- Joined
- Oct 12, 2012
- Messages
- 3
- Purraise
- 1
Hi everyone, my name is Dave and this is my first post here. I want to appologize in advance, I know nothing about cats. I'm a 23 year old broke college student, just moved out of my parents house for the first time and I've been around dogs my whole life but have never owned a cat. A buddy and I moved into a rented house a month ago and this kitten has been around ever since...
I think it's a she. She is very loving, people friendly (even with the neighbors dog), declawed, young and underweight (I think... again, first cat). This made me think she was someone's pet so we posted signs, an ad on craigslist and contacted the humane society in our area but we haven't heard anything back in 2 weeks now. We have slowly let her into our house. We started giving her milk and tuna as it's all we had but we have recently bought some toys (uninterested), a litter box (unused, she either goes outside or in a corner I have yet to discover) generic Purina dry catfood that we soak it in water and she demolishes half a cup twice a day (again, underfed I think). She comes and goes as she pleases but we live in the Detroit suburbs and it has been down to freezing at night recently, she roams the house when inside and has taken over our spare bedroom to sleep at night (outside most of the day when its in the 50s) and we have had no problems. We would both be OK turning this kitten into a house pet and can even give it its own bedroom, long term arrangments for it aren't a problem eitherbut I have no clue how/what to do.
She has an EXTREME itching problem. There are 8-10 pin sized small scabs spread across her body. A few around her ears, under her belly and on her side. She itches with her paws, licks and even bites her skin A LOT. When we bought the other cat stuff we got a flea comb, some drops and powder. We gave her a bath (not fun) and used a very small dose of the drops and powder about a week ago and it has shown zero improvement. She uses our cement back patio to scratch herself while she is outside and when she is not sleeping or eating, scratching is her #1 priority. I have been petting her a lot and I don't notice any signs of fleas on me or her. My Aunt is a cat lady and she said it could be fleas, allergies, the change in environment, mange or just cat OCD. She was itching before we started feeding her and continues to do it on a steady diet.
Secondly, my roommate and I are both very much college kids (not home much) and very much broke. I know getting her to the vet should be a high priority, especially with the itching. But, we truthfully can't afford a ton of vet bills which, given her current condition, I assume will be out of our price range.
Sooo here's some questions I have:
Should we just turn her in? There is a no kill humane society less than 2 miles from here and if we are going to have to watch her struggle/take out a loan to pay for it is this the best thing to do? We can afford to care for it at home but we would need LOW cost vet care. Any thoughts on integration into the home, or what to do with outdoor cats in the cold winter? If a cat is declawed is it safe to assume it is spayed and had shots?
What can we do about the itching? Should we leave her perminately in or out to stabilize her environment? Change foods? Bathe her more or less? Find a low cost vet and see what they say? She comes in very dirty from laying in the grass and rolling around on concrete from trying to scratch herself, her coat is starting to fall out and she just seems miserable.
Can you what breed of cat it is from that picture?
Any thoughts on how to handle this situation would be awesome, I'm sure I'll have more questions very soon. Thank you all so much.
I think it's a she. She is very loving, people friendly (even with the neighbors dog), declawed, young and underweight (I think... again, first cat). This made me think she was someone's pet so we posted signs, an ad on craigslist and contacted the humane society in our area but we haven't heard anything back in 2 weeks now. We have slowly let her into our house. We started giving her milk and tuna as it's all we had but we have recently bought some toys (uninterested), a litter box (unused, she either goes outside or in a corner I have yet to discover) generic Purina dry catfood that we soak it in water and she demolishes half a cup twice a day (again, underfed I think). She comes and goes as she pleases but we live in the Detroit suburbs and it has been down to freezing at night recently, she roams the house when inside and has taken over our spare bedroom to sleep at night (outside most of the day when its in the 50s) and we have had no problems. We would both be OK turning this kitten into a house pet and can even give it its own bedroom, long term arrangments for it aren't a problem eitherbut I have no clue how/what to do.
She has an EXTREME itching problem. There are 8-10 pin sized small scabs spread across her body. A few around her ears, under her belly and on her side. She itches with her paws, licks and even bites her skin A LOT. When we bought the other cat stuff we got a flea comb, some drops and powder. We gave her a bath (not fun) and used a very small dose of the drops and powder about a week ago and it has shown zero improvement. She uses our cement back patio to scratch herself while she is outside and when she is not sleeping or eating, scratching is her #1 priority. I have been petting her a lot and I don't notice any signs of fleas on me or her. My Aunt is a cat lady and she said it could be fleas, allergies, the change in environment, mange or just cat OCD. She was itching before we started feeding her and continues to do it on a steady diet.
Secondly, my roommate and I are both very much college kids (not home much) and very much broke. I know getting her to the vet should be a high priority, especially with the itching. But, we truthfully can't afford a ton of vet bills which, given her current condition, I assume will be out of our price range.
Sooo here's some questions I have:
Should we just turn her in? There is a no kill humane society less than 2 miles from here and if we are going to have to watch her struggle/take out a loan to pay for it is this the best thing to do? We can afford to care for it at home but we would need LOW cost vet care. Any thoughts on integration into the home, or what to do with outdoor cats in the cold winter? If a cat is declawed is it safe to assume it is spayed and had shots?
What can we do about the itching? Should we leave her perminately in or out to stabilize her environment? Change foods? Bathe her more or less? Find a low cost vet and see what they say? She comes in very dirty from laying in the grass and rolling around on concrete from trying to scratch herself, her coat is starting to fall out and she just seems miserable.
Can you what breed of cat it is from that picture?
Any thoughts on how to handle this situation would be awesome, I'm sure I'll have more questions very soon. Thank you all so much.
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