"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.