The Chronicles of Samson: Olympic Diver

[ChicknThief]

No, no lint rollers yet haha. I am sure we will need some soon though. Does he look like he will be long coated to you guys? His coat is so very different from his siblings. Very wispy and silky.

He did really great yesterday! Once again, no accidents. And I even caught Jamison snuggling him

He finally can freely admit that he likes Samson. Calls him good boy, plays with him without me twisting his arm etc. Samson hasn't destroyed anything in the house yet, and he leaves my houseplants alone too. (For now).

We have this really plush microfiber blanket on the couch that Samson is just in love with. I am pretty sure it reminds him of his momma. He will lay on it for hours just kneading and sucking on it. It's pretty precious. I hope he keeps it up as an adult becuase it is just so gosh darn cute! And last night I bought him a bed that has the same kind of material on it. Took him a little while to figure out what it was good for, but once he did it was all over. That little fuzball COLLAPSED on that bed and didn't move until I got up to get the camera

It was pretty cute and if he does it again I will try to get pictures. He wasn't just curled up, he was sprawled out, haha.

 

[Gryphon]

I just read through your thread, and have to congratulate you on doing such a great job with a difficult project. Bottle babies aren't easy for regular cat owners, and a first timer like you living with someone who's being unhelpful at best can be very demoralizing. You did an excellent job, and have an adorable kitten.

Here's some things to expect pretty soon: His coat will change from his baby fluff to an adult coat. What that coat will be is a mystery, since there's no telling what the father looked like. He looks like he'll probably be a shorthair though. It's pretty easy to keep the dander down though with frequent brushing, vacuuming, and it looks like you don't have to worry about this one, the occasional bath.

Another thing is around the time that you should neuter him, he's going to turn into a biting butthead. I was starting to wonder what I was doing wrong with my little guy because I knew I was strict on the "no biting humans" rule but he still managed to nail me several times (not deep puncture wounds, just bad enough to hurt)We had to delay neutering him due to low weight (the place we got him from had such a bad flea infestation that he was anemic) so his hormones had started to surge. After neutering he was MUCH better, and able to listen again. Talk to your vet, usually they have a certain weight they are comfortable operating at since sedation can be kinda sketchy.

The next thing he's going to grow is a killer set of claws. Now is the time to get him used to you trimming them. It's really easy to do when you teach them young, especially when he's so used to being handled. How I taught my cat was to catch him at a lazy/sleepy time for him, and massage his paws. He pulled away at first, but eventually he'd get tired of resisting and realize that it actually feels pretty good. Once the claw you want is extended, snip off the tip, making sure you're not too close to the quick of the nail (very easy to see on white-clawed cats, it's that pink zone near the base of the claw). This doesn't hurt him at all, and if he learns to associate it with feeling good, then you should be able to keep up with it his entire life. Even though my cat's claws are clipped, he still scratches of course, since it feels good and stretches his muscles. For that, it's a good idea to get a scratching post that's taller than your cat when he's fully stretched out. What's awesome is a kitty condo, like the one here: http://www.catsplay.com/fur40.jpg That one is a pricey one at $350, but you can do something like that, or just a simple pole. I made my own out of a cardboard tube and sisal rope wound around it, hotglued into place. I'd love to get a condo though, they just LOOK fun.

One last thing that came to mind when reading your post...If your husband freaks out at the noise and mess a kitten makes, he's going to be absolutely miserable to handle if you have a human baby. They can reach eardrum-bursting levels of noise when they want, which is all the time. Every feeding they miraculously burp up 3x the amount of food they've eaten, which will get all over you, your clothes, and your furniture. Think a kitten's poop getting on a tiled floor is a crisis? Wait for a diaper blow out. This doesn't last for just a few weeks, either. This is at minimum a couple of YEARS. Hope he learns to loosen up a LOT more if you two decide to have a baby together, because you'll also be sleep deprived on top of all that, and you'll need a lot more support than you've been getting if you don't want to lose your mind.

 

[ChicknThief]

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YES. That rings a bell. Last night was the worst. I literally got about 5 minutes of sleep because that biting butthead appears to be part cobra. He can now get on and off the bed. And he was being all cuddly before we went to bed for the night, so I figured we would give letting him sleep with us a try. He spent the entire night attacking me and Jamison. I don't know why I didn't just shut him out. Now I know not to try that again until he has been fixed. Luckily, he has an appointment this Thursday. So it won't be too long until my sweet boy is back.



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This is good info. I will start on this asap.



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Yes, this is definitely a concern to me. I have heard that if it's your own kid it's different. That it changes people. That is what I am banking on. Because you are right. If this is the same amount of support I can expect, then I will absolutely go crazy. Luckily, we still have a couple of years before we want to even start considering a baby. Any baby that comes between now and our next house will definitely be an oopsie. And by that time I am hoping that Jamison will loosen up enough to be able to handle it. Believe it or not, he is positively MELLOW compared to when we were first dating. My husband is a delicate balance lol.

