Orange Tabby...He Stays and His Name is Finn (Update with Videos Dec 31)

[Peanutsmomma]

Finn is a force to be reckoned with sort of like Tiny (but in a good way

). I know you are proud of him. I am amazed that they will fight like that after they are neutered. I saw a documentary once on cats and it said that males don't fight after being neutered and that uncut males have the upper hand in the struggle to maintain territory. Ummmmm.... that is totally not what is going on at our house.

 

[speckledhen]

Finn is a force to be reckoned with sort of like Tiny (but in a good way

). I know you are proud of him. I am amazed that they will fight like that after they are neutered. I saw a documentary once on cats and it said that males don't fight after being neutered and that uncut males have the upper hand in the struggle to maintain territory. Ummmmm.... that is totally not what is going on at our house.

Might have something to do with the fact that Finn was neutered after he was a year and a half old. We've officially declared May as his birth month, taking into account the vet's estimate of his age when he came to us. So, he was already mature. The other one could have just been young, certainly not neutered. No one around here does that regularly.

Just like the irresponsible dog owners, cat owners are pretty much the same in most rural areas. The other cat wasn't even wearing so much as a flea collar to show someone cared. Could have lost it, got caught on something, but the odds are, he never had one. Finn has a reflective flea collar, which helped to locate him up that tree yesterday, since he insists that he must not be an inside cat and has been known to cross a road or two. He already lost one-I know that the breakaway collars are most definitely a good thing with cats. If it had been my idea to get a cat, it would spend more time inside, but then again, I do need the rodent population to cringe in fear. He certainly accomplishes that.

 

[Peanutsmomma]

I have had cats all of my adult life and my experience has been unless you make them total inside cats when they are kittens, males are just happier being the inside/outside combo that our guys are. It is the best of both worlds for them although it does heighten their chances of using up their 9 lives more quickly, it gives them that outlet to hunt that they need. My sweet neighbor has 5 indoor cats, 4 males and 1 female and all were adult rescues when they came to her. Every time she goes in and out of the house they try to escape!

Finn has the perfect home with you and Tom. He made the right choice when he adopted y'all.

 

[speckledhen]

I have had cats all of my adult life and my experience has been unless you make them total inside cats when they are kittens, males are just happier being the inside/outside combo that our guys are. It is the best of both worlds for them although it does heighten their chances of using up their 9 lives more quickly, it gives them that outlet to hunt that they need. My sweet neighbor has 5 indoor cats, 4 males and 1 female and all were adult rescues when they came to her. Every time she goes in and out of the house they try to escape!

Finn has the perfect home with you and Tom. He made the right choice when he adopted y'all.

It does bother me that we cannot keep him within the perimeter fence, though he seems to spend most of his time on this property, generally. That's the only issue I have with owning a cat. With a dog, you can contain him easier (though you'd think it was rocket science the way folks seem to let them get away from them all the time). Technically, I don't think of us as Finn's "owners". He owns us. He elected to stay with us so he got the shots and the neutering, which I consider the minimum necessary, so he'd be safer and not keep making little Finns , in addition to his monthly flea & tick treatment. No idea how many Finn babies he made before he got here.

 

[Peanutsmomma]

LOL! Yeah, I am sure he was spreading the love around!

 

[speckledhen]

LOL! Yeah, I am sure he was spreading the love around!

He's inside sleeping in his crocheted bed inside the cardboard box by the hearth, his front end inside and his back end out on the pine floor. He wanted in at 3 a.m. for some reason, scratched on the screen above my headboard.

Nugget's crop refuses to move. It's still big and doughy, even with massage. At least we've managed to push something through because I see some semi solid poop in there. Even the Colace isn't working well, probably because she isn't really drinking enough. We've syringed water into her beak over and over, but I'm positive that the crop is just a sign that her body is quitting.

There is a little ball about the size of a large marble, seems almost perfectly round at the top of her crop area, seems inside her throat. It's very moveable and I have no idea what the heck it is, maybe a tumor of some sort. I'd have to cut her open in that area to investigate after she's gone, though I had no plans to do so before I found that oddity. I will not necropsy those elderly hens as long as I suspect they're just dying of "old age disease". That odd ball in her throat is weird, though.

 

[Teila]

Hey speckledhen

It doesn’t work for all but it has helped me a couple of times now … if she is eating, have you tried sardines in oil?

I have had two girls with sour crop or impacted crop and at the recommendation of a breeder, I tried a feed of sardines in oil which appeared to help move things along .. plus, they loved them so were happy to eat them.

 

[speckledhen]

Hey speckledhen

It doesn’t work for all but it has helped me a couple of times now … if she is eating, have you tried sardines in oil?

I have had two girls with sour crop or impacted crop and at the recommendation of a breeder, I tried a feed of sardines in oil which appeared to help move things along .. plus, they loved them so were happy to eat them.

I doubt she'll eat anything. I defrosted some blueberries and blackberries and though she'll pick them up, she won't eat them. That is very telling. Most of them would come off their deathbeds for a blueberry, as I've mentioned (a few actually have). I have never heard of the sardine thing, can't imagine why it would work, but she wouldn't eat it anyway. Interesting idea, have to see what the basis of it is.

She is out in the yard, walking in excruciatingly slow motion. Her belly is not bloated, just walks like a very old woman.

 

[Teila]

Sorry speckledhen I probably could have given more details.

If they are having crop issues, apparently the softness of the sardines does not add to the issues and the generous coating of oil helps to move things along.

Some sardines in oil and a gentle crop massage after was definitely helpful on the two occasions I have had gals with crop issues.

It is funny how much what our gals like to eat differs … mine would not touch a blueberry; I have a friend whose chickens love grapes and the chicks have fun playing ‘grape football’, again mine were not the slightest bit interested.

Sending heaps of get well soon vibes in Nugget’s direction.

 

[N F C]

@speckledhen , I'm sorry to hear your Nugget is having a rough time. It's so hard to watch the animals we care about ailing. Prayers for you and her both