• 0 Posts
  • 6 Comments
Joined 17 days ago
Cake day: April 26th, 2026
  • BakuFive@aussie.zonetoMelbourne@aussie.zone•Discussion Thread 😋 Monday 27 April 2026
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    15 days ago

    hey Low! No, I’ve not mentioned it here before. I got him not long after I left this place. But I got him through a kind of mutual acquaintance*. They found him as a stray. So he didn’t come desexed or vaccinated, but they did do a bit of work in de-flea’ing him. But he was also free, and a beautiful little baby

    * kind of a distant relationship, actually. One of my old support workers son’s friends were the ones who found him. I guess the 6 degrees of separation between peasants and billionaires someone after a cat and someone with a stray cat, really is true!

    Some pics from when I met him as a kitten

    Also a story and some more kitten pics!

    He was such an outgoing kitty, he was in my lap purring after only half an hour of exploring. I left him in a room I’d set up for him overnight and then the next morning we played for over 4 hours before he finally tired himself out! And then he headbutted me for ages, before we both took a nap on the couch. All up, I spent about 12 hours sitting, playing, and petting him until he finally got bored and I cooked some tea.

    And then a few days later, he prompty crawled underneath the couch, got stuck, and I had to lift it up to get him out (it’s one of those pull out couch bed ones, so I think the mechanisms were preventing him from getting out). I bought some pool noodles to stick under it to prevent a recurrence, and even though he’s too fat to fit now, they red and green $2 bunnings pool noodles are still wedged under my couch 😄

  • BakuFive@aussie.zonetoMelbourne@aussie.zone•Discussion Thread 😋 Monday 27 April 2026English
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    15 days ago

    Something like that hey, I’ve been checking in to this place from time to time, so it’s quite likely we thought of each other on the same day!

    Interestingly, he was super confident when I first met him and really outgoing. He didn’t hide or anything, even after I brought him home (he was literally purring in my lap after half an hour of exploring, despite it only being the 2nd time I’d met him!!!). So I do think it was a bit of a failing on my part in not exposing him to more people and in not demonstrating well enough that new people aren’t scary. But I don’t often have visitors, so i guess there wasn’t much more to be done

    I’ve just looked at OAAT, they seem decent, thank you for the suggestion! Do you happen to have more info about their home check step? I do like that they’ll accept a deposit to place a “hold” on specific cats. Though, I’m not a fan of how the adoption fee varies so much and they don’t give any indication of what they charge

  • BakuFive@aussie.zonetoMelbourne@aussie.zone•Discussion Thread 😋 Monday 27 April 2026English
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    15 days ago

    Thank you! That was a very detailed (and helpful!) reply

    I already have a pet insurance policy for the resident kitty, which I got pretty much the moment I turned 18 and was able to sign the contract (I got the cat in Feb last year and turned 18 that march). I went for one that covers 90% with a $0 excess that covers dental and has GapOnly, because the idea that he might end up in some emergency I couldn’t pay for was pretty painful to me. Fairly affordable since he’s still a young buck. They do have an age cutoff (7 or 8 years from memory) for entering into a new policy, but they’ll keep covering him as long as I keep paying. I think it’s around the young double digits where they start charging exorbitant prices.

    teethbrushing

    I’ve been meaning to get onto the teethbrushing. At his last checkup, the vet said there was some minor gingivitis but didn’t seem particularly concerned. Do you have any suggestions on toothpastes? I remember when I was researching it coming across an american company that makes pet toothbrushes and was working on developing their own. They had a blog of sorts where they were documenting their findings asking vets and animal dentistry experts. I remember one of their key claims was that when they tested a bunch of different cat toothpastes or generic “pet toothpaste”, they found that a lot of them were just rebranded dog toothpaste ingredients which were or could be (under some circumstances) toxic to cats. I didn’t look much further into it, so I’m not sure how much was true or if it was just preamble to selling snake oil. But that coupled with the (completely unrelated) studies choice did on (human) sunscreen, I don’t have much trust in products that aren’t independently audited

    but in any case, do you have any specific reccos or other learned wisdom you’d mind sharing?

