The new cat

This topic has 17 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 2 months, 3 weeks ago by Mike Nolan.

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May 19, 2024 at 12:01 am #42694
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
Well at least for now, we have a new cat. This was a cat that lived in the house across from my sister-in-law, when that family moved, they apparently left the cat behind.

He has been wandering around her neighborhood for a couple of weeks and probably had two or three people willing to feed him, but for now we've got him at our house. Not sure if we can convince him to be an indoor cat, but we'll give it a shot. He's a black-and-white tabby male, probably 2-3 years old, about 12 pounds, not neutered (for now) with both front and back claws.

He's kind of freaked out about the move, and he was hiding behind the microwave in the kitchen for most of the evening. We put him in the mudroom for the night, that's where the litter box goes and there is food, water and a couple of cat beds for him to choose from.

Spread the word
May 19, 2024 at 1:33 pm #42701
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
The new cat came out of hiding when I gave him a bowl of tuna water. We're slowly expanding how much of the house he has access to, but for now he's content to stay in the mudroom where he spent the night.

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May 19, 2024 at 5:48 pm #42705
Joan Simpson
Participant
So glad you have taken the cat in, I can't understand people to leave pet's behind.I hope he adapts well , he's very pretty.
May 19, 2024 at 6:01 pm #42708
BakerAunt
Participant
I am glad that this cat found a home. I do not understand why people move away and leave a pet behind, even though it happens frequently. Georgia Dunn, who writes the comic, Breaking Cat News, did an arc about an abandoned cat, based on one left behind by a neighboring family that moved. She added that cat to her cohort.

Tuna water can be very convincing. 🙂
May 19, 2024 at 8:06 pm #42710
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
He's getting a bit less shy, though he tends to retreat to the cat carrier and mew softly when we go out there. But he did walk out into the family room this evening, wander over to and look out the back door, and then retreated back to his safe place.

He does appear to know what a litter box is for, and I think he knows the sound of the refrigerator door being opened, too. Not sure if he recognized the sound of the can opener, but the tuna water drew him out quickly.

When Diane brought her mother's cat over after she passed, it took months before Gracie would stay on my lap and close to a year before she'd climb up there on her own. So we're used to being patient with an adult cat in a new place. (Kittens will explore anywhere.)
May 19, 2024 at 9:06 pm #42715
skeptic7
Participant
I'm glad the cat is litterbox trained, that make things a lot easier. Does the cat hide when you move around?
May 19, 2024 at 10:55 pm #42716
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
At first, but he's getting more comfortable sitting on laps and likes being petted. And is putting on some weight already.
May 24, 2024 at 9:07 pm #42771
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
We had a thunderstorm roll through overnight, with nearly an inch of rain, and at one point the cat tried to jump on the table and knocked several things off, setting off the glass break alarm at 4:30 AM. Nothing broke but it took us a while to get everything picked back up again.

So the new cat is causing us to do some reorganization in the family/informal dining room, as he has not yet learned not to jump on the table. (That might be a hard lesson since he's about 2 years old.)

We are also doing some reorganization in the kitchen, swapping some things between two sets of lower cabinets and getting stuff the cat might get into or knock over put away, even though we're currently keeping the cat out of the kitchen entirely. That probably won't last forever, I used toddler gates to build a wall between the kitchen and the butler's pantry, but it means we have to go the long way around for everything, which will get old in a hurry. The one serious mistake we made when designing the house was we didn't put a pocket door on both kitchen doorways.
May 25, 2024 at 5:36 pm #42779
BakerAunt
Participant
Mike--I agree about having the ability to close off the kitchen when there is a pet. With some projects, I do not want the dog in the kitchen because either she or I might get hurt. Of course, I am in the camp of the no open concept kitchen, even though I ended up with one.

