h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Those of you with feline companions will appreciate this.

Minerva (kitty #2) has recently discovered that she enjoys scratching. She'll scratch the couch, the rugs, the bathroom vanity cabinet, the big pillow we put on the floor for cats to nap on, the kitchen table legs, the woodwork around our door frames, the underside of the computer chair, and the back of the gold reclining chair.

Yesterday, we bought a nice, new scratching post. It's got a carpeted base and also has carpet on the top of the post; the sides are wrapped in sisal.

Herman doesn't care much for sisal so he's stuck to scratching his cardboard scratching box, but he did enjoy sniffing around the new post. Minerva discovered it too- this morning, she was sitting on it, scratching the back of the gold chair.



If she doesn't watch it, I'll get her claws capped!

Try catnip.

Pouring catnip over the new scratchpost might get interested of it. Most of the Lair Cats gets nutty when exposed to catnip.

I cut my 's claws on a regular basis, indoor cats don't wear them out as outdoor kittehs do. Leopardess doesn't like it though - it takes a lot of treats and gentle handling to access her front paws

Our vet trims claws for us- they both fight it so hard and we're afraid of cutting them. We don't have sufficient chain mail or body armor at home. Bathing them is worse. At least at the vet, we have five people to pin a kitty down, plus the heavy-duty gloves.

Herman loves catnip! It makes him totally silly. It seems to have no effect whatsoever on Minerva. We did sprinkle it on the new scratching post, so perhaps Herman will check it out later today. I'm sure if I want to attract Minerva to it, I should just pretend that I'd rather she *didn't* scratch it.

When i had to keep pussies confined indoors, i found the best wy ws to wait till they are relaxed on your lap, keep clippers handy & be gentle, so long as has visible red part of claw & you clip above that, they don't seem bothered. Less traumatic than being held down by strange gangs of people!

If you push the paw, the claw comes out, so it's easier to avoid the delicate part.

Claw/hoof/nail clipping is nasty for all concerned; but neccessary; we did the last week, donkey needs vet to do it; i need P to do mine!



zdt

Arrgh! i meant to say:

Clip Below the visible red part of claw; which is where blood vessels are, not above, or the paws bleed, have you Betadine or other suitable animal antiseptic on hand just in case?

zdt

Thanks for the advice- we'd just as soon leave it to the vet. He's more experienced than we are, and it upsets Minerva a lot less when he does it than when we try. We don't even try with Herman, it takes at least five people to restrain him and the vet at least has the heavy-duty gloves.

But... of course no one is at all interested in scratching the new scratching post. If Minerva continues to scratch the woodwork, I'll have some of those little plastic caps put on for a couple of months until we can interest her in clawing something else.

I suppose mittens are out of the question...

Not entirely out of the question- I had entertained the notion of putting some doll or baby booties on her paws. She'd probably get them off in no time, though.

I would keep her occupied in the meantime, though

Both of our ladies love the scratch poles, but one has been known to have a go at the wallpaper

I'm sure she only does it to get us to chase her!

There would also be the added entertainment of watching her try to run around on hardwood floors with booties on.

You know they understand very well which things we would rather they didn't do- which only motivates them to do exactly those things.

The naughty kittens

May lose their mittens...

http://www.rhymes.org.uk/three_little_kittens.htm

zdt

And heaven knows, we have some naughty kittens around here!

I'm enjoying reading all this. LOL Hi to everyone!

Me too. I'm a bit confused about the bathing though; isn't a cat supposed to clean itself?

Yes, they do.

One of our cats has cerebellar hypoplasia, which is the feline version of cerebral palsy. Sometimes, he bets food or vomit on himself, and we need to bathe him to get it off.

Minerva... well, she's really fuzzy, and until recently when the vet shaved her bottom, there were other issues which necessitated occasional bathing.

Gah. In that post, "bets" should read "gets".

No need to apologise, although "bets" made me think he was perhaps an enterprising cat (didn't we used to have a wrysmile smiley?)

I wasn't questioning your cat husbandry but it had never occurred to me that cats had humanesque brain disorders like yours does. My brother's boyfriend has a diabetic cat and it needs injections every day but it seems almost logical that animals would have blood disorders. Does this mean that some cats can be, for example, epileptic?

I feel a bit now but I am glad that such a cat is in your good hands PC.

Oh, I always feel a need to explain why we would even bother trying to wash our cats- because in reality it's better for their skin if you don't (bathing them removes natural oils from their fur, like it does with human hair, and can really dry it out). And it's certainly no fun trying to immerse a writhing, wailing 10+ lb bundle of pointy bits.

Herman's hypoplasia isn't as bad as some cases I've seen. Here's a YouTube video I made a few years ago, where you can see some ataxia while he is walking, and also some of his trademark twitching (we call those "freakouts").

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyjCsO-5BKc

But, he really is a happy, healthy kitty. He knows his limitations and when he meets new friends he milks them for all they are worth. He can't jump and climb on things like most cats, for example he can't get onto countertops and tables like his sister sometimes does. But he can grab onto upholstered furniture (or legs with his claws and lift himself up.

Minerva doesn't have hypoplasia. She's a little bit rotund right now, as a result of having been on prednisone for a bit. We think she has asthma. We've only washed her once since she's lived with us, when there was a serious poo d'etat. I won't get into details!