Can an older male cat adjust to life indoors?

msaimee

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What wonderful pictures! Looks like you have a buddy for life. I tend to be lenient when it comes to feeding cats, maybe because all of my cats are rescued cats who experienced hunger or starvation before I took them in. You may want to consider leaving out a bowl of dry food 24/7 and offering him some canned food once a day. It may reduce any anxiety he might have about food. Almost all Strays and feral cats have some issues from having gone hungry. I would try to get him a couple different kind of toys to choose from. It can even be a ball of yarn or a crumpled piece of aluminum foil. It may take him a while to learn how to play since he has been an outside cat focused on survival. Once he figures it out, though, he will be very happy. That is one lucky cat :)
 
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livelovepurr

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Leaving food out 24/7 usually results in an obese cat. Obesity in cats causes health issues, especially among neutered male cats. They are more prone to urinary blockage and can quickly die from it. Keeping your cat at a healthy weight and keeping fresh water available at all times is the best way to keep a cat at a healthy weight. Feeding a cat at the same times everyday also gives them a schedule, and trust me, they'll learn that schedule quickly. Feeding them at the same time in the same spot everyday is a good way to handle food anxiety. They know they're getting fed. My cats will wake me up if I'm not awake by 7:30 to feed them and they all go right to their special spots. And the same thing at night, they start to get crazy until I feed them.
 

foxxycat

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Honeybee on my lap, music playing in background
Just a note about yarn-bad idea. Don't leave string out unattended. They can chew it and it will bind up the intestines and may face a $3500 surgery to remove it. Don't leave yarn out please. My girl Honeybee ate a toy with yarn on it. She was blocked for a few hours, lots of vomiting, er vet and fluids cost me $700 later. So I no longer recommend leaving string or yarn unattended.

I disagree with timed feedings right from the start. You should leave food out 24 hours for the first 2 weeks. Let the cat settle in. Get used to meals. then slowly have it so only a certain amount is measured and put out twice a day. But for temporarily getting the cat situated leave the food out.
 

livelovepurr

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One big advantage of scheduled feeding is you will know sooner if your cat is off his food. This is often the first sign of illness.
Definitely this. You would not believe how many clients we get in the office because their cat is very ill and they can't tell us whether it's eating or not.

And I recently dealt with a foreign body in one of my cats. The first odd sign was that he was not waiting for his food at feeding time. I took him to my clinic that same day and had bloodwork done on him. And later that evening when he vomited up all of his food from the morning later that night (I wouldn't have known it was from the morning if food was sitting out all day)I brought him back in the next day to have radiographs done on him (after staying up with him all night, monitoring him, ready to take him to am emergency clinic if I needed to).
 

rubysmama

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I just came across this thread and am so happy to see you decided to keep Sumo. He seems to be settling in just fine and it's quite possible once his hormones settle down he won't be itching to go out anymore.

My adopted cat, Ruby, was a stray for a while, and she never shows any interest in going outside.

As for eating, it took Ruby many months before she would not eat every speck of food in her dish at one time. In fact, the first time I saw her walk away from her dish with food still in it, I thought something was wrong with the food.    So it will probably take a while before Sumo realizes if he leaves food in his dish it will still be there when he comes back later.

As for giving Sumo a bath, cats are generally "self-cleaning", so unless he gets into something that needs your help cleaning, you can probably leave his bathing to him.   You haven't mentioned if his urine is strong smelling right now, but if it is, I'm pretty certain you'll see the odor settle down now that he's been neutered.

Good luck. And congratulations on becoming a cat owner. 
 
 

orange&white

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As for giving Sumo a bath, cats are generally "self-cleaning", so unless he gets into something that needs your help cleaning, you can probably leave his bathing to him.   You haven't mentioned if his urine is strong smelling right now, but if it is, I'm pretty certain you'll see the odor settle down now that he's been neutered.
I also wondered why you want to give Sumo a bath.  The only time I've ever bathed my cats was if they had fleas...and with them being indoor cats that is a very rare event.  I've had many cats who didn't have a bath their entire life.
 

msaimee

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I think every cat is different and every situation is different, so one size does not fit all. I have been leaving high quality dry food out for my cats 24/7 for the past 15 years, and only one of my cats have had a weight problem. If you play with your cats, and if they have toys, and they are active, then obesity should not be an issue. Also, some people like myself live alone and work swing shifts and sometimes double shifts, so a consistent feeding time is not always possible. I want to point out also that there is a very big difference between a domesticated cat that has been raised indoors since kittenhood and a rescued feral or stray cat. Rescued cats usually have issues about food if they have experienced hunger or starvation. One of my rescued cats was racing around the house stealing butter and loaves of bread and jumping into the garbage can for months after I took him in, even though I had dry food out all of the time. He had been malnourished most of his life due to parasites and fleas. He finally settled down after a few months, when he realized that there was always going to be food available. I swore when I rescued each cat that they would never have a hungry moment or an anxious moment regarding food ever again in their lives. So that is the perspective that I'm coming from, and I feel pretty strongly about it. But as I said, each cat and each situation is different. If a cat does have an obesity issue, then gradually switching to a high-quality low fat cat food and increasing play activity with the cat is a good solution. By the way, my cats tend to live long lives--my Leo is 17 and going strong, so I must be doing something right :)
 
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IndyJones

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Well on the other end I remember we used to leave food out all the time but then our cat got sick and because we didn't know if she'd been off her food the vet had trouble diagnosing her. Also we had problems with rodents and ants in the house yuck!
 

msaimee

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I'm attuned to each of my five cat's eating patterns, what and when they eat, their likes and dislikes, and if there is any gastrointestinal issue. Maybe I'm a bit too obsessive of them, and too much of a mama to them because I don't have human kids lol. But as I said, every cat and every living situation is different, and one size does not fit all. I have never had rodents or ants inside my house. The OP was asking for advice, and we've expressed our views based on our experiences, and I am sure that he will figure out what is best for his new kitty's needs :) I didn't intend to get into a debate about free feeding versus timed feeding, my point was that in the case of rescued ferals and strays, it is often in the best interest of the cat to allow free feeding to reduce anxiety that is often ingrained into them regarding finding food to survive. If weight gain occurs overtime, adjustments can be made.
 
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orange&white

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I'm going to change the subject slightly to note that reading the title of this thread today "Can an older male cat adjust to life indoors?", seems like a silly question less than two weeks after the first post.  Looking at those beautiful photos of such a sweet, relaxed and happy kitty makes me smile from ear to ear. 
  What a terrific cat you took into your home.

It's really heartwarming for you, Mubin and for Sumo who you saved and are offering such a great life.  As they say 'round these parts, "You done good!"
 
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