ic - I think a toilet leaking over your head onto an eating area trumps the swimming pool I found under the kitchen cupboards. I LUV birds. DH says No! Never! Not Gonna Happen! I feel real lucky that Sir and his not pictured female companion "Madam" have no litter box issues. Expect that Sir is so big that no litter pan is large enough . He's 21" long from his shoulders to the base of his tail. He hangs over the edge of even a jumbo pan. I keep absorbant pads under the pans to catch the "overflow". Of three dogs and two cats he's the biggest animal in the house. A bird, regardless of the living arrangements, would be unlikely to survive. He charged right through the screen door last summer. He tore a hole in the screen and took the door ( a slider) off the track.
Introduce yourself with a picture!
Oh, we've tried everything. When we got Penny, we had only the parrots and Poppy, the part-Siamese. Poppy was eight months old and had been a rambunctious kitten but not destructive or territorial. As soon as the puppy came home, Poppy has been peeing on things ever since. It was horrible when we lived in an apartment, she had to stay in the bathroom when we were not home and had to be watched every second when she was out. We got Chili the Ragdoll hoping that then she would be more normal (having another cat to play with) but no, she just taught him to pee on everywhere too. We've switched litter a dozen times, keep it very clean, taken both of them to multiple vets. Believe me, we've spent hundreds (if not more) of dollars trying to get them to stop. When we bought a house, we had a "cat room" set aside for them. Now, in this house, they have the whole basement (which is not a bad basement, there are windows, lots of cat beds, etc.). For the first few months in this house, we tried to let them be part of the family but almost immediately Poppy started up again. We had even bought all new dog beds and thrown the old ones out. Our house had not a spot of carpet in it at the time, so we thought - this is the perfect house, we can start all over, the cats will behave. Nope, didn't work. The final straw that got them locked in the basement for good was when Poppy peed on CHESTER, our rescue diabetic corgi, while he was sleeping in his bed. I woke up and he was cowering, covered in pee. Chester thought HE did something wrong. Admittedly, Penny has always tried to chase Poppy, but the other dogs are very gentle and never did anything but clean the cats ears or sniff them.
I've tried to convince my hubby long ago that the cats would be happier in a no-dog household but he doesn't want to budge and honestly I think it is too engrained in them by now to stop. They don't pee on anything in the basement, other than in their litter box.
This is a great thread! I feel like I have been sitting down to coffee with all of you anyway, since I usually read these boards while I'm taking a break and drinking coffee.
Edited to add: We even tried prescription anti-depressants for the cats for several months, which was expensive, but just made them more sluggish. They still peed on dog beds and then started on our bed, too. They spent a lot of time living in that bathroom when we were in the apartment. I still cannot believe that I didn't put my foot down and haul them off to a shelter, but being in a relationship is compromise and hubby claims he loves those cats. Now that the Ragdoll is showing aggression towards Penny, there is no chance I would let the cats have free roam of the house again. He could seriously hurt or even kill her. Of couse we hauled him off to the vet after he ran after her the first time but nothing wrong with him. Just his brain!
Honestly, I think the cats are pretty happy in the basement now, it really is set up like a private kitty palace! Heck, they even have their own koi pond to look at during the day!
This message was edited Feb 27, 2009 10:47 AM
ic - In my experience with cats ( we had a multiple cat household for about 15 yrs, then a 12 yr break, then these two popped up) I 've come to the conclusion that it's 99% the cat's agenda and 1% the owner's agenda. If you keep the pans clean, and have enough to go around ( always one more then the number of cats in the household) and have them placed in quite out of the way spots you've done all you can. The rest is up to the cat. There's no doubt in my mind you do your part. So don't beat your self up. It's the darned cat! Then you decide. Can I accomodate this situation or not? On a couple of occaisions in the past I've found "barn arrangements" were necessary. We live near a rural farmland. I remember one male cat in particular (neutered of course) that I witnessed standing on my son's bed "spraying" his pillow. He was relocated shortly there after. You are a very accomodating, patient cat owner ic.
Well, I consider them my husband's cats. We can accomodate them - the basement is fine. It is annoying, but I can live with it. He lives with my macaw belting out screams several times a day when she sees something outside the window that the doesn't like (or she smells dinner and I have not given her her portion fast enough). Sometimes we wake up to Rascal the cockatoo yelling "Night, night!!!" for fifteen minutes straight. Since he puts up with the birds, I figure I can put up with the cats in the basement. Neither of these would qualify for outdoor life - the Siamese is declawed and the Ragdoll is terrified of his own shadow most days.
