HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: mayla@irie.ais.org (Doreen Devlin)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Re: Second pet - which sex to choose?
Date: 4 Apr 92 13:14:49 GMT
Article-I.D.: engin.Jch+#D=
Organization: Wild in the Woods.....

In article <12969@bwdls58.bnr.ca> lianne@bwdlh498.bnr.ca (Lianne Raley) writes:
>
>We're still deciding whether to get Cairo neutered (no comments please,
>I'm fully aware of the pros/cons and my responsibilities to unborn 
>kitties). A fixed female would be fine, I know, but what about having
>two males? Can two tomcats live together peacefully, or at least can my
>apartment handle it? 
> 
> ..Lianne..
>

  I myself have two ex-boys..  They get along very well.  While they're not
outside cats, they do get their fair share of exercise running around our
place (currently a house, in the past, they had small apartment, then a
condo...  with stairs!  Had our friends convined that it was raining all the
time for the 'thunder' caused by the two of them chasing each other..).
  These two gents were introduced to each other at ages 10 months and 7
weeks, so I don't think you'll have a problem with your age difference with
your cats.  We did develop a problem later when the younger cat 'came of
age'...  So we ended up getting them both fixed.  I think you should, just
for the health of your cats, get them both fixed, as for me, it helped with
my two.  


-- 
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+  INTERNET Mayla@irie.ais.org    +|    Come not between the dragon       |
+  GEnie    MAYLA                 +|       and his wrath. -Shakespeare    |
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From: willow@cbnewsd.cb.att.com (cheryl.ann.frech)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Re: How to Weigh a Cat
Keywords: weigh cat
Date: 8 Apr 92 22:07:24 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: AT&T


The method I use to weigh a cat is to weigh myself with the
cat and then just myself and apply a bit of mathmatical
subtraction.  We have a medical scale so it isn't a problem
reading the weight.  If we had to put just our cats on the scale
we would never get the job done.


Squeak  (squeaky toy, squeakums, charcoal dreams, hon, momcat)
Goliath (bigboy, whiner, bully, pretty beast, little one)
Sampson (arnold swartzenkitty, chipmunk, little one)
Daniel  (little girl, little one)
 and Cheryl Frech

PS  The three kids will also answer to Squeaks name since many
time I call her to give her a treat or play with her and they
associate her name with food and fun.
From: kate@nrc.com (kathi samec)
Subject: Re: Well!  I'll be darned...
Organization: Network Research Corp, Oxnard, CA
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 1992 16:31:30 GMT

In article <1992Apr6.193226.5686@dg-rtp.dg.com> poirier@ellerbe.rtp.dg.com (Charles Poirier) writes:
>In article <1992Apr2.221107.13325@cbnewsm.cb.att.com> tjr@cbnewsm.cb.att.com (theodore.j.roycraft) writes:
>
>If the smell of cat fur made my cats crazy, I'd feel worried.  But rabbits
>are not cats.  Rabbits are the long-eared rat-like vermin that eat my
Rabbits are NOT anything like a rat(rodent,vermin) They are lagomorphs and
very intelligent little creatures. They are almost better than cats sometimes.
-- 
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Kathi Samec     Network Research Corporation   - It's a cold bowl of chili
kate@nrc.com    2380 N Rose Ave                  when love lets you down
                Oxnard, Ca. 93030                         - Neil
From: klier@iscsvax.uni.edu
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Re: Terrified Kitty
Date: 9 Apr 92 19:30:20 -0500
Organization: University of Northern Iowa

thuyan@brahms.udel.edu (Thuy-An Hartman) writes:
> 
> So, we decided to keep this kitty.  And the problems arose:
> 1. She hates other animals, including the 2 cats and my husky.
> 
> 2. She is now about 2 and no one wants to adopt a cat vs. a kitten
> 
> 3. She is MISERABLE
> 
> So, I am trying to figure out what to do.  I do not want to take
> her to the SPCA.  I figure miserable and alive is better than dead.
> 
> She loves people, especially my husband.  She "HUGS" people (puts her
> paws on either side of your face and hugs you).  I love her to death,
> but think it is unfair for her to be living in terror.

Call your SPCA and your elder-council and see if there is a local program
to help senior citizens adopt pets (I think Purina sponsors it).  Your
fraidy-cat sounds like she'd make a great cat for an older person, especially
if she's well-mannered.  Several of my "rehabbed cats" have gone to
older people, to the delight of everyone involved...

If there is no formal program, you might try putting up notices in the
senior centers.  Seems like most people with kids want kittens, but
many of us who have had lots of kittens now prefer to adopt mature cats...

Good luck to you all...

