The Chronicles of Samson: Olympic Diver

[ChicknThief]

Aw! Very cute video! Did he climb upstairs by himself?

Yes he did! All by his little self. I can't believe he made it. That would be like one of us climbing a mountain as a toddler! He is going to be ripping around the house and up and down those stairs before I know it.

 

[ChicknThief]

Samson is well on his way to being weaned! As of this morning I have removed the bottle from his life completely. Now the only way he gets formula is by slurping it up off his wet kitten food. And he loves it too! He misses the bottle, but he is adjusting.

This morning I poured a bottle's worth of formula over 1/2 a can of kitten food, and in about 1.5 minutes it was gone! Usually this will last him most of the day. So I decided to put a whole can down for him and see how much he eats by the time I get home. I can't imagine he will eat the whole thing, but this way I have a better idea of what his needs are while I am gone.

I felt so bad last night. I got home from work and Jamison was already home, as per usual. He had opened the bathroom door, but instead of running around and playing like he usually does, Samson was just lying on his towel. I went over to him and he didn't even come over to greet me either. All of this is totally out of the ordinary for him. I couldn't even get him to purr. So naturally I was a little worried. Thought that maybe he was depressed from being alone all day? Anyway, I gave him a bottle (his very last one) to see if that made him feel better. He drank it, but was still just as forlorn. It was awful. And to make it worse I had to put him back in the bathroom because we were going out for the evening. But when we got back he was back to his normal happy self. Bipolar much? Haha

Samson has officially learned to hide. This morning I was late to work because I couldn't find him. One second he was right in front of me in the kitchen, the next he was gone. *Poof!* I looked everywhere. Called for him, tapped the food can, looked in all his usual nooks and crannies. That stinker was nowhere to be found! And then suddenly... He was back in the kitchen. Exactly where I had last seen him. The only thing to give him away was all the dust bunnies on his wet little paws. Samson has discovered that he can fit under the dishwasher.

With my luck he will crawl in there and have a growth spurt.

I will have to get some new pictures of him up soon. He is getting so big! When I brought him home he could fit in the palm of my hand. Now he is at least 4x that big!

 

[leadwolf1]

I just love getting Samson updates!! I can't wait for the new pictures!!

 

[ChicknThief]

Thanks leadwolf!

I'll try to get some good pictures of him tonight. Little stinkers moves so fast he is hard to get pictures of unless he is sleeping.

Well, last night I got him his first "big boy" litter box! It's one of those Booda Boxes that have the dome lids. I don't have the lid on it right now though because I think that would just be too tough for him to figure out just yet. I think the change was a little too sudden though, because he pooped and peed behind the toilet instead.

Ah well, I picked up his little poopers and put them in the box and made him bury them. So hopefully he will figure out that this is his new potty today.

What brand of kitty litter does everyone use? I am using "Worlds Best". I actually really like it. It's a little more pricey, but worth it IMHO. It's made entirely from corn, so it smells really nice. And it completely masks potty odors too.

 

[leadwolf1]

I use fresh step crystals...I love them So, apparently, does my cat. He is now 14 years old and will use no other litter!! If they ever do away with this stuff, I am in deep trouble

I think, if it were me, that I would go back to the little litter pan for a while...then, move the little pan into the bigger pan...finally, progress to getting rid of the little pan. Kitties are strange about their potties. The big one might be too intimidating for the little guy...and, we really, really want to keep him happy so that your DH remains happy

 

[Adenium]

I loved World's Best as a litter. I liked that you could technically flush it, but after a while we got too worried about our septic system so bagged it instead. It IS pricey, though - my compromise was Swheat Scoop which is -surprise!- wheat based. It has very little odor if it's scooped at least daily and my 4 cats share two boxes. Less expensive than World's Best at least in my area.

I liked Feline Pine too but eventually the cats end up stepping on the urine-soaked shavings as the pellets break down. You can shake the box a bit to make the disintegrated pieces move down and get the pellets on top, but it was a pain. The wheat stuff clumps great. They claim low dust but I think that's a bit of a stretch. It bothers me less than the clay-based litters, though - that dust just turned to glue if you used a damp cloth to wipe it, and the chemical smell was overwhelming.

I agree that making small steps with litter is a good plan. And watching him so you can correct if he tries to go elsewhere. When I've switched litters I've mixed 50/50 so it's not totally foreign, and left some "presents" in there so they get the idea.

 

[ChicknThief]

Leadwolf: I have used Fresh Step and others like it in the past, and I find that the chemical smell makes me crazy. That was the main reason I started looking for more natural cat litter.

Adenium: Unfortunately, watching him transition is out of the question, because both Jamison and I work full time during the week. I already threw out his other litterbox (it was one of those 3 dollar disposable ones), but if he hasn't figured out his new one by tonight, I will go buy another one and try the gradual transition.


On another note: I forgot to mention that formula is now a thing of the past for this little guy! For the last week or so I have been giving him kitten pate covered in formula. Yesterday I just put a can down with no formula over it to see if he would eat it. Yup! All gone. So baby boy is now completely weaned! We have moved up to Science Diet Tender Chicken with Gravy for kittens and he loves it. You should see him squishing his little piggie face into his saucer haha. Yea, it's bathtime when I get home, I just know it.

Speaking of which, I do bathe him rather frequently. Every 1-2 days. I know that cat's typically wash themselves, but he hasn't figured it out well enough yet to keep himself truly clean. Will giving him baths longterm be harmful for his skin? I use Greenworks Gentle Dish Soap. I should add that the quality of his fur stands leagues above his littermates. His brothers all have a rough sticky sort of quality to their coats, while Samson is soft and silky. Is this due to the bathing? Or perhaps because he has a different father than his littermates?

 

[Adenium]

Sigh - the joys of working full time when you'd love to be playing with your pets full time.....we are in the same boat. I watched after breakfast knowing their routine, but of course you can't be looking all the time. I'm sure he'll figure it out, especially with some poops in the box already.

So happy he's relishing his real big boy food. Is he getting THAT messy or just a bit of gunk on his face from excited eating? I would worry about skin irritation with too many baths, but we only had to do our kittens a couple times when they were young and ill with coccidia/giardia and making a mess of themselves. We used something the shelter owner gave us that was gentler on their skin. That said, I'm not a vet nor a cat breeder!

 

[ChicknThief]

"Excited Eating" is an understatement. That boy would absorb his food through his pores if it were possible. I have caught him laying in his food dish, wiggling around, and then getting up and eating. It's almost like he is a puppy in a kitten body. And when I say squishing his face into his food bowl, I really do mean in all all senses of the phrase. He will get it almost up to his ears some days haha

 

[Adenium]

At least he's enjoying himself Maybe he just needs a mini spa treatment with a wet washcloth then.

One of my shelter babies is still such a little piggy - I think she never got over the trauma of being so hungry as a kitten. She'd been abandoned and was sick, so what little food she had just came right out. Nothing but skin and bones. To this day, she cries and cries and cries her little heart out in the morning both before breakfast and while we're prepping it...as if she doesn't trust we'll feed her. Then she stuffs herself at her bowl and everyone else's. She is, however, unbelievably adorable. I bet when Samson's a big boy all grown up you'll miss bathing him after his roll in the food bowl!

My husband and I were just reminiscing about our Balinese's bum being small enough to be cleaned with a cotton ball. Something might be wrong with us