Pet Sitter Seattle and eastside areas also about "Old George"
 

Hi. I am new to the group and pet sit around eastside and seattle
areas. I sit with cats and dogs and have been involved with many
personal and group rescue efforts for cats and dogs. ALso, the person
with "old george" - I have a lot of experience with ferrel cats. I
would recommend waiting a few months before calling a vet that would
come to your house - I would definitely not try to take him to the
vet. There are always one or two in every city. I would also clean
his ears with q-tips and ear mite medicine that you can get at the vet
or any pet store. This is the most common problem with cats. Old
George sounds like he is in good health now except for the ear mites.
Feel free anyone to email me at (my main
email) for pet sitting or any questions about your kitties. D.
Harrison, spiritwhole.com

Would the caretaker of "Old George" please contact me at my org address?


Sharon Talbert
Friends of Campus Cats
(feral cats, that is)

On Thu, 25 Sep 2003 12:54:50 -0700, Sharon Talbert
dijo:


Would the caretaker of "Old George" please contact me at my org address?

That would be me. Thanks for the invitation, but I prefer to
communicate through the newsgroup.

Old George is lying in the doorway to the computer room as I sit here.
He's curled up with a smile on his face. His tummy is always full now.
He's decided he likes to be near me. He's also decided he likes to be
petted, although he still becomes alarmed if I try to comb the rear of
his back. I also still haven't enticed him up to my lap. When I pet
him he still feels bony, but I can sense a bit of meat on the bones
now.

We're still making progress. His coat continues to look better every
day. And there have been no more accidents in the house. (Keeping
fingers crossed.) He hasn't used the litter box once, although I did
notice a couple cat footprints in it. He seems to prefer to use his
little kitty door and go outside. As long as he does so reliably, that
is perfect as far as I am concerned.

He's still pretty tentative about the house, like he's worried he'll
do something wrong. And he's still never uttered a meow. But that's
OK. He has other ways to communicate that work just as well.

He's turning into a real sweet cat.

--
Bogus e-mail address, but I read this newsgroup regularly, so reply here.

In article ,
Marek Williams wrote:

[snip]

He's turning into a real sweet cat.

Thanks for the update! My mother, who's not on Usenet, has asked me to
keep her informed because she loves his story. I've passed this on to
her.

Priscilla
--
The Episcopal Church welcomes you... and you... and you....

On Sun, 28 Sep 2003 18:31:29 GMT, Priscilla Ballou
dijo:

He's turning into a real sweet cat.

Thanks for the update! My mother, who's not on Usenet, has asked me to
keep her informed because she loves his story. I've passed this on to
her.

Today we had a little setback. I came downstairs this morning (he's
never been upstairs -- I think the stairs may be hard for him) and he
was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, obviously wanting breakfast.
He followed me into the kitchen and I gave him a can of cat food, then
went about making myself ready for the world.

As I went into the computer room I noticed a bit of poop on the rug
(washable, thank goodness) and about six feet further, some kitty
vomit. It was pretty clear he'd had some plumbing distress in the
night. When I went to clean it up I noticed the vomit had all kinds of
things in it, including what was clearly a piece of cooked onion and
other bits of vegetables. He certainly didn't get that from me. I
might share a bit of my meals with him, but I give him only the meat.

In other words, the little beggar is obviously still scrounging in the
neighborhood. Probably a lifetime of being on his own has created
habits that will take a while to forget.

--
Bogus e-mail address, but I read this newsgroup regularly, so reply here.

In other words, the little beggar is obviously still scrounging in the
neighborhood. Probably a lifetime of being on his own has created
habits that will take a while to forget.



Cats do need a small amount of veggie material. Not a lot, but some. One
of the big brands of dry cat food are selling an "indoor" formula so our
cat won't eat the house plants.

Does he let you pick him up yet? When a good time comes, take him
upstairs for the night.

