Cats talk in 'human' with new Meowlingual

Mainichi.co.jp ^ | July 16, 2003

[MotleyGirl70]

Motley (she makes me smile, I love her).

[Lady Jag]

One of our cats falls off of wherever she's sleeping and, clear as day says, "Whoa!"

[MotleyGirl70]

That's a cute name. I like that.

[A_perfect_lady]

Awww... de de de de boo boo boo!! Sorry, kittens reduce me to baby-talk immediately. Even hearing about them. Cat food commercials sometimes bring me to tears.

Well, it sounds like the kitten and your wife are on the right track. The first time my own born-in-the-living-room kittens achieved solid status (ahem) it was pretty funny. The one I actually got to witness happened about 3 days after I'd started them on solid food. The kitten went into a corner, started scratching at the hard wood floor, and the hunkered down and started mewing (poor thing didn't know what was happening to it... that first one probably cramps a little). If you see her do this, scoop her up and put her in the litter box. If you miss the moment, clean it up and then put the litter box where she did it, and put her in it. Cats often return to the same spot over and over. If the litter box is in the spot, they'll go right in.

Sometimes.

I did have one cat who flatly refused to use the box, and I spent 12 years cleaning the basement floor every day. Seriously. I tried everything and nothing worked. I finally had to have her put to sleep when she got very sick, and it broke my heart and I sobbed all day.... but I don't miss hosing down the basement every night.

[honeygrl]

"Do you have any idea of about how long this process takes or how difficult it will be to get the kitten to move on to eating this way? "

I've weaned kittens by 4wks before when they are abandoned. It's usually not hard.. just use water or the formula to soften the food first.

"I'm assuming that there won't be much solid waste until the time that she begins to eat at least semi-solid foods, but could there be a blockage problem? "

It wouldn't hurt to let it have a visit to the vet. You may just be mistaking the bowel movements for urine though when you wipe it's bottom. You need to use a soft wet cloth and wipe at it the same way the mother would lick it until stuff comes out. Once it starts on solid foods, the mother stops doing this though usually.

"Does it sound to you like we're on track for litterbox training? "

Litter training usually isn't very hard. A lot of it is instinct. I would try rubbing their bottom to get things started and them put them in the litter box to finish it. Once they have one little poop in there to smell and see that's where it goes, they usually remember to keep it there. One thing to be careful of though is rubbing their bottom raw. If it looks like it's getting red put some vasoline or something like that on it.

"other thing that bothers me is that, the few times that we've put the little thing into the litterbox, she immediately began trying to eat the litter"

All kittens do that even when mother is around. It's natural for them to try to taste new things in their environment. They usually won't eat enough to do any harm. And if I remember right, the non-clumping litter shouldn't hurt them if they eat a little of it.

You sound like you are doing a great job. Like I said, I've weaned kittens over to soft solid food by 4wks but some can take until 5wks. It wouldn't hurt just to offer it a little soft solid food to see if it will take it yet. Then it'll have firmer bowel movements that you can put into the litterbox so it knows that's where they go. Good luck!

[Twinkie]

I write from the experience of losing a tiny orphan kitten
I inherited some months ago. I got it through to 8 wks old
and it then died from pneumonia. First, it HAS to have
bowel movements or it will harden up inside and die a
painful death from locked bowels. I had that problem
solved. I had to run a sink full of very warm (test by
sticking your wrist in the water) water. Shut the door &
have the bathroom warm. Stick the little thing's bottom
parts legs and all in the warm water & gently massage its
tummy all over. Tuffy would then be stimulated to go in the
water. Dry the kitten thoroughly and then keep it on a bed
consisting of a hot water bottle (not too hot) covered
thoroughly with a towel. I made the mistake of taking
Tuffy off the water bottle bed a week too soon. You must
keep them quite warm as losing their body heat is what
gets them. If I had it to do over, I would have made her
a little sweater out of a thick sock by cutting holes in
it for her legs after she got to where she could be out
of her box a little. ALSO, Tuffy got anemic from the
kitten formula prescribed by the vet. I guess your
formula may possibly have iron in it, but you have to
be careful they don't get iron poisoning although they
get anemic without it. (I have made pet formula that
worked in the past using a little egg yolk, Pet milk,
corn syrup (never honey) and water.) Tuffy nursed a
little baby pet bottle the vet gave me, but I had to cut
the hole a little bigger.

