Duchess SMELLS better, at any rate

[cjsmith]

Duchess has had, drumroll please, a BATH. She was not exactly pleased, but she cooperated well enough and I got her cleaned up quickly. I rushed it a bit because she was panting (bad kittymom! wrong water temp!). She and I are both lucky this wasn't a flea bath. I could leave her head completely dry.

Then I sat and watched (and combed) her while she dried out a bit. I wasn't about to let her climb right back into a litterbox with wet feet, not after digging out what I dug out from under her toesies.

After a bit of combing and towel-fluffing she began to groom herself. It was wonderful to see. First time she's shown any interest in that in days.

She still misses the box, at least the little one in the bathroom, but maybe it's not her fault: the box isn't quite as long as she is. She's got a big frame. So now she's out of the bathroom and she can use the big mondo box again.

Time to go crush up her meds. [edit: She doesn't want wet food! Grump.]

Comments

[sunnydale47.livejournal.com]

=big sigh of relief=

I'm so glad Duchess seems to be okay! I think you're probably right about why she's missing the box -- I have to use one that's fully enclosed because Val is so big that he used to do that too. He thought he was in the box ... after all, all four feet were in the box. He had no idea his rear end was hanging out in space ... over the floor!

I recently noticed that he clears the litter out of his toes on his way out of the box. As much as I tease him for being a doofus, he's really a very smart cat. When he turns around to the entrance to come out of the box, he stops to scrape his front paws on the edge before jumping out. Of course that makes it all come down on the outside, so I'm constantly sweeping it up, but I'd rather do that than have his paws full of litter from digging to cover things up.

I'll tell Val that Duchess is doing well -- he'll be glad to hear it! :-)

[dizzdvl.livejournal.com]

My cat was doing that too, so I bought one of those underbed containers and put the litter box in that and put a thin layer of litter in that. It's only about 3 inches bigger than the litter box, so she can't exclusively go in the underbed thingie. And I wish my cat was as smart as your with the paw scraping. I ended up buying one of those bristle welcome mats and it gets off most of the litter. (Stupid litter. I hate liter.)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

We had a two-tier system like that for a long time. We may go back to it. I like the welcome mat idea!

[sunnydale47.livejournal.com]

That's a great idea! But the enclosed box works really well, and Val has been using it all his life. It's just a plain box, like this one (http://www.kittenkaboodle.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Session_ID=44A89B9100031D10000043A800000000&Screen=PROD&Product_Code=CP72&Category_Code=Cat-Litter-Box). To fit in he has to stick his head and shoulders out of the entrance while he goes, but that's okay -- he likes to have people around when he goes, so he doesn't mind the lack of privacy. ;-)

We recently got one of these domed litter boxes (http://furlongspetsupply.com/booda_dome_clean_step_litter_box.htm) to clean their feet on their way out, but Val won't use it. Friday likes it, though, and the ridges do seem to get some of the litter off his paws before he tracks it all over the house.

More recently I did think of getting a bristle doormat but I was afraid they wouldn't like walking on it and would decide to just go somewhere else!

[shadopanther.livejournal.com]

We have 2 Booda dome (http://www.petco.com/Shop/petco_Product_R_1654_Nav_1_N_0_Ntt_Booda%20dome_sku_823422_familyID_9965.aspx) litter boxes here, but neither one is the kind with the ramp. ...We then have rubber kitty anti-litter mats in front. One is shaped like a cat's face with rubber nubs kind of like a small version of a rubber nubbed door mat, the other is more like a ramp with raised bars only without much height. The mats seem to help with getting the litter off the feet... but some is still tracked further around the house.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

She's a big girl. I want to get her an enclosed box too, but they don't make enclosed ones the size I want!

That's very smart of Val to clean his feet that way!

I'm a little worried that she didn't touch the food, but what the heck, I can be stern and stubborn. I just pitched her into a room with the bowl and I'm not going to let her out until she eats some. Heartless, that's me.

[sunnydale47.livejournal.com]

Loving kittymom, that's you.

I hope she starts to eat. The bath probably just threw her off a little. Val hasn't had a bath since he got into the marshmallow bag when he was a kitten (that's quite a story!), and I don't think Friday has ever had one -- at least not since he was 11 weeks old.

I'll keep watching for Duchess updates!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

She nibbled a bit, but wasn't interested in kibble this morning either. I wonder if the meds are doing something weird to her appetite.

[firecat]

my cat angus is 23 pounds and he loves his new enclosed box. it's pretty big. bought it at san mateo feed and pet supply.

i'm glad she's feeling better.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oo, I'll check out that store & see if they have larger enclosed ones than I've seen at the local places. Thanks.