Advice on Shadow, Pls

wrote:

snip

Find this kitty a new home. Putting her outside would be wrong and put
her health at risk and she is no less deserving of a loving, caring,
happy home than any other cat. She did NOT do this out of a motivation
for revenge. This is NOT how cats are.

Why his bed then? Why not on mine? Or Joels? Or in the sink where she
usually goes? or on the carpet? or anywhere else? Why on *Cary's* *Bed* when
she has the whole house to crap in?

Many times, other people have mentioned cats crapping on their personal
stuff to express their displeasure at that particular individual. *Many*
times. The fact that she *chose* to crap on Cary's bed when the whole rest
of the house is available strikes me as a pointed comment in cat language.

Her response was completely appropriate cat reactive behavior for the
situation regardless of the fact that it was icky to you. She wasn't
introduced into the home and other cats properly,

I tried. At least she has been saved from being PTS even if our home is a
mere stepping stone for her.

she's stressed,
unhappy, not getting along with the other cats and your husband hates
her.

Joel does not *hate* her. He isn't *happy* with her, but at the moment,
neither am I. If Joel hated her, she would have been gone a long time ago.
Last night he gave her a good scritching as she trotted over his chest. That
is not a guy who *hates* her.

She is desperate to call this home her own/fit in, is probably
being ambushed by the other cats in the litterbox and had no choice
but to find another option which just happened to be your kid's bed.
This is NOT HER FAULT.

Wait, you just said it was reactive behavior. And now your saying its an
'oops' in desperation. Which one was it?

Please take the time to find someone that is compassionate,
understanding, well-educated about the care and behavior of cats and
does not have other cats in the home. It may take a little time, but
the alternatives should not be options. In the meantime, why not
alternate the cats between the bedroom and the rest of the house so
she can have some time (and a litterbox) to herself without the stress
of the other cats.

I think that might be the best option. She's safe where she is, but she's
not happy. I wish I knew her history more, this might be part of the reason
she was abandoned in the first place - as I can't possibly imagine why an
otherwise *gorgeous* and very affectionate girl would just be left behind.

Poor old Suki, she so desperately wants to be friends and continues to do
all the catly friend things any cat could hope to try, to absolutely no
avail. The weird thing is Shadow is absolutely *fine* with Fluffy, they
touched noses and are happy to sit together. There has never been even the
slightest hint of agression towards Fluff from Shadow, which is not what I
could say about Suki & Pickle.

Yowie

Granby wrote:
Cats are wonderful but, the Yowlet comes first. Mess up his safety at
night, from his point of view and you all pay.

FWIW I would let him be an indoor/outdoor cat. It is clearly what he
wants and a patient husband is a rare thing so don't fool with that.

Other cats around survive that way so there must be safety for them.

I know it won't be easy but I can't imagine the horror of Cary being
in that kind of a mess. Poor baby.

Well, its not the first time he's woken up covered in poo, but it is the
first time he's been covered in poo that doesn't belong to him.

I'm wavering between Shadow becoming and indoor/outdoor cat and just plain
rehoming her.

If I can control her 'outdoor' time to early mornings and late afternoons,
then the UV risk would be lower - the neighbourhood is boring suburbia and I
think cats pose more of a danger to the wildlife and environement than the
risk the environment poses to the cat (other than the UV risk, the only cars
we get are the ones that live in our street, we are not a 'through' road.
There are dogs in the area, but dogs can't jump onto the top of 5' and 6'
fences like cats). Of course, that does raise the problem of letting her out
and keeping Pickle in (Suki has no interest in the place without a ceiling
at all) but I"m sure we can deal with that one.

An enclosure sounds great, but that will take time to build and neither of
us are handy people. If indoor/outdoor is a solution, then perhaps an
enclosure for all the cats would eventuate in the future. However, its not a
short term solution.