    His staple food is a decent quality dry food, but I try to feed a wet food most days. I’ve heard anecdotally that while a dry-only diet can lead to kidney and urinary issues, a wet-only diet can lead to dental problems. So I tend to be of the opinion that a hybrid approach is best. The wet food he eats is only a paté, so I’ve always added some additional warm water to make it more of a soup. He seems to like that

    Thank you for reminding me of your wonderful budget pet ownership post! I’m sure I remember it from back when I was a reg here. It was very handy. I should go back and see what your suggestions were for flea and worming stuff, because that shit is bloody expensive! The only thing is, I’ll have to get the vet to weigh him so I can work out the right dose. He’s too heavy for my food scales, and I don’t own a set of human scales

  • BakuFive@aussie.zonetoMelbourne@aussie.zone•Discussion Thread 😋 Monday 27 April 2026English
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    15 days ago

    Thank you very much Melbsy, good to see you again as well!

    We still aren’t fully harness trained (including me!) - he’s still very prone to being spooked by any noise at all outside, and he still engages the protest flop from time to time

    The almight "protest flop"

    I did actually try to visit the lost dogs home a couple of weeks ago, but it was super busy. The waiting room was chockers, there were a couple of people queued up outside, and it was raining so I ended up leaving. Not sure if 3pm on a Thursday is peak adoption hour, if they’re always that busy, or everybody else had the same thought I did!

    Thank you for the other suggestions as well. I didn’t even realise Lort Smith had a rescue service, I thought they were just an emergency vet

    Will need to think a bit more on ideal age. I don’t think resident cat would cope very well with a kitten, and I think I’d prefer an adult cat young enough to take out pet insurance for. Having a pet insurance and vet with GapOnly does ease my mind when it comes to potential (very expensive) emergencies. Then again, at a certain point, it becomes cheaper to just set aside a large chunk of money in case of emergency anyway. Things to think about. Thanks again for your advice!

  • BakuFive@aussie.zonetoMelbourne@aussie.zone•Discussion Thread 😋 Monday 27 April 2026English
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    15 days ago

    Hello DT people!!! I originally posted this yesterday on my sh.itjust.works account, but for some reason or another, it didn’t federate over here. Neither did my upvotes on everybody’s comments :(

    Anyways, I just wanted to drop in to say long time no speak! And to share some cat photos

    But how is everyone? Been a while. How’s the year treating you all?

    caaaaat

    (I know it looks like the harness is ridiculously tight and must be cutting off his circulation, but I promise he’s fine! He’s not chonky, just a super long haired flooooof. That also means when the floof is displaced, he looks a little lopsided)

    Cat brag

    I seriously think I won the cat lottery with this little guy. I don’t think I socialised him enough when he was young, he’s pretty scared of visitors and absolutely terrified of tradespeople. But he’s so, so confident and easygoing around me. If I leave him alone enough to sleep, he will let me do pretty much anything. He’s also a big fan of water! And he genuinely loves belly rubs and being carried around. The least cat-like cat I’ve ever met

    Caaaaat in triplicate! (also - I have a cat related request)

    On that last note: I do come with a request: does anyone have any reccos for a cat or animal rescue? I’ve looked around, and it kind of seems like the common consensus is that pretty much any shelter in Melbourne is fine. I’ve been to that cat protection society and quite like them. Looking into getting a second cat later this year, he’s a pretty playful sort of a cat, so I think he might benefit from a friend.

    Also, I’m particularly interested in a shelter or rescue that does some level of personality matching. Although he’s quite confident around me, I have seen that he is not a fighter. He is a bolter. He doesn’t even hiss at the vet, he just tries to slink away and hide under the examination table. So I don’t think he would cope well with a strong personality or rough play fighter

    So, keen for reccs. I know most people here are cat people, so figured you’d all have thoughts. Super appreciate any suggestions! I’m still in the inner west, but willing to travel

    (I don’t have any other AZ account, but I’ll reply to this comment from my sh.itjust.works account. Not sure if that will federate or not, but I’ll link it: https://sh.itjust.works/post/59165660/25048625 Promise I’m not a fake-baku)