Couple of cat questions (cat sitting)

[Sepukku]

Hijacking this thread since OP's questions were answered by the owners.

My girlfriends parents are moving and gave my girlfriend their cat. The first 2 years it was raised as an inside cat, so it is litter-box trained, but it has spent the last 5 years outside. Well, the cat has been under our bed for the past 4 days or so. It has come out occasionally, but is afraid to go downstairs (her parents had a 1 story house), and will stand at the door to our bathroom and not go in unless someone else goes in (it's litter box is in the bathroom). It has pooped once in 4 days, and peed maybe 3 times. It is eating just fine, but the stupid thing isn't pooping. I've read that leaving treats down that lead to the litter box will help it, which it did the first time (the only time it has pooped) but hasn't helped since. The cat isn't completely miserable, as it will jump on the bed and allow itself to be petted/sleep with us, but it clearly misses being outside. It will stair out the window and meow for 10-15 minutes at a time, but it is a vocal cat, so I haven't thought too much about it. The girlfriend is afraid to let it outside because she's afraid it won't come back, and it won't leave our room anyways.

There is another cat in the house, and it was kind of funny because the other cat would sit on the outside of our door, and the new cat would sit on the our side of the door, and they would just stair at each other.

But anyways, what should I do about getting the cat to go to the bathroom? Also, what can I do to acclimate the cat to it's new environment? A water bottle can only do so much :\ And trust me, I've tried

The issue isn't indoor/outdoor.... the issue is your first cat is bullying the new one. The first cat has his/her smell on EVERYTHING in the house and its intimidating your new feline resident into not leaving that room by standing right outside the door (that staring contest isn't idiocy, its a bravado measurement). The first cat needs to get used to the new one. As people have said, cats are very set in their ways. If they grow up as a group they're fine - if they're used to being the One & Only, they don't like suddenly sharing space, attention, territory, etc.

[Pirian]

I did fail to mention that my girlfriends parents had like 4 cats, but we just got one of them (the one that was suppose to be my girlfriends cat, anyways). Also, the other cat hasn't actually been at the house since the new cat came, except for one day. The old cat is female, and the new cat is male, and both are fixed

[Raldo]

To the OP: Some cats can go days without being paid any attention, so it's hard to say. My wife and I left our two cats alone for 5 days once, and the only preparation I did was to set out a third food bowl. When we came back, it looked as if we didn't even need to set out that third bowl of food since it was still full, but we think one of our cats has some separation anxiety (he looked skinnier than when we left, so I don't think he ate). On the other hand, one of my sister's cats will eat EVERYTHING IT CAN REACH. They have to feed their cats at specific times each day, because they cannot trust that one cat to not eat everything in sight and nearly kill itself. They can't even use the corn-based litter because it will seriously eat that shit right out of the litterbox.

That said, I would just follow whatever the owners told you to do, they are your best source for that information. If they said once every other day is fine, then that's plenty. Yes, going in the morning on one day and the evening two days later (technically making it 2.5 days) should be just fine as well.


To Pirian: Having brought a second cat into a home where one was already lived, I completely agree with Sepukku. If the litterbox thing is really worrying you, I would suggest picking up a second litterbox, or finding something that will suffice temporarily. It may not want to use the same box as the other cat... for now, at least.


Random side note: What is all this about a water bottle? Are you beating them with it like hitting a dog with a rolled-up newspaper? We just bought one of those squirt bottles and filled it with water. One of our cats thinks water is the best thing in the world however, and enjoys getting sprayed... so we mixed vinegar and water together. Now it works like a charm.

[Byrd]

So my main question here is, do I need to go every day? My buddy said that I can go once every other day and feed them. Since I did it this morning around 10 AM, the theoretical next time I would do it would be Wednesday at around 4:30 PM. Is that too long? Cats don't strike me as dumb creatures. They know not to overeat or over drink, and adjust after a couple days.

Different cats are different. Some can barely go a day, some can go a week. Your buddy told you two days, he knows his cat better than people on the internet do, go every two days.

It's not that out of the way to go every single day, but a good 40 minutes each way.

On a different note, doesn't your buddy have any friends that live closer? 40 minutes each way is a long freaking way to go.

[Melena]

Raldo, the water bottle is a joke from an older pet thread involving cream soda.

[Judai]

To Pirian:

There is this stuff called Feliway, it's a pheromone that helps cats get adjusted to a new area and new cats that my sister(in vet school) recommended for us when we got a second cat. It seemed to work well, as after we put it in the cat started roaming about more. Obviously, it doesn't work for all cats/situations but you could always swing by your vet and ask about it. We also are taking care of my sister's cat, during her final year of vet school, and it was a backyard cat and he looks out the window and whines also but the Feliway helped him get used to the new house also and he does it less now. (we won't let him outside here because we have a family of foxes who also live in our backyard)

You should have one litter per cat and an additional one. So if you only have one, that might be why he isn't using it, cats can be picky about that stuff, at least get a second box if you only have one.

[Alolbont]

If its used the box already as it has, it will go again when it needs to. Cats act weird under stress. Getting them to go the first couple times is the big deal, after that not so much.

Cats can go several days without food also.

[Kerberoz]

Go to the supermarket, get a $4 baked chicken, give to cats on day 1, don't bother returning. They'll be fine for a week.

[Pirian]

It is a separate box, and the other cat doesn't come into our room

[Coren]

Mine have to be fed twice a day... the fat one will just eat everything and the not-fat one will go hungry. Also, my cat is a fucking bitch and unless her litter is spotless, she pees outside the box.

Speaking of, anybody want a fat cat and a cat that pees on the carpet? ><

[Yuri-G]

we had cats like that growing up. one was totally chill about food and you could feed her a month's worth at a time if you wanted. she never ate more than she should and was always skinny.

the other cat would eat until she exploded. there was no rationale, there was only

FOOD?
Y -> EAT
N -> BEG FOR FOOD

that was her whole decision-making progress. hunger did not enter into the equation... little pig. I miss her

[Sepukku]

Cats seem to get Diabetes more than any other species but humans, its the only veterinary-treated animal I hear getting Diabetes with any frequency.

[Gryffes]

Sitting on cats seems cruel.