Not one but two! How did that happen? The guy needed to get rid of both of them, due to his child's allergies. And since one is an outdoor cat and one indoor, I thought, perfect, and my man agreed it would be a good idea. I thought it would help them settle in, too, to have each other. And no, they were not free. But they came neutered, vaccinated, and wormed, and with two cat carriers, two cat trees, three litter boxes, food, and about 6 aluminum cat dishes (very nice ones!). That seemed worth paying some money. (130E, better than the 200E cat I was interested in from the shelter last week.)It's been a long long time since I've had a cat. I'm reading on the Internet cuz I have so many questions. Maybe any cat people out there can help me?
* How long do they have to stay inside to acclimate to their new home and not leave us? The owner told us 3 months. Is that so? They're young but not kittens. 1.5 years and 2.
* What on earth is up with cat food?! I'm reading about it and it sounds like most of it out there is total crap and even the premium brands, total crap. For example, they say cats are not meant to digest corn or wheat. But these are the top ingredients of many dry foods. The second ingredients in Iams, Science Diet, and Purina ONE, all of which I had thought were good. To find a cat food free of grains, it's hard! At the pet store when I asked, the two employees when scurrying around label to label, as if they had no idea which food was grain free.
They asked me, "Is your cat allergic?" and since I really have no idea, I answered, "The packaging could say 'for allergic cats'."
Finally I found one with poultry as first ingredient, and brown rice second. That's OK. I mean, I hope, is it? Third ingred is also poultry. There's a food out there called "Applaws" that is 80% chicken and grain free. 20 euros for 8 pounds. That sounds like a lot, but they only eat a half cup per day, it is so protein rich.
* What is actually healthier, dry or canned food? It looks like it's easier to find grain-free canned food. But I thought dry was important to clean their teeth.
* Free choice food or twice per day? It sounds like if you go with the "premium brands" you will have to leave it out, because the cats are grazing like horses on the fillers. That doesn't sound natural to me, and I think it should be OK to feed a cat twice per day.
* Worming. How often do people worm their cats? These will be due in July. (Wouldn't it be ironic if Europe worms cats more often than horses?: ))
* Litter boxes. They gave us three, saying each cat needs its own, and there should be an extra. Really? Our house isn't big enough for three boxes, heheehe. (BTW, the German clumping litter I bought is a joke, it does not clump. Any Germans with cats, please point me to a hard clumping, low dust litter!)
I have to say what a great sport my man was about this. We had to drive over an hour to get the cats, and on the way home the cats were crying and very very sick. In our brand new car (but in their crates, so thank God the Prius is OK!). It was horrible All windows open did not help. I felt so bad for the poor cats cuz I get carsick in the passenger seat, and they were in the back in crates. I drove more carefully than ever before, but still.
When they arrived, I took both crates right to our bathroom where I set up a litter box immediately and got a dish of water. I had read that it's important to start a new cat in a litter box room, so the bathroom was it. I also laid out their from-home blankets on the floor to help with this horrible, shocking transition. I totally feel like a kidnapper with someone's kids, except they're not people, they're cats. How would you feel to be ripped from your former life and suddenly forced into a new one, and all the while you are sick to your stomach from the drive?
Boy cat came right out of his crate and purred and rubbed on me. In fact, he's been my shadow the entire afternoon. Just like a dog. And I've always wanted a cat that acted like a dog, cuz I love dogs too. His tail and back legs were caked in disgust. I had to wash him. What sort of introduction to a new person is that? Well, I just took a wet cloth and did my best everytime he walked by me and rubbed against me. He didn't mind at all. What a great cat! I am a clean freak and this poopines really disgusted me. Our entire bathroom reeked from the sick crate, and the icky cat. But he purred the entire time and looked at me like he's always known me. What a cat.He used the litter box and then I let him out to explore. He went room to room, tail up, like, "Ok, show me more" and followed me wherever I went. I suddenly realized that keeping him in the house is gonna be a challenge. So I am going to try to train him to stay out of our entryway. It has a door, so there is a double-door situation to escape our house, but I am afraid we'll screw up and he'll get out.
Has anyone had experience training a cat to avoid an area? This cat is so laid back, I started right away. I'd leave the door to the entryway open, and stand there with a metal item and a water bottle and as he entered, I'd drop the metal and spray. I did this three times so far. I hope it works.