On Sun, 28 Sep 2003 04:26:43 GMT, Marek Williams
dijo:

Old George

I got home early enough today to stop at one of the vets in the area.
I inquired about Revolution and the nice lady vet sold me some ($13.75
for enough for two dosings). However, I have a couple questions.

First, she asked how much George weighed and, of course, I had no
idea. He's a full size cat, but pretty skinny. We guessed he was in
the 5 to 10 lb category.

She did not have the correct size in stock, so she sold me one in a
brown package and gave me a syringe to divide it into two doses.
However, the package says it is for "dogs 10.1 - 20 lbs in weight."
According to the literature sheet that came with it, the tube contains
60 mg selamectin. The sheet also said that cats of up to 5 lbs should
have 15 mg and 5.1 to 15 lbs should have 45 mg. A cat of 10 lbs,
therefore, should have 30 mg (using a little math). However, George
does not weigh 10 lbs; he's probably closer to 7-8 lbs. Furthermore,
it says to use cautiously in underweight animals. George is not only
still pretty skinny, but he's really old and has had a tough life. I'm
thinking I should divide the 60 mg into three doses of 20 mg for
starters.

Also, I'm just a bit concerned because the box says nothing about cats
on it. It just says it is for dogs. Of course, it is still selamectin,
so I guess that doesn't really matter.

Then there is the problem of getting into the tube. The instructions
say to push down on the cap to puncture the inner seal (with a little
picture), and then remove the cap. I pressed until I thought the cap
was going to penetrate the flesh of my thumb. Then I tried to remove
the cap. No luck. It's just plastic so, if push comes to shove, I have
a knife I can use on it, but is there some trick to getting the cap
off the tube? I don't want this stuff squirting all over the room!

Meantime Old George is turning into a real glutton for attention. When
I pet him he doesn't want me to stop. If I stop he reaches up with his
paw and tries to pull my hand back. I usually acquiesce and let him
have some more. After all, the poor old guy has a lot of lost time to
make up for,

--
Bogus e-mail address, but I read this newsgroup regularly, so reply here.

On Mon, 29 Sep 2003 22:32:01 GMT, Robert Casey
dijo:

Cats do need a small amount of veggie material. Not a lot, but some. One
of the big brands of dry cat food are selling an "indoor" formula so our
cat won't eat the house plants.

Well, yeah. But not cooked onion. :)

Does he let you pick him up yet? When a good time comes, take him
upstairs for the night.

It's too far from his kitty door. It's really quite a long way for him
to get outside if he has to go. I could put a litter box up there, but
this evening he pooped on the rug again -- right while I was sitting
here at the computer. I just smelled it, got up, walked out of the
computer room and there he was, just walking away from it. He had been
lying out there for the past couple of hours. Looks like he just got
the urge, stood up and did it right where he was. I used a pretty
angry tone of voice and I think he realized I was not happy. Not sure
if he'll connect the anger with what he did. I'm becoming really
concerned. How do you housetrain an old cat who may have never lived
indoors? He has never used the litterbox I set out for him.

--
Bogus e-mail address, but I read this newsgroup regularly, so reply here.

However, the package says it is for "dogs 10.1 - 20 lbs in weight."
According to the literature sheet that came with it, the tube contains
60 mg selamectin. The sheet also said that cats of up to 5 lbs should
have 15 mg and 5.1 to 15 lbs should have 45 mg. A cat of 10 lbs,
therefore, should have 30 mg (using a little math).

It's the same stuff. Just packaged in larger quantities for dogs than for cats.

I'm
thinking I should divide the 60 mg into three doses of 20 mg for
starters.

I'd go with that and see how it works. The vet used it on a kitten I adopted
that had earmites. Heck of a lot easier than trying to get drops in the ears.



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How do you housetrain an old cat who may have never lived
indoors? He has never used the litterbox I set out for him.

Try putting dirt on top of the litter to see if he'll get the idea. Or maybe
put a litter box right outside the cat door for awhile. Maybe if it smells like
"outside" he'll make the association. Or maybe he'll use it outside and then
you can slowly bring it inside and he'll continue using it.


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