4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Cyber Chook]

Tabitha is going out more, but still likes to use her litter tray regularly. I like World's Best cat litter, because it's biodegradable and you can flush it down the toilet. It's expensive but it lasts ages. Does anyone know where to buy it at a good price?

 

Are there any other flushable cat litter materials that are any good? (and hopefully cheaper)

 

What kind of identity tag do you put on your cat's collars? Tabitha's been microchipped, but I want to put a collar on her as well. Is there any particular kind that's best - a disc or a little brass i.d. tube, or anything else?

 

Any tips on how to get her used to wearing a collar? She's two, and was a stray, and has never worn one - is it too late to start?

 

What do you think about dry food versus wet food? I only give her half a sachet of Felix at each meal time, and make dry 'Complete' food available all the time, as I'd like her to eat only dry food eventually (flies, smell etc of wet food). Is this a good idea?

 

Thank you

 

Caroline

[Joojoo]

Hi Caroline

 

I use Asdas own cat litter I'm afraid for mine. With 6 of them I can't afford to buy the more expensive ones. It usually lasts quite well as my lot all go out apart from Daisy who is a total couch potato and scaredy cat that is frightened of daylight and everything else outside the big bad back door Why don't you try a search on the net and see if you can buy World's Best Cat Litter it in bulk?

 

Mine have always had little discs on their collars but they usually end up losing the collar as I make sure they are the ones that come off easily should they get stuck in a tree or somewhere. I think it's just down to individual choice really which you go for. The ID tubes would work just s well as they screw closed and wouldn't easily come undone.

 

Just take it slowly with the collar. Try her when she is in the house to start with just in case she does try pulling it off. At least that way you have got a chance of finding it and not have to go out and buy another one!!

 

Mine are all fed the same as yours. They have wet food at main meal times but have dry complete food down all the time. I do like them to have a bit of both as I find they tend to need to drink a heck of a lot more if they are on only dry food. Though I'm sure the nutritional value of wet food isn't very much so it's probably more for my benefit that they have a "proper meal" rather than theirs. I can't say I notice a particularly bad smell with the food and it's wolfed down very quickly so there is not a problem with it sitting around for hours waiting for flies to land on it.

 

Hope everything goes really well with Tabitha and you have a long and happy life together.

[tiggerlady]

Hi there! Congratulations on your new puddy tat! We feed ours the sachets/tins..they prefer sachets but it gets a bit expensive with 5!..at breakfast and tea andthey get a bowl of dry at lunchtime. All of ours started off with collars,but only one has it left,he's the one that goes the farthest,so thats prob best.They are all microchipped but the girls dont go much farther than next door so thats good.The cat litter tray is always down..we use woodpellets made from sawdust and compressed i believe. You can get it from Tescos or pets at home.Its very economical really..you can remove solids with tissue paper and flush it and it leaves the tray clean when you empty it(into a carrier then the bin..not flushable as a quantity Im afraid) Hope this helps..

[Cyber Chook]

Can't think of how else to put this, but how does the urine behave on the wood pellets, and the supermarket's own, which I'm guessing is the (excuse the pun) bog standard litter?

[Tessa the Duchess]

I've only used the bog standard grey cat litter. The urine clumps and it is quite easy to remove with a trowel. I've always had collars for my cats, I think it makes it quite clear that the cat has an owner. I wouldn't use the tube type identity things, if somebody unscrewed the tube and took the paper out and then the cat ran off she wouldn't be identifiable any more. I use a small disc with just our phone number on it, never put the cat's name on it. Tabitha probably wont like the collar at first, but they soon get used to it, if the collar has a small bell on it, it makes it easy to hear where the cat is in the garden, also makes it more difficult for the cat to catch wild birds. I agree that dry food is much easier to use than wet food, Google has dry food available at all times. Morning and evening she gets a very small amount of pouch food just for the moisture content really, although I see her drinking all the time.

 

Tessa

[Gem_Seb]

Hi there!

 

Congratualtions on your new arrival! I have always had cats and I use the Catsan litter which is already in a bag, its kind of like a big nappy! its £6 for 2 rolls but i usually find i can use this over a week and a half - 2 weeks, it has a pad in the bottom which draws all moisture into it and the smells.

 

Food wise I feed mine half a pouch each of wet food, Seb loves wet food and will usually finish off jodies as she will just lick the jelly off! They have dry complete food down all day. they have recently got into this habit of only drinking out of a pint glass on my bedside table! i caught them drinking out of my glass one night and realised they had been doing this for a while as their water bowl downstairs never seems to go down!! Weird little things!!

 

Collars mine dont have as they will not go out unless we are with them and then they dont leave the garden! my previous cats have but lostthem every few weeks but agree with what was said before and think it does make a cat look like they have an owner as long as they are the ones that can snap off easy, hence why we bought so many!!

 

Hope this helps! and you have fun getting to know Tabitha! I love cats and think they give you so much back in return! wouldnt be without mine now!!

