Hi everyone. My name is Angie ( or CrouchingCheese
). Let me preface this by saying I've been saving cats for as long as I can remember.
Anyway, I recently got engaged and my fiance and I were looking for a cat for him. We already had two dogs and another cat, so we needed one who was good with other pets. We found Charlie on craigslist, the girl couldn't keep him anymore because of college, and if he didn't find a home he was going to go to the shelter.
We drove over an hour to get Charlie, a beautiful long haired black and white cat. He seemed perfect as we played with him there, and the girl told us he'd never been around other pets, but that he didn't seem to mind them through the screen door and such. We took Charlie home, and then something horrible happened.
Charlie was terrified of our pets. He started attacking us because he was so scared. We tried to keep him separate, locked up in the bathroom. The first night here, somehow, he escaped out of the house. We tried for a few weeks to find him, and saw him a couple of times, but could never get close enough to catch him. We felt horrible, since he was declawed in the front and unable to hunt, but we couldn't catch him for the life of us.
A few weeks later we were told of Spike. Spike was a feral cat caught by a dog shelter. They fixed him up (he had to have most of his tail removed from a severe infection) and put him up for adoption. If they couldn't find a home for him by the spring, they were going to be forced to release him back into the wild.
We took a drive to see Spike and immediately fell in love. He loves rubbing up and down on you, and licks your hand and face. He didn't mind the other cats or dogs there, and was the perfect cat for my fiance.
We took Spike home and he quickly got acclimated to life in our house. He loves to play with the other cat, and loves being spoiled rotten.
Now, this past weekend, the dog was outside and growling at something. My fiance went to see what it was and came back inside with a very skinny and scared Charlie! We took him to the bathroom (because he was still scared of the other animals) and immediately cleaned him up and started loving on him.
Now, we didn't really want to have three cats, but really, what's one more cat right? However, he's not anywhere near getting comfortable with the other pets. Charlie doesn't mind the dogs so much now, he knows they're not going to bother him. Spike, however, scares the poo out of Charlie. My other cat, Julius, doesn't care one way or the other, but I know he doesn't like going into the bathroom (that's where his litterbox is) when Charlie's in there because Charlie hisses at him. Spike is also uncomfotable in there.
So what to do? I don't want to have three cats and have to keep one separated, we don't have all day to play with them, and I'd rather play with them all at the same time. I don't like having to monitor who goes to the bathroom when (since at the moment we've only got one litterbox, we'll have two by this weekend, but we still only have one right now) and who gets to eat when.
Any solutions? Sorry for the novel!
Anyway, I recently got engaged and my fiance and I were looking for a cat for him. We already had two dogs and another cat, so we needed one who was good with other pets. We found Charlie on craigslist, the girl couldn't keep him anymore because of college, and if he didn't find a home he was going to go to the shelter.
We drove over an hour to get Charlie, a beautiful long haired black and white cat. He seemed perfect as we played with him there, and the girl told us he'd never been around other pets, but that he didn't seem to mind them through the screen door and such. We took Charlie home, and then something horrible happened.
Charlie was terrified of our pets. He started attacking us because he was so scared. We tried to keep him separate, locked up in the bathroom. The first night here, somehow, he escaped out of the house. We tried for a few weeks to find him, and saw him a couple of times, but could never get close enough to catch him. We felt horrible, since he was declawed in the front and unable to hunt, but we couldn't catch him for the life of us.
A few weeks later we were told of Spike. Spike was a feral cat caught by a dog shelter. They fixed him up (he had to have most of his tail removed from a severe infection) and put him up for adoption. If they couldn't find a home for him by the spring, they were going to be forced to release him back into the wild.
We took a drive to see Spike and immediately fell in love. He loves rubbing up and down on you, and licks your hand and face. He didn't mind the other cats or dogs there, and was the perfect cat for my fiance.
We took Spike home and he quickly got acclimated to life in our house. He loves to play with the other cat, and loves being spoiled rotten.
Now, this past weekend, the dog was outside and growling at something. My fiance went to see what it was and came back inside with a very skinny and scared Charlie! We took him to the bathroom (because he was still scared of the other animals) and immediately cleaned him up and started loving on him.
Now, we didn't really want to have three cats, but really, what's one more cat right? However, he's not anywhere near getting comfortable with the other pets. Charlie doesn't mind the dogs so much now, he knows they're not going to bother him. Spike, however, scares the poo out of Charlie. My other cat, Julius, doesn't care one way or the other, but I know he doesn't like going into the bathroom (that's where his litterbox is) when Charlie's in there because Charlie hisses at him. Spike is also uncomfotable in there.
So what to do? I don't want to have three cats and have to keep one separated, we don't have all day to play with them, and I'd rather play with them all at the same time. I don't like having to monitor who goes to the bathroom when (since at the moment we've only got one litterbox, we'll have two by this weekend, but we still only have one right now) and who gets to eat when.
Any solutions? Sorry for the novel!
