Conference misery::feline_v1

    at least Rusty isn't all white like my White Lightning......
    
    Yech !!!!  yech !!!!  yech !!!!!!!!!!
    
    Sandi and the Storm Troopers
    
    

    awwww....the little poop! ;^)
    
    Bon, Tabitha, & Callie

    
    And I'm eating a chocolate sundae.  Yuck!
    
    Val

    
    	Ditto Sandy!
    
    	Chloe is almost all white and a Himmie so she has the long
    	hair too.
    
    	eeeeewwwwww!
    

    I can relate to that story....my new kitten has long hair and the other
    day I went to pick her up...and plop.....right in my hand....I was not
    very happy....
    
    Solution..
    
    the vet cut the hair around her tush....now she looks so funny....
    
    michele, precious, princy and pookie

    My friend refers to them as "Clingons"

    Exactly=Clingons! The hair is so fine -it just smushes in more!
    
    SueJ ;^)
    Alex
    Angel Brad who got them constantly...

    
    
    	Eeeew!  SueJ!
    
    

    HeHeHe,,,

       I can relate...Luke had'em a few weeks ago, but his hair was so long
    that we decided to do a 'clip-job' on him as well... But Lukey was a
    former "free spirit" sort, who came to us when he was in very sad
    shape...almost deat as a matter of fact. Since he's recovered, and now
    weighs over 18 pounds, he has regained his sense of superiority, and he
    does NOT like anyone touching the aft-half of his bod....(due to the
    fact that he had been injured severly in the hip or pelvic area before
    we got him..)
    
       So...Julie sez..."You clip, and I'll hold him." SURE!! Within 4.3
    milliseconds, Luke has sunk his canines about an inch into my hand!!
    (Luckily, he's declawed or I probably wouldn't have any hands by now!)
    So I sez: "Fer crissake!! Lemme hold him...YOU clip!!". Have you ever
    tried to wrestle a boa-constrictor?? Must be similar to what I went
    through!! I finally was able to get him spread-eagled on the floor, and
    the deed was soon accomplished. I'm CERTAIN the poor guy was convinced
    we were trying to kill him though..he howled and groaned and finally
    when I had him restrained he began to gurgle like he was choking,
    although I was not restricting his airway in any manner. He was just
    totaly terrified to find himself controlled and unable to move...
    
      But...within 2 minutes after he was cleaned up and released, he was
    busily rubbing against me and chirrping happily as he usually does...
    
    
      JM

    Otis has long hair too - and when he had the 'runs' last year - well
    let's just say it was such a mess that we ended up calling the bathroom 
    (where his litter box is - The Otis Toxic Waste Dump.  Poor guy!
    
    After the real loose mess (literally) was under control with medicine I
    decided to cut the fur at his hind end...and while Tracey fed him
    Pounce (turn their attention to other things) I gave him a furcut.
    He didn't even notice I was doing anything to him - all he wanted was 
    FOOD.  Otis is part toddler, part chimp, part Einstein and has some 
    feline traits.  We did manage to outsmart him this time.
    
    Marilyn, Otis and Tiff
    

    
    I have two persians who have *HAD* their problems with the runs too.
    
    Some helpful input, I hope:  Their regular diets are dry food.  If I
    give them canned food........  let's just say messes occur.  What I
    have found is GREAT (which Fluffy and Cocoa agree to!) is the Vet sells
    a canned food for dogs called I.D. put out by Hills Science
    Prescription.  The can is 12 oz. +/- and only cost about $1.30.  I will 
    take 1/3 of the can, microwave it for 1 minute (who's got who trained
    ;')), add one small can of their favorite 9 lives canned mush and they 
    WOOF IT DOWN!  
    
    I found this helps them clean out any fur balls without making a mess
    of the other end too! 
    
    Just a little useless info for the day!
    
    Lisa

    RE: .12  "put it in the microwave..."
    
    I put some cat food in the microwave once (it was in fridge and the
    kitties hate cold catfood) and sparks were flying....What the *%@)^$%
    is in that stuff anyways....I was so scared that I removed it and
    threw it out....
    
