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Horatio's Story

post #1 of 28
1/6/10 at 7:08pm
Thread Starter 
Hello everyone, I'm in need of some advice on socializing a feral cat. Let me tell you about Horatio. About 10 months ago, we saw this beautiful orange, long-hair tabby in our yard. We live in an area where there are lots of "street cats" and we have left food out before for the travelers coming through our yard. But, this one, it seemed, stuck around immediately after a few bowls of food. We have two sister cats that are indoors only, so we didn't think much of really adopting him at first. But he stuck around for months, through the end of the winter last year, into spring. In the summer, when we opened our windows he'd come to the window sill and "talk" to us through the screen, but we couldn't really get to pet him at all. We established a real feeding schedule with him, once in the morning, once in the evening after work and he learned our schedule and started waiting on the porch or by the kitchen window. Again, very habitual, but not enough to trust us to pet him. Then, shortly after Thanksgiving, he started letting us pet him. The weather started turning, so I took an old pet taxi, wrapped it in plastic, put blankets, covered the front with a towel and placed it on the porch facing our front door, so as to block the wind. He didn't seem that interested in it. But I would take out the blankets every few days and wash it and thought I could detect his smell on it. The weather started getting colder and at night after feeding he seemed to disappear to a shelter area. Xmas nite, it was really cold, snowy with 20 mph winds here and he was crying from outside our living room window, so I asked my husband if we could let him in. We put the girls in the bedroom, closed the door, moved all their food, toys etc. I enticed him in. He seemed OK for about a minute, then went absolutely crazy, started climbing the curtains, so a couple minutes later, we let him out. I was devastated thinking he'd never trust us again or come by, but next morning, he was on the porch waiting for food and did not have trouble with me petting him. Now, here we are 10 days later, the forecast for our town is really bad for the next 48 hours and he was just sitting on the bench getting snowed on and looking sad, so I just went out there, in my long coat, hat, gloves, pet him for several minutes and then picked him up and walked him inside and to the basement. I had placed a litter box, some food and another pet taxi for him to sleep in. He cried maybe three really loud meows and I haven't heard a beep out of him since. So, now I'm playing classical music in the house to try to calm him and my 10-year-old twins, who are still in our bedroom. Should I absolutely stay out of the basement for 24 hours? It isn't a finished basement. Just concrete floors, with washer/dryer and exposed ducts and such. Should I be worried? I feel like I've taken in this independent, free soul and trapped him in a dungeon... How soon should I go in to check on him? What should I expect? Any advice would be much appreciated.
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post #2 of 28
1/6/10 at 7:17pm
This story is very similar to my story abut Marlow. I can tell you that you will get a lot of good advice here. I have. While you wait for the tips to pour in, and they will, you may search this forum for threads with "Marlow" in the title.
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post #3 of 28
1/6/10 at 7:35pm
Don't be surprised if he doesn't make his way up to the eaves by the duct work. And don't panic if he goes there.

Don't leave him alone. Keep his feeding schedule exactly as you had it when he was outside so that part of his routine doesn't change (cats love routine). Grab a good book, sit on the floor (I know, it's a basement and it will be cold but bring a good blanket to sit on), and read out loud to him. Get him used to your voice.

Put some clothes that you've recently worn and has a strong scent of you down there with him. Get him used to your scent. Keep the classical music going, and if you have something with harps, play that (don't ask me why, but cats are calmed by the sound of harp music).

If you have litter box issues, you might want to add some dirt into the box, or try Cat Attract litter.

I'm also in Kansas and know the storms you are talking about - it's only going to get a lot colder in the next few days so if he can ride this out in the basement, it will be better for him.

Keep asking questions and we'll keep you going through all of this.

(I also have a feral cat that decided to become an indoor cat after about 4 years. They do adjust.)
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post #4 of 28
1/6/10 at 8:00pm
Thank you for rescuing this kitty! This WILL be rewarding. He just doesn't know he loves it inside yet.

