I had a similar experience. I adopted a grown male cat (now deceased) that had been an inside /outside cat and then got booted outside full time. When I got him, he had to be a full time inside cat (because I live in the city) and he adjusted to it very well. Never seemed to have any interest in getting out, completely content to have a windowsill to sit and look out. My other cat, who never was an outsider is obsessed with escaping.
I have a cat poop loving dog and keep her seperated from the litterbox with a child safety gate with a cat sized hole cut in it. Just gate the whole room off.
I’ve had great results with my home-made scratching posts. Take a length of 4 x4 lumber (or two 2x4s screwed together) and attach it to a base or devise a way to hold it upright. I made a base that fits under the couch leg and puts the scratching post right where the corner of the couch that the cats wanted to shred is. Take a sisal (natural fiber) rope and tightly wrap the upright post. Hold the ends in place with nails or staples. Something about that rope really appeals to cats for clawing. If the cat doesn’t go for it right away, try rubbing it with catnip. You could even put the rope in a plastic bag with catnip and shake it up and let it soak up whatever’s in catnip that makes cats love it.
Good luck!
I have a hell of a time getting good pictures of Stokie, who’s a tuxedo (mostly black) cat. I need to get my boyfriend to take some - he does video production for a living and owns a camera shop, so you’d think he’d know how to do it.
We followed the fluid/honey regimen. Sometime between 1 and 4 am he urinated a little (good! we were wondering if his kidneys had shut down). But then after his dose of honey, he vomited a lot of dark brown fluid. We had started offering water in a dish, but so far still no interest, and he was still fairly lethargic, though he seemed to respond a tiny bit more to us and to sounds, but very little interest in moving around or walking. We spent the rest of the night preparing ourselves for the vet to tell us that nothing more could be done, if he still wasn’t keeping anything down.
Called the vet at 8 am. He told us to keep giving the fluids and try switching to Karo syrup. He said the brown fluid likely came up from the bowel (possible touch of gastritis), and that even so, Wolfie probably did absorb some glucose despite the vomiting. (He also suggested the option of sending Wolfie to an animal hospital for monitoring, with the caveat that it could get pretty expensive; besides the expense, Wolfie’s stressed enough with us, the “strangers” he knows, so I think being in a hospital would stress him even more.) We’re supposed to call the vet at 4:30 with an update.
So far he still seems pretty much the same.
I decided not to take his picture, as he really is one sad looking kitty, and I’m sure he feels rotten, and it would just seem weird to take his picture in this condition, you know?
We’re all exhausted. Getting up every three hours isn’t good for anyone, whether healthy humans or sick kitties.
Heh, the dogs actually pretty much ignore him. (Of course, they’re only allowed in the same room when he’s in his crate, which is tucked in a corner so only the front is visible.) They may have sniffed in his direction once, but other than that, they’re focused on us. And I think fairly confused about the disruption in routine; they’ve been spending a lot of time gated in the kitchen.
When the vet taught me how to do the subcutaneous thing, he watched me as I did it the first time. About 5 minutes into the procedure, he said “you might want to think about resuming breathing.” I guess I was kind of freaked out the first time.
Good luck with all this. I know first hand how stressful it can be.
Heh, I am a wimp. I have been foisting off the actual needle work on Mr. S, on the fake premise that he’s a health care worker (CNA). But up until now, he’s never given an injection.
I don’t know what we’ll do if the injections continue when Mr. S returns to work on Friday. So far it’s been a two-person job, and there really isn’t anyone close by I can ask to help.
Still no real change in Wolfie’s demeanor. I fear that we are prolonging the inevitable.
I used to do the subcutaneous injections on my cat Whitey. However, he was very calm and used to being handled, so I doubt I’d have any relevant advice for you. I’d help you poke Wolfie if you lived in town!
Wolfie just sits for the injections, but he always sat for regular injections at the vet’s too. The only time he shows gumption is when we’re shoving things down his throat; that’s one small change, that he fights us a bit harder in the last day or two.
