Cats!

[northland10]

I wasn't sure which one this goes in, cats or dogs, so I decided cats because it is the cat that came "won."

[Kendra]

Not goin' to watch it. I saw it awhile back and still haven't recovered.

I hear ya. Still, it's wonderful to see the growing family of girls and with their new ginger cat, and such a tolerant one. Lets the girls dress her (him? I forget) in costumes for holidays, have spa days and more.

[Sequoia32]

northland10, thanks for the laugh! Dogs and cats are sooo different! Love them both.

[Maybenaut]

We’ve had Stormy for a little over 24 hours. Yesterday all she wanted to do was sleep. We took turns holding her, but at bed time we closed her in the bathroom with her food, water and litter box. She’s so tiny, and we are so worried she’d get into something that might hurt her if we let her roam the house. The good news there is that she used her litter box (not that I was that concerned - I’ve never had a cat *not* use the litter box). But she peed and pooped, so her digestive system seems to be working OK.

Today she’s feeling much better. Her eyes, while still a little red-rimmed, are doing much better; clear and no longer oozing pus. When we found her yesterday outside she was meowing her little head off. Now I think she has laryngitis - she meows, but it’s either silent or a barely audible squeak. Also, we checked her teeth and she appears to be ready for dry food, so we gave her some this morning and she chowed it right down.

She spent this morning exploring the living room. She plays with some of the toys I got her. She uses the bricks on the hearth as a scratching post (I’ll get her a real one). At one point she stepped on the fireplace shovel that was lying on the hearth and it moved a little bit. It scared her, but she went right back and jumped on it. Then she went back and did it again. I’m so happy that she’s curious about her environment.

So far, so good! Losing Joey was such a hard thing to go through and I was like, nope, no more pets. Then Stormy came along in need of a safe place. Whattaya gonna do?

[Sequoia32]

They were out of all wet kitten food.

Ointment is “Neomycin and Polymyxin B sulfates, and Bacitracin zinc”.

What a sweet girl! We have three outdoor cats (they conveyed with the house). One is a female tuxedo. I told the previous owner we’d feed them. she always claimed to be such an animal lover, and she had a gazillion outdoor cats. But all she did was feed them. And she put out big bowls of food which they would then fight over. So some got really fat, and some hardly ever ate food because they didn’t get any of it so they had to feed themselves on whatever they could find (but there’s plenty of food around here for cats who know how to hunt for it). There were three cats that she couldn’t trap, and we agreed to feed them. But we look out for them, and we only give them food if they show up. But we don’t leave bowls of food out. And we put Frontline on them, because they were all covered with fleas and ticks. In the five months we’ve lived here, they’ve all gotten a lot healthier. Their coats look better and this thinner ones have put on some weight. But they are strictly outdoor cats.

Her eyes should look better in a few days but keep up the medicine for 7-10 days. If eyes aren't better, I'd ask to switch to Terramycin. Also watch for upper respiratory infection. Eye infection is often the first sign of URI.

You're taking much better care of your outdoor cats than the previous owner. Excess food just attracts unwanted, cat-eating animals. Would they even come inside or are they feral?

A lot of my foster parents also care for colonies of feral cats; feeding, monitoring for illnesses and TNRing any new ones that show up. TNR= trap-neuter-return. Kittens that are young enough to socialize or tame adults who have been dumped, are fostered and adopted out.

We seem to have a lot of hoarders around here. The cat groups are always working on one house or another, trapping cats and rescuing kittens.

How about some more pics of Stormy?

[Sequoia32]

Maybenaut, you're going to have so much fun! There's nothing like a kitten. I can just see the shovel episode!

Keep an eye out. Often where there is 1, there are more...

[Maybenaut]

We’re not really interested in bringing the feral cats inside. The two males are intact, but the female has been spayed. We do spend time with them, petting and socializing (with varying degrees of success). I discussed this yesterday with the vet (who is very familiar with the previous owner), and he recommended we just continue what we’re doing. One of the feral cats is very old (around 17 - the previous owners lived here for 16 years, and he was a kitten when they moved in). The female is about five or six, and the other male is about a year. We’re happy to feed them, spend time with them, and keep them free of fleas and ticks, but that’s about it — if they show up with a life-threatening illness or injury, that’ll be it, I’m afraid. I explained that to the previous owner when we agreed to keep feeding them.

[Sequoia32]

You're doing the right thing. They're too feral to be brought in. Getting flea meds on them is a huge bonus.