If he's not already up in the ceiling somewhere, you may want to head down there and "cat proof" crawl spaces and such.

Here's the basic way I describe socializing a feral cat. Cats are very much about territory and scent, and this process is all about trust. Outside was his territory, and he felt safe, and he knows you're "good." Inside, he is now in a new and totally unknown territory - and it smells all new to him. It's as if you were a little child and something happened to your family and your home, and you got sent to China where you were being adopted. You're not old enough to really understand what's happening, and you don't speak Chinese. The last thing you want is for your new family to love all over you. But you do want to be fed, you do want your needs taken care of (like having a clean bathroom) - and having those things done for you at a very regular time all the time will help you understand that these people are OK and this place is OK and you're going to be OK. It'd probably help if your new mom spent time in the room with you - reading out loud, talking reassuringly to you - but not forcing herself on you. Just letting you watch and listen, taking your time to get comfortable. Her patience in and of itself is reassuring. And if she didn't reach out for you until you came over to her, then your trust would be cemented forever.

So, that said... other tips in addition to those Amy's already given you:

Do spend as much time down there as you can. Ignore kitty. Do whatever you can down there. Iron, fold laundry, read out loud, sing, sew, work on a laptop.... bring down a chair. Like Amy said, bring down a blanket. Anything you can do sitting on the ground is great, because the lower you are, the less threatening you are. Sit sideways to where kitty is.

Make sure he's got lots of safe hidey spaces. Grab a bunch of boxes and take them down there, lay them on their sides, and let the top flap hang down. Take a folding table and drape a blanket over it. Break up open spaces with boxes or the table with blanket, whatever.

Don't look him in the eyes. This is a sign of aggression. Look at his forehead or over the top of his head. If you need to walk around, do it slowly. It's all about being not threatening.

I'd invest in Feliway - this is a synthetic hormone that mimics the "friendly" markers in cats' cheeks and helps reduce stress. Do not spray it near the litter boxes or scratching posts. Do provide him with two - feral cats are not used to peeing and pooping in the same place.

In addition to leaving a sweaty t-shirt under his food dish, I'd get another one sweaty and leave treats down on it for him every time I left the room.

You can consider purchasing these CDs, specifically designed to calm stressed cats:
http://www.musicmypet.com
http://www.catfaeries.com/music-for-cats.html

Any old logs or big dead branches around? You or DH handy with a hammer? You may want to provide natural stuff for him to scratch on. Something like this: http://www.naturalscratch.com/

Don't know if you feel like investing in a cat tree, but sometimes they feel safe "up."

You can locate a Cat Attract Litter dealer here: http://www.preciouscat.com/

Cat Attract didn't exist when we first got involved with ferals, and using potting soil instead of litter worked just great. We would scoop out pee and poop from the potting soil box and put pee in one litter box and put poop into another (yes, it means 4 litter boxes for a little while) - but they usually "get" it pretty quickly.

DO know that if he does pee or poop outside the box you MUST clean it up with an enzyme cleaner or the scent will continue to encourage him to go outside the box. This one is great (and we've tried almost all of them!) http://www.nokout.com

Also - you do need to get him to the vet ASAP. He probably has internal parasites and who knows what else. He needs to be treated with Revolution (kills internal and external parasites - and he will need to be treated again in one month (the treatments last a month) because internal parasites have a life cycle of a few weeks, and the treatment only kills the adults). If he has not been neutered, he needs to be. You do not want him to start spraying down there, and neutering will help reduce his desire to do so.

The most important thing? Turn off your clock. Just let him adjust in his own time. But once he settles down... and when he eventually crosses that trust barrier - you will know a love and trust with an animal unlike any other.
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post #5 of 28
1/6/10 at 8:36pm
Bless you for taking Horatio inside!

I really can't think of anything else to add, the advice you got was great!