Nope - declawed means in the house permanently. Both mine are declawed on the front. The relocated cats were, fortunately, not declawed. My husband's objection to a bird is the noise. Me, I love it. DH would consider opening the cage door and the window simultaneously. And really, Sir would keep any avain pet in such a state of high anxiety that it would probably keel over on it's perch.
Elizabeth - I agree with Snapple - you have more than bent over backwards for your kitties. I have to tell you though, I have had to get rid of pets for that type of thing in the past. They are MY cats, however that is the one thing with which I have a problem. I also cannot expect DH to have to put up with that type of situation. The man had 10 years of allergy shots so I could have my cats......I am not going to ask him to deal with that too.
We don't get upset with the cat that has the UTI's (other than feeling badly that she is ill) as it is a medical issue - but I have had both cats and dogs that just would not cooperate in that area and they had to go. So, I have to hand it to you. If they were my DH's I would probably do the same as what you are doing.
Snapple Lives! Nice to see what are Fish Whisper looks like! Sorry to hear about the water issues. If it's not one thing it's something else sucking your money out of your wallet!
FYI: for all you cat owners-there are usually reasons for cats "thinking outside the box". One is health reasons and the other is behaviorial. Cats do not have human emotions (although it does seem like that from time to time. . . .) and do not react to your behavior but more a change in routine.
There is a great website I would like to recommend: http://www.purebredcatrescue.org
The woman who runs this rescue (Kirsten) has a lot of information about cat behaviors and missing the box. She is a cat behavorist and tries to help people keep their cats instead of putting them into rescue or an animal shelters. Some cats just can't be helped and need to be put down but only after you try changing some things with the cat (s). Changing the location of the litter box, adding more litter boxes, trying different brands of litter, eliminating the smells in litter that we people like but the cats hate. All of these things can contribute to urinary issues. Last but very important some cats get urinary tract infections and will stop using the box because they associate the pain with the box. Anyway, this website has a TON of information on why a cat does this in the first place and ways to correct the problem. You can also email this woman directly for assistance after reading all the online information.
I may not know ponds and koi as well as the rest of you but I do know cats and behaviors . . .
Funny how many of us like our animals, and gardens/ponds.
Keep posting pictures.
Who are all the lurkers and why haven't you posted a picture?
BTW: Be careful on that cat website. Unless you want more cats in your life DO NOT look at the beautiful cats available for adoption. It's just too tempting. Just say "NO"!
Linda
Not looking! Not Looking! Not Looking!
The insurance adjuster just left. Everything's covered and the estimate is very generous. It allows for full high end replacement cost plus fans for drying and a new subfloor. If the cabinets warp after drying them we have another issue. The only bad part is I will have to completely tear down the 75 gal tropical tank. It means giving away the fish and the plants and starting over after the repairs are done. I am not looking forward to that. Has anybody here ever lifted a tank up on a dolly and moved it with fish and water? It has to come completely out of the room for about 5 days.
Linda, I actually wanted to adopt a cat from them before we got Chili. I wanted to go the rescue route but my husband wanted a kitten from a breeder.
I had actually found a persian in a shelter about an hour away that we went to visit who was a small orange male and the sweetest cat ever. His owner had died, and he had been adopted but the new owners after having him six months brought him back the week before saying they no longer wanted a cat. He was covered in mats, had fleas, ear mites, you name it. When we saw him, he had already been shaved but he still had ear mites and hubby said "No way." I really wish we had got that cat. The shelter actually let us bring Penny in to make sure the cat would get along with dogs - this boy was a real love and just rubbed against Penny and purred. He sat on my lap and was just a doll, even after having been clearly neglected so recently. He really wanted to be part of our family, but hubby didn't want a cat with anything it could potentially spread to the other animals already in our house. After that I found the purebred cat rescue website but after seeing the shaved persian hubby did not want to look at any other rescue cats. I had even filled out an application and had one on file and she had a few cats lined up for me to visit with.
Instead we spent $650 on the less than useless Ragdoll. Grrrr....
Snapple, good to hear that insurance is not giving you a hard time! Is the tank a regular rectangular glass one? I think you will need to drain it before moving it. Not fun - if I lived closer to you I would offer to help!
Snapple, can you take half the water out and move it? That way, you could still keep the fish in it and it would not be as difficult nor as heavy to move. I have gone the way of dumping and redoing aquariums in the past - it is quite a chore.
