About our 2 felines

Hi!

I posted a few messages last week, but should have introduced myself first -sorry! My husband and I share our apartment with one older cat and one kitten. I wrote about my kitten's paw problem previously. Thanks again to all who responded. Pet lovers are the kindest people. Our felines are: Calvin, a 12 year old grey and white DLH whom we adopted at the humane society when he was about a year old. He was found at a very busy intersection in Toronto's east end (it's a wonder he didn't get hit by a car). He's very laid back and gentle, accepting of other cats and also loved being our only cat. Calvin has followed us to 5 apartments/houses in 11 years. So far, he's the healthiest animal either of us has ever had - no illnesses, just a minor leg injury when he jumped off a dehumidifier which rolled on the tile floor. (why do these things always happen after hours?!) Our other feline is Katie, the kitten. She is approximately 6 months old and is an orange tabby. The first time I brought her to the vet, they told me that female orange tabbies are relatively rare. Since hearing this, everyone I have told has mentioned knowing one, so please let me know if this is true or not. We adopted her on Christmas Eve, when she was a tiny, very hungry baby. She has a huge personality and we adore her. However, she is very strongwilled which is trying sometimes. Calvin absolutely loves her and the two are almost inseparable except lately because he hates the Elizabethan collar she has to wear since her surgeries. Has anyone seen this before? The kitten likes to lie in the litter box like she's at the beach in Florida or something. I haven't changed the litter type (we use clumping litter). She just started doing it recently. Any advice? Should I just ignore it? Why on earth would she want to do this because cats are such clean animals?

Anyway, I'll leave off here for now. Thank you everyone! T.

Hi T, and welcome to the forum. Would love to see a pic or two of your kitties, they sound lovely.:)
A new behaviour of lying in the litterbox is often (not always) related to health issues...or very high stress levels, and so a cause for concern.
As your kitten is recovering from recent declaw surgery and an infected paw, she definitely wont be feeling well.:sad: If this has started since this procedure, that would account for it, and will likely stop once she is healed and well again.
Yesterdays News would be the best litter for her in these circumstances, but I believe you mentioned in another post that she rejected it.
If you are using a clay clumping, you might want to switch to a natural litter.. some are clumping - to avoid sticking and ingestion worries.

Good luck with your kitten, hope she is improved and better soon.:fingerscr

Welcome to the board! I'd also like to see pics.:)

welcome aboard! when you mentioned a female orange tabby I was surprised as I was also of the understanding that they are rare. Would be interesting to know if that is really true.

sorry i can;t help with the behaviour Qs. I'm a new pet owner too, we got our kitty in February and just had her spayed.

I'd love to see pics too, but have to apologize that I haven't posted pics myself yet b/c i am a technophobe LOL. I have managed to e-mail pics to family but they come out huge and my mom has to view them in sections :laughing: so I am scared to eat up the bandwidth here... :o

Hi All! Thanks for the advice about lying in the litter, Shamrock. Katie seems back to normal since starting the medication and the Epsom salt soaks. She absolutely hates the Elizabethan collar though and that might be what's causing her so much stress and the fact that she can't groom herself much. We take the cone off for a while in the evening to let her clean herself (of course she goes right for the paws and her belly incision which we stop her from doing). After these little cleaning sessions she seems happier. My husband thought of it and I was wondering why the vet or vet nurse didn't tell us about that because it makes a lot of sense. They just said the cone had to be on at all times. From this experience I have learned that there are a lot of things healthcare providers don't think to tell you or just don't realize they need to tell you because they haven't been in your situation and/or they weren't taught about client/patient teaching. I guess this is why this forum and others like it about health conditions and other situations are so popular. Re: pictures. I'll have to ask my husband how to do it because I too am not a techie. Take care. T.

Welcome to the forums