hmmm that is a tricky one. it's most likely because he wasnt with his mum long enough and hasnt learnt proper social behaviour. all the weeing and pooing will probably be turning kitkat off a bit, and if Leo is a bit socially immature he is probably a bit of an annoying little brother to her lol.
my 2 cents would be to keep him in a small room for a few days. this is recommended whenever a new cat is brought into a home in any case to get them used to the new digs. have his litter in that room and he will get that he has to do it all in there as the he cannot hide from the smell. put his food and water in there too. i know it sounds kinda like a banishment, but it will give kitkat some time-out from him as well as some reassurance. we have done this for our new cats when they have come home and they all love us lol!
another idea is to visit your local vet and ask them for tips. but in my experience it kinda sounds like a case of 'too much too soon' and he doesnt feel settled enough to know where 'base' is ITMS. for a room we have used a number of places like the laundry, bedroom etc. i found the bathroom too tricky as we were in and out too often...
hth babe. but i reckon this could be the trick...and another thing, when he does come out for little visits during the day, if he makes a mess, pop him back into the litter in his room and close the door. they get the hint pretty quick IMO lol!
Ginger, sorry sweetie, I have no idea. Worth a visit to the vets, they will have some tips and suggestions. Sounds like he is spraying territorially as well as pooping in the wrong places. the vets might have some pheromone sprays or stuff like to help. ETA I really quickly googled and the main suggestion is what Cass, said - keep them in one room until they get settled...Start with completely fresh non-smelly litter box and litter and go from there.
Yeah, being a boy cat you will have problems with territory marking regardless of how house trained he is. You should smell our machinery ched - we have 4 resident feral cats and holy moly they **** on everything! But we don't have a mouse and rat problem anymore LOL. For the smell in the house, you need to use a commercial enzyme cleaner (from the pet shop) because that is the only stuff that will get rid of the smell properly. If you clean it with anything else, you may not be able to smell it, but the cat will and he'll keep piddling there. I think too that he wasn't with his mum long enough - DS1's mate has a cat with kittens ATM and they are 6 weeks old and she had been teaching them how to use the litter and even with 4 kittens they didn't have a problem with them pooing everywhere. Good luck with it because I'd hate for you to have to take him back.
thanks for all your suggestions girls
after a long sleepless night last night (partly cos i had to sleep on the floor as all the beds had been soiled) i rang the shelter that we got him from and had a long talk with the cattery lady. she was adament that our only choice was to bring him back and let them do some work with him and, in her words, 'reboot' him and rehome him. she thinks our house may be a bit too chaotic for him and that was his way of letting us know that he isn't happy there. i am so heartbroken. seriously i have had the worst morning that i've had in a really long time. it was absolutely horrible taking him back, even though they were so supportive and positive i still felt like i was letting him down. the kids seem fine but i'm not sure if it will hit them later that he's not here. this has been such a horrible experience, even though i know it was the right thing to do...they also think he may not have been with his mum long enough and needs to spend a little time with some other cats and then go to a better suited house. i'm shattered.
eta= trill are you affected by all the flooding?
Last edited by Ginger; December 6th, 2010 at 12:21 PM.
Oh no G so they don't even think that with a bit of retraining that he can come back to you? We're not affected by the floods - we're 1.5hrs from Wagga, but they aren't letting anyone into Wagga, so if there was any reason why you had to go to Wagga this week you'd be screwed. I need to go back there to do some shopping before Christmas at some stage so I'm hoping it's all gone by then.
no, they seemed to think that it was best if they rehome him as it seemed that he wasn't coping. she seemed to think there was a reason that he kept urinating through the kids' beds and toy boxes etc. and that if he came back the behaviour would just re-occer again. she said that we are more than welcome to try another cat/kitten and try to find a better match but i'm just too traumatised. idk what to think, i feel like i did the right thing for everyone involved but i also feel hugely guilty and like i should've tried harder iykwim? she said that we had done everything right though and that it wasn't our fault, just one of those things. i'm so upset. just another life lesson i guess and i know that he will make someone really happy as he's a lovely cat.
glad to hear you're not affected, it looks pretty nasty xoxox
eta- thanks for letting me talk about the leo situation here. i feel too upset to talk about it irl and i am scared that people will judge me.
Ginger, I am sorry about your Leo. But I am sure it is for the best if he is re-homed. I know you would have kept him if possible, but he must have been stressed to be doing that and it is probably best for him to find a new loving family. My cousins cat started peeing all over the lounge suite and beds when she had her first baby and when the baby got mobile the cat did a runner - must have found a kid-free family that was more to its liking.
Good weekend, went to the zoo and did a bit of visiting.
Ginger, big . Don't be so hard on yourself. You did your best, and ringing the shelter to get their advice & then follow it was very brave.
Trill, I only found out today it's all floody your way!! I had no idea, I'm only following one sort of news at the moment. Hope it all flows away soon.
Oh and I wonder what type of news that could be? :P The floods are a bit distressing though for all the farmers when this was the first time in 10 years many of them would get a paycheck and now its all gone. The media keep going on about that good old aussie resilience, but far out, there is only so much a person can take kwim?