MM/Elizabeth - I have fallen in love with the persians, although mine is a mix. I do think a rescue is the way to go. All of my babies have all been little 'dumpees'. I could never resist..... The only cat that was not a dumpee was a poor lynxpoint siamese that I had for a number of years. She really was a pathetic little thing, but she was the best kitty she knew how to be. The others used to beat up on her - it always broke my heart when I would catch them doing that to her. She was the one that decided I had the 'wrong' kind of litter.
I did look at the website and I would have more if I could - but then there is my poor allergic husband. He would probably have an asthma attack if I came home with another.
Yeah, it's the standard rectangular glass tank. I'm searching for a low dolly. No Luck. Say, you aren't going to be in NW Ohio next week by any chance?
Bummer animals come in all species. My neighbor's dalmation stood on the dining room table and ate the curtains. Talk about behavioural issues! After that he was crated when ever he couldn't be supervised. They were good dog people. He was a bad, bad doggy.
Sir Eric loved the insurance adjuster. So much so that when the adjuster got down to look under the cabinets the cat layed on the counter on top, dropped his head over and was purring in his ear. I've never seen a cat so darned friendly with total strangers. The cat sat on his clipboard when he tried to write on it. He generally followed him all over the kitchen, even from the top of the refrigerator. He purred out loud the whole time. Whoever raised him before I got him did a really nice job socializing him as kitten. One in a million. Almost makes up for a calico persion named Eunice we had that attacked without provocation. I loved that cat, but she was a real menace. She was a rescue 7yrs old, that died at 15 of kidney failure.
This message was edited Feb 27, 2009 4:00 PM
Hey - just gone a few hours and you all are CLEAR ahead of me - Love your picture, Snapple - it's so good to see you! You look like the gracious lady you are! Sorry to hear about the water problems --
IC - WOW- can't believe the cats -- I'm a long-time cat person, and have never had the problems you've seen - Don't know what I'd do without all my babies.
I wangled a Cockatiel (Mario) once, but didn't study their behavior enough - well, we got a male and he immediately bonded to me as his mate and would attack anyone else. We still kept him about a year, but when he got on my DH's shoulder and latched onto his earlobe (major bloody) that was the end of that. We gave him to the local Community College that had a Vet Tech program. --
Mothermole, you're certainly right - I think it's amazing that we all love our animals as much as our gardens. I watch Dog Whisperer and certainly agree with him that a family is just not "complete" without at least some type of animal companions.
Carolyn - I would love to take a morning and just sit around a talk with you'all -
Here are both sister and brother -- Miko and Sherlock - don't they look related?
Dax - I love it. You can tell they are brother and sister - they have similar markings!
My first cat was an adult calico we found almost dead next to a major highway in upstate NY. I was a teenager and had gone to Canada (tagged along) with my mom who drove my brother and a teammate to compete in a hockey tournament. Well, it was the middle of the night and the teammate kept getting carsick, so we kept pulling over. On one of the stops, around midnight, I heard a pitiful meow - ran up an embankment into the night, and came back carrying a small bundle of fur. I yelled to my mom "I found a kitten!" She yelled back, "That is an adult cat, put it down!" The door to the minivan was wide open, so I put down the cat next to the truck and she jumped in. Long story short, everyone in my family hated cats before her. The poor thing was so ill when we found her - of course my parents plowed a small fortune into vet bills - their plan was to drop her off at a barn but then it turned out that she was deaf so that was out of the question. THAT was the best cat ever. She lived for over a dozen years after that, was stone deaf the whole time and was so sweet and so truly precious, which is what her name became. Afterward my mom had to put her down, due to advanced multiple organ failure, she was given a pair of black boy kittens from someone who had a stray cat leave them in her yard. They grew up into (almost) equally wonderful pets.
Andy, my hubby, also had two cats before these and they never had these kinds of behavioral problems. I think we just have two "loser" cats and will be stuck with them the next 10+ years. Poppy is seven this year and Chili is five.
Sir Eric ( sleeping), Madam and Bentley the chihuahua. Not related but I do try to color cordinate.
This message was edited Feb 27, 2009 5:15 PM
Awwww, you even have the foot part extended out for them : )
We call him "Sir" for reason! They own that chair. From time to time they allow us to use it.
Dax: I thought the saying was that the pets resemble the human owner-not one another of different animal types. Your two match identically in color. With my pets I prefer dark hair as we have dark furniture and mostly dark clothes and it just is a whole lot easier. I am partial though to the two-tone animals (like black - white or gray - white-anything that looks like a panda . . .)
Here my baby panda-Pup-Pup coming in for his close up!