Too bad the males are intact but at least the female is fixed. Hopefully there are no other females around for them to impregnate.

You're giving them the best life possible. I think you have it all exactly right.

[Foggy]

She was SENT to take over your LIFE.

She's so young, she's going to imprint on you and think you're her real parents, isn't she? That is just so darned cute.

This is like a reality Tee Vee show, except I wouldn't know because I never watch Tee Vee and ESPECIALLY NOT REALITY TEE VEE.



You have fallen under her power, so welcome to the club and may god have mercy on your eternal soul. I think, after more than 65 years of focused study and iron discipline, I have ascended to the level where there are now at least three or four Commands From Cat I Do Not Obey.

Well, at least two, anyway. Every day is a work in progress. Still working toward that 30-day chip.

[Volkonski]

[northland10]

northland10, thanks for the laugh! Dogs and cats are sooo different! Love them both.

The same creator did a jumping one. Eventually, the cat said, screw this, and walked through the middle of the TP barrier.

[poplove]

Mystery solved.

[Maybenaut]

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[Tiredretiredlawyer]

[Phoenix520]

It’s amazing how fast kittens heal when they get the care they need (bless you, Sequoia ). Next time you’re scrolling through YouTube check out TinyKittens.com. They’re doing some great work in Canada documenting the feral colonies they serve - the illnesses, blood types, and the relative ease with which some of them become house cats once exposed to a loving environment. The have a 24/7 kitten cam; its a great resource for kitten raisers.

Stormy

[Estiveo]

Stormy!

And her li'l pink toe beans!

[Sequoia32]

Stormy's so cute, sleeping on her back with her feets up.

[Maybenaut]

I’m sorry. I can’t help it. She’s so cute.

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[AndyinPA]

[Estiveo]

[Kendra]

[Sequoia32]

Such a sweet face! And her eyes show great improvement!

But keep up the meds for at least 7-10 days...

[Maybenaut]

Such a sweet face! And her eyes show great improvement!

But keep up the meds for at least 7-10 days...

Will do. And she’s been sneezing - started today. If she’s not better in a few days we’ll take her back in.

[Sequoia32]

I hope she's not getting a URI. We treat it with Doxycycline to start. A few sneezes here or there are OK but if she gets a runny nose or eyes or anything else, best to treat.

Also, ask if she needs a repeat wormer at 10 days. We give Strongid (pyrantel pamoate, Nemex, Pin-X). It kills the adult worms but eggs hatch in a week or so and need to be eliminated.

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medica ... uxbndlbing

Of the nearly 60 million pet cats in the United States, one of the most common is the classic tabby—a coat pattern that features stripes, dots, and swirls and what looks like an M imprinted on the cat’s forehead.

In a study published this week in Nature Communications, scientists report that the genes that set up the tabby pattern are activated in an embryo’s skin cells before the cat’s fur develops. The early skin cells even mimic tabby stripes under the microscope, a discovery never seen before in embryonic cells.

This unique genetic process may be the same mechanism that creates stripes and spots in wild felines, the authors theorize. The word “tabby” derives from al-‘Attābiyya, a quarter in Baghdad that produced a fine, striped silk taffeta in the 16th century. But the stripes themselves likely originate from the domestic cat’s direct ancestor, the striped Near Eastern wildcat.

When Kelly McGowan, a senior scientist on the team, examined the skin cells of embryos that were 25 to 28 days old under the microscope, she noticed that thicker areas of skin were interspersed with thinner areas, creating a temporary color pattern that resembled the tabby coloring of an adult cat.

She was especially surprised to find such a pattern so early in an embryo’s development, long before the presence of hair follicles and pigment, which are the keys to coloring in animals. (Read more about little-known small wildcats.)

► Show Spoiler

To find out how these cells actually make a pattern of stripes on a cat’s body, the team turned to Alan Turing, computer scientist and founder of mathematical biology. In 1952, Turing described a way to explain mathematically how patterns can spontaneously emerge in nature.

Known as reaction-diffusion, his theory predicted that systems could self-organize during development in the presence of molecules (or those produced by genes, in the case of cats)—activators and inhibitors—that move from cell to cell, or diffuse, at different rates. If an inhibitor diffused farther or faster than an activator, then mathematically, the system would sort itself out. In the case of tabby cats, the inhibitor is the gene DKK4, but the activator is unknown.

Turing didn’t know what the activator or inhibitor would be. He didn’t even know if they existed. But 70 years later, the tabby discovery is among a number of others that have proven Turing right.