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- Sep 8, 2020
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About a year ago, a really sick stray showed up on my property. We get a lot of ferals/strays and our four outdoor cats always run them off. This stray (who is now named LP, so I’ll call her that) just seemed to have no kitty social skills.. She didn’t care if they hissed or growled she just walked right up to them/past them. Their usual tricks to scare away strays didn’t work!
But now they hate her. I’m not blaming them, I understand that they were not introduced properly. We tried rehoming LP multiple times but no one will take her. Once she gained a little weight and got some antibiotics, she became very energetic. She’s very friendly with humans, she follows my two-year-old everywhere like a dog! She’s 1-3 years old, according to the vet.
The cats are all rescues and live outside and are locked up at night in a heated/insulated “cat coop” that used to belong to chickens, in order to keep them safe. This winter, LP did not leave the cat coop. Ever. We found out that she gets chronic respiratory infections (which we always treat) so between that and some complications from her spay surgery, we thought she was just sick and blue and hoped that in the spring she would bounce back.
But she seems to be getting worse. She sleeps all day. She runs striaght from the cat house in the morning to the pool deck, sleeps there all day, then runs back in at night. That’s it. She’s gained so much weight, she can hardly climb. She’s not grooming herself, her bum is dirty and I have been having to clean out all of the dirt/litter/hair from under her claws.
I feel absolutely terrible for her. I try to spend as much time as I can with her but I can’t be everything she needs.
The advice I have gotten so far is to try to reintroduce her to the other cats and get her a separate outdoor shelter so she can have some space at night. Bringing her in the house is not an option. I have an apartment in my parents’ house and my dad would never let a cat inside.
Does this advice sound helpful? Should I buy some type of enclosure for her at night or will that isolate her more? I really don’t know much about cat social behaviour so I don’t know how to introduce her to four separate cats.
I would really appreciate any advice!! Thank you!
But now they hate her. I’m not blaming them, I understand that they were not introduced properly. We tried rehoming LP multiple times but no one will take her. Once she gained a little weight and got some antibiotics, she became very energetic. She’s very friendly with humans, she follows my two-year-old everywhere like a dog! She’s 1-3 years old, according to the vet.
The cats are all rescues and live outside and are locked up at night in a heated/insulated “cat coop” that used to belong to chickens, in order to keep them safe. This winter, LP did not leave the cat coop. Ever. We found out that she gets chronic respiratory infections (which we always treat) so between that and some complications from her spay surgery, we thought she was just sick and blue and hoped that in the spring she would bounce back.
But she seems to be getting worse. She sleeps all day. She runs striaght from the cat house in the morning to the pool deck, sleeps there all day, then runs back in at night. That’s it. She’s gained so much weight, she can hardly climb. She’s not grooming herself, her bum is dirty and I have been having to clean out all of the dirt/litter/hair from under her claws.
I feel absolutely terrible for her. I try to spend as much time as I can with her but I can’t be everything she needs.
The advice I have gotten so far is to try to reintroduce her to the other cats and get her a separate outdoor shelter so she can have some space at night. Bringing her in the house is not an option. I have an apartment in my parents’ house and my dad would never let a cat inside.
Does this advice sound helpful? Should I buy some type of enclosure for her at night or will that isolate her more? I really don’t know much about cat social behaviour so I don’t know how to introduce her to four separate cats.
I would really appreciate any advice!! Thank you!