Here is Amy, my German Wirehaired Pointer, my guardian angel, and the dog that would die for me if anyone threatened me. She is also a great gardening dog, she will help me dig holes on command wherever I point for her to dig.
Yeah, like my decaying pumpkin beside the rock? It's my version of a natural compost . . .
Here's my last dog, Pippen, the neurotic old man. He was a rescue dog that was returned quite a few times because he whines a lot. He has improved tons since we got him 12 years ago but is still annoying at times. Her's a picture of Pup-Pup annoying Pippen for us and of course he's whining about it instead of nipping back at Pup-Pup to teach him a lesson (this dog is always a victim just like some people are. . .). BTW, Pippen is estimated to be about 14 years old but is in amazingly good health and the vet says he presents about the age of a 5 year old dog. I guess we are going to have a lot more years of Mr. Whiny . . .
Yay! I'm happy I can post a pic of my cat instead of myself!! (Well actually I haven't yet found a pic of myself that's acceptable)
Snapple....I hear ya on the leaks! Last week the bottom of my under-sink cupboard collapsed...now I find out we have a leak inside the cement exterior wall, that's been slowly leaking for a very long time. That's where the pipes are....uhg.....
So, now they have to repipe the whole house through the attic, which is thousands....(that's how they do it in Florida) or tear out the exterior wall that is under the sink window, to get to the pipes, only to "kind of" know if that's the way they can fix it... :(
I have too sad of a face to take a pic and post it.... :( blah....
Oh geeze MM2. I do know your pain! I'm sitting here with floating cupboards. Any insurance coverage? I was suprised how responsive our company was. Instead of cashing the insurance company's check I'm paying the repair contractor out of our own funds to do the tear out and dry the cupboards and assess the subfloor damage. I want to make certain we don't have more damage than what the adjuster compensated for. They start next Tusday. Today I gave Whirlpool a big Hi Howdy about how their 7 year old dishwasher ruined a $6,000 floor. Monday a Whirlpool repariman is supposed to come out and diagnose exactly what went wrong with the darned thing. Also we are installing one of these things everywhere water could leak and go undected until it's too late.
http://www.plumbingstore.com/featured_water_alarms.html
Come on MM2. I just finally bit the bullet and handed DH the camera and said go for it. Ansel Adams he's not.
Here in Florida, insurance will cancel you if you file a claim....so no way will I put one in unless a hurricane takes the whole house (or fire!) Right now they are canceling people who HAVEN'T even filed a claim, so no, it will be out of pocket, which stinks, because I was trying to slip a new pond liner into the budget for another pond. grrr.....
I'll try to bite the bullet and post a pic, but I'll be mad at all of you for 24 hours for forcing me to do so! :D
(Trust me, it will NOT be in YOUR favor!)
MM2 ;)
Re: picture. How much worse could it be than 63, a double chin and way, way too many pounds! LOL
Re: insurance. I forgot Floridians were in a terrible spot when it comes to coverage. I hope you find the least expensive simplest repair possible. And no more hurricanes.
I can't imagine a week of running the aquarium in the living room, if I'm lucky enough to get it there, plus keeping the cats and dogs from dashing out the door with the workmen at every opportunity. No to mention the sub floor being pulled up and all the dogs and cats diving into the crawl space to explore. The insurance agent suggested we stay in a hotel for the three days they need to dry it out because I wont have a usable kitchen. And just what hotel chain takes three dogs and two cats? If I board them all I can't afford to repair the floor! Oh well, these are small complaints really. I should shut up and be grateful it's paid for. I'm serious about installing water alarms wherever a hidden problem could occur. There are tons of them on the net. Why didn't I ever think of this before? Dumb.
Interesting..... I have never heard about water alarms before. A good idea.
A couple of years ago, we put a hardwood floor in the kitchen. The kitchen at that time was circa 1963 and the whole thing needed some serious updating, but we were going to take it a step at a time. The contractor that was installing the floor found that our refridgerator had been leaking for the 10 years we had been in the house. We never knew about the leaking because the refridgerator was in this wooden shell that was built into the room to house the fridge. We were very lucky in that we did not have to replace any floor joyces, just the subflooring. Obviously we had to run out and buy a new fridge, but I think about what it could have been......
Mary - you can't be any worse than the rest of us. I too have a weight problem, although I have always had a thin face. Since I have hit 50 and will soon hit 51, I have decided that it goes with the territory.
Here is my other baby. Another one that was dumped, only she came out of the graveyard. Poor thing was terrified. I love the white whiskers on the black face. I named her Melee - when she came into the household, she created melee with both the kids and the animals.
