Subject Edited: Uma
We have a beautiful black cat with bright yellow eyes! We named her “Tonks”. So Seph1 wins the "name that kitty" contest! We got her from a local animal shelter. She went straight to the vet. She tested negative for Feline Leukemia and FIV. She didn’t seem to have fleas but we did the frontline thing just in case. She’s got all the basic vaccines plus the feline leukemia vaccine started. They couldn’t tell if she had worms, so I’m dropping a sample off tonight but they gave her a dose of dewormer just to get it started and be on the safe side. I clipped her nails and she just laid back and purred while I did it. The vet says she has all her adult teeth, but she’s very tiny (only 4 lbs) so he estimates her age to be 5 months and maybe her teeth just came in early. I ordered her some pink soft paws today.
I had bought this pale yellow kitten collar for her. I was going to get a cute lil name tag made for her, you know, with our phone number on the back, just in case she ever gets out on accident. I thought I put it on tight enough, did the 1 finger test, and it looked really pretty against her black fur. She didn’t mess with it at all all day. But in the night she must have fiddled with it. When I went to check on her this morning, her collar was on right, but her fur was weird around her mouth. Then I saw that her fur and skin was rubbed away in two spots on either side of her mouth and there were blood smudges on the blanket she was on. I took the collar off and sure enough, there was blood smudges on it. She must have gotten it in her mouth and got stuck! I threw the collar away, but I feel so bad. She’s still purring and happy kitty. No more collars though! I can’t believe she didn’t cry in the night. Our room is right next to hers. I sleep pretty light these days. I know she’ll be fine, but still having massive feelings of guilt because I did that to her.
No worries, Zeli, sounds like you're doing everything right. When I first got Spirit 10 years ago, I put a nice new collar on him, and he did pretty much the same thing as your kitty. So with my Tonks (or Tonks I), I decided not to bother. Some cats don't mind them, some cats do, but unfortunately you never know unless you try. Have you thought about microchipping? I have not done it for my cats, but many people do.
Re: Tonks
ya, and microchipping sounds like a great theory, but in my town, the animal shelter is a small cinderblock shed. They do not scan for microchipping, so I thought a tag would be better.
oh well, if she got out, I would be up at the pound anyway, looking for her. And microchipping certainly can't do any harm. she's just not a collar-kitty.
Re: Tonks
We upgraded (microchipped) our dog to Bindi 2.0... She didn't mind it a bit, but that needle was HUGE! like the size of a toothpick!
One thing I learned about the chips is that there's actually 3 different manufactures of this type of identification that use 3 different scanners. So while you might have one chip, the shelter that your animal may end up at may have a different scanner and be unable to read the information...
I still think it's a good idea. Some sort of ID is better than no ID.
Re: Tonks
Ah, Tonks sounds like a doll!! And don't feel bad about the collar, you had to try. I tried a harness on my Pooh, but that didn't work either.
I belong to a cat breeder group and they were just talking on this point earlier this week. I'll dig up that email and edit the important part in. I don't breed cats, but I plan to one day. Old Syle Siamese, also known as Classic Siamese. You remember those big, beautiful cats from the 60s? You can't show them anymore, but the group I belong to is dedicated to maintaining that gene pool. Right now, I have four beautiful but aging mutts and that's about all I can handle.
Now, off to find that email!
Here it is:
"Here in the USA there is a choice between the AVID and the Scherring-Plough "Home Again" chip, all can be read by all of the 1000's of free Chip Readers distributed to all Humane Societies, Animal Shelters and Rescues - the Veterinarians and Breeders purchase their Chip Readers. For a few weeks there were chips being installed at the PetSmart/Bannfield Veterinary Centers that could not be read by any of the Chip Readers in use here in the USA (the readers wouldn't even tell you there was even a chip in the cat) but a court order has taken them off the market."
Based on what this says, even your little shelter should have one....check with them.
Edited by: ticious at: 3/2/06 6:34 pm
Re: Tonks
I don't have my cats microchipped, but my newest pup has one, so I am not that familar with microchipping either. As for the collars on cats, 2 of my 3 cats wear collars. I started out with the collars on them only in the day time, while I was home for observation. It was kinda funny mixed with sad to watch, jumping around and trying to "attack" this thing on their neck until they got used to it. I always took it off at night, or if they seemed to be overly frustrated with the collar. Just a thought if you don't go for the microchipping. You might try easing Tonks into the collar. Jasper and Mickey don't mind at all now. Ezra... well, he is just weird anyway and we don't even approach him with a collar or he disappears for days.
Just make sure you use the break away or safety collars in case they get caught, they can slip out of them. I think most cat collars have this feature these days.
Quote:based on what this says, even your little shelter should have one....check with them.
Thanks for the information! I'll ask and if they don't have one, i'll let them know that they can get one for free. I was so disgusted at the condition of the animal shelter when I went. I wanted to do something, but I'm not sure what I can do about it.
