Hi!
I'm brand new to this site! Here's my story.... I hope there are a lot of people out there who can offer some advice.
I moved into my boyfriend's house last weekend with two dogs to "Twitchy's" house. The cat is clearly offended that I have disrupted her environment with two dogs and a new person - I understand this.
After dating my boyfriend for a few months, he told me that his house cat was not fixed, and that he rescued her from a dumpster 4 years prior. Being an equine vet tech, I encouraged he get Twitchy to a vet immediately and have her spayed. He did. He also had her vaccinations updated.
The cat has been living in a empty spare bedroom for about 2 years. She never went outside because the boyfriend said she was "freaked out of the outdoors" (we live at the end of a dirt road on 2 acres fenced in). She never comes out of that room. She hides behind a CD rack. She is a complete mess with her litter box. I don't know much about cat-boxes, as I never had one. I am pretty grossed out that there's cat litter ALL over that bedroom on brand new wood floors.
Twitch is VERY aggressive. I cannot get near the cat. She hisses, growls, attacks with her claws out, and does that feral cat howl when I simply walk into her room. My boyfriend, Joe, does not have these problems with her. Occasionally she takes a good swipe at him and he comes out of her room with blood from a scratch. I have taken simple cat tasks on since we have been dating (about a year). When I was here I would feed her, clean her litter box, and simply keep her bedroom door open so she could hear my voice and the dogs.
We have moved Twitchy into a spare bedroom that has a kitty door out onto the patio. I figured there must be a better quality of life than hiding in fear and howling when she hears me. She cowers in the corner of the patio when we put her out there - but I did see her outside this morning on her own will. She looked petrified.
One time last week she ventured out of her room, jumped up on the couch, and let me pet her. She proceeded to take a large kitty-poop right next to me. Ok - I get it - you're flexing your kitty muscles! She's not happy about the change in her household. I understand this - But I have no idea how to fix it.
Today, while she was out on the patio I went outside and left the slider open for a moment. She bolted into the main house and proceeded to SCREAM and howl like a feral cat in heat and poop ALL over the house. She was at the vet two days ago for vaccines, so we have no reason to believe she's ill.
We have many issues here.
1) Major aggression which I think is due to fear(I am a horse vet tech, and I am truly afraid of this cat - this isn't helping anything, I know!)
2) No social skills
3) A huge change in her household
I need as much advice as I can get. I have no clue where to start.
I look forward to getting to know all of you!
I'm brand new to this site! Here's my story.... I hope there are a lot of people out there who can offer some advice.
I moved into my boyfriend's house last weekend with two dogs to "Twitchy's" house. The cat is clearly offended that I have disrupted her environment with two dogs and a new person - I understand this.
After dating my boyfriend for a few months, he told me that his house cat was not fixed, and that he rescued her from a dumpster 4 years prior. Being an equine vet tech, I encouraged he get Twitchy to a vet immediately and have her spayed. He did. He also had her vaccinations updated.
The cat has been living in a empty spare bedroom for about 2 years. She never went outside because the boyfriend said she was "freaked out of the outdoors" (we live at the end of a dirt road on 2 acres fenced in). She never comes out of that room. She hides behind a CD rack. She is a complete mess with her litter box. I don't know much about cat-boxes, as I never had one. I am pretty grossed out that there's cat litter ALL over that bedroom on brand new wood floors.
Twitch is VERY aggressive. I cannot get near the cat. She hisses, growls, attacks with her claws out, and does that feral cat howl when I simply walk into her room. My boyfriend, Joe, does not have these problems with her. Occasionally she takes a good swipe at him and he comes out of her room with blood from a scratch. I have taken simple cat tasks on since we have been dating (about a year). When I was here I would feed her, clean her litter box, and simply keep her bedroom door open so she could hear my voice and the dogs.
We have moved Twitchy into a spare bedroom that has a kitty door out onto the patio. I figured there must be a better quality of life than hiding in fear and howling when she hears me. She cowers in the corner of the patio when we put her out there - but I did see her outside this morning on her own will. She looked petrified.
One time last week she ventured out of her room, jumped up on the couch, and let me pet her. She proceeded to take a large kitty-poop right next to me. Ok - I get it - you're flexing your kitty muscles! She's not happy about the change in her household. I understand this - But I have no idea how to fix it.
Today, while she was out on the patio I went outside and left the slider open for a moment. She bolted into the main house and proceeded to SCREAM and howl like a feral cat in heat and poop ALL over the house. She was at the vet two days ago for vaccines, so we have no reason to believe she's ill.
We have many issues here.
1) Major aggression which I think is due to fear(I am a horse vet tech, and I am truly afraid of this cat - this isn't helping anything, I know!)
2) No social skills
3) A huge change in her household
I need as much advice as I can get. I have no clue where to start.
I look forward to getting to know all of you!
You can borrow one of your boyfriend's used shirts whenever you need to get near the cat. It may help mask some of the dogs' scents.
