We has cats!

[elfs]

Boscoe & Neko

As if there weren't enough on my plate already, we have cats. Both are rescue cats. The King County shelter has waived all adoption fees for the month of December, in the hopes of reducing the population at the shelter to something that can be evacuated should the Howard Hanson levee break and flood the entire Kent valley. The levee has been at risk of catastrophic failure for almost a year, and we're expecting heavy rains this year with serious flood potential. So we got two neutered cats in reasonable health for free.

The orange tabby is named Boscoe, and the mackarel is Necco. They were both very skittish when we first got home; Boscoe spent the first day under my bed. But he has come out and started to realize that, yes, he has the run of the place. Necco is female and territorial, so we're still waiting to see how they adapt. Both found their boxes readily enough, so that wasn't a problem.

They're both very skinny, and Boscoe has a problem with oxolate crystal formation, so he's on a C/D diet. We're trying to figure out what diet to put him on to raise his blood's pH to levels that will prevent crystal formation, but he's unimpressed with the C/D food from Science Diet and he really prefers wet food. He doesn't drink much, either, so wet food is essential to keep him properly hydrated.

We'll see how they do in the coming days and weeks. I like Boscoe. He's noisy and boisterous, and he's now getting over his startle at every sound. Necco's okay, but she's much more the girls' cat, as she can leap almost anywhere, even up into Stormy's bunk bed. That is one long cat.

[Edit: Omaha informs me that Kouryou-chan chose Necco, after the flavored communion wafercandy.]

Comments

[pixel39.livejournal.com]

If my experiences with cats and the c/d diet have been any indication, it doesn't taste very good. As for wet food, it's better for him anyway. You want low ash content for the urinary track thing, and for hydration you can mix a bit of water with his wet food to help with that.

As for the whole Science Diet thing, get thee to http://www.catinfo.org/ and read therein. Hills pet foods are primarily grain-based, which is fine if you're an omnivore but lousy if you're a carnivore. Cats are obligate carnivores, they should not be eating wheat gluten even if it isn't poisoned with melamine.

You don't have to feed them a raw diet, but please feed them something better than Hills.

[ladyerin.livejournal.com]

Ive been very happy with Wellness Core and Evo foods for my kitties. Apollo has much the same issue as Boscoe and does well on the Evo wet food

~E

[sirfox.livejournal.com]

My sweethearts have a crystal formation issue with one of their cats, they've found the mixing water with wet food works very well for keeping the cats hydrated, however unappetizing it might appear in the bowl.

[mauraanderson.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on the new family members. I had to let one of my much-loved cats go yesterday so I'm glad to see two other cats find a new home.

I won't feed Science Diet but have had good results with the same urinary crystal issues using Royal Canin's foods instead. Much better quality and better ingredients. They do have a wet food targeted for the issue.

[mg4h.livejournal.com]

We also have a cat on C/D, and yes, the Hill's wet food was soundly refused. We found there's a Friskies Special Diet wet food, in our area all the ones that say that are appropriate. The label specfically mentions it lowers pH and is low in magnesium - that's the key, as the crystals form better with too much magnesium and/or ash. My cats eat up this wet food, so maybe yours will too. It's been years and no repeat of crystals in the bladder so I'm happy to feed them this stuff.

[tagryn]

What helped with getting our cats to drink more was having one of those ever-flowing fountains. I was skeptical at first, but even one of the bottom-level models for around $10 made a big difference in how much & often they'd drink, though YMMV depending on the individual cat: as with a lot of things, some really love drinking flowing water more, while others couldn't care less either way.

[omahas.livejournal.com]

We actually have one of those...we got it in the last two years before Dinah (our previous pet) passed on. We just haven't set it up yet.

[slfisher.livejournal.com]

Boscoe's really beautiful.

[omahas.livejournal.com]

Elf, you spelled Necco's name wrong.

Necco is named after the grey, licorice necco wafer, because she is grey like that. It is also a play on words, because the sound is also the same as Neko, the Japanese word for cat (thus the reason that Elf spelled it wrong).

[bolindbergh]

It could be worse. He could start calling himself "Hoshiyama". :-P