Animal Party

This is Pet Life Radio.

Let's talk pets.

Hello, you're listening to Animal Party.

I'm Pet Life Radio with me, Deb Wolfe.

And we're gonna be talking cats today.

We'll fit in a couple of dog topics, maybe.

All the cat people are wagging their tails back and forth and back and forth as they do, looping them over in a little soft arch so that their tails could touch each other with a little friendly cat hello as they do.

Yep, cat people are happy.

There's some purring going on, because this show is going to focus on cats.

I was telling my producer just before the show went on that I'm going to do a show about cats, that I have two rescue kittens and lots of facts about cats, and I want to talk about cats.

And that's when he confessed that he has a bit of a cat problem.

So I'm hoping he's going to come on the show and tell us about his cat problem.

How about it, Mark?

So tell us about your cat.

Which cat is the problem?

What's her name?

We have a cat named Charlotte.

Okay, and how old is she?

She's about seven now.

And so did you put up with this problem for seven years?

She's a very sweet cat.

We rescued her from out in front of our house when she was four months old.

And she does not use the litter box.

We have two other cats.

They both use the litter box.

They're very good.

One is older than her.

One is younger.

They both use it.

But Charlotte will not use a litter box for anything.

We've got five litter boxes, different litter, different boxes, all different kinds.

And she just goes wherever she's standing.

So while we were talking about this, before the show came on, I asked a few questions.

I asked, are the litter boxes all covered boxes?

And you told me a little bit about the litter boxes.

So you've got a lot of them, right?

We have three cats.

We have five boxes.

Three of them are uncovered.

One is an automatic and we've got two that are covered.

She won't go in there.

She's afraid to go in there.

And they're not all in one place.

So I'm just spelling it out for the people listening, because we got to rule out a few things.

Usually when you have a cat litter problem, the litter box is in the wrong spot.

Like it's too busy or it's near something noisy, like a furnace or a dryer.

But you've got so many that kind of rules it out.

Sometimes when people are listening, if they have more than one cat and they only have one litter box, or even two close together, the cat can kind of possess them and not let anybody else use them, right?

But that's not happening because you only have three cats.

You got five litter boxes and they're all over the place.

You also told me that this cat, Charlotte, spends a lot of time by herself outside, right?

Yes, we have a cat, EO and she likes to be outside by herself.

Okay, and there's a litter box out there, but even out there, even by herself, she doesn't use it.

Correct.

Okay, all right.

So this is a big problem.

And then when we were talking further, I said, well, could you perhaps lift her into a litter box and give her a treat each time?

And you said she likes treats, but there's a problem with that.

What's the problem with that?

She won't take treats out of your hand.

Like if you use the squeeze up kind, I have to squeeze it out onto the floor.

Same thing with the regular, like, temptations treat.

She likes them, but she won't take them from me.

You have to put it on the ground.

Okay, so we're kind of building a picture of this cat.

And you also mentioned that at first you thought she might be afraid of her sister.

So you made sure there were enough boxes that that wouldn't be a problem.

It sounds like she's pretty insecure.

Is she a scaredy cat?

Yeah, pretty much.

She's a scaredy cat.

Okay, so what we have to do is boost her confidence.

She's scared to get into a litter box.

Now, if you had only litter boxes with lids, I would say, we'll take the lids off.

Because when she's in there, she thinks she could get ambushed.

But you don't.

You have litter boxes that she could use without feeling like she can't see who's coming.

So that's not the problem.

I think the best way to work on this would be to take her into a very, very small room.

Maybe it's an office.

It could even be a walk-in closet, a very, very small room.

And make that her home for about a month, maybe even more.

And the only thing in there is her food, her water, her litter, her toys, nothing else.

No other cats.

You go in there because she loves you.

So you go in there and play with her and pet her.

That's why it might be good if it was like an office, someplace you hang out.

But you go in there and when the door's closed, she knows her sister's not coming to pick on her.

No other cats are coming in.

