Simba now lives in the kitchen

[les26]

Awhile ago Simba, our guy who we found his records for and saw that he is between 20-22 not 24 like I thought (but that's still up there!) just started to hang out in the kitchen. At first we thought it was just so he could see when we would come in and give him food, but he then started to hang out in a little nook under the counter, there is a little "cave" area and he goes in there and peeps out at us, sleeps in there, only goes into the other rooms to use the litter boxes. Ironically when we brought him in 14 years ago, he stayed in there for about a month before he got the courage to join the rest in the whole house, but now for some reason he has taken to this, comes out when he sees us to drive us nuts meowing for food, but this is his thing now. Deb said "I wonder if something scared him?", but we don't think so, unless it has something to do with us suddenly having to put Stanley down on 3/31? He doesn't seem in pain, seems okay, eats a lot because I'm sure his thyroid is off, plus he's old, but that is what he wants to do now so we let him do it, not much we can do about it.

I know Di & Bob said one of their cats did this for about the last year of his life, does anyone else have an elderly cat that "lives" in the kitchen?!

 

[Alldara]

Has it gotten warm? The cool floor.of the kitchen can atteact cats in hot weather

 

[les26]

Has it gotten warm? The cool floor.of the kitchen can atteact cats in hot weather

The weather here in Pennsylvania has been all over the place! Two weeks ago we broke a record when it hit 87 degrees, then it was cooler out and everything in between! If his thryoid is overactive I would tend to believe that he likes it cooler, and in fact I remember last year he would go down into the room where our woodstove is and lay on the bricks under the stove, and we thought that was odd! Forgot about that, thanks!!

 

[les26]

Well about 15 minutes ago I had the door to the basement open because Sylvester and Snickers went down there and I was seeing if they were ready to come up, and all of a sudden Simba walked over, looked down, bolted down about halfway, stopped and looked around and continued into a room down there! All I could think of was "how are we going to get him upstairs again?", so I told Deb, we were going to work on getting him but I heard "boom, boom, boom", opened the door and there he was! He came up and went to the litter box, so we didn't have to play "hide and seek" with him lol!!

And for a little over a week now we have been giving him a probiotic/digestive enzyme powder, and he seems to be able to take it and it seems to be helping him, it says it is good for immune too.

Wow...

 

[tabbytom]

unless it has something to do with us suddenly having to put Stanley down on 3/31?

Could he be mourning for Stanley?

do-cats-mourn

 

[les26]

Could he be mourning for Stanley?

do-cats-mourn

I was talking to a client today who knows of our situation, she is a dog lover but she also said "he might be upset over what happened to Stanley", even though the two of them were not close, he still feels it and knows that something tragic happened, and as we all know they can pick up on when their owners are upset, so this might be a part of it!

After his excursion down to the basement yesterday, he now stays in the kitchen but does NOT go back into his little "nook", and Deb said he followed her into the living room today as she was eating something and he wanted to see what it was, so maybe he will once again start to roam the house like before.

It is strange, and only he knows why he is doing it, but the sudden tragic loss of Stanley I'm sure is a part of it!

 

[tabbytom]

I was talking to a client today who knows of our situation, she is a dog lover but she also said "he might be upset over what happened to Stanley", even though the two of them were not close, he still feels it and knows that something tragic happened, and as we all know they can pick up on when their owners are upset, so this might be a part of it!

After his excursion down to the basement yesterday, he now stays in the kitchen but does NOT go back into his little "nook", and Deb said he followed her into the living room today as she was eating something and he wanted to see what it was, so maybe he will once again start to roam the house like before.

It is strange, and only he knows why he is doing it, but the sudden tragic loss of Stanley I'm sure is a part of it!

Yea, cat senses are higher than hoomans and also they can feel our emotions and my guess is that he knows that Stanley is not around for the normal reasons and that is probably the reason that he is behaving this way.

 

[Kwik]

Hi les26 ,I just now saw that Stanley passed- I'm so sorry for your loss,my deepest condolences

Not spoken with you for some time -how are things at the nursing home?

