Had a stray walk in my door ... - Page 2

I'm a software engineer for Canonical Ltd, and I travel about once every two months for 1-2 weeks. Sometimes more frequent. I was also up until a month ago a volunteer firefighter.

So I called the shelter, and they can take him for the 1-2 weeks I need to have him in storage. I'm not hugely happy about having him kenneled for that long, but its a necessity in this case. I just hope he'll still trust me after that :-/

EDIT: Anyone know a good pet transport service so I can send my ex's cat to her?

SON OF EDIT: so after eating, he's grooming a bit more, but doesn't seem to want to fully groom himself. I wonder why; even after kitty got a bath, he didn't groom himself.

Heh, thanks. Nice to know people use Ubuntu :-).

As for kitty, he's been kenneled, and they will fix him sometime while he is there (i.e. if someone cancels an appointment, etc). Then when I get back to Rochester, I can take him back home once I get my ex's cat situated/

Oooh, small world. I'm a Debian Developer in addition to an Ubuntu MOTU :-)

*watches everyone else in the thread's eyes gloss over*

Anyway, there isn't a lot to post for the next few days, but I was wondering if anyone had experience with leash-training a cat.

I admit at heart, I'm more of a dog person than a cat person, but its *really* hard to find apartments that allow dogs, and they are really needy, but they travel really well compared to cats (or at least cats I know).

I was hoping it would be possible to leash train a cat to the point that I can walk with it on an unplanning route like a dog without too much difficulty; I realize a part of this requires the cat to be cooperative, but if I can leash train, it would make things easier on me, and probably easier on kitty since he won't have to be boxed to go anywhere with me.

sitch?

I already boarded him, and now in back in NYC. I have to deal with basement/devil cat now :-/

Ah makes sense ...

So, back in NYC, with my ex's cat has opened a lot of doubts in if I'm doing the right thing in taking in cat 2. Maybe because my first cat is completely unaffectionate and needy now (she wasn't always like this and I wonder if this is because I haven't been home a lot recently :-/).

*sigh*

Very difficult to find a good route in NYC and I live around the corner from a dog daycare center . I've tried harness training my first cat, Sabra, and while I can get her to wear a harness, I've never been able to get her to really enjoy going out with it (I lived on the ground floor studio in Rochester, in an apartment complex that was surrounded by relatively busy roads, and then a large wooded area; which is a good way to get a kitty flattened :-/).

My ex is saying things that make me sound like she's willing to take her cat back, but its not a good time for her, which almost sounds like I'm going to get stuck with Sabra and cat 2, and Sabra is an almost pest half the time. Once cat 2 is neutered, I can look at introducing them to each other, but I have a cat that can open doors in my apartment. I'm also worried that if I have two cats together, they may become inseparable; Sabra was quite whiny after she was split up from her litter mate.

I also have doubts on giving Sabra to her, even though Sabra is one of those cats that *really* need someone around consistently or she goes mad (and she has gotten into to the habit of swiping at my mother ...), and while I'm living at home (probably until end of August), two cats would be exceeding stressful on her (she's only taking Sabra out of force of will).

I'm really not sure what to do at this point ...

My mom will have a fit thought about it. Part of the problem is I'm in the process of moving back home to help with family issues, but I don't have my own apartment at the moment (and I'm not even slated to try and find one until mid-August due to the time and effort required to move out of Rochester (after 4 years of living there, I've accumulated a TON of **** :-/). My second choice is to take Sabra back with me to Rochester which I'm not a fan of (she whines the entire time she's in the carrier, and I'm not willing to let her roam free in my car) and I can't comfortably stay at (the apartment is in a state of disaster due to moving, and I have personal reasons why I don't want to stay there).

I'll talk to my ex about Sabra again; while I'm hesitant to give her up, it may be the best for all parties involved since she swipes at my mother, prevents both of us from sleeping well at night, and gets really nutty when left alone for several hours during the day (which won't be a problem at my ex's). Unfortunately, Sabra been unusually affectinate, and even gave me the belly treat, but she's also been vicious towards my mother, and scratched her on the foot after hiding under the bed, then taking off running.

EDIT: This reminded me of an odd behavior that I wanted to bring up. When we were at the red-roof inn, kitty would sleep next to me, but by time I fell asleep, I found him under the bed, and he didn't move until I called by whistling. I lied down again, and he curled up next to me again, and again, found him under the bed. Same thing happened when I went out to the cat; when I wasn't around, or was asleep, he was under the bed.