He's really loving, 
a little bitey, but the purring is incredible, and he "kneads" the air in ecstacy.
Do you see the confidence of this cat, a half hour into his new home? I cannot express how happy it makes me to have a cat in our living room!On the other end of the spectrum we have the girl cat. She is the kidnapped child shivering in the corner. Her eyes are wide, and she's been immobile for hours. I wanted to leave her in he crate, door open, until she was brave enough, but my man kind of screwed that up, and he forced her out. (OOPS!) Now she's hiding behind the litter box (which was hers, so that is good), and it is so sad.
Her life has betrayed her. I felt that the boy cat would help, and every time I go in the bathroom, he follows me in, purring, and rubs against the walls and purrs, touching her on the nose, and still she's like "WHERE THE HECK ARE WE!?!" and he just goes trotting off like, "hmph!"I think that this household will be so much easier for her, at least, it should be, we have no toddler running around! We don't play loud music (OK they're gonna learn about piano soon enough). It's totally quiet here; if you listen, you hear birds and that is it.
Now boy cat is in his cave. I made a wonderful cat cave from the box our BBQ came in, full of blankets including his old blanket from his old home. It has only a slit for an opening and is truly a cat's hideaway. I covered the outside in blankets too, so they can lay on top. After following me around, he has finally gone to sleep in there. Good, I was wondering if he'd ever get tired after this ordeal. In this photo he is scratching the cat tree right outside his cave/box.His claws are like Klingon Batleths. In case you don't know:
That's a Klingon Batleth. The ends of cats' feet are similar.
Thankfully we have the cat trees for scratching, and these blankets from their old home, I really think they will help them adjust, or at least comfort them during their kidnapped time here.Now we need names. They came with some awful names. I have not used them and can barely type them. Merlin and Hexe (Hexe is "witch", how awful!). I won't have cats by those names. Besides, with my accent, the cats wouldn't even recognize their names! heheheheh (And I wonder what they think of me talking English to them....)
30 comments:
I'm kind of doing a combination of wet and dry with my cat (and the dog. ;) ). I leave the dry out as free choice, and every other week she gets a spoonful of wet food once a day. The vet told me that if you have the cat on dry, that it's important to give them wet food now and then, because prescription cat food is all wet food.
The rule of thumb I've heard for litter boxes is one more than the number of cats you have. We have one cat and one box; my parents have one cat and two boxes. I think a lot of it depends on the cats, but I believe the idea is that if they start fighting over one litter box, there are other options, and one cat cannot possibly "protect" all the litter boxes from the other.
Fraidy-cat will probably come out tonight after the humans go to sleep and investigate.
Concatulations!!! Have fun with your new babies. I have only fed dry cat food to our outside cat.
When we had 2 cats we had 1 box and it worked out fine. I free fed them the dry food and they soon learned to just eat what they wanted and not over do it. I gave them a big spoon of canned food each morning, they ate as I had my coffee and I talked to them about our day. Cats are very loving when they want to be. We had to have out last cat put down in Jan. and do not plan to have another one for a while. My daugher has 3 cats and 4 litter boxes. I think it is just what works for your won cats. all are different. My son lives in Hutten Germany and has 2 cats, they buy there food on the military post there. I don't know what they get. they have ordered it from the internet when they could not find a suitable food on post.
Give them time and be tolerant of "mistakes." Sounds like your little female is traumatized.
Dry food is best for their teeth, but you can do a combo of both. The water here must be full of minerals or something, because for some reason, every cat that we've had here has had urinary tract issues. I feed both cats Science Diet CD, and we don't have any problems.
Before this particular pair, I always just had 1 litter box. These two (both females) insisted on having 2.
Both my cats are strictly indoors, so they don't get dewormed, nor do I worry about shots for them.
It will all work out. Enjoy them!
I can't offer any advice, because I'm allergic to cats, but I'm glad you got your wish in duplicate.
I don't know why, but the boy cat looks like a Simon to me and the girl cat looks like a Selena.
Weird that in Germany they worm cats once a year. Here we only do it when the cats are kittens. There are no other reasons to do it unless maybe a cat is an outdoor cat and eats wildlife that may have worms.
Be careful with the boy cat and dry food. Many of them can cause urinary tract problems, unless you buy a feed specifically low in ash and magnesium. We had two male cats with this health problem and had to be sure to always buy the dry food for urinary tract problems.
