Coronavirus Hoarding - cat version

[Jcatbird]

I could not get any Fancy Feast pate or my other canned cat foods from Chewy. I managed to get through after only about 15 minutes and the person on the phone was very kind and helpful. I was only able to buy small bags of dry food but Chewy is sending four small bags at the price of one large bag. My Felv cat can only eat certain foods and I have only found four cans after calling around. I was able to get litter from Chewy but told to check for it to be shipped, possibly by the middle of next week. I am older and always shop for a couple of weeks at a time because I have to hire a ride into the city. The store shelves were empty of meat, eggs, milk, toilet paper, paper towels, cleaning supplies and cat food. I finally found the necessities (cat food included in that!) but no TP. We can survive without TP. Fortunately I had some still but food is nice! For anyone who needs supplies, call ahead, ask when trucks are due to make deliveries to stores, shop the small mom and pop type stores because some of them have not been emptied, convenience stores and even dollar stores are managing to keep restocking, shop early in the morning or late at night when shelves are being restocked and there are less people out.
If you need a smile right now I just saw this on the news, the police in South Carolina are stopping people who are out and about to warn them to stay home and giving out a bit of paper. Not a ticket but a roll of toilet paper! Southern hospitality? It made me smile!

 

[bikeman]

I work at a grocery store, and let me just say, and you all probably know by now, that what happens in grocery stores these days is, um, interesting and different every day we all go through this together. The hording has been controlled with two item limits in most cases, depending on what we are allocated by the warehouse that day. If we get a thousand Honeycrisp apples, then more than two can happen. If we get only one pallet of water, well, there are concerns. But it is what it is. Tomorrow, who knows.

But, the reason I am posting in this thread is that Lolli, our somewhat newer ex-feral devil cat, has just learned the awesome fun of unrolling toilet paper from the dispenser. Normally I would be amused and just re-roll it, but once it is all over the floor, he then shreds it into confetti rendering it completely useless. Nope, can't be doing that these days! TP is no longer on the spool and are instead stored inside the cabinet. Those darn cats!

Oh, and we have plenty of cat foodstuffs in the house, and lots of various litter for a few months. That was the first priority a couple weeks ago when we saw where this was going. Then food for us was second. We're all good on both fronts. A lot of dry pasta comes from Italy. Same with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Those are going to be very difficult to source for a long time.

 

[vyger]

i looked it up just in case society falls, many indoor cats can udjust to garden soil, the dryer the better.

How about a kid wading pool filled with sand. I actually really like that idea. Maybe I should give it a try. Also you can wash sand so it can even be reused. Living in an apartment you wouldn't want to do it but I have plenty of land, I could get a dump truck load of sand. In fact I could even just go down to the river and get it for free. Swap a used pile for a fresh pile when it runs low. An extra benefit to river sand is it has no dust. Wonder if cat poop is considered to be toxic waste. I could get in trouble for dumping toxic waste in a water shed.

 

[susanm9006]

I work at a grocery store, and let me just say, and you all probably know by now, that what happens in grocery stores these days is, um, interesting and different every day we all go through this together. The hording has been controlled with two item limits in most cases, depending on what we are allocated by the warehouse that day. If we get a thousand Honeycrisp apples, then more than two can happen. If we get only one pallet of water, well, there are concerns. But it is what it is. Tomorrow, who knows.

But, the reason I am posting in this thread is that Lolli, our somewhat newer ex-feral devil cat, has just learned the awesome fun of unrolling toilet paper from the dispenser. Normally I would be amused and just re-roll it, but once it is all over the floor, he then shreds it into confetti rendering it completely useless. Nope, can't be doing that these days! TP is no longer on the spool and are instead stored inside the cabinet. Those darn cats!

Oh, and we have plenty of cat foodstuffs in the house, and lots of various litter for a few months. That was the first priority a couple weeks ago when we saw where this was going. Then food for us was second. We're all good on both fronts. A lot of dry pasta comes from Italy. Same with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Those are going to be very difficult to source for a long time.

I had a cat obsessed with destroying toilet paper and despite all our efforts she managed to get a roll
And shred it on a regular basis. So I had a wicker basket that all the shredded stuff went into and that was for family use and roll paper was saved for when their were guests.

 

[syzygycat]

How about a kid wading pool filled with sand. I actually really like that idea. Maybe I should give it a try. Also you can wash sand so it can even be reused. Living in an apartment you wouldn't want to do it but I have plenty of land, I could get a dump truck load of sand. In fact I could even just go down to the river and get it for free. Swap a used pile for a fresh pile when it runs low. An extra benefit to river sand is it has no dust. Wonder if cat poop is considered to be toxic waste. I could get in trouble for dumping toxic waste in a water shed.

Youtube channel idea,people washing cat urine out of sand! And another youtube channel of peoples reaction watching the firstyoutube channel!!!

(also, at least in the US, it is illegal to allow pet waste into the water table. Pooper scooper laws protect from just that, EPA and National Park Dept also has laws covering it...)

 

[syzygycat]

On a positive coronavirus hysteria note, 2 weeks of staying home, finally had the time to build a cat tree. (but still haven't done my taxes )

 

[catapault]

Magnificent! If I was small enough (and furry) I'd want to climb on it myself!