I took in a feral cat after caring for him outside for 2 years. I was so worried about him adjusting to indoor life because he really seemed to enjoy his life outside. He had 2 shelters, a feeding station, a really nice set up. I would constantly worry about him when the weather turned nasty. He would never let us pet him but would cry to come inside for a few hours a day. He was not near my home but my husband's office.

When my husband moved his office, we decided to take him with us. It is a long story, but now he is here at my home and he is the most lovable cat I have ever had. You could pet him 24/7. I believe he is so happy to finally be inside in a home, and I believe the same for Horatio. Just give him time and gain his trust. It is so worth it.
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post #6 of 28
1/7/10 at 5:28am
I'm thinking that if he let you pick him up, he's most likely a stray, not a true feral. (They won't let you get near them, much less pick them up).

In any case, all the advice given so far applies - even if he was originally a stray, he's gotten used to the feral life if he's been outdoors for any length of time. He knows feral language.

One thing you can do - if he happens to look at you, blink once or twice and look away. It tells him things are OK - you mean no harm. Like LDG said, don't look into his eyes - that's an aggressive stanch ferals take when they mean business.

Reading quietly works wonders. So does routine - going abuot your daily business and expecting nothing from him.

Bless you for taking him in...
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post #7 of 28
1/7/10 at 7:26am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for all the moral support, encouragement and wonderful tips. After much discussion last night, we decided to let Horatio be in the basement until morning. I had fed him dinner about an hour before putting him in the basement and had left extra food, so I thought he'd be OK. Horatio did not cry at all overnight. The silence was almost eerie. This morning, our indoor cats asked for breakfast at their regular feeding time, so after feeding them, my husband and I ventured downstairs with fresh water and food. He was nowhere to be seen. It is a fairly large basement, the house is a 1930s airplane bungalow, so it's a long rectangle. There are a few boxes and hiding places already, so we started calling for him, talking to him and looking for him. Finally my husband found him in the far NW corner, hiding behind some HVAC filter boxes. Horatio did not appreciate his hiding place being found out and started CRYING. I mean a really really tormented, sad meow. So, we tried to reassure him that we are not trying to hurt him, that it is 5 degrees (13 below wind chill) outside and we thought he'd be safer inside. He got quiet again. So, I put in a load of laundry and will go down in a little bit to hang out.
I feel as if even our indoor cats are judging us, thinking "Why are you tormenting this poor little cat?" It is very very difficult not to feel like we have done something awful when you hear a cat cry like he does. I am not sure whether he was born feral or became stray at a very young age. As I said in the first post, we've been feeding him for almost a year, and he looked about a year old when he came to us. He doesn't look like the other strays in the neighborhood. He has long hair, a very soft voice and gentle demeanor in general. But he was very standoffish at first. It took months of feeding. In the summer, he'd sit on the porch if we sat on the bench, but would run when we tried to pet. It's only been a few weeks that we've been able to pet. I have been practicing picking him up for a few days. Last night when I picked him up from the porch he didn't fight me at all, until we got to the basement and then he just jumped off. The way he cries, though, makes me think he feels threatened and would fight if we pressured socializing too much. My husband said it's as if he doesn't know who we are at all.
It doesn't seem he used the litter box either. I guess the question is how long would they hold out going to the bathroom? I will try to look for some of the products you guys have mentioned. I'm also thinking about putting some catnip on his bedding, we've tried that with his outdoor shelter before, he seemed to enjoy it.
Thanks again for all the help, we'd be lost without this forum. We adopted our twin cats 10 years ago, but this experience is nothing close to the transition with them...
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post #8 of 28
1/7/10 at 8:38am
You are doing the right thing by him, no matter how he seems to be reacting. He is just afraid. He has survived by knowing his hiding spots and his territory. Now he is in foreign land. Even though he is safe from the elements, cars, predators, he doesn't know that. Time and patience are the best remedy.

