Sleepy cat in makeshift house from the ineffective DIY compost bin. |
Yesterday morning, I brought up the subject of bringing the cat into the house. Mom's argument was there were no mice in the house therefore he would serve no purpose inside. The only counterpoint I could come up with at the time was that cats are sympathetic to humans. It was weak, I know, and it depends on the cat, but without going into points mentioned in this thread that she might not understand, that's the only thing that came to my mind. It was a short conversation that I realised would need more time.
Around noon, my sister, who had to go to work and was in a rush, came to put coverings over some plants she had just planted in the garden. It reached a cool high of 8°C (46°F) and she was worried they might get stressed. And, of course, the cat came over to greet her. Now, I was downstairs working away on the computer when all of a sudden I heard little footsteps and small meows coming down the stairs. Apparently, while my sister was getting ready to leave, she was speaking with mom at the backdoor. Mom was inside and my sister was outside and the door was open. The cat just walked in. So, if I need an alibi, I was in the basement.
He slept on my lap for about 30-45 mins. and slept in mom's lap for about the same amount. He also explored the house finding the dirtiest spots to walk through covering himself in cobwebs and leaving dusty paw prints all over the place.
At around 10:30-11:00 pm, he was wide awake and started driving me nuts. I put him outside and he, I think, went in search of friends. He stayed out all night and I let him back in the house at around 9:30/10:00 am. He ate a little, explored the house a bit more, found a spot on the couch and took a snooze in my lap. He woke up again and started exploring/wandering around. It became a bit annoying so I put him outside around 12:30/1:00 so I could finish making lunch. It's 3:22 now and don't know where he is. I'm not worried. Mom's exhausted. She told me she wants to get rid of him. He strikes me as a 'teenager'.
Sleepy cat indoors. |
Some gentle suggestions:
Get some worming treatment / flea treatment.
Have a good look at his teeth.
Buy good quality food.
Pooping / private business
Thanks for the checklist and tips forest_light and everyone!
I've actually implemented a few of these already. Right off the bat, I didn't want him digging up the garden to do his business so I bought an outdoor litterbox and a bag of litter that is made from clay. That stuff is awesome to clean! Yeah, it's more expensive though. When I first set it all up, he knew exactly what it was and used it almost immediately. No training required.
When I first started feeding him, I didn't know his state of health so I thought I should give him some Ivermectin and started dripping 6/7-ish drops of Bimectin from a syringe every 4 days into his wet food (I learned he's a
pâté cat
). I now give it to him every 6/7 days.
I went to the grocery store and looked at the cat food there. I had a feeling of what I was going to find but I looked anyway just to see if I was right. I was. Everything has 'corn something' in it which was high on the ingredient list as well as much worse. So I went to a small pet food store and fared much better. I bought a variety of canned food to see what he would eat (initially everything) but have moved towards raw food. There are three types: beef, chicken and duck. I bought the beef since it seems to have the most success. All that's in there are beef, ground-up beef bones, beef heart and liver. I've been transitioning him onto it. It's hit and miss right now but he is eating it.
I went to the pet store yesterday and bought some flea and tick powder made with food grade diatomatious earth, neem & yarrow oils that I'm going to work into his coat. I think he might have fleas because he spent around 5-10 mins. biting and licking one area around his shoulder blade.
I haven't checked his teeth yet. The next time he's in my lap...
As far as a name goes, I appreciate all the suggestions!
I would call him Vittorio or Vitto as you mentioned Victoria day...
I looked into this one a little bit.
Vito is an old world male name meaning 'life', as I read, and
Vittorio means 'conqueror'. The feminine
Victoria means 'victory in war' but I thought of the male version
Victor (the Latin form is
Vittorio) which means "winner of a battle, test of strength, etc.; conqueror; famous warrior," 14th century, coming from the PIE root
*weik-. On a whim, I searched the Saka dictionary just to see what I would find. I didn't know what I was looking for and wasn't getting a lot of results. One of the terms I searched for was '
overcome' and found the word with that meaning to be quite funny in a coincidental way:
purr-!
So, Victor or Vincent perhaps?
Cobweb collections, I love it. He was clearly letting you know he had checked the house thoroughly for mice and dust bunnies and was happy to do some cobweb removals to show his gratitude for the excellent food selections and lovely company. Wait til he rubs himself in the dirt and dust and leaves it all in a pile on your bed - that you just changed. It's awesome! 
but a small price to pay for the sweet delightful companionship of a 2D friend. They teach us a lot more than many of us realise, and they are exceptionally good at lowering our cortisol/stress levels through touch (unless of course they are waking you up 20 times a night! 
). I don't know if there is much chance of getting your mother to appreciate the benefits of kitty snuggles at this point unless you can all find a happy medium.
My brother had a cat called Tonto which visited a neighbour and pretty much took up residence with them. He spent so much time with his "other" owner that eventually he told her that she may as well adopt him fully. He still visited my brother occasionally but appeared to love his life with his new owner and lived to a ripe old age.