Rehoming her would, at this point, be the kinder option I think. The home
needs to be a special home, though, because if the crapping all over the
place is related more to not being allowed outside than the situation of a
more dominant cat in the hosue plus child, she'll continue to crap all over
the place wherever she is, as we're all told that white cats should not be
allowed outside at all. Whoever they may be, they'll have to be willing to
forgive a phantom crapper.

They'll also have to be able to cope with her angry outbursts, because she
gets pretty darn violent when she's peeved, and goes into full
street-fighting mode (including caterwailing) very quickly. She does *not*
back down or run way (and I wish she would, because then she & Pickle
wouldn't have to fight), but does have the good sense to growl a warning
first.

That beign said, though, she is a total love bug when she's in a good mood
and thinks being brushed is awesome (she needs to be brushed). I suspect
she'd like to have slaves that are home all day and have nothing better to
do than dote on their one and only fluffy white cat. This home will be hard
to find.

The only other drawback to rehoming will be explaining where Shadow has gone
to Cary. Cary loves all his critters very much, even if he doesn't play with
Shadow he talks to her alot and does alot of roleplaying with toys with all
the critters featured.

Gonna have to talk to the family tonight and decide, I guess.

Yowie

On Jun 17, 10:43*pm, "Yowie"
wrote:
wrote:

snip

Find this kitty a new home. Putting her outside would be wrong and put
her health at risk and she is no less deserving of a loving, caring,
happy home than any other cat. She did NOT do this out of a motivation
for revenge. This is NOT how cats are.

Why his bed then? Why not on mine? Or Joels? Or in the sink where she
usually goes? or on the carpet? or anywhere else? Why on *Cary's* *Bed* when
she has the whole house to crap in?

Because it was a soft surface and probably the closest acceptable
surface (to her) available at the time. She may have been in his room
unable to get out if the other cat or cats were blocking the door or
she saw them close by and did not want to pass them. This is not an
uncommon occurrence in such situations. There also may be a territory
related issue here too as she feels nothing is hers (especially
litterboxes) so she is trying to let the other cats know that she is
claiming "something."


Many times, other people have mentioned cats crapping on their personal
stuff to express their displeasure at that particular individual. *Many*
times. The fact that she *chose* to crap on Cary's bed when the whole rest
of the house is available strikes me as a pointed comment in cat language..

Her response was completely appropriate cat reactive behavior for the
situation regardless of the fact that it was icky to you. She wasn't
introduced into the home and other cats properly,

I tried. At least she has been saved from being PTS even if our home is a
mere stepping stone for her.

she's stressed,
unhappy, not getting along with the other cats and your husband hates
her.

Joel does not *hate* her. He isn't *happy* with her, but at the moment,
neither am I. If Joel hated her, she would have been gone a long time ago..
Last night he gave her a good scritching as she trotted over his chest. That
is not a guy who *hates* her.

She is desperate to call this home her own/fit in, is probably
being ambushed by the other cats in the litterbox and had no choice
but to find another option which just happened to be your kid's bed.
This is NOT HER FAULT.

Wait, you just said it was reactive behavior. And now your saying its an
'oops' in desperation. Which one was it?


It's the same thing. She is reacting to her circumstances and the
other cats. Not an oops in desperation, but a desperate measure as she
feels there are no other options for her (at the moment) or anything
of her own to use. It has nothing to do with your son personally. It
has everything to do with stress.


Please take the time to find someone that is compassionate,
understanding, well-educated about the care and behavior of cats and
does not have other cats in the home. It may take a little time, but
the alternatives should not be options. In the meantime, why not
alternate the cats between the bedroom and the rest of the house so
she can have some time (and a litterbox) to herself without the stress
of the other cats.

I think that might be the best option. She's safe where she is, but she's
not happy. I wish I knew her history more, this might be part of the reason
she was abandoned in the first place - as I can't possibly imagine why an
otherwise *gorgeous* and very affectionate girl would just be left behind..

