Newbie questions: What kind of pet carrier?
[A very sweet stray or runaway cat has adopted us and we, ignorant of
all cat issues, are in panic. That's why I have a few posts each with a question.] First, we want to take her to a vet (Chicago area). She seems to have no problems, just basic check up and shots. (She spends several hours outdoors each day.) What kind of pet carrier should I get that would be good for this purpose as well as longer drives we may have to take later. In particular, soft or hard? What kind do you use? |
Newbie questions: What kind of pet carrier?
"Newbie" wrote
[A very sweet stray or runaway cat has adopted us and we, ignorant of all cat issues, are in panic. That's why I have a few posts each with a question.] No problem! But need to know if you are actually in rec.pets.cats.health+behav since you are crossposting to 3 groups and I do not have the other 2 turned on (to others, apologies for posting there when you can not replay to me just there). Newbie, its a sort of usenet ettiquate issue to post in one group at a time. You havent done 'wrong' but i would be remiss if i didnt warn others about my status until I determine yours. First, we want to take her to a vet (Chicago area). She seems to have no problems, just basic check up and shots. (She spends several hours outdoors each day.) Good. What kind of pet carrier should I get that would be good for this purpose as well as longer drives we may have to take later. In particular, soft or hard? What kind do you use? Although a soft one will work fine to hold a cat, you may find the cat gets 'scared' and pees in the carrier. If you have a soft type, you will have an issue getting it clean again. A hard carrier will not have this problem. Easiest hard carriers have an entry gate at the 'front' and at the top both. Also, put a towel at the bottom so if they do 'pee' because they are scared, you wont be bringing a wet kitty to the vet and trying to dry the worst off as she/he gets examined. On your other questions (since i am adding the other groups in for now and want to minimize the issue will reply about the here). On food, wet is better (especially for a male cat) but you will encounter some hype as well from those who think only wet should be allowed. It's actually ok to mix and match a little if you use a higher quality dry. Never 'alley cat' etc as the ash content is *going* to cause medical problems later in life. Iams or Science diet are well thought of. How much to feed? Either all wet in which case generally 6-6.5 oz a day in 2 feedings (2 small fancy feast a day for example with near 12 hour spacing but need not be exact) or dry all the time and an evening or morning 3 oz or so can. Most cats will eat about 1/4 cup dry a day if fed a 3oz wet can a day. Most cats i have encountered will self regulate on the dry so you can put in say a 1/2 cup at a time and just check it to see when you need to add a little more. If your new cat was feral or left without food for a fair amount of time, they may overeat a bit at the start due to fear that the food will 'go away' but they get over that fairly fast if they find it's always replaced before it runs out. For litter: go middle of the road for the pan. That one that fits the normal plastic liners is right for a single cat household. If you have no dog, clumping litter is fine (and do NOT flush this down a toilet! It will clog your pipes and septic!). If you have a dog, please try to avoid clumping litters. It's a little gross but some dogs will try to 'clean the litter box' for you and that clumping litter will do just that as they try to digest it. (if you have a dog, that cheapest non-clumping clay is a good bet and just add a little sprinkle from a box of baking soda then change every other day). If you have no dog, clumping is nice because much of the additions will be scoupable out and you only have to fully change out the pan every 7-10 days or so (depends on the cat and how often you scoup). Most cats I have had absolutely refused the litter pans that had moving parts (self cleaning) and types with hoods. None 'preferred' a deep lip pan as they have to jump in and sometimes land on something wet and ikky grin. They prefer to be able to step in. Hope this helps! |
Newbie questions: What kind of pet carrier?
"Newbie" wrote in message What kind of pet carrier should I get that would be good for this purpose as well as longer drives we may have to take later. In particular, soft or hard? What kind do you use? Depends on where and how you live. I live in an apartment and the only time I take my cat out is to the vet two blocks away. The carrier I use is a heavy cloth folding one. Certainly, it was more expensive than a simple plastic carrier, but it's definitely lighter and folds up to be put away. If you're thinking about longer drives, then depending on space, you may want to consider a cage of some type. They're bigger than a carrier, but allow the cat to look around and have enough space for a small littler box and a food/water feeder. |
Newbie questions: What kind of pet carrier?
cshenk wrote:
: But need to know if you are actually in : rec.pets.cats.health+behav Not sure what you mean buy that. I am not a formal "member" of this or nay other ng. I posted to 3 groups to reach those who may not read the one group I might have selected. I made it cross-posting to conserve resources: there's only one post, but it is offered to people in 3 groups. If you follow all 3 groups, and have read it in one, a good modern Usenet reader will, or rather can be set to, not show it you again in the other 2 groups. I'll check each group to see if there are any responses, as long as the thread seems alive. Thanks for the rest of your post. Need to understand it better. |
Newbie questions: What kind of pet carrier?