[Kewlhand`tek]

i have an older cat probably 3 years old that likes to pee in other places other than a litter box........cant seem to break her of it.......the bed is her favorite spot to do it. she does use the litter box you just never know when she isnt going to.

[lawgirl]

"you've been in the shower too long and I'm scared",

ROFL!!!!!!!! My cats do this one too!

[hellinahandcart]

"Come OUT already, you're starting to worry me! What is it with you and water? MOMMIE!"

[lawgirl]

LOL! Exactly and those eyes---cats must equate water with battery acid or something. Hilarious.

[gnarledmaw]

I had a 235lb St Bernard that used to say many of the same things only the first phrase was better translated as:

Get your lazy butt out of bed and feed me or I'm going to stand on your face.

[Allegra]

"I have a hairball you're not going to believe, hold on a sec..."

Man, I hate it when they say that!

[bicycle thug]

Who wants a stupid device that translates the Meows of cats? What I want is something that tell me what a woman really means when she says something you have to be a mind reader to understand.

Now that is the sort of invention that would sell like hotcakes.

[honeygrl]

You know, sometimes they'll accidently inhale a little of the formula while eating which can cause pneumonia as well. How sad though to make it so long and then lose it. I've had rescued kittens as young as 2-3wks before. The youngest ones were starved and dehydrated so badly they couldn't run away from me anymore (I'd been trying to catch them near the nest for a week.) Some stupid person that worked with me and knew she had kittens took the mother home and left the kittens. I took home 3 and let 2 coworkers each take home one because they claimed they knew how to care for them. My 3 were the only ones that survived though. I did have 3 other cats that would sleep with them though to keep them warm. They also liked to sleep in hubby's shoes. Here is a pic of one of them:


We took them to a local pet store once they were 7-8wks old to let them adopt them out to someone because they did the whole adoption contract and fee thing and I didn't know anyone who would take good care of them. They had a rough start in life but ended up very healthy by the time I let them go to new homes. My male cat really enjoyed playing mommy for a while too. He was a better mother than my female cats.

[honeygrl]

"i have an older cat probably 3 years old that likes to pee in other places other than a litter box........cant seem to break her of it.......the bed is her favorite spot to do it. she does use the litter box you just never know when she isnt going to. "

I adopted a 2yr old female cat early this year because she had the sweetest temperment and was so pretty. Unfortunately, she refused to use a litterbox at all. She preferred to pee on my clothing, the baby's stuff (like her bassinet), and the couch. She pooped in the shower pretty much everytime she had to poop. It was horrible. Since we rent an apartment, she couldn't stay. I had to take her back to the shelter. I can handle shedding, furballs, and most other things, but I just can't handle poop in my shower and pee on my couch and the baby's stuff. It was too bad though because she was the nicest kitty. She just needed an outdoor home, which we couldn't allow being so near a high traffic road.

[honeygrl]

My 3 cats that I had while living in TN use to gather in the bathroom with me while I took a hot bath every night. One would sit on the edge of the tub to watch over me, the other would sit on the floor beside the tub, and the other would sit right outside the door so she could see me and my hubby in the next room. They had sort of a watch chain going and if I went under the water, they would all start crying to my hubby LOL They did not trust that water one bit.

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

This is reminding me...

If I am in the bathroom, my Miane CoonCat, Jack likes to lie *right in front of the bathroom door*.

Well, I have come to see a pattern when Jack is feeling extra lonely or something, or just wants to be mommas boy, and is needing extra love. In order to slow me down to his liking, he seems to park himself in this spot quite often, maybe to get me to do the
"use-all-means-to-avoid-stepping-on-the-cat-can-kill-him"
dance step

My confinment to the bed for the 3-or so days while nursing my damaged back muscles to health always seems to perk my Jack right back up.

<^..^>

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

*Gasp!* AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.........*thunk*---
(overwhelmed by 'cute', tips over in chair)

[minor49er]

You forgot to mention that you and everything else gets covered in cat spit.

[sweetliberty]

What a cutie....and WHAT a look!