Just give him a few days, if you are willing to let him stay indoors, to be quiet and find his way around. It is good that he has places to hide. Every time you go to do some laundry, call softly to him and just pet him if he will let you. You will gain his trust over time.

He sounds like he is a beautiful cat, I am so happy he found you.
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post #9 of 28
1/7/10 at 9:22am
You are doing a wonderful thing and a wonderful job! What a lucky kitty.

As far as the bathroom thing, I can give you my personal experience, but the experts here will have more feedback. I had been feeding a stray kitty since June (after I rescued her litter of kittens) - I trapped her, got her spayed, then released her (she was not friendly and with a litter of kittens in the house that we needed to socialize, we couldn't keep her at the time), then continued to feed her and try to get friendly with her outside. I then retrapped her in November and brought her inside a spare bedroom. She didn't go potty from 7pm until the next day at the vet appointment - she was so nervous, she peed at the vets during her exam. Then when she was inside, she held it for a couple days! She was just so scared. For litter, you may want to consider a few different boxes with different types - and put potting soil on top of the litter to help get the idea. My former feral took to the corn cob litter with no problems. I did put some soil on top, but I think the natural texture made it easy to transition from her outside potty to this. I have 2 litter boxes for her but she only is using the one - each kitty is different.

Do you have a vet appointment lined up? I recommend you changing your shoes/clothes when you go down there and interact with the kitty just so you don't track anything to your other kitties as well as washing your hands really good. Took some adjusting but it's just part of the routine and easy to get used to.

Can't wait to hear more about your kitty and this story!!!
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post #10 of 28
1/7/10 at 9:58am
Thread Starter 
Yes, we are extremely careful with changing of the clothing and handwashing. It's more of a concern for us because we practice minimum vaccination with our indoor cats (previous to Horatio, they only had contact with a couple of dogs that were always fully vaccinated.) That also accounts for our opting for the basement, instead of the spare bedroom upstairs. We don't have a vet appointment set up for Horatio yet, we're going to take it slow for now. I don't think I can get him in a pet taxi just yet, not to mention getting around town is not going to be very easy for a few days with blowing snow and below zero windchill. He seems relatively healthy, but of course we will have to get him to a vet even if we don't get to keep him. The least we can do is get him neutered and get his basic health needs taken care of, so if he chooses to live outside, he can be healthier.
Diggerled, how long was Marlow in the basement before you introduced him to Sasha? I'm still learning my way in these forum threads, so I haven't been able to find the beginning of the story with Marlow. Glad to see Sasha is home, hope he feels better soon, too.
Getting a second litter box and some organic soil will be my first priority today. I feel bad that I didn't have all this set up before I brought Horatio inside, but it was just sort of an emergency decision made quickly. Honestly, based on the first experience, I didn't think he was going to let me carry him through the living room, dining room and down the stairs, but he did. Poor guy, now he's probably regretting that! And yes, we do feel lucky that such a beautiful cat chose us out of all the other feline-friendly people in our neighborhood! I just hope he feels lucky again soon, too.
Thanks again for walking us through this!
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post #11 of 28
1/7/10 at 4:13pm
We had a 10 week old kitten hold out for over 24 hours! The look of relief on his little face when he finally peed....

You are absolutely doing the right thing by him even if he doesn't know it or appreciate it yet. And do NOT worry in the least about the size of his current territory. When socializing ferals, one room is best (I don't know how large the basement area he's in is). It feels safer (as you can see, he found the smallest tightest space) to them. Once he makes it "his," (and this can take some time), he'll relax a bit.