    And no, I DID NOT have it in the can...I had scooped it out and put it
    on a dish (a microwaveable dish)....
    
    
    Michele (and the three little P's...)

I was finding little "chunks" of waste in various places of the house and 
finally figured out that it was stuff clinging to Sam's back end - he has
beautiful long hair....so we have clipped the back of Sam back legs down to
a nice 1/2 inch long "brush"...I also trimmed the hair at the base of his
beautiful plume tail away from the "exit point"...

Now, I'm not saying that Sam liked the idea, but with a towel wrapped firmly
around his front end - and then Marge holding the wrapped cat firmly, I
managed the trimming with little more than muffled protests and an occasional
kick out at where he though I might be.  I recommend the trimming very highly.
I also recommend that you look into your feeding practices if your cat has
frequent bouts of runny stool or very soft stool - it should be solid and
compact in a healthy cat - not dry, but definitely solid enough to make a
relatively clean exit.  If it is too soft, then you might want to consider
whether you need to change foods or avoid certain "flavors" of foods.  If
a cat's stool is runny, the cat is expelling too much water - and that can
be unhealthy.

    Re 14 - That's poor Rusty's problem!  He has to have 
    Physcillium Muciloid (Metamucel) in his food to keep
    him alive (constricture in the bowel).  I think he
    overate and was a little softer than normal.
    
    Lynne

    These stories remind me of when my cat Spike ate some yarn.

    I noticed one day that his yarn toy seemed more chewed than normal
    - well he had torn it apart and eaten some yarn.  I figured this
    out when I got home from work one night and there was Spike with
    about 2 feet of yarn hanging out of you-know-where!  Ugh!  He sure
    did walk funny.

    Luckily he passed it all.  He is still known affectionately as
    "Yarn-butt".

    -sjb

    Uh yeah... this thread is one of several reasons why we don't
    have longhairs 8-)
    
    [ Maybe someone will invent a kitty bidet? 8-) 8-) 8-) ]
    
    --jim
    

      
      Hmm...with dogs we get some strange little episodes too....
    
    We'll all be sitting around and suddenly the "green fog" will
    appear....and the dog who did it will be innocently looking around with
    this look on it's face that sez: "Who did that"?
    
      Another little situation that's always a winner is when one of the
    Canine Bandits comes up with this silly-looking grin on it's face and
    tries to give you a big kiss.....Immediately after it's made a
    "cat-box-raid".... YUCKKKKKKOOOO!!!! GAD!! Get the breath-spray!!
    QUICK!!  (But, Dad....it's ONLY re-cycled Tuna!!)
    
    JM

    My father-in-law's weimeranners (which I am sure I have spelled wrong!
    - I am NOT a dog-person) love to raid the cat box for "snacks".  There
    is now one of those child-proof doors, the old kind with large gaps
    between the slats that are big enough to admit the cats, who are much
    smaller than these large but dumb doggies, to segregate the "snackers"
    from the cat box.  Beats me what the dogs see in this activity anyhow -
    although they don't mind raiding the cat food bowl, either, if they get
    a chance at it (the cats now eat on TOP of the refrigerator!).
    
    /Charlotte

    
    	re: last two
    
    
    	eeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwww!  I'll have to keep that in mind
    	if/when Cary get our own house and get a dog.  yuck!
    

      Oh, yes...I can understand that one too... My Yellow Lab (among
    others) simply loves catfood...so she not only gets up on the
    countertop and eats the food, she takes the dish up to her "spot" in
    the hallway and eats it there....and the cat dishes all have the marks
    of her teeth on the ends....
    
      What "tastes great" to dogs and in some cases cats too, may NOT be so
    palatable to humans. Dogs have this trait fairly widespread...and it
    seems that the litterbox presents some special attraction to most of
    them... Unfortunately, it doesn't make their breath smell so
    great...but Binaca restores reason fairly well....
    
    JM

    
      Re .19
    
      Hey..you got "Weimaraner" pretty close...
    