[tiggerlady]

Cyberchook the urine makes the pellets swell so they become sawdusty.Obviously the solids stay the same..I find it much better than the clay/clumoing type as it just tips straight into a carrier bag,leaving the tray completely empty,although it need s spray with the teatree and w/up liquid antibac I use.The clay stuff seems to just stick to the bottom when it gets wet and seems to smell more Havent ever used catsan so cant comment on that one

[chickencam]

I use Morrisons Value cat litter because mine seem to prefer a litter tray to the garden. I think that they may have been indoor cats before we got them. I have one of those covered litter trays that looks like a pet carrier. It is great it has a filter in the top and a flap door to keep in the smells. We bought it because Ziggy is mad about burying things and she gets litter everywhere. I clean the tray out fully once a week and spray it with Dettox which really gets rid of that lingering urine smell.

 

I feed mine a mix of pouches and dry food. They have a couple of pouches between them during the day when they ask for it, then they have Go-Cat dry food as a treat and we rattle the box to bring them in if we haven't seen them for a while. They then have Iams at night.

 

Mine don't wear collars, we got the quick realease ones for them when we got them but they kept losing them and also Ziggy developed a rash around her neck and scratched loads of her fur out, so we don't use them anymore. They are both micro-chipped.

[Aunty e]

You can buy wheat based cat litter from ebay, in bulk, pretty cheaply - it's what I do when we have kittens on the way. It's about £20, but lasts forever (you will want a shed or something to put it in). It flushes well, and there's no smell. I hate wet cat food with a passion. My mob get to share two sachets between the five of them for an occasional treat, but it gives them all the runs and the farts and it stinks. My vet says that it's just like feeding them macdonalds, so it's a treat in our house, not part of their diet.

 

 

I don't collar any of mine any more, apart from Nero, who is too friendly for his own good. We've had to retrieve him from well-meaning neighbours a couple of times. I found that even the nicest collars left baldy patches on their necks, so have decided not to. Of course, if Evie had been collared, I would have got her body back when she was run over, and I do regret that. None of mine have ever objected to collars though, so I can't help on that front.

[chickencam]

I wish vets would decide which type of food is best for cats

 

My Mum's vet told her that dry cat food was the cause of the chronic constipation in one of her Siamese cats and that cats should have a mixed diet. Another vet in the practice had told her to give them Hills Science diet only whe she first got them.

 

Our vet seems to say the same but a previous vet we went to was always trying to sell us Hills Science diet for previos cat and I am sure it was just because they sold it.

 

I feed mine a mixed diet and they both drink a lot of water, whereas my previous cat didn't. Whiskas pouches smell the worst and do make one of mine a bit windy. We change to whichever pouches are on offer and they get bored if they have the same food all the time.

[Cyber Chook]

I'll probably stick to providing a bowlful of dry food down all the time, and half a pouch of wet food at mealtimes, or maybe in fact morning and evening. I've just bought some Whiskas ,and I agree, it does smell worse, and that's before it's gone through the system. It was on offer. With all the wet food there seems to be a lot of licking up of the gravy first, and then eating the beige lumps throughout the rest of the day.

 

Thanks everyone

 

Caroline

[Aunty e]

We have to work fairly hard to get them to drink enough, but constipation is definately NOT a problem ours have. Maybe it's these sensitive Mau tummies that can't cope with wet food very much.

 

Of course, right now, they're supplementing their bland diet with hundreds of mice and the odd pigeon It will be a miracle if there's any wildlife left soon. I caught them hunting as a pack the other day, Minnie was chasing the pigeons towards Nero and Saffy hiding in a bush. Little monsters.

[chickencam]

I have just been over the lawn with the grass rake after putting the chooks away and noticed a clump of pretty blue feathers on there, blue tit or great tit presumably or someones budgie

 

My cats aren't great hunters, Scamp sticks to butterflies most of the time, she brings them in and releases them in the kitchen They both only catch pretty things though

[dancing cloud]

Glad all is going well with Tabitha. Bet she's one happy cat to have found such a good home!

 

I use world's best and get it from ebay, usually a couple of bags at a time which lasts many months. Thankfully Cleo has now remembered that outside is the best place for the loo, but she had been in the shelter for eight months so it took a little while and world's best definitely came into its own

 

Both Cleo and Puddy are on the tubby side , so get a s"Ooops, word censored!"ing of wet food twice a day and a measured amount of prescription diet dry food. Loki gets as much wet food as he wants (which can be a couple of pouches at a time) and ordinary biscuits - and still prefers their diet biccies .

 

All of mine are chipped and none of them have collars. I only tried putting one on Pud once - never again!

 

Sounds like Tabitha is going to be a very spoiled cat - and jolly good too

[Blackrocksrock]

Covered in litter tray here with compressed pellets - the solids go in thebin and the sawdust left with wee in it = smelling of ammonia goes in the compost bin and helps to break stuff down. Wet food in the morning for mine and dry at nighttime. Natures best dry by hills they love.

[Cyber Chook]

I'll try Her Ladyship with Hill's, then. My neighbour works at a vet's and that's what she gives her cats. One of them's called Moleskin - I think that's so cute

[mostin]

My moggies have always had hills science diet. They love it, and more to the point, it doesn't smell so it doesn't make you when you feed them in the morning .

[Cyber Chook]

Mostin, what's the difference between Science Plan and Nature's Best, do you know? And which company do you get yours from?

 

Caroline

[mostin]

Natures best is a newer posher version, with more organic goodies in in, but typically my moggies turned their noses up at it so I stick to the original science diet food