It may have started with a neglected litterbox. If the jerks that
abandoned her couldn't be bothered to take her along, they probably
didn't bother to give her a clean box and she developed an aversion. I
can't tell you how many people I've counseled that had a cat with such
an issue and almost without fail, it came down to they weren't taking
care of the litterbox properly (and that means using a good clumping
litter, scooping at least twice daily and washing the box and changing
the litter completely out on a regular basis.) And once it became a
habit, well, there you go. Bad habits are hard to break, especially if
they've been exhibited for a long time, but it's not impossible and so
far I've been very successful helping these people, usually with
behavior modification (for the owner!) and sometimes medication for
the cat if it has been a longstanding issue. I don't know if
fluoxetine (prozac) is able to be prescribed to animals in Australia,
but considering the circumstances, if this is a possibility it might
be worth a try ( if that is not an option, Clomipramine aka
clomicalm would be my second choice.) It will help resolve Shadow's
anxiety and is very effective for litterbox issues as well. No
guarantees, but when medication is warranted (as I believe it is in
this situation) this is my first recommendation to clients during my
behavior consults and in the majority of cases it has been very
effective. Even if you do find her another home, I think it would be
wise to start her on meds now and see if she improves. If she does and
you find her a home, I would recommend keeping her on the meds untile
she is well settled at the new place and then her new slave can start
weaning her off and see how it goes. I realize that this is a very
frustrating situation, but please try to always keep in mind that this
is a damaged cat and who knows what kind of hell she lived in before
she was discovered. What she is doing is actually a form of
communication, as unpleasant as it is to you or I, and she knows no
other way of trying to get her particular point across, whatever that
point may be.



Poor old Suki, she so desperately wants to be friends and continues to do
all the catly friend things any cat could hope to try, to absolutely no
avail. The weird thing is Shadow is absolutely *fine* with Fluffy, they
touched noses and are happy to sit together. There has never been even the
slightest hint of agression towards Fluff from Shadow, which is not what I
could say about Suki & Pickle.

As an only cat, coming into your home was probably quite a shock for
Shadow and the fact that she is tolerant of one of the cats is worthy
of attention. If there is a way to separate her from the boys by
alternating rooms, you may see her relax a bit and be better about the
box.



Yowie

wrote:

UGH, poor Cary!! I would be traumatized by that, too, and I'm not
4 years old! That's really gross.

I have to disagree on this. I grew up with cats and experienced all
kinds of ickyness from them. I wasn't traumatised. On the contrary, I
still love cats, and I don't get grossed out easily.

--
Marina, Miranda and Caliban. In loving memory of Frank and Nikki.

Despite the fact that Nocturne can be vindictive and autocratic, her
phantom piddling was caused by a combination of stress at her new home
and the resultant loss of "Authority" to the kittens, the sounds of
people in the hall and the momentum of peeing in that one spot.

We could yell at her for not crossing the hall to use the box in the
closet or we could give her a box in the spot where she felt compelled
to go. Option #2 was best all around and the problem is now solved.

Unless Shadow is repeatedly aggressive towards Cary, I would suspect
other motives for pooping the crib.

You've checked she hasn't got a medical reason for this behaviour?
Have you tried feliway and anti stress medications?

Can you try isolating her for a while and giving her various boxes
with different kinds of litter to see if there's something she likes?
Can you arrange for someone to build her a run she can use in the
morning and evening so she can do business outside in safety?

If you feel you must try to rehome her, please give the person the
option of returning her, so that if she continues to poop floors, she
won't be killed for it. At worst you'd get her back and know it's not
you, at that point indoor/outdoor may be your last option.

--Fil

wrote:

snip

It may have started with a neglected litterbox. If the jerks that
abandoned her couldn't be bothered to take her along, they probably
didn't bother to give her a clean box and she developed an aversion. I
can't tell you how many people I've counseled that had a cat with such
an issue and almost without fail, it came down to they weren't taking
care of the litterbox properly (and that means using a good clumping
litter, scooping at least twice daily and washing the box and changing
the litter completely out on a regular basis.)

