Help, This Is Urgent! I Need Advice!

Okay, this is probably going to be a long post...prepare yourself. I'm 16, so please don't be like, "Buy that poor cat a litter box and keep him inside!" I have a gorgeous cat, named Finlay. He was a stray, I found him at five months. He's ten months now, and legally ours. My mum REFUSES to take him to buy a litter box. So he's mostly an indoor cat, but of course since we don't want him going in the house, we have to let him out. I told my mum I would go buy a litter box and litter, but she said if I did she's get rid of it AND the cat... not happening. So here's the part that's giving me anxiety, panic attacks, about everything. I can't even eat or drink and if I do I throw up. My mum, who studied in medicine, said I just have very bad anxiety. I don't even want to type it...but here goes. Past two months I've noticed my cat keeps coming home less frequently. He still is, but nowhere near as much. (By the way, the police did say the cat was ours.) Six weeks ago tomorrow, I saw a elderly lady letting him out of her house. He ran up to me and started purring, and the lady looked at me like I was villain, best way to put it. I put the cat in his real house and went to talk to her. I asked her if she had lost a cat and he was here. Quoting her exact words, "No, and a brat like you doesn't deserve him." I asked her what she meant, and she simply said "I don't like kids." And shut the door in my face. Three days later, I was out, her sister was there. Maybe eighteen or nineteen? I don't know. I saw her pick up the kitten. MY kitten. She talked to it and cuddled it. I heard him yowling for me. I marched over, took Fin, and, yes, I admit a little harshly, Why do you have my kitten?! She started cussing at me and went in. Two weeks later, he was on another porch, eating tuna which I know isn't too good for cats. He ate the ENTIRE can. He's four and a half pounds and only eats 3 oz. of Wellness wet food! Even if I try to give him more he refuses it. Even before this happened. I ignore that I saw him and yelled "Finlay! Come here sweetie!" Until the older girl coming home from school asked me if I had a tabby kitten. I said yes and that I did not appreciate her feeding my kitten, especially a five ounce can. He gets the option of eating 2 oz. three times a day, and as I said, typically only eats half of that. She apologized and said she won't again. A month later, they still are. Some little girls though were giving him lunch meat as a treat (they now me and I trust them) so I gave them some treats, but they don't feed him. Four people at the moment are constantly letting him in...I hate it. I have asked them to stop multiple times, THEY WON'T LISTEN!! They don't listen to my mum either...animal control says deal with it yourself and police says call animal control. I'm crying right now...he's in my lap at the moment. Please no hate comments. This is a hundred percent real, and I hate to have to just sit and watch this happen. Thank you for reading this...looking forward to your advice.

Also, he has been neutered.

Sorry this is happening you need some support. Can you talk your mom into accepting an electric kitty litter box?

Then he could stay inside safely.  I hope you can share all this with your mom then come to a reasonable solution obviously

you are attached to the cat, hope your mom will reconsider some cats can be trained to be in a room and come out when you're home

would that solve issues with your mom?  I'm sure someone else will have good suggestions for you, hope it works out for you soon.

I talked to her about it, she said we could look into getting one. Do you know a website/store that sells them at a cheap or fair price? Under two hundred maybe?

Try Amazon.com or even Walmart.com might have one.  Petco and Petsmart also carry them.

Okay, thanks. I hope I found the solution.

the best litter i've found for covering up odors is fresh step extreme. if you scoop twice a day there is no odor. is that your mom's biggest concern?

ellag said:

the best litter i've found for covering up odors is fresh step extreme. if you scoop twice a day there is no odor. is that your mom's biggest concern?

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I don't know, we have a Glen of Imaal Terrier also, I guess she's worried about that some to. He's a very calm dog, and at seven years of age mostly lounges all day. He is a pretty big dog at 33 pounds though...but thank you everyone for the advice!

My mum made me take him out...he is currently in the neighbour's house, probably getting fat on cheap foods. Balling my eyes out.

