circa 16 Jun 2004 00:50:58 -0700, in rec.pets.cats.health+behav, Eden
) said,
Thank you all for such great advice!!!
Yes, I feel horribly guilty about taking her.
Don't. The fact that the woman who gave her to you was so insistent
upon doing so probably means that the kitten is better off with you,
sadly.
The mother was at the
house when we took her, even though the woman was insisting it was
fine. (We should have trusted our instincts and what we read on the
internet.) That said, upon taking her to the vet (I thought she had
conjunctivitis) I found out that she had cat flu and lots of fleas, so
we're taking care of that now (I hope she doesn't remember that I'm
the one giving her the drops and the eye ointment!) Part of me feels
like we should take her back there for a few weeks, and then the other
part of me thinks at least she's healthier with us.
Maybe you could "borrow" the mamacat since this was the last kitten?
Just an off-the-wall thought. :-)
I have followed your advice and taken the towel out. She's clever -
she's going in more and more to use the litter box, and if I see her
in the middle of something, I immediately take her there. She even
tried to cover up her poop!!!
Good, that means her natural instincts are working.
She slept with me last night (my husband's away and she's jumped the
guards we've already set up) and we got up at 4 in the morning to go
to the litterbox and she did her business. So I think she'll get
there in the end.
I'm sure she will.
One further question though - we have a cat flap and our last cat (who
we only had while he was very old) used to use it and do his business
outside. Will teaching mimi how to use the litterbox prevent her from
ultimately learning to do everything outside? And how old should a
cat be when you teach her? We've purposely kept the litterbox close
to this flap.
I've not known of a cat to refuse to go to the bathroom outside due
to being litter trained as a kitten. :-)
Laura
--
Experience is the name every one gives to their mistakes.
-Oscar Wilde
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