Close Call

Mister is the nieghbors cat, who spends part of every day over at out house, especially mealtime. Well last night my husband came home and found a fox had backed Mister up to a tree and was going to munch him. My husband chased away the fox and made Mister spend the night in the house with us. Now I'm concerned what to do about Mister each night, if he is unsupervised he claws the couch and sprays in different parts of the house, but on the other hand I don't want anything to happen to him. I knew we had skunks in the neighborhood but I never imagined a fox in my front yard.

If you clean all the areas that have been sprayed, then rub a damp cloth on him and then all of those areas daily, he should not spray them. Around the windows, pieces of furnature, counters..wherever he sprays or hangs out. He needs to feel secure as well, so if you have any open pet doors to let him in/out that other animals or cats can use.. secure them. That should help some at least.. hopefully.

I don't suppose you can get him fixed?

If he is not fixed his spraying will be hard to stand. They sell special cleaners that clean this smell, nothing else will work. I know it is sold at petsmart and petco, it has enzymes in it that will take away this smell. A cattree will help with the scratching, and also scratching pads. Feliway will also deter him from scratching in places you don't want him to scratch. I am glad your hubby got him in time. I hope you can find a way to keep him safe.

He is already fixed, that is the one thing that the neighbors did for him that they haven't done for any of their other cats. I clean up where sprays daily but I think he is feeling more comfortable in my house now and wants mark it as his. When I got up this morning he had sprayed my computer screen. I have completely vaccinated him because I know his owners haven't, he has shown up on 2 separate occasions with abcesses that I treated because his owners never would. My cats are strictly indoor cats, so once he is in there is no way out unless someone lets him out, but after awhile he starts yelling to go back outside so it gets kind of annoying.

I also have 3 Feliway diffusers in place throughout the house.

Well Mister showed up for dinner last night and when he was done he immediately asked to go out again (he usaully stays awhile to chat and cuddle). I asked him if he was planning on going straight home before the fox came around, he assured me he was so I let him out. I kept checking outside last night and never saw anything and Mister was there to greet me this morning like always. I am hoping that he realized how close he came and is taking some precautions, I know at the neighbors house there is a cat door for him to go in and out as he pleases, so I hope he is playing it safe.

I did think about going over to the neighbors and warning them about the fox because she has more cats than I have been able to count, but I don't think it would do any good. I think she knows alot of her cat disappearances lately have been because of me spaying and neutering her cats and finding homes for the one I can. My calico used to be her cat, but I don't think she knows I have her yet since Cali stays strictly indoors now.

When you bring Mister in for the night, can you close him in 1 room, like a bathroom or laundry?? That would preclude him from scratching furniture and spraying other rooms.

Unfortunatley the only door in my house that shuts and latches is the door the garage, though I do have a large dog airline kennel that I am going to set up for him in the basement, thank god my daughter is a sound sleep or he would keep her up at night. It is very fun to explain to company that the bathroom door shuts but does not latch and the cats feel the need to talk with anybody in the bathroom, so they will barge right in.