Has your cat ever gone missing and eventually come home? For how long?
Oh, yes! Many years and several cats ago…I was in Jr. High school. We had three cats, two brothers and a sister. “Plain Jane”, “Bear” and “Al. E. Cat” (Hey, I was in 5th grade when he was born… “Al E. Cat” sounded terribly clever in 5th grade).Jane and Al were “mostly outdoor” cats with indoor privileges. Bear really wanted to be an indoor cat, but we made him go out at night.One day, Al didn’t show up for breakfast. Or dinner. This wasn’t TOO unusual, and all of them had either missed meals, or come and gone when we didn’t see.The next day, and the next, passed and we started to get worried. We started walking the neighborhood, looking for him.After a week, we were starting to accept that he may not be coming home.After TWO weeks, we were mourning him, but still looking around the neighborhood.After three weeks, we stopped looking, and gave Jane and Bear extra hugs.After a month, one fall day, Al shows up, yowling piteously, his fur bedraggled, his claws beat up and some broken, very thin, and all the whiskers on one side of his face cut or broken off.He scarfed down a whole bowl of food by himself, slurped up a quart of water, rested a while, inside, purring so loud it shook the house… then he scarfed down more food, and more water.He finally had to pee, and went outside… but strayed exactly four feet from the back door, did his business then welded himself to the back door and yowled until we let him back in.We let him sleep inside for a couple days, while we made sure he was recovering.He put his weight back on, and got his fur back to it’s healthy grey and white.We never figured out what happened to Al… Best we can imagine is he got locked under a house, or in a garage, or some such, without food (but with water, or he’s never have survived), and didn’t get found for nearly a month.He didn’t stray far again. In fact, after we moved out to the country, taking Al, Bear, and Jane with us, Al always stayed close. Years later, Jane disappeared, and never came home. So did my best buddy, Bear. Al was with us for a couple years after his brother and sister disappeared. He developed a tumor on his leg and… well… He didn’t suffer as much as we did on his last day, and his last trip to the vet.
Why do some babies not cry just after birth and what is the problem behind it?
*Cue ELO's "I'm Alive" when reading this answer* The majority of newborns cry at birth, and we try to facilitate that by drying and stimulating them as soon as they're handed over to their nurse. Why are we such huge fans of crying? It facilitates the opening of the lungs alveoli and absorption of the fluid that had filled the lungs prior to birth.Is crying necessary for this process? Not really. Babies can deeply breathe, or as most often occurs, rapidly breathe, and that seems to work for some just fine. We monitor how a baby is transitioning from intra to extra uterine life. So if we get a quiet soul who is otherwise pink, breathing easily, and has good tone then we will just continue to monitor them. I can only speculate as to the why of the reason for their quietness. In my years of catching babies and caring for them and mom afterwards, I honestly think it's just how that baby is wired. Some babies are pissed off at birth and scream bloody murder for hours afterwards, inconsolable and outraged by their circumstances.Some babies arrive with a calm and open eyed awareness that is humbling and awe inspiring. I always think of them as old souls who are calmly surveying their surroundings and responding to the loving and familiar voices of their parents. Each child declares its temperament at birth, and it's a privilege to be able to witness.
How long can a cat survive without food and water before dying?
Cats can last a short while without food and can potentially survive for weeks without eating. Water is far more necessary to their health and physical well-being however, and a cat that goes more than a few days without anything to drink might not survive. If you're worried that a cat hasn't been eating or drinking, and it's not showing any signs of being starved or dehydrated, then try offering it a can of tuna water - don't buy the tuna in oil - and see if you can encourage them to drink that way. Not only the water will hydrate them, it'll also contain some much-needed nutrients from the fish. Otherwise, you should take the animal to a vet. The consequences of inadequate food and water can be dire.Why? A cat who hasn't eaten for a while is considered to be starving, and starvation may have a damning physical effect on the cat's entire system. The same is true of dehydration, only the onset of dehydration is much quicker - and far more severe - than that of starvation. Every organ in the feline body relies on water and the nutritional content of food to properly function. Every single one. Starved and dehydrated organs will steal energy and water from the rest of the cat's body, a process that slows as the cat's bloodstream becomes less liquid itself. When feline organs lack sufficient food and fluids to function on the most basic level, they dry up and begin to shut down. Not only could this send the body into shock, it might cause irreversible damage to the cat's organs. If a starving and/or dehydrated cat does not receive swift treatment, it may face permanent health issues - if it survives at all. These are uncomfortable thoughts. They're scary. But it's important to state them as blankly as possible because you never want to take chances with a cat's intake of food and water.