      As for being a "Dog" or "Cat" person..ya gotta give 'em a chance. My
    wife was NOT a "cat person" either, until our first one was tossed out
    of a car in front of our place.....now we have five...and if you saw
    our smallest, cutest Cat...."Cookie"(Pure white except for a black spot
    the size of  quarter on each ear, a totally black tail, and black
    leggings on her back legs..) sitting on the couch with our largest dog,
    "Teddy" (an 80 pound mix that looks like a Rottweiler) with Cookie
    washing his face and him eating it up, you'd probably soon be both...
    
      And you've never lived until you have a Beagle sitting on your chest
    washing your face with his tongue to wake you up every morning...(Timmy
    the Beagle does NOT raid the cat boxes, by the way..;-))
    
     JM

	Speaking of doggy 'snacks' I used to have a big mutt who'd follow
	a couple of geese around, ummm, 'snacking'.  Used to gross our
	neighbors out in a big way, but it kept the walkways clear for the
	most part :^}

	

    John's story about the green fog brought a memory to mind and a
    big smile to my face.
    
    Our collie mix Lassie, who's been gone for 12 years now, used to
    scare herself when she farted!  You'd hear this little noise and
    look over at her, the eyes would be wide, the ears back, then
    she'd fart again and RUN AWAY!  :^))))))))))))))
    
    Dumb dog!!!!!!!!!!  (I miss her).
      Nancy DC

Once about 4 weeks ago, Hannah of the sensitive tummy got into the canned cat
food I put out for Nick and Mandycat....she got a case of gas.  I was watching
Mystery (Friday night) on PBS and Hannah was laying next to me on the couch.
She suddenly expelled a big LOUD "explosion of gas" - it startled me.  Hannah
must have jumped about 2 feet straight up in the air with the most amazed
look on her face...she then ran off down to my bedroom - I laughed so hard 
that I forgot to watch the end of the program...I was definitely in the
dog house over that one.  She slept AT THE FOOT OF THE BED that night - with
her back turned to me....it was a LONG night.

      Our Beagle, Daisy, would pass gas in a big way, and she was the one
    who'd look around like "WHO DID THAT!!"..
    
      My wife, Julie, calls the Kitty-gas "Fish-farts"... Cookie has this
    problem from time-to-time...Pheeeewwwww!!
    
      JM

      Farts are a lot of fun in our house too.  Over the winter when the
    gang had the flu going around, the amount of farting was unbelievable.
    It was great on Sat. nights to be peacefully watching tv, when all of a
    sudden - "whheew! Allright, who farted!?"  It was always the one who
    all of a sudden had to leave the room.  Guaranteed it was always the
    cat who disappeared off the lap.  I truly believe they just didn't want
    to be around for the stink.  They'd come back after things "cleared
    out".
    
                       Denise and the gang of now 10
    

    Bob and Halie seem to be gassier than the rest of the crew and Bob
    will lay in your lap - all OVER your lap, he's so big now - and 
    smile and fart.  We call that "happy farts".
    

      
    
       
    
    
         I can just picture someone who's never read anything in this file
    just happening to log-on and hit this topic as a 'first'!!
    
    
         ;-)
    
    

    I have noticed that since I started feeding my guys the Hills
    Science Diet it seems they fart more....and it really smells.
    Has anyone else had this experience....or am I just imagining
    that is could be caused by the Hills.
    
    JM...your right can you imagine a discussion on Farts in the Human
    Notesfile!!!
    
    Sandy

    re .-1

    I've noticed the Science diet connection with particularly the
    Feline Growth formula.  My new young cat (Trouble) is on that, and
    everything from that end really has, well, shall we say, a strong
    odor (in other words, he stinks, man!).

    My older (fat) cats are on RD, and I don't notice it from them.

    -sjb +3

    Could be the higher fat and protein content of the Growth formula that
    is causing the problem.  The R/D is a reduction diet so has less of
    both of these and higher fiber than the Growth.
    
    Jo

    I have set this note "nowrite" due to a noter expressing that they 
    found this line of discussion offensive.
    
    Jo