Sendhelp Posted March 2017
Caregiver's cats behaving badly.
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Does your Cat (or any pet) misbehave since caregiving your loved one?
Have you been required to take care of your loved one's pet after they have passed? Does your pet have cute antics that entertain your loved one?
And finally, has the cat or dog transferred their loyalty to your Mother?
I have and from my experience it’s true.
We adopted a greyhound and they are unusual dogs. They don’t bark unless they pick it up from other dogs.
They are somewhat aloof like a cat. They may race at the track but they are lazy at home, just like a cat! They are couch potatoes.
My daughter has a Siberian husky and they have with compared to a cat too. They can be stubborn just like a cat. They do things on their terms not ours. Very independent dogs!
Greys and huskies don’t eat enormous amounts of food like some other breeds.
I always say that we live with our cats instead of them living with us. My cat was very independent. She was affectionate but only when she chose to be.
They are so smart! Very intuitive.
Our other cat was adopted from a colony of feral cats [we got her from the shelter]. Oh my gosh, even if her dry food bowls have food in them, she will act like she just walked across the Alps and needs food. She's a butter ball but has a strange shape, body like a box with a head on it, and shorter than normal legs [not a munchkin]. Being short, poor thing cannot jump up on things like our other cat can, and we know its in their DNA to get as high up as they can. She looks so sad.
I always have a smorgasbord of different dry food for the two cats. I had read half century ago that cat's blood sugar drops and they need that mid-morning, mid-afternoon, and mid-night feeding. So, I always had followed that rule.
One very over-weight cat we had, she was a year old stray, became a butter ball after being spayed, and she lived to be 17 years old, even after having a stroke she learned to adjust and finally recovered.
They have their own unique personalities!
Rocky is not a foodie except for her treats. Once I didn't notice that her dry food bow was empty. She went out and caught herself a critter and coughed up some of its innards on th bedroom floor. I have kept her bowl full since then. Pumpkin, the one we lost, had to poke and splash their water bowl I had to keep it in the basement shower stall or there was water all over the floor.
Had a sweet black cat who would sit by the food bowls if they got low - just to let me know She sat by the dog's bowl too if it was low or if any cat (we had four at the time) upped a fur ball, she would sit by it till I cleaned it up. If one of us humans were upset she would go and sit by them. She looked after everyone.
Daisy is 3 years old. When I first got her as a 4 month old kitten she would eat like she was never going to get another meal again . That’s because I got her from a foster cat mom with 20 kittens at the time . Anyway I guess she learned to eat fast before all the food was gone . Daisy was getting a bit heavy . So the vet told me don’t fill her bowl as much . Can’t let her be a grazer . Measure out specific amounts and feed twice a day like a dog .
Daisy does not like her bowl totally empty , often she will save a few morsels in it for a snack for later , I guess she’s afraid she’ll starve . Sometimes she will go over to her bowl and meow and stare at me. Or she will go over to the pantry door where she knows the container of food is and meow or paw at the door . Sometimes she will smack the bowl with her paw until it flips over to let us know it’s totally empty .
And no, she’s not starving . If I put food in the bowl she often walks away and comes back much later to eat. She just doesn’t like it empty 🙄🙄🙄
I had to laugh the other night. Lights were out and I was half asleep. Suddenly I felt the bed shaking and my first thought was that there was an earthquake. 😲 Then I realized it was Ricky having a very vigorous scratch! 😸🤣
She is so funny. She has her computer time when I first come up to bed, then when she tires of it she hops down and into her cat bed to sleep. Later she may come up for a visit or settle at the bottom of the bed. I have a towel there for her and that's her spot. They are such creatures of habit,
my hubs always has issues accepting new pets especially if the new pet is not like him in terms of what he likes eat.
midnight is very energetic and not any different than any other kitten.
she is a love bug but has a side to her where she rips throught the house tearing up paper towels. The simple solution is to put towels in a closed cupboard at night and the same with tp, lol!
Ming’s personality sounds so cute and playful!
My cat lived to be 16. Sweetest cat in the world! She didn’t like my nieces and nephews at first. She was annoyed with them! LOL She would hide when they came over to visit.