We have two female cats and they each have their own litterbox.
Male cats seem to have more issues with litterboxes and will turn away from their box if another cat uses it...and they will spray on the wall or floor around it instead. bah!
Your new cats are beautiful. Congrats!
~Lisa
I always did dry cat food and wet once and awhile as a treat.
Animals in the netherlandsa re scared of me..wich I hate because Im a huge animal lover. It's the whole english thing. I spoke to a dog once and he got so scared he scooted backwards really fast,fell off the curb and did a somersault..another dog started growling at me..lol their eyes actually get big when you speak. What do they call cats in german? over here it's not kitty kitty and when i say that, they freak out also. What Im supposed to call them makes me really uncomfortable when I need to call it out..lol
You can always call a vet to get some advice aswell..almost everyone has a different opinion based on their own experiences..We left our cat in the house for about a month and she was fine but I know fo some who left in for 2 weeks and they were ok too.
Im sooo happy for you..they are beautiful cats!!!
Happy, happy day!!! I love that you are understanding about them being wrenched out of their home. Give the shy sweetie girl a few weeks. Our Noodlebug hid under our furniture for a week and we knew this was ok so we never forced her. Now, she is well-adjusted and not shy in the least. She is queen of the house. As far as food, we never feed her catfood. We lost our other dear cats to mouth cancer and we became suspect of manufactured foods. So with our vet's blessings we feed Noodlebug meats and cheeses and veggies and olive oil and some pasta (her favorite - hence the name, Noodlebug). We don't feed her cakes or any sugars. I love the photos of the boy cat and that he is so happy to follow you. You are going to have a wonderful time with these two, I can see it now!!!
Two lovely cats, well done you. When we moved to the farm, we kept the cats in the cat room for two weeks with a litter tray and the cat flap locked. We let them out after that and they were absolutely fine. They go everywhere on the farm, much bigger space than they are used to, but they always come back. I don't do dry food as it makes them sick.
Two hundred euros for a shelter cat!?! That's unbelievable!
I feed grain-free (Wellness Core, but I'm sure you won't find that) and my cats look great. Very shiny, no dandruff, tons of fluffy hair on the longhair. It sounds like the food you got is grain-free.
I think now the experts say wet food is healthier, that crunching up kibble doesn't clean their teeth like they used to say. I hate the smell of wet food, and I hate constantly buying stupid little cans and dealing with crusty plates... so my cats eat dry food, free choice.
One litter box per cat plus one extra is "right." I have two cats and two boxes and they only ever use one, so your mileage may vary.
The boy is adorable!!
Sarah, I don't understand "prescription cat food is all wet food". Can you explain that?
I have two boxes set up now, one is upstairs in case there is an issue about box ownership. They've both been used, that's good.
Now I discover that I had not bought clumping litter at all. I could not understand the languages on the packaging, and there was an image that looked like a clump, so I bought it. Oops! Not clumping! Tomorrow I will fix that! I think clumping litter revolutionized catkeeping.
Reddunappy, thank you! It is so fun! Can't wait til the horse meets the boy cat. Not anytime soon though!
Anonymous, it is so hard for me because I don't know what is available or best here. I am not skilled enough at searching online for things I'm not sure how to translate. I will learn, slowly, by talking to people. A vet, first of all!
Leah, I read today that indoor cats don't need to be wormed. But since one will be going out, I'll have to worm both of them yearly. I guess that's not so bad. And the vaccinations are yearly too. Who knows what my vet will say is necessary to vaccinate against in our region - I have no idea.
NM, I feel so bad for people who have allergies. I really really appreciate that so far I do not. Please God let it stay that way.
Lisa, I love those names! Lovely, but now I'm thinking about my home city and how I'd like to honor it by naming cats after its streets or neighborhoods. Or cities entirely. I love location names for pets! But streets, that's new. We'll see. Most of the names from our city are native american, and I'd like to avoid that. This is a challenge! My mom suggested hansel and gretel and I love those names but they are not as cool here in Germany, ya know?
Sonya, I have no idea what they call cats here. I will learn though now that I have cats! I just say kitty kitty too, and I think they understand. I didn't know you had a cat. You mean now? I am still not sure about how long to keep them in, but I'll err on the side of caution, and talk to a vet.
