My Little 'Prisoner' Needs Help

Hi,
I posted a month ago when I original took in a street cat and received alot of good advice which helped. Now I have another question.
The cat Funny (about 6 yrs old) lived on a street corner for several years and had a very active social life with alot of interaction with other cats and people. I took him in because he was very ill and starving.
He has been in the house 1 1/2 months now and gets along well with the resident cat, the dogs and he is very friendly overall. He is a very gentle and kind cat.
The problem is that he is still very unhappy. He paces from door to window and howls loudly non stop for hours. He spends his entire awake time verbalizing his unhappiness and plotting on how to get out of the house, constantly searching and analyzing every window for escape routes. He is extremely distressed and keeps this up until he exhausts himself and goes back to his bed and sleeps.
I feel badly as it is quite obvious that he is just miserable and unhappy. My thought was that he would settle down by now and become part of the family but he shows no signs of this and instead acts as though he is a prisoner trying to escape. I have tried to divert his attention with toys and treats but he is so riveted on escape that he just ignores everything and wants to go outside. (we have been keeping him in 24/7).

I know that it takes time but I was wondering if others have experienced this behavior for this long? My concern is that the behavior seems to be of an obsessive nature. Hopefully this is normal and over time the behavior will subside. Any ideas on how Icould help him adjust?

Thank you again - Sue

Has he been neutered? If not, that should be done right away.

Get some feliway plug in diffusers, they may help him adjust. Rescue Remedy can help too. A cat tree for climbing if you don't have one.

Harness training, and supervised outings?

Build an outdoor enclosure?

Six weeks is a very short time for a cat to adjust to changes in circumstances.

Once he is healthy, it may end up you will have no alternative, in the end, but to let him go outside. I know, I shudder at the idea, too.

But don't give up just yet.

This time of the year is the worst for cats wanting to go outdoors in general, my former feral will do anything to get out in the Spring air, but come late summer and into winter she couldn't care less unless something catches her eye from the window.

I second using Feliway diffusers, and neutering if this has not been done yet (I think you said in your last post he was done?) - if he is recently neutered, all those females in heat out on the streets will still drive him crazy as it takes a while for the hormones to work their way out of his system.

As far as how long it lasts, I have seen it for a few weeks up to a year. Usually when winter comes they change their mind then by Spring again its second nature not to go out so its not an issue. It usually does calm down a lot though, even if it carries on.

With Autumn, taking her out supervised did help, she knows she can only go out when she has her harness on (the first few weeks I had a harness dropped on my face in the middle of the night, but she got over that too).

Thanks for the input. Yes he is neutered. I will get some more Feliway. That did help initially and I forgot about that.

I don't have a climbing tower. I looked into them but they were so expensive. Maybe i can make something for him.

That is really good news that you think that 1 1/2 months is a short time for him to adjust. I am fine dealing with the noise as long as I can believe that over time he will adjust. I just don't want to destroy his spirit. I was really worried that this was a long time and that he should have adjusted by now. I am so hopeful that eventually he can be happy and comfortable with us because I can tell that he is a really nice man.

The harness idea is a good one too. He is extremely intelligent, much smarter than my other cats, so maybe he will understand and adjust to a harness and i can take him for walks. This should be interesting.

I got a 4-tier cat tower that goes to the ceiling at Walmart for $40. Batman LOVES IT. I'll try to find a link later. It's in a box and easy to assemble. Just 4 carpet type bases and some adjustable tubes that fit to the ceiling.

6 weeks isn't a long time.

Have you tried Da Bird?

Edit:
Here it is:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Catcraft-C...-Pets/10319490

Originally Posted by lucygrant

The harness idea is a good one too. He is extremely intelligent, much smarter than my other cats, so maybe he will understand and adjust to a harness and i can take him for walks. This should be interesting.

Click to expand...

Harness training should be done kind of slow. If you would like my method (all my cats are trained to harness, as adult cats) I will be happy to share

We rescued Billy when he was almost two. He used to talk and cry - he was missing his brother, who got adopted out separately. A year later, he still talked - but not all the time, and happy chirps and things. Sometimes at night we'll hear a lonely cry, but we just call for him, and he comes running.

