My one kitty that I've not mentioned very much here is my hermit-crab, Maple. She's a big black kitty. Really, big is an understatement. She's 13, almost 14 years old. I'm not sure how she got as fat as she did over the years, when not a single one of my others did.
I want to get her to the vet, but when you pick her up she pees on your if you're lucky. If not, she poops on you, and it's really nasty stuff, not like her normal poop. It's that stuff you hear about when animals get freaked out in the wild type of stuff. She can't clean herself very well, and seriously needs a bath. Another thing I need to pick her up for. And she's heavy, not sure how heavy but well, heavy. She does have a pretty big frame, so under normal circumstances she could easily be 14-15 pounds. I actually got her from a friend in Toronto whose cat had kittens that were born on my birthday. Her mother was a pretty small cat, but she thought the father was a really big cat that was dubbed "Father Black Cat". That was the only way she could be as big-framed as she was.
She got particularly bad after we got Sugar and the kittens. We thought it was just because of the new dog that she decided to never come out of my bedroom (not even for the litter box
) and that that was why she was getting so MUCH fatter. Then I saw her eating dry kitten food. The LAST thing she needed was that. It was on the cat tree on a level that was easy for her to get to from the back of the chair she always laid on after the dogs went to bed. We just moved it to another level - problem solved. We also had to move the regular dry cat food up because our dog was eating it (d'oh!) and now she gets some exercise because she HAS to jump to get to the non-kitten dry food. She actually looks like she might be losing a bit of weight after she lost access to the kitten food, which makes me happy.
This girl is very skittish. For the life of me, I don't know why, but she always has been. Another thing that makes it hard to pick her up. Anyway, she can RUN. I think she gets spooked by her own shadow because I'll hear her running at night. She looks like a cross between a skunk and a racoon the way she moves. But yeah, she can move somehow.
She's a really sweet girl with a loud voice who demands her fair share of petting and then some. She adores me and for the life of me I don't know why, because I feel like I've done wrong by her for letting her get like this.
Does anyone have any tips or experience they can share if they've found themselves in a similar situation? Or know someone that has? I know that ditching the dry food is something that would need to be done. I think it would be easy enough to do that with her - just move it up a bit higher for the moment. But I don't want to do anything too fast either. And yes, I will get that bath going and take her to the vet. I will just have to get up the nerve to get pooped on.
I want to get her to the vet, but when you pick her up she pees on your if you're lucky. If not, she poops on you, and it's really nasty stuff, not like her normal poop. It's that stuff you hear about when animals get freaked out in the wild type of stuff. She can't clean herself very well, and seriously needs a bath. Another thing I need to pick her up for. And she's heavy, not sure how heavy but well, heavy. She does have a pretty big frame, so under normal circumstances she could easily be 14-15 pounds. I actually got her from a friend in Toronto whose cat had kittens that were born on my birthday. Her mother was a pretty small cat, but she thought the father was a really big cat that was dubbed "Father Black Cat". That was the only way she could be as big-framed as she was.
She got particularly bad after we got Sugar and the kittens. We thought it was just because of the new dog that she decided to never come out of my bedroom (not even for the litter box
) and that that was why she was getting so MUCH fatter. Then I saw her eating dry kitten food. The LAST thing she needed was that. It was on the cat tree on a level that was easy for her to get to from the back of the chair she always laid on after the dogs went to bed. We just moved it to another level - problem solved. We also had to move the regular dry cat food up because our dog was eating it (d'oh!) and now she gets some exercise because she HAS to jump to get to the non-kitten dry food. She actually looks like she might be losing a bit of weight after she lost access to the kitten food, which makes me happy.This girl is very skittish. For the life of me, I don't know why, but she always has been. Another thing that makes it hard to pick her up. Anyway, she can RUN. I think she gets spooked by her own shadow because I'll hear her running at night. She looks like a cross between a skunk and a racoon the way she moves. But yeah, she can move somehow.
She's a really sweet girl with a loud voice who demands her fair share of petting and then some. She adores me and for the life of me I don't know why, because I feel like I've done wrong by her for letting her get like this.
Does anyone have any tips or experience they can share if they've found themselves in a similar situation? Or know someone that has? I know that ditching the dry food is something that would need to be done. I think it would be easy enough to do that with her - just move it up a bit higher for the moment. But I don't want to do anything too fast either. And yes, I will get that bath going and take her to the vet. I will just have to get up the nerve to get pooped on.
