybe the animal welfare organizations in Munich are much better than in Berlin.

Don't worry MB - mine hasn't got a heart. I'm sure he purrs 'Hasta la Vista' at me though

Seriously though, he comes from a pedigree lineage (bit like me but with hairballs). I got him from a breeder in Lytham St. Annes (near Blackpool) and had to sign this big form about not breeding him. Nearly all of his ancestors lived over 15 years. His father is still alive and is 21. Maine Coons may have dodgy hearts, but they regularly live to 16-20. He is 11 next month.

I will be unpopular if you read this!!! Cats!!! a pet for irresponsible pet owners. Poo everywhere but on the owners property for a start. The R.S.P.B claim that the domestic cat is the biggest killer of songbirds in uk (and thats taking into account the use of pesticides and modern farming methods). The owner of where I live has two cats, both crap on my veranda (I will be moving in August so I wont care then) and I have told her that if I catch any cats on my veranda or car, they will depart for the afterlife very quickly!!!(She thought I was joking but now keeps them well away from me and closes the garage door at night so they dont jump all over the car and poo in the garage!!!

I have found that if I feed the local dogs then the cats stay away!!!

I have a friend in UK who has two Persian blue cats. When outside they paw at the door to be let in to use their cat litter!!!Cats can be trained but most owners dont care as the cats poo, etc does not affect them

Rant over.

Buy a mouse or a budgie!!!

By saying 'cat' you mean 'dog', right?

Who needs them anyway? Just a racket at 5 in the morning to wake you up 5 hours before your time


You are obviously asking for it.

See previous remark


See previous remark


ahem!

Nope, I meant cats. In the UK most dog owners clear up after the dog now as the councils fine people plus name and shame them in the local paper. I have to say though that in Germany it is still common to see dog poo all over the pavements and no one seems to care (unless they step in it).

Good thing is that cats in my area are no longer a problem as, like I said, I feed the local dogs so the cats dont come anywhere near my place now!!