 

[Adenium]

My hubby, for his first every litter box cleanout 5 years ago, actually donned dishwashing gloves and a bandanna around his nose and mouth. Not kidding. I wish I had a picture. As we had only been together 6 or 7 months I did worry a little about the future.

These days he is capable of scooping sans protective gear - but mostly just leaves it for me to do. I too hope that his own offspring will inspire a little more effort. He works very hard in the yard, though....if it were up to me we would NOT have turned our gazillion New England stones into multiple retaining walls. But yeah, not really mellow and not really so great around poo.

Kittens seem to be good training wheels, and now we've added the chicks. I wished him a happy Father's Day yesterday, as he is now father to 11 different animal children.

 

[ChicknThief]

Adenium: My dad is the same way about his yard! Every single weekend without fail he is outside doing *something*. When I was a kid he would always get us involved. I have stretched wire fences, built stone retaining walls, cleared brush, helped build a porch, etc. I pretty much hated it at the time, but I'm grateful for it now because not many women that I know can say that they have done those things. (Maybe I'm just not hanging with the right crowd, heh)

Samson had his first little hairball last night. Poor guy. Is there something I can give him to help with those?

Also, his appetite has drastically fallen off. He used to polish off 2 small cans of cat food and a 1/3 cup of dry food every day. Now he only eats a couple bites and is done. Not only is it wasting expensive food, but he is losing weight. I can't help but wonder if he knows he is getting fixed on Thursday and is intentionally trying to get below 2 pounds so he can keep his family jewels.

 

[Adenium]

Aw, the first hairball......

Two things: you can brush him if you haven't already started. Beginning this in kittenhood helps - we have 3 longhairs and sadly we went too long without brushing. Now they sometimes accept it and sometimes don't. I clean a LOT of hair and pick up a LOT of hairballs. Blech. Anyway, the more loose hair you brush off the less available to form those lovely little gifts.

There are also little anti-hairball pastes in a tube that you can get at Petco and the like. I tried a couple and my cats refused them but I've seen other people's cats lick the stuff up. Maybe if you start early it will help.

He's really losing weight? No diarrhea? I'd maybe run that by the vet when he goes in. Poor little dude, but at least it'll be done.

 

[leadwolf1]

Hairball at that age...I wouldn't think so. Could he have eaten something? I would be worried about a blockage...hairball like retching, no apetite and losing weight. Get him to a vet post haste!

Do not wait until Thursday! Call tomorrow or tonight even...

 

[ChicknThief]

It was definitely a hairball. It was a wad of saturated white fur on our floor haha. The blockage thing is a cause for worry though.... He hasn't been going to the litterbox as often.

In fact he is rather backsliding in that area. He has been peeing in corners. It's bad enough that he is spending the day in the bathroom today. Naughty boy.

To be honest. I cannot afford another vet bill until my next check. He isn't getting neutered at a vet. He is being neutered at a local spay and neuter clinic. And that is only if he still weighs at least two pounds.

 

[Adenium]

One of ours, who was very ill with a viral infection in 1 eye and terrible gum disease resulting in multiple surgeries to remove most of the teeth, also seemed to develop a UTI during his stressful kittenhood. He was treated, but had formed the habit of peeing outside the box. If it hurts to pee, the cat can associate the pain with the physical spot....and so avoids it.

Is he drinking enough?

Our didn't stop peeing in corners until we treated him and then also put tiny food bowls in all the corner spots. A vet tech suggested this as they dislike peeing near their food.

I don't remember how old ours were when the hairballs started. Probably older than him, but hey that's a sample size of 4. It is worrisome when they're big and long and I imagine them blocking the intestine. I'd watch to make sure he's still making poops. I hear you on the vet bills - we have spent oodles. We're currently weighing a sedate-and-flush-nasal-passage-and-check-for-polyps procedure for our chronically congested siamese. For several hundred dollars. We can't let her sit as she is, though. Poor snuffling girl.

You can only do what you can do, but I too would be worried about the weight loss and decreased appetite, especially if it's continuing. Is he otherwise acting normal? Others may have much more experience - I've had a couple foster kitties and now our 4, but I'm no kitten expert.

 

[leadwolf1]

If he still isn't eating well and losing weight, I wouldn't take him to be neutered. Those clinics, while cheap and good, do not utilize the normal safety procedures that are available in a vet clinic. They put the cats under by injection and send them home to wake up. He is losing weight, not normal at all, and it would not be in his best interest to have surgery in an already weakened state. He could have a UTI. He could have a blockage...something isn't right. Kittens don't lose weight, they eat and eat and grow and grow.

It was definitely a hairball. It was a wad of saturated white fur on our floor haha. The blockage thing is a cause for worry though.... He hasn't been going to the litterbox as often.

In fact he is rather backsliding in that area. He has been peeing in corners. It's bad enough that he is spending the day in the bathroom today. Naughty boy.

To be honest. I cannot afford another vet bill until my next check. He isn't getting neutered at a vet. He is being neutered at a local spay and neuter clinic. And that is only if he still weighs at least two pounds.