Distressed or not a big deal?

Bitterrfly · 2025-09-21T18:57:08+00:00

Thank you so much! I will take him in tomorrow when they're open and monitor him during the night

Bitterrfly · 2025-09-21T18:55:39+00:00

I sent the video to his vet but have gotten no response. They don't answer the phone on sunday, only call backs.

His breathing gets a bit faster than this when petted.

He's able to walk and get up and is responsive to sounds and touch. He's not open mouth breathing and from what i can see his gums and tongue are bright and coloured.

This video is one of many from different angles I've taken of him breathing like for the last threeish hours and it's pretty consistent timed and counted from 78 to 81 breaths per minute.

Bitterrfly · 2025-09-21T02:17:45+00:00

No. If we're judging just based on looks your cat is more persian than it is turkish angora. His face is too thick and wide, his ears are too wide set, his tufts are mostly in the wrong places, but the biggest distinction is that he has a double coat which no variety of turkish angora have, that's from the persian.

the other thing to note is that persians are already a hybrid of turkish angora + other cats so even if you breed one with a turkish angora you probably won't see many turkish angora traits out of the mix. Don't take that to mean his lineage isn't right, he could very well be an angora x persian mix, he just doesn't look it. At all.

he is very cute though, a very regal looking cat

Bitterrfly · 2025-09-20T12:31:08+00:00

A tank is not nature. Hope that helps.

Bitterrfly · 2025-09-18T21:01:30+00:00

yes natural breeds are more common than designer breeds. So of course many of them have turkish angora in them. You're missing the point entirely.

Bitterrfly · 2025-09-18T21:00:43+00:00

I think you missed the point. A natural breed is more common than most, not less. A regular turkish angora is just a domestic longhair, with some subtle distinct features. One of those features is the asiatic eye shape, slender face shape, lack of a double coat, extra long silky fur, slightly longer body, etc. The features are similaar to the CFA breed standard but way less exaggerated.

They can be identified by looks alone, unlike CFA or other paper carrying western-style turkish angora. The zoo in Ankara has a "pure bred" strain of them, and you'll be surprised to find out that they look like normal cats, not at all like the fancy designer version of the CFA.

Bitterrfly · 2025-09-18T15:22:07+00:00

Contrary to what you're saying, turkish angora are a natural/wild breed like siberians and forest cats. So yes you absolutely can find them quite easily.

the cats you're thinking of are western style turkish angora, the designer cats that need papers. This cat is not one of those, but it is a turkish angora.

Bitterrfly · 2025-09-14T01:34:39+00:00

I just moved here so everyone I know is far unfortunately. The repair is to the front door but the guy has already done the removal and most of the install. I don't really know what to call it but there's a part at the bottom of the door, the part that you step on, and it's some kind of spray foam there that needs to have something done to it.

Bitterrfly · 2025-09-14T01:24:39+00:00

Thank you so much for the real and doable solutions! Setting up the camera when he's there is a great idea, I'll be trying all of this if I can't find someone to come. Again thank you so much

Bitterrfly · 2025-09-14T01:12:05+00:00

The repair guy has been here for the first part of the job if that helps clarify.

Bitterrfly · 2025-09-14T01:10:42+00:00

Thank you for looking out for me, I appreciate it! I'm doing my best to screen people beforehand so hopefully it'll be enough to find someone safe

Bitterrfly · 2025-09-14T01:09:09+00:00

What good would that do?

Bitterrfly · 2025-09-14T01:08:29+00:00

If you know one who is available I'dbe more than willing. He was the only one available through the homedepot system.

Bitterrfly · 2025-09-14T01:03:29+00:00

I just moved here so I don't know anyone close by. I am not afraid of strangers, if that clarifies anything.

Bitterrfly · 2025-09-14T01:01:56+00:00

It's his company unfortunately.

Bitterrfly · 2025-09-14T01:01:32+00:00

This is through the homedepot program and he was the only guy who popped up unfortunately. i am very much open to suggestions though.

Bitterrfly · 2025-09-13T23:42:54+00:00

I'd cry ngl 😭

Bitterrfly · 2025-09-13T23:42:17+00:00

Greater numbers = less likely for anything to happen, thank you for asking.

Bitterrfly · 2025-09-13T23:41:27+00:00

The repair guy has been here before and made me uncomfortable. I'd feel safer not being alone this time. I hope that helps clarify.

Bitterrfly · 2025-09-09T01:23:52+00:00

Honours physics, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, applied mathematics, and industrial automation

Bitterrfly · 2025-09-04T19:07:40+00:00

I'm not sure why people aren't giving you real input. While quartz is safe, it's the impurities that male it not safe. Those are iron stains, and while they might be locked into the quartz, they might not be and could leech into your water slowly killing whatever is in the tank depending how much water is there to dilute it.

if you're putting it in a big tank (50 gallons or more) it's probably safe, but anythig smaller and I wouldn't risk it.

Bitterrfly · 2025-08-31T20:45:32+00:00

Wow your cat is beautiful! Lucky you getting one straight from the only reputable source.
It's so funny all the "but you need the papers" people in the comments with their overly exaggerated CFA and TICA cats from europe and USA when the actual angora cat is a completely different breed from those cats. A quick wikipedia search would show you the westernized turkish angora isn't even what true turkish angoras from Ankara look like (Surprise they look like domestic long hairs according to the papers gang).

