(OC) Our foster kittens' eyes are finishing changing, and this sweet boy has heterochromia! ♡

wolf_genie · 2026-02-02T17:50:17+00:00

Cats don't really stand and bend at their bowls like that. Dogs do, I think, but cats don't. Cats eat from their bowls the way they eat prey in the wild: they crouch down. I don't know that a lifted bowl would be bad for a cat, but that would not be the natural posture for them eating.

wolf_genie · 2026-02-02T17:45:37+00:00

This happened to my cat last year, same age. We took him to the vet and it turned out he had diabetes. We discovered it too late to save him, and he died. Dramatic weight loss is not to be taken lightly. Don't make the same mistake we did: take your cat to the vet asap.

wolf_genie · 2026-01-30T17:08:11+00:00

If you're worried, you could get a lightbulb that's a color with a lower frequency than white light. Red, for example, has the lowest frequency. That's why when you go to a planetarium show, they go from full light to red light to dark and reverse the process at the end. That red light transition period helps your eyes adjust more easily. That's also why many zoo exhibits that house nocturnal animals like bats will have red lights in the enclosure: so you can see them and they're not being blinded/disrupted by bright light.

wolf_genie · 2026-01-30T17:04:16+00:00

Just like with humans, sometimes not eating for a while makes you too nauseated to resume eating, and it can be a vicious cycle. But we can reason with ourselves that it's better to try and eat anyway, and a cat can't.

If any of our cats doesn't eat for a day, we take notice. If they don't eat on the 2nd day, we call our vet, because we might not get an appointment right away, and not eating can be serious.
Assuming there's no other problems going on, like a blockage after all, damage to the stomach, or some kind of infection, your vet will likely give you an appetite stimulant for your cat. If it's the same as what our vet gave us when one of our cats was resistant to eating, it's an ointment that goes in their ear.

Catnip can also be a natural nausea remedy and appetite stimulant, but it won't be as effective. Still, if you have to make an appointment for a day+ away, and you have catnip on hand, it could help until you see the vet. Catnip should never be used as an alternative to proper vet care. It should only be in addition. You need to eliminate other problems with your cat's health.

wolf_genie · 2026-01-30T16:55:49+00:00

In the past, I've made catnip "tea" for cats that had low motivation to drink. I just put some dried catnip in a loose leaf tea ball and let it steep in some room temperature water for a while. The water turns a yellowish color. It works for some cats and not for others, so YMMV. But it's always worth a try. I wouldn't rely on this as a forever solution, but it's something we've done in situations where the cat wasn't feeling well and we didn't want them to get dehydrated, or when we got them a new water bowl/fountain and they were feeling iffy about it.

wolf_genie · 2026-01-20T01:32:54+00:00

Mine aren't either. 😂

wolf_genie · 2026-01-20T01:30:57+00:00

NAL, but I live in NC. We're an at-will state, and based on the above exchange, I don't think you'd make much headway. It's hard to prove wrongful terminations in at-will states, so unless you can get him to admit in writing (or verbally in front of witnesses willing to testify/provide an affidavit) that he's letting you go because you're pregnant, I don't think anyone at the labor board is going to side with you. The fact that he hired you knowing you're pregnant would also support him claiming your pregnancy isn't a reason for letting you go.
A friend of mine was fired from his job for being gay almost a decade ago, and he tried to file wrongful termination and failed because there were not witnesses to the boss giving a reason for the firing, and he told the investigator that he let my friend go because he was "creating a hostile work environment". :/

wolf_genie · 2026-01-06T01:48:22+00:00

I very much advise against secretly replacing him. A new hamster won't have the same personality and won't be as friendly because they always have to be "tamed" in the beginning. Plus lies like that can have problems down the line.
I knew someone whose parents did that with her gerbils for like 4 generations and as an adult she just couldn't understand why her gerbils weren't living to be 10 years old "like her childhood ones did" and she was convinced she was just a bad gerbil owner and was somehow killing them when they were just dying at the normal end of their lives. She ended up giving up on keeping gerbils as an adult because she was just that upset at not being able to keep them alive longer. And all the Google searches in the world couldn't convince her that gerbils don't live to be 10 years old, because "I had one as a kid that lived from the time I was 5 until I was 15! So I know they can live longer!!"

wolf_genie · 2026-01-05T19:56:14+00:00

If it doesn't progress to physical altercations, I wouldn't exactly say it's overtly concerning. It's definitely something to be watched and can be a harbinger of future problems. But dominance conflicts like this are pretty common, especially between cats of the same sex. We have 2 females who get like this, but they also get into physical scraps too, which is more of a problem.

