Hogan came to stay with us last night here at Safe Haven. Yes, I did say last night as in not even 24 hours ago.......
He had been surrendered to the shelter for inappropriate elimination all over his owner's house and it had evidently been going on for quite some time. They had another cat, a dog, at least one child, and on top of all those, they were also letting Hogan outside (which is horrible for any cat but one that's declawed?!). He's three years old, one of those tall, strong looking males with a really thick, plush coat, and an adorable bib of white down his chest and on the tips of his toes. I was slightly worried about the lack of litterbox use, and so when I placed him in his guest room last night and went back to check on him, I did so holding my breath somewhat as to what I would find..............imagine my delight when I found that he'd used the litterbox almost as soon as he arrived! Since then he's used the litterbox overnight, and again today while we were at work; he's got a great appetite, LOVES toys, and just before I began typing this he sauntered over and laid half his body across my lap so we could have a really good love session!! He goes crazy for attention, hasn't made strange at all, and has been purring up a storm. Initially the boys presence outside the door appeared to be making him a little nervous, but already that seems to have subsided considerably. Of course the real test here will come when it's time to let him have full access to the house; both in terms of his feelings about other cats in general, and his ability/desire to continue to use his bathroom facilities (and I don't mean the ones he chooses) :)).
The only tough aspect of this so far has been that he kept me up all night crying in his room - and I do mean ALL night. Hopefully, he does abit better tonight since he's had the day to become acclimatized but I suspect that he's a very social boy and won't be all that patient about hanging out in his guest room for too, too, long.
So far, so good. Oh I almost forgot to share the other photo I took.............he likes to roll around, look at your upside down and isn't shy about sharing his belly for your viewing pleasure.
I have had some experience with this and found that if he is kept in a small area (such as a bedroom) for awhile, perhaps a week, it will give him time to possibly forget that he used to pee all over the house. If he is too lonely with only viits from you during the day and sleeping with you at night then perhaps you could put a screen door on the bedroom that would allow him to watch what's going on outside his room.
ReplyDeletewhat a lovely boy !!! He will come around quickly LM ... they always do with you ... and we are looking forward to hearing Hogan's progress !
ReplyDeletelitter box issues can have its origins in the environment. A lot people don't even try to get the cat help and simply give up when a cat pees outside of the box, blaming the cat because they can fail to see the problem
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