"Newbie" wrote in message Not sure what you mean buy that. I am not a formal "member" of this or nay other ng. I posted to 3 groups to reach those who may not read the one group I might have selected. I made it cross-posting to conserve resources: there's only one post, but it is offered to people in 3 groups. Ignore him. Some people are obsessed with adhering to specific posting etiquette. He was suggesting that you should be reading and posting messages regularly in each of the newsgroups you selected to qualify for posting to all of them at once. You're selection of newsgroups was fine. |
Newbie questions: What kind of pet carrier?
"Newbie" wrote.
cshenk wrote: : But need to know if you are actually in : rec.pets.cats.health+behav Not sure what you mean buy that. I am not a formal "member" of this or nay other ng. I posted to 3 groups to reach those who may not read the one group I might have selected. I made it cross-posting to conserve resources: there's only one post, but it is offered to people in 3 groups. Thats ok. As I said, I was mostly warning others that I read only in the one. You didnt do 'wrong' as all were valid for these posts. Some people (not me) have automated spam filters that automatically delete any message which has more than 1 'group' in the header. Because of this, you may be collecting replies in all 3 but they may not be showing up in all 3 of the groups. Hope that makes sense? If you follow all 3 groups, and have read it in one, a good modern Usenet reader will, or rather can be set to, not show it you again in the other 2 groups. Yes, but I have a simple reader and just the one group turned on. Again, you didnt do anything 'wrong' (which i said right at the start), just may have caused a few to not see your notes. Depends on what they are running. Anyways, back to cats! (grin). Thanks for the rest of your post. Need to understand it better. No problem! Ask away! I've had cats for about 24 years now. I listed what I've found seems to work best for me as based on your questions but they arent the only answers and some have had good luck for example with cat litter pan types that havent worked well for me. I liked the idea the one fellow had on a deeper one but with a cut down entry so the cat can more comfortably step in. I may want to try that here too. Just never thought of doing it! Also, one of the others added a note about declawing. There's alot of information on the web about this and what it entails. It's not real pretty but there are rare times when I've not disagreed with it if done *right* by a skilled vet. A feral stray taken in that turned out was very prone to face scratching a toddler and risk of blinding the toddler yet only other option was to have the cat abandoned or put to sleep (unadoptable due to various reasons). I dislike the idea very much but even I couldnt argue with that one. All but one of my clawed kitties took pretty well to just scratching things I added just for that purpose and left the furniture alone after a bit of gentle training. I had 2 cats I rescued (long story) who had been declawed front and back. Sadly it was a very bad job. So bad, the vet suspected the guy we rescued them from did it himself with toenail clippers or something to save money. WE paid dearly to have the vet do whatever was possible to make them more comfortable (he couldnt fix it totally, just make walking less painful for them). As a result, I tend to be very anti-declawing but am always happy to help with tips and tricks to folks to help teach a cat how to not claw things (or you). It's generally more useful I find to help people figure out how to not need to use that procedure, than just beat them up about having done it. Oh on the wet food brands? Many think very highly of one called 'wellness'. I havent seen it in my local area but then I havent exactly checked every single pet food isle. With just 1 cat currently, I find the 3oz little servings suit me best. No leftovers. I'll add something about pet insurance for that vet trip. It's value depends on the plan you get. Most of them really just add up to pre-paying for the regular shots you will need but I lucked up mine is a little better. Check what they cover carefully then have them add up what the shots would cost (and vet visit) without the insurance. Depending on your area, you might save more by just setting aside a few dollars a month. Also for spaying/neutering, you might find a local SPCA does this very much cheaper. I have not heard any local horror stories about their services for this. |
Newbie questions: What kind of pet carrier?
"Upscale" wrote
"Newbie" wrote in message Not sure what you mean buy that. I am not a formal "member" of this or nay other ng. I posted to 3 groups to reach those who may not read the one group I might have selected. I made it cross-posting to conserve resources: there's only one post, but it is offered to people in 3 groups. Ignore him. Some people are obsessed with adhering to specific posting etiquette. He was suggesting that you should be reading and posting messages regularly in each of the newsgroups you selected to qualify for posting to all of them at once. You're selection of newsgroups was fine. Be at ease 'Upscale', I was more warning others in other groups than the one I have that i will not see their replies. I said right at the start that 'Newbie' hadnt 'done anything wrong' but she/he didnt quote that part. Oh, if it helps, I'm a 'she' (grin). C is for Carol in this case. |
Newbie questions: What kind of pet carrier?
