Meet Our Cats: Gumby

We started fostering Gumby via Pet Rescue by Judy (PRBJ) in October of 2013. Since we didn't have other cats in our home at the time, they gave us Gumby, who is FIV+. He was our first foster and he made a failure of us -- we officially adopted Gumby on July 25, 2014. At that time his age was estimated to be about 4 years old.

We read about what it meant to have an FIV+ cat. We learned from other foster cat families that had met Gumby that he was a cat's cat -- he loves to spend time with fellow felines. With PRBJ we fostered a few more cats who were adopted out, before we decided to leave the program. Gumby was especially a great mentor to kittens and shy cats.

Gumby gets along great with his two brothers from another mother. The above photo is from a few years back when Timmy and William moved in with us. He is the dominant kitty in our home, but he rules with a gentle paw. He even lets the younger cats win play fights with him... sometimes.

Gumby is in great health for his age and condition. He has food sensitivities and when we first got him he had some skin issues. We had to give him baths a few times as his skin was healing -- he didn't like it but he behaved like a champ in the tub!

Gumby's skin issues were finally resolved once we found the right brand of grain-free food for him. He still has a sensitive stomach and if he gets too excited before mealtime, he has a tendency to regurgitate his food. We manage this with smaller meals and a set mealtime routine which greatly mitigates this issue.

Gumby's Likes

  • Baking himself in sunbeams
  • Chasing laser lights
  • Meeting strangers
  • Being brushed

Gumby's Dislikes

  • Visits to the vet
  • When dinner is late
  • Crunchy sounds
  • Snakes

Posts Featuring Gumby

Keep Kitty Happy with Feliway

Feliway is a popular cat-calming drug-free product that is proven to help with issues like anxiety, urine marking, and unwanted furniture-scratching. We used Feliway with great success with our shelter cats to help reduce anxiety which was exacerbating a bladder-stone problem.

Food Tree Smart Feeder Toy For Cats

Earlier we told you about a feeding product for cats designed to help out kitties that tend to eat their food too quickly: the Interactive Slow Pet Feeder from Northmate. Here is another interesting product that similarly introduces play and normal feline hunting behavior into feeding time. The Catit Senses 2.0 Food Tree can be used to slow down feeding or as a fun added element to treat time.

Wall-Mounted Self-Grooming Brush for Cats

This is a small affordable self-groomer / massager for cats that you install using adhesive pads. This particular unit is great because you can attach it to a flat wall or a corner -- whatever will work best for you and your cat.

Cheristin Topical Flea Treatment for Cats

Cheristin is an effective topical solution for the treatment and prevention of fleas in cats and kittens at least 8 weeks of age. This external flea treatment is effective in killing 98-100% of all fleas on your pet within 12 hours. Use Cheristin every month to keep your pet healthy and free of fleas.