I don't know about cats' meowing/howling but let me say that my mum's dog, Anoushka, is barking much more now, in her old years, than before. She is also constantly in our way, following us everywhere, like she couldn't stand to stay for a second on her own. She wasn't like that before.
Go figure... Any pet psychologist on the Org?..

Anyway, I don't know if the comparison [cat-dog] can be made, but pets are pets I guess.

JasmineFire said:

Yeah I can see that. My friends cat doesn't mind being picked up at all. It annoys me tho because she will never just jump up onto the couch onto your lap..or very rarely does, so when she wants to chill out with you your forced to pick her up The only time she will jump up onto the couch is when she goes onto the top of the couch, I might have a photo here to show you



otherwise she will never just jump up to sit on your lap

psychodelicide said:

One good sign of kidney issues is to look inside their ear, if it has a yellowish tinge they have a kidney-related problem almost for sure.

Our cat was drinking loads and peeing all the time. Also she kept on having accidents so we took her to the vet and they did loads of tests and found that she had crystals in her urine which were giving her loads of pain, poor thing. Fortunately, the whole thing was cured with prescription dry food which she must have forever.

She's only 7 and is much happier now, although she is still drinking loads. I agree with everyone else, it does sound like kidneys. My Mum's cat had that from around 11 and went on quite happily until 18. She had a special diet I think but I can't remember if she was on meds.

Hope your kitty is ok.

JustErin said:

i back you up on this!

Throw them in the bin when they're that old.

Nikademus said:

Thanks for the tip, I never knew that. My vet didn't even tell me that.

Have any of you ever watched that show on Animal Planet called "Housecat Housecalls?" I found this show by accident a few weeks back when channel surfing, and have been watching it ever since. A cat behaviorist comes to people's houses to help them with their cat's behavior problems. Kind of like the dog trainer Caeser Romero, except this one is with cats.

JasmineFire said:

The reason cats' kidneys concentrate urine better is that their origin is as desert animals, we don't have to change that by giving them wet food. They survived for thousands of years before humans invented wet food.

Here you can read the nutriet content of one science diet wet food, I don't consider that very nutritious: http://www.hillspet.com/h...4441760703 The amounts of wet food that a cat has to eat to equal the nutrition in a daily helping of a good quality dry food is enormous, it only stands to reason that such an amount of water will affect the urination. At the same link you can see how much the daily recommendation is, again if you compare that with the recommended amount of dry food and the contents of protein, fat, carbs etc don't even close to match up. Why is that if it's such good quality wet food? The contents of the same food: Water, Beef, Beef By-Product, Pork By-Products, Pork Liver, Wheat Flour, Corn Starch, Powdered Cellulose, Soybean Oil, Corn Gluten Meal, Rice Flour, Chicken Liver Flavor, Fish Meal, Calcium Sulfate, Guar Gum, Locust Bean Gum, Carrageenan, Calcium Carbonate, Brewers Dried Yeast, Iron Oxide, Iodized Salt, Choline Chloride, Potassium Citrate, Dicalcium Phosphate, DL-Methionine, Taurine, L-Lysine, Potassium Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Zinc Oxide, Ferrous Sulfate, Niacin, Manganous Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin, Biotin, Calcium Iodate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid, Sodium Selenite.
The ones I put in bold type has no nutrious content for cats, it's just filling. It's NOT good cat food.
In the Hill's Prescription diet, here: http://www.hillspet.com/h...4441783041 , water is only the second largest content. That too has a lot of shit in it that cats can't metabolise.

Wellness cat food is considerably better but they even brag about the veggies and berries they put in their food http://www.wellnesspetfoo...cken.html# However, this site fails to present the water content of their wet food.

I will never feed my cats wet food, I'll go BARF way before that.

Teacher said:

I've taken a veterinary nutrition course and am currently in vet school. I'm familiar with all the crap they put in cat food (and dog food) but when you have an old cat who is having significant trouble with dry food, you have to choose between the lesser of two (or more) evils. Wellness is a brand that's better than most and BARF is not a practical option for everyone.

Soaking dry food can be done but I personally have never had success with it and I have never had anyone else have it work for them either. Hills makes decent enough wet food and their percription diets can help to extend and improve the quality of life for many animals.

No commercial brand is ideal, but the same could be said for most of the things the humans eat!

Gawd, I thought this was gonna be about old men Not that that's a great topic

How many kitty moms/dads here have gotten their cats teeth cleaned? My kitties are going on eight years old and I'm thinking of taking them in, but the anesthetic worries me.

applekisses said:

I have had my cats' teeth cleaned. Good thing I did, because 2 out of my 3 cats wound up having to have a tooth pulled, due to broken/diseased teeth. Poor kitties. Anesthesia should not be a problem.

CalhounSq said:

my boy is 12 years old and is allergic to vaccines. He is the one with the lump on his side. I feed him flint river ranch and he doesn't have the crystals in his urine any more. He does need his teeth cleaned again though so does my dog and I am terrified of the anesthesia.

Teacher said:

hey jen