Hello Roxanne,

I can see you love your kitty very much, I do too, my boy Charlie ( He is my world) and I do everything for him, he gets treated like royalty in my house and he is KING

I know you are scared and anxious about your kitty, I had a tough time last week as my boy disappeared for 4 days and then returned again, and just like you I am afraid to let him out again, I also don't like litter boxes and my cat hates them, he used them as a kitty and then as he grew older he decided it was a nice place to lay and relax (Did not do his business in there at all)

I got some great advice from people on this site, you could see about building an enclosure for him in your garden ?(this is what I am going to do now over the weekend because my cat loves the out doors) or perhaps another piece of advice I received is getting a pet tent?

never knew it exists right? even me.

I hope this helps.

I haven't seen him all morning...and I don't think he's coming home

I am sure he will return, cats grow very fond of their owners and even though they wander off they come back...

don't lose hope

He loves you!

I have heard and seen a pet tent, my aunt and uncle puts them out for the stray and feral cats. I'll ask them for one. He's inside now, sadly Mum said we'd have to wait at least a month before we can get the litter box, if we get one. I don't mind scooping it, again, my aunt and uncle have lots of cats and I'm constantly at their house. They keep them outdoors most of the time, but their neighbours never attempt to feed them. I don't know why mine do, maybe Fin reminds them their old cat? I don't know. Again, thank all of you for the advice!

So I bought Fin a collar and tag yesterday, and this morning I found it in the yard. And...it looked like it had been cut with a knife, or something like that, nothing else could have cut it that neatly. And this afternoon he comes home wearing a red Petmate collar. It looked awful on him. I'm so raging mad, I spent $25 on those! Why do my neighbours have to be so awful?!

Will your mom allow a litterbox in the garage? If you have a garage. Or can you take him out on a leash to go potty, like a dog? Unfortunately, if you let a cat loose outside you don't have any control over what happens to him :/.

Was the collar you got a safety collar? If not, perhaps he got stuck on something and somebody had to cut it. Non-safety collars are very dangerous for cats.

It sounds to me that your neighbors are trying to claim the cat as theirs, he likely spends a good amount of time over there.

For under $20.00 you can get a litter box and some fresh step brand clumping litter and solve the problem.

If you have to borrow the money from someone, go for it, it's ridiculous to go through this otherwise.

Just keep it in your bedroom and clean. Mom should be okay with it, it's important to you and mom will see that.

This makes me SO mad. I'm 17 myself and I have quite the temper, but then again my mom is an animal nut just like me (I got it honest). So this sounds a little bizarre but what about getting him a halter and putting him on a runner like a dog. No he won't like it, but until you can get a litter box it might be an option. You could even walk him on a leash so he does his business. Your neighbors sound like such brats! At this point I would have already throat punched somebody.

We don't have a garage but we do have a basement and bonus room, which is basically a room at the very top of house, not really an attic though. It was definitely a safety collar. I would only get the best for him, and his food is not cheap either. I'm trying to get the litter box. And OH YEAH he's spending quiet a bit of time in there! As a matter a fact, he's in there now. He comes home as soon as he gets out, but they're still doing that and it doesn't make a difference!

My mum is making go to my aunt and uncle's for a few weeks to get him used to a litter box. Of course she said not to get my hopes up. Also, this just came to me, we had a cat until I was six. She was a Siamese, and I loved that cat. She had anemia and ate kitty litter, which made her sick and she had to be put down. Maybe this makes my mum not want a litter box? I don't know, Finlay is not anemic and she doesn't pay much attention to him anyway.

This seems like a step in the right direction, though I know you and Finlay are going to really miss each other.  Fin may actually take to the litter box right away - many cats do - but getting him away from your neighbors for awhile sounds like an excellent idea.  I find it very troubling that they cut off the collar you put on him and replaced it with their own.  It should be interesting to see how they respond when Fin is no longer around.  I'm sorry you've had to go through this extremely stressful situation but perhaps it is going to work out after all.  I'm really glad you have relatives who are willing to help you and really hope your Mum lets you install a litter box so Fin can stay inside.