Well, I feel like I have lost a battle, and a battle it certainly was.
After all this time I have conceded and am allowing Jasper to be out once a day.
He's out for about an hour or so. I don't feed him before he goes so he won't stay out there, although he has never stayed out for very long. That's the bad news.
The good news is that my neighbor is being very cooperative and puts her kitty in the house so he and Jasper don't fight. We did have one mishap yesterday but it was only for a few seconds and no one got hurt. Over all, it's working about as good as it can. I send my neighbor a text (she gave me her number) when I get home from work letting her know I'm letting him out. She gets her kitty inside for us.
This is about the best I can do. There was a tiny bit of marking Saturday morning but other than that "he's been clean
".
I really wanted this to work, to make him an indoor only cat, but it's just not going to. He's been out there too long and it's just in his blood. I do realize the dangers. Believe me I do. I just can't stand the urine anymore. And Jasper was so unhappy that I wondered what I was doing to him. I ended up having to toss a $400 area rug. I guess I should feel lucky that's all I have lost in all of this.
The other thing is I have taken him off the Prozac completely now. I swear it was making that cat aggressive. This has been a long road. I know it's not the best scenario but hey, I'm an imperfect person with a cat that has to roam. I can say that I will never adopt another outdoor cat. That much I am sure of.
After all this time I have conceded and am allowing Jasper to be out once a day.
He's out for about an hour or so. I don't feed him before he goes so he won't stay out there, although he has never stayed out for very long. That's the bad news.
The good news is that my neighbor is being very cooperative and puts her kitty in the house so he and Jasper don't fight. We did have one mishap yesterday but it was only for a few seconds and no one got hurt. Over all, it's working about as good as it can. I send my neighbor a text (she gave me her number) when I get home from work letting her know I'm letting him out. She gets her kitty inside for us.
This is about the best I can do. There was a tiny bit of marking Saturday morning but other than that "he's been clean
I really wanted this to work, to make him an indoor only cat, but it's just not going to. He's been out there too long and it's just in his blood. I do realize the dangers. Believe me I do. I just can't stand the urine anymore. And Jasper was so unhappy that I wondered what I was doing to him. I ended up having to toss a $400 area rug. I guess I should feel lucky that's all I have lost in all of this.
The other thing is I have taken him off the Prozac completely now. I swear it was making that cat aggressive. This has been a long road. I know it's not the best scenario but hey, I'm an imperfect person with a cat that has to roam. I can say that I will never adopt another outdoor cat. That much I am sure of.