Kay Klier   
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
From: anne@cs.UAlberta.CA (Anne J.R. Nield)
Subject: Re: comforting cats in car? Hi! I'm new to this group and would like to introduce my two cats, Sox
Organization: University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1992 15:48:43 GMT

I always keep my cats in a carrier when going ANYWHERE by
any method (used to take the streetcar to the vet in Toronto!).
This is just because I'M a scaredy cat and am afraid of what
might happen if they were loose.  One cat used to settle in to
his carrier quite happily and go into mini-hibernation.  My
current two object for a while and then give up.  I used to
have a Siamese that I inherited from a travelling salesman
(really!) who would stretch out on the top of the seat behind
the driver's head for the entire trip.  Quite safe in OUR car,
but some of the other people on the road almost ran into things
while they were staring at him!!

I've seen too many cases where cats "hide" under the brake
pedal or dig their claws into the driver or escape out the
door, PLUS I am usually travelling alone.  If your two seem
happy and non-hyper on your lap - great.  I think if they
were in the carrier long enough though (i.e., long distance
trip) they would eventually settle down and view it as
"their" turf and feel more secure there.  I hope you DO have
a leash of some kind, so they don't "bolt" when the door
opens.  I saw a kitten run right across a six lane road
once outside the vet's office.

I saw a picture in the paper here recently of a woman walking
her dog -- on a leash -- and her cat in a backpack on her chest.
They all looked quite relaxed and happy -- depends what everyone
is used to!

Anne

Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
From: greg@rio.Columbia.NCR.COM (Greg Porr)
Subject: Kitty Massage
Originator: greg@rio
Organization: NCR Corp, E&M-Columbia, Columbia, SC
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 92 13:28:20 GMT


Has anyone else ever tried massaging their cat?  The latest issue of
Cat Fancy has an article about it.

I tried it on Bailey last night for about half an hour, and he loved it.
He became so relaxed that I thought he might have been in a coma!

I'd recommend reading the article before trying it on your own, since
you can't be as forceful as you would with another person.

-- Greg Porr
   (greg@rio.ColumbiaSC.NCR.COM)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
From: pauls@tellabs.com (Paul Silver)
Subject: Re: Thumper
Organization: Tellabs, Inc., Lisle, IL
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 22:24:54 GMT

In article <1992Apr8.194931.11028@linus.mitre.org> ljkess@mdf.mitre.org (Laurie Kessler) writes:
>Hi!  I was hoping to get some net-wisdom on this issue. 
>
>One of my girls (siamese) is exhibiting some unusual behavior.  That is, every once in
>awhile, when she cleans one of her back paws, she'll start "thumping" that paw on the
>floor.
[...]

*---------*

My cat does this too, only she thumps it against the walls, against the
garbage can, against me, etc.  It seems to occur when she has her
night time crazies.  She gets that look in her eyes, gets all nervous,
thumps her back foot, and takes off running.

-- 
   "Life is inhuman when you are too old to be young." -Bill Nelson
   --------------------------------------------------------------------
  /       Paul Silver          /         Dischord Records            /
 /     pauls@tellabs.com      /    putting the D.C. in harDCore     /
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
   All opinions expressed are strictly my own, unless I stole them.
From: gibson@dl5000.bc.edu (Rene Gibson)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Re: Posessed Cat?  Or just frazzed owner?
Date: 16 Apr 92 13:13:06 GMT
Organization: Institute for Space Research, Boston College


In article <1992Apr14.142512.6350@bsu-ucs.uucp> 00darentfrow@bsu-ucs.uucp writes:


>	   I have an interesting question.  As of late, Nastassya has been
>   having more human characteristics than ever before.  She does things like;
>   Trash the desks of my roommate and I if she is not fed on time, bites my
>   roommates leg if her SO comes over, and (my favorite) finds new and
>   creative ways to wake me if I ignore my alarm.

My 2 used to trash my apartment if I wasn't home on time.  Now my schedule is
erratic enough that they're not sure when "on time" is, so they stopped 
wrecking the place.

>	   This is the first cat I have ever owned.  Is it normal for cats 
>   to 'talk back' to you when they are upset with you?

YES!!!

>	   I also heard a rumor that cats take the personality of the person
>   they were named after and/or their owners.  I named my cat after Nastassya
>   Filippovna from Dosteyevsky's _The Idiot_.  If you ever read the novel,
>   my cat being a mega-bitch doesn't seem too unlikely.

Sheba does think she's the Queen of Sheba (pulls this off quite nicely, too).
Kinda was named for an episode of Dr. Who where these child-like people were
called Kinda.  She is DEFINITELY child-like.  She never even learned to meow
like a normal cat: she still sounds like a kitten, sort of like a cat whose
voice never changed.