Yeah, I wondered about that Trill, because the typical suburbanite has no idea about crops or livestock or when they're harvested etc we have no understanding about whether the flood means a good load of water will will drain away in a few days and everything will grow again or if it's 100% total disaster that will take months/years to recover from.
And oh yes, I totally have O on the brain, wait til you read about what happened to me today!!!
hey MD...big one of these . love your stuff, the whole of it (can i just say that i am stoked to be following your journey?! 'cause i totally am! *mwah*
Yeah MD. it's hard to fathom how devastating it is. There has been lots of footage of big round hay bales going down the river and these things weigh a ton each and they are bobbing along like apples A bloke that DH works with has a small acreage in one of the badly affected areas near Wagga and he's lost nearly all his fencing on his property, a hay shed and all the hay he'd just made in it as well as 90% of his livestock - all of them just washed down the river. And I think that is what is really hard to deal with too, the loss of livestock because there was nothing anyone could have done to save them so you had to virtually watch them drown.
And I await with baited breath for the next installment from you
Yes it's heartbreaking Trill. Mother nature giving and taking away again. So hard.
Thanks ladies...I've taken a day off so I can crank some more entries out (without my family talking at me the whole time :P)... but first I've got an unscheduled visit to the dentist after a piece of tooth? filling? shot out of my mouth and hit the mirror while I was flossing last night.
md- i'm loving your blog too. is there any way at all that i can still apply for tix (on your behalf)?
i want to know if you have any psychic feelings about me LOL
art and cally- thanks for your support. it really does mean a lot to me.
i spoke to my friend who is a huge animal lover - has about 30 animals herself and she was fantastic and very reassuring to me. made out that it was no big deal at all and totally the right thing to do and that we basically fostered him for a few weeks until he found his right home. her attitude really brightened my spirits.
took L to his kinder orientation today and he loved it. i had to bribe him with an icy pole to get him to leave! i have to say that he's not too good at the whole sit around and sing a song, storytime kinda situation. him and another boy sat and played puzzles together and refused to join in. i think it's just not his scene to sit and pay attention- like he has to be actually doing something iykwim?
G: big hugs babe xx i like your friend's insight...
that is very cool that L was into his kinder! and the sing song reading books thing comes and goes i reckon; and considering it was a new room with loads of cool stuff to play with it's no wonder that he was more interested in the other stuff!
MD: a filling shot out?! wow, now that's some impressive flossing although i had a similar thing happen 5 months ago where a bit of tooth came out...
Sherie: man. the flooding is just horrendous. i am forever missing the news due to it being a bit hectic in our house at that time, so had no idea of all the loss of livestock lives. that is just devastating. those poor creatures...
AFM: very tired, only managed about 3 hours broken sleep last night. pretty much overnight we have been inundated with FLEAS! like everywhere! i think it was something to do with us lifting some floorboards as they do seem to be particularly concentrated in that general area. argghhh! now the dog is scratching too...arghhhh! DH is off now buying some gross chemicals to deal.
Cass, ewwww fleas! Yuck. At least here it is too cold over winter for them to get a decent hold. I haven't flea treated my pets since we moved back. Bummer about the crappy night, hope it was a one off - the 12 week growth spurt?
Trill, a few years back my home area flooded and it was devastating. People were watching their livestock being carried away, one guy I knew was just stand by a bridge watching his cows slam into the supports and all he could do was cry. And the poor dairy cows that were trying to get to their milking shed so their people could help them but there was nothing the farmers could do... So sad.
Ginger, W has been going to kindy for 2 months now and he still wriggles around like he has ants in his pants at mat time. It is a learned conditioning thing, so don't worry if he doesn't do it straight away. The teachers know how to handle it - sticker bribery was used to get W to sit on the mat at the start.
Cool, an email just popped up with my exam result - I got an A!! That is in the 80-85% range, so I am happy with that.
Cass, fleas = yuck. It could also just be that they've hatched because it's suddenly warm and moist? Hope you get on top of that really quickly
Ginger, the only comp I know of now is one through the sydney opera house where you submit a photo of your favorite place in oz. Other than that, I have no idea. BTW sitting on the mat is a pretty advanced skill...wouldn't worry too much, that's one of the things they go to kindy to learn how to do.
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so they don't even think that with a bit of retraining that he can come back to you? We're not affected by the floods - we're 1.5hrs from Wagga, but they aren't letting anyone into Wagga, so if there was any reason why you had to go to Wagga this week you'd be screwed. I need to go back there to do some shopping before Christmas at some stage so I'm hoping it's all gone by then.
(can i just say that i am stoked to be following your journey?! 'cause i totally am! *mwah*
A bloke that DH works with has a small acreage in one of the badly affected areas near Wagga and he's lost nearly all his fencing on his property, a hay shed and all the hay he'd just made in it as well as 90% of his livestock - all of them just washed down the river. And I think that is what is really hard to deal with too, the loss of livestock because there was nothing anyone could have done to save them so you had to virtually watch them drown.
although i had a similar thing happen 5 months ago where a bit of tooth came out...
!
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