Lost cat

[bengal lover]

VERY INTERESTING idea, with the vanilla extract by the tails so all the cats have the same scent. I feel bad for poor Snickers! The little one hissed at him a couple of times and the older one hisses at him and runs away. It's like you GUYS! The poor cat has been freezing and starving for 12 days, give him a break already!

I noticed the tips of Snickers' ears are scabby ... I think they got a little frostbitten. ( He's sleeping a LOT still, but I read that is common after such trauma, and he does have a pretty bad upper respiratory infection that he's dealing with too. He's coming out of his shell a little more; he actually chased the new kitty for a second. He also came into the living room to sit for a while and then slept on his favorite pillow on the chair; it seemed he wanted to be out by us for a while. The rest of the day, he slept in the computer room on top of his perch (we covered him with a warm towel) and he didn't wake at all ... he felt secure even with us out of the room. We had to wake him after about 3 hours to give him more water and feed him. He twitches a LOT while he sleeps; I hope he doesn't have nightmares forever about ... whatever. Anyway, Day 2 went really well in general, and I have to keep pinching myself to make sure he's really here. My husband reminded me how lucky we are ... he said just think, 2 days ago did we even guess we would be here watching him sleep? NOT AT ALL!

Hang onto your kitties, everyone! Not all of them come back home within a short time and not all of them can find their way back and not all of them get into a trap and wait for it to close. Some little devils break all the rules just to remind us how much we love them.

 

[jennyr]

I've been following this thread but not posted before. I am so happy for you - I know too well the trauma of a lost cat. And they do change outside - they can be right in front of you under a bush and will not come out. If only cats could tell you what happened to them - my Wellington vanished for two days last October, and came home injured and in shock. And my friend's cat has just returned after being missing for 8 days, seemingly unharmed in any way. But I hope you really enjoy your weekend with Snickers and that you post lots about him and the other cats on the forums.

 

[catsknowme]

WOO-HOO!!!:

Words cannot express how happy I am for you & Snickers

May you all be blessed, including the strangers whom you've met during this ordeal

 

[bengal lover]

Oh my! I took a gift certificate to the people who found Snickers and talked to the man a little more. He said by his estimation, Snickers had to have been in his garage for 7 or 8 days!!! No wonder he got so thin and dehydrated. He had no access to food or water for over a week!

Awww, I can't think if he was better off IN there or OUT!

Also ... Simba STILL won't go near Snickers. He comes close, smells him and RUNS out of the room. What is up with that?? I don't smell anything on him at all....he smelled like gas/oil when he first got home but that is gone now. What should I do?

Snickers is still lethargic and sleeping all the time. He eats and drinks regularly, then heads back to the perch to sleep some more. It's only been 2 days as of right now that he's been back and I know it will take time for him to build himself back up ... but I hope his personality isn't changed forever. He used to follow us everywhere and greet us at the door, etc.

Also ... he urinated once yesterday morning and hasn't urinated since and hasn't pooped either. He's been fed lots of water and food in the 2 days since he got home so I'm kind of worried about that now. Do you think it's anything to worry about?

 

[carolina]

I think you should call the vet just to be on the safe side...
Considering all the trauma he has been through, IMO this is normal behavior - he is adapting back to living at home. My cats when they first came home didn't pee or poop for almost 48 hours either... They barely ate... So he is doing better than that.
Also, it might take a little while for the other kitty to get used to him, sometimes a whole new formal introduction is needed after that amount of time has gone by; if you see hissing, fighting and stress, you might consider doing that.
A Feliway plug-in spray might be on order as well...
Aside from that, I would just make sure to feed him as much wet food as you can; I would even consider talking to the vet about getting some Hills A/D or at least some canned kitten food, which is more nutrient/calorie packed.

 

[bengal lover]

Aghghghgh! As soon as I post something, Snickers corrects himself ... he has now used the litter box just fine. Whew!

He came out and spent more social time with us today so I know he will be ok. He watched the new kitty for a while, even got excited and joined in some play for a minute or so, and then laid down and watched him some more. He looked out the kitchen window for a while, one of his favorite pastimes from before. Then he tried to jump on the dining table and fell (awwww .... ( ) So he is definitely still very weak. I'll let him take his time gaining strength and in the meantime, we are pampering him like crazy and just enjoying having him back.

Thanks all! I will definitely get one of those scented plug-in things ... looks like it helps in a lot of ways.

 

[esrandall2000]

Please keep us updated on Snicker's progress. I am overcome with joy and that he is home and safe! Every time you post indicating that he's progressing in his recovery, it makes my day. More vibes for a full recovery

 

[killerapple]

I wonder if you should give him a bath? And you may want to do the scent swapping (rubbing him with a towel and putting that towel by the food area so skeptical kitties can associate his scent with yummies). Maybe the vanilla extract at base of tail will help too. Feliway is great - definitely cheaper to buy on Amazon than in a pet store FYI.

He sounds like he's recovering well. What a lucky kitty!

Keep us all posted!

