Handsome

So about four days ago now my neighbor found a cat outside his home. We believe him to be about 4 months old. We have a ton of them around here and we are pretty sure this one is from a litter that was birthed at the end of the summer under my neighbors trailer. Anyways, when he first brought him over he was covered in fleas, bite marks and was a hot mess. But he he was definitely a diamond in the rough. So I had my neighbor take him back home while I ran to the pet store for supplies. Took ages to find him again in the house and then he clawed the crap out of dude trying to bring him back over, sliced my dogs face open because my dog loves to try and play with cats but she's a pit so she scared the crap out of him and then my husband tried to grab the cat instead of the dog so he got scratched up too. Eek.

I got him bathed (worst experience ever) and put frontline plus on him. And have been flea combing him extensively and from what I can tell they're all gone. Yay! And "handsome" is my new best friend. And I mean...stuck to me like glue. Wherever I am..he is. He is always rubbing on me and "holding my hand" - literally. He has to be touching me and will sit on the back of the couch and stretch his paw out and lay it on my shoulder. He loves when I poke my finger into his paw pad and he will curl his nails to kind of hold it. He also loves when I say "iiiiim gonna get that belly" and be will roll over on his back like he's stretching so I can give him raspberries and grab his belly then since I'm giving him raspberries he does this little curl and will headbutt me for rubs and pets and purr up a storm. He sleeps with me at night and I have to give him my hand or he has a hissy fit and he puts my hand between his two paws and tucks his head down in the mixture. He did try and get out a few times so I put a harness on him (he trusts me so much that he had NO complaints about it and was fine with it) and let him step onto the porch to show him how cold it was and that he can't go running out because he would freeze to death and I would rather me have control of the situation then him bolt and lose him. Well...he wasn't feeling the ice and snow and ran right back inside and didn't even care that one of the dogs was in the doorway lol. He's even getting along with them now too for the most part. He is great with our birds (as in doesn't jump at the cages, he just sits and watches them I would never take them out around him).

But tonight I have realized how badly things have effected him and what I mean to him now. I went out for a cigarette since I don't smoke indoors and when I did he came to the door and just yowled and yowled. It was the saddest thing I ever heard. I talked to him through the window and he was ok for a bit but he kept pacing. And he did this every time I would go outside. I have only left once since I'm a stay at home mom and I feel just awful that he seemed so sad. Then i went to go shower and shut the door thinking maybe it was just the outside and he did the same thing. O_O a feral cat with separation anxiety?


Also...question...I plan on getting him neutered, no doubt!!! But he is going through the motions of spraying all over the house. It seems like every two seconds he is shaking his little tookas against a corner of a room or on the bed or stove or couch or me...is this normal? Obviously I'm not 100% sure of his age...I have to call Friday to set up an apt. I'm really hoping he doesn't start spraying before then....he has been so great about going in the box. He has been great about everything. He's my little baby.

Thank you so much for rescuing Handsome!  He certainly he is handsome guy.  He seems to have wormed his way into your heart!  As far as the spraying that is a problem since he isn't neutered.  The sooner you neuter him the better.  I know some people have luck with feliway plug in or feliway spray for cat spraying. You can easily find the plug ins at a pet store and sometimes they carry the spray too.  You also want to get a good enzymatic cleaner to remove every trace of the pee so he won't keep peeing in the same places.  It also might be helpful to confine him to one room until he is neutered. 

well he isnt actually peeing? that's the thing that is really conusing me! he is 'pretend' peeing but i'm POSITIVE that he is still intact. from what i can tell he has not gone inside at all except in the litter box but the 'pretend' spraying is CONSTANT on everything. i'm running over to everything every 5 seconds to make sure the movements are just him faking it out or actually spraying. and so far he has never actually peed.

is this normal for a young male cat or is he just a real odd ball?

Unneutered male cats will often start to spray when they are reaching sexual maturity at the age of 5-12 months.  He may very well be depositing scent in the spots he is marking.  Do you have other cats in the house?  He is depositing his scent.  He is either marking his territory or it can also be stress related.  So he could be marking to mark the territory as his or in response to his new surroundings being very stressful for him.  I would look to buy a feliway plug in as well as some spray.  You can do a google search on it and find out more about it.  It does work very well. 

Handsome might be so grateful for your loving care--after all you rid him of a lot of pain and itching, and am feeding him, etc.--that he may be  trying to mark his turf, with you in it.  Has he actually started spraying yet?

I have two five month old kittens that I need to get neutered, but having to buy an unplanned refrigerator yesterday, and plan for an unexpected car repair today, has kind of put that on hold.

On a somewhat related note, I have a neutered adult male, and he was already fixed when I got him. He never sprayed at all anywhere.   We allowed a house guest to stay with us for a couple of months until she could get on her feet.  Her perfume was so loud and obnoxious, that Ginger started spraying everywhere.  Between the odor of this perfume, and the cat, we had to ban her from wearing perfume while she stayed with us.  That didn't last very long.

Good luck with your buddy.

He is indeed a handsome boy.  Bless his heart, he is probably is trying to mark (or actually marking) because he has found a good thing and wants everyone to know it is HIS.  I would definitely get him neutered as soon as possible - before he starts marking in earnest.

As to the separation anxiety, leave one of your sweaty shirts for him to lay on.  Smelling you will lessen his fears when you can't be with him all the time.

Well I've got done and been smelling where he is wiggling at and have yet to actually smell anything. So far, like I said it seems to just be pretend spraying. No other cats in the house. Two dogs. A male and female but both are fixed.

We are going to get him neutered as soon as possible.