- Joined
- Feb 13, 2012
- Messages
- 2
- Purraise
- 0
We are dog people with one resident Pug but we were recently adopted by a male orange tabby. By way of background during a visit to a relative's house, my husband was outside with our 13 month old son to burn off some much needed baby energy. Out of nowhere this cat sauntered up to our 13 month old son and started playing with him, rolling in the grass, wrestling, yowling, rubbing against our son, etc. My husband captured some wonderful footage of those two hams. We talked to my relative about the cat and discovered his owner had recently passed away. The former owner's husband is anticat so he abandoned the cat to the streets. By all accounts the cat has always been an outdoor cat. I went knocking on the neighbor's door but he didn't answer. I convinced my non-cat loving husband to give the cat a chance so we – I – shamefully made the executive decision to catnap. My cat loving relative supported our endeavors and provided us with cat food, a cat dish, a cat carrier and many cat tips and well wishes. We packed up the newly expanded family and drove home. Without prompting my husband named our cat on the ride home - Julius. I took the cat naming as my husband’s tacit support of my latest nutty adventure. Julius made one single yowl the entire trip and overall has settled into our family quite nicely.
We have had him almost four weeks now. He’s been to the vet’s for a thorough exam, all shots and neutering. We have decided he will no longer be an outdoor cat and so far he is transitioning well to an indoor cat lifestyle. We put out two litter boxes and crossed our fingers. He must be a quick study because he is litter box trained with on average only one accident per week. He was having major problems with diarrhea which seemed to be causing the accidents. With the help of the vet and a food change we seem to have fixed the problem, though.
I was worried about Julius getting along with our Pug, Lucy. Lucy is a puppy mill breeder rescue so she’s not in the best of health but her spirits more than make up for her rocky early years and poor health. She’s half blind and deaf so hardly a worthy adversary by anyone’s standards. After one episode of Julius attacking Lucy (batting her face to her total astonishment), they have settled in to the groove of agreeing to ignore each other. We tell Julius not to act like a punk around the Pug. It’s unbecoming of a gentleman. He seems to have listened to the admonishments since they share the same rug for daily sunbathing rituals. As I tell my husband at least they have found common ground. They also both adore our son which is a blessing and miracle considering how rough little hands can be. When either has had enough of the baby, they simply leave the area.
At this point we wonder do all cats “talk” as much as Julius? He spends a lot of time yowling and meowing. It’s not terribly loud or insistent but he does make his presence known. Also will he ever become less voracious with food? Every meal provokes an inhaling response. Finally do we need to take him back to the vet since he sneezes frequently? Some of the sneezes have discharge but we hate taking him to the much loathed vet clinic for no reason. Thanks for letting us ramble about our new cat and ask questions. It’s new territory for the whole clan.
We have had him almost four weeks now. He’s been to the vet’s for a thorough exam, all shots and neutering. We have decided he will no longer be an outdoor cat and so far he is transitioning well to an indoor cat lifestyle. We put out two litter boxes and crossed our fingers. He must be a quick study because he is litter box trained with on average only one accident per week. He was having major problems with diarrhea which seemed to be causing the accidents. With the help of the vet and a food change we seem to have fixed the problem, though.
I was worried about Julius getting along with our Pug, Lucy. Lucy is a puppy mill breeder rescue so she’s not in the best of health but her spirits more than make up for her rocky early years and poor health. She’s half blind and deaf so hardly a worthy adversary by anyone’s standards. After one episode of Julius attacking Lucy (batting her face to her total astonishment), they have settled in to the groove of agreeing to ignore each other. We tell Julius not to act like a punk around the Pug. It’s unbecoming of a gentleman. He seems to have listened to the admonishments since they share the same rug for daily sunbathing rituals. As I tell my husband at least they have found common ground. They also both adore our son which is a blessing and miracle considering how rough little hands can be. When either has had enough of the baby, they simply leave the area.
At this point we wonder do all cats “talk” as much as Julius? He spends a lot of time yowling and meowing. It’s not terribly loud or insistent but he does make his presence known. Also will he ever become less voracious with food? Every meal provokes an inhaling response. Finally do we need to take him back to the vet since he sneezes frequently? Some of the sneezes have discharge but we hate taking him to the much loathed vet clinic for no reason. Thanks for letting us ramble about our new cat and ask questions. It’s new territory for the whole clan.
) Orange tabbies are a delight and I'm not surprised he has taken well to your son and dog. (I'd call resting together a success.) How nice that he has a safe indoor home and a family to love him. I don't have any experience with sneezes or kitty colds, hopefully someone else will be able to answer that question for you.
