Do you own a cat?

[Syndrome]

I have two of the fur balls. However one of them was yesterday diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. WTF? How does a cat get lung cancer?

[Yellow_Festiva]

Well, they do have lungs!

More of a dog person myself.

[commodorenutt]

Not saying you'd ever do this, but to answer your last question, there's plenty of cigarette smoking cats on youtube & google image search results...

But that being said, I know of humans who have never smoked, nor really been exposed to smoke, and have died from lung cancer. Yet others like my pack-a-day great grandmother, lived to 99 and died from other causes (but my smoking grandfather only made it to 59).

Cancer is a strange disease - it can strike many places, and many people in different ways. Some have already opened the door to it by their lifestyle, but others who have lived a clean & healthy life still get it. I have 2 aunts in this boat - both died young, well before 40, yet they lived very healthy lifestyles.

It's random, and non-discriminatory in who it chooses.

We lost our 9.5 year old fur-baby to a very aggressive malignant brain tumor nearly 12 months ago. Vet Specialist suggested a $3500 operation (on the same day, after shelling out $2500+ in scans & other work) but said it would give a 10% chance of survival. We were debating what to do when she went into seizures, making the decision for us.

I hope your furball can live the remainder of their life in comfort for as long as possible.

[Spudz27]

We had two cats until 4wks ago. Our 4yr old male was not peeing. $900 later we had to euthanize him. Vet tried to operate and rang to say kindest thing would be to put him down as no way he could get through blockage. As you can imaginr we were devistated and had to tell our 10 and 7yr old. We went there and were with him while he was euthanized. Sucks to pay so much just for that, we had to borrow money as it was because I am a student at present. Thankfully he was insured and I will say insure your pets. We were paid all costs minus the excess and euthanasia fee. Took our 1yr old male a week or two to adapt as they were inseparable and our 4yr old was dev
Big brother. They cuddled together, the 4yr old helped to clean the other etc. Still very sad but better he was euthanized as he would have died at home within a day or two. I am a cat person all day. Our cats are indoor although our 1yr old goes out but he has such insane anxiety that he would never leave our backyard. Only have to sneeze loud and he runs and hides lol. If anyone other than my car or my motorbike come into our driveway he hides.

[XR6WGN]

Sorry for your loss - We've always had dogs and cats together. Whilst I may say that I'm more of a dog person, I do like having a cat around the home too - it makes the days interesting to see what trouble it can get into!

[Spudz27]

We have a dog also. Noticed Jasper tends to always check back in with the dog if he is out the back for reassurance. If our dog wants to come in he comes in also. Our dog although 40-50kg mastiff x is great. He will just sit there while jasper claws him and then look at us as if to say help me. Jasper is probably not quite as friendly as numbers was but he still loves to sleep on us. Numbers however used to always cone in whatever room you were in and he always came to table and sat patiently waiting for a smidge of my lunch or dinner. Whether it be kebab, hj's, kfc, chicken salad, spag bog you get the picture. So that I really do miss. On the flipside jasper is more energetic and loves to play. He will play fetch, roll up foil or paper into a ball, throw it and he brings it back. My og won't even do that hahahahahaha.

[LyleXR8]

Ours got put down a month ago, liver n kidney failure, never drank a drop of alcohol in his life!!

[Spudz27]

sorry to hear that. Liver and kidney failure is common in cats.

[Lunch]

Got 2, the old girl is a moody cow and only let's you near her when she wants it, or if u sneak up on her while she sleeping, she's starting to limp which is sad to see, the young boy is standing on my shoulders atm, he's a nut case, always off talking to himself in the bathroom, has to be under my feet anytime I'm doing something.. They are both unique and wouldn't trade them for $1 mil

[OzJavelin]

Only one cat at the moment .. here he is "singing the song of his people" .. wanting to come in after just being let out two minutes ago.



Other cat died of liver failure last year. She was an indoor, companion cat. Since then OldMate has decided he wants to take that role, so he's becoming more of an indoor cat and wants to be with us more.

We do like dogs, but we both work (i.e. no one home) and although we are on 10 acres, the fencing is designed for horses, not to keep dogs ... so we've decided to not have dogs. The cats are good mouse/rabbit controllers though ..

[buggerlugs]

Yes, we love our pussy..............

[danzvtil]

Humans don't own cats. Cats own humans.

