5 pets, out of work - need to save SOMEWHERE

gettingready

Could not resist..... they have me in stiches when I see them cuddled up together... Zara and George - he REALLy adopted her as his foster mum, is always attached to her one way or another LOL

paddypaws101

Ahh....so sweet together, and he is the one that is most like your old boy eh??

gettingready

Same colour but different markings

George is one of those "tall legs skinny all over" type of body shape but always around Zara....

Love them all to bits, thay are all /each so different but so lovable in their own way

ameliamug

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Are you sure that's the cheapest cat-litter? Lidl sell a 10kg sack for less than £2

I really don't see how you can go through £40 worth of litter a month. I have one cat and go through £4 worth a month: you multiply that by four kittens and the answer is nowhere near £40. There's really no need to completely change the litter, just scoop and replace as necessary.

The pet insurance for the kittens definitely has to go. They're young, indoor pusscats so the risk of them becoming ill in the short-term is low.

Cut out the raw food until you can afford it when you're back in work. Of course they enjoy it but you're on a strict budget now and so should they be.

For feeding yourself and yours check out this site: apparently you can feed a family of four for £100 a month.

I have 8 cats and we spend about £20 a month on litter. they are all indoor housecats.

dawnie1972

Hi Op - only just been reading your thread - i got made redundant at end of October and I have 3 dogs and 1 cat, I would do anything for my animals and sacrifice my own food etc to ensure they eat, my dogs eat Pets At Home Wainwrights wet food which is £7.50 for a box of 12 trays (mine eat 3 trays a day between them) and the dry they have is fantastic, its by Kennelgate and is called Breederpack - apparently its all the really good stuff bag ends mixed together and its less than £10 for a 15kg bag, its the only stuff mine will eat and I have to be careful with Milo as he too has a sensitive stomach, he reacted badly to burns a few years ago, he reacted to skinners (came out in all lumps and blotches) but he loves the Breederpack. I think the cat prob costs more than the dogs esp as she won't eat cheap food - have you thought of contacting any of the big companies to see if they are doing food trials - i've just taken part in one for Wagg and they send you two nice sized bags of cat food for each trial - have had two trials from them so far.
If you feed your dog treats you might want to try making your own - i make my own tuna treats (1lb plain flour, 2 tins tuna, 3 eggs and clove garlic) - i make 5 lots at a time and split into small sandwich bags - this lasts my 3 dogs a month without any shop bought treats.
Good luck with the job hunting - its tough out there at the minute.

Margaret_Skinner

gettingready wrote: »

Same colour but different markings

George is one of those "tall legs skinny all over" type of body shape but always around Zara....

Love them all to bits, thay are all /each so different but so lovable in their own way

Your photos have sooooo cheered me up today - just came on here to try to find decent cat litter for my 2 and read this post start to finish - it was lovely.

Your 5 are just gorgeous and Zara looks like she's a very patient dog lol!

Meant to say if you ever do go on ebay pm me with your username so's I can see if you have anything I can buy (or if you're comfortable with it put it on here) - I've often thought we should have a board with MSE ebay usernames on it so we that can help each other in that way because we've probably all got stuff we could sell/buy and ebay or Gumtree is a great way of doing it.

Congrats on the PAH stroke of luck by the way - what are the odds of that?? Someone up there is definitely looking after you!

gettingready

Hello again and thanks for all the lovely posts - very much appreciated.

Been away (Poland - Christmas) from just 4 days and only just got back - Zara is at home boarding and coming back tomorrow and the same girl who looks after Zara was popping in to see the kitties twice per day too.....

Weird it all is,had a ticket to go there for Xmas since... September but was in 2 minds about going considering the change in circumstances and the cost of pet care while I am away and the complications with JSA application etc....

But as I still had no decision about the JSA on the 23rd, I just decided to go regardless - went to the Job Centre to tell them (was supposed to sign on on the 24th am but decided to fly as the ticket I had was for the 23rd evening), they took away my sign inm card and told me to reapply when I get back.. sigh....They told me there was no decision as yet regarding my JSA.

Got back home just after midnight today, a letter from JobCentre - dated 17th (!!!!) that I got the JSA (£65 per week).

Can someone tell me why nobody told me that when I went to Jobcentre on the 23rd?

Jesussssssssssssssssssss

Anyway, now got to start the whole process again...... from scratch.....