Rene
--

-rene <gibson@dl5000.bc.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
From: i1neal@exnet.iastate.edu (Neal Rauhauser -- )
Subject: High Security Kitty
Keywords: free cat, you haul, NO RETURNS!
Reply-To: i1neal@exnet.iastate.edu (Neal Rauhauser -- )
Organization: Iowa State University Extension
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 1992 17:35:09 GMT


see kitty
nibbling on the mouse cord
and disconnecting the monitor cable
see kitty
turn the keyboard lock key
to the lock position
see kitty
borrow the keyboard keys
from their usual spot
in the machine
and transport them
to the missing screw graveyard
a place unknown to mortal man
see Neal
coming home with a new client
for a demonstration
see Neal turn the computer on
see the 'Keyboard Locked' message
see Neal look for the key
and instantly know
who the culprit is
hear the howls of frustration
see the computer consultant
foaming at the mouth
see the fearful client
making a dash for the door

*Much later*

see Neal
hes smiling again
and holding
kitty's medical record
its almost time for
another rabies vaccination
we LOVE taking kitty 
to the vet
--
  Neal i1neal@exnet.iastate.edu
From: king@cbnewsk.cb.att.com (joyce.l.king)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Re: At what age is kittens personality obvious?
Summary: personalities started becoming obvious at 4-5 weeks
Date: 6 Apr 92 18:37:00 GMT
Organization: AT&T

When Mama Stray blessed us with a litter last fall we could see 
personality differences as early as 4 weeks.  Charlie kitten was
slow to warm up to new situations, Calico kitten was into EVERY-
THING, Junior kitten was kind of independent until he got sleepy,
Trixi kitten was the smartest and quickest to start new things,
and Bossy kitten lived up to his name.  Since all five kittens were
placed with coworkers (you *DO* want a kitten, right?) I've been
close to them and they've pretty much stayed true to the personalities
they exhibited early.  Calico kitten is a problem kitty, scratching,
waking up her owner.  Charlie kitten is afraid of strangers and new
furniture.  Trixi's owner brags about how smart she is.  Junior's owner
doesn't get any loving until late at night.

Trouble is, we had to be around them a lot to see the personality
differences.  Plan on spending as much time as possible with them so
you can really observe them at different times.



-- 
                       Joyce Andrews King
From: delisle@fornax.phy.ulaval.ca (Sonya Delisle)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Weighing cats (was Re: Kitty toys from nature)
Date: 10 Apr 92 02:55:58 GMT
Organization: Universite Laval, Ste-Foy, Quebec (Canada)

In article <1992Apr08.153711.13682@demon.co.uk> Philip Coombes <coombes@tcom.stc.co.uk> writes:
>
> [much deleted]
>
>ps. Everyone ( esp. in food thread ) seems to know how heavy their cats are, 
>my question is : How can you tell ??, our two haven't been to the vet since
>the 'cruellest cut' when they were smaller, they are too big for the kitchen
>scales now, but don't register very clearly on the bathroom scales, so how do
>you weigh a cat???
>
>
>Phil C. & the Monsters of Minge

Easy: weigh yourself, than weigh yourself with the cat in your
arms. A simple subtraction will give you the cat's weight.

Sonya and Puce.
From: jlevy@cbnewsd.cb.att.com (janet.s.levy)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Sick Kitty Blues
Date: 6 Apr 92 21:19:33 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: AT&T

All my kitties have health problems - I feel like I must
be cursed.  First there's Pumpkin, the 4 year old kitty with
the 4 year old cold.  Actually her illness is part of her normal
life so I shouldn't count her.  But now my youngster, Nokomis,
who I had slated to be spayed this spring, has caught the Pumpkin
disease and can't be operated on until (if ever!) she is healthy and 
now she is coming into her first heat!  Pumpkin could never be
spayed either so I'll be stuck with two sneezy harlots.  The
story is that Pumpkin's immune system can't fight off the virus
she carries, but hopefully Nokie's system will fight it.  All
other cats who have been exposed have either never gotten the
cold or got it and got over it.

The real serious case is my precious BigKitty who is a Maine
Coon type and the sweetest cat in the world (except yours).  He
is 13-14 years old.  He suffered all winter with scabby skin
which was not diagnosed - I flea sprayed three times and we
tried antibiotics and a short stint of steroids.  Now his skin
is healing and I discovered a lump on his toe.  Wednesday they
are going to remove and biopsy the lump (and clean his teeth
while he's under).  I have had three pets die of cancer so I'm
really really nervous.  I'm just writing this because I may need
some moral support shortly but I'm praying for a good report.
I'll let you all know how it goes.

