I was lucky. When I acquired my two kittens (the survivor of which turned 15 last April) I had an older cat who had gotten used to having the place to himself, but he adjusted well to dealing with the energetic fluffballs. No hissing, or chasing; he even accepted them sharing the bed with me. It might have helped that before I had taken him with me to NC there had been other cats in the old house in Chicago. He might have even welcomed not being alone any more.
My neighbor has something similar to this that she puts her cats in when she’s out gardening or relaxing in the back yard. She’s there to make sure they stay safe and they enjoy some time outside.
Our older cat used to make a game of getting out and making us chase her to get her back, and she got worse after we added a kitten to the household. We started taking her out daily on a leash in the back yard, and she took to it immediately. We’ve trained her to jump up on a specific shelf on the cat tree by the back door so we can put the harness on her. She knows about what time of day to expect outdoor time, although now that it’s getting to be 90⁰ by noon, I’ve had to shift it to early mornings, and I’ll want to move it later again in the fall.
I think this is why she doesn’t try to dart out the door anymore, but it took probably six months before we really saw a difference. Because her little brother hates going outside, this is time she gets one of us exclusively to herself, and she gets to hunt bugs and tell herself she could totally catch a bird, most of whom have gotten so accustomed to seeing us out there that they’ll hop in the yard anyway.
@liirogue, that’s a real wrench, but it sure sounds like you’re doing the right thing by Juno. Some cats just don’t want housemates. Our older one has never become what you’d call fond of the younger one, but she’s not miserable that he exists, and it seems like Juno was feeling that way. It’s good that you have an involved and caring rescue; they’ll be able to find the right place for her.
Hard to tell for sure from that picture and description, but that doesn’t look to me like it would hold a determined cat, either from going under it or from going through it. Metal screening will hold at least most cats in, but fabric screening will only hold the ones who don’t mind staying in anyway.
No it’s definitely not designed for a cat that wants to escape! But it will keep a chill one contained. Her cats love just hanging out in it with her while she’s nearby.
We just had our first significant (although consequence-free) failure in the “walking the cat” department! This morning, I had to install a drip irrigation kit I’d laid out in the back yard. I took the cat out with me, and once she’d done a couple of circuits of the yard to scope it out, she settled under the big tree where we usually sit together for as long as I have to spare. I looped her leash around my chair arm and started connecting hoses, installing emitters, and generally puttering around well within sight of her. After a while, my daughter came out with a friend who’d stopped by, and they sat under the tree with her while I continued to work. After a while, they got up to go meet some friends for lunch, and my daughter said to the cat, “Roxy, you wanna go in?”
I kept on working for about another half hour, and by the time I’d finished, I was exhausted and overheated, so I just left all the tools on the porch and didn’t clear up all the bits and pieces in the yard. I went in, took a quick shower and changed into clean clothes, then sat with the other cat, drank a cup of coffee, and typed out my previous post in this thread. About an hour later, I glanced out the back window on my way to the bathroom and noticed that the cat’s leash was still looped around the arm of the chair. I tore out the back door to find her standing beside the tree, having wrapped her leash around the legs of the chair and the tree trunk. I unwrapped the leash and she trotted inside under her own power, looking only slightly ruffled. Apparently, she had not wanted to go in, and my daughter didn’t realize that I thought she had.
In all my years of childrearing, I never once even came close to leaving a child unattended, but now I really, truly understand how it could happen. Luckily, she didn’t panic or tangle herself up in her leash, and our yard has a six foot high solid fence around it, so no dogs could have gotten in. I believe it’ll be some time before I take my eyes off of her again while we’re in the yard, though.
The good news is that she seems to be taking to the leash amazingly well. Did I miss something, has she been used to being onleash before?
I have a vague recollection of having once tried to put a cat on a leash who wasn’t used to it. The cat lay down on the spot and absolutely refused to budge. “No”, said the cat, “this is NOT going to be something that happens. No. No way whatsoever.”
(My vague recollection is that the cat won that one.)
Roxy took to the leash very quickly as soon as she realized it meant she got to go outside. She’s been going outside with us for over a year, and now that I’m retired (yay!) I’m willing to go sit in a chair under the tree and read a book for an hour or so as long as it’s not too hot. Since she spends only the first ten or fifteen minutes doing active reconnaissance of the yard and is otherwise pleased to lounge in the tall grass, pouncing on the occasional bug, this works for both of us. My mistake was getting a little too comfortable with having her out of arm’s reach, and I’m grateful that my wake-up call didn’t involve any harm.
