In another post I wrote about how I came to adopt this orange kitty who was found as a stray and held by the lady next door to where I work. In case you haven't read it, my boyfriend and I looked at the cat 5-6 times and finally said no (in December) because we were both going out of town for the holidays and weren't sure enough about taking him to have someone hold him for us. While I was gone, my coworker kept an eye on him and said that he was adopted, but he was soon returned a week later. I eagerly (and impulsively) called to say I'd take him!

We picked him up on January 5th and the first day went as expected. The lady I got him from was leaving to go to Puerto Rico so the 5th was the last day I could pick him up, and even though we were moving apartments on the 6th, I took him. So we kept him mostly in the bathroom for two days during the move until we got settled in.

At the new apartment, I found out he had tapeworms and started worrying for Teddy's safety. I quarantined him for another day in our only bathroom (which I had to disinfect every time someone wanted to use it) and dewormed him with Profender the next day. At night he walks around crying all night and scratches excessively in his litter box for 15-20 minutes (even though I clean it 4-5 times a day and have disinfected it once). He knocks things off of tables (like lamps and picture frames) and tries to dart into our fridge or out the front door every time it's opened. I know he was a stray so I can't really fault him for it, but I'm a VERY light sleeper and being kept up every night until 5-6am is driving me batty. I'm seriously losing it. Not to mention my boyfriend is in law school and wakes up at 8am, gets home from school at 4pm, and studies/reads for school all day until around 2am. The lack of sleep is kind of killing him too.

I just don't know if I can keep this cat. I'm trying to do everything possible to make him look good for another potential adopter (I dewormed him, he's getting screened today for heartworm and feline leukemia, I bought some heartworm preventative and flea treatment to use after I know he's clear of heartworms, I'm going to give my bag of litter, litterbox, and bed away, etc.). I'm taking over $150 in financial loss just to be sure that he's healthy before I return him. I tried to politely express my concern to the lady I adopted him from but she just insisted that anything is better than where he's been staying (a cat crate). I feel selfish.. but part of my sleep-deprived brain was like "Yeah, but what about me?!"

Am I a bad person? I am never the sort to turn away or rehome an animal. That's how I ended up with him in the first place. We were originally not going to take him, but when I heard that he'd been returned, I couldn't help it. Now I'm finding that this apartment is just too small for me to manage his behavior. I have nowhere to put him that's a cat-safe zone except for our ONE tiny bathroom. If we had a real bedroom with a door that closed, I could put him in there while we slept and know that he was safe. As it is right now, I worry all night about him breaking things, flinging litter out of the box, chewing wires, and so on.. and the crying and sounds of him scratching in his litterbox are driving me up the wall. I vacuum about three times a day just to keep the litter off the floor. I don't know what to do. I'm at my wit's end. Please help!

__________________


Thanks to Jan for my siggy!

Oh poor you,if he was a stray i expect he had freedom now he's going out of his mind being cooped up in a small bathroom,is he the kind of cat that would go for a walk,on a collar and lead ? Can you try and play games that get rid of energy ?

__________________

Yeah, I thought the same thing. He must feel so cooped up now. And of course I would feel really irresponsible letting him roam around freely outside.. I doubt he'd come back anyway.

Since he tries to chew wires and break things, I can't trust him to wander the apartment unsupervised. When I leave for work after my boyfriend goes to school, I have to put him back in the bathroom, which I hate. I play with him for about a half hour with the feather dancer toy right before I leave, and my boyfriend plays with him before bedtime.. but it doesn't seem to cut down on his energy at all. I've considered getting a large dog crate to keep him in at night so that our bathroom is freed up, but it doesn't solve the problem of our apartment being too small for him. It's also another $65 that I don't have right now.

I don't know whether he would walk on a harness or not. He's really mellow during the day, honestly. Right now he's playing with Teddy (they get along great, which is good because that helps to burn off some of his energy too). But the complicating factor is that our apartment complex doesn't know we HAVE a cat. They only know about Teddy. I've spent so much money on just his general well-being that I decided to wait a month to pay his pet fee, but since I'm not sure we're keeping him, I don't know if I ever will. Either way, I can't take him outside for a month or else someone will see him and ask why I haven't paid for him yet.

__________________


Thanks to Jan for my siggy!

I wonder if your husband is able to build a 'cat' crate? They are tall, but the litter box is on the bottom and there are 2 or 3 'shelves' where the cat can stay, and play with stuff hung from the top. Most Petsmart/co have these on display. Then you could shut your door and not hear the scratching etc. Good luck. What about a cat rescue? Sue

Well, we're not married yet, haha! We're both 23 and neither of us have any skills in craftmanship whatsoever. I considered buying one of the wire cat crates from Petco but they're so expensive. If I'm not sure I'm keeping him, I don't want to invest in a $200 crate. I might spring for a $65 large dog crate though (48"). That way even if I have to rehome him I can use it as a playpen for Teddy.

Our bedroom door isn't really a door. It's like two fold-able closet doors with horizontal wood panels, and there's a big space over the doors so we can hear everything that goes on in the "living room".. including the cat digging in his litter box. There's really no way to soundproof it, even if we can contain him in a crate. My hope is that if he's in a crate he'll get bored of crying and jumping around and learn to be more active during the daytime than at night.

__________________


Thanks to Jan for my siggy!

I would google something to like Assisting a Feral Cat / Taming a Feral Cat and see if you could maybe find some pointers out through those type of searches. There could also possibly be something to help on YouTube. Feral Cats are in a world all there own and always in survival mode ~ just like a Lion/ Tiger would be in the wild.

A friend of mine lived beside an old lady who fed ferals, he tried to help them because they were multiply at a rapid rate and had a zillion health issues. The city he lived in had nothing in place to help. He was told by a rescue place south of where he lived to get the kittens, but avoid eye contact as to them that was a sign he was aggressive and it would make a bad situation worse. He was also told if he could get a kitten into his home and the kitten would eventually allow he to get close enough to touch him that massaging the neck would release endorphins and the cat would relax a bit and that could move the process along. To be honest though, my friend was never able to assist in this situation. It was very sad. Every day you looked out the back you would see new kittens who had grown to the point of being able to be out and about, knowing new litters were being conceived and birthed round the clock. And they were so sickly. But with hundreds of calls there was not one agency private or governmental would would assist him.

I wouldn't call him a "feral cat." He's very sweet and mellow when we're awake. I think a lot of his bad behavior is attention-seeking. He knocks things off tables because I think he knows that we'll come out to fix the problem. When I go out to check on him at night after hearing a loud noise, he starts purring loudly and frantically rubbing my leg. He lets you hold him on his back or just in your arms for a very long time. He likes to be close to us (but my boyfriend has cat allergies so he can't sleep on the bed). He's very gentle with his claws (unless you touch his belly too much--then he bites!). But most of the time he's very sweet and low-key. It's only nighttime and early morning that's a big problem for us. I feel like if he had more room to roam in a bigger house that he would do fine.

__________________


Thanks to Jan for my siggy!

Maybe check craigslist if you feel safe using the service. I know in our area they have nice cages, enclosures on there listed ~ almost giving them away because original purchaser no longer needs them. You might luck into a great find that could could save your sanity.