Kitties were over the moon to see me, my 4 little furballs

Will have Zara back at home tomorrow- my princess

Now, the problem I do have:

All kitties need to be vaccinated but because of the dihrea (spelling?) that George and Fred had for few weeks now I could not have the 2 boys vaccinated. I took the girls for the vaccinations last week and they will get second lot next week (min 2 max 4 weeks apart). Girls are fine.

The boys have costed me around £300 so far (did nto qualify for any cheap vets etc as did nto have paprework about entilement to JSA - catch 22), hoping the insurance will pay back some of it at least, filled the forms last week (did not cancell the insurance as I planned, will see how it goes) but I have a feeling that as boys are not vaccinated - the insurance may try to wriggle out from paying althought they problems are not connected to/could not have been prevented by vaccinations.

Now, both boys have been on 2 different medications now (Fred on synolux and diarsanyl to start with as he was forst and then both Fred and george on Flagyl PLUS royal canin sensitive food for a week) - none of this has helped at all. They both still have a very runny poo - poo was sent off for testing for saro+giard and.. nothing showed up. Hmmmmmmm

Apart fropm having a runny poo, both boys seem perfectly ok- no issues at all, playful, eat, drink etc etc... NOTHING at all.

I have also tried the boiled chicken and rice only for both of them (after starving them for 24 hours) - and then the royal canine sensitive from vets - no difference.

So - will have to take them to the vets again... what is wrong with them two?



Can not vaccinate them as they have a runny poo and I was told I can not vaccinate them while they have it but can not get rid of it..... They have seen 3 different vets now (all at Goddards) and the last I heard was that perhaps they just eat too much and too fast... sigh..... as nothing came up in the tests that they had done....

Another thing - has anyone experienced an allergic reaction to Frontline?

I nearly got a hear attack as applied to all kitties (they are all over 2kg each so can use spot on on them), all were fine apart from Fred who within 5 min started foeaming from his mouth and salivating like mad.... I was ready to rush him to the vest but it stopped aftear about 10 min, would nto ever risk applying frontline to Fred again after that.... I had to deflea them as they caught fleas - at the vets grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

They have been wormed about 8 weeks ago now, I do have drontal at home but again not sure if I can give it to the boys.. will call the vet tomorrow... sigh.. no doubt they will tell me to bring the boys over again.. and charge me again.. a fortune again....

Sorry for a long post with possibly 89476984760 typos in but I am dead tired and still wanted to pop in here for a bit of advice and.. a shoulder or two to cry on

gettingready

Oh, no, sorry - I do not have an Ebay account but may look into this.... at some point

gettingready

Fred today



And the other 3 monsters






Oh, and Zara got a boyfriend.. his name is Benny and he is apparently her new boyfriend - my dog walker had 3 dogs on home boarding over Xmas plus Zara plus her own 2 German Shepherds.... She had a miniature dashhund named Poppy (she is lovelyyyyyyyyyy), a little puddle cross and Benny who is the size of a rottie and looks like some cross wirth ridgeback but not sure what exactly is he - apparently him and Zara spent all the 4 days together playing like mad... nice as they are similar size (and both neutered of course) LOL

Cant wait to see my girl tomorrow

Some photos from winter group dog walkes with Zara on quite a few of them here, Benny is there too as this is not his first boarding stay with Gosia:

http://www.dogsandthecity.co.uk/gallery/

Ah.. just realised that while I was away ALL kitties have learnt how to jump onto the kitchen worktops.. of dear.....Hmmmmmm Troubles - they could not do it before I went away - yet

gunsandbanjos

gettingready wrote: »

Apart fropm having a runny poo, both boys seem perfectly ok- no issues at all, playful, eat, drink etc etc... NOTHING at all.

I have also tried the boiled chicken and rice only for both of them (after starving them for 24 hours) - and then the royal canine sensitive from vets - no difference.

So - will have to take them to the vets again... what is wrong with them two?

My little guy is a bit older than yours, he is about 7/8 months. He had diaorhea for about 2 weeks! So smelly:eek: He was fine in himself, didnt seem ill, just horrible poo. I had bought him Pets at home Purely dried food as i couldn't get a delivery from zooplus of his usual dried food because of the weather. He was getting it with his usual Bozita wet food. Stopped the PAH food 2 days ago to see if it was that which was upsetting his tummy, we now have solid poos:T It may be worth trying foods individually for a week at a time to rule out whatever it is that is causing this. I knew the Bozita was fine as he had been on it already.

Hope that makes sense!

And have a hug, you sound stressed!