Survey

There is a lot of history going on here in rpch+b that I don't know (or even
wish to know). But I *would* like to know more about the experiences people
here have had with cats.

To that end, if you wouldn't mind I'd like to see if I could get some data
that might help me formulate opinions or weigh advice. So that you'll have
the same from me, I'll answer this first [my answers are in brackets].

[Please note, this is as unbiased as I can possibly make it and certainly
*not* meant to start controversy, but if you feel a question is phrased in a
provocative manner please feel free to change it. I'm not asking for or
giving opinions, only data.]

How many cats to you currently live with?

[four]

What are their ages and sex?

[15, 6, 5, 1 - all female]

Are they purebred or moggies?

[all moggies, though Sammy seems to have a *lot* of Maine Coon in her
ancestry]

Are they neutered or spayed, if so at what age?

[yes, all were spayed either before their first heat (Demi and Sammy) or
shortly after their first heat (Bandit and Jessie) all at 5 or 6 months of
age]

Have they been bred or had a litter before you got them (I'm interested in
what health issue might or might not be associated with this)?

[all - no]

What type of food do you offer you cats, canned, moist, or dry?

[canned twice a day and free-feed dry - I have two feeding stations, one
upstairs and one downstairs, both with water bowls cleaned twice daily and a
"Drinkwell" fountain]

Are they indoor only, mostly indoor, equally indoor and outdoor, mostly
outdoor, only outdoor?

[indoor only]

How many cats have you lived with over the years of your life?

[15 in 54 years (you don't have to tell your age too, but I'm old as dirt so
I don't mind doing so)]

Have you ever worked with cats in a veterinarian's office?

[no]

Have you ever worked with cats in a rescue organization?

[no, just donate funds]

Have you ever had any formal schooling regarding animal husbandry or cats in
particular?

[no]

How many non-fiction books have you read about cats?

[roughly 25 or 30 - *many* more than that fictional books about cats]

Can you recommend any of those books as being helpful or valid in your
experience?

[I'll have to go through my library - don't remember any that stand out and
I'm at work right now]

Have you had many experience with cats' illnesses, if so what were they?

[except for Bandit's recent injury, no, I've been lucky]

Have you ever had to administer subQ fluids or injected medicines to a cat?

[no]


That's it - I'll probably think of more questions later, and I'd appreciate
it if you wuold add your questions to this.

Thanks!

Hugs,

CatNipped

In article ,
"CatNipped" wrote:

How many cats to you currently live with?


Four

What are their ages and sex?

F 6.5 years
M 6.5 years
M 4.25 years
M 8 months

Are they purebred or moggies?

Moggies

Are they neutered or spayed, if so at what age?

F - spayed at 12 weeks
M - neutered at 12 weeks
Mx2 - neutered at 6 months

Have they been bred or had a litter before you got them (I'm interested in
what health issue might or might not be associated with this)?

No

What type of food do you offer you cats, canned, moist, or dry?

Canned with 1 or 2 meals per month of home cooked (liver, fish, chicken
etc.)

Are they indoor only, mostly indoor, equally indoor and outdoor, mostly
outdoor, only outdoor?

Indoor only

How many cats have you lived with over the years of your life?

1 as a child
6 in adulthood (1, then 1, then built from 2 up to 4)

Have you ever worked with cats in a veterinarian's office?

No

Have you ever worked with cats in a rescue organization?

No. Donate monthly.

Have you ever had any formal schooling regarding animal husbandry or cats in
particular?

No.

How many non-fiction books have you read about cats?

I've probably referred to 6 or 8.


Can you recommend any of those books as being helpful or valid in your
experience?

I found _Twisted Whiskers_ by (author cannot be brought to mind at the
moment) a lot. It's about behavioral health.

Have you had many experience with cats' illnesses, if so what were they?

Urinary blockage in males, hyperthyroid, liver cancer, heart murmur,
diarrhea of unknown origin, minor bugs.

Have you ever had to administer subQ fluids or injected medicines to a cat?

No.

Priscilla
--
"You can't welcome someone into a body of Christ and then say only
certain rooms are open." -- dancertm in alt.religion.christian.episcopal

"Priscilla Ballou" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"CatNipped" wrote:

How many cats to you currently live with?


Four

What are their ages and sex?

F 6.5 years
M 6.5 years
M 4.25 years
M 8 months

Are they purebred or moggies?

Moggies

Are they neutered or spayed, if so at what age?

F - spayed at 12 weeks
M - neutered at 12 weeks
Mx2 - neutered at 6 months

Have they been bred or had a litter before you got them (I'm interested
in
what health issue might or might not be associated with this)?

