Exotic Animal Recipes

Archive for the ‘cats’ Category

We have like 3 or 4 generations of wild cats outside. Two of them began to sneeze and had watery eyes. They would still eat and drink water, and seemed to be getting better when suddenly the mother cat and another sibling had the symptoms. Now just today, the uncle came around and he’s got it. If this is respiratory infection, can it be passed from one cat to another?

Apparently it can, it’s probably a virus. If you care about them get them to a vet, but of course you will have to get them all treated for it to do any good.

Whenever our door is open, other neighborhood cats come into our house and steal my cats food ! But even if my cat see’s the other cat eating its food it just sits there and watches, doesn’t even try to stop it. How do i stop these cats coming in?!

They eat because they have not been able to find food for the day and are very hungry. AND because you left your door open (not a good idea given the burgleries and break ins now-a-days).

Just do a feeding station next to the side door by the steps. We’ve had one for over 10 years for the outdoor strays (we do TNR), they all know there’s food there in the bowl if they can’t get anything that day. AND that there’s fresh water too, in a heated dog water dish in winter.

We go through an 18 lb bag of dry cat food every 6-8 weeks, that breaks down to about $1.25 a week, which is not expensive. When raccoons show up we go to a daylight only feeding time, all the cats adjust.

I understand that some cats have a gene that makes them responsive to catnip, while other cats lack this gene. Since we were told that our two cats are siblings, we would expect the same reaction to catnip, yet the female loves it and the male is indifferent to it. Is it possible that related cats have different reactions, or is it more likely that they are not siblings? Curious to know what multi-cat families have experienced. Thank you!

It may be gene-related but all the kittens a litter do not necessarily have the same father. A female can mate with many males and each of her eggs can be fertilized by different males so the kits would not necessarily have exactly the same genes. That’s why a black mama cat can have kittens with various colors and patterns. And the reaction between sibs to catnip isn’t always the same–my brother had two sib cats, one would get all loving and sweet from catnip but her sister would get excessively nasty.

cats are particularly sensitive to pine oils because they lack an efficient liver enzyme system to detoxify them. Why do cat litter manufacturers use pine in this case?

In most cases, the treatment processes products like Feline Pine go through (like kiln drying) remove most of the natural oils. It’s the same reason that they’re safe for use in rabbit litter boxes as well (same issue, pine dust and oil can be toxic to bunnies).

I have two cats(well actually one cat and one kitten)and sometimes when they are in the same room they look at eachother and I wonder if they are talking to eachother. Do they have some sort of non-talking cat language?

Cats do not use words and vocabulary like we do, but they still communicate with one another. They are not telepathic, but can read eachother by simple body language. Imagine a society without words, where you can determine someone’s mood by just looking at them. Where you can have an entire conversation with someone and not say a word. How do cats do it? How do two unfamiliar cats greet one another? Do cats have social hierarchies like dogs do?

Cats have very subtle ways of speaking with one another and use various means to communicate, including vocal and body language. Any cat owner can tell you that their cat makes many different sounds.

When speaking with us, cats will often meow and display different body postures. Each meow may differ in meaning by the tone, volume, pitch, rhythm, and pronunciation.

However, when feral cats meet, do they greet one another with a meow? The familiar loud ‘miaow’ that our cat uses to speak with us is often not used to communicate with other cats. Body language is very important in the cat world. Most cats do not need to make a sound when communicating with one another. Posture, tail movement, eye contact, and even scents send signals to other cats. A cat can communicate with another cat from across a field without even having to say a word.

Cats use the same signals to communicate with one another as they use to communicate with us. However, cats are far better at observing and responding to those signals. They use body language to do most of the communicating, and less verbal noises (such as meows) are needed to gain another cat’s attention.

Cats are territorial creatures. Their territory may contain areas that they share with other cats and areas that they want exclusively for themselves. They mark their territory by rubbing up against an object, by scratching a tree and/or urinating. These signs act like posted signs, telling other cats whose property they are trespassing. Other cats can not only see the marks, but they can detect the pheromones left from the rubbing or in the urine. Therefore, besides body language, a cat’s sense of smell is also very important for communication.

Another example where smell is important is when cats groom one another. When two cats live together, they will sniff and groom one another. Grooming is done not only to keep clean, but to provide comfort, remove parasites and relief social tension. This is also known as social grooming. A queen (mother cat) will be able to recognize the familiar smell of her own offspring. Queens will groom her kittens regularly to keep them clean, to stimulate bowel movements, and to provide comfort.

When observing feline behaviour, one may notice that cats seem to have a dual personality. They can be friendly and inviting one minute, and then unexpectedly strike you the next. This is due to the cat’s unique place in the food chain – they are both predator and prey. So they can be stealthy rodent hunters at the same time as being aware of their surroundings for potential dangers, like large dogs or other carnivores. Therefore, cats have a wide range of behaviours that enable them to adapt quickly to different situations. Owners often get upset when their cat suddenly turns and bites them after petting the cat a minute earlier. This dual personality behaviour is important when trying to understand feline behaviour and communication.

Not all cat communication is understood, even by those who have owned and observed many cats. Humans cannot detect pheromones or read every subtle movement of their feline companions. Sometimes we observe our cat staring out the window at the stray cat outside. Are they having silent conversations with one another? What factors determine social hierarchies? Many questions are yet to be answered, but at least humans are capable of understanding some basic words in the complex feline language.

I think if you have up to 5-6 cats and you live in a large house, that’s ok. I think it’s ok to have even 10 cats, if they are mostly outside cats and you live in a rural area. But what about 10 cats in a small apartment? Or 20 cats? Or 100 cats?

You really make me laugh sometimes. I have four and I think mine’s questionable. I live in a small house. I once knew a woman with about 20 cats, but she was an old woman and they were her life – she took good care of them. They were lucky cats.

edit – Boo, you can’t have a pet if you never talk to them and let them answer, come on!

I am allergic to dust, mites, cats and dogs but I was told that Persian cats are different in some way and better to have if you have allergies. Is this true? I want to get a persian cat.

No. Persians would be a bad breed if you know you’re allergic. If you’re only allergic to cat hair, you can look into getting a thinly-haired cat like a Rex or Sphinx. All cats have dander.

A number of cats got together and decided to kill between them 999919 mice. Every cat killed an equal number of mice. Each cat killed more mice than there were cats. How many cats do you think there were ?

There were 991 cats, and each of them killed 1009 mice.

To check, 991*1009 = 999919

Solution:

Get the prime factorization of 999919
The prime factors are 991 and 1009 only

My two cats are from the same litter and hadn’t ever been separated , they got along and could be in the same room together and not fight. Now if they even see each other they hiss. One cat is in the basement and one is upstairs , but I feel bad because the cat in the basement doesn’t get as much attention as the one in upstairs. I really want to bring the one from the basement upstairs , but I don’t want them to hurt each other.
Their both females and their fixed.

a personality conflict

my daughter is moving back home with her 2 cats – age 1 1/2 years. My 2 cats (age 10 years) used to be her cats when she lived here, but she left them when she moved away 2 years ago. Whenever she comes home, the cats here love her up, cuddle with her and accept her – even with her new cat smells.

Give it time and don’t force them, they will check each other out and everything will work out just fine. Some people say to keep them separate for a while and that can work also but will not cure the curiosity of your cats to find out what is going on.

As the previous poster said double your little boxes and maybe put them in two separate areas of the house.

Good Luck!