And it's only hers.

The litter box never smells like other cats' urine or feces.

You clean it out real good, pick one that doesn't have a lid.

And I would suggest just for this beginning period, maybe buy that special litter, that stuff that shows the color if the cat has a medical problem, just so we can rule it out.

So if she were to use it and you saw that it was the color that says she needs to see the vet, you could go take her.

But I understand you've already taken her to the vet and they say she's healthy.

So probably she'll use that litter and it won't show up a color that's alarming.

And you'll just confirm that she doesn't need the vet.

But what'll happen is she'll get more and more secure, more and more relaxed, less afraid that they're gonna ambush her, less worried about it.

And then you're gonna start to lift her into the litter box.

And I would suggest to use a different kind of treat, maybe a temptation, maybe some homemade sausage, maybe some liver jerky that you've got.

It doesn't have to be a cat treat necessarily, some meat of some kind, maybe a tiny piece of smoked salmon or a little bit of fat off chicken or turkey that you're eating, something like that.

Just give her a treat that you can hand her, that you could put on a plate beside the litter box.

You put her in the litter box, you stroke her head a little bit, you tell her she's good, and then you put this treat down for her if she won't take it out of your hand.

I do think though, after a month or two in this office, she's gonna start taking things out of your hand.

So that won't be a problem anymore.

But when you say she's scared of the scrunch up of the food, that's a really timid cat.

You got a really timid cat there, Mark.

Yeah, she is.

So I think what we need to do is make her world really small and safe.

And then she's gonna start using litter box, no problem.

I really think so.

So seven years, can you do one month of confining her, or maybe two months?

I don't know, because we don't really have a room that she could be in.

I mean, the patio, she's out there by herself, usually all day long.

She loves it out there, and she's by herself.

Do the other cats go out there?

They go out, but they come back in.

They don't like to stay out all day.

She likes to stay out all day.

In order for this to work, you'd have to make that her spot.

And you'd have to put a chair out there for yourself, and hang out out there with her, and pet her, and make it like her home, where they don't get to go.

So I'm not sure that's gonna work on the patio.

If they're coming and going and using the litter, then it's theirs, to her mind.

She's just a guest when they tolerate her there.

And it's probably a timeshare.

They probably go out there when they want to be out there, and she gets out of their way, and then when they don't want it, she goes out there.

Because she's bottom cat, it sounds like.

Poor thing.

I know, I know, you call her Charlotte.

And in my mind, I'm feeling bad for Charlotte.

I want Charlotte to come out of her shell.

She's a sweet cat, she really is.

She just has not gotten with the litter box program.

Well, I don't think it's a problem with the type of litter or the type of box.

I think it's a problem with her just being scared.

So you got to make her way more confident.

And it's going to take a few weeks of not being harassed by anybody, knowing that one litter box is hers.

So that's, I know it's hard to accomplish in your setting.

Another litter box for outside and that will be hers and put her in it.

Yeah, yeah, that will help.

And spending time with her.

She needs to have a space where you and her are there and there's no other cats.

It's just her smells, her turf.

You come visit her because she loves you, and she'll chill out, but she has to be guaranteed they're not gonna come in and harass her when you're not looking, which sounds like what's happening probably every day.

So it's hard to undo.

They don't specifically go after her, but if she happens to pass by, her sister will be like, you know.

Yeah, but that's okay.

So that means most of the time, Charlotte is making sure she doesn't pass by her sister.

She's worrying about it and aware of where her sister is and constantly avoiding her and making a path that avoids her getting her food, getting her water, getting what she needs done without harassing anybody or without interacting with them.

And in the cat world, they fight more over the bathroom than they do over food.

Dogs are so different.

Dogs fight over food.

They couldn't care less where you pee or where you poo.

Cats care.

So it's almost an act of aggression or assertiveness for her to use their litter box.

Sometimes she'll hang out with our older one, Dennis.

He's almost 15 and he's chill.