My cat is throwing up foamy stuff. Some of it is yellow/white. What is this and what can I do?
Take it to the veterinarian... as in yesterday.As Catherine Spencer said it could be a hairball, but there are other (scarier) options.One of my cats got really sick, the same symptom, starting a bank holiday, I thought if it was hairball it would eventually go out.When I got my kitty to the vet she was almost dehydrated, and I was giving her water with a syringe (without needle, of course), but she vomited out more than I managed to make her drink in. So, make sure your cat is hydrated. My vet stressed it a lot.Second problem, if she has stopped eating it's a bad sign. As my vet emphasied cats should never fast, not even for 24 hours, it could damage their livers.Then, she would need high protein canned food to recover. Mine didn't like it, so I mixed it with water and I gave her with the syringe.As I found out, it is not normal for cats to vomit.The vet run blood-tests and x-rays to rule out some other disease, everything looked normal.Treatment:My kitty stayed half a day at the vet's hooked up to a drip administering intravenous fluids.She got two types of shots, one of them to make her stop vomiting, during five days in a row.The vet let me take her home with me, but we were visiting day in day out for almost a week.High protein canned food.Make her drink water.Recovery signs:When she drinks and eats by herself.We never got to know what was wrong, but she recovered just fine. My heart began to beat again, so happy ending for everyone.P.S. If you haven't got syringes, get some; they are very handy.
My cat had babies and is rejecting the runt!?
Try to get the kitten to a nipple as much as possible by just rubbing its lips over a nipple, and hopefully the mother won't push it away. If the kitten eats and begins to flourish then the mother might start caring for it. Do not start bottle feeding any of them unless it is absolutely necessary., If they get 2 1/2 weeks mother's milk they'll keep on getting it. Do you have Kitten Milk Replacement home and ready to use if needed? If you can't get the mother to feed her, you will have to start trying to bottle feed her and stimulate her. If not, why are you letting your cat have kittens, which is irresponsible to begin with, and then have the nerve to not even be prepared? That would be her only chance, ONLY if you can't get the mother to do it. Contrary to what you might think, the kittens are hers, she did not have them for you, so you ONLY intefere if it is a matter of life and death. Don't take them out of the box except to clean the box. Don't pick them up until after they are at least 2 weeks old and their eyes are open, and only if the mother allows it. If they scream then, put them back immediately.
Can a dog have 2 litters of puppies within 2 days?
No. more than likely her labor just lasted 2 days long. same litter. labor can be very long. However, a dog CAN get pregnant w/two different males at the same time, or a week or two after she was impregnated by a first male a second can father more pups. BUT the pups will all be born together when the older pups are ready...thus the dog can have term pups and preterm pups in the same litter. (this is how some ppl make "teacup" dogs-it's a sick unethical practice)http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?... btw- Cutiepie....that was the most untruthful and ridiculous thing i've read thus far on Y!A
Pregnant cat: Bloody discharge?
Your cat is due to go into labour around the 64th day of her pregnancy, although it is very unlikely that you will be able to be that accurate in your calculations. Instead, you will have to rely on your ability to read the signs of the stages of pregnancy and of her impending labour. Firstly, you are likely to have noticed that your cat's appetite will have almost doubled in the past few weeks and you will be able to see her kittens moving around in her abdomen quite clearly. Also, she will have been displaying nesting behaviour -- looking for a safe, warm and quiet place in which to give birth. Hopefully, you will have already provided a suitable nesting box for her to use, otherwise you may find that she has chosen to give birth in the middle of your bed! Then, as your cat nears the start of her labour, her appetite will reduce dramatically. It may even disappear completely. A further sign of your cat's labour is that she may become particularly clingy and want to be around you constantly, seeking your affection. As she gets closer to the time that her labour begins in earnest, you may find that your cat starts pacing about, appearing nervous or particularly excitable. Another very distinct sign that your cat is very close to going into labour is that she will begin to 'call' to you. Even if you have never been present when a cat is giving birth, you won't be able to mistake this particular sound! As the time approaches, you will see your cat repeatedly licking her bottom as she reacts to changing sensations in her body as it prepares for the birth of her kittens. And finally, when your soon--to--be mother cat starts to feel the first twinges of her labour, she will appear to be uneasy and will repeatedly go in and out of her nesting box, 'treading' on the nesting material that you have already provided. When you see this last behaviour, you can be quite sure that your lovely cat is entering the first stage of the birth process -- your cat's labour has begun.