"cshenk" wrote:
Although a soft one will work fine to hold a cat, you may find the cat gets 'scared' and pees in the carrier. If you have a soft type, you will have an issue getting it clean again. A hard carrier will not have this problem. Easiest hard carriers have an entry gate at the 'front' and at the top both. Also, put a towel at the bottom so if they do 'pee' because they are scared, you wont be bringing a wet kitty to the vet and trying to dry the worst off as she/he gets examined. I prefer soft ones as they much easier to carry and are probably much more comfortable for the cat. As far as accidents go I would much rather throw the bag in the washer than try to wash a car seat that the hard carrier drained onto. A towel fits just fine in the soft bags as well. -mhd |
Newbie questions: What kind of pet carrier?
"-mhd" wrote in message ... "cshenk" wrote: Although a soft one will work fine to hold a cat, you may find the cat gets 'scared' and pees in the carrier. If you have a soft type, you will have an issue getting it clean again. A hard carrier will not have this problem. Easiest hard carriers have an entry gate at the 'front' and at the top both. Also, put a towel at the bottom so if they do 'pee' because they are scared, you wont be bringing a wet kitty to the vet and trying to dry the worst off as she/he gets examined. I prefer soft ones as they much easier to carry and are probably much more comfortable for the cat. As far as accidents go I would much rather throw the bag in the washer than try to wash a car seat that the hard carrier drained onto. A towel fits just fine in the soft bags as well. -mhd I would imagine the size and weight of the cat might determine which type serves better. I haven't seen too many x-large soft carriers and would worry about the handle pulling off if I was lugging around a large cat. I lug a lot of cats around though and most people only need to use their carrier on the occasions kitty visits the vet. I have had some cats who preferred not to have much of a view and many of the soft sided ones have screening on the sides that would provide too much view to a skittish cat. I'm not overly impressed with the zipper closures either. If one has a cat who really doesn't want to be in the carrier, having to zip close provides too much time for the kitty to engineer an escape. I do like something with a top door though in case you need to get a sick kitty in and out of the carrier. Years ago I had to take a carrier apart to get a sick boy out of it and have gone for carriers with a top door since. You do have to double check to make sure the top door stays latched though as some have a tendency to work their way open. Bottom line is that I would imagine you get whatever type best suits your cat. |
Newbie questions: What kind of pet carrier?
"Wendy" wrote
"-mhd" wrote in message Although a soft one will work fine to hold a cat, you may find the cat gets 'scared' and pees in the carrier. If you have a soft type, you will have issue getting it clean again. A hard carrier will not have this problem. Easiest hard carriers have an entry gate at the 'front' and at the top both. Also, put a towel at the bottom so if they do 'pee' because they are scared, you wont be bringing a wet kitty to the vet and trying to dry the worst off as she/he gets examined. I prefer soft ones as they much easier to carry and are probably much more comfortable for the cat. As far as accidents go I would much rather throw the bag in the washer than try to wash a car seat that the hard carrier drained onto. A towel fits just fine in the soft bags as well. True but most of the ones I saw, were too small for my cat or had enough soft 'filler' as to be difficult to deal with in a washing machine. I've had 2 cats who were 'pee-ers' and the deep bottom of the plastic ones have worked well. -mhd I would imagine the size and weight of the cat might determine which type serves better. I haven't seen too many x-large soft carriers and would worry about the handle pulling off if I was lugging around a large cat. I lug a lot of cats around though and most people only need to use their carrier on the occasions kitty visits the vet. That too. And thanks for quoting mhd- due to spam, I tend to filter on @gmail here. mhd is just an innocent casualty of this. I have had some cats who preferred not to have much of a view and many of the soft sided ones have screening on the sides that would provide too much view to a skittish cat. I'm not overly impressed with the zipper closures either. If one has a cat who really doesn't want to be in the carrier, The ones I saw didnt look all that strong. I was worried if I did have to try and wash it, it wouldnt survive. having to zip close provides too much time for the kitty to engineer an escape. I do like something with a top door though in case you need to get a sick kitty in and out of the carrier. Years ago I had to take a carrier apart to get a sick boy out of it and have gone for carriers with a top door since. You do have to double check to make sure the top door stays latched though as some have a tendency to work their way open. Bottom line is that I would imagine you get whatever type best suits your cat. All good! If 'Newbie' has a storage problem, she may find the collapsable soft carrier that can be stored is best of all for her needs. |
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