Unhappy rescue cat? Advice

Fen1

Just a quick note about where and how to stroke a cat, especially one that turns on you.

Stick to stroking around the face and ears. Importantly, let him take the lead in this: he will rub your hand with his jaw and the top of his head when he is relaxed and likes you. He is in control. Stick with the head rubs for a few months until he is completely settled and he invites you to rub him elsewhere.

When you do want to go and pet him, very gently offer your hand when you are in front of him
Never start petting him from behind where he can't see you: he must see you, and he must make the choice of coming to you.


Avoid stroking anywhere else for now. If he has ever been kicked it will probably have been on the body. The psychological and muscle memory of this will be playing a part in his behaviour. He might be fine for a minute about being stroked on his flank, then bang, something subconscious will kick in. If he has been kicked, there may also be residual physical damage such as arthritis, so he won't want to be touched there simply because it hurts.

CarbonImage

Again, so grateful for all your replies. The support on this forum is amazing!

Just a quick update, we have changed his litter to wood pellets as suggested above, and started closing doors when we are not in so he is reatricted to areas closer to the Feliway.

The peeing has already seemed to have stopped which is promising, although its only been just over 24 hours. He also hasn’t been aggressive today at all.

I bought him a new catnip infused wand toy yesterday as well. He played with it for about 10 minutes this morning but wasnt interested when i tried again tonight. Getting him to engage in play is quite difficult so its hard to tire him out but i am trying.

His favourite thing to do is still to run from the kitchen to the corner of the living room and back again. I guess this is fine but it doesn’t exactly scream ‘healthy’ to me! He does already have a ping pong ball too which he likes but keeps losing under the furniture so doesnt’t keep him enteratined long before needing assistance!

I will try and watch those videos on youtube when I get time, thanks for the suggestion.

KxMx

Cats have crazy moments where they run around like loonies for no apparent reason, him running from kitchen to living room sounds totally normal

My 13yo does it quite often, sometimes at 2am :rotfl:

NeilCr

KxMx wrote: »

Cats have crazy moments where they run around like loonies for no apparent reason, him running from kitchen to living room sounds totally normal

My 13yo does it quite often, sometimes at 2am :rotfl:

Absolutely.

My cat thunders round the house after he has had a poo - and for other, unexplained, reasons.

He, also, doesn't do toys - dangly ones, Bally ones, electric mouse ones. He will play with a piece of grit from the dirt tray though!

They are all individuals. Why I like them so much.

tealady

One of mine used to love practice golf balls. They could stick their claws in the holes and throw them. Great fun for the cat.Also another vote for Jackson Galaxy, I would recommend watching a few of his programmes. That guy rocks!

Pollycat

NeilCr wrote: »

Absolutely.

My cat thunders round the house after he has had a poo - and for other, unexplained, reasons.

He, also, doesn't do toys - dangly ones, Bally ones, electric mouse ones. He will play with a piece of grit from the dirt tray though!

They are all individuals. Why I like them so much.

My old cat loved dried pasta, especially twists.
He'd career round the kitchen (he was totally without grace) until he lost it under the fridge or washing machine.

pinkteapot

NeilCr wrote: »

My cat thunders round the house after he has had a poo

I thought it was just ours!!

OP - does he like Dreamies (or similar)? If so, these keep our kitty entertained:
http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/cat_toys/miscellaneous/treat_toys/315711

Few Dreamies inside. Took him a while to get the hang of it but now he runs with it like a Croatian forward. (Too soon?)

Ours is bored by wand toys but the feather-on-string ones have been a hit for four years now. We have one of these:
https://www.purrsinourhearts.co.uk/shop/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=423
(they do one with a shorter wand if you have a smaller space)
And mix up the type of refill we get - he likes the bird ones like this:
https://www.purrsinourhearts.co.uk/shop/index.php?route=product/product&path=23&product_id=643

Fen1

Ok, a really personal question!!!!! For the cat owners whose cats thunder about the house after they poo: have you checked their poo? Is it soft, firm or hard? Is it sausage shaped or hard balls?
I ask because if they are in any kind of pain when defecating, cats bolt from their poo. The painful poo goes one way - they go the other! Sometimes the poo itself is fine, but they may have internal problems with defecating that causes the discomfort; anything from irritation of the gut caused by a food intolerance to a blockage.

There are websites ( oh, yes!) on what a healthy cat's litter tray should look like.

NeilCr

Fen1 wrote: »

Ok, a really personal question!!!!! For the cat owners whose cats thunder about the house after they poo: have you checked their poo? Is it soft, firm or hard? Is it sausage shaped or hard balls?
I ask because if they are in any kind of pain when defecating, cats bolt from their poo. The painful poo goes one way - they go the other! Sometimes the poo itself is fine, but they may have internal problems with defecating that causes the discomfort; anything from irritation of the gut caused by a food intolerance to a blockage.

There are websites ( oh, yes!) on what a healthy cat's litter tray should look like.

Nice subject!

I've heard this before but, the stuff I have read on it (mostly American so iffy!), says it's quite unusual.

My guy doesn't run straight away. He spends quite a lot of time attempting (!) to cover the poo up. He's been known to get most of the grit out of the tray - which can involve hooking a bit of poo out too - which means more frantic covering up.

It almost seems triumphant to me. I've done a poo...

He does mostly soft but not runny. Too much information, possibly.

Fen1

Oh, bless him. He's trying to be a good boy.

Would another type of litter make it easier for him to cover-over? Perhaps a finer texture? Also, a liiterbox needs to be 11/2 times the length of the cat. Most litter trays are simply too small for big boys. I use an underbed storage box. It's huge, but is actually the correct length for my monster moggie.