Help needed

Hi there.

I need a little help on how to help my dads cat. The cat is about 6 years old and has always avoided myself and my children when we visited. I think a pull on a tail by an enthusiastic child when the cat was a kitten might have something to do with it. In any case, whenever we visited, the cat would hide or disappear.

My dad is now sick in hospital and has been for a month. I feed the cat daily. She is now very friendly and delighted to see me coming. I pet her for a few minutes, she hops onto my lap purring or just lies on the sofa grooming herself while I'm there.

My dad won't be home any time soon. Even if he does get home, it is unlikely that he will be the one caring for the cat again. I would willingly adopt her and take her home as she seems lonely but I don't want to upset or confuse her.

Also, I work full time so she would be out all day till I got home and I think she would get lost trying to find her way home. My dad lives about a 10 minute walk from my house.

Any advice appreciated

Thank you.

If you could take the cat home and give her a room of her own it would be better than leaving her in a lonely house.  Even when there are multiple cats to keep each other company, their personalities change when a long time passes and their owners don't come home, and not in a good way.  She will be scared at first but will feel safe in a room that's "hers" with her box and some food & water and a little comfy bed.  Cats are adaptable, and if you teeach the kids to pet her gently, eventually she will come around and adjust to your family.  DO NOT LET HER OUTSIDE EVER.  Dont let kids in unsupervised, but go gently and she will get used to you all in time.  In the safety of her room, she will get used to kid sounds, running feet, happy noise etc.  She has lived in a quiet home and it's all she knows, but she is sweet and also lonely.  Also, TALK to her, they get our meanings that we form with words.  Tell him he is sick and in another place and cannot come home for a long time.  Think of it as a long-term foster, and that's how we care for foster cats.  Taking her home and getting her adjusted to your home is the kindest thing you can do, for the cat and for your Dad.  When he comes home, she can visit, and go back and forth between houses to maintain her entire family.  Thanks for caring so much for your Dad's cat.  Not all family members are so kind.

Thank you but she loves to be outside. She disappears most nights for hours at a time. She eats outside and even chooses to sleep in a 'kennel' Dad bought for her at times.

I can't imagine her being happy with not being allowed outside, ever. Plus I'm not sure I would be able to keep to that. That means no open windows or doors?

The kids are all grown up now lol. Mine has turned into that quiet house.

I'm happy to do what I can to help this little lady. I have even taken to 'cat sit' for a couple of hours at a time just to keep her company. Just not sure we could manage to keep her indoors forever.

Thanks for your reply

I agree with red top rescue
I think to bring the cat to your house and give her her own room is a great idea

nickie3 said:

Hi there.

I need a little help on how to help my dads cat. The cat is about 6 years old and has always avoided myself and my children when we visited. I think a pull on a tail by an enthusiastic child when the cat was a kitten might have something to do with it. In any case, whenever we visited, the cat would hide or disappear.

My dad is now sick in hospital and has been for a month. I feed the cat daily. She is now very friendly and delighted to see me coming. I pet her for a few minutes, she hops onto my lap purring or just lies on the sofa grooming herself while I'm there.

My dad won't be home any time soon. Even if he does get home, it is unlikely that he will be the one caring for the cat again. I would willingly adopt her and take her home as she seems lonely but I don't want to upset or confuse her.

Also, I work full time so she would be out all day till I got home and I think she would get lost trying to find her way home. My dad lives about a 10 minute walk from my house.

Any advice appreciated

Thank you.

Click to expand...

I read in a Chinese book about cats magic
Did u know that cats help old people to live longer I don't know how but it did work out with my grand mother I gave her a cat and she lived for 105 years old I swear and when the cat died she passed Away a day after
So here is what u need to do keep the cat at ur fathers house and u already live 10 mins Away so the cat won't be a problem trust me it will help ur father recover faster and healthier the cats have the power to change the energy form negative to positive specially when it's purring and it will help him also live longer
Just keep that cat there what ever u do ! And trust me he will get better in no time I will even send the link of all these information it will help u

nickie3 said:

Hi there.

I need a little help on how to help my dads cat. The cat is about 6 years old and has always avoided myself and my children when we visited. I think a pull on a tail by an enthusiastic child when the cat was a kitten might have something to do with it. In any case, whenever we visited, the cat would hide or disappear.

My dad is now sick in hospital and has been for a month. I feed the cat daily. She is now very friendly and delighted to see me coming. I pet her for a few minutes, she hops onto my lap purring or just lies on the sofa grooming herself while I'm there.

My dad won't be home any time soon. Even if he does get home, it is unlikely that he will be the one caring for the cat again. I would willingly adopt her and take her home as she seems lonely but I don't want to upset or confuse her.

Also, I work full time so she would be out all day till I got home and I think she would get lost trying to find her way home. My dad lives about a 10 minute walk from my house.

Any advice appreciated

Thank you.

Click to expand...

Here you go
http://consciouscat.net/2011/03/23/research-says-cats-have-healing-power-research-says-yes/

@Sylvia shalabey nickie3 has said that it will be quite a while before the father returns, so really the issue is how to care for the cat.

@nickie3 I do understand that the cat is used to being outdoors and perhaps keeping her inside is not something that works for you.  I think you'll find that a lot of the members here at TCS will want you to do that, for her safety, but if it isn't feasible I'd be really concerned about bringing her to your house if you thought she would keep returning to your father's.  You see, if you did bring her to your house you would need, at least initially, to keep her inside so that she could come to know your home as her territory.  Anything else really would confuse her.

It seems unusual that people would assume a cat would be happier fully indoors. It's like saying that children shouldn't be allowed outside. Well I live in a small village and my children have always been outside. As babies we put them in the garden in their prams even in winter, all wrapped up but outdoors.

I'm happy though, to keep her in for a week or so. The proximity is such that it's too far to allow free movement between the houses but not far enough away she can't try to find her way home.

I don't have a spare room. One of my kids is away to college and comes back on weekends?

We often have this discussion on TCS.  

It's often a case of where in the world you are, too.  I'm from Australia and people tend towards keeping cats in,  British people seem to tend more towards having indoor/outdoor cats etc. 

We do err on the side of keeping cats in on TCS for their safety.. it's a bit different having a baby all rugged up in a pram, to a cat just wandering around... there are a lot of dangers.  In really built-up areas I think it's most unwise.. traffic is a real killer.  But that doesn't seem so much of an issue for you if you're in a small village. 

There are lots of things you can do to keep a cat happy indoors, but really the issue here is what to do right now for your father's cat.

I'm wondering whether you could bring her to the room when your child leaves for the beginning of the week, so she would have the room to herself for those days?

This article gives a bit of a run-down on how to go about it. Have a read and see what you think.

 [article="0"]Bringing Home A New Cat​[/article]  

It depends, I think, largely on your local area. My 9 month old kitten was feral when I found her I used to let her out in the day and bring her in at night. We live in inner Sydney and are apart of a large cat colony. I had the RSPCA pick up an injured cat that lived in our common area backyard.
Sadly they had to put it down. After a couple of months this seemed to create some sort of power vacuum because all sorts of other cats began appearing, fighting and attacking my kitten and another older feral kitten that frequented our backyard.
From then on my kitten became an inside cat. She seems to pine for the outside until either it rains or there's a cat fight in the backyard.
You really just have to make a judgement call.