[Syndrome]

Originally Posted by Lunch

Got 2, the old girl is a moody cow and only let's you near her when she wants it, or if u sneak up on her while she sleeping, she's starting to limp which is sad to see, the young boy is standing on my shoulders atm, he's a nut case, always off talking to himself in the bathroom, has to be under my feet anytime I'm doing something.. They are both unique and wouldn't trade them for $1 mil

My female cat is the same. Very temperamental. She is the boss.

My other cat with the lung cancer is a 15 year old male.

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by buggerlugs

Yes, we love our pussy..............

Hmm...

[ford71V8]

Originally Posted by danzvtil

Humans don't own cats. Cats own humans.

We have a sign in our yard that reads:

[STEALTHY]

We have 4.

Had the oldest 2 for 10+ years. One had bladder issues (crystals) which seem to have stopped when we changed from whiskers to royal canin food (if you havn't already, you should too).
I'm not looking forward to when either of these two die, as they've been with me for a long time (the new cats were after i was in a new relationship)

Last year we bought a 1yo from an animal rescue group. Was good for a while, but the kitten kept annoying the older two who just want to sleep all day. So we bought another kitten (when i say kitten, i mean a 1yo) to entertain the now 2yo.

Also if your cats are outdoor cats, please stop. I see too many cats hit by cars and would never let that be a possibility for mine (we built an outdoor run for them so they can come and go as they please. Even has a sandpit they use as a litter)

[.:4:.]

Got a 4 year old domestic short hair in calico. Rescued it when it was found in the wall of a house at 5 weeks old. Got it checked out by the vet and got the ok. The thing couldn't walk at that point and was fed using a children's panadol syringe. Having been inside only her whole life and not having contact with any other cats, lola doesn't even know how fun climbing the curtains of screen doors is. The comes when you yell and goes when told. The silly thing will only drink from a running tap though, won't touch a bowl of water. She also makes a funny noise instead of saying meow, she only meows when stepped on....

[mostly_broncos]

3 Cats here .

The oldest Romeo is an 18 year old male who has recently lost his sight. He spends the day sleeping now mostly on the corner of my bed. I built a little staircase for him when he lost his vision so he could get up and down.

The middle Amber is about 9 years old she came from a shelter I visited looking for my old cat Sully that ran off when some fool left my front door open. Amber fetches paper balls and uses the toilet instead of a litterbox a trick her previous owner taught her.

The youngest Mokie is only 3 and she turned up on my doorstep a week after I had to put our ancient old cat Goldie to sleep .

We didn't know how old Goldie was but she lived at a no kill shelter for over 10 years before I got her and lived with us for 4 before she wound up getting cancer. She was a scary looking old pirate she had double claws everywhere and extra thumbs in front with double claws in those too . She had been hit by a car and never treated , the shelter told me and it left one of her back legs twisted , when she walked her rearend would wander out along side her randomly . She was dumped at the shelter when her owner died and became the unofficial mascot of the place. The vet they sent her to said she wasn't in any pain and they couldn't fix anything at that point. She couldn't run or jump up but she defended the yard like an attack dog. She once killed a 5 foot snake in the back yard and dragged it up to the back door

The oldest cat now is the only one that goes outside and he gets walked about like a dog now that he is blind. We live on a dirt road with no traffic so they could be out but we have been over run with ticks that cause lyme disease lately and its nothing to joke about a few family members have gotten very sick from tick bites recently ,if untreated it can cause lifelong disability

[commodorenutt]

Originally Posted by STEALTHY

Also if your cats are outdoor cats, please stop. I see too many cats hit by cars and would never let that be a possibility for mine (we built an outdoor run for them so they can come and go as they please. Even has a sandpit they use as a litter)

+1

This is exactly why I won't have cats anymore - we live near a busy road, and it's all too easy for them to go wandering, and even if they are an indoor cat, if the yard is not secure, curiosity will eventually lead them to danger.

After seeing how it took a few knocks and close calls in a quiet street for a seal-point to get some road sense, I vowed to never let one suffer in my ownership by my choice of location or circumstance.

I can't stand my neighbours over the back who front onto the main road, and have 2 cats confined to the front yard because they don't get on with their dogs in the backyard. It won't be long before they become road trauma victims.

[.:4:.]

Originally Posted by commodorenutt

+1

This is exactly why I won't have cats anymore - we live near a busy road, and it's all too easy for them to go wandering, and even if they are an indoor cat, if the yard is not secure, curiosity will eventually lead them to danger.