Yes, we know that cry. The one with the worst more pitiful cry you ever heard now sleeps wrapped around my neck, steps up onto my lap to rub his cheek on mine, and loves to be held like a baby on his back. We rescued him when he was almost two. He's been here a little over a year now.
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post #12 of 28
1/7/10 at 10:26pm
Thread Starter 
We have some good news regarding Horatio this evening. He ate his entire bowl of breakfast food which I had left for him this morning and drank 1/4 of a bowl of water!!! This may not sound like exciting news to most of the veterans on this forum, but honestly I thought the poor little guy was on a "Liberty or Death" march. The food and water were set up about 4 to 5 feet from his hiding place, from which he did not emerge the first 12 hours. But, I thought when we left for work and the house got quiet, he might just venture out and he sure did. I had also set up a catnip serving station for him, a little blanket covered in nip, underneath a chair covered with another blanket, and that was also licked clean. When we came home late this evening from work, I refilled the food, water, added a secondary box. We came back upstairs and heard him cry. Not the terrified, traumatized meow, but "Where are you guys?" kind of meow. So we went back down, talked to him and my hubby sang a song for him (he is a musician) but Horatio would not come out of the hiding spot. I feel like maybe he's starting to normalize a bit.
But back to the double litter boxes... Any advice on how far apart those need to be? We have one pretty close to his corner, and one a couple feet away. Should we place them closer? Does it matter?
Thanks for the help!
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post #13 of 28
1/8/10 at 7:30am
That is GREAT news! And it IS exciting news! Trust me - no matter how many times you've been through it, you still get that doubt and that ache and that concern... and kitty eating or drinking or peeing or whatever for the first time is always a relief!

Yes, it sounds like he's realizing he's not in a torture chamber of horrors!

The litter box placement sounds just fine. Some people put them next to each other - if you have the space, it is better to have them a few feet apart.

OH! I don't know if the basement gets any natural light, but you may want to get a night lite for him and leave it on all the time.
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post #14 of 28
1/8/10 at 7:34am
Sorry! One more thing! Because you are going to need to get him to the vet, I'd take whatever crate you are going to use to do this. Spray it with Feliway - and best is if it fits in the corner where's he's hiding. You can entice him in there with a little bit of catnip or treats or something - but do try to get him to make the crate his safe hidey space. Just figure out a way to make sure the door doesn't ever swing shut. This will make it easier on all of you when it's time for him to go.
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post #15 of 28
1/8/10 at 10:20am
Thread Starter 
Still no litter action downstairs. He ate again overnight, we refilled food this morning. He's becoming more vocal. Lots of talking. Last night, he did emerge out of his hiding spot while I was sitting at the bottom of the stairs and just looked at me. I did the blinking thing, but I don't know if he noticed. This morning, after my hubby fed him, I went downstairs again and sat down (he really seems to prefer this). Horatio came out of his hiding spot, walked across the basement, kind of looking at me every few steps and crying and then found another spot at the other end of the basement:-) I am thinking most of this talking is about the bathroom issue now. 36 hours+, the poor guy hasn't done anything. (If he has gone outside of the boxes, I cannot tell...) We have another long work day ahead of us, so I'm hoping today he will just have the courage to use one of he two new bathrooms.
Thanks for the advice on moving the pet taxi by his hiding spot. I think we are going to try to take him into the vet early next week. So, I'll work on getting him adjusted to his carrier again. And try to get within touching/petting distance...
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post #16 of 28
1/8/10 at 10:37am
I was jumping up and down with joy when Patches started eating too!! It's a great feeling!!!

Patches didn't use potty for a VERY long time. Then as soon as she finally "gave in" and started going, she has been regular and no concerns about that. I am hoping your kitty figures out the potty thing soon.

We were not able to handle Patches to go to the vet for 2nd visit (1st visit was in Havahart trap). I had a cat carrier in her room lined with a blanket as well as her hiding spot boxes (we had the carrier door removed). What I did a week before her vet visit, was flip the boxes over so she was stuck with hiding in that carrier (door was put back on). Then I just was able to close the carrier on her and go to the vet. That said, it's going to be tough the next time I take her because she has avoided the carrier now... but that's off topic

One thing you may want to try is having the litter boxes feel to be in a more 'secure' spot? Maybe put a box/table barrier in front of litter boxes, so kitty feels like he can use potty in privacy?