Janet Levy
jsl@ihlpm.ATT.COM
Organization: University of Maine System
Date: Thursday, 16 Apr 1992 23:51:36 EDT
From: Ailsa N.T. Murphy <IO81409@MAINE.MAINE.EDU>
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Re: Blind cat (Getting attached to strays)

if the vet says the cat can do ok as a blind cat, why have it
put down?  why not keep it?
                                   -ailsa

p.s. all my cats were ex-strays, or children of ex-strays.  why
buy a cat when they walk in your back door by themselves?
From: cliff@garnet.berkeley.edu (Cliff Frost)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Re: Ralphin' Kitty
Date: 15 Apr 1992 18:12:56 GMT
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: garnet.berkeley.edu


In article <hersh.703357232@exhume.lcs.mit.edu>, hersh@expo.lcs.mit.edu (Jay Hersh) writes:
|> my 14 year old Phuzz has started doing this in the last 2 years.
|> She tosses up furballs in the summer (I do give her petromalt, this helps)

Periodic throwing up can be a sign of an over-active thyroid (maybe also
an underactive one, I don't know).  This is particularly common in older
cats.  Your vet can do a blood test and find out the thyroid level.

If your cat has an over-active thyroid, taking care of it will make both
you and the cat *much* happier--there are other health problems too much
thyroid will cause (such as fur problems).

There are three types of treatment (that I know of):

1)  Tapazol.  A pill you give your cat regularly (ours is up to two
    pills/day; his thyroid has gotten huge).  It doesn't seem to taste
    bad, our cat has no objections to it wrapped in a little food.

2)  Surgery to remove most of the thyroid.  This is a difficult and
    potentially dangerous operation (especially for an older cat), and it
    is not necessarily effective.  That is, it will reduce the thyroid
    activity, but not necessarily stop the runaway thyroid growth--it
    may only reduce or delay the problem and you'll have to give Tapazol
    anyway.  At the other extreme, you might also end up having to give
    the animal thyroid supplements...

3)  Radioactive Iodine treatment of thyroid.  This is reported to be very
    effective in _solving_ the problem.  The troubles are it is very
    expensive, and it means leaving your cat at the facility where it is
    done for up to two weeks (they have to monitor the cat to make sure
    all the radioactivity is gone before letting it go home).  Leaving a
    cat at a facility where there are other cats can expose it to the
    health problems of the other cats there.  

The Radioactive Iodine treatment is probably not even available in most
areas of the country.  I can attest to the effectiveness of the Tapazol
treatment.  It has made our (somewhere in the range of 14-17 years) old
ex-Street-Fighting-Tom into a new cat.  He's got a nicer coat, he's livelier
and less cranky, and our rug-cleaning problems are much reduced.

	Cliff Frost
	UC Berkeley
From: white@Ingres.COM (Bill White)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Re: Ralphin' Kitty
Date: 17 Apr 92 20:19:58 GMT
Reply-To: white@Ingres.COM (Bill White)
Organization: Ask Computer Systems Inc., Ingres Division, Alameda CA 94501

In article <shrn8INNpej@agate.berkeley.edu> cliff@garnet.berkeley.edu (Cliff Frost) writes:
>
[...]
>
>If your cat has an over-active thyroid, taking care of it will make both
>you and the cat *much* happier--there are other health problems too much
>thyroid will cause (such as fur problems).
>
>There are three types of treatment (that I know of):
[...]
>
>3)  Radioactive Iodine treatment of thyroid.  This is reported to be very
>    effective in _solving_ the problem.  The troubles are it is very
>    expensive, and it means leaving your cat at the facility where it is
>    done for up to two weeks (they have to monitor the cat to make sure
>    all the radioactivity is gone before letting it go home).  Leaving a
>    cat at a facility where there are other cats can expose it to the
>    health problems of the other cats there.  
>
>The Radioactive Iodine treatment is probably not even available in most
>areas of the country.  I can attest to the effectiveness of the Tapazol
>treatment.  It has made our (somewhere in the range of 14-17 years) old
>ex-Street-Fighting-Tom into a new cat.  He's got a nicer coat, he's livelier
>and less cranky, and our rug-cleaning problems are much reduced.
>
>	Cliff Frost
>	UC Berkeley

We had the radioactive iodine treatment done for our 17+ year old cat a
couple of years ago, and I would strongly recommend it to anyone weighing
the 3 alternatives (daily pills, surgery, or this).  There's a clinic in
Santa Cruz CA that was reasonably convenient for us.

