Need cat advice (Read 329 times)

[Kpatch]

As many of you know, Ron and I have been caring for a neighbor’s kitty on and off for over 2 years. The neighbors have a second house in another state and visit there often for extended stays. So up to now, we have been caring for Bella at her own house, dropping in for an hour a day at most to feed and scoop and pet.

This time we decided to bring her here to our house because we feel bad she’s alone so much.

The first couple weeks she was sweet and affectionate. That’s no longer the case. We have been kind to her and treat her like a queen kitty, but she no longer hangs with us. She wants to be alone. She doesn’t really want to be petted.

The worst part is that she howls at night because she wants to go outside. Her “parents” allow her to roam the great outdoors at night. So, Ron gets up in the middle of the night, gets dressed and takes her outside on our screened patio and sits with her. If he didn’t sit with her, she’d climb the screen and rip it.

She has also clawed the weather stripping at the threshold to the back door leading to the patio.

So it’s now Week 7 and we have gone from adoring this cat to we can’t wait until her parents return in two weeks. Ron used to say Bella is the only cat he would want and now he says she’s not the right cat for us.

It’s sad.

If anyone has advice, please share!

[booksoapwriter81]

Is Bella spayed? A lot of times the reason that cats howl to go out at night is that they have the instinct to go out and find mates. I know that you can't take her to get spayed when she's not your pet, but it might be something for her owners to consider in the future.

Scratch posts can also help. I have a cat who used to claw the couch and the kitchen cabinets to get attention, but ever since we got him a scratch post and put it near one of the things he used to claw, he uses that instead.

[UhSir]

We have a similar situation with our neighbor when they go south in the winter. They have cats that have access in and out of their garage. One of them has taken to us and we let her in occasionally, especially when the temp gets below freezing, but she lets us know when she's had enough of us.

Cats have routines and it sounds like she needs to have her nightly tour outdoors. Or maybe she just needs  to find her litterbox.

This article at alleycat.org might give you some some help.

Cat Socialization

[kathyj]

Cats do have their routines. Does she like toys? Maybe you could tire her out by playing with her before you go to bed. Cats love to chase lasers or feather toys.

[Kpatch]

Thanks friends for your thoughtful replies.

Bella is 13 years old. She isn't very interested in toys anymore, even though she was more playful when she first arrived. We brought her scratching tree, which she sleeps in lately. In the beginning she slept with us. We brought her two favorite chairs from her house and the cat bed she never sleeps in.

Thanks for the article UhSir. I'd say Bella is in the "less socialized" category. She's been alone so often for long periods of time since her parents have been spending time in their other house. I don't think it would be good for them to take her there. It's a four hour plane ride and going back and forth multiple times a year would be hard on the cat.

booksoapwriter81, not sure if she's spayed. I assume so, but I don't really know.

I ordered some calming drops from Chewy. Hope it helps.

[fluffysmom]

I hope the calming drops work for Bella.

[soaps4ever]

I'm sorry about your kitty problem Kpatch. There have been some great suggestions here. I would have a talk with the kitty's owners when they come back and maybe they can give you some ideas about what could be going on with Bella. Meanwhile I think the calming drops are a good idea.

[Kpatch]

Thanks everyone for your advice and empathy. The drops finally arrived today so we will try them out on her tonight.

Bella is as cute as they come, but when she wakes you up howling in the middle of the night, and she claws away the weather stripping, she's not so cute.

[soaps4ever]

I hope the drops work for Bella. One thing, has anything changed at all in your environment or habits? I mention this because we had gotten in the habit of watching cat videos at night before bed and our cat Sparky would watch them but she would thump her tail. I thought it was because she liked the videos, but that wasn't it, she was jealous! Around that time she had been going potty in places other than her litter box and when we stopped watching the videos her behavior stopped. We still watch cat videos but not around her lol. If we talk about other cats like neighbors cats we see outside she comes to us and meows, like she's saying "what about me?" Ha. But she will look at other cats if they come up to our french doors.

[Kpatch]

You have one smart cat soaps4ever!

The only thing I can think of that changed is that Bella spit up on her favorite scratching chair that we brought over from her house. Ron cleaned it with disinfectant wipes and ever since then, she has mostly stayed away from it. Ron even went back to her house to get a chair pad she used to sit in, but she still rarely goes on that chair. But she's got her scratching tower and other items from her house so she's got lots of options.

The drops don't seem to have had an effect so far.

[soaps4ever]

It might be that the chair has a different smell now. The chair had to be cleaned up though of course. Cats can be picky about little things, it's weird. I hope that with time the drops will work.

[Kpatch]

Well, Bella's back home as of 5:00 this afternoon. We have come up with a time share arrangement with her parents. Whenever they go to their other house for an extended period, we will bring Bella here. We might have agreed to keep her full time if it wasn't for the night howls.