Melee is right up my alley with her "panda looks" Cute!
It's been great to put faces with names. We need more...
I wish I had known that we could post a picture of our cats instead of ourselves!
Here's my little darling.
Carolyn, this one's for you (undoubtedly posted before, but I don't have anything new since I live in the frozen northern tundra!)
Oh this is great! I love "meeting" all of you. I think we'd have a pretty fun time if we all got together to talk pond. Here is me with one of my pups, Simon, last year during a blizzard.
And this is what I look like 'cleaned up' (and warmed up) . I was excited about eating sushi on my birthday. :) Susanne
Susanne: Nice picture on your b-day. Which birthday was this . . . .? How long ago? I can't believe you can eat sushi and have a pond. . . (ponders fish guilt . . .LOL). I used to eat it until mine got sick and I learned about all the nice things growing in and out of fish and I now only eat fish that is cooked.
My husband and I have a joke between us. He has to eat sushi when he is away on business without me. Unfortunately, he has some business dinners here and sushi is so popular and he ends up having to bribe me from not discussing the koi and the parasites and fish illnesses during these dinners. The bribe is for him to look the other way when I buy more fish related stuff. I just called in two of those bribes and spent a lot on a biofilter/UV and pump and koi food and medicine and some planting essentials like the 40" extender plant cutting tool, and more plant tabs . . . I can't wait until he wants me to go to dinner at the next sushi house . . . LOL!
Lol! Nice deal you worked out there. Well, yea, I thought about the whole sushi dinner thing after I hit send...oh well, I still love to eat it. I loved it before I dug my pond...so I won't give it up. :) I can't eat it at home in front of my indoor aquarium though, that's for sure! I can't even eat cooked fish at home.
I'm a youngin- that was at my birthday last summer - 25. I'm a high school teacher, and I often get asked for passes by teachers who don't know me..apparently I look like a 17 year old.
You have all been so busy while I was gone.....
Songs - is your baby a Lynxpoint Siamese? She reminds me of mine -her name was Tiki (DH named her after Tiki Barber...It's got to be a guy thing.....) And I just love your waterfalls. I still have to try the hosta in the pond. I never go that far and it is such a neat idea.
Art-n-garden - Happy birthday....
MM - you crack me up. I can just see all these people dressed up and suggesting a dinner of sushi while you tell them the art of koi keeping!
MM2 - where did you go? Still waiting on your picture as well as Evesta and Tetleytuna.
Tet - I always wanted to ask how you came about your DG name. It has always reminded me of when I was about 9ish or so and my sister and I had kittens. One of them was a long haired calico and her name was Fluffy and my sister, who was the ripe age of 5 at the time decided that the cat's middle name was to be Tuna. So her name was Fluffy Tuna for ever more after that.....
Carolyn - yes she is at least part lynx point siamese. I don't know is she's full or not as I got her from a shelter. Her name is Whispurr and she's definitely my baby. Tiki is a cute name too.
Susanne: I feel so old and dumb writing this but 25 years old is such a great age. I can not even write the things I was up to at the age but I was having a lot of fun! A great deal of fun . . . Hmmmm the memories . . .
I too, looked very young at 25. I used to live in Australia at 25 and I remember everyone thinking I was 16 years old. It's hard to have a lot of authority with such a baby face isn't it? Here's the good news. At 46 years old people think I am in my late 30's or just 40 years old.
ant_n_garden: Nice to meet ya! Great shots!
SongsofJoy, your cat looks EXACTLY like Poppy the peeing part-Siamese that we have! Literally, a dead ringer - ours has slightly lighter eyes, but that is the only difference.
Sorry everyone has water problems in the house : (
Art, I'm also a big sushi fan! Ocean fish don't have nearly the parasite, etc. problems that freshwater fish have, so I just tell myself that and don't think about the rest. Normally I've had a few martinis along with my sushi so it is easy not to think : )
lol, it can be hard to yell at kids that think I'm barely older than them. Most of them I'm 10 years older than, but I have had some 20 year olds...which is weird. I for one would've never guessed you were in your 40s!
All this sushi talk is making me want some!! Ic, never thought about a martini w/ sushi- good idea. My weapon of choice is usually red wine (as per the picture) hehe. :)
Hi to you too Snapple! You have a very friendly face, actually you all do.
Here's Violet the kitty. This picture cracks me up.
Poppy the peeing part-Siamese? Interesting name! LOL.
Do you have a pic?