 

[kittyluv387]

On a positive coronavirus hysteria note, 2 weeks of staying home, finally had the time to build a cat tree. (but still haven't done my taxes )

View attachment 327051
View attachment 327054

What did you use for the sisal? A hot glue gun?

 

[syzygycat]

What did you use for the sisal? A hot glue gun?

wrapped it, no glue/nails/staples.

I put a hole every 7". a stopper knot through each hole (thats why it starts out of nowhere).
7" is short enough that wound sisal stays put. and I can replace short segments when they rip it... re-wound whole spools of rope around many a cat tree before figuring that trick out

The built in scratching board slot is the newest design improvement (it was really added because I was running out of carpet)

 

[milktea]

We usually go to Costco for litter for our cats, dry food for the ferals, and dry food for our dog. I saw online that those things disappeared from Costco or are out of stock. Then I checked Chewy & Amazon...all the cheap dry foods are out of stock!

So I kind of freaked out and went to Petco and PetSmart today to get what I could. Our 3 cats go through a lot of litter and food. The feral cats depend on me to provide food from our porch, and we go through at least 2 big bags of dry and 1 case of wet food a month for them.

I hope the suppliers are able to keep up. I only feed our house cats particular can food from Chewy and it scares me to think of having no litter or food for them.

 

[Boris Diamond]

Went to PetSmart yesterday. They had plenty of everything. I got litter and cat and kitten food.

 

[syzygycat]

Went to PetSmart yesterday. They had plenty of everything. I got litter and cat and kitten food.

But if you bought ALL the litter from that petsmart the people who go to that patsmart after you will see theyre sold out, panic and buy way more litter then theyd need from a nearby store expecting further shortages, causing the nearby stores to sell out. and all the people who see those stores are sold out will go to a store even further out and panic buy too much litter, etc .... one panicked hoarder could easily cause a county wide shortage in just one day.

Under other circumstances it would be a funny prank.

 

[Boris Diamond]

But if you bought ALL the litter from that petsmart the people who go to that patsmart after you will see theyre sold out, panic and buy way more litter then theyd need from a nearby store expecting further shortages, causing the nearby stores to sell out. and all the people who see those stores are sold out will go to a store even further out and panic buy too much litter, etc .... one panicked hoarder could easily cause a county wide shortage in just one day.

Under other circumstances it would be a funny prank.

Good thing I only bought two bags!

 

[Uncled]

I am in Connecticut,we are as of Monday being told to stay in place. We all knew it was comimg, you didn't need a crystal ball, I have not had any issue with getting catfood or litter in Walmart, Tractor Supply or Petvalu as I made my rounds in the last week or so, in fact there was a lot of variety to choose from, supplies are and continue to be manufactured and shipped, I'm not saying you will find exactly what you need or flavor, but do not panic that you or your animals won't make it as we all go through this together, with that I will get off my soap box.

 

[syzygycat]

I am in Connecticut,we are as of Monday being told to stay in place. We all knew it was comimg, you didn't need a crystal ball, I have not had any issue with getting catfood or litter in Walmart, Tractor Supply or Petvalu as I made my rounds in the last week or so, in fact there was a lot of variety to choose from, supplies are and continue to be manufactured and shipped, I'm not saying you will find exactly what you need or flavor, but do not panic that you or your animals won't make it as we all go through this together, with that I will get off my soap box.

following up on this... New Jersey's official lockdown started 5 hours ago. Essential bushiness.stay open, and you have to stay off the road except for essential travel; Pet stores rate as essential here, itll probably also be true for all locked down states.

 

[Kat0121]

I tried to go to Petsmart to get cat food but they were closed. I went on Chewy and almost all Friskies was sold out. I managed to get a case of American Journey, a case of Friskies and some Wellness chicken and turkey.

 

[vince]

While things are generally getting picked-over around here, pet supplies seem to be in pretty good supply. Kroger, Meijer and Tractor Supply all have lots.

 

[Sonatine]

I haven't been able to order fancy feast from Chewy, or get much at my local grocery stores. I ordered some other foods that I hope they will eat, though. They should have enough foods that my cats will eat (most things) to get me through until then.

Luckily they're not picky about food or litter. It's still really stressful, though, to worry that I won't be able to feed my cats.

 

[syzygycat]

I haven't been able to order fancy feast from Chewy, or get much at my local grocery stores. I ordered some other foods that I hope they will eat, though. They should have enough foods that my cats will eat (most things) to get me through until then.

Luckily they're not picky about food or litter. It's still really stressful, though, to worry that I won't be able to feed my cats.

Walgreens and CVS carry cat food, 2-3 flavors of Fancy Feast, Friskies, and 9Lives When people hoard at pharmacies, they don't think about catfood.

I ran out of catfood the week after sandy hit, My local CVS was the only place open and in walking distance. Saved my butt.

 

[Sonatine]

Walgreens and CVS carry cat food, 2-3 flavors of Fancy Feast, Friskies, and 9Lives When people hoard at pharmacies, they don't think about catfood.

I ran out of catfood the week after sandy hit, My local CVS was the only place open and in walking distance. Saved my butt.

I've been able to get individual cans easily enough, at any of the stores near me. I was just hoping to buy a larger box, and they're out of those. At least I'll be able to get enough to hold us over until the shipment arrives. Luckily they'll eat pretty much anything to begin with.