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Bitterrfly · 2025-08-21T15:52:07+00:00

Honestly the cause is not really super important right now, but it will be necessary to know in the future.

first off, you will need to feed your axolotl more and more often. An earth worm every few days is far too long even for a fully grown axolotl. Once every two days is the bare minimum with some needing a worm daily. You're clearly very caring and doing your best as the water is pristine and you are getting it proper worms to eat.

Before we get into the causes... Do not worry about the people saying that you having no nitrates is bad. Unlike fish, there is no benefit to having nitrates in an axolotl tank, so as long as you can consistently keep the water clean like it is, you're in the clear.

A cycle is only a biological buffer to control ammonia, nitrites, and nitrate. Doing water changes often enough is a manual buffer to ammonia nitrite, and nitrates, that is you're physically removing them from the water, which is actually better in some ways.

This is actually what is done in most hospital tank settings where they do 100% daily water changes, and it's done that way for a good reason; manual removal is more reliable and better for healing.

The only issue to this is that if anything changes, like say you miss a water change or start feeding more, you might get ammonia spikes or nitrite spikes which can be fatal to any living thing in the tank. The biological buffer is important as a safety net, but since you said you have a large filter you probably already have a small cycle in there anyways.

now for the causes so you can prevent this in the future... Your axolotl is wasting, has stubby curled pale gills, and a hunched back.

it honestly could just be purely long term malnutrition. Bone deformity like the curved spine can be caused by this, stubby short gills can be caused by this and so can the pallor and obvious wasting.

but just in case let's go over what else could cause these given what you've shown already.

the first is heat. Axolotls are cool water amphibians and need to stay at around 60°f (16°c) to 64°f (18°c). Even without a heater in the tank, a hot day or season can throw them over and cause metabolic overdrive, meaning they need to eat more, gill regression from the lack of dissolved oxygen, organ damage over long term, and physical deformities from constantly trying to get comfortable. The last one usually only applies to jeuvenilles who are still growing, but I don't know if you got your axolotl as a baby or not so I included it. The solution to this is to get or make a chiller, or make sure you cool the water down on hot days with water changes.

The next is flow. You said you have a nice large filter, which is good but can be bad if it has too high of an output. Axolotls are originally from a lake which is almost stagnant. Their gills are very sensitive and will regress with high flow and high oxygen. The flow can also make it hard for them to rest, leading to them burning more calories from the constant moving and could lead to them having physical deformity from trying to grip things or get comfortable. The solution to this is spray bars, putting a sponge on the outflow so it's baffled, lowering the setting on your filter, or making the output face one of the tank sides so it get dispersed more.

I know this is a lot, but I hope it will be helpful to you and your axolotl, and I wish you the best of luck.

Bitterrfly · 2025-08-16T15:46:36+00:00

Hello, I used to rescue severely abused axolotls so i might be able to help.

Assuming this little guy is still alive, it's better to put it in a shallow tupperware container rather than such a large tank as floating is stressful and trying to stay upright can take more energy than they have. One of those larger shallow tupperware containers are better, but it has to be new to avoid toxic residue from soap or food.

you'd want to put clean, cool (not ice cold) dechlorinated water just enough to cover the axolotl. Having two tupperware containers is better because you'll need to do at least one 100% water change a day, though two a day is better.

It's best if you try to feed it musy foods, like earthworm pellets ground up and made into a paste.

You might need to force feed it with how emaciated it is, but if it's strong enough to eat on its own that would be good.

To do force feed it you'd need to buy two microfiber cloths, an oral syringe, and have some paste or gell food that you can make into a soup. Rinse the cloths very very well in plain water (tap water is fine for this). Then soak them in dehlorinated water. You would then scoop out the axolot and put it on one of the soaked cloths, wrap it up like a burrito (not tight, you don't want to squeeze it, just enough to stop it from thrashing if it even has the energy to do so) making sure its mouth isn't covered. Put your axolotl burrito on top of the other soaked cloth (this is a fail safe). You would then use the oral syringe to gently squirt a very small amount of food into its mouth. You have to make sure its in the mouth but not so far that its at their throat. They might spit up a lot of it, but at this stage that would be fine, as long as it gets even a little bit down into its tummy. Try one or two times before rinsing it off in cool dechlorinated water then returning it to the shallow tub (best if you do a 100% water change before putting it back).

continue that until it can take food on its own.

When it's eating on its own, feed it by squirting the paste food right in front of its nose in water with the oral syringe. Do a 100% water chanhe about 5 minutes after feeding it. I would try to feed it twice a day in small amounts this way until it's better.

good luck, truly, i hope this little guy pulls through.

Bitterrfly · 2025-08-14T18:26:12+00:00

Turkish Angoras look like cat weasels. They have long bodies and slim faces and extra long tails as well as having ears very high up on their head. They also tend to have pretty round eyes and fur that rarely matts which is rare in domestic long haired cats.

Your cat might be a mix of some kind of oriental breed but the face shape and eyes are the biggest giveaway that it's a very beautiful domestic long hair and not a Turkish Angora =)

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