I sleep with a futon on the floor in Rochester, and didn't notice this behavior there (though there was no bed to hide under, there were still tons of boxes he could have climbed into)

SON OF EDIT: So it looks like I managed to put my ex's doubts aside telling her that I'll take Sabra back if it proves to be unworkable. I'm not honestly sure I'll be able to do so, but once I get my own apartment, its at least a feesible short term solution. *sigh*, I miss my little white cat :-/.

Ugh, I can't stop thinking about kitty. Its on my mind, and I'm really worried about his wellbeing. I'm really not sure I've done the right thing in this case .... \t\t\t\t

I'm not sure if anyone saw my edits on the previous page to help answer some of my questions ...

I don't see why she would be stressed, but Sabra lived with me and my ex for most of her life ...

So I got a call from the vet today; they're going to fix kitty. The lady there said they're going to fix him today (I realize its for the best with all the strays in the world, and tomcat pee/spray is ... ugh, but as a guy, I can't help but feel a twinge of pain over getting this done ...).

The lady said that kitty is doing pretty good up at Scottsvile; I guess he's happy having a warm place to sleep and three meals a day, even if he's in a box. Just hope he remembers me and isn't too angry when I get back.

That's good to know at the vet. When I talked to her this morning, she said that kitty is doing well, although that was before he went under the knife. I realize getting your pets fixed is a good thing, but there's just that little voice in the back of my head thinking "OMG, OW". I don't listen to that voice, but its there. I just they had a low-cost spray/neuter, but I had some money set aside for things like this. Still, ow (on the fixing, and on the wallet).

As for lease training, this picture comes to mind: http://icanhascheezburger.com/2008/0...obedience-cat/

Still, worth a shot I suppose after he gets used to trusting me again and not being stuck at the vet.

With Sabra, I dunno, she doesn't seem stressed out, but I'll look at getting the Feliway. My ex has run into difficulties (not suprising), so I may be stuck with the two cats for the time being :-/

EDIT: Maybe I'm driving myself mad, but I've been thinking that kitty didn't have any internal parasites, which seems kinda odd if he's been a stray for 2 years. I'm really worried now that I may have accidental taken in someone's pet, and then gotten it fixed!. I mean, he was kinda ragged but .... *sigh*. I think I'm driving myself insane.

SON OF EDIT: So Sabra gone from attacking my mother to turning my leg into mince meat. I'm scratched up real bad, and bleeding. I threw her in the bathroom, but she's acting like she doesn't understand what she did is wrong. I posted about this in the behavior forum :-/

I'll be honest, this has been a slow incremental change, not a day/night sudden change; she's been getting more and more whiner and aggressive. She's scratched me before, but this is the first time she's drawn blood, and to be frank, I'm honestly not sure what to do if my ex completely bails on me. I don't have a vet in the area (yet), but I'll look at getting an appointment.

Well, *bleep*.

My ex bailed on me and told me that she won't be able to take her cat for the foreseeable future. Sabra been oddly calm today, no scratching or meowing, and she let me clip her nails. Whatever crawled in her litter box seems to have finally gotten out, but I'll still take her to the vet sometime soon.

Now I'm really up a creek without a paddle ATM, and I have no idea what to do. If I keep both cats, I don't have a way to properly keep them separate from each other in either apartment (Sabra can open doors in my Rochester apartment, and I can't stay I'm fond of keeping a cat in the bathroom until get along with each other, and in NYC, the bathroom is too small to setup a litter pan and the like and still use it as a bathroom; it's a closet with a toilet and shower).

If I surrender one cat to a no-kill, I'm conflicted on which one to surrender, Sabra was here first, but I'm having issues being emotionally attached to her, and she's really been my girlfriends cat, and not mine, and I'm still edgy with what she's doing to my mom, and did my leg yesterday. On the other hand, I'd feel wrong surrender Sabra since she was here first, and I'd be getting rid of one cat for another ...

*sigh*

Somehow, I feel like the bad man in all of this ...

EDIT: I just thought that I could buy a wire cage and possibly use that in lew of a second room; its definitely not ideal, but it may work in this situation ...

SON OF EDIT: so my ex's mom called me, and said she'll take the cat at least short term, and that my ex is actually having a full blown panic attack since she can't directly take the cat. I'm going to send Sabra to her, then stay in contact to make sure nothing bad happens to her; worse case scenario, I'll have to take Sabra back in a month or two, but hopefully it won't come to that.