If the vet still has us continue after this afternoon’s call, I’ll start taking over with them so I can get some practice in.
MR. S just thought we should try offering him water in a spoon, in case the big white dish in his face (espresso saucer) was too big and scary. No dice – he still flinches a little and turns away.
Talked to the vet at 5 pm. He says to continue as we’ve been doing until Friday morning. He’s not concerned about the lethargy just yet. We are ok to keep offering him water to see if he’ll take it, but otherwise just keep him quiet and warm when we’re not torturing him with treatment. I’ve been keeping a heating pad on low sort of half draped over him, and checking it periodically; we just went to town quick and actually found a hot-water bottle, so that will help for overnights, when we’re trying to sleep and don’t want to leave him with the heating pad unobserved.
If Wolfie still isn’t showing interest in food/water by Friday morning, then the vet will probably try the Valium dose to kick-start his appetite.
We were gone about an hour and a half, getting the hot-water bottle, something to eat, and a few easy-to-cook, comfort-food-type groceries for the next few days. Came home to find Wolfie lying in the litter box. He seems to like it, we think because he’s used to making little nests in the sand under the back porch. We found some crystal cat litter and will layer that on top when we take him out, to help with the litter clumping onto him.
Wrap him in a bath towel. Then you can hold him gently but firmly under your arm, control the fangs with one hand, and jab him with the other hand. You might want to be wearing a leather jacket just in case. Make sure to give him a kitty treat afterward to make it easier next time.
Well, I need two hands, one to pinch up the skin, and one to insert the needle under the skin. He’s actually calm if it’s done right, and the vet did it all by himself. But he’s done it 5 million times and we haven’t. We just need practice to get smooth at it: juggling needles, the fluid bag, alcohol, cotton balls, cat.
Also, this cat is not eating or drinking voluntarily; we’re forcing glucose into him just to keep him in calories. So kitty treats are out of the question. But I’ll keep this in mind for the future, if we ever need to give him an injection of this sort.
Anyway, I came in here to report that I just gave my first injection! (Filed under “Things I never thought I’d do.”) Mr. S helped this first time with the juggling, but I got the needle under the skin the first time, and Wolfie didn’t even flinch. And we both breathed throughout the whole thing! Next time I’ll try it by myself with Mr. S standing by.
He’s moving around quite a bit more this morning; was up on all fours several times and took maybe a step or two before plopping back down. Hasn’t vomited again. Peed a little bit a few more times. And talk talk talk. Quite a contrast from the bean-bag cat we had a day or so ago. (But he’s still not interested in water, though he sniffed at it a hair more than previously.)
Cats often prefer to drink from running water – it seems fresher. You can try putting him by the kitchen sink and letting the water run just a tiny bit – he may decide to drink from that.* Or you can buy one of the cat waterers that provide a filtered, running stream of water for them. Those are nice; water is always available, and you only have to add fresh water every day or two. But they’re rather expensive.
*Note that if you try this, and he likes it, he will prefer it for years to come. Despite whatever other water dishes you have, he will jump up to the sink and meow for you to come and turn the water on for him. And it will only take him a week or so to have you trained to do this!
Do you collect rain water outside? Our cats have water dishes indoors but seem to prefer drnking from pools of water in the garden. There’s something (chemical?) in the tap water they don’t like. If he has been outdoors for so long maybe your indoor water smells wrong to him.
I had read about cats liking running/dripping water, and in fact outside Mr. S often saw him drinking out of the drips from the rain gutters rather than his water dish. So I had tried dribbling water from a paper cup into the dish, splashing it around, etc. No dice.
But the outside water idea is a good one. We have well water, so I’m not sure how different the taste might be. But we can try it – thanks!
We wouldn’t mind buying a cat water fountain if he prefers it; only trouble will be keeping the dogs from emptying it!
Next time I’ll try it by myself with Mr. S standing by.