No

What type of food do you offer you cats, canned, moist, or dry?

Canned with 1 or 2 meals per month of home cooked (liver, fish, chicken
etc.)

Do you use a special kitty recipe, or just make it like you would a human
dinner?

Are they indoor only, mostly indoor, equally indoor and outdoor, mostly
outdoor, only outdoor?

Indoor only

How many cats have you lived with over the years of your life?

1 as a child
6 in adulthood (1, then 1, then built from 2 up to 4)

Have you ever worked with cats in a veterinarian's office?

No

Have you ever worked with cats in a rescue organization?

No. Donate monthly.

Have you ever had any formal schooling regarding animal husbandry or
cats in
particular?

No.

How many non-fiction books have you read about cats?

I've probably referred to 6 or 8.


Can you recommend any of those books as being helpful or valid in your
experience?

I found _Twisted Whiskers_ by (author cannot be brought to mind at the
moment) a lot. It's about behavioral health.

As in how to prevent bad behavior, or correct bad behavior, or how health
can affect behavior?


Have you had many experience with cats' illnesses, if so what were they?

Urinary blockage in males, hyperthyroid, liver cancer, heart murmur,
diarrhea of unknown origin, minor bugs.

Wow, dealing with cancer in a pet must have been rough!

Hugs,

CatNipped


Have you ever had to administer subQ fluids or injected medicines to a
cat?

No.

Priscilla
--
"You can't welcome someone into a body of Christ and then say only
certain rooms are open." -- dancertm in alt.religion.christian.episcopal

In article ,
"CatNipped" wrote:

"Priscilla Ballou" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"CatNipped" wrote:

What type of food do you offer you cats, canned, moist, or dry?

Canned with 1 or 2 meals per month of home cooked (liver, fish, chicken
etc.)

Do you use a special kitty recipe, or just make it like you would a human
dinner?

Chicken livers (and pork liver a couple of weeks ago) I cook up in bacon
fat just I would for me (in fact, I frequently snitch a chicken liver
for myself) and then chop them up into more accessible pieces. Turkey
would be off a roast turkey or from the neck, etc. cooked up for stock
for the gravy. My cats *love* Thanksgiving! Chicken might be some I'd
cooked up for stock. Fish would be baked or poached (as in salmon)
leftover from what I'd eaten.

Can you recommend any of those books as being helpful or valid in your
experience?

I found _Twisted Whiskers_ by (author cannot be brought to mind at the
moment) a lot. It's about behavioral health.

As in how to prevent bad behavior, or correct bad behavior, or how health
can affect behavior?

IIRC, it was about problematic feline behavior and how to deal with it.
I think that's where I learned to squeak like an injured kitten to teach
my cat not to bite/claw (play rough). So it's not really about
correcting behavior per se but about understanding why cats do what they
do and how to respond to it in a way that the cat understands. It's the
book that taught me that I needed to learn to "speak cat."

Have you had many experience with cats' illnesses, if so what were they?

Urinary blockage in males, hyperthyroid, liver cancer, heart murmur,
diarrhea of unknown origin, minor bugs.

Wow, dealing with cancer in a pet must have been rough!

It was hard, but there wasn't much to be done, so in a way it was
simple. I spoiled him rotten for a month, and then when he seemed to
not be enjoying it anymore, I helped him out of the situation.

Priscilla
--
"You can't welcome someone into a body of Christ and then say only
certain rooms are open." -- dancertm in alt.religion.christian.episcopal

"Priscilla Ballou" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"CatNipped" wrote:

"Priscilla Ballou" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"CatNipped" wrote:

What type of food do you offer you cats, canned, moist, or dry?

Canned with 1 or 2 meals per month of home cooked (liver, fish,
chicken
etc.)

Do you use a special kitty recipe, or just make it like you would a
human
dinner?

Chicken livers (and pork liver a couple of weeks ago) I cook up in bacon
fat just I would for me (in fact, I frequently snitch a chicken liver
for myself) and then chop them up into more accessible pieces.

YUM! I *love* liver!

Turkey
would be off a roast turkey or from the neck, etc. cooked up for stock
for the gravy. My cats *love* Thanksgiving!

Yeah, mine do too.

Chicken might be some I'd
cooked up for stock. Fish would be baked or poached (as in salmon)
leftover from what I'd eaten.

Yep, mine get occasional treats of those same foods also.


Can you recommend any of those books as being helpful or valid in
your
experience?

I found _Twisted Whiskers_ by (author cannot be brought to mind at the
moment) a lot. It's about behavioral health.

As in how to prevent bad behavior, or correct bad behavior, or how
health
can affect behavior?