Juliette, a WEEK! omgosh, I'm so worried that our schroedingers cat (in the box, alive or dead, who knows) will not drink or eat...how did you know? I put water next to her box... this is worrisome. I will email you about the feeding thing.
Autumn Mist, do you live near any roads? We have a one lane road in front of our house, used by the neighbors, but still, they drive 50 kph. I'm worried about it but the last owner said the cats are used to busy streets. Thank you for replying and sharing your experience. It helps!
Funder, as I was researching, I kept coming across the wellness brand, but I don't think it's available here, like you said. And like you, I cannot stand the smell of wet food. agh, what to do.
and when you say "grain free" does that mean rice and potatoes too? lots of grain free foods seem to use brown rice and alfalfa and potatoes and beetpulp, I need help understanding this!!
And like I typed earlier in this comment, I have relented and put another litter box upstairs in case they really need their own. But I plan on buying the best clumping litter I can find, and creating a welcome environment in one box, if possible! We'll see.
This is such a challenge. I suddenly feel like horsekeeping is easier. (But that must be cuz I've been reading about it much longer.)
congratulations to your cats, they look great. seems like the girl is a "psycho" cat like Julia's Sunny. We feed wet in the morning and evening and dry at 12.00. if we ever forget, Kloni and Mikesch show us :-)
I buy cheap food for both and it seems to work, Mikesch will be 15 years in summer.but our's go out and catch mice, so they get everything as mother nature wants to give them.
I put advantage (thats the name of the medicine) on their necks every 4 weeks against flees and ticks and against worms each 3 months in the warmer time of the year another medicine which name I forgot, sorry.
We have 2 litter boxes and we dont use clump stray but dr. alders's light stray from Kaufland. It's cheaeper and we take out the poo each day.
Names? watch them some days..perhaps you will know then ;-)
what about famous couples, Bonnie & Clyd, Wodka & Martini e.g.?
Sorry for bad english, but I am in holidays on our island in the sun right now and forgot everything :-) even my password for the google account...
Keia
Well done - what a nice pair of cat. Actually they look like two of ours here.
We might be a bit primitive, but our cats have one litter box between three and that works just fine. It just needs changing more often.
We use horse bedding in the litter box - the sort that comes as dry wood pellets and one adds water to make it fluff up. (It's called Nature's Best in the UK - comes from Canada.)
The vet gives us a wormer that is applied to the skin - easier than making them swallow something. But noiw they're indoor cats, worms don't seem to be an issue.
I kept the rescue cat in for three days then let him wander. He's still with us after eight years. Knows who feeds him, I guess.
Not sure about food. One vet told us not to give the cats and dogs milk - supposed to be terribly bad. But really one doesn't see vet surgeries full of cats sick from feed that contains grain so don't worry too much.
The hardest think that I find with my cats is that one stays thin and needs to eat lots whilst another is fat and has special food. Enforcing that is tricky and takes some policing. If yours don't get fat then just leave the dry food out. Mine are really fussy about water and want it changed often, then descend on the fresh water as if they hadn't drank in days.
Anyway, do enjoy these new family members.
Don't let them play with the Klingon weapon!
WHP, interesting what you said about the water. it's hard to see how much they drink, so i'll have to change the water often to encourage drinking.
i found it interesting that in the pet supplies websites, the only imported stuff i found was from canada, a grain free food called orijen, and some cat litters from canada too. there must be something behind that!
oh i can imagine with one thin cat and one not. cuz that's what makes it hard keeping horses together. right now i have no idea who is eating what, and i'm not sure how to figure this out. except sit with them all day. but girl cat is pulling a nice schroedinger's cat and staying in her big box cave, not letting us even know if she's alive or dead. but look, tonight she ventured out.
oh, and oh my, we're suddenly having a windstorm! let's hope it brings rain!
~lytha
Lytha, the brown rice or sweet potato or whatever is fine - it's the binder to keep the kibbles together. Apparently corn is really bad and wheat is not so bad, but neither is ideal. I really think you can tell a difference with good food and bad food - once you see a cat or dog that eats high quality food, you notice the shine in their coat and the better weight. I think it makes a huge difference.
You should name the girl cat Schroedinger. When you have guests over who laugh at her name, you will know they're cool people and you should be friends with them!