I was afraid that she wouldn’t like our daughter when we brought her home from the adoption agency. She sniffed her, saw that she wasn’t going anywhere and decided to accept her as part of the family. She died when my daughter was two years old. My younger daughter never knew her but she saw her pictures that I have of her.
That cat went through everything with me. I had her before I got married. So, she lived in several apartments. Only one time, she was fearful of being in a new place. She hid under my sofa for three days, but when she decided to come out, she acted like she owned the place.
She cracked me up when she would tear up and down the stairs. She was incredibly fast!
When I walk, she lays on a bathroom counter waiting for me to come in there to turn around.
The post title is, Hi, I used the profile “about me”to talk about my situation. Can that be directed to this area?
MJ was kind enough to copy and paste her profile onto the thread.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0cb8PrKZCvE
We really need that for humans!
Moggie is a cat only health monitor that tracks your cat's activity, picking up on subtle changes of behavior that help identify potential illnesses.
The health monitor attaches to their collar and tracks your cat's behavior, translating their needs into human speak using AI. This helps to detect potential health concerns sooner to improve your cat’s health & longevity.
Rocky distinguished herself by knocking over a large plant this morning. She has sat in it before no doubt pretending she was outside. I moved it around so hopefully she won't unbalance it again. She is using her litter boxes again faithfully for which I am very thankful!
The calming diffuser has run out. I've got the room spray. Never had headaches from it, but can understand if that happens-it does smell odd. I've used the brushes on all of the cats, so they should know each others scents fairly well by now. You're right about the territorial aspect with the boys, although the younger two aren't terribly aggresive and it seems they're being knuckle heads and messin' with the older cat. I've broken up a few arguments between them though. Which isn't happening as much. Yet....it is the peeing that's an issue and I know very, very common with this sort of dynamic. No spraying-yet. Yes, if it were girls, maybe it would be better. Otherwise, the other cats get along very well. In fact, the older, grumpy, female plays with the young guys-which is a huge change for her, as she used to hide a lot.
I'm so glad I can vent here, this is stressful for me, and as much as I don't want to re-home a cat....it's getting to be a bit much right now-cause I'm now cleaning something up (don't want to be gross here) on nearly a daily basis. If my husband didn't have dementia, and my time not consumed by caregiving, I'm pretty sure I'd be dealing with this a lot better. Sigh. I think this cat would be best suited as an only pet or at the max one other animal. He seems to have had a rough time of it as far as being re-adopted in the past, and unfortunatly it's showing.
The headaches went away after a couple days of unplugging the diffuser. I know it's not suppose to affect humans. If we could feel it, I bet the cat felt it, too.
Chances are your older cat has become territorial due to the younger males. Is he spraying? I bet if the two newest ones were females, your cat wouldn't have had any problems.
Try brushing the male cats using the same brush so they all would have each other's scent. It's worth a try.
I'm caring for my husband with dementia, which will not ever get "better" and I simply can not also deal with a cat that has behavior issues on top of everything else going on here. It's just too much right now for me. As I just finished fostering two kittens and was able to give them to a no-kill shelter. I really miss those sweet girls, but it also feels great to have less on my plate as far as animal care is concerned.
Thanks for letting me vent....it's been a couple of challenging weeks here.
Comments, observations, commserations are welcomed : )
I like those too, ff, and I agree the top is hard to get off. I use my teeth which works well enough to start it so I can take the rest off with my fingers. I have used a knife too. Rocky eats about 1/3 of one of those at a time mixed with boiled Japanese sweet potato.
I tried using items from the tool box, now the needle nose pliers are tearing off the tab. Eeeeeeek. Then the only way into the petite container is using scissors or a knife.
If anyone else here is having the same problem, have you found something simple to use.
Otherwise, I am going back to the pop top aluminum can. And covering the left overs with tin foil.
My cat Henrick is one of the most finicky cats I've ever had. We got his teeth cleaned a week and a half ago and he is just now starting to eat his dry food again. For some reason when I moved his dry food dish into the middle of the kitchen floor he started eating it. Like he'd never seen it before. Cats! sigh............