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RE: Teaching an Old Cat New Things

imtripodsmom — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 21:38:47 GMT

Well, when I had my other two cats, Cleo and Arnie as well as Tripod when she was a kitten, I had a self-waterer and a self-feeder for dry food, and I gave them the canned food on a plate so they could eat together. But that was 14 years ago; I don't think Tripod remembers. Whenever I clean her double diner, I put her dry food on a small plate, but she won't eat off the plate. She really seems to prefer her double diner. Thanks for the idea, though. But I have thought of raising her double diner to make it easier for her to eat due to her age. I just don't have anything at the moment to put her diner on.

RE: Teaching an Old Cat New Things

Cynthiaa89 — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 17:00:47 GMT

The plate idea worked great for me. My cat is a hog and she was just eating the whole clump of the wet food at a time, we started spreading it out thinly on the plate, and she hasn't thrown up since.

RE: Teaching an Old Cat New Things

tiggerwiewel — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 07:19:49 GMT

Just curious but did you ever try relieving the eating too fast bit so she does not throwup. Try feeding her on a plate. Cats have to slow down to eat off a plate therefore, not taking in too much air that makes them upchuck. It worked for my cat. No more throwing up when eating off a plate.

RE: Teaching an Old Cat New Things

imtripodsmom — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:58:09 GMT

Unfortunately, it turned out to be a one time thing. I never make the box a punishment place. I had to clean up the rug after her yesterday--she horsed down too much dry food too fast. Oh, well.

RE: Teaching an Old Cat New Things

Kenogirl — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:39:06 GMT

Way to go Tripod!

But, as Evendozen said, the litterbox must never be used as a disciple tool, otherwise the cat may very well associate it with a negative experience, because this could cause the cat to stop using it. The catbox is not a discipline tool.

On a lighter note, my ex-husband had a rather weak stomach, and Nannette, Hogni and Zorro seemed to know it, because it seemed as if they deliberately chose to retch directly in front of him. I don't know how many times I heard "You'd better get in here and clean up this mess before there's two messes in here!"

RE: Teaching an Old Cat New Things

evendozen — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 12:23:04 GMT

Yay for Tripod! - and for you!

When we had a momma cat she had a bout of puking and she did actually do it in the litterbox. It was disturbing at first because I didn't see or hear her do it, i just saw the stuff in the box and was alarmed that actual kibble was coming through without being digested I got a clue in a minute, of course, but I thought it was very kind of her to do it in the box.

A bit of caution for others: - you must never allow anything associated with the litter box to be a negative experience or you may cause problems associated with the box - like not using it. What Tripod's mom did worked - just placing the cat in the box - but a cat should never be trapped in the box or scolded and then put in the box or anything else that might be offensive to kitty.

RE: Teaching an Old Cat New Things

amdla2000 — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 11:37:18 GMT

Maybe I will try bringing my long haired girls to the litterbox when I hear them retching. Sure would be better than cleaning up the hairballs.
amdla

RE: Teaching an Old Cat New Things

slegned — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 06:44:40 GMT

Good for her! Sometimes it does take a cat a little while to learn. Sounds like she'll be ok.

At our house my 2 1/2 year old Marshmallow has finally learned how to climb to the top of the 8' cat tree by herself. The other day she was meowing for my attention, then I found her very proudly sitting on the top of the cat tree purring. Due to an early kitten injury to her left rear leg (at the hand of the original owner) she has had a very hard time jumping and climbing. Gave her "good girl" praise and ear and tummy scratches for this achievement.

Teaching an Old Cat New Things

imtripodsmom — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 22:46:10 GMT

From time to time, my cat Tripod throws up, usually food, either because her tummy is upset/hairball, or she ate too fast. Because our apartment has light colored carpet, plus the fact nobody likes to have "floor muffins" all over the place, if there's any way to keep her from dirtying the carpet, I try it. So for the last few years, whenever I hear her heaving, I grab her and plop her into the litterbox. I have had the experience of having to chase down a reluctant Tripod who is continuing to spew all over the place. And I have also had her spew on me.

But today, a wonder occurred--I was in my room, and heard the familiar heaving sounds. Anxious to prevent another carpet stain, I looked to see where Tripod was--she was in her litterbox in the bathroom! She'd heaved in the box, though some had been caught by the overhanging portion of the box liner. But there was none on the floor--all in the box and liner! I cleaned up the portion in the liner, and scooped litter over what was in the box. I told Tripod she was a "funny girl".

So, what do you all think? Did Tripod finally figure out that if she's gonna ralph, she'd better be in the box, or it was a coincidence? As long as I've had her, I've seen her figure things out by herself with some things taking longer than others. I wish I'd had a video camera from the time I got her and recorded all her moments--that would be quite a tape!

Recently I got her some treats, and Tripod has this thing of choosing which packet of treats she wants first. I put the pouches of treats down in front of her, and ask her which one she wants, while tapping each packet lightly with my finger. She sniffs the packets, and facemarks the one she wants. I tried getting pictures of her doing this, but I couldn't get them to up;oad from my camera. In order to save the battery, I had to remove it from my camera and thus lost the pictures.

Hopefully, I can get another opportunity to not only get a picture of her choosing her treats, but maybe even a mini movie of her washing her face "one-handed".