Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
any advice on this situation
-
29-10-2013 9:22pm#1
Comments
-
-
-
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
-
You could try a litter box? If you're planning on keeping him you'll need one anyways.
There's plenty of perfectly sane posters on here who regularly take in stray cats so will be able to give you some good advice
lol thank you. i was thinking of getting a litter box! i just feel so bad for him, because he can't wait to get out after he wakes up but i hate the thoughts of leaving him out on nights like this, especially when he won't get into the inside of his kennel
0 -
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Pumpkinseeds wrote: »Would it be possible to keep the cat in your room, with a litter tray of course? We brought home a stray female 5 weeks aga and had to confine her to 1 room for a few weeks in order for our 3 male cats to adapt to her. Many people who have other cats will confine a new cat to a safe room for a few weeks. I know that you don't have other cats, I'm just mentioning it to show that it can be done.
Cats generally get used to a litter box very quickly and if you're paying towards the rent then you could argue that your room is your personal space and the cat won't have any impact on your sibling. Maybe the sibling will cop on in time, if not the cat would be in your room and safe from the elements. I really hope it all works out well for you, puss and your parents.
the annoying part of the whole thing is that when i first started taking care of the cat i mentioned keeping him indoors during the winter and my brother said "if you're keeping him in the house he can stay in your room", now he denies ever saying this.the cat snuck in and ran upstairs one day...went straight to my bedroom door and sat outside it and the brother seen, so i reminded him that he said i could have the cat in my room and he denied it :rolleyes:
theres a good possibility the cat already used a litterbox in the past since he seems to be a lost/abandoned pet (somewhat housetrained) so i might try getting one of those during the week.
just need to decide what to do with him now tonight have made up his kennel but the thoughts of lifting him out of bed and putting him out in the cold is horrible! 0 -
Advertisement
-
If it were me I'd leave him in. The more often he's in the more likely he is to want to sleep indoors all night. Our little female only wants to go out for a few minutes at a time after dark. The 3 boys get active from 5ish onwards in the mornings but the colder and wetter weather is seeing them spending more time indoors. Maybe once the matter of the cat being indoors in your room is out in the open, your sibling might get bored with his objections once nobody is interested anymoreForeverYoungx wrote: »the annoying part of the whole thing is that when i first started taking care of the cat i mentioned keeping him indoors during the winter and my brother said "if you're keeping him in the house he can stay in your room", now he denies ever saying this.the cat snuck in and ran upstairs one day...went straight to my bedroom door and sat outside it and the brother seen, so i reminded him that he said i could have the cat in my room and he denied it :rolleyes:
theres a good possibility the cat already used a litterbox in the past since he seems to be a lost/abandoned pet (somewhat housetrained) so i might try getting one of those during the week.
just need to decide what to do with him now tonight have made up his kennel but the thoughts of lifting him out of bed and putting him out in the cold is horrible!0 -
If you want to keep him in tonight, you could make up a temporary litter tray. I used to use old painting trays, basically anything 'litter tray shaped', line it with a bin bag, and fill it with sand/soil/whatever you can find that resembles cat litter! Sounds like he had really fallen on his feet with you, hope it all works out
0 -
-
SillyMangoX wrote: »If you want to keep him in tonight, you could make up a temporary litter tray. I used to use old painting trays, basically anything 'litter tray shaped', line it with a bin back, and fill it with sand/soil/whatever you can find that resembles cat litter! Sounds like he had really fallen on his feet with you, hope it all works out
never thought of that! I will have to try it.
its funny, i'm a vegetarian and a huge animal lover but i never liked cats. i'd nearly even say that i disliked them. but this little fella completely changed my mind and won me over. if you told me 8 months ago i'd be letting a cat sleep on my bed theres no way i'd believe it! not only do i love him, but i even have a bond with the neighbors cats now, i'm glad it happened because now i get to appreciate what wonderful little animals they are!0 -
All of our cats were rescued at some point
My oldest lad sneaks up every night after we go to bed and goes under the bed until hubby is snoring and then he hops up on my feet for the night til the alarm goes off and he's off down the stairs like a shot before he gets caught
OP get a litter tray, I presume from your description that your room is not en suite so try and put it somewhere in the room where the cat will have some privacy (in my experience cats won't use the litter tray if they think they can be watched)
Get some cat toys (my crew love ping pong balls but someone else here said little balls made of tinfoil work too)
When kitty wakes in the morning give him the toys (I'd hide them in your bedside locker til needed so they are something fresh)
Another thing that you could get and I can almost guarantee a happy kitty is a cat tree that he can run up on and access the window sill, my cats spend HOURS in the upstairs office window watching the world go by as they çatch the sun through the glass
IMHO cats are no longer conditioned to out door living their coats (generally are not long enough or thick enough to withstand cold)
If it comes to it and he has to stay outside make sure the cat house is off the ground
At least the height of a solid brick off ground level, cats like to sleep at heights
Hope that helps if you have questions feel free to ask 0 -
OP let's look at why he's not using the cat house. (Presuming it's not just because he wants to be inside, with you!)
Positioning - does it make him vulnerable? For example, if it's sitting in the middle of the lawn? He might prefer if it had it's back to the garden wall. Does it provide him with a good view, so he feels safe? Is it facing the wind, so it's chilly?
The house itself - does it have a clear vinyl sheet across the entrance? He might not be used to one, and it's putting him off going inside. Does it have a strong "new" smell? What blankets have you in there, if any? You might need to make it a bit more cosy, say by putting a doughnut-shaped cat bed in there. He'll feel safer and he'll be warmer, too.
angelfire9 is bang on about them liking heights, and sometimes that can make all the difference. They're arboreal creatures! Is there a sturdy picnic table, coal bunker etc. you could safely put it on? Deffo at a minimum sit it on some bricks/blocks to protect from cold seeping up from the ground.