All of my cats so far (besides Shadow) have strongly preferred the gritty
clay stuff - I now use the silica gel material because it feels like the
cheap clay stuff, but absorbs the liquid and is defiantley a marked
improvement in the smell department.

I've seen her go No.1 in a box once, and that was before Pickle marked it as
his. She has never ever done No.2 in a box. Since I haven't found any more
suspicious puddles(by feet or by smell), I think she's probably using the
kitchen sink for No.1s - and I dont' have a major problem with that, its
easily washable. I'd *prefer* a box, but hey, compared to on Cary's bed, the
unused side of the kitchen sink (I have two sinks, one big and one little,s
he goes int he little side) is pretty good.

If I get a compeltely different litter, perhaps like the recycled newspaper
stuff, that Pickle & Suki don't like, d'you think she might go in that?
Sometimes she howls at the door - d'you think that means she wants to go out
to do her business? if so, d'you think I should let her go out to do it?

And once it became a
habit, well, there you go. Bad habits are hard to break, especially if
they've been exhibited for a long time, but it's not impossible and so
far I've been very successful helping these people, usually with
behavior modification (for the owner!) and sometimes medication for
the cat if it has been a longstanding issue. I don't know if
fluoxetine (prozac) is able to be prescribed to animals in Australia,
but considering the circumstances, if this is a possibility it might
be worth a try ( if that is not an option, Clomipramine aka
clomicalm would be my second choice.) It will help resolve Shadow's
anxiety and is very effective for litterbox issues as well. No
guarantees, but when medication is warranted (as I believe it is in
this situation) this is my first recommendation to clients during my
behavior consults and in the majority of cases it has been very
effective.

Dumb question, but are these drugs pills or pastes or injections? When I got
her spayed, she had a minor infection in the stitches (due to licking) and
the vet gave me some antibiotics in pill form. He got he first one down her
with his hand. He showed me how to do it with a pill popper. So I bought the
pill popper, followed the instructions, and got my hand mauled - clearly I
wasn't doing quickly enough. I got a total of 5 pills into her by crushing
it into her gooshy food, but then she got wise and stopped eating gooshy
food with the crushed pill in it (and gooshy food altogether for a while
until I changed brands). Thankfully by that time, the wound was fine and
whilst it would have been better to finish the antibiotic course, at least
hte reason why it was prescribed had cleared up.

Pilling her would be stressful for both me and her (and very painful for
me), thus why I ask whether the medications come in some other form? Not
sure I could pill a cat who is used to street fighting.

Even if you do find her another home, I think it would be
wise to start her on meds now and see if she improves. If she does and
you find her a home, I would recommend keeping her on the meds untile
she is well settled at the new place and then her new slave can start
weaning her off and see how it goes. I realize that this is a very
frustrating situation, but please try to always keep in mind that this
is a damaged cat and who knows what kind of hell she lived in before
she was discovered. What she is doing is actually a form of
communication, as unpleasant as it is to you or I, and she knows no
other way of trying to get her particular point across, whatever that
point may be.

Aye, I understand that. Thats why I didn't interpret it as an 'oops' but a
behaviorial thing.

Poor old Suki, she so desperately wants to be friends and continues
to do all the catly friend things any cat could hope to try, to
absolutely no avail. The weird thing is Shadow is absolutely *fine*
with Fluffy, they touched noses and are happy to sit together. There
has never been even the slightest hint of agression towards Fluff
from Shadow, which is not what I could say about Suki & Pickle.

