It's been a very long time since I've visited this forum, and I've been through a lot of cat changes since then. For a bit of background, and forgive me if this gets a little long, my cats were from the humane society. Ramsay was with his mom/littermates until we adopted him at about 12/13 weeks old, which is the age that the owner surrendered mom and the litter to the shelter. Our other cat, Gus, we got at 8 weeks old, and he was with his litter but no mom. Each cat had their individual problems.
Ramsay is very socially weird. He had almost no human socialization before we adopted him, and he hates to be picked up, if he's sitting on my lap and I move he'd leave, and he only likes to play alone with his toys (if a person or other animal got involved he'd quit).
Gus loved people, is a little more like a dog in that he would come when called, knew his name, had clear ways of communicating with us, traveled well, and was pretty "bomb proof" meaning he adapted to any situation, and was in many ways the best cat I've ever had and owned my husband's heart. Unfortunately, he had some major litter box issues. He peed, did not spray, and once in a blue moon would also poop outside of the box. Please believe me when I say that I tried everything under the sun to remedy this...for over 4 years. Vet checks, behaviorists, different litter boxes, different litters, different numbers of boxes, different locations of boxes, cleaners, sprays, air infusers, etc. etc. etc. We loved this cat and didn't want to let him go because of this. I felt like I had to work on it because he was my responsibility, and also because my husband loved this cat so much I felt like I had to fix it even more.
Ultimately, Gus went to live with my in-laws. He never peed in their house when we were there, and he had reached a point where he was peeing in every room in our new (we had lived here 6 months before this started) house multiple times a day. He would pee right in front of me, I would interrupt him and he'd go pee in another corner while I was cleaning the first one up. It became too much, so we took him to my in-laws. And to make matters so much worse, about 4 months into them having Gus, he died. I have no idea what happened, and it's still a sore subject for my husband and me with them. (They had stopped feeding him wet food, or the food appropriate for his allergies, so I suspect a blockage.)
Ramsay, who had a litter and mom cat until he was 3 months old never once has gone out of the box. I sometimes think he'd die holding it if there was no box to go in, because even when he used to get FLUTD flair ups he'd always go in the box.
So, my question for everyone is whether or not this is coincidence, or how much impact staying with a mom/litter can have on things like litter box habits. One day I'd love to have another cat, though right now my husband says no more because Gus's whole life start to finish was so difficult. For now, we will keep Ramsay as an only cat, because Ramsay has completely transformed after Gus left. Even though they seemed to get along (they never once had a fight, and they would sleep together, etc.) Ramsay is social, outgoing, playful, and almost unrecognizable in a good way. So I feel, for his sake, that he should get to be an only cat. He's so much happier. But, when his time comes I'm wondering if I wouldn't be better off getting a cat from a breeder who is willing to keep the kitten with the mom/litter longer and help to reinforce good litter box habits, among other things.
Sorry this turned out to be a short novel, but I would really appreciate any advice on the behavioral differences between getting a kitten from a breeder vs. getting a kitten from a shelter. Thanks!
Ramsay is very socially weird. He had almost no human socialization before we adopted him, and he hates to be picked up, if he's sitting on my lap and I move he'd leave, and he only likes to play alone with his toys (if a person or other animal got involved he'd quit).
Gus loved people, is a little more like a dog in that he would come when called, knew his name, had clear ways of communicating with us, traveled well, and was pretty "bomb proof" meaning he adapted to any situation, and was in many ways the best cat I've ever had and owned my husband's heart. Unfortunately, he had some major litter box issues. He peed, did not spray, and once in a blue moon would also poop outside of the box. Please believe me when I say that I tried everything under the sun to remedy this...for over 4 years. Vet checks, behaviorists, different litter boxes, different litters, different numbers of boxes, different locations of boxes, cleaners, sprays, air infusers, etc. etc. etc. We loved this cat and didn't want to let him go because of this. I felt like I had to work on it because he was my responsibility, and also because my husband loved this cat so much I felt like I had to fix it even more.
Ultimately, Gus went to live with my in-laws. He never peed in their house when we were there, and he had reached a point where he was peeing in every room in our new (we had lived here 6 months before this started) house multiple times a day. He would pee right in front of me, I would interrupt him and he'd go pee in another corner while I was cleaning the first one up. It became too much, so we took him to my in-laws. And to make matters so much worse, about 4 months into them having Gus, he died. I have no idea what happened, and it's still a sore subject for my husband and me with them. (They had stopped feeding him wet food, or the food appropriate for his allergies, so I suspect a blockage.)
Ramsay, who had a litter and mom cat until he was 3 months old never once has gone out of the box. I sometimes think he'd die holding it if there was no box to go in, because even when he used to get FLUTD flair ups he'd always go in the box.
So, my question for everyone is whether or not this is coincidