[CorgiPaws]

Nevada SPCA Animal Rescue: I am hoping you cannot resist my big green eyes.


So, bored, at home, Jon is at work all day, and what do I end up doing? Browsing animal listings, and I come across this pretty kitty.
I have never had a cat, but I want one SOOOOO bad.
I wonder if I can do some convincing... she's so freaking pretty.

 

[chowder]

She's beautiful! I've had 4 kitties, all of them rescued from various things. Two of them were going to be put to sleep at the vet where I worked. Everyone used to tell me that I couldn't have Chows and cats together and my Chows just loved my cats. They would sleep together at night! My last three cats died of various things but were well into their teens and after they were gone we finally got new living room furniture so now I am cat free but I still miss having cats in the house. You need to have a few kitties sometime in your life so go and get her! They are great to have while you are raising kids, too. My toddlers used to haul the cats around the house and the cats would just hang there like sacks of potatoes in the kids arms. They loved the kids! I miss having cats in the house.

 

[CorgiPaws]

I'm just concerned with Annie... she's not got an aggressive bone in her little body, but she's SO playful I'm afraid she would hurt a kitty. But she's still young, and I want her to get used to having cats around while she's still under 30lbs, rather than in a year when she's 60 lbs.

I really want a pair of kitties, and I know we could afford it, and I'm the one who takes care of the animals, but Jon's family thinks we have too many animals already, so he doesn't know if he wants any more right now.

I'm sure I could find a way to convince him, though. He's working right now, and I text him about it. No response yet. Conversation has gone something like this:

ME: crap.
HIM: what?
ME: [picture of her] I love her.

 

[jdatwood]

You could do like Natty did with the Kitah and just bring her home LOL

 

[DaneMama]

^^^ Obviously it worked :tongue:

 

[CorgiPaws]

You could do like Natty did with the Kitah and just bring her home LOL

I'm considering it.
But Jon has all the money.
And is in control of our bank account.
I only have $100 in my purse.... but, I guess in reality... her adoption fee is only $45, she's already spayed, and utd on shots, and we have PLENTY of meat in the freezer... so we just need her, a litter box, some litter... I bet I could get her all set up on $100.
And he could just come home from work and figure it out eventually, right?


But then there's always the possibility he'd be pissed at me. I don't, however, see him making me take her back. That just doesn't sound like Jon. So either way I guess I'd win right?

Is it just me or is she the prettiest girl ever? Something about her captivates me.

 

[chowder]

Do like I did.....bring the cat home and say....."they were going to kill her '' and give the sad face.... . When I had my kitties I had 4 dogs and 3 cats and 2 babies. There were 2 chows, a 120 pound labrador, and a lhasa apso. All the dogs and cats got along just fine. In fact, the labrador and the one cat used to play with each other. They would actually wrestle around on the ground like two puppies while the lab was smaller and when she got bigger she would lay on the ground and wrestle carefully without hurting the cat. The only problem with the cats was the little box munchies which you'll have to keep Grissom out of

 

[CorgiPaws]

We're going to see her in an hour when Jon comes home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:



I just got nervous. I've never had a cat before. What if she hates me? What if she hates raw? She's a year and a half old, what if she won't eat raw? What if she hates my dogs? What if Annie hurts her? I'd feel SO guilty! What if the shelter denies us because we already have three animals? What if Champ barks at the employees when we take him to meet the kitty and they think he's aggressive and that I raise my animals poorly?


Now i just need to bank on it that Jon does NOT catch on that the spca is a no kill shelter. I won him over with "what if they kill her, and it's our fault?"
*fingers crossed*

 

[DaneMama]

Considering she is on the younger side of life she will probably switch to raw easier than an older cat. Same thing with the dogs, the younger the cat the more likely she will be open to having dogs around.

 

[wags]

My mother in law when I got dog#4 and was like oh my god what will everyone think said to me "If this is something you really want to do and you can afford to do this and you really want it, dont worry about what others think ~~do this for you if you want to. Why care about what anyone else says!" so you know I really felt better and thought yes, she was right! Don't let anyone else make your decisions. You make them is what she was telling me and yep I did! I have the 4 dogs haha!:smile:

Oh my gosh my daughter has the kitty who adopted her! Gosh she has sent me pics and its a cute kitten 5 months old! Wish you lived close I would have my daughter who only trusts great people if she has to give her kitty up agive it to you! It would be like trial and error! You could see how it worked! But we do not live close so oh well!
Good luck with kitty beacuse from what I am reading I am sure you will post some pics of her with you at home! See I am thinking positive for you!
GOOD LUCK!:biggrin:

 

[CorgiPaws]

ANNNNNNND she's mine!

 

[DaneMama]

Congrats! We need pictures :biggrin:

And let us know how she is doing with raw...its probably best to start her on canned fish or chicken at first. Do you know if Vegas has an Asian market? They are a great resource for small frozen whole fish. That is one of the biggest staples of our cat's diet. We also just got a hookup with frozen day old chicks that the Kitah loves! Try going to a reptile supply store and buy some frozen whole mice for her too...

