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Makes an excellent litter if you have to get a urine sample from your cat - someone recently suggested this on facebook and I wanted to pass it on.
If you ever needed to get a urine sample for your cat - you know how hard it can be and those plastic pellets they sell you cost a fortune to buy enough to make the litter enticing enough for cats.
The plastic grass is really cheap so you can put a lot in the litter box and the cats don't seem to mind it at all
they do their business happily scratching away then you just remove the grass and the urine is right there
easy peasy
But you have to buy the grass now because it isn't available year long - and you never know when you're gonna need a test
This is a horrible idea. If the cat tries to eat the grass (and most will) it could kill the cat. Or at the very least require major surgery in the bowel.
Never ever leave that plastic "easter grass" around a cat. Ever.
My vet does not charge to take home the stuff they want me to use to get a pee sample. Or I leave the cat at the Vet for a few hours so they can catch it (no extra charge)
If doing a home catch, another option is to learn to catch it in a bottle while kitty is peeing. Get kitty used to it now, then when the time comes, get the sterile tubes from the vet.
In this video I am using an old pill bottle, for demonstration only. The sterile tubes are a little narrower, but it doesn't matter if you spill over. Just cap it tight, wipe it off, and get it right to the vet.
But why? If they are going to the Vet anyway get your money's worth and let them do it.
There are many reasons why a home catch may be needed. Some of these may be:
This particular cat has an extremely hard time at the vet. It's not a case of "all cats hate the vet", in her case it is a quality of life issue. If all that is needed is a urine sample, this way is much better, for HER.
Some cats (not mine) are too obese for the vet to extract urine by cystocentesis.
Some cats do not have a full bladder when they are at the vet. Some vets charge a day hospital stay if the cat is left until the bladder fills.
Some cats may need frequent urinalysis. The cost could become unmanageable if the cat had to be brought to the vet to obtain a sample every time. Not to mention the stress to the cat.
Once the vet squeezed so hard my cat had bloody pee for a couple days - painful for the cat. Bad vet yes but jabbing a cat's bladder with a needle isn't comfortable for the cat either. Its painful no matter what they tell you. And both ways can lead to complications - especially for a sick, old or scared cat.
This method has been used by a cat rescuer who highly recommended it and it got a few hundred supports from followers who said they used it successfully which was why I shared it here.
It was a much more pleasant, safer and healthier way to get a urine sample from a cat. Unless the owner is an imbecile - I don't know any cat that is going to digest plastic litter.
You know your cat pees in the morning after breakfast - you clean out the litter box- you fill it with plastic grass - you watch your cat pee - you clean out the litter box again. The pee has to be taken to the vet as soon after as possible or refrigerated so you're not leaving it there all day for even the most stupid of cats to munch on.
After seeing what the vet did to my boy trying to extract - and unsuccessfully - urine from him - I would never leave that to a vet again when I can do it like this with so much less stress on the cat.
Sometimes you have to think of the animal instead of doing the easiest thing for you.
If doing a home catch, another option is to learn to catch it in a bottle while kitty is peeing. Get kitty used to it now, then when the time comes, get the sterile tubes from the vet.
In this video I am using an old pill bottle, for demonstration only. The sterile tubes are a little narrower, but it doesn't matter if you spill over. Just cap it tight, wipe it off, and get it right to the vet.
Stress for the cat. Cat pee all over you. Seriously - you're going to put a cat through this and get pee all over you to PRACTICE INCASE you ever need to do this?
Please - I've tried catching with a cup, a jar and a bowl and it is messy and stressful for the cat.
This plastic easter grass is INGENIOUS - absolutely no stress for the cat.
Virtually no mess for you.
Just keep an eye out if you're afraid your cat will eat the plastic it peed on & change it out as soon as the cat does its business.
Once the vet squeezed so hard my cat had bloody pee for a couple days - painful for the cat. Bad vet yes but jabbing a cat's bladder with a needle isn't comfortable for the cat either. Its painful no matter what they tell you. And both ways can lead to complications - especially for a sick, old or scared cat.
This method has been used by a cat rescuer who highly recommended it and it got a few hundred supports from followers who said they used it successfully which was why I shared it here.
It was a much more pleasant, safer and healthier way to get a urine sample from a cat. Unless the owner is an imbecile - I don't know any cat that is going to digest plastic litter.
You know your cat pees in the morning after breakfast - you clean out the litter box- you fill it with plastic grass - you watch your cat pee - you clean out the litter box again. The pee has to be taken to the vet as soon after as possible or refrigerated so you're not leaving it there all day for even the most stupid of cats to munch on.
After seeing what the vet did to my boy trying to extract - and unsuccessfully - urine from him - I would never leave that to a vet again when I can do it like this with so much less stress on the cat.
Sometimes you have to think of the animal instead of doing the easiest thing for you.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chattyneighbor
LOLOLOL -
Stress for the cat. Cat pee all over you. Seriously - you're going to put a cat through this and get pee all over you to PRACTICE INCASE you ever need to do this?
Please - I've tried catching with a cup, a jar and a bowl and it is messy and stressful for the cat.
This plastic easter grass is INGENIOUS - absolutely no stress for the cat.
Virtually no mess for you.
Just keep an eye out if you're afraid your cat will eat the plastic it peed on & change it out as soon as the cat does its business.
Plastic easter grass is not safe to have around cats. That is all there is to it.
They do not "digest" it. They get it in their mouths, and once it is in the mouth the cat has no choice but to swallow it. They cannot spit it out. Once swallowed there is a very high risk it will bind up the intestines. It can kill the cat. Or lead to major surgery at the very least.
With all the other much safer alternatives available, it is not necessary to take such a risk.
There is no stress to my cat when I take her sample of urine as shown in the video. I've been doing it for years. She tells me when she has to pee, always. (If I am home to be told) If I show her the tube and ask her to lift up and pee into the tube, she does, just as demonstrated in the video. My hands are washable.
It is not necessary to squeeze a cat's bladder to eject urine, but it can be done if absolutely necessary. A skilled vet or vet tech knows how to stimulate a cat to pee without causing discomfort.
Cystocenesits (taking urine straight from the bladder using ultrasound to find the bladder) is not painful to the cat. The needle is tiny, the cat does not even feel it. I have watched it being done. The cat did not react, at all, when the needle went in.
Practicing handling your cat in many ways is actually a very smart thing to do. You never know when you are going to need to medicate, or otherwise handle the cat in the way a cat might not like. If the cat is already used to being handled in a variety of ways, any home treatment will be much less stressful, for both cat and human.
Plastic easter grass is not safe to have around cats.
I would never use anything a cat could possibly eat and the reality of this product is that some cats will eat it and cause serous injury or death to themselves.
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