Roxy! Learn to MEEE - YOWL!
So far, Rachel has viewed the halter with alarm. I haven’t forced her into it, yet.
Leave it out for her to see all of the time. It will become part of the environment. Next rub her with it for a while so she gets used to the idea that it isn’t going to hurt her.
Update.
We adopted two of the kittens and have them the run of the house. The other two were adopted by friends. There has been some hissing. More concerning, Rachel won’t eat if the kittens are around. I discussed it with the vet at the kittens’ “new patient” appointment, and he said we should give Rachel alone time with the food bowl (either by putting her in a closed room with it, or by locking the kittens out of the kitchen while she eats.)
Since the kittens are a bonded pair, they wrestle with each other, and haven’t really tried to engage her. Which is good, as she’s an old lady and not terribly playful even with humans she likes.
I’ve seen them all standing near each other without any hissing a few times in the past two days, so that’s encouraging.
I’m a little allergic to cats, so they aren’t allowed in my bedroom. My daughter sleeps with the cats, and says there has been some tension as to who gets to sleep with her.
But no fights yet, and Rachel seems to be hissing less.
Although, my husband tried to pet her as she ate, and she stalked away, and gave him a little over-the-shoulder hiss as she left.
She usually lines company when she eats, so that was unusually hostile.
Sigh.
Yes, give Rachel her regular food while the kittens are shut up elsewhere.
And give both her and the kittens small amounts of Very Tempting Unusual Treats – while they’re in the same room. On opposite sides of the room, for now; and getting very gradually closer if it works. Not too often, maybe a couple of times a day. And stand guard so the kittens don’t try to steal Rachel’s share.
If they’ll already all sleep in your daughter’s room at the same time, that is very encouraging news!
Churu (or a similar meat paste) is straight up cat crack and would probably be very effective for this.
The vet gave the kittens a cheesey paste to distract them while they got vaccinated. It worked. I should look into that.
(The kittens had a good time visiting the vet. They got lots of cuddles and treats. They barely noticed the physical exam and the vaccinations.)
The kittens grew up in a household with several litters of foster cats, plus a couple of resident cats. They seem comfortable with the idea of another cat sharing with them.
I think that Rachel’s original owner, who gave her up, was not able to regularly feed her. Rachel returned to us with a lot more food anxieties than she’d had the first time we fostered.
i don't remember if i told about how we got Rachel
We took in Rachel as a foster when her owner was ill. We thought it would be for a week or two. It turned out to be for a few months. During that time, our own elderly cat, Qwerty, died of cancer, and Rachel moved from the foster room to living with us. The woman spent time in the hospital, caught covid and was moved to intensive care, eventually returned to rehab, and finally went home and asked for her cat back. Two weeks later she surrendered Rachel to the shelter, who reached out to us and asked if we would like to adopt her. Rachel had been healthy when we sent her home, but had a bladder infection, early kidney disease, and food anxiety when she returned to us.
Qwerty had been very hostile to the idea of other cats in her territory, which is why we hadn’t adopted some prior foster kittens. We tried briefly to integrate her with Rachel, and it didn’t go well. But Qwerty had initiated a large share of the hostilities. So we thought Rachel might do okay with cats who were friendlier.
That’s a sad story. Rachel must have been properly cared for when her human was healthy (or at least healthier), as she didn’t have the illnesses or food anxiety when you first had her as a foster; it must have been awful for both the human and the cat to discover that the human was no longer capable even of feeding her properly. – I hope the human is able to know and to understand that Rachel’s now well taken care of.
It is a sad story. Rachel had a urinary track infection the first time we took her, too, but she was basically in good shape. Her prior owner was quite sick–the woman who runs the shelter was looking for her in the obituaries. I sent the owner photos of Rachel via the shelter to try to help keep her spirits up. (For reasons of confidentially, i never knew her name.)
I think the woman must have been doing very poorly when she came home.
When Rachel was surrendered, the shelter basically asked us to take her back, and didn’t charge an adoption fee. I think they wanted to be able to reassure the old lady. And they were grateful to us for having cared for her for so much longer than we’d initially signed up for.
Rachel is still clearly unhappy about the kittens, but I’ve seen the three of them all standing within a couple feet of each other without any overt aggression, a couple of times today.