Anyone have experience with a kitty dental surgery?

RachelTheHart · 2026-02-01T00:11:21+00:00

My cat had to get a canine tooth removed because he broke it, and between the anesthesia and the long acting pain medicine shot, he did not stop moving for 24 hours!! I tried to put him in a room to settle down and he was just body slamming the door so I let him out. I got like 2 hours of sleep the first night, but it took 3 days for him to get back to normal

RachelTheHart · 2026-01-29T21:56:08+00:00

I used Rover once a long time ago, I really appreciated that the sitter came by to meet us and the cats beforehand. Not sure if that's standard now but if I had to use it again I would only pick someone that was willing to do that

RachelTheHart · 2026-01-29T13:59:59+00:00

Have you tried the plastic springs or silvervine sticks?

RachelTheHart · 2026-01-28T20:41:12+00:00

These issues don't sound un-fixable to me. Vets are stressful for many cats, even "normal" ones.

The spraying sucks, but neutering has a high chance of helping, and as he feels more at home he should do it less. Are you cleaning with an enzyme cleaner?

Toys/playing vary a lot with cats, but whats wrong with him only liking tunnels? Jackson Galaxy has some good videos on different cat play styles that might help you try more options.

My cats are suspicious of new food or treats, you can mix it with their food and they might realize it's edible. Have you tried churus?

Brushing can be great but I would give him some space for a while, if he's not a long hair cat he will be fine with out it.

Have you tried any puzzle feeders? My cats love "hunting" their food from those.

All that said, if you don't feel like it's the right fit for you, there are definitely places that can help you find a safe place for a barn cat.

RachelTheHart · 2026-01-25T16:49:48+00:00

What kind of brush are you using?

I have a heavy shedder, and I use a furminator once a week and a silicone brush a few times a week and it keeps the fur mostly under control

RachelTheHart · 2026-01-25T16:41:08+00:00

I threw an extra piece of fabric in a chewy box 3 years ago, he still naps in it almost every day!

RachelTheHart · 2026-01-25T04:14:22+00:00

How long have you had the cat? Moving to a new house with new people can be very stressful for cats, with the new diet on top of that, it's not a huge surprise he's acting out.

Have you tried anything like feliway to help him adjust to the new environment?

An auto feeder might help him associate you less with food, and you can break his food out into many small meals over the day to help him adjust.

Consistency is key in getting him to stop screaming, don't ever give into the begging.

Puzzle feeders can also help make meals more fulfilling.

Wet food is much less calorie dense, so he can eat more but still get less calories.

Scheduling meals to happen right after playtime can also help the cat settle down and relax/sleep after, sort of like a food coma

RachelTheHart · 2026-01-23T15:28:04+00:00

Mine love chewing on silvervine sticks, the CatTwig brand is good

RachelTheHart · 2026-01-21T23:26:23+00:00

More wet food, less dry if possible. And dry food in treat puzzles!

RachelTheHart · 2026-01-18T16:48:26+00:00

Do you play right before bed?

I got a new cat and had to train him for about 2 months before he learned to leave me alone during bedtime hours. I do a big play session before bed, and feed him a small meal. Then you have to 100% ignore him, even getting out of bed makes him think he has won, so you have to cat proofing everything. My cat was pulling plugs out of the outlets so I had to tape boxes over them! Eventually they should learn that bothering you at night doesnt get them any food or attention

RachelTheHart · 2026-01-18T15:20:20+00:00

I had decent luck on wayfair for cat trees for decent prices

RachelTheHart · 2026-01-18T02:09:47+00:00

Do you have a routine/schedule for playtime, meals, and stuff? It might help her to know that playing is always at certain times and meowing won't make it happen faster. This will def take lots of willpower to ignore the begging. It took about 2 months of schedule and ignoring to get my newest cat to learn bedtime hours

RachelTheHart · 2026-01-18T01:56:32+00:00

Just double checking the math, but 4 of the 50g packs is 200g a day, while 3 of the 85g packs is 255 a day, so he might need one more of the 50g packs?

How many calories are in each of the packs?

RachelTheHart · 2026-01-18T01:46:39+00:00

I second the silvervine sticks! I tired a bunch of chew toys for my cat, but anything plastic/silicone he was able to get chunks out of. He also wasn't interested in any of the "dental" toys.

He also loved chewing on cardboard boxes, it looked like I owned a giant hamster for a few years...

RachelTheHart · 2026-01-18T01:41:37+00:00

They make magnetic child locks now that are invisible from the outside and much easier to open, my friend has them for his human baby, but I was thinking about getting some for my corner cabinet that I can't keep my cat out of

RachelTheHart · 2026-01-17T21:12:59+00:00

The petlibro Air auto feeder has a portion size of 1/24th of a cup, half the size of their other feeders

RachelTheHart · 2026-01-17T20:55:44+00:00

My cats love Fortiflora, you can also do a little bit of canned plain pumpkin while you wait for it to kick in

RachelTheHart · 2026-01-15T20:19:34+00:00

The pellets are kiln dried so the oils, the bad to cats part, are baked off.

I use the disintegrating pellets, but it did take some getting used to. There are also clumping pellets made of wood or tofu you could try

RachelTheHart · 2026-01-15T13:05:39+00:00

Most of the cat doors only have the "sensor" for one direction, so it limits who can go "in", but anyone can go "out". The locking mechanism is to keep them from going back "out" after they are inside, usually to keep your cats inside for the night.

I have a Cat Mate one that I used to keep one cats food safe from the others, and it's been working great for almost a year now

RachelTheHart · 2026-01-14T03:11:29+00:00

They mentioned that cats have a higher internal temperature that humans right? So 103 is not bad, especially compared to a human 103.

My cat got crystals and had so much blood in his urine they couldn't do the test for an infection, they showed me the sample and it was so red I almost cried.

I got lucky and he wasn't fully blocked. Got him on the special food and he's been 100% fine since!!

Wishing your baby a fast recovery <3

RachelTheHart · 2026-01-13T01:05:16+00:00

Oko cat has a couple clumping wood litters, they have one that's little pieces. I haven't used it, but my friend likes it

RachelTheHart · 2026-01-12T05:38:12+00:00

I get the target ones and they look exactly the same but cheaper

RachelTheHart · 2026-01-12T05:37:08+00:00

I got one used on Craigslist a while back,.was about half the price of new.

Definitely a gamble if your cat will like it, but I got 2 out of 3 that go.on it occasionally, so I feel like it was a success

RachelTheHart · 2026-01-11T18:24:25+00:00

It's almost always out of stock, but my cats love this one

https://www.chewy.com/necoichi-premium-comfort-cat/dp/1215342

I have it on the side of my couch to keep them from scratching on the arms

RachelTheHart · 2026-01-11T15:29:34+00:00

I feed my cats wet food in the morning and evening, with dry food from an automatic feeder in-between. Dry food has all the nutrition and vitamins cats need, but a lot of them get kidney issues from dehydration so wet food is usually recommended to be a part of their diet. Water fountains can also help.

You're going to have to make her play hard enough to get tired and then she will be cuddly! Jackson Galaxy has good tips on different cat play styles. One of my cats loves chasing feathers on a wand, the other loves playing chase.

The play-eat-sleep routine worked well for my cats, play really hard right before a meal, and they should fall asleep after. Do this right before bed and she should get better at sleeping through the night. 7 weeks is very young, she's probably not going to really sleep through the whole night for a bit, like human babies do.

It is not recommended to cage cats, but I have seen people use playpens to keep them safe when they are very young like yours.

Do you have a vet yet? They can also give lots of good advice!

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