IIRC, it was about problematic feline behavior and how to deal with it.
I think that's where I learned to squeak like an injured kitten to teach
my cat not to bite/claw (play rough).

I read that too! And it works!!

So it's not really about
correcting behavior per se but about understanding why cats do what they
do and how to respond to it in a way that the cat understands. It's the
book that taught me that I needed to learn to "speak cat."

I read a book like that too - about a cat's body language, but I can't
remember the name or the author!


Have you had many experience with cats' illnesses, if so what were
they?

Urinary blockage in males, hyperthyroid, liver cancer, heart murmur,
diarrhea of unknown origin, minor bugs.

Wow, dealing with cancer in a pet must have been rough!

It was hard, but there wasn't much to be done, so in a way it was
simple. I spoiled him rotten for a month, and then when he seemed to
not be enjoying it anymore, I helped him out of the situation.

Yeah, same with me and Percy. It's the greatest gift we can give and the
hardest to give.

Hugs,

CatNipped


Priscilla
--
"You can't welcome someone into a body of Christ and then say only
certain rooms are open." -- dancertm in alt.religion.christian.episcopal

One book about cats body language and their behaviour and why they do
things is "Catlore" by Desmond Morris. Very interesting book. It
includes chapters on "When was the first can domesticated", how do cats
react to music, why do cats prefer to die alone, what is the cause of
cat phobia and how did the manx cat lose its tail.

Chris

In article ,
Priscilla Ballou wrote:

In article ,
"CatNipped" wrote:
What type of food do you offer you cats, canned, moist, or dry?

Canned with 1 or 2 meals per month of home cooked (liver, fish, chicken
etc.)

Oh, wait! I lied! Francis (the 8 month old) gets supplemental dry
Nutro kitten food ("crunchies") in addition to his canned food.

Priscilla
--
"You can't welcome someone into a body of Christ and then say only
certain rooms are open." -- dancertm in alt.religion.christian.episcopal

CatNipped wrote:

There is a lot of history going on here in rpch+b that I don't know (or even
wish to know). But I *would* like to know more about the experiences people
here have had with cats.

To that end, if you wouldn't mind I'd like to see if I could get some data
that might help me formulate opinions or weigh advice. So that you'll have
the same from me, I'll answer this first [my answers are in brackets].

[Please note, this is as unbiased as I can possibly make it and certainly
*not* meant to start controversy, but if you feel a question is phrased in a
provocative manner please feel free to change it. I'm not asking for or
giving opinions, only data.]

survey snipped

You realize of course people may embellish their "qualifications" and
you will have no way of knowing it.

"Joe Canuck" wrote in message
...
CatNipped wrote:

There is a lot of history going on here in rpch+b that I don't know (or
even wish to know). But I *would* like to know more about the
experiences people here have had with cats.

To that end, if you wouldn't mind I'd like to see if I could get some
data that might help me formulate opinions or weigh advice. So that
you'll have the same from me, I'll answer this first [my answers are in
brackets].

[Please note, this is as unbiased as I can possibly make it and certainly
*not* meant to start controversy, but if you feel a question is phrased
in a provocative manner please feel free to change it. I'm not asking
for or giving opinions, only data.]

survey snipped

You realize of course people may embellish their "qualifications" and you
will have no way of knowing it.

You know, I really *didn't* think of that - I'm blushing and quite abashed
and appalled at yet again showing my naiveté. Hopefully, though, folks will
be honest - this isn't a contest about who knows the most.... um, I'm doing
it again aren't I???!! sigh

Hugs,

CatNipped

"CatNipped" wrote in message
...
"Joe Canuck" wrote in message
...
CatNipped wrote:

There is a lot of history going on here in rpch+b that I don't know (or
even wish to know). But I *would* like to know more about the
experiences people here have had with cats.

To that end, if you wouldn't mind I'd like to see if I could get some
data that might help me formulate opinions or weigh advice. So that
you'll have the same from me, I'll answer this first [my answers are in
brackets].

[Please note, this is as unbiased as I can possibly make it and
certainly
*not* meant to start controversy, but if you feel a question is phrased
in a provocative manner please feel free to change it. I'm not asking
for or giving opinions, only data.]

survey snipped

You realize of course people may embellish their "qualifications" and
you
will have no way of knowing it.

You know, I really *didn't* think of that - I'm blushing and quite abashed
and appalled at yet again showing my naiveté. Hopefully, though, folks
will
be honest - this isn't a contest about who knows the most.... um, I'm
doing
it again aren't I???!! sigh

Hugs,

CatNipped



Post what you like. A survey is a great idea. There are people who
will find it entertaining and people who don't. That's the nature of
a free and open forum.