I had a beloved Siamese cat for many years. She considered it beneath her to get on tables or countertops. She preferred the back of an armchair near my typewriter. (Yes, that was before computers.) Most of my family's cats happily jumped up on countertops. One slurped tea from my mother's unattended large mug--but only if she put milk in it. A favorite place was on top of the refrigerator--back in the days of non-enclosed refrigerators. One cat once jumped up to the top, noted that another was already there, seemed to freeze in the air, just as in the cartoons, then sailed over the refrigerator and onto a table. I did not witness this acrobatic routine, but my mother did and told us about it.

It's a good sign that your cat wants to explore the house, but as you note, it will require some rearranging to prevent problems.
May 25, 2024 at 6:18 pm #42780
chocomouse
Participant
My last cat (of 19 years) did not get up on the counters except to watch the asparagus (and only asparagus, not other veggies/foods) going round and round in the microwave. Jus waiting for it to be done so he could have his share. And he'd snag it off the plate if you didn't feed it to him fast enough. He did not eat human food, except for asparagus and tuna juice - only the juice, not tuna fish.
May 25, 2024 at 7:23 pm #42785
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
We taught our other cats, most of whom we got when they were small, not to jump up on the table or kitchen counters by using a spray bottle of water.

Whether that training method will work on an older cat is uncertain. The vet said he's probably 2-3 years old.

He has apparently lived on his own outdoors since last August according to my sister-in-law's neighbors. He wants to go outside, too, but that's not going to happen anytime soon, mostly because right now we're not sure he'd come back in or even stay in the neighborhood. And my wife doesn't want him hunting her birds. (The foxes may get some birds, I'm pretty sure I heard one get a rabbit the other day, and we've seen a fox chasing squirrels. The Cooper's hawk gets some birds, too , though I haven't seen him lately.)
June 15, 2024 at 7:25 pm #43003
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
It looks like our attempt to turn a rescue cat (back) into a house cat has failed.

He has been mis-behaving when he wants outside, jumping on the table and peeing, etc. We tried taking him out on a leash for two weeks and that seemed to work OK, so on Wednesday we tried letting him out without the leash. He came in a couple of times, including during the hottest part of the afternoon for a nap, but went outside around suppertime and hasn't been seen since.

He had apparently lived outdoors for about 9 months, so he's got street smarts and probably can handle himself with the other critters in the neighborhood. He could still show up again, but I'm not counting on that, and the lack of knowledge as to his situation is unsettling. We did check the animal shelter today, lots of cats but no Jack.

We might decide to get another cat at some point, right now the shelters are overflowing with kittens, but I think we need to get some of Jack's leavings cleaned up first.
June 16, 2024 at 3:43 pm #43012
BakerAunt
Participant
Jack reminds me of the greenhouse cat that my husband's department had. He was brought in to handle the mouse problem, which he did admirably, but what's a conquering hero to do when there are no mice left to catch? The answer was to try to escape at every opportunity, and to attack professors and greenhouse workers. Then he went for a student, so he needed to be relocated. As he is a registered official animal with the university, he was moved to an outdoor university facility, which suited him very well. He just preferred the great outdoors.

He may return if he gets hungry.
June 19, 2024 at 7:52 pm #43043
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
Diane put some cat food out the other night, it was gone by morning, so I put out more yesterday morning. We did see the young foxes eating it yesterday evening, and it was gone by morning, so I put out more earlier today, and around 7PM our prodigal cat, Jack, showed up and was gobbling it down. We let him inside, gave him some more food (including half of the tuna water from tonight's supper) and a few treats, and he started taking a nap. Now he's eating a bit more of the dry food.

He'll go outside for the night, we just can't trust him not to pee on things, and my guess is he'll prefer that anyway. Update: He wanted to out after about 90 minutes of being inside, hopefully we'll see him again soon, possibly tomorrow evening.

He looks skinny, my guess is he hasn't been having much luck hunting in this neighborhood. So, maybe we have a mostly outdoor kitty.
June 20, 2024 at 12:11 pm #43044
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
He showed up again this morning, came in, had some food and is currently taking a nap.
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