I love siamese! My husband had one when he moved in with me. He was awesome but he died of tummy problems. One vet said that was common in siamese and another one said it was rare, so I didn't know who to believe, but after watching Spencer decline the way he did, I wasn't ready for another siamese until I'm sure about that. I probably will get another one in my lifetime though, just because Spencer was so awesome! Thinking back to my childhood, my step-mothers parents had one named Chang. He was really smart and did all sorts of tricks.
and Maeve, I might try your idea of gradually getting her used to it. I don't know if it was a breakaway collar - probably not. The stand just said "kitten collars" so I thought they were okay. I'll be sure to check for a breakaway one next time. It will have to be a while though. I'll have to wait for her boo boos to heal up.
Re: Tonks
Do you have pictures? She sounds like my Cassie. She is all black including her wiskers and nose. The only color is her pink tongue and her yellow glow in the dark eyes.
we did rename her Uma. Tonks is a good name but it didn't fit her.
my camera's batteries died. She's got on some pink soft paws right now and it looks like she's got a lil manicure. Maybe I can get some batteries and get a pic of that tomorrow.
Re: Tonks
heehee we tried those for our cat. It was a lost cause cuz she was constantly pulling at her nails with her teeth. When we first put them on they were fine then by day 3 all you could hear was her trying to bite them off. We'd find them all over and there would still be some kitty claw stuck to it so you couldn't reuse them.
She's got a big scratching post now that she's learned to use rather than the furniture. Of course that was after she tore the hell out of our POS couch...
Re: Tonks
my goal is to teach her to NOT use the furniture and only encourage her when she uses her posts (she still goes through the motions) and hopefully, someday, she'll be a well trained kitty. I think it's just difficult for her because she used to be a stray and all these new rules are weird.
She still doesn't like to be held or carried, but she's getting better.
Re: Tonks
She is a beaut! Her fur looks so rich and thick...bet it's very soft too!
Let us know how the nail covers go....my kitties are declawed (/em duck) but there's a story behind that which has nothing to do with furniture. Anyway, when I made that decision, nail covers weren't yet available. My only other choice would have been clipping and the little devil bit as well as scratched!
Re: Tonks
we have hit a snag with the nail covers.
see, they fall off one at a time. The theory is that as one falls off, you trim the nail and pop a new one back on. No problem. No problem if you have a normal cat. My cat, a former stray, is extremely distrusting of people. I cant trim her nails. I've tried gloves and blankets and towels - it's impossible and we both end up extremely scared and I get to use a bunch of spiderman band-aids on myself. If anyone would like to help me find the people who did whatever it is that has her this scared of people, let me know. I won't hurt them, I just want to write "Cruel to Cats" in their lawn with gasoline or bleach (grass will die in that pattern for a whole summer).
So obviously I'm not going to run her up to the vet for them to put on each nail as they fall off, so I think it's back to just a weekly trip to get trimmed, but she's still digging at my chairs. I would just pick her up and show her her scratching post but she doesn't like to be picked up so as soon as we move towards her she just bolts. so much for correcting the behaviour.
yesterday she pulled down the curtains in the spare room and got it stuck on her claw. I've never heard so much hissing before in my life. There was no way to hold her or touch her without getting hurt by her, so I ended up cutting my curtains as close to her paw as I could get, and she got the lil bit of cloth left on her paw out herself later.
But if your cat is a normal cat and you can trim their nails without massive blood loss on your part, I highly recommend them! They fall off after about 4-6 weeks due to normal nail growth. As one falls off, you just trim that nail and pop another one back on. A package is about $20 and there's enough in there for about 6 months. I recommend the colored ones because you can easily see when one falls off.
Declawing (yikes, someone help me get the worms back in the can!) - I didn't grow up with cats (dad is allergic) so I didnt know anything about them at all when my husband and I moved in together and he brought a beautiful siamese (Spencer) with him. Spencer was 4-paw declawed already (previous owner). I thought declawing was just something responsible cat owners did - like getting them fixed. Alot of people think this. Most people have no idea what the surgery actually is and most people figure that if their vet does it then it must be okay. It wasn't until Spencer passed away and we started looking for our own cat that I learned more about declawing. Now, after all the reading, I do think it is a drastic step, but I do think it is necessary in some cases and I don't judge an owner for making that decision if all training and other options have been exhausted. I won't have a pet destroy the very home I provide. That being said, I think most cats can be trained to not scratch furniture if given enough time and patients. My cousin has 2 indoor cats with claws and nice furniture and no scratches. Okay, so she's also a behavioral psychologist, but it can be done!
Re: Tonks
You can call me crazy...but maybe you should chat with that cousin of yours. She might be able to give you some help with your rescued kitty and getting her to feel comfy with daily life. I haven't had a cat in years, I'm a bird girl now, but I'm going to keep racking my brain to see if I can come up with anything to help you and little Uma out.
Re: Tonks
my husband's a behavioral psychologist too, and they actually work together, but she is the crazy cat loving lady, so we do tap her brain regulary.
right now i think Uma just needs time to see that we're not gonna hurt her. I'm almost sure that we'll be able to trim her nails ourselves someday.
She's got on some pink soft paws right now and it looks like she's got a lil manicure. Maybe I can get some batteries and get a pic of that tomorrow.
The name suits my kitty quite well.
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