Cost was about $700 -- certainly not cheap, but included a week's care, too.
BTW, one of the deciding factors for us was when I learned that a colleague
had had this same treatment done on herself!  She said it was completely
painless.  We thought of it as a week's vacation for the cat.

The cat showed signs of recovery right away (gained weight, seemed more alert,
etc.), but died from an unrelated ailment about 6 months later.

--Bill
From: stnd@gibbs.physics.purdue.edu (Scott N. Dickson)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Re: Quaking cats
Date: 15 Apr 92 01:59:41 GMT
Organization: Purdue Univ. Physics Dept, W.Lafayette, IN

In article <1992Apr14.200048.2989@rsg1.er.usgs.gov> ssnyder@sunai.er.usgs.gov (Steve Snyder) writes:
>Before the Loma Prieta earthquake in October 1989, did anybody notice any 
>unusual behavior in their kitties? Or other animals?



Well, a friend of mine from the area mentioned a few ducks flying
overhead going "Earthquack! Earthquack!".....





:^)
From: hannah@pomponio.ai.sri.com (Marsha Jo Hannah)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Re: Info please... asthmatic cat!
Date: 15 Apr 92 21:32:38 GMT
Distribution: rec.pets.cats
Organization: SRI International, Menlo Park, CA
In-reply-to: lipkin@acuson.com's message of 15 Apr 92 17:08:32 GMT

In article <1992Apr15.170832.23371@acuson.com> lipkin@acuson.com (Betty Lipkin) writes:

   One of my cats, Roger, (my 'favorite', of course) has been coughing
   off and on for a few months.  I've taken him to the vet and
   the diagnosis is that he has asthma.

We have one (shorthair, indoor/outdoor) cat that occasionally starts
wheezing, almost retching, occasionally---it sort of sounds like what
I once heard called a "hairball cough".  Of course, he'll never do it
for the vet.  The really interesting thing is that, after we worm this
cat, the cough goes away for several months!  The vet looked quite
skeptical when I told him this, but we've gone thru 3 or 4 cycles of
it, and worming always "cures" it.  Anybody else ever run into this?

Marsha Jo Hannah
La Honda, CA
From: lipkin@acuson.com (Betty Lipkin)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Info please... asthmatic cat!
Summary: would like info on asthma in cats
Keywords: asthma
Date: 15 Apr 92 17:08:32 GMT
Distribution: rec.pets.cats
Organization: Acuson; Mountain View, California

One of my cats, Roger, (my 'favorite', of course) has been coughing
off and on for a few months.  I've taken him to the vet and
the diagnosis is that he has asthma.  He gets medicated twice
a day...

My next vet appointment is for the 25th, but I've been coming
up with all kinds of thoughts, questions, etc.  Things like:
will being asthmatic negatively impact his life span?  Is
it possible that there may have been changes in his
surroundings that are irritating his asthma?  And the list
goes on...

Anyone have any info/insight into how to make life easier for
Roger?

betty
-- 
===============================================================================
Betty R. Lipkin 415-694-5011		|Opinions?  What's an opinion?
  lipkin@acuson.com, sun!sono!lipkin	|
ACUSON, Mountain View, CA 		|	... and meowR to you all!
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
From: hannah@pomponio.ai.sri.com (Marsha Jo Hannah)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Re: comforting cats in car
Date: 15 Apr 92 18:45:34 GMT
Organization: SRI International, Menlo Park, CA
In-reply-to: jdieter@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu's message of 15 Apr 92 15:49:29 GMT

We usually have our cats in a cage or carrier when they're in the car
(which usually means on the way to the vet's), because my husband once
had a hand-held cat escape from him as he got out of the car in the
vet's parking lot.  This led to a lot of crawling around in bushes,
coaxing the frightened cat, lest it run out into traffic.  On one
occasion, we had one of the cats get out of its cage in the car.  Take
my word for it, it's great fun driving down a busy freeway with a
terrified cat sitting on your shoulder, digging in his claws for
traction, and yowling in your ear!  We now wedge a folded piece of
cardboard in the door of the carrier, next to the latch, to make sure
it stays closed.

Our cats used to howl a lot on the way to the vet.  They seemed most
upset by rough roads or lots of cornering (hard to avoid when one
lives in the mountains).  One day, in an attempt to drown them out, I
turned on the radio.  This seemed to fascinate them, and they quieted
down to an occasional soft meow of protest at bumps.  It happened to
be an all-news station, i.e. someone talking all the time; your cat's
tastes may vary.  If your car has a tape deck (or if you have a
portable tape recorder), you might want to determine what type of
music they like at home, and play their favorite songs while in
transit.

Marsha Jo Hannah
La Honda, CA