Simba surely can be mourning Stanley however you dud mention they weren't like the best of pals BUT surely the household dynamic has changed,boundaries that were once there are not and the territorial factors are different- Simba may be exploring what was not a favorable option before and now it is....so certainly you'll see different behavior

Did Stanley like the kitchen and frequent thst space more than Simba? Plus as Alldara mentioned I think the cool floor might have alot to do with it as well

 

[les26]

Hi les26 ,I just now saw that Stanley passed- I'm so sorry for your loss,my deepest condolences

Not spoken with you for some time -how are things at the nursing home?

Simba surely can be mourning Stanley however you dud mention they weren't like the best of pals BUT surely the household dynamic has changed,boundaries that were once there are not and the territorial factors are different- Simba may be exploring what was not a favorable option before and now it is....so certainly you'll see different behavior

Did Stanley like the kitchen and frequent thst space more than Simba? Plus as Alldara mentioned I think the cool floor might have alot to do with it as well

Things are as good as can be expected at the nursing home, nothing horrible happened lately, they are as good as they can be.

Stanley never went into that space much, only once in awhile to just check it out, but he didn't stay in there much.

And I do remember last year Simba and Slim would go downstairs to lay on the bricks by the woodstove, and we know for sure Slim's thyroid was way off because they checked it right before he was put down due to intestinal cancer.

 

[les26]

Yesterday Deb said he did follow her into the living room to see what she was eating, tried to stand up on the chair, his long claws got stuck, she almost had a heart aatck trying to free him before he broke his leg, so maybe he did that before and he is now scared to go in the rooms because of that?

Maybe we'll never know, we keep asking him but he's not telling!

 

[tabbytom]

Yesterday Deb said he did follow her into the living room to see what she was eating, tried to stand up on the chair, his long claws got stuck, she almost had a heart aatck trying to free him before he broke his leg, so maybe he did that before and he is now scared to go in the rooms because of that?

Maybe we'll never know, we keep asking him but he's not telling!

I don't think that is the reason.

 

[Kwik]

I don't think that is the reason.

I agree- Timmy's been caught on the leather of the couch plenty of times- can't get freed until I pluck out his hooks- doesn't keep him from doing the exact same thing another time..... all of them,I call Graycie " velcro cat" she gets stuck on everything,it's something they have happen and don't associate being " stuck" to a place or a thing

 

[les26]

Well this might be part of the reason that he stays in the kitchen, we have discovered that he has gone deaf or cannot hear much at all. I walked right behind him today talking to him, nothing. I kept calling to him and no response. He then sensed that someone was there but was looking to the right, and I was to his left. When he finally saw me he "chirped" a little bit, but we wonder if this is part of the reason why he only leaves the kitchen to use the litter box? We know that he could hear before, but now it doesn't seem like it. We know that he can still see because when he sees us coming into the kitchen he bolts out of his little "cave", and pushes us to feed him.

Although Thursday night I was in the bathrrom and opened the door and saw Sylvester standing a few feet away, and Simba was next to him, but I think he wanted to go into the spare room to use a litter box but Sylvester was in the way, I saw him go and use one in another room. But last night he did also come into the living room to see what I was eating lol!!

Could be at least part of it??

 

[Kwik]

Well this might be part of the reason that he stays in the kitchen, we have discovered that he has gone deaf or cannot hear much at all. I walked right behind him today talking to him, nothing. I kept calling to him and no response. He then sensed that someone was there but was looking to the right, and I was to his left. When he finally saw me he "chirped" a little bit, but we wonder if this is part of the reason why he only leaves the kitchen to use the litter box? We know that he could hear before, but now it doesn't seem like it. We know that he can still see because when he sees us coming into the kitchen he bolts out of his little "cave", and pushes us to feed him.

Although Thursday night I was in the bathrrom and opened the door and saw Sylvester standing a few feet away, and Simba was next to him, but I think he wanted to go into the spare room to use a litter box but Sylvester was in the way, I saw him go and use one in another room. But last night he did also come into the living room to see what I was eating lol!!