So, I mean, sometimes she'll lay down next to him and she just like, I guess she uses him for protection.

Oh, that adds another dimension.

Okay, we're gonna go to break and talk about Dennis.

Stay tuned everybody to Animal Party on Pet Life Radio.

We're coming back to talk about Charlotte and Dennis.

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Let's Talk Pets on petliferadio.com.

Hello, we're back on Animal Party, Pet Life Radio.

And this is why I wanted Mark to come on the air and talk to me, because when I get an email from you all about your cat problem or your dog problem, sometimes I can solve it, but I don't get the full details unless we're really, unless I can really hear you.

So you just said, sometimes she goes and hangs out with Dennis for protection.

Okay, this is a big plus.

This means, okay, I think we can just isolate Ms.

Naughty.

Who's her naughty sister?

What's she called?

The young sister.

She's Molly.

Okay, can we isolate Molly somewhere?

Just take Molly out of the equation.

I'm surprised Molly's not sitting at the door meowing.

She doesn't let me out of her sight.

She wants to be with me 24 seven.

Okay, so they're fighting over you as well.

Probably.

And Charlotte has no right to be with you and Molly, okay.

Poor Charlotte.

So she doesn't get to have a person.

She doesn't get to have a bathroom.

She's entitled food and water, but that's all.

It's like she's in prison.

And Molly's got the jail keys, Molly's the warden.

That's terrible.

Okay, Dennis, Dennis needs to step up.

Mr.

Dennis, I bet you he's huge, too.

How big is Dennis?

Well, he's a main apartment.

So he's not giant, but he's a big furry cat.

So he could easily get in the way of all this, but he doesn't bother.

He didn't care.

Does he not care?

He's already almost 15, so he's like, oh, you don't want to sleep.

Shut up.

Okay, well, one solution would be if you could prevent Molly from interacting with the other two, instead of isolating Charlotte and giving her her own little home with just you and a litter box and her and no other cats to bother her, which is one solution.

We could also, and it's not forever, but till they get out of this habit, until Charlotte gets some confidence and gets using the litter box and gets you the idea that she has one, that she's allowed and all of that, we have to stop Molly from picking on her.

We have to stop Molly from, or Charlotte from having to pay attention all the time to Molly's movements and where Molly is and where you are.

And if she's entitled to get some affection from you or not, depending on Molly's mood.

And we got to stop that.

So I think Molly needs some confinement.

If there was a way to put Molly in a room with her own litter box, food and water and make Molly be nice to get attention, that would be a huge plus.

And then just being aware of it.

You know, Pat the nice cat, not the rude cat.

Pat the one who's good.

It's like when two dogs come over and one's really polite and sits nicely.

And the other one kind of comes in like a bull in a china shop and knocks your coffee and jumps on your lap and, well, you don't pay attention to the rude one.

Knock that one off your lap and pay attention to the one who's sitting nicely.

And I think there's a little bit of that going on with Charlotte.

She needs some attention for for being good and Molly needs to get a little redirection or maybe even get ignored for some of this.

What do you think about that, Mark?

We could try.

You know, cats, they have their own personalities.

They're all a little different.

They are, but they do what works just like kids, just like dogs.

They all do what works.

So you've got one cat who's a bit fearful and so she's serving her fear.

She's doing what works to get her into less situations that make her afraid.

That's what she's doing.

Fear avoidance.

Molly will sleep on the couch.

If we're watching TV all night long, she'll sleep between us on the couch while we're watching TV.

And Charlotte's got the whole run of the play.

She can go into any litter box she wants.

No one will bother her because Molly's just hanging out on the couch, but she doesn't do it.

But they're all, unfortunately, they're all scented like her enemy.

They're all scented like she has no right to be there.

So it's a bit of a problem for her.

Now that she's already got this idea, right?

She's been she's been schooled.

She's been told she's probably been ambushed a couple of times coming out of the litter box.

She's probably been prevented from using it once in a while.

Molly, Molly, Molly needs to be taken down a notch.

