Hi all, my first post, my first cat and my first pet since a couple family dogs back high school back in the 70’s, and I feel like I am doing everything wrong. So please bear with me as this will be long and probably contain too much babbling :-/
Short version: I took in a stray around the first of June and he seems to getting less and less affectionate/tolerant by the day. He still likes to be close but doesn’t much like to be petted and will nip my hand after a pet or two. On Sunday he used his claws on my head when I picked him up. I put him down and gently, but firmly, held his head down like I read on the internet. Last night He randomly attach\ked my arm and later my foot while I was sitting with my feet up, I’m worried that I’m doing lots of things wrong.
Long (long) version:
Back in late Feb/early March there was a small Siamese cat that was hanging around my house that I was pretty sure was homeless. He was very, VERY wary of people and would bolt when anyone went near him. I'd see him very early in the morning and very late at night and one night I found him sleeping under my bedroom window at about 3:00 am. I didn’t think he had a home and choose my yard because I don't have a dog or noisy college kids. He looked reasonably clean but was very skinny, and this may not have been a great idea, but I started putting on a small bowl of food for him (actually treats because I didn't notice the difference). I've never been a pet person, (but my friend's animals all seem to like me), so I'm wasn’t sure what I needed to do to help him. After a few weeks he had gotten to the point where if I would sit outside and I was reasonably still he would let me pet him and he would even climb on my lap on occasion. When I let him in the house and he didn't freak out, but he kept his distance from me, on the other hand he didn't get too far away from me either. One evening he hung out inside for a few hours then around 9:30PM (the usual time he leaves the backyard) he started scratching at the door wanting to go out, when I opened the door he took off. A few days later he was “late” for dinner and me being a softy I ended up letting him in after we sat on the patio for a while, that night he didn’t want to leave. So I made a make-shift litter box (an old plastic tote with and end cut down with a couple of inches of loose dirt), he used right away and he ended up sleeping on me all night. I had to go to work in the morning and when I put him out in he didn’t wonder toofar from the door.
The weekend before Memorial Day I took him to the vet and had him checked for a chip, they said he had no chip and they thought he was about 8 months old. I checked around the neighborhood and Craig’s list and the local humane society to see if anyone had reported him missing with no luck. I kept leaving food out for him, I even had a friend check on him while I was out of town for Memorial Day weekend. When I got back I talked to the humane society again they suggested TNR, but I thought I wanted to keep him and make him an inside cat. So I had him fixed and got shots and they found he had a bad case of worms and they dealt with that too.
He seems to be adjusting pretty well to living inside, sometimes he climbs the screen door and will paw at a door wanting to go out but he doesn’t do that much anymore. I am away from the house 10+ hours a day during the week, but I play with him at least 2 or 3 times a day; he LOVES his feather teasers. He tends to sleep in my bed and until the last few nights usually with his head tucked under my chin. After I would lay down he would knead on my chest for a bit and I’d stroke he head then he’d settle down and go to sleep. How he still sleeps in my bed (or he tolerates me in his bed I guess
), but he suddenly stopped kneading me and doesn’t really want to let me even rub between his ears at night. Is he just getting frustrated because his “territory” is just my small house not a whole neighborhood? Or is it just because it has been 100+ degrees for a few days and he, like everyone else, is a bit cranky?
Geez, I don’t even know if there was a question there… BTW I'm Mike and this is Tiki The Cat
Short version: I took in a stray around the first of June and he seems to getting less and less affectionate/tolerant by the day. He still likes to be close but doesn’t much like to be petted and will nip my hand after a pet or two. On Sunday he used his claws on my head when I picked him up. I put him down and gently, but firmly, held his head down like I read on the internet. Last night He randomly attach\ked my arm and later my foot while I was sitting with my feet up, I’m worried that I’m doing lots of things wrong.
Long (long) version:
Back in late Feb/early March there was a small Siamese cat that was hanging around my house that I was pretty sure was homeless. He was very, VERY wary of people and would bolt when anyone went near him. I'd see him very early in the morning and very late at night and one night I found him sleeping under my bedroom window at about 3:00 am. I didn’t think he had a home and choose my yard because I don't have a dog or noisy college kids. He looked reasonably clean but was very skinny, and this may not have been a great idea, but I started putting on a small bowl of food for him (actually treats because I didn't notice the difference). I've never been a pet person, (but my friend's animals all seem to like me), so I'm wasn’t sure what I needed to do to help him. After a few weeks he had gotten to the point where if I would sit outside and I was reasonably still he would let me pet him and he would even climb on my lap on occasion. When I let him in the house and he didn't freak out, but he kept his distance from me, on the other hand he didn't get too far away from me either. One evening he hung out inside for a few hours then around 9:30PM (the usual time he leaves the backyard) he started scratching at the door wanting to go out, when I opened the door he took off. A few days later he was “late” for dinner and me being a softy I ended up letting him in after we sat on the patio for a while, that night he didn’t want to leave. So I made a make-shift litter box (an old plastic tote with and end cut down with a couple of inches of loose dirt), he used right away and he ended up sleeping on me all night. I had to go to work in the morning and when I put him out in he didn’t wonder toofar from the door.
The weekend before Memorial Day I took him to the vet and had him checked for a chip, they said he had no chip and they thought he was about 8 months old. I checked around the neighborhood and Craig’s list and the local humane society to see if anyone had reported him missing with no luck. I kept leaving food out for him, I even had a friend check on him while I was out of town for Memorial Day weekend. When I got back I talked to the humane society again they suggested TNR, but I thought I wanted to keep him and make him an inside cat. So I had him fixed and got shots and they found he had a bad case of worms and they dealt with that too.
He seems to be adjusting pretty well to living inside, sometimes he climbs the screen door and will paw at a door wanting to go out but he doesn’t do that much anymore. I am away from the house 10+ hours a day during the week, but I play with him at least 2 or 3 times a day; he LOVES his feather teasers. He tends to sleep in my bed and until the last few nights usually with his head tucked under my chin. After I would lay down he would knead on my chest for a bit and I’d stroke he head then he’d settle down and go to sleep. How he still sleeps in my bed (or he tolerates me in his bed I guess
), but he suddenly stopped kneading me and doesn’t really want to let me even rub between his ears at night. Is he just getting frustrated because his “territory” is just my small house not a whole neighborhood? Or is it just because it has been 100+ degrees for a few days and he, like everyone else, is a bit cranky?Geez, I don’t even know if there was a question there… BTW I'm Mike and this is Tiki The Cat
