It is a little female kitty. Daughter says she clings to humans and yet she is a bit skittish. We loaded up on cat supplies last night and going to visit the new grandkitty tonight. 
I think Binx is adorable!
My older D used to have a dog and a cat (a bottle kitten whom she raised from 3 week old abandoned kitten), but couldnât take both when she relocated for medical residency. I inherited her cat.
So D is fine with cats, but apparently her husband is a huge cat person (I never knew!). He found a terrified adult cat huddled under his car last week, cold, wet & hungry. The weather in New England has been right on the edge of freezing with plenty of wintery mix precipitation. He brought the kitty inside, dried her off. Cat looked over the HUGE dog D owns, growled & held her ground when the dog tried to chase her, then marched past the dog, ate the dogâs food, drank the dogâs water, then curled up to snooze in the chair the dog usually sleeps in. Made herself totally at home. Very sweet temperament. D1 said her husband and the cat bonded instantly.
Took kitty to vet on Monday. No microchip. Vet estimated the cat to be 11-15 years old. Underweight but otherwise healthy, though probably blind in one eye. I offered to take the kitty since they canât keep her. Kids put up flyers in their neighborhood, not really expecting to get a response, but mirable dictu! the catâs owners called. Apparently the owners are on vacation in FL and the pet sitter had accidentally let the cat out 2 weeks ago. The kitty is 18 years old, totally deaf and partly blind. Kids are taking care of the kitty until the owners return from vacation.
While Iâm happy kitty gets to go back to her own home, I was kind of looking forward to getting a another cat.
I am adopting a cat tomorrow. Heâs a 4 or 5 yr old Maine Coon mix. He was given up because the original owner had a succession of foster children, and apparently the cat took against the latest and youngest one, and peed on his bed/attacked him. The cat had hadâand still hadâno issue with the earlier fosters, who were apparently older kids/teens. We are thinking that most likely the latest child mistreated him in some way.
Agree about mistreatment. But. It does not hurt to make sure that the cat does not have bladder stones. Good luck! Maine coons are awesome cats. Gorgeous.
Success!! After a day of hiding under the sofa, the grandkitty emerged and is relaxing on kiddoâs BF lap. I am getting constant updates via texts. The cat now has a name - she is named after a celebrated South Korean athlete.
Since I last posted, we acquired a new puppy. While I am not a dog person, I do like Malteses and this one is a teacup cutie. She and my cat, Toby, get along pretty well and we have some cute shots of them sleeping next to each other on the couch.
However, Toby has now developed a fear of going outside. She used to walk up to the door and put her paw on it to let us know she wanted to go out. Now, you canât put her outside because she just looks at you with this horrified look. So, we set up a litter box next to the puppyâs wee wee pads (the puppy is 3 pounds, so I canât just let her out into the yard like I used to do with the larger dogs because I am afraid a hawk will swoop down and grab her). Toby is 8 now and a friend who has had cats his entire life told me that itâs not uncommon for some cats to grow skittish about being outdoors as they age. Our first cat, Precious the male Maine Coon, who came with our house, never tired of going out and only slept inside in his last (22nd) year of life.
i love my two cats;
but today woke up to a puddle on my leather couch. :-q NO idea what that is about. Family is still sleeping; maybe somebody spilled something last night? Hoping so.
hereâs a sweet childrenâs book â ** The Grannyman **-- that i read a few years ago that inspired me to get a kitty for my old fat cat to play with. Itâs been a joy with the two of them! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0525461221/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
New kitty is in the house. He let me pick him up and show him his food and water and litter box. Then I put him down and let him explore, so he has disappeared for the moment. The dog is shut into the dining room so he has a chance to look around undisturbed. He came from a household with dogs, so it should be okay once they meet and she gets over her excitement.
Just thinking that I probably should have taken down the Christmas tree with its load of expensive Patricia Breen and Radko ornaments before kitty arrived! Maybe Iâll pack away the ornaments before I let the dog out of the DR, lol.
re post #467 - puddle not from the cats!!! yay! late night juice box spillage.
Congrats, @Consolation! Fingers crossed the dog will be nice to the new cat. And the Radko ornaments survive the meet and greet.
This is just terrible.
In other, happy news, we met our new grandkitty. She is very petite and really shy, but she came out to greet us when we came into kiddoâs apartment and sat on the couch. Well⊠Mr. made a major faux-pas. He grabbed the kitty and tried to show her the new covered litttebox we got for her. You should have seen her terrified eyes as she ran to hide under the couch. Kiddo got upset (and so did I). We decided to let the kitty destress and went to grab dinner. While we were out, kiddoâs BF came back from his surfing trip, and the kitty came out to him. The kitty forgave Mr. his rough riding, and let him pet her. Then she used the scratch post we got her - the kids were exited. They were not ready to give up their new sofa as a scratch device yet. Then we all sat, drank sparkling wine, and⊠watched cat videos on YouTube. Lol. It looks like all four of us are easily amused! The kitty chased laser pointer while we watched.