I got it.

Then we didn't even start talking about Molly.

But now I'm thinking you got a problem and it's Molly.

It's not it's not Charlotte.

Oh, dear.

Yeah, what would happen if you put Molly off the couch and brought Charlotte up?

No, I can't do that because remember what I told you?

Charlotte will go to the bathroom any place she is and I can't have her doing that on the couch.

So she will.

So she pees from stress as well as avoiding conflict.

She's got a whole lot of problems.

Yeah.

I still say Molly really needs her own litter box in her own space.

With or without Dennis doesn't really matter, but I mean Charlotte.

Charlotte really needs her own space, her own litter box where she can learn that she's safe and comfortable and nobody's going to get her.

And Molly is away.

And the only time she's with Molly should be when you're making sure Molly is nice.

If Molly is not nice, you can have a box, like a cardboard box that's open on one end.

And just when Molly's meh, just boop, cover her with it.

Now she's inside a box.

You put the open end face down, like right over her.

That's time out.

Give her like 10 minutes when she's calm, taking it off.

Cats like being in boxes, so it won't be a big deal to her.

But it'll immediately stop her from picking on Charlotte, right?

Get a time out box.

Yeah, that's that's the way to go.

All right, we're going to go to another break.

And we're going to come back and talk a little bit about the rescue kittens.

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Let's talk pets.

Hello, you're listening to Animal Party on PetLifeRadio.

And you did hear me recommend to mark this new kind of litter they've got.

Now, I don't recommend it for everybody all the time, but if you have a cat that's all of a sudden not using litter box, or hasn't for a while, and you're kind of like, well, I don't want to take it to the vet unless I need to.

Maybe it's a stressed out cat that's always afraid, and you don't want one more stressful thing, or maybe you've just been to the vet, or this is one way to kind of a quick home test, right?

It's not as good as the vet testing the urine, but if you use this special litter, one brand is called Pretty Litter, there's a bunch of them now.

If you use the special litter, the idea is if your cat has a specific medical problem, the litter will turn a certain color.

So say it showed up that color, you then know, okay, I got to go to the vet.

It's not instead of the vet, but it gives you an idea, okay, this isn't just behavioral like I thought.

Because sometimes it could be a behavioral problem, but she could also have some kind of infection or issue.

And sometimes those issues are really easily fixed, like with an antibiotic, for example, or all kinds of stuff that the vet knows how to fix.

So it could be something really, really simple.

And it's, you know, hard to see an owner struggle for seven years with what they think is a behavioral problem if actually the cat just needed two weeks of some meds.

So you do want to check that out, even if you've already seen the vet, just give it a shot, just like a pretest.

And if the glitter doesn't change a funny color, then you know you're still dealing with a behavioral problem.

Okay, so I was talking about the two kittens and I rescued them.

And I had someone, I think they saw me on YouTube and they sent a comment saying, why would you neuter those beautiful babies?

That's what they said to me, because I had mentioned, I showed the vaccine appointment, it's Deb Wolfe, Pet Expert on YouTube.

And I often show what I'm up to at Camp Good Dog.

And I was showing the cats getting examined by the vet and getting vaccinated.

And I said in the, while the vet was there, then in a month, they'll go back for their second vaccines and get neutered.

So they won't be part of the problem, they'll be part of the solution.

And someone sent me a comment, why would you neuter those beautiful babies?

Okay, well, why I would neuter those beautiful babies is because one boy cat and one girl cat in five years makes 11,000 cats potentially.

And we do have too many.

And there are many that don't have homes.

So these two cats were born north of here in a place called 100 Mile.

And they were from a pairing of a house cat and a barn cat.

And it was big litter.

And all of them have found homes.

I took two to two boys, at which I'm calling Cheech and Chong, because one is very small and hyper and busy.

And the other one is super chill and strange and furry.

And so Cheech and Chong, my new boy brothers, they lived up to their names.

Very first day I got them home, Chong got stuck in the wall.