I'm not super experienced with ferals, but from what I've read so far, it sounds like everything is going really great with you kitty.
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post #17 of 28
1/8/10 at 1:35pm
It does sound like things are "speeding" right along! I know it doesn't feel like it to you - but his even coming out while you were there is a big step.

...as to the litter box... you can purchase a black light. In the dark, with just the black light on, pee shows up as an orange splotch. You'll find it right quick.

That said... if a 10-week old kitten can hold out for a little over 24 hours, your boy is probably at his busting point. Either that, or he has gone somewhere else in the basement. If that's the case, you will need Nok Out. http://www.nokout.com The scent of his pee outside the box will only continue to encourage him to go outside the box. If you don't have Cat Attract litter or dirt in there, I'd consider getting one or both as soon as possible.
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post #18 of 28
1/8/10 at 8:17pm
Thread Starter 
If I could have filmed the last 30 minutes in our basement, I think it would be a hit on YouTube We came home from work, with hubby taking on the din-din duty for our indoors (upstairs) cats, I went down to refresh Horatio's supplies. First great thing that happened was when I started refilling his food bowl, he came right out of his hiding place and started eating as I was putting the food in. Very talky, social, like he used to be outdoors. So, I sat right on the basement floor about 2 feet from him and watched him eat (he wouldn't let me pet). My hope was to help guide him to one of the two litter boxes for after dinner bathroom visit. He finished eating, started talking again, I thought he was asking where the bathroom is, I was trying to tell him, but he started walking and talking. Sure enough, he walked to the SE corner of the basement where an arcane flood-protection drain exists. I mentioned this is an old house, well, their version of a flood drain back in the 1930s apparently was a whole in the ground, maybe a foot deep and two feet wide. Horatio meowed his way over there and just went in and did his thing I was laughing so hard, my husband asked what's going on downstairs? I can't really fault Horatio's logic in this. He didn't just start spraying anywhere he pleased. He picked the opposite corner from his hiding/sleeping spot and found a hole with plenty of dirt in it!!! The little guy is pretty smart
I guess the smart thing for us to do is to get his litter boxes (I do have soil on top of the litter) right next to the hole and see if he'll go for it. He's eating, drinking, going to the bathroom. He is not climbing walls, getting stuck in insulation/ductwork or crying like we are tormenting him. So why do I still feel bad? Am I overthinking this? I still feel like he didn't ask for this, my beloved 10-year-old cats didn't ask for this, so why are we upsetting three cats all at once??? Do these feelings of doubt go away? The indoor cats, our girls, Katie and Bianca, seem to be getting more and more depressed. They're pretty attached to me and i have been spending most of my non-working hours away from them, so feelings of guilt are setting in.
But, the bottom line is Horatio is alive and well, right???
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post #19 of 28
1/8/10 at 11:21pm
Thread Starter 
I've had one of the most spiritually moving experiences of my life with Horatio this evening. After my last post, where I was somewhat relieved that he was eating and going to the bathroom, though in not the designated place, I still felt like I was doing the wrong thing. So right before midnight, I thought I should go down again and see if I can read him a little story before bed, just to comfort him. I sat at the bottom step of the staircase to the basement and I started reading an essay from a magazine. I followed everyone's advice. I ignored Horatio, kept reading for about 5 minutes. When I didn't hear him talk or see him approach, I lifted my head from the magazine and looked around. Then I saw him sitting on the catnip blanket underneath the lawn chair I had covered with another blanket. I pretended not to see him and kept reading out aloud. Sure enough, he started walking towards me. I talked to him and kept reading. He came to me and did the body rub around my legs. I slowly slid from the bottom step of the staircase to the rug in front of out washer/dryer. He followed me. What happened next, I cannot describe in words. Horatio SAT with me on the carpet and let me pet him for almost an HOUR. This is a cat we fed outside for 10 months without so much as touching him. I had only started petting him outside a few weeks ago. And even then, he scratched both myself and my husband when he had enough. This is a cat who was so horrified of being brought inside, he didn't cry for the first 24 hours. Yet here we are, 48 hours into our experiment, all of a sudden he was my best friend. His purity of the heart overwhelmed me. His trust and loyalty flabbergasted me. I understand this puts him apart from truly feral cats. Maybe he had a home when he was really young and went stray or got dumped. But this cat has been in our yard and porch for the better part of a year and had learned the ways of the outside. But 2 days into being indoors, he's now acting like this is what he was born to do. This is truly amazing. I mean, I could have slept in a sleeping bag in the basement and he probably would have spent the night with me.
Our cats are still pretty upset. But I can see now that taking Horatio to the vet won't be that much of a problem. Bringing him upstairs and finding a perfect balance between those we loved before him and still do, is another matter.
I am just awestruck with the beauty of it all. An angelic little soul has entered our lives and I think he is here to stay.
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post #20 of 28
1/9/10 at 8:57am
Your last two posts have made my day! I am so happy for you and for Horatio! Well done!!!
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post #21 of 28
1/9/10 at 9:30am
Very nicely done!!