Oh, and Orijen is really good food. They actually source their own protein - there are farms in Canada that sell just to Orijen. Most pet food makers just buy scraps from processing plants.
Calloo! Callay! Cats at last!
Grain is not completely evil. If you think about what wild felines eat, you usually think meat , however, cats also eat the stomach contents of their prey which is often grass (i.e. grain). Even little tabbies like yours will eat the entire mousie (except perhaps the tail).
When I lived with a passle of vets, their standard advice was to "feed the best-quality food you can afford." I've had several cats live past age 18, and they only got soft food after age 15 because it's easier to chew!
Little boxes: one box per cat each worked best for us.
I only have an indoor cat, so worming isn't a huge issue for him. Once a year sounds fine, unless your cats look wormy--then, ask the vet to do a fecal test and worm appropriately.
Names: promise me you won't name them Fremont and Queen Anne. Please?
WV: "catice"
feline-themed furniture and home decor.
Aarene, I have this list of names here and my man added to the list:
Queen Anne
West Seattle Bridge
hehehehe. I really like Mercer for the girl. I wanted Denny for the boy, but my man said, "Sounds like a restaurant": )
So maybe a West Seattle street. I like Lander, it was my old cross street. I like names of streets that were special to us - where were had fun, my man and I.
Actually Freemont has a nice ring, and we did find some caches there.
Thanks for the tips about feeding. You're right there is a certain percentage of carbs that cats can eat, but it makes me mad that so many firms put grain as the first ingred.
I vote for the excellent names of Schnickle and Fritz. (Just kidding)
We have 2 indoor/outdoor cats that came with me from the US as adults. Well, had, until a few weeks ago, when one died because of heart problems. :(
We have never been told to worm them, it's simply never been an issue. They get shots once a year. We were specifically told not to use Frontline (or similar product) unless they get fleas because Lymes' disease is not really a problem here and the Frontline is very very toxic. It's true-- the year we had to treat them, they were barfing a lot, lethargic, etc. as soon as the medication was on them and for 2 days afterwards.
There IS a very very good clumping litter in Germany, with the highly imaginative name of "Premiere Excellent." It comes in a giant plastic bag with a grey cat on the front (I think) and pink on the back, and it smells like baby powder. One cat box for two cats is plenty! If they don't seem keen on sharing a space you can give them two boxes and as soon as you notice that one or the other uses both boxes, just pare down to one box. The outdoor cat will poop outside anyway.
I think three months for learning a new place is super excessive. Cats are way smarter than that. I've moved a few times with cats and we used to wait about a month inside, then slowly take little walks out to the hallway when things were likely to be quiet, then I'd make a big noise and everybody would run back in. Next day or a few days later, same thing, but waiting a little longer before I sent everybody back in. My idea is to make my home the "safe" place from big scary noises and it seems to work. By three months they are going in and out unaccompanied as they please.
One thing: don't water or feed near the cat boxes. They're much happier if the water dish is somewhere else, otherwise it's "dirty". Test it by leaving two water bowls out, one near the cat box, the other one elsewhere. See which one is empty first.
We had to learn to feed three separate meals, at strict times to avoid begging (with clever half-siamese who think they are being funny when they jump on your head at 5 am, this is quite important). In fact this is best for indoor cats, as opposed to free choice. One cat would just eat and eat and eat, but the other one would have a few bites and stop when he was full. We did a bit of research and discovered that if we leave food down for 20 minutes and they don't eat it, they're not really hungry. We take up any left over food after about 40 minutes, though, just in case. This worked brilliantly for us and they both have excellent weight all year round.
We feed dry in the a.m., dry again at around 3pm and a spoon full of wet for dinner, around 9pm. The dry portion for two cats, if I had to guess, is maybe 10 large pieces each of a few different types of premium kibble, which we rotate frequently to avoid any allergies or reactions from feeding any one feed too long (we stagger the purchases, so that they are never eating all new food). And I guess we feed around a tablespoon of wet. It seems like nothing, but it's really all they need. When our neighbor takes care of our cats she feeds a "normal" pity portion and when we're home a week later they look like little sausages on legs, and are noticeably lazier, with diminished jumping skills. Her cat looks like a little pot bellied pig, so we win.
Our cats like Hill's Science Plan and love anything from Royal Canin. they also love Nutro but I'm still wary about them. Unfotunately they refuse to eat just about anything "bio" in Germany so that's a big waste of money here.