And then I had to get him out of there.

So yeah, that's something to consider.

If you are getting kittens or puppies, be ready for the unexpected.

Vet insurance is not a bad idea.

You don't know what they're gonna eat and just get into.

You don't know their personality yet.

You don't know if they're risk takers or clumsy or if they put everything in their mouth or if they're sensible.

You just don't know.

So lots can happen.

And what I thought was a perfectly pet-proofed room, apparently there was a way in behind the bathtub and the little guy, Cheech, got in and out no problem.

Chong followed him in and couldn't figure out how to get out.

So the first day or second day of owning these two kittens was a bit of a home-rento experience.

And so you gotta be ready for stuff like that when you take on animals.

You gotta be ready for, like Mark's cat, a cat that potentially may not use the litter box.

So right away, these guys, I had to train them and I knew they'd already been litter box trained, but not perfectly, you know?

They were a little too interested in soft furnishings, blankets and fleece things.

And so I had to take some of those out of the way, had to take a big plastic cover that's probably normally designed for a tablecloth, but big giant sheet of plastic I got from a store called Yisk.

I put that over the bed so the bed is less tempting.

So now the most tempting thing in the room to pee or poo in is the litter box and they're doing 100%.

And I had to introduce them very slowly to my cats.

So the first day they were just in a little cage and my cats could come and go and check them out.

And then days later, I was repeating that every day for a little bit of time.

And then I had a cat scratch that the kittens had played on and a cat scratch that the cats had played on and I switched them.

So they'd each sent the other in their different spaces.

And then I did the same with the bedding inside the cage that the kittens had been in.

So the cats had that, their cat scratch and a blanket that had been with the cats went to the kittens.

And then I started to do the petting thing where you pet their face, you pet their cheeks and you pet them when they're happy only and you get that scent all over your hands.

So you take the scent of the new kitten and then you put it on the old cat and then you do the same back again.

You put the old cat scent on the new kitten back and forth and back and forth and you can even pet them at the same time when they'll tolerate it.

And so what happens is they start to recognize each other's scent as the group scent, the scent of the colony.

Another thing I did was when I let the kittens and the cats in together, I was always there.

And when the cats would hiss at the kittens, which they did, especially in the beginning, I didn't reprimand them.

So what was happening was these kittens were so used to their mama that they would go running up to my cats who are not the mama.

And my cats would hesitate and kind of hiss and just give them the single, hey, wait a minute, slow down, back off.

So if I'd punished one of my cats for that, I'd be setting up for failure.

I had to make it so my cats were so happy these kittens were there.

So everybody got kitten food.

Everybody's still getting kitten food.

My cats might get a little chubby, but I don't want them to be envious that the cats are getting better food.

So if they decide to go at the kittens' food or the kittens decide to go at the cat's food, I'm okay with it.

Now, I don't have fat cats.

One of my cats is probably about 12, I think.

I'm not even sure.

And the other one's maybe four, but they're pretty fit and athletic.

And well, especially the black cat, Xena.

She's very athletic.

So the two cats approach this differently.

I thought the black cat who's extremely playful and interactive with other animals, I thought she'd take to them right away, but she didn't.

And my older cat, who's pretty grumpy, is almost a lookalike to these kittens' mother, natural mother.

So I don't know if that had a role in it or not, but they approached her right away, super friendly, trying to lick her, trying to kiss her face, trying to rub against her.

And at first she was a little aloof and a little taken aback, but she'd just sort of sit in the bed and watch them.

But now, oh, she loves them.

She lets them rub against her face and she hardly ever hisses at them and she sleeps with them.

And so everything's all good with my old grumpy cat Ming Ming.

I shouldn't call her grumpy anymore.

Maybe I misjudged her, but she's quite happy with this situation.

And I do find old cats sometimes really like kittens.

I found this before.

So my young cat took a little while to get used to them and now she started to chase them in her playful way.

They're not exactly sure if it's play yet.

So they run.

They run, run, run, run, run.

