- Joined
- Aug 22, 2012
- Messages
- 66
- Purraise
- 12
I have a cat that has always lived with me in an apartment.
He has always been very curious, brave and adventurous - and was always very, very, very keen to go outside.
Well, I recently was invited by a company to move to the UK (that I accepted) and, for these initial times, rented a furnished top floor of a 2 floor house (actually, the only one who accepted the cat).
The house has a small backyard in the back, and ... now he DEMANDS to go outside. He whines very loud and insistently, scratching the door - no one here knows what peace is anymore.
As he is "forced" to remain inside, he does all sort of horrific things, like scratching the carpets and throwing things off to the floor (he is not stupid, he knows he is behaving bad, that's why he runs away from me right after) - I already had to pay for some small damages in the house.
Last week I took him for a walk and he ran away from me. Managed to eat several plants and had a terrible intoxication that lasted for almost 4 days (intense vomiting and diarrhea).
Early this week, again, he ran from me, climbed a tree and jumped to the other side of the fence, into the neighbors backyard - that has no trees (so he wouldn't be able to return to my backyard) and has no fences separating to a very busy road. I was very anxious and went to the neighbor begging him to allow me to get the cat before he decided to go to the road (he doesn't know how dangerous cars are!!).
I am very worried about this behavior of him running away from me and ignoring my calls - this is not typical of him. It's obvious that he loves the outdoors. On the other hand, I don't know what to do anymore. He is not giving me any other option, but allowing him to go outside and hope for the best.
The owners of the house are tired of hearing his constant whining (while I spend the day out, working). Today they said that he is behaving like a cat, and that I am being unreasonable and cruel "because cats are not meant to be 'prisoners' inside houses" (they obviously regret the decision of allowing me to bring the cat).
I need ideas.
Before you suggest me to "spend time with him", I bought a harness to take him for a walk for more than 1 hour, right after work, everyday... just for him to immediately start whining when we return home.
I can try to play with him, but he will lose interest in less than 5 minutes and start whining because going outside is so much more exciting.
Truly, my life now revolves around two things: Job and Cat. I don't have time for anything else. And that's not even the problem... It's so frustrating because, despite all my efforts, no one, in this story, is happy.
He has always been very curious, brave and adventurous - and was always very, very, very keen to go outside.
Well, I recently was invited by a company to move to the UK (that I accepted) and, for these initial times, rented a furnished top floor of a 2 floor house (actually, the only one who accepted the cat).
The house has a small backyard in the back, and ... now he DEMANDS to go outside. He whines very loud and insistently, scratching the door - no one here knows what peace is anymore.
As he is "forced" to remain inside, he does all sort of horrific things, like scratching the carpets and throwing things off to the floor (he is not stupid, he knows he is behaving bad, that's why he runs away from me right after) - I already had to pay for some small damages in the house.
Last week I took him for a walk and he ran away from me. Managed to eat several plants and had a terrible intoxication that lasted for almost 4 days (intense vomiting and diarrhea).
Early this week, again, he ran from me, climbed a tree and jumped to the other side of the fence, into the neighbors backyard - that has no trees (so he wouldn't be able to return to my backyard) and has no fences separating to a very busy road. I was very anxious and went to the neighbor begging him to allow me to get the cat before he decided to go to the road (he doesn't know how dangerous cars are!!).
I am very worried about this behavior of him running away from me and ignoring my calls - this is not typical of him. It's obvious that he loves the outdoors. On the other hand, I don't know what to do anymore. He is not giving me any other option, but allowing him to go outside and hope for the best.
The owners of the house are tired of hearing his constant whining (while I spend the day out, working). Today they said that he is behaving like a cat, and that I am being unreasonable and cruel "because cats are not meant to be 'prisoners' inside houses" (they obviously regret the decision of allowing me to bring the cat).
I need ideas.
Before you suggest me to "spend time with him", I bought a harness to take him for a walk for more than 1 hour, right after work, everyday... just for him to immediately start whining when we return home.
I can try to play with him, but he will lose interest in less than 5 minutes and start whining because going outside is so much more exciting.
Truly, my life now revolves around two things: Job and Cat. I don't have time for anything else. And that's not even the problem... It's so frustrating because, despite all my efforts, no one, in this story, is happy.