Conference misery::feline_v1

536.0. "Blackie The Cat" by ICEMAN::LMMURPHY () Tue Mar 31 1987 04:57

    
    
        I have a beautiful black persian cat (1-1/2 years old) named
      Blackie.  He grew up with his mother and another persian cat and
      I think this has helped make him the most loveable and one of
    the smartest cats I have ever seen.  I live in a 3 floor condo,
    and Blackie has been separated from the other persians for about
    6 months now.  He is constantly trying to please me and be by my
      side.  If I am in the kitchen washing the dishes at the sink,
    he sits on the counter as close to me as he can at watches intently.
    If he is downstairs sleeping (usually he sleeps under the covers
     with me and lays on his back with all four feet in the air), and
     somebody goes upstairs, he makes a mad dash down the hall in order
      to race up the stairs.  
    
        Blackie often starts his own game of fetch and goes on for hours.
    Sometimes when I am sleeping, he will carry one of this little toys
     (either a red tab from a milk carton or a shower curtain ring)
    in his mouth and drop it on my face.  This is my cue to throw it
    down the hall for him to fetch and bring it back.  If we are upstairs
      and he starts the game, one must throw the toy down the stairs,
    and he will immediately FLY skipping 3 or 4 steps at a time.  He
    goes into the kitchen sink and takes such things as the garbage
    disposal cover and puts it in his mouth and jumps off the sink in
    order to play with it.  Other strange things he does is to stand
    on the television and change the position of the hands on the clock,
     constantly lay in the middle of the living room floor with all
    4 paws in the air and fall sound asleep or look around the room
    with his head upside down.  
    
        I don't let Blackie out by himself because I live on a major
    thoroughfare and fear that his playfullness will cause him to try
      and pounce on some small insect in the middle of the road.  However,
      we let him out if we supervise him.  He adored the 2 feet of snow
      we got in January as much as he loves the warm weather.  I do
      also fear getting infested with fleas again, as that happened
      when we lived along a lake.  IT took zilions of flea baths and
      flea bombs and flea sprays and vacuuming to finally get rid of
      them for good.
    
       Lately, Blackie has been scratching furiously, but this time
       it appears to be caused by dry skin.  I have given hims some
       kind of liquid that looks like cod liver oil (he drinks it right
       off the spoon) but it doesn't appear to help.  He is also bathing
       himself frequently and is throwing up lately due to hairballs.
       I have given him some hair ball remedy but again he is still
       getting sick.
    
       If anyone has stories about their persians or any ideas on dry
    skin, hairballs, and suitable playmates for persians (I would like
       to get a puppy of some sort some day when I live in a larger
       house) I would be happy to hear from you.
      
    

    Blackie sounds like a fun cat to have around!
    
    I have two Persians now about three years old.  One of them is Blue,
    named Demi and the other, his brother, Cream named Puggs.  Your
    comment regarding how Blackie sits at the sink, his sleeping habits,
    and play habits made me laugh since my two are just about exact
    duplicates of Blackie.
    
    My two are indoor cats.  We've only had a flea problem once since
    we've owned them.  We resolved the problem by flea bombing the house,
    the groomer gave them flea baths, they use only cedar cat litter,
    and I feed them each one garlic/yeast tablet of Pet Guard a day.
    I had once read an article about how garlic & yeast are natural
    repellents to fleas.  I am not the only one who has had success with
    this method that I've heard of.  Besides the benefit of keeping
    fleas away they are high in various vitamins and much better than
    putting a chemically treated collar around their necks.  I guess
    they taste good because they take them as treats each morning.

    I know what you mean about the dry skin problem.  Mine both have
    had the same problem.  I tried adding various oils to their food
    but that did not help much, but the last time I took them to the
    groomer I had him give them both a hot oil bath.  That seems to
    have cleared up the problem.  Also I found that if I do not give
    them each a through brushing at least once every two days they would
    have hairball problems.
    
    You asked about a playmate, how about another cat?  I have three
    and they seem content to be with each other.  One thing I did notice
    about mine is that once the cat has other cats to play with, they tend
    to be less affectionate to us.  Oh they still are affectionate but
    not as much as when they didn't have company.
    
    Hope you the problems taken care of.  Let us know how you things
    work out.
    
    Joe