feline pattern baldness

[brokenblossom]

Oh dear. Edna has never liked wearing collars. When a collar was first put on her, when she lived with her previous owner, she apparently scratched at it so much that within days she'd pulled a tuft of fur out, and had to be decollared. Since she's lived here, she's noticeably scratched at her collars far more than Branwell does, though without

Comments

Damn you LJ

[brokenblossom]

Why does it do this?? Take out all my paragraphing? What have I done wrong??!

[brokenblossom]

Is it the Flickring maybe? I've added lots of br-ing now anyway so it's not quite so densely texted, but it's a bit of a faff having to do so. Grrr.

Right, must start painting already (and stop letting one's internal dialogue spill out into internet babblings).

Re: Damn you LJ

[mutable_earth]

[ i see paragraphs! and i am sure i'm not hallucinating them! ;) ]

xo.

[mutable_earth]

[ i miss your words!

.

the poor kit-cat. it is so frustrating when a cat won't wear a collar, purely because you worry about losing them, and although microchipping is wonderful, so is a collar with a little identification tag. charlotte doesn't mind her collar, but, like miss edna, emily hates wearing a collar, too. she seriously managed to lose about four of them in the space of a month before i found one at a pet store that doesn't have a metal buckle, it has a plastic clip that snaps in and i think that is what has made the difference -- it isn't as easy to bring undone as a buckle and she hasn't managed to lose that one, though i am sure it isn't for want of trying! perhaps you could try that? if you can't find one, i'd be more than happy to go back to said pet store and procure you one. seriously. ]

xo.

[brokenblossom]

she seriously managed to lose about four of them in the space of a month before i found one at a pet store that doesn't have a metal buckle, it has a plastic clip that snaps in and i think that is what has made the difference -- it isn't as easy to bring undone as a buckle and she hasn't managed to lose that oneOooh, that's interesting to know, thank you! All of Edna's collars so far (including the two she's managed to shed) have had metal buckles, and now that I think of it, of *course* those would be easier for her to loosen than a snap fixing one. I'll certainly start looking out for one of those sorts of collars now. It'll be a while before she'll be ready for me to want to try her with another collar, as of course I wouldn't want to put anything on her that would rub against the already irritated and exposed skin, so at least waiting for the fur to grow back will give me plenty of time to look for snap fastening collars! I'll let you know if my hunt is successful

[mrs_leroy_brown]

Please don't fret! It looks bad but as you say, it wasn't infected (that's the main worry) and she isn't in pain. Tbh it's really cosmetic and as long as she's not overly grooming it will come back and she'll be fine and you're NOT a bad catmother, honestly!

Not sure how to address the benefits & downsides of collar (pro: identity - reflective, con: she hates it). I wonder if Marna would have any ideas, I'll ask her as she is my fount of Cat Knowledge. Then again JDC might pop up here with some ideas too.

x

[brokenblossom]

I just hope she doesn't feel too selfconscious about her hair loss, cos I think I'd have a job trying to find a toupée for a cat's neck! As far as feeling like a bad catmother goes, I guess with Edna I have an extra layer of guilt as a hangover (hah) from the fact that initially little Eds was entrusted to my care by someone else, for me to look after on their behalf. As much as she's now very definitely my cat (hell, by now she's lived with me for over twice the time that she lived w/ L, who's only seen her on two brief occasions in the last 9 months), there's still that residual sense that, should anything go wrong, I'll be letting down the person who relied in me to look after her, as well as Missy Little herself

[shepline]

Some sort of nice reflective collar is good on black cats (in particular) if they are out at night at all†, and for having your phone number and a 'Scan Me' tag on it, but I should warn you that you shouldn't put the cats name on it! Yours yes, but not the cats, 'cos unscrupulous blighter's use the name on the pet's collar to try and get it to answer to them and then steal them.

†Not that Bella and Arthur get let out at night these days but then, that's what they get for having their daddy dating a veterinary nurse!

It's a shame they can't include the cat-flap opening device into the microchip really isn't it?

[brokenblossom]

I've always kept Bran and Edna in at night whenever possible - ie, excepting a few occasions where they haven't come home by their curfew, and after fretfully waiting up for them for hours, I've had to go to bed leaving the catflap open for the errant wandering kitties in case they roll home in the small hours! They've both been pretty good over the last few months, though, I must say (though maybe that's more to do with the wintry nights than it is to do with wanting to save my nerves!).

To be honest though, a reflective collar helps me keep tabs on Edna even when she's indoors, in the day time - if I need to ensure she's in the house, for example, and she's enjoying a nap under the bed, it can be terribly hard to spot her without a glint of light bouncing off the reflective collar! Even with a collar on, many's the time I've sat down in my comfy black computer chair without realising that it's already occupied by a comfy black sleeping cat... oops, sorry Eds! I expect you're all too familiar with these sorts of situations,

[shepline]

Cheap food, and the best 'pill giver' in the business! :-)

These professionals, they make it look so easy...

[bluebellrock]

I can't tell you how bad I felt when Ruby Tuesday went missing without her collar (I had lent it to Gordon who visited us collarless, and he knew the area less well - not at all, in fact - and was more likely to go roaming). It compounded my stress like you wouldn't believe, but microchipping is now compulsory here so most people know about it. Still, I worried that people would dismiss her as a stray. Eventually, though, she was returned to me via the microchip