After seeing how it took a few knocks and close calls in a quiet street for a seal-point to get some road sense, I vowed to never let one suffer in my ownership by my choice of location or circumstance.

I can't stand my neighbours over the back who front onto the main road, and have 2 cats confined to the front yard because they don't get on with their dogs in the backyard. It won't be long before they become road trauma victims.

When I was growing up we had 3 cats, all outside inside. The first 2 were not wildlife friendly and became road victims, the third was from the rspca and appreciated being saved so was that territorial that she wouldn't leave the block of land the house was on and paid no attention to birds, they would fly away. Next doors dog on the other hand, if it broke into our yard it got a trip to the vet. We had that cat for 18 years. She was very loyal, but was a bit funny in that, if I threw someone the cat was unfimiliar with my house keys and they entered, she would be biting and scratching in no time, yet if a stranger entered with any family member she would be be straight up on their lap as soon as they sat down. The best part about the cat I have now is she isn't a wildlife or road threat. If ever she bolts out the front door, the first anything she sees makes her brick it and she is straight back

[b0son]

Originally Posted by STEALTHY

We have 4.

Had the oldest 2 for 10+ years. One had bladder issues (crystals) which seem to have stopped when we changed from whiskers to royal canin food (if you havn't already, you should too).

We have three, all rescues. Two (brother and sister) we've had for a year and a half, one of which also had bladder/urethra issues (so much for saving money by avoiding a breeder), but with the right food and a drinking fountain, its all sorted.

Third cat we got on the weekend, 9 weeks old. Seems to be getting on ok with the other two, and is loving exploring the house.

[Mercury Bullet]

Originally Posted by Syndrome

I have two of the fur balls. However one of them was yesterday diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. WTF? How does a cat get lung cancer?

Sorry to hear, it's never easy.

I lost one of my dogs to lung cancer last year.

Hopefully you will still have some quality time, ask your vet how advanced he thinks it is. My dog and I had another 6 months together before I had to relieve her of her pain.

I'm of the belief that cancer is genetic and it just needs something to trigger it.

[Sar4890]

Yes I own 3

[STEALTHY]

Originally Posted by commodorenutt

+1

This is exactly why I won't have cats anymore - we live near a busy road, and it's all too easy for them to go wandering, and even if they are an indoor cat, if the yard is not secure, curiosity will eventually lead them to danger.

Our cat run is on the unused side of the house covered in cat netting. So you could still have cats providing there is a safe place for them to go (ours is accessable by the bathroom window so it can stay open 24/7 for them, or closed if extremey bad weather)

[BPXR6T]

Boo, Socks, and Whingy live here in cat paradise. 5ac of garden in the middle of 1000s of acres of wheat. Mice everywhere for them to chew on. They keep the brown snake numbers under control too. maybe some of the happiest cats on earth...

[Spudz27]

My kids would like another cat. I am not sure. I know jasper won't bother a new cat but just not sure.

[Lunch]

My boy and his idea of playing


My girl not happy cos I moved and woke her up

Both rescue cats

[mwb235]

Originally Posted by buggerlugs

Yes, we love our pussy..............

My cat likes to sleep near (or on) my face in the winter. So it can be said that I love to wake up and smell the pussy, ahem, err, I mean coffee.

[Franco Cozzo]

We feed our cats cut up kangaroo and beef, try not to give them too much of that tinned or dry stuff because its all crapola and they end up having health problems because of it.

I've found that with ours since they've all been fed the roo and beef they have very shiny and soft fur too, maybe placebo effect though

[Spudz27]

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

We feed our cats cut up kangaroo and beef, try not to give them too much of that tinned or dry stuff because its all crapola and they end up having health problems because of it.

I've found that with ours since they've all been fed the roo and beef they have very shiny and soft fur too, maybe placebo effect though

It is the quality of food given. There is quite a bit of canned and dry food which is devoid of all the **** that gets added. I use applaws as the ingredients in the tin are simply tuna, seaweed and fish broth. Or tuna and prawn etc. everything else just says white meat with bi products of pork chicken, then vitamins and taurine. Tell me how tuna cat food can have by products of chicken and pork ffs. The applaws biscuits are also grain free etc. We had jasper on hills zd as he was having reactions to almost everything, however we found the applaws and he has never had a reaction. We also stopped feeding chicken as it is the worst meat for cats with allergies. He gets biscuits morning and a 70gm tin at night. His coat is beautiful condition. Plus his **** doesn't stink as much. Good wuality foods actually reduce the smell.