 

[rannmiller]

Haha yay that's awesome! She really does have a beautiful face :smile:

 

[CorgiPaws]

Congrats! We need pictures :biggrin:

And let us know how she is doing with raw...its probably best to start her on canned fish or chicken at first. Do you know if Vegas has an Asian market? They are a great resource for small frozen whole fish. That is one of the biggest staples of our cat's diet. We also just got a hookup with frozen day old chicks that the Kitah loves! Try going to a reptile supply store and buy some frozen whole mice for her too...

I'll get some pictures of her tomorrow, camera is charging tonight. :biggrin:

I offered her some raw chicken tonight (that's what the dogs had) , as well as pieces of raw talapia (which I cooked for Jon and I) and she didn't want either one. I bought some ground beef for Jon and I tonight at CostCo and was packaging it up into 1lb baggies to freeze, and she kept trying to jump on the counter (yeah... she's gonna hafta learn quick that's a no no) and see what it was, and was sniffing the air a lot. Is it okay to give her some of that in the morning if she will eat it?

I put down a little bit of the kibble the shelter sent her home with. It's science diet, which i'm not thrilled about, and I put a "glob" of grain free wellness wet food next to it. She's upstairs in the laundry room taking a break right now. (the dogs got a bit overwhelming, so we set up our large laungry room as a "getaway" for her and plan on cutting a kitty door into the door of it this weekend.) I left the food in there for her, but she was entirely uninterested.


Ugh, with dogs I always feel like I know what I am doing, but I feel so stupid with Tilly (Jon named her) like I have no idea what the heck to do. And she needs a bath like nobody's business but I'm afraid to do it myself, and groomers want to charge me $45-$60 for JUST a bath (she's a shorthair kitty, too!) so I guess we'll be forking that out if anywhere has any openings tomorrow. She's really dirty though so if i can't get her in tomorrow we will be giving it a go by ourselves. yikes.

 

[rannmiller]

You could always try bath wipes or waterless shampoo, just make sure you go over her with a warm, wet washcloth afterwards to make sure you get all of the residue off of her fur. That should save you the money!

And yes, definitely try feeding her the ground beef in the morning! If she's interested in it, by all means go for it! Since she's in a completely new environment away from anything she's ever known, she's probably way too nervous/excited/terrified to eat right now, so don't be too concerned that she wasn't very interested tonight. However, cats should not go more than 24 hours without eating, so if she does that, either force feed her or take her to the vet and have them force feed her.

I'd say for right now, feed her whatever she will eat while she is adjusting to your new place. If all she will eat is SD at first, then by golly that's what you'll have to give her unfortunately. Of course you should always make other, better options available to her as well.

Here's a great explanation as to why cats are so hard to switch to raw (Rad Cat Raw Diet Premium Raw Food For Cats ):

There are several methods for transitioning cats to a raw-meat diet. A cat’s natural instinct is to ‘fixate’ on food, which helps kittens to learn what is food and to recognize it when they see and smell it. What is sometimes referred to as a cat being ‘finicky’ is really a manifestation of this natural tendency.

I'd recommend reading most of that page, they have some great tips on switching cats to raw, even if they are a pre-made raw company. IMO they're the best one since they don't add a bunch of fruits and veggies to their food and it's the only one my 15 year old cat will eat on a regular basis.

 

[CorgiPaws]

Thanks for the link, I'll definately read it. I've already joined a cat forum with a raw section, too.... but they don't seem as friendly. lol. I feel like such a noob.

Just so I'm clear on this, because like I said, this is my first cat ever....
With the dogs, it was important to introduce raw slowly, with just one protien source for two weeks, and only adding other sources in about one every week. With cats, if she'll eat it, it's game, right? I don't want to upset her tummy, though she hasn't gone potty since we brought her home yet... So if tomorrow she will eat the beef, and the next day takes to something like sardines, is that okay? And what kind of bones can kitties handle? Will she be able to handle things like chicken drumsticks and thighs? Those even give Grissom a little workout.. and she's so tiny. about two years old and barely 9lbs.

ETA: Oh, and as far as amounts go.. do I do the same as the dogs... the 2-3% of her weight? That's like... no food. holy cow

 

[rannmiller]

Haha yeah my kitties eat a chicken drumstick a day and they maintain their weight perfectly on that. I also give them chicken hearts and giblets some mornings as a nice supplemental snack for them. I've heard of other people who feed thighs as well and their cats do fine with it. My Kezia kitten always tries to steal the dogs' leg quarters from them as they're eating it so she likes to think she could handle something like that :smile:

And yes, with raw, just feed her what she will eat. It would be ideal to start off kind of like dogs, but I don't think cats have as any problems with switching as quickly. Mine didn't anyway.

Which cat forum did you join? I recently joined one with a raw section too!

 

[chowder]

With cats who are picky eaters or don't want to eat, you can also always try jarred meat baby food...they seem to love that. My cats also love the hairball remedy stuff in the tubes and that stuff has calories in it. I think it's mostly cod liver oil with flavoring but they love it and it does help with the hairballs.

 

[wags]

Awww thats one lucky kitty!

 

[jdatwood]

Linsey, our 5lb Kitah will get her own Chicken back when we're feeding them... just get her eating a variety and from there you can figure out what bones she'll be able to do ok with.

I'd definitely try out some whole small fish like frozen sardines and try a feeder mouse from a reptile shop. They're great whole prey that'd help you with bone content