Cat lovers life hacks

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by hot diggity, Nov 10, 2015.


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  1. hot diggity

    hot diggity Monkey+++ Site Supporter+++

    I'm a cat man. I've had inside and outside colonies of feral and rescue cats for more than 25 years. In that time I have learned a few tricks that I thought others may find useful, or entertaining.

    I have discovered that the best cat litter for my multi cat household is compressed pine pellets. They make great fuel for Top-Lit Updraft (TLUD) stoves, eliminate litter box odor, and if you buy pine pellet horse bedding instead of Feline Pine you'll feel like you're stealing it.

    Cat's love to bail water out of water bowls. Walking across the kitchen floor in the morning in sock feet and stepping in a puddle of water is not mood enhancing. I've finally come across a bowl that they can't bail water out of. It's a small oil drain container from an auto parts store. It had a screw on lid, which I discarded. It has a large capacity, and the hole in the center, being smaller than the outside edges allows the cats to drink, but not splash the water out of the container.

    Fleas are a part of my world. I can fight them, but they are almost a constant battle. My two biggest problem areas with fleas are in the car and in bed. I can usually grab a flea and hold onto it long enough to brush it off the bed, or put it out a car window, but sometimes they get away. Then I have to wait to grab them all over again. A recent solution has been masking tape. I keep a piece in the car, and near the bed. If I see a flea I stick them to the tape and fold them between two sticky surfaces. Clear tape would be infinitely more satisfying, seeing them trapped inside, but 2" masking tape is getting the job done.

    Using cats instincts against them is a new trick I learned recently while trapping feral cats to get them fixed. Getting a cat in one trap transferred to another trap, or just releasing them has always been a challenge. I have discovered that by covering the trap and showing them light only in the desired direction I can get even stubborn cats to go where I have in mind.

    Have fun with these, and I hope they help my fellow cat lovers.
     
    GOG, chelloveck, 3M-TA3 and 10 others like this.
  2. Wild Trapper

    Wild Trapper Pirate Biker

    Because of allergies, wife's not mine, we don't allow cats in the house. I have a couple and probably feed a whole bunch more, out in my barn. Female is fixed, so no concern about getting over run with kittens.
     
    Altoidfishfins likes this.
  3. Altoidfishfins

    Altoidfishfins Monkey+++ Site Supporter+

    Good tips.

    I'm about 1 1/2 years into an attempt to domesticate a feral cat that was living in a storm drain near where I work. A person of similar cat persuasion trapped her and her 3 kittens. The kittens were adopted off almost immediately. We got mama spayed and vaccinated and she has been an addition to our house ever since.

    Slowly coming around, she's now begun to play, and doesn't always run for cover upon our very sight. The prospect of hidden treats has kept her venturing out from her favorite hiding place. And she regularly sleeps in a cat bed (which she initially rejected) out in the open on top of a little used desk. I admire her stealth and her ability to figure out how to get what she wants without giving up very much.

    She appears to be fairly intelligent. Dumb cats in the wild end up as coyote happy meals, and the parking lot where she was found was infested with them. She's quite the survivalist.
     
    Last edited: Nov 11, 2015
    GOG, 3M-TA3, Mindy Sue and 3 others like this.
  4. Ganado

    Ganado Monkey+++

    We have feral cats all over in my area, I trap, neuter and release. This cuts down on feral cat colonies, but does not eliminate them.

    Love the watering solution @hot diggity !
     
  5. Sand Spyder

    Sand Spyder Monkey

    Cats are awesome. I myself have raised many feral kittens. We had a stray that seemed to have two litters a year, in our garage, and never really took care of them, so I took them in. Thumbs up to a fellow cat lover.
     
    Altoidfishfins likes this.
  6. kellory

    kellory An unemployed Jester, is nobody's fool. Banned

    We're trapping cats and kittens now. Last batch of kitten were adopted out within two days. Working to catch the moms to get them fixed.
     
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  7. Legion489

    Legion489 Rev. 2:19 Banned

    To get rid of fleas, get a pie/cake/whatever pan an inch or two deep and fill half full of water with a does of any liquid dish soap. At night, put a goose necked lamp over it and the fleas jump to the light/heat and fall in the water (the soap traps them) to die. When in bed or car, get some liquid school glue and give the flea a drop and then glue it to paper or whatever. Get a fleas comb abd comb the cats. I use a glass gallon wide mouthed jar and the cats can stand and drink out of it but don't scoop water out or knock it over.
     
    3M-TA3, Altoidfishfins and Ganado like this.
  8. AD1

    AD1 Monkey+++

    Hot

    We take care of 10 out back amd 6 out front and have adopted 8 indoors. All have been TNR'd

    In the last 10 years with all of the foreclosures people were just leaving their cats behind and they end up at our place.



    I feel your "pain" ;)

    The cats and 2 African geese actually helped my wife get through a 10+ year fight with a very bad chronic illness. She had something to live for or else she would not be here today.
     
    Last edited: Nov 11, 2015
  9. TailorMadeHell

    TailorMadeHell Lurking Shadow Creature

    Cat lover life hacks OR Chinese food preparation. [LMAO]
     
    Seawolf1090 likes this.
  10. hot diggity

    hot diggity Monkey+++ Site Supporter+++

    Rescued from between the rear wheels of a truck. :) He's teaching me patience.

    Resized_20170730_162956.
     
  11. Aeason

    Aeason Monkey

    Save your banana peeling and put around the house to help getting rid of fleas. Read this somewhere tried it and it works.
     
    hot diggity likes this.
  12. Seawolf1090

    Seawolf1090 Retired Curmudgeonly IT Monkey Founding Member

    Cats are the ultimate evolution of the snake. Don't believe it?
    Get a cat soaking wet, stretch it out. Look at the long sinewy body, so flexible you'd swear it has no bones. Look at the viperine head, and those fangs! I rest my case.
    Snakes with fur and legs. :eek:
     
  13. Merkun

    Merkun furious dreamer

    Go ahead YOU wet that cat and stretch it. I'll be in the next room. There will be hair, teeth, and eyeballs all over the walls of the room you and the cat are in.
     
    oldawg likes this.
  14. OldDude49

    OldDude49 Just n old guy

    to anyone that owns or keeps a cat.

    BEWARE!

    there is a parasite carried by nearly all felines know as the cat lady parasite... medical info is out there!

    keep that litter box clean! If it sit more then 3 to 5 days that parasite can be present.

    once infected by said parasite it travels to the brain and does 2 things...

    it make you like cats even more... and LOWERS your IQ.

    and can lead to you committing suicide... as so many cat ladies seem to do...
     
  15. Seawolf1090

    Seawolf1090 Retired Curmudgeonly IT Monkey Founding Member

    Nah, my sister had a cat that liked baths. He'd climb in the shower with her. "Football" was an orange tabby, and one of the very rare cats I got along with. He and I were buddies. Normally I am a hardcore dog person.
     
  16. chelloveck

    chelloveck Diabolus Causidicus

    I'm not a cat person...but for those who are.....



     
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