But they'll get the hang of it.

And I brought in different interactive cat toys and keep rotating them in and out to keep the kittens stimulated, but also keep the cats playing with the kittens.

And the whole thing's going great.

Now they're secluded.

So when I can't watch them, like right now I'm on the radio, the kittens are in a room by themselves with litter, food and water.

Occasionally for short bits, I'll let the old cat in there too.

But I gotta be there when Xena's around because it sounds like ping pong game in there.

Bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, kittens flying all over the place.

So I gotta be there just to make sure if one of the adult cats has had enough, I can let them out.

And if anybody takes it too far, I can intervene.

But honestly, it's been a joy to watch.

And I'll be posting more of that on Deb Wolfe Pet Expert on YouTube.

If you have questions for me about cats or dogs, or dogs and cats, cats who don't like dogs, dogs who don't like cats, dogs who chase squirrels, anything at all, anything, if you wanna know about the latest meds or something your vets told you to do, or you got a question about something you read in the news or something you don't really understand about your animals, you can always send me a question, or even better, you can send me a voice clip, deb at petliferadio.com and I'll answer it on air.

So I was reading that dogs, well, we all know this, dogs can be trained to sniff out the early stages of certain types of cancers, like bladder cancer, lung cancer, skin cancer, ovarian cancer, and it makes me wonder if that's the case, why don't I see a room at every hospital, like the lab, but instead of it being a lab of needles and nurses, why is it not a lab of Labrador retrievers, well-trained?

Oh my gosh, I would so be, why can't they replace the colonoscopy with one of these sniff tests?

I would so much rather have a dog sniff me over my clothes and know that I'm cancer-free than have to subject to some of the things they do I think it's a great way to do to people nowadays.

So, why are we not on this?

I feel like they're just not putting the money in, they're not putting the time in to make dogs more part of medicine.

But it would make the experience so much better.

I actually have two customers who come and stay at Camp Good Dog, my boarding kennel, who are bedbugs sniffing dogs.

And they work the hospitals, they work the hotels, these little beagle guys, they sniff out bedbugs, so you don't have to get bit.

Well, why can't we be doing that?

Why can't we get dogs to sniff out cancer?

If they can do it, and we know they can.

There've been dogs who've done this that weren't even trained for it.

Cocker Spaniel, who just kept like worrying, kind of licking and rubbing and chewing at his owner's wrist.

And finally the lady said, I don't know why he keeps doing this.

I'm gonna get it tested.

And sure enough, it was melanoma.

Dog wasn't even trained for it.

So they've got dogs that can be trained to sniff out cancer.

Oh my gosh, I hope they get on this.

It would make, ironically, introducing dogs to medicine would make medicine more humane.

So I really hope they get on that.

All right, everybody, it's been a blast talking to you.

And pretty soon I'll be doing some Christmas shows, talking to you about how to keep safe with the Hanukkah candles, Christmas trees and all the pets and everything to do with that.

And also what to buy and what not to buy.

That'll be coming soon.

So stay tuned for all of that.

And again, if you have any questions, please send them to deb at petliferadio.com.

If you wanna find me on Facebook, it's Deb Wolfe Pet Expert.

That's my page on Facebook and Deb Wolfe Pet Expert on YouTube.

And well, we got lots of puppies here.

Two puppies left for sale, Golden Doodles.

Had all their shots and vaccines and ready to go.

And you can see them playing with their sister and their mom on a frosty morning today.

Plus there's six new Golden Doodle pups that just had their first vaccines.

And they are also adorable.

And you can see them playing in a warm barn today, posted on Facebook at Camp Good Dog.

So please check us out on social media.

Give us a like and subscribe to my YouTube channel, Deb Wolfe Pet Expert on YouTube.

There'll be more Dog & Cat videos coming in all the time.

All right, everybody.

From me, Deb Wolfe, and Animal Party and Pet Life Radio.

Let's talk pets every week on demand.

Only on petliferadio.com.