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The Charles Mingus CAT-alog (1972)

charlesmingus.com

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Re: The Charles Mingus CAT-alog (1972)

#81

Post by natdempk »

SV_BubbleTime wrote: post #43
jeromegv wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My air purifier is next to our cat litter and there’s no smell at all. I strongly recommend one (on top of helping with allergies, dust, covid, etc..)

I wonder if you mean “no smell to a cat person” or if you mean no smell to everyone else. Because I’ve been in enough cat people’s places to know the former is a real thing.

I've done the air purifier thing as well, paired with some unscented litter like Dr. Elsey's Ultra Litter and it genuinely doesn't smell most of the time, unless they've recently used the box or its not cycling due to being full.

Re: The Charles Mingus CAT-alog (1972)

#82

Post by k__ »

I'm so happy my cat goes outside to do her business.

My last cat used a litter box and when she got old and demented, she would sometimes sleep in the box, so I had to clean her regularly.

Re: The Charles Mingus CAT-alog (1972)

#83

Post by cushychicken »

iainctduncan wrote: post #42

For folks who are like "who is that guy again?".... Mingus was one of the most important jazz bass players in 20th century and a key figure in both bebop and free jazz. And quite a character. This is but one of his legendary achievements!

Black Saint and The Sinner Lady

!!!!!!!

Re: The Charles Mingus CAT-alog (1972)

#84

Post by Nextgrid »

ratww wrote: post #34

I have a friend who never trained their cats for that, yet the two cats seem to prefer the toilet. The cats even have two spacious litter boxes away from food and noise. Every time I go to his house my friend reminds me to put the lid down after using so the cats don't use it.

Out of curiosity, why would he not want them to do that? Seems very convenient and saves on cleaning the litter box manually.

Re: The Charles Mingus CAT-alog (1972)

#85

Post by JohnBooty »

koalaman wrote: post #61

I left my cat alone in the house for a few days with my housekeeper popping in to feed and entertain him. He had a little over 2 day spell on his own at the end when my housekeeper couldn't come in. When I arrived home I discovered that our housekeeper had accidentally closed off the door accessing his litter box. I searched the house looking for the mess but couldn't find anything.. until I went to the bathroom and…

This is true. My cat definitely pees in the sinks and bathtubs sometimes even when his litter is fresh. He poops in the litter with no issues, so I don't think it's a location problem. My best educated guess is that he simply finds the sinks more convenient than hiking down to the basement.

I have no doubts that he would pee in the toilet as well, but I can't leave the toilets open because we have dogs around.

(Although, now that I'm typing this, I suppose we could install cat-doors on the bathroom doors to let the cat in, and keep the dogs out...)

The sink/bathtub peeing is definitely gross and not ideal. But, not as gross as it sounds. He very very precisely pees directly down the drain. The smell is almost unnoticeable. So unnoticeable that it took us a lot of time to figure out he was even doing it, since he sometimes pees in the box as well. The main danger to him peeing in the sinks is that it will make it difficult for us to know if he has a blockage as we can not monitor his urine output.

(I am not "noseblind" to cat pee smell, as far as I can tell. The litterbox is in the basement and if I neglect to clean it on a given day and there is pee in there, I can smell it from upstairs. I've also asked trusted people like my brother to verify there's no cat pee smell in the house! He's not afraid to give me harsh opinions...)

Re: The Charles Mingus CAT-alog (1972)

#86

Post by JohnBooty »

k__ wrote: post #82

I'm so happy my cat goes outside to do her business. My last cat used a litter box and when she got old and demented, she would sometimes sleep in the box, so I had to clean her regularly.

Poor baby! Thank you for taking such good care of her into her old age.

Re: The Charles Mingus CAT-alog (1972)

#88

Post by 3np »

reaperducer wrote: post #68
ricardobeat wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My extended family has always had a ton of cats, and I don’t remember the last one that was seriously ill without it being due to old age. Most of them were “outdoor cats” in a small country town. Is there something in modern cats’ diet / habits that makes them more susceptible to disease? These concerns read like hypochondria, coming from this background.

Since we're trading anecdotes... My experience with six cats over the last 25 years is that the outdoor cats lived much longer and got sick less than my inside cats. I have no idea why, but i don't think it's diet, because they've all eaten the same food.

Just like with humans, exercise is a major factor in health. Outdoor cats generally get way more.

Another factor for this observation (that I also made) could be genetics - generally "pure-bred" (aka more likely to suffer from disease linked to genetic factors) are more likely to be strictly-indoors while outdoor cats are more often "mongrels".

Re: The Charles Mingus CAT-alog (1972)

#89

Post by JohnBooty »

ricardobeat wrote: post #57
drakonka wrote: post #7

There are even special litter boxes sold that are intended to go on the toilet seat for this type of training. But as cool as this is, I believe it can be dangerous, especially for owners of male cats. Cats' urinary habits are important to keep an eye on. A change in urination volume or frequency can be the sign of a critical issue that requires veterinary attention. You just can't easily track urine volume if the ca…

My extended family has always had a ton of cats, and I don’t remember the last one that was seriously ill without it being due to old age. Most of them were “outdoor cats” in a small country town. Is there something in modern cats’ diet / habits that makes them more susceptible to disease? These concerns read like hypochondria, coming from this background.

I don't know about the indoor/outdoor thing w.r.t. UTI incidence in particular. But for those of us not living in small country towns, outdoor cats are not generally a viable option so it's all about giving them the best indoor life.

Generally speaking, indoor cats tend to live much longer. Generally they make it well into their teens. Of course it all depends I guess. Indoor/outdoor cats living in an ideal rural situation probably have the happiest and healthiest lives of all. (Although, of course, depending on local fauna they may eat a lot of birds, so there's that cost to consider too...)

Re: The Charles Mingus CAT-alog (1972)

#90

Post by k__ »

JohnBooty wrote: post #86
k__ wrote: post #82

I'm so happy my cat goes outside to do her business. My last cat used a litter box and when she got old and demented, she would sometimes sleep in the box, so I had to clean her regularly.

Poor baby! Thank you for taking such good care of her into her old age.

Yes, her last year was heartb breaking. But at least she had a few good days every week until the end.

Seeing that she was able to steal some food from a table when I was out of a room when she was already blind and deaf warmed my heart.

20 years I had her, good times.

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