What a smart little guy to find the hole to do his business in!! The good news is that if he is looking for things with tall sides, a transition to a litter box won't be too hard. Move the litter boxes over there, and is there a way to cover the hole temporarily with boards or mesh or something?

Don't rush him at all. When you feel he is totally comfortable with you and being indoors, then you can think about introducing him to your cats. There are a lot of great threads here with tips on how to do that - look at the Behavior forum stickies, particularly Introducing an old cat to a new.

And the reason you are doing this is because it is frigid cold in our neck of the woods. I have 2 cats that go in and out that haven't left the house for the last 3 days. I open the door, they sniff the air, then turn around and find a warm bed to crawl into.
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post #22 of 28
1/9/10 at 10:33am


It is amazing, isn't it?

I'm busting a smile that doesn't even fit my face.

Don't worry about intros yet. There's no rush. In fact, it's better not to rush it. Make sure he gets vaccinated, de-parasited, and a clean bill of health first.

The very first step will be to rub him all over with a rag(s) and put that(those) Horatio-scented rag(s) under under your girls' food dishes. But wait until you know you're not transporting anything that could get them sick first.

...and we've found our girls to be jealous of new intros... but it ALWAYS goes much more smoothly when it is a male being introduced, not another female. And the longer you give it, the more smoothly it will go.



!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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post #23 of 28
1/9/10 at 4:06pm
Thread Starter 
I am so grateful to all of you who are standing with us and walking us through this, thank you for all the help I have talked to one of our good vets in town and we "soft" scheduled Horatio's first visit for 3 p.m. Monday. They asked me how "tame" he was, I said I pet him for an hour last night, so hopefully he will be treated nicely there. I got some cardboard and covered up the drainage hole and placed one of his litter boxes on top of it, this time with extra dirt, hoping to help Horatio make the transition to indoor "bathrooms". Horatio is doing great today, came home from work and both hubby and I spent considerable time downstairs just petting him. Lots of purring, body rubbing and such. But of course, now that he identified the basement as his home, all of you veterans might be able to guess what happened next... The spraying began! This morning before work, I almost fainted from the strong smell of urine. We called everyone in town, no one carries Nokout in our area, but I was recommended something called "Nature's Miracle." After work when we arrived at the house all the smell from the basement had drifted to upstairs, so I started an old fashioned water potpourri of citrus and spices and put out some coffee in a bowl in the living room to absorb the odors. (Our girls, Katie and Bianca have never done well with candles, incense or diffusers with perfume, so have to go all natural here.) Any advice on other atmospheric odor absorbers would be appreciated. I put Nature's Miracle in a sprayer, we went downstairs with a black light flash light and tried to identify the problem areas, but it didn't provide much guidance at all. So I just followed my nose and sprayed around the back wall and some corners. Any thoughts on this Nature's Miracle? Any suggestions on how to locate kitty urine besides trying to smell for it? The basement is roughly 1,200 feet, maybe more, so treating the whole area with really expensive enzyme cleaners is not an option, not to mention the fact that I don't want him to be uncomfortable from the smell of cleaners everywhere. Tomorrow will be my first full day off since we took him in to spend time with him and our girls upstairs, I'm looking forward to that.
Thanks again for your patience and support through this!
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post #24 of 28
1/9/10 at 4:31pm
Nok Out is only available online. http://www.nokout.com