I really don't know when it changed - we just remember noticing that he wasn't talking or crying as much at some point.

I think playing with him as much as possible (do you have da Bird?), the Feliway diffusers, and you can also consider adding Bach's Rescue Remedy drops to the cats' water dishes.

I think the best cure is activity, if you can figure out how to keep him distracted whenever you can.

I would also consider the leash! Of all our cats, we find it funny that Billy would most easily tolerate the leash - only we don't want to walk him - too many ticks and things around here. ...Or do you have a yard where you can build an outdoor enclosure?

If he's healthy - at some point you may have to consider letting him out during the day. It's not something I recommend per se, I think you should give it some more time. But if he's been living outside on his own for several years, at six years old, he just may not adjust to being inside all the time. It would have nothing to do with your failing - it's just kind of like our grandparents getting set in their ways, you know?

i will look into the tower from walmart. i don't think i could make one for that price.
is da bird a special kind of toy? he has feather things attached to elastic strings and he just ignores them. about the only thing he will play with is a palm frond.
i got the feliway. and i will try the drops in his water.....

you know my husband and i were just discussing how we could let him out into the yard without allowing him to roam free. given that he has lived basically his whole life on the street that might make his life a little happier. he can't go out until he is well and has his shots so it may be a while but i think that we are going to try letting him out in the day once that happens. our other cat goes out and he stays in our fenced yard, never leaves. we have put a 2 foot chicken wire fence on top of the six footer and so far he has stayed in. hopefully it will be enough to keep funny in.

and i would love to know how you harness trained your cats. i tried to train mike my 2 year old and it was a disaster. everything went well for about 3 minutes and then something scared him. he leapt in the air, yanked the retractable leash out of my hand and high tailed it back to the house with the leash handle crashing around behind him. he thought that it was something after him. needless to say that was the end of our leash training!!! so if you have a process i would love to try it!!

thanks all....i am so glad to hear that things might improve given more time.

You can also put the rescue remedy on his paws and ears for an immediate response.

My cat Easy, when I first rescued her was similar to that. There were several factors that made me decide on not letting her out. So what I did was use interactive toys to divert her attention. Cats are really curious by nature so use that to your advantage in finding something that will divert Funny.

It could be something as simple as crumpled up paper, a ping pong ball, a feather on a wand. Just keep trying different things until you find something that he is curious enough about to stop trying to get out.

You can also make him some tunnels to run through with cardboard boxes duct taped together until you can get him a tree.

Make inside more fun than outside, as much as you can.

I had to divert Easy everyday and finally after several months, she relaxed settled in and didnt ask any longer. Thank goodness.

Before I would leash train him, I would try to see if he can settle inside first. Because if you take him out now, while hes trying to go out, he will probably keep crying to go out everyday even if on a leash. Make that a treat for him after he settles in.

Give him more time inside before you decide to let him out because it can very possibly work with a lot of patience on your part.

I dont know about Florida, but those cat trees on are on sale for $25 up here this week

Just wanted to let you know that we got a climbing tree from Walmart and it has been a huge success. Mike (the original resident cat) is just infatuated with the thing. He tears up it like a madman. You can tell he is having a blast. It is so funny. We sit there and laugh and laugh at him

Funny Face the new cat was slower to get involved but for the last few days he has been lounging on one of the shelves. This is the first time he has really spent time out of his room so that is good. We are going to have to expand the shelves because he is so large that he hangs off on all sides!

Anyway, the tree is great and seems to be giving Funny something to do other than worry all the time and it's getting him out in the family area. So, good call on recommending this as it has helped some.

I'm so happy to hear that!! Batman just loves his cat tower. He's a year old now and has had it 6 months I think. Still one of his favorite places to sleep - even if he's hanging off a little. He loves climbing up. It's the best vertical space he has in our house which is probably why he's always there.

I think just keeping Funny Face busy and stimulated will make him a lot happier as he gets adjusted to his new surroundings.