Abandoned Older Kitty

[homoki2002]

We have a white male (I think), an older cat we call Snowy who has been around for several years. He is an outdoor cat. Last year his family moved and abandoned him. He is “street smart” but is also very cuddly and loving once he trusts you. My husband cuddles him every afternoon on the patio. We put up a warm shelter for him for winter and in very hot weather we wipe him down with a cool rag. We keep him fed, watered, brushed and give him love.

He’s used to being able to go in a house and he'd love to come in but we have a 3 yr old little tabby girl who is very high strung. We adopted her from a local shelter at 9 months and she had already had a litter of kittens. She’s getting better and more trusting so we don’t want to do anything uncomfortable for her. Also, Snowy seems to be healthy but we don’t want to expose him to our girl in case there are issues we don’t know about.

Has anyone else had a similar experience? Just looking for thoughts or ideas.

 

[aztrish]

Hi there! First off - you are doing such wonderful things for this kitty! We have had a very similar experience actually. Back in 2013, we rescued a feral kitten that had started coming to feed with my little fixed colony at our house. He was no more than a couple of months old when he first started coming around. We finally brought him inside when he was about eight months because he wasn't doing well outdoors and we figured out a way to keep him separated from our cat-hating dogs. Fast forward a few years later, a gray tabby shows up and starts eating with our ferals, we figure out she's tame after awhile, when she starts meowing to come inside. We were very concerned about whether or not Chopper would tolerate another cat, whether we could handle another cat along with our two (then still living) cat-hating dogs, whether she was healthy, etc. We finally brought her into our garage, kept her separated while she underwent vet visit and got used to us. Then we started scent swapping with her and Chopper. We would do site swapping - we carried her into his cat room, and brought him into the garage - to get them used to each other's scents as well. After awhile, we got a large, enclosed pet play pen, and we would put one of them inside while letting the other roam around and see them. Finally, we let them be together for short periods, building on that. There was still a lot of hissing and a bit of swatting and that sort of thing, but soon they were friendly. They've never been BFFs, but they have cuddled in the past, and tolerated each other very very well. I highly recommend giving it a try. Animals are very resilient and adaptable when set up for success.

 

[IzzysfureverMom]

You are awesome! It is so amazing what we can do when we care and are willing to try.

 

[fluffpaws]

I would take him in a heartbeat
He looks just like my Snowman who crossed over the Rainbow Bridge last October I miss him so.
He was also an outside cat but he was feral . He had been in the neighborhood for a long time.I walked every day and he became my constant shadow, spent every night sleeping in my garage for 1 year, last 6 years in my bed with me. He was 15 years old when I lost him to kidney disease.
Please don't pass this boy up, he will be forever great full and you will have one of the best companions you ever could find.

 

[fluffpaws]

You asked for ideas. If you have a spare room that you could set him up in to keep him separated from your resident cat,you can work on gradually introducing them.There is a lot of good advice from very caring and experienced members who can help you with the introduction process.I would try to get him to a vet to be checked before starting the introduction with your resident cat, Do you know if he"s been neutered?
Do you have a garage or any enclosed patio where you could keep him in at night until you decide what to do with him?

 

[tabbytom]

We have a white male (I think), an older cat we call Snowy who has been around for several years. He is an outdoor cat. Last year his family moved and abandoned him. He is “street smart” but is also very cuddly and loving once he trusts you. My husband cuddles him every afternoon on the patio. We put up a warm shelter for him for winter and in very hot weather we wipe him down with a cool rag. We keep him fed, watered, brushed and give him love.

He’s used to being able to go in a house and he'd love to come in but we have a 3 yr old little tabby girl who is very high strung. We adopted her from a local shelter at 9 months and she had already had a litter of kittens. She’s getting better and more trusting so we don’t want to do anything uncomfortable for her. Also, Snowy seems to be healthy but we don’t want to expose him to our girl in case there are issues we don’t know about.

Has anyone else had a similar experience? Just looking for thoughts or ideas.

Thank you for taking care of this kitty. Since he has trusted you and your husband, it'll be easier to get him to continue to stay on.

Not to jeopardize the trust of your other kitty, I read hat you've put up an outdoor shelter for Snowy and that's great and let him live in there and slowly introduce your other kitty to Snowy. If it doesn't work well with your other kitty in the later stage if you try to bring Snowy in, at least Snowy have a home to stay in the outdoor shelter under you care.

Even though Snowy looks healthy, I would suggest that he be brought to the vet for a check just in case the previous owner did not bring him in for any checks and also good to get him neutered if it is not done yet.

Do keep us posted.

 

[homoki2002]

Hi there! First off - you are doing such wonderful things for this kitty! We have had a very similar experience actually. Back in 2013, we rescued a feral kitten that had started coming to feed with my little fixed colony at our house. He was no more than a couple of months old when he first started coming around. We finally brought him inside when he was about eight months because he wasn't doing well outdoors and we figured out a way to keep him separated from our cat-hating dogs. Fast forward a few years later, a gray tabby shows up and starts eating with our ferals, we figure out she's tame after awhile, when she starts meowing to come inside. We were very concerned about whether or not Chopper would tolerate another cat, whether we could handle another cat along with our two (then still living) cat-hating dogs, whether she was healthy, etc. We finally brought her into our garage, kept her separated while she underwent vet visit and got used to us. Then we started scent swapping with her and Chopper. We would do site swapping - we carried her into his cat room, and brought him into the garage - to get them used to each other's scents as well. After awhile, we got a large, enclosed pet play pen, and we would put one of them inside while letting the other roam around and see them. Finally, we let them be together for short periods, building on that. There was still a lot of hissing and a bit of swatting and that sort of thing, but soon they were friendly. They've never been BFFs, but they have cuddled in the past, and tolerated each other very very well. I highly recommend giving it a try. Animals are very resilient and adaptable when set up for success.

Thank you for info. Still not sure what we'll do but good to hear of how others handled this kind of thing.