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On Mon, 29 Sep 2003 22:55:08 -0700, Marek Williams
wrote: On Mon, 29 Sep 2003 22:32:01 GMT, Robert Casey dijo: Cats do need a small amount of veggie material. Not a lot, but some. One of the big brands of dry cat food are selling an "indoor" formula so our cat won't eat the house plants. Well, yeah. But not cooked onion. Does he let you pick him up yet? When a good time comes, take him upstairs for the night. It's too far from his kitty door. It's really quite a long way for him to get outside if he has to go. I could put a litter box up there, but this evening he pooped on the rug again -- right while I was sitting here at the computer. I just smelled it, got up, walked out of the computer room and there he was, just walking away from it. He had been lying out there for the past couple of hours. Looks like he just got the urge, stood up and did it right where he was. I used a pretty angry tone of voice and I think he realized I was not happy. Not sure if he'll connect the anger with what he did. I'm becoming really concerned. How do you housetrain an old cat who may have never lived indoors? He has never used the litterbox I set out for him. Maybe re-training is in order. If you can pick him up, carry him to then litter pan and place him in it. Then take his paw and make scratching motions with it. Place your hand on his lower back and gently push it into sitting position. On the other hand if he is becoming incontinent -- then he cannot help it. My Siamese lost control of the urine shortly before her death. I wish you good luck. It is hard to see a loved pet fail. MLB |
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On Tue, 30 Sep 2003 11:46:43 -0600, m. L. Briggs
dijo: Maybe re-training is in order. If you can pick him up, carry him to then litter pan and place him in it. Then take his paw and make scratching motions with it. Place your hand on his lower back and gently push it into sitting position. I haven't gotten to the point where I can pick him up yet. It's taken me two months to get to the level of trust where he wants to be petted. On the other hand if he is becoming incontinent -- then he cannot help it. My Siamese lost control of the urine shortly before her death. I wish you good luck. It is hard to see a loved pet fail. He's not incontinent. I think he may have some gastric problems, but not real incontinence. The problem is that it doesn't seem to occur to him that indoors is not appropriate. Even when I see him poop outdoors he just stands up and does it, then walks a few feet away and lies back down again. He doesn't ever cover it. I have discovered something else, though. Today I was driving home and I came around the corner where the lady who was feeding him before lives. Sure enough, there was Old George, by her side door. I knew he was still going down there. It's like he spends half his time at my house and half at hers. I proceeded up the street to my house, pulled in the driveway and immediately walked down the street. When I walked around the corner he was eating something. I walked over to see and he was eating spaghetti out of a dish. The lady was sweeping her porch at the time. She said she had given him the spaghetti, but it was the first time she had given him anything in weeks. I suspect that is not completely true. I bet that is where he got whatever it was that had the onion in it the other day. It remains a mystery to me why he eats that kind of food at her house when his food dish at my house has real cat food in it. The only thing I can think of is that he has lived on stuff like that all his life, so maybe that is what he thinks food is supposed to taste like. The lady is really nice. She is old, but not at all forgetful or feeble-minded. I can't really be cross with her, since she did really save him from starvation. She said she wasn't going to give him anything more to eat, and I hope she sticks to it. It's that kind of garbage food (for a cat) that is giving him intestinal upsets and perhaps making it harder for him to get outdoors in time. At this point I think the problem is half from the trash he is eating and half from his failure to feel shame about going indoors. Remember, when I started with him a few months ago he was mostly feral and had spent most of his life outdoors, living on handouts and whatever he could scrounge. He may never have lived indoors before. I think he will be more reliable about going outdoors if he doesn't feel the urgency because he has the runs. (The three incidents in the past 24 hours were a bit loose, although not completely runny.) As for putting dirt on top of the litter box, I already did that, but he still has never used it. So far he has pooped indoors five times (three in the last 24 hours and the previous two several days earlier), and has peed twice, also several days earlier. All incidents have been in the walkway area where I go through the living room to the computer room, about four meters long. I'm going to get a different litter. The kind I bought originally was just whatever was cheap at the store, and later I added the dirt on top of it. I read about a kind of litter that supposedly attracts cats in another post recently, but I can't find the post now. Does anyone know what the brand name is? When I purchase it I'll fill the litterbox with it and place it in the middle of that area. In the meantime, the carpet in the living room is old and will be replaced sometime next year, so it's not a total catastrophe. And I have the carpet shampooer out now, filled with water and ready to go. I'm prepared for the next accident. -- Bogus e-mail address, but I read this newsgroup regularly, so reply here. |
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