The cat has been with us for a week and has not yet used the litterbox. Yesterday I bought him a new one, just in case. This morning he peed on a sofaâthankfully the one that desperately needs slip-covering already. That was the last straw. I moved him and all of his stuffâ2 litter boxes, scratching thing, catnip toys, and food and water dishesâto the dining room, which has no rug and no upholstered furniture, removed the table cloth, and closed the doors. One of his litter boxes has a litter that is supposed to attract cats. The other has Worldâs Best Litter. He is going to stay there until he uses the litter box exclusively. We will, of course, visit him frequently.
We probably should have isolated him in the first place, but my first cat just moved into the houseâwe had a different goldenâand made herself at home, so I wasnât expecting this. I love this boy, and he has been gradually becoming bolder and bolder about roaming around the house, even though he and the dog have had many a stand-off, lol. She is desperate to make friends and play with him, but he puffs himself up to twice his size and transfixes her with a baleful glare. She drops into the play position and starts whining and talking, wagging furiously, which apparently does not impress him. But they are very gradually sorting things out, I think. Yesterday he visited me at the computer and tried his paw at cat typing. 
He is also eating very little. But he seems to like us. I have treated the couple of places I found he had peed, one of which was his blankie from his old home. (Donât know what THAT meansâŠ)
Suggestions are welcome. I canât figure out what more to do.
@Consolation - Try Feliway, a pheromone product you can buy as a spray or use in a diffuser (the device that plugs into an outlet) to help calm kitty. All the vets around here use it to help calm their feline patients. I spray it in my cat carrier when I have to take my very shy, timid cat to the vet.
@Consolation - has the vet ruled out any UTI or bladder stones? Cats can associate litter box with their pain and just refuse to use it (like our white cat did - the special diet cured the problem).
Well, Hurrah! Last night he used the litter box for the first time. And this morning when I brought him his dish of tuna and salmon he ate it all up. I guess we should have done the sequestration thing in the first place. I talked to someone from the cat rescue today, and she said he could stay there for a couple of weeks if need be. (She was also surprised that the dog made him so nervous, since the home that surrendered him reportedly had at least one.)
I ordered the Feliway diffuser starter kit yesterday, and she thought that was a good idea also. She also suggested a calming collar. They have used them on cats at the cat shelter with good results. I just checked, and Feliway doesnât seem to make one. Anyone use one and have a recommendation?
@BunsenBurner , he was thoroughly checked by the HART vet before being released for adoption, and had no signs of anything, and used the litterbox in his cage there. As a brand new surrender, he was still in the intake area which uses cages for obvious reasons before being moved in a room with other cats where they roam at will. They have separate rooms for diabetic cats (no free-feeding), feline HIV-positive cats, extremely shy cats (they get therapy!), and the general population, as well as isolation areas for cats with health issues. This place is the Rolls Royce of cat shelters. They do a wonderful job.
I volunteer at my local shelter and we always tell adopters to set up a cat in a room of their own first. That gives them a chance to learn about the catâs personality and behavior before giving them more freedom in the rest of the house. We also suggest that the cat be closed into that room when unsupervised until you trust each other and any other pets in the house.
@KSMom1518, I also work as an adoption counselor and we give the same advice. We also counsel people bringing a cat into a home with a dog to make sure that the cat makes the move to befriend the dog, not the other way around. The dog can be in the same room with the cat * with supervision * but should not be able to advance on the cat. When no one is home or supervising, the animals should be kept in separate quarters until they acclimate. I hope that helps.
Iâm glad things are improving a bit already and I hope the Feliway is effective. Iâve heard good things.
@Consolation: I adopted a sweet little orange tabby from the SPCA. She too had been checked by the SPCA vet and was using the litter box in her cage. After I got her home, she started having some problems - peeing on a blanket, etc. I had her rechecked and, sure enough, she had developed a bladder or urinary infection (I donât remember which one). An antibiotic shot resolved the issue.
My Toby had to be encouraged to use his litter box at first. We would put him in the litter box and scratch his paw in the litter. Sometimes he would just jump out and weâd try again. If he used the litter box he got a treat. It worked like a charm. (Heâs seven now and if he hears you cleaning the litter box, he comes running in to use it. I swear he still expects a treat.)
Like others have mentioned we keep the new additions in their own room till theyâre acclimated to the new environment.