As for wet food, they adore Almo Natur, Schesir, and Opticat. Opticat is a shocker - it's actually one of the best wet foods you can feed in Germany as far as quality and ingredients, but it's cheap and available in Lidl of all places. A win-win! One small can or tin of wet food will last us all week with one cat, or 5 days or so with 2 cats. They sell inexpensive little storage boxes at the pet supply stores in Karstadt for the fridge.
If your girl kitty is still freaking out after a few days, you can get a Felliway plug in from your vet, which has happy soothing pheremones. Actually I am happy to send you ours, if I can find it. We don't need it anymore and I think it must still be full.
Our cats like Hill's Science Plan and love anything from Royal Canin. they also love Nutro but I'm still wary about them. Unfotunately they refuse to eat just about anything "bio" in Germany so that's a big waste of money here.
As for wet food, they adore Almo Natur, Schesir, and Opticat. Opticat is a shocker - it's actually one of the best wet foods you can feed in Germany as far as quality and ingredients, but it's cheap and available in Lidl of all places. A win-win! One small can or tin of wet food will last us all week with one cat, or 5 days or so with 2 cats. They sell inexpensive little storage boxes at the pet supply stores in Karstadt for the fridge.
If your girl kitty is still freaking out after a few days, you can get a Felliway plug in from your vet, which has happy soothing pheremones. Actually I am happy to send you ours, if I can find it. We don't need it anymore and I think it must still be full.
sorry I seem to be having technical difficulties here, eek...
I'm so glad to hear that you got two cats! Yeah! I like tabby cats - boy cat looks like a smaller version of my cat!
I have one indoor cat. He gets fed twice a day because he is on a diet. If I leave him free choice food he just sits and eats and eats. I don't worm him either, but I do vaccinate... I have kept him indoors, since the road near our house has cars doing 80-90km/h in a 60 km/h zone!
I don't feed wet food unless I am giving him medication - but I don't think there is a problem with mixing the two or giving one or the other... Wet food is a hassle - like Funder said - with the packages and crusty plates.
I have had no luck trying to train my cat to stay out of a room/area of the house, so I gave up. I hope you will have better luck!
I'm sure girl cat will be ok after a few days - makes sense that she is a bit nervous.
Nutro is great. It has tuarine in it which is what a cat needs to help break down the crystals in their urine that causes UTI's. I have 11 indoor cats. I live right off a busy road so my kids won't ever be outside. I have 3 huge rubbermaid containers that are 4 feet long, 2.5 feet wide and 8 inches deep. I put 40 pounds of catlitter (tidy cat clump) and clean scoop them every day and add more litter once a week...usually just a 20 pound container. I use only glass dishes for food and water as I think things taste funny when I drink out of plastic cups and I figure my critters would probably feel the same...lol! I worm them twice a year and they get Advantage every 4 weeks. I have to use Advantage. I live in Georgia and fleas are horrible here! Alos with the clawing...if you find that you are having a problem keeping the kitties from clawing your furniture...Soft Paws are awesome! I've used them while my kittens were learning not to use the furniture and use their cat trees instead.
Good luck with your new cats. They are cute. The girl one will warm up eventually. Becareful of letting them outside if you live on a busy road.
sirj, thank you for the advice. i'll do what you've suggested. i went to the pet store today and couldn't find that litter, so i'll be on the lookout for it.
almo is the brand of dry food i found that seemed best. the cats sure prefer it to what they came with. (but then i hear cats prefer anything "new", so..) i offer both. actually, a buffet of the dry and wet they came with, and the dry and wet i'd like to switch them to. until the girl cat comes out of the box, i feel i should leave food out to entice her/make her feel better about being out of the box.
but i do agree with the twice daily feedings for obligate carnivores. the free choice thing is for the lucky people with cats who don't overeat.
you said you stagger the foods, that means you switch often and offer the choice right? i hope to do so too, cuz i hear cats prefer changes, and then, it could be that change is important due to unscrupulous firms who have not been outted yet.