As an only cat, coming into your home was probably quite a shock for
Shadow

I don't know whether or not she was an only cat before she came to me. All I
know is that she clearly used to have access to the outdoors (because of all
the burrs in her fur, and her insistance and trying to get out) and that she
was found locked in a rental apartment that new tennants were moving into.
She seems used to dogs, so she probably didn't come from an 'only pet'
household, whether or not she was an only cat is unknown. She is *extremely*
skittish around loud, sudden noises (Suki being deaf doesn't even hear them,
and Pickle might turn his ear) and hates my broom ( don't sweep with her in
sight).

and the fact that she is tolerant of one of the cats is worthy
of attention. If there is a way to separate her from the boys by
alternating rooms, you may see her relax a bit and be better about the
box.

Both Suki & Pickle are actually neutered boys. I call Suki a 'she' simply
because she was introduced to me as a 'she' and that he's such a pretty,
princessy cat, and her boy bits so well covered by 'her' pantaloons, I can't
imagine 'her' as being a boy. Pickle, on the other hand, is all boy. Even
struts around like he's still intact (thankfully no spraying or other intact
behaviour though)

Yowie
PS, appreciate the advice, thankyou

On Jun 18, 12:33*am, "Yowie"
wrote:

All of my cats so far (besides Shadow) have strongly preferred the gritty
clay stuff - I now use the silica gel material because it feels like the
cheap clay stuff, but absorbs the liquid and is defiantley a marked
improvement in the smell department.

I've seen her go No.1 in a box once, and that was before Pickle marked it as
his. She has never ever done No.2 in a box. Since I haven't found *any more
suspicious puddles(by feet or by smell), I think she's probably using the
kitchen sink for No.1s - and I dont' have a major problem with that, its
easily washable. I'd *prefer* a box, but hey, compared to on Cary's bed, the
unused side of the kitchen sink (I have two sinks, one big and one little,s
he goes int he little side) is pretty good.

If I get a compeltely different litter, perhaps like the recycled newspaper
stuff, that Pickle & Suki don't like, d'you think she might go in that?
Sometimes she howls at the door - d'you think that means she wants to go out
to do her business? if so, d'you think I should let her go out to do it?

If you let her out when she howls you will reinforce the behavior and
end up with a larger problem. As to type of litter I think she may
actually prefer a softer litter since she may have in the past been
going outside in dirt. If you suspect at some point she was going
outside, she would probably do better with a very soft textured
clumping litter that would allow you to scoop out the pee as well as
the poop to keep the box as clean and attractive as possible. Since
poop seems to be at issue here, make sure to pay attention to the
consistency. If it is hard she is suffering from constipation and that
would certainly cause her to associate the box with being
uncomfortable while pooping and cause her to search out other spots.
If this is the case, removing all dry food from the diet and feeding a
strictly canned diet will usually resolve the issue.

habit, well, there you go. Bad habits are hard to break, especially if
they've been exhibited for a long time, but it's not impossible and so
far I've been very successful helping these people, usually with
behavior modification (for the owner!) and sometimes medication for
the cat if it has been a longstanding issue. I don't know if
fluoxetine (prozac) is able to be prescribed to animals in Australia,
but considering the circumstances, if this is a possibility it might
be worth a try ( if that is not an option, Clomipramine aka
clomicalm would be my second choice.) It will help resolve Shadow's
anxiety and is very effective for litterbox issues as well. No
guarantees, but when medication is warranted (as I believe it is in
this situation) this is my first recommendation to clients during my
behavior consults and in the majority of cases it has been very
effective.

Dumb question, but are these drugs pills or pastes or injections? When I got
her spayed, she had a minor infection in the stitches (due to licking) and
the vet gave me some antibiotics in pill form. He got he first one down her
with his hand. He showed me how to do it with a pill popper. So I bought the
pill popper, followed the instructions, and got my hand mauled - clearly I
wasn't doing quickly enough. I got a total of 5 pills into her by crushing
it into her gooshy food, but then she got wise and stopped eating gooshy
food with the crushed pill in it (and gooshy food altogether for a while
until I changed brands). Thankfully by that time, the wound was fine and
whilst it would have been better to finish the antibiotic course, at least
hte reason why it was prescribed had cleared up.

