I love my cats, but...

[cjsmith]

It must have been Duchess horking last night, because while I was out at dinner Little Girl threw up in the pile of cat toys and just now Jackie let loose all over a brand-new jigsaw puzzle. While I ran to clean that, Jackie also got the hallway in two places and the carpet once. (This leaves about eight more to go for her normal pattern. Most of those will be small.)

I am officially tired of this.

Um, this should go without saying, but please don't give advice unless you know my cats or their environment. If you do, though, I'm listening.

Comments

[perfect-autumn.livejournal.com]

Ahh, cat vomit. How we struggle as well.

Simba vomits almost daily. I'm convinced he's anorexic. The vets have no more suggestions left.

I have nothing useful to say, just um... yeah, me too. Sucks. Good luck.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

What sorts of things did your vet suggest? Mine hasn't been very helpful. I'm switching soon, so maybe I'll get some good info from the next one.

Good luck with Simba. Hope he is like mine seem to be: pukey but otherwise just fine.

[perfect-autumn.livejournal.com]

Yup, he's fine otherwise.

His main issue is he eats too much, too fast. He gets excited and forgets to chew. He'll gobble down a whole bowl of food, unchewed, in like... two minutes. We've gone to several small feedings a day, which a timed auto opening food bowl helps b/c I don't have to be here to feed him every three hours. Switching to all natural and organic foods helped too.

Also, we got rid of all our flowers and got just herbs for the porch, so no more leaf bits on my carpet.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I've looked at those timed food bowls for a long time, but I've never actually taken the plunge. How has it worked for you? Has the mechanism held up well?

We had one of those automatic self-scooping litter boxes once, and that was a complete disaster. The little wire going from the "brains" to the "scoop" kept breaking.

[perfect-autumn.livejournal.com]

Ours is probably one of the more exspensive ones, but we've had it for a few months now and it works perfect. It's got two bowls side by side, and you can set them to anywhere from 1-48 hours. The little clock ticks around and when it clicks to the open spot, the lid just springs open.

It's from Petsafe Training Systems. It takes one double A battery, and while it took the kids a day or two to adjust to it. They have no problems now, and know the little "pop" noise of the lid opening means there's food now.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oh excellent! I wouldn't be surprised if eating too fast is my kitties' problem some of the time. A lot of the time they have hairballs, but occasionally they don't, and those times might be eating too fast. I'm rationing their food; when it hits the bowl they're hungry. This might be something worth trying.

[perfect-autumn.livejournal.com]

They make a few hairball formula foods... have you tried any yet?

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yes; they puke those up a lot faster than the one I'm on. I find that frustrating! Silly cats!

[perfect-autumn.livejournal.com]

How odd.

[simplykimberly.livejournal.com]

Smokey tends to be pukey sometimes.

You know you've gotten kinda laid back about it when one cat pukes, and you have the "oh damn!" reaction, and then another one rushes over and starts to eat it, and you think "oh cool, I won't have to clean it up, at least not all of it!" and then finally, when THAT cat immediately rejects it and you think "oh great ... twice cooked barf ... just what I wanted to clean up!"

This vignette brought to you by Smokey and Scampi, in that order.

And sorry... that was a gross story, I know!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

OH YES! If one of them pukes and it's really not very digested, I tend to wait a few minutes to see who else might be hungry. Disgusting, I know, but it sure is easier to clean up the residue than to clean up the whole pile!

You might enjoy this comic.

[wooddragon.livejournal.com]

Nasty! Reminds me of dogs!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

When I was growing up we had a dog and we had rabbits. Your imagination can fill in the rest of that disgusting story.

[wooddragon.livejournal.com]

Not to mention rabbits all on their lonesome...

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yes indeed. Apparently the dog figured that what was good for them must also be good for him. I suppose it did save on cleanup.

[wooddragon.livejournal.com]

Actually, dogs will eat barf, too. You need a dog! :)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Maybe dogs will eat annoying pukey cats! Okay, I love my cats and I don't want them hurt. But man, some days.