Hope that helps. He's a very lucky kitty! 0 -
angelfire9 wrote: »All of our cats were rescued at some point
My oldest lad sneaks up every night after we go to bed and goes under the bed until hubby is snoring and then he hops up on my feet for the night til the alarm goes off and he's off down the stairs like a shot before he gets caught
OP get a litter tray, I presume from your description that your room is not en suite so try and put it somewhere in the room where the cat will have some privacy (in my experience cats won't use the litter tray if they think they can be watched)
Get some cat toys (my crew love ping pong balls but someone else here said little balls made of tinfoil work too)
When kitty wakes in the morning give him the toys (I'd hide them in your bedside locker til needed so they are something fresh)
Another thing that you could get and I can almost guarantee a happy kitty is a cat tree that he can run up on and access the window sill, my cats spend HOURS in the upstairs office window watching the world go by as they çatch the sun through the glass
IMHO cats are no longer conditioned to out door living their coats (generally are not long enough or thick enough to withstand cold)
If it comes to it and he has to stay outside make sure the cat house is off the ground
At least the height of a solid brick off ground level, cats like to sleep at heights
Hope that helps if you have questions feel free to ask
Ahh thats so cute my cat loves to hide under the bed too, sometimes he will run upstairs and go straight under the bed and thinks we can't see him even though his tail is hanging out 50% of the time lol :pac:
he used to love sleeping on my feet but these days when hes not in his bed he likes to sleep as close to my face as possible..he will crawl up on my chest and rest his face against mine! even if i'm lying down with the laptop on top of me, he will push the laptop away with his paws then climb on my chest lol.
those are all great ideas thank you so much. going to try and get a cheap litter tray this week since i'm broke. i think having that would make me a lot happier to keep him in the couple of hours after he wakes up.
he won't play with proper cat toys (the amount of things i have wasted money on) but loves pine cones so ill try get a couple of them. he has the most fun when he can chase things around tiled floor but my room is carpet unfortunately.
never thought of the window! great idea. my window is very high but i have noticed that he loves to sit in the sitting room window, sometimes when its open he will climb inside and just sit there looking out lol.
all amazing ideas, thank you!!0 -
OP let's look at why he's not using the cat house. (Presuming it's not just because he wants to be inside, with you!)
Positioning - does it make him vulnerable? For example, if it's sitting in the middle of the lawn? He might prefer if it had it's back to the garden wall. Does it provide him with a good view, so he feels safe? Is it facing the wind, so it's chilly?
The house itself - does it have a clear vinyl sheet across the entrance? He might not be used to one, and it's putting him off going inside. Does it have a strong "new" smell? What blankets have you in there, if any? You might need to make it a bit more cosy, say by putting a doughnut-shaped cat bed in there. He'll feel safer and he'll be warmer, too.
angelfire9 is bang on about them liking heights, and sometimes that can make all the difference. They're arboreal creatures! Is there a sturdy picnic table, coal bunker etc. you could safely put it on? Deffo at a minimum sit it on some bricks/blocks to protect from cold seeping up from the ground.
Hope that helps. He's a very lucky kitty!
I think, I could be wrong, that his past owners probably kept him indoors.
this is his kennel: http://media.mediazs.com/bilder/dog/kennel/spike/special/1/300/98853_hundehuette_spike_spe_1.jpg
i haven't got it raised because the place i bought it from said there was no need to due to the legs being raised off the ground already. do i still need to? not sure what i would put it on, maybe try get a wooden pallet or something. i have it at the side of the house against the wall, the wind generally blows towards the side of the kennel so not directly into it.
i don't think it smells overly new now, maybe in the beginning. but we've had it for a month or maybe even a month and a half now. it doesn't have the clear vinyl sheet, i wanted to get one of these for the outside but wanted to make sure the cat felt safe and knew it was his home first.
during the summer i was letting him sleep inside my sisters playhouse and i basically took all the bedding from there, that he was used to, and transferred it to the kennel. inside the kennel is a padded bed (he used to love sleeping on this so im not sure why he wont go inside and sleep on it now!) on the "deck" part i have 3 or 4 blankets folded up and layered on top of each other to raise him off the ground...thats the only part of the kennel he will sleep in!
i thought about maybe taking the blankets out of the deck part so it wouldn't be soft and he might feel like he has to go inside the kennel..but then if he wouldn't i would feel bad that he doesn't have a comfy place to sleep!
a friend said he might be afraid to go inside because sometimes the neighbours cats come in the garden, and he might feel trapped inside the kennel because hes not neutered and wouldnt be able to "protect his territory"
0 -
-
Advertisement
-
Sorry to butt in but perhaps the blankets in his kennel are getting damp in this weather and now that it's getting colder some insulation might work better. We have cut up some insulation boards, they're about 3" thick and one side has a foil backing, and wedged them into the base of their sleeping boxes. Our outside cats love them so much that they're worn down into sleeping cat shaped hollows and have to be replaced!
A covered litter tray is perfect for indoors and when well maintained, will be happily used. I would just say for your own sake, if you haven't done so already, treat him for fleas because if he has any and he's sleeping on your bed, you will be chewed up - good and proper! I'm going through this at the moment and it's no fun. Getting him neutered asap is a good idea too; he'll settle down and won't be prey to neighbourhood toms. Pussy-cat romance isn't pretty and neither is a tomcat fight when they're sorting out the pecking order.
You have my utmost admiration for being so caring of this little animal, sadly, many people miss the point and in the process deny themselves the pleasure of a cat's love and affection. Lucky puss and lucky you! 0
Advertisement