Hills and Royal Canin have corn, i think, in all the varieties i've seen so far. even the royal canin "sensitive" has corn. hm!
the pet store lady said, "oh, i know that many dog owners are avoiding corn now, i didn't realize cat owners were too."
i didn't know that felliway is available in germany. interesting. i'll have to let you know if she stays in that box another few days!
laura, thanks for the advice. i don't expect to have much luck keeping the cat out of the entryway, but i simply have to try, in case it helps during this transition period. he's so brave, he keeps telling me it's time to go outside. yah, on the 2nd day!
Brian (my husband) is over here saying "Five points for the Schrodinger's cat reference!" Our little Noodlebug was in a seldom used room under the bed. I had her litter in there and water and food. I knew she used the litter and she must have snuck out to drink and eat too. We just let her alone which was so difficult because we had just brought her home from the rescue and we wanted to love her up! We waited though and it all worked out. I would sing to her when I changed the food and litter, but I tried not to bend down to stare at her. She finally came out!
Yup, I think you're right, the 2 sorts of Royal Canin we feed (one with duck and one for Siamese) both contain a little maize gluten if I recall. But they just won't touch bio food, unfortunately.
By stagger I mean that we always have 2 or three containers of dry, and will feed a little from each. When we run out of one, we don't get the same sort, we'll buy something new, but we make sure to never run out of more than one at a time, to avoid shocking their stomachs with all new foods but nevertheless slowly, over time, switching things up. We found that they are much happier this way, don't get bored with the same thing, don't get barfy or overeat.
juliette, she comes out at night, you are right. but last night at 3 am i used the bathroom and she came up and rubbed on me! what!? on her terms, she can touch us, i guess. i haven't seen her all day. there must be some magical time at night when she comes out.
sirj, from what i read about bio food in general, it is supposed to be good for the planet, but not necessarily better for us (or our pets). interesting!
i've started pulling the food away midday to try to get them onto a twice a day feeding of 50 grams per cat, and a tablespoon of wet. i think this point in their development (1.5 years) is crucial for establishing healthy feeding. i mean, any day now i could have "sausages" as you say: )
and you were right about the water, they prefer the one far from the litter box.
A tablespoon wet for each sounds right to me.
BTW here is a link on food ratings: http://www.testberichte.de/testsieger/level3_katzennahrung_katzen_trockenfutter_245.html
Oh also about the keeping them off or out of things, we use a consistent loud noise and a spritz of water, like a cute little one they sell for plant watering. Eventually you only need to show them the water bottle and they run, and much later just warn them with the noise.
You can also try aluminum foil over doorframes and on surfaces. It works but it looks a little silly, and on young cats it only works as long as it's there.
Congrats on getting your kitties!! I read through the comments and it sounds like girl kitty is starting to come out of her shell.
I like the name Lander, although to me it sounds like a boy name. Your new cats are both very cute.
When we move (thanks for the comments, pics will come when we move!) we will need to get a couple barn kitties. Lola & Chloe (our Ragdoll and Siamese) are both strictly indoor cats. I have some name ideas already, but we'll have to wait and see if the names fit whichever cats become ours.
Yea Girl!Sweet stripy cats!
I had to wait to come for a time...you know why.
The Male looks and acts like my very own "Mike Madison Cat" he was a love and very dog like. Mike's drive in was down the street..Madison is the street and Cat for the last name.
Elsie had 3 names too.
We fed Mike a Urine type food..he got blocked twice..painful and expensive..also Organic(if you can find that) Tomato paste -given with food-off to the side with help to acidify the body. Organic Pumpkin is a natural fiber for them ...they both loved it.
We used to feed a grain free..that one you found sounds good though. I boiled chicken for them once a week.
We had a huge-o covered litter box for them.
Elsie was really shy...not around us but even when the mail man came daily...she'd run for cover. Mike... just wanted outside and he was good.
We had to feed them in different rooms... twice daily.Mike would eat all of the food...and they both got really FAT when we free fed!
I am so glad you got them! They will adore you and your heart rate may be lowered..on any bad day.. just by having them on your lap!
XO
Kacy
We had two (or at one point three) cats with one box and it worked fine...I've always heard dry food is better for them. Our indoor cat is fed twice a day, but our barn cats are so active, hunting all the time, that they have food free choice...the one is so busy all the time, he's thin, despite deworming and free choice because he won't take the time to eat :P.
I deworm with roundworm liquid every month and tapeworm tabs every two...but I don't know what Germans do ;)
Enjoy your cats! :D They're so cute!
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