Our new arrival keeps going to his old home

We got Harry, a castrated 6 year old male, on Tuesday 13 May 2003. He came from a house just 5 doors away. We have kept him in until today, 23 May. He went straight back to his previous owners. They totally ignore and call me and I go and collect him. I think Harry is finding the move hard, he must wonder why his last owners are ignoring him. I to am finding it hard because I want him to feel happy with me and his owners are finding it very hard because they miss him loads but were unable to look after him. They wont handle him incase he forgets he doesn't live with them any more. What can I do to stop him going back to his previous owners, I don't want to kept him in for longer than necessary. He is very confused by the situation, I just want to make it as easy as possible for him.

Hi

It takes at least a week or two for a cat to begin to establish a new territory. I would keep him in for at least a month or two before letting him out again because his old house/old territory is so close by.

Have you thought of keeping Harry as an indoor only? He'd be quite a bit safer that way and it would solve this house switching problem. Poor confused Harry! Definitely get him a Feliway Plug-in to help him with the adjustment. . .he'll feel a lot calmer and more comfortable.

Do you know if it possible to get Feliway Plug-ins in the UK?

Yes Here's some links:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&l...ay+plug+in+uk+

Thanks for the link. I have just ordered 2x plug ins and 2x refills. I'm going to try to keep Harry in for at least another month and with the Feliway plugged in, I hope he will find the living in easier to cope with. I also have 2 other cats that are spending most of their spare time hissing at Harry, I'm hoping the plug ins will help with this aswell.

Oh good! That should help out everyone. I keep two Feliway Plugins also — one for each end of the house.

That is really nice of you to take Harry in. The longer he eats and sleeps (and poops and pees) at your house, the more he will associate it with his territory. I'm curious how things go. Hope you'll post again with a progress report.

Here is a link for people having trouble getting hold of Feliway plug-ins and spray. They deliver so if you live a long way from them you can still get it. I hope the link works.

www.naturalpetcare.co.uk

Thanks for the link we have a lot of people here that have problems finding this product overseas.

I deleted your duplicate posts. No worries- computers glitch sometimes....