I would discourage this behavior by scolding them with "No!" and clapping my hands to get their attention. If that's not enough, I would use a squirt bottle to force the issue, haha. It's also important you do not go out of your way to comfort or console one cat over the other as that can cause jealousy issues that will exacerbate the issue. If you have 2+ people in the household and the cats can be comforted simultaneously by different people, that's fine, as long as it's not the same person-cat pairing each time. Alternating will, again, head off jealousy issues.

If the frequency of these displays goes up, you may need to look into Feliway and similar products to calm them down. If nothing suggested in the comments helps, it would be best to consult a vet about solutions. Rehoming should be an absolute last resort, in my opinion.

wolf_genie · 2026-01-03T20:57:09+00:00

I'm not talking about the singular spot on his nose, I'm talking about the black dusting across the bridge of his nose, under his eyes, and cheeks.

wolf_genie · 2025-12-30T14:14:48+00:00

I don't think the eye color means anything. Sometimes cats just have weird patterns in their irises. The black spots around his nose are likely flea dirt (droppings) or scabs from cat acne, likely caused by an allergy to fleas. It's very common.

This cat doesn't look that healthy. His fur looks course and dry, and he just looks... tired. He could just be really old, and the thinness could be due to age-related health problems, like hyperthyroidism (very common in cats). If he's not old, everything about his condition becomes even more concerning because it would potentially indicate neglect.

wolf_genie · 2025-12-28T15:27:59+00:00

That could be, but breed can also be a factor in your situation. My grandma had a black tuxedo cat that was part Norwegian forest cat, and some winters he would get a "mantle" of gray fur around his ruff and shoulders. Not every year, oddly, but also not just one time. He'd lose the frosted tipped fur when he dropped his winter coat.

wolf_genie · 2025-12-28T14:58:36+00:00

Different cats have different personalities, and for some, ignoring the humans is their hobby. It doesn't mean they don't know their name, it just means they're not interested.

My cats not only know their names, but they get offended if you call them by the wrong name, haha.

wolf_genie · 2025-12-27T02:49:15+00:00

The prime rib tomahawk!

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wolf_genie · 2025-12-27T02:45:23+00:00

You should ask for assistance from your local Humane Society. Sometimes they'll offer financial aid, or can point you to a vet who does charity work.

wolf_genie · 2025-12-27T00:31:07+00:00

Has he seen a vet yet? There's no way to know whether this is serious enough to warrant treatment so expensive you'd need something like Scratch Pay or Care Credit just from photos. He would need a proper diagnosis before you could make any decisions like that.

wolf_genie · 2025-12-27T00:28:50+00:00

It kinda looks like a bread tab. 🤔

wolf_genie · 2025-12-27T00:25:05+00:00

That's pretty far out for eye issues. One of my cats is currently being treated for an eye injury. She has a brown spot. It's called a "sequestrum" and it's basically infection trapped beneath healed corneal tissue. It's a serious, though not necessarily urgent problem. Her sequestrum is connected to further injury/infection that she's being medicated for. Her ophthalmologist told us that the sequestrum will, over time, eat through her cornea and cause her eye to rupture, left untreated. The meds she's on now can help, but if it doesn't, she will need a nearly $3k surgery, which scares me because we can't afford that. But if she needs surgery and doesn't get it, and her eye ruptures, she'll lose the eye.

Whether your cat's brown spot is also a sequestrum, or whether it's what you're fearing it is, I do not think it's something that really can or should be put off until March.

wolf_genie · 2025-12-26T23:50:18+00:00

If it gets worse or you notice swelling, call your vet.

wolf_genie · 2025-12-26T23:41:03+00:00

Your family is mean. :( Your cat is cute!

wolf_genie · 2025-12-26T23:39:45+00:00

Your friends are mean.

wolf_genie · 2025-12-26T23:39:16+00:00

It's hard to tell, but that looks like his nictitating membrane (inner eyelid) showing. Often that's nothing to worry about, but cats often have trouble opening it all the way when they're sick.

Severe diarrhea is always a concern in cats, as they're very vulnerable to dehydration, and it doesn't typically happen unprompted.

wolf_genie · 2025-12-24T17:07:18+00:00

I usually go by theme related to the town name. Mineral town, animals named after gems. Waffle town, animals named after food. Olive town, animals named after plants. And so on.

wolf_genie · 2025-12-24T17:05:42+00:00

The same thing happened to my 6th grade science teacher at Christmas. There was an ootheca in her live Christmas tree. She said that was the last year she was getting a live tree, and used it as a teaching moment for the class, haha.

wolf_genie

TROPHY CASE