Could be at least part of it??

Sure can-in the kitchen is there one way in and one way out?

 

[tabbytom]

Well this might be part of the reason that he stays in the kitchen, we have discovered that he has gone deaf or cannot hear much at all. I walked right behind him today talking to him, nothing. I kept calling to him and no response. He then sensed that someone was there but was looking to the right, and I was to his left. When he finally saw me he "chirped" a little bit, but we wonder if this is part of the reason why he only leaves the kitchen to use the litter box? We know that he could hear before, but now it doesn't seem like it. We know that he can still see because when he sees us coming into the kitchen he bolts out of his little "cave", and pushes us to feed him.

Although Thursday night I was in the bathrrom and opened the door and saw Sylvester standing a few feet away, and Simba was next to him, but I think he wanted to go into the spare room to use a litter box but Sylvester was in the way, I saw him go and use one in another room. But last night he did also come into the living room to see what I was eating lol!!

Could be at least part of it??

Oh dear. Does he need to be checked by a vet for the hearing problem?

 

[les26]

Sure can-in the kitchen is there one way in and one way out?

You can come into the kitchen from the living room and also the dining room, so 2 ways. But he can watch both ways from where he is.

 

[les26]

Oh dear. Does he need to be checked by a vet for the hearing problem?

There's not much they would do for him at 21 years old, plus he'd have a heart attack if we tried to catch him, or he'd break something bouncing around in the carrier, we had to have a woman come in years ago to trap him so we could get his teeth worked on and it was horrible, she said "I hope I never have to do that again", he gets that crazy. It's from his old age, his hearing loss.

 

[susanm9006]

I can understand what you are saying about vet’s visits, and as long as he doesn’t seem like he is suffering you are making the best decision for him by just letting him be.

 

[les26]

I can understand what you are saying about vet’s visits, and as long as he doesn’t seem like he is suffering you are making the best decision for him by just letting him be.

Thank you. I was just sitting on the floor with him spending time with him, petting him, just letting him know that I was there and care, gave him some things to eat, added a little of the probiotic powder but you know that old guy didn't eat it, must've smelled it lol! So I gave him some cheese, he loves that, and mixed some in with that and he ate it.

He doesn't seem to be suffering, but if he declines we surely will do the right thing and make the decision, but as of now he seems still okay. I have talked with him several times and told him that it's okay to "do what you have to do", and when he does move on we know that he will be greeted by Sabrina who we called his "girlfriend" when she was here, they loved each other, and also Sabrina's brothers Slim and Skipper, and Sugar who was his "other girlfriend" lol, so he will be just fine. But we aren't ready for that yet, but we want him to do what is best for him. It is so nerve wracking and emotional, on top of our already emotional lives, but that's how life goes...

 

[susanm9006]

Thank you. I was just sitting on the floor with him spending time with him, petting him, just letting him know that I was there and care, gave him some things to eat, added a little of the probiotic powder but you know that old guy didn't eat it, must've smelled it lol! So I gave him some cheese, he loves that, and mixed some in with that and he ate it.

He doesn't seem to be suffering, but if he declines we surely will do the right thing and make the decision, but as of now he seems still okay. I have talked with him several times and told him that it's okay to "do what you have to do", and when he does move on we know that he will be greeted by Sabrina who we called his "girlfriend" when she was here, they loved each other, and also Sabrina's brothers Slim and Skipper, and Sugar who was his "other girlfriend" lol, so he will be just fine. But we aren't ready for that yet, but we want him to do what is best for him. It is so nerve wracking and emotional, on top of our already emotional lives, but that's how life goes...

I lost my 14 year old mostly feral girl Willow a week ago. She woke from a nap very ill and she died within minutes of arriving at the emergency vet. Shocking to lose her so suddenly but now I am feeling blessed for both of us that she didn’t have to go thru terrifying vet visits or procedures and that I didn’t have to make a decision about prolonging her life or not.