New Additions to the Household

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

Jane - 01 Jun 2005 13:10 GMT

I'm getting temporary additions to my small apartment. My friend has
sold her house and has to move, but it's difficult to arrange with
2 cats and an old dog, so I offered to foster the cats for a few
weeks, until she's settled.

Orca(t), a beautiful black-and-white just out of kittenhood, will be
FINE. In fact, I'm hoping that he and Rita make friends and tear
around the small apartment like banshees, after the initial hiss-spit
wars, of course.

Spot is going to be a bit more difficult. He's beautiful, by the way.
Pure white and large, and none too smart. He's about 2 years old, and
had 4 different homes in his first year, not all of them good. He moved
into my friend's house for his foreverhome, and I don't think he's quite
gotten it yet. He's very skittish and actually scares himself into
bolting whenever he catches his reflection in the window. He's quiet
and gets upset often. Just the movement of boxes in and out of the
house has set off his behavior problems, like peeing all over. Oh, he's
been checked,and he's perfectly healthy. It's definitely behavioral.

So he'll be moving into another cat's territory. I'm anticipating
cleaning up a lot after him, but I've had a cat like that, so I'm
ready. The question is, what can we do to make this transition less
shocking? I'm going down there this weekend and bringing the sheet
that's been on my couch, all covered with Rita's fur and scent, and
I'll be bringing back a sheet covered with their scent, for Rita to
get used to. I have lots of catnip on hand, and they'll be coming
with a kitty condo so they'll have something familiar of theirs
around. At the very least, the boys know me already from my visits.
Heck, I still wear the scar from the last time I tried to clip
Orca(t)'s claws! It's not a very big apartment, so the only place
to separate them would be the bedroom, like I did with Topaz.

What I need is some Kitty Prozac, to calm him down and make the
transition less painful. Will catnip work?

Jane
- owned and operated by Princess Rita, soon to be foster mom
to Spot and Orca(t)

Reply to this Message

Karen - 01 Jun 2005 14:48 GMT

A wise investment would be a Feliway diffuser.
http://www.petguys.com/-039079027910.html

Poor guy. HOpe that he figures out that he is loved.

> I'm getting temporary additions to my small apartment. My friend has
> sold her house and has to move, but it's difficult to arrange with
[quoted text clipped - 35 lines]
> - owned and operated by Princess Rita, soon to be foster mom
> to Spot and Orca(t)

Reply to this Message

Jane - 01 Jun 2005 16:22 GMT

Thanks! I'll look for it this afternoon after work. Yeah, my friend
says that she wishes that that pet psychic were real, so she could
tell Spot that this is his FOREVERhome and he will never be shuffled
around again. He might calm down then, poor boy. He's really a
beautiful baby.

Jane

>A wise investment would be a Feliway diffuser.
>http://www.petguys.com/-039079027910.html
>
>Poor guy. HOpe that he figures out that he is loved.

Reply to this Message

Adrian - 01 Jun 2005 14:59 GMT

> I'm getting temporary additions to my small apartment. My friend has
> sold her house and has to move, but it's difficult to arrange with
[quoted text clipped - 36 lines]
> - owned and operated by Princess Rita, soon to be foster mom
> to Spot and Orca(t)

It wouldn't do any harm if you got a couple of, Feliway® diffusers, it
could help. http://www.feliway.com/homefeliway.nsf several people hear
have had success in the past.

Signature

Adrian (Owned by Snoopy & Bagheera)
A house is not a home, without a cat.

Reply to this Message

Melissa Houle - 01 Jun 2005 17:18 GMT

I'd say put Spot in a room by himself at first, with a nice large and clean
litterbox in plain sight. That way, the number of things that will freak him
out will be less overwhelming. (It will also cut down on the area you have
to clean up when he makes mistakes. Even with the best will in the world,
cleaning up cat accidents does get old soon. Visit and talk to Spot in a
very calm gentle tone of voice. If he's in a room by himself with Rita on
the other side of the door, he'll know there's a cat he doesn't know in the
place, but he'll also know she can't get in and eat him, and that will make
him feel more secure. Other than that, there's a product called Feliway that
helped my friend's cats get along when she introduced the second cat into
the household.
Good luck to all parties concerned during the transition period!

Melissa

Reply to this Message

PixieDust413 - 01 Jun 2005 22:03 GMT

> Pure white and large, and none too smart.

What color are his eyes? If they are blue, and he seems to howl for no
apparent reasonyou could be dealing with a deaf, or partially deaf,
cat.

When you said he was "vet-checked," did that include a hearing test?

PixieDust413
aka Meowmie Debby

Reply to this Message

Jane - 03 Jun 2005 13:56 GMT

I'm not remembering the color of his eyes, but I'm sure they're not
blue. I'm pretty sure he can hear, though. He hears the rattle of
his favorite treat bottle and comes running. But when he's here, I'll
keep an eye on his to see if that could be a problem.

Jane

>What color are his eyes? If they are blue, and he seems to howl for no
>apparent reasonyou could be dealing with a deaf, or partially deaf,
>cat.
>
>When you said he was "vet-checked," did that include a hearing test?

Reply to this Message

polonca12000 - 01 Jun 2005 22:21 GMT

Thank you for taking such good care of the kitties while your friend moves.
I'm sure they'll be more very happy with you.
Best wishes and purrs,

Signature

Polonca & Soncek

Reply to this Message