Pilling her would be stressful for both me and her (and very painful for
me), thus why I ask whether the medications come in some other form? Not
sure I could pill a cat who is used to street fighting.

Do they have Pill pockets in Austrailia? Best thing ever here in the
states for pilling cats. The good news is that both medications I
recommended would probably require that the pills be divided so the
piece you would administer each day would be quite small, and both are
also once a day meds. You could probably easily dissolve one in a tiny
bit of plain chicken baby food and administer it with a syringe if you
can't hide it in a little food or find the pill pockets. If hiding it
in food succeeds I would suggest giving her something different at
every meal. It may have been she just got tired of the same flavor 5
days in a row. :-)



As an only cat, coming into your home was probably quite a shock for
Shadow

I don't know whether or not she was an only cat before she came to me. All I
know is that she clearly used to have access to the outdoors (because of all
the burrs in her fur, and her insistance and trying to get out) and that she
was found locked in a rental apartment that new tennants were moving into..
She seems used to dogs, so she probably didn't come from an 'only pet'
household, whether or not she was an only cat is unknown. She is *extremely*
skittish around loud, sudden noises (Suki being deaf doesn't even hear them,
and Pickle might turn his ear) and hates my broom ( don't sweep with her in
sight).

and the fact that she is tolerant of one of the cats is worthy
of attention. If there is a way to separate her from the boys by
alternating rooms, you may see her relax a bit and be better about the
box.

Both Suki & Pickle are actually neutered boys. I call Suki a 'she' simply
because she was introduced to me as a 'she' and that he's such a pretty,
princessy cat, and her boy bits so well covered by 'her' pantaloons, I can't
imagine 'her' as being a boy. Pickle, on the other hand, is all boy. Even
struts around like he's still intact (thankfully no spraying or other intact
behaviour though)

Yowie
PS, appreciate the advice, thankyou

You're welcome. I hope that some of my suggestions will work and we
can find a viable solution for this little one.

wrote:
On Jun 18, 12:33 am, "Yowie"
wrote:

All of my cats so far (besides Shadow) have strongly preferred the
gritty clay stuff - I now use the silica gel material because it
feels like the cheap clay stuff, but absorbs the liquid and is
defiantley a marked improvement in the smell department.

I've seen her go No.1 in a box once, and that was before Pickle
marked it as his. She has never ever done No.2 in a box. Since I
haven't found any more suspicious puddles(by feet or by smell), I
think she's probably using the kitchen sink for No.1s - and I dont'
have a major problem with that, its easily washable. I'd *prefer* a
box, but hey, compared to on Cary's bed, the unused side of the
kitchen sink (I have two sinks, one big and one little,s he goes int
he little side) is pretty good.

If I get a compeltely different litter, perhaps like the recycled
newspaper stuff, that Pickle & Suki don't like, d'you think she
might go in that? Sometimes she howls at the door - d'you think that
means she wants to go out to do her business? if so, d'you think I
should let her go out to do it?

If you let her out when she howls you will reinforce the behavior and
end up with a larger problem. As to type of litter I think she may
actually prefer a softer litter since she may have in the past been
going outside in dirt.

She was definatley outside at some point in her life - you don't get that
many burrs in your fur from being inside all the time (and I mean burrs, not
just matts, although of course there was matts around them)

If you suspect at some point she was going
outside, she would probably do better with a very soft textured
clumping litter that would allow you to scoop out the pee as well as
the poop to keep the box as clean and attractive as possible. Since
poop seems to be at issue here, make sure to pay attention to the
consistency. If it is hard she is suffering from constipation and that
would certainly cause her to associate the box with being
uncomfortable while pooping and cause her to search out other spots.
If this is the case, removing all dry food from the diet and feeding a
strictly canned diet will usually resolve the issue.

Her stools are usually well formed but soft, but are sometimes loose enough
to not have a 'poo' shape, sorta like partly whipped cream - not a runny
liquid but definatley not 'solid' either. haven't noticed any trend with
regard to the occasional spoonful of gooshy food treats.