 

[bengal lover]

I thought about the bath option and even looked online for the best way to go about it ... I don't bathe the cats, and I don't think I want to take the chance of traumatizing him by trying it now. I did see several suggestions for variations instead of a full immersion ... like just using a cloth, and one link said to avoid trauma just sprinkle cornstarch powder on him and let him groom himself? Not sure if that is a good suggestion or not? Scent swapping would be the other alternative, or the vanilla extract. Or just wait it out ... the cat that is being persnickety was also being a brat with the new kitty too, and within 2-3 days they were best buds. He (Simba ... the persnickety cat) has trouble adjusting to EVERYTHING it seems and I don't know if I want to traumatize Snickers to accommodate yet another bratty behavior from Simba. LOL We love him to death but he's the biggest baby ever. And he's the largest, heaviest, strongest cat in the house! Here a little 5-pound kitty (Freddie, our newest) traumatized him.

Thanks for the suggestions and advice, as always!

 

[bengal lover]

Oh! I hope everyone can see these photos from my facebook ... these are pictures of Freddie (new kitty, 6 months old), Snickers since he's been back, and Simba. All pics were taken in the past 2 days. Snickers is 2 years old, Simba is 3 years old. I tried to get pictures showing Snickers' recovery so far and will update them as the days go by.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...6&id=504598411

 

[GoldyCat]

Originally Posted by Bengal Lover

Oh! I hope everyone can see these photos from my facebook ... these are pictures of Freddie (new kitty, 6 months old), Snickers since he's been back, and Simba. All pics were taken in the past 2 days. Snickers is 2 years old, Simba is 3 years old. I tried to get pictures showing Snickers' recovery so far and will update them as the days go by.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...6&id=504598411

Nope, can't see them. Facebook wants me to log in, and since I don't have an account (and have no intention of starting one) I can't get in.

 

[katkisses]

I can see them (I have an account). He is CUTE! All of your babies are so adorable! I sent you a friend request, but forgot to mention TCS, lol, my name is Amelia.

I hope everything returns to normal soon! Poor baby, I can't imagine 8 days with no food or water.

 

[bengal lover]

I accepted a friend request ... I got another one that I didn't recognize so I ignored, then I realized what "TCS" was and so I went and requested them as a friend because I realized that's who was friending me. Sorry about that, accept please! ;o)

I am going to put the pics up somewhere else on the web so non-facebookers can see them. I'll give you the link here when I'm done, but it won't be until tonight because I need to get to work now.

Snickers was up when I got up this morning .... he was only walking around instead of running, but he wasn't interested in me picking him up because he wanted to watch the kitty and just walk around and be a little more normal. So that's a good sign! I think he's going to have a great day.

 

[killerapple]

Awwwww those pictures were adorable!!!!! What beautiful kitties! My Batman likes to drink out of the sink as well

About the bath, I don't really know. I did wonder if that would stress him out more. You may want to just call up the vet and ask about the dry bath. Or maybe they'll work things out on their own.

Or you may want to post that question on a different part of the forum about Cat Behavior and see what people say.

So glad to hear Snickers is doing well!!!! What a little sweetie. Keep us posted!

 

[GoldyCat]

I just read on another thread that a bengal breeder doesn't bathe his cats before a show. He just wipes them down with a chamois. You might try that with all your cats. It could clean up Snickers and make them all smell the same.

 

[bengal lover]

Thanks again! I may try the chamois thing if Simba doesn't come around soon. Today, he was actually in the same room with Snickers several times ... so he seems to be letting his guard down in the way he normally does around a new cat. I have to remember that to him, right now Snickers is a new cat. And Snickers? Completely unaffected. The new kitty didn't phase him in the least and neither's does Simba's ridiculous behavior. LOL! This is all actually kind of cute and I'm sure I will laugh at it some day.

 

[killerapple]

You may want to give the vanilla extract a try - do a search on the forums for "vanilla trick" and you'll see a lot of threads that mention it.

Things do sound well. Must be sooooooo nice having all your kitties together and safe!!!!!

 

[bengal lover]

Tried the vanilla extract thing; didn't phase anyone. So my husband bought this Natural Chemistry "Waterless Bath" spray from the Humane Society. It's a gentle formula spray that you are supposed to spray on the cat, then towel dry. I didn't want to do that directly on Snickers because we sometimes spray him with water to stop him from doing something and I didn't want him to think he was being punished. So I sprayed it onto paper toweling, then rubbed him down with it. That didn't work either. Simba starts howling when Snickers gets within a foot of him. I don't know what his problem is. The baby is fine with Snickers. I don't smell anything on him. I don't know if it is "outside smells" that Simba doesn't like, or garage smells, or what.??? Either way, it's not something a human can smell. Snickers has been home 9 days now! Simba needs to get over this!

Snickers is visibly beefed up quite a bit. He is getting his old personality back, although one of his main personality quirks was torturing Simba (lol) ... sometimes they would sleep curled up together and groom each other, and other times Snickers would play wrestle with Simba and Simba would be fine at first but always end up screaming and we had to separate them. Anyway, Snickers only has to go NEAR Simba right now and Simba screams. I feel kind of bad for Snickers; his first few days home, he was treated like an outcast!

Any more suggestions?

 

[jennyr]

Simba may just be terribly upset that the torturer is back, after he had thought he was gone for good! And he is trying to make him go away again. But I am so glad that SNickers is obviously recovering well. Wellington behaved very strangely for a couple of weeks after he vanished, so I think Snickers is doing well.

 

[killerapple]

Hmm, you may want to post this question in the Behavior part of the forum and see if you get some advice. Good luck!! Glad things are going well though otherwise!