And Nature's Miracle never really worked for us.

Part of his vet visit Monday will be to be neutered? It takes about 30 days for the hormones to cycle out of his system, so neutering sooner rather than later increases the odds to stop the spraying behavior.
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post #25 of 28
1/9/10 at 9:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by KansasCats View Post
I am just awestruck with the beauty of it all. An angelic little soul has entered our lives and I think he is here to stay.
Awww, that is wonderful!!!
Sounds like a very special kitty has entered your lives.

A black light will help yo locate the urine stains.

I'm happy to hear how well things are going with Horatio!!! What a lucky boy!
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post #26 of 28
1/10/10 at 4:43pm
Thread Starter 
Horatio and I had a wonderful day off today He is soo good, it's hard to believe he ever lived outdoors. I misjudged the poor boy yesterday I think, he is not spraying in the basement. There was one incident yesterday and after we sprayed the basement with Nature's Miracle and moved his litter box to his "hole in the ground" the smell seemed to dissipate pretty quickly. We thought we were getting used to it, so we invited a friend over to test a "fresh nose" and he said he can't smell any pee at all! Today, two out of the three boxes downstairs appeared to have been used, yay!!! I did three loads of laundry with him, he was very comfortable with all the coming and going. A little to interested in the dryer, so I had to say "No" for the first time. I've got the pet taxi which was his outdoor shelter cleaned and moved downstairs. I am hoping he will sleep there overnight. Though his favorite place to sleep so far is the smelly shirt of mine that has been there with him since he moved in. Tomorrow, I'll move the shirt in the taxi, to comfort him on the way to the vet.
Good news on the vet front, too. I found out today our local Humane Society has neutering vouchers, so that will help with our very expensive trip tomorrow.
Wish us luck at the vet. Let's hope he has no serious health issues and can be introduced to his sisters-to-be upstairs soon
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post #27 of 28
1/10/10 at 10:09pm
Good news about the litter box incident being a (hopefully) one time occurance and the Nature's Miracle worked for you. If it does happen again, I would look into Nok Out as Laurie suggested. It doesn't have the chemical smell like Nature's Miracle and works a whole lot better. I buy 2 gallon jugs of it because it also does a great job on cleaning up things like cat yak and my dog's sometimes bouts with the runs (weak digestive system).

Glad to hear you got the voucher from the shelter there. I will have to remember that if someone else from your area needs help. I did have a friend of a friend that worked there and know it's run pretty well. And we looked for a dog there at the time we adopted our last dog 2 years ago.

And that's wonderful that he's decided that your shirt is his comfort area. Good luck at the vets tomorrow and let us know how it goes?

Just a warning - if they run a FeLV screening test on him and it turns up positive, don't do anything drastic. The test run at the vets office only tests exposure to the disease, not the actual disease. If it's positive, don't panic - we'll explain the process you need to go thru to verify it. Believe it or not, many vets don't know the protocal for this.
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post #28 of 28
1/11/10 at 12:58pm
I just read this from beginning to end and hurray for what you are doing for Horatio!!! Thats so awesome. I used to live in Kansas (Ft Leavenworth) and have gone thru some horrible winters there!! I cant wait to find out how his vet visit went and how he is doing!! Good luck!!!
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