Pilling her would be stressful for both me and her (and very painful
for me), thus why I ask whether the medications come in some other
form? Not sure I could pill a cat who is used to street fighting.

Do they have Pill pockets in Austrailia? Best thing ever here in the
states for pilling cats. The good news is that both medications I
recommended would probably require that the pills be divided so the
piece you would administer each day would be quite small, and both are
also once a day meds. You could probably easily dissolve one in a tiny
bit of plain chicken baby food and administer it with a syringe if you
can't hide it in a little food or find the pill pockets. If hiding it
in food succeeds I would suggest giving her something different at
every meal. It may have been she just got tired of the same flavor 5
days in a row. :-)

I varied the gooshy food flavour (I was giving to the other two as well) -
but she's now eating gooshy food again. Di d I say 'eat', I meant 'vacuum' -
this girl is a piggy, no 'free feeding' for her.

snip

You're welcome. I hope that some of my suggestions will work and we
can find a viable solution for this little one.

I hope so, too. Even if it comes to rehoming. She's a nice cat, but has
issues.

Yowie

Marina wrote:

wrote:

UGH, poor Cary!! I would be traumatized by that, too, and I'm not
4 years old! That's really gross.

I have to disagree on this. I grew up with cats and experienced all
kinds of ickyness from them. I wasn't traumatised. On the contrary, I
still love cats, and I don't get grossed out easily.

I was sort of kidding. I mean, I would have found it extremely
unpleasant, but "traumatized" was just an overstatement for the purpose
of humor. Or empathy. Or something...

A friend of mine was visiting old family friends in Russia last fall,
and after sleeping there for several nights, she discovered that the bed
was full of mouse poop. Eww.

--
Joyce

To email me, remove the triple-X from my user name. ^..^

On Jun 18, 1:26*am, "Yowie" wrote:
Her stools are usually well formed but soft, but are sometimes loose enough
to not have a 'poo' shape, sorta like partly whipped cream - not a runny
liquid but definatley not 'solid' either. haven't noticed any trend with
regard to the occasional spoonful of gooshy food treats.

Soft, loose stools like you describe can be very unconfortable and
would also be a reason for litterbox avoidance. She sounds like she
has some irritable bowel issues. I would still recommend strictly
canned food, but if you can find some with no grains or wheat gluten,
etc and eliminate fish flavors that may very well improve things. At
my clinic we always take this course of action first and sometimes
will even graduate to a raw diet if the switch to grain-free canned
food is not enough. Grains in dry food and the high levels of
histamines in fish are usually the culprits in inflammatory bowel
conditions in cats. If you want to try a raw diet it would be easy
enough to make it yourself with the right resources. There is an
excellent guide and recipe at this website which is balanced and
approved by a veterinary nutritionist IIRC:
http://www.catnutrition.org


Pilling her would be stressful for both me and her (and very painful
for me), thus why I ask whether the medications come in some other
form? Not sure I could pill a cat who is used to street fighting.

Do they have Pill pockets in Austrailia? Best thing ever here in the
states for pilling cats. The good news is that both medications I
recommended would probably require that the pills be divided so the
piece you would administer each day would be quite small, and both are
also once a day meds. You could probably easily dissolve one in a tiny
bit of plain chicken baby food and administer it with a syringe if you
can't hide it in a little food or find the pill pockets. If hiding it
in food succeeds I would suggest giving her something different at
every meal. It may have been she just got tired of the same flavor 5
days in a row. :-)

I varied the gooshy food flavour (I was giving to the other two as well) -
but she's now eating gooshy food again. Di d I say 'eat', I meant 'vacuum' -
this girl is a piggy, no 'free feeding' for her.

snip

You're welcome. I hope that some of my suggestions will work and we
can find a viable solution for this little one.

I hope so, too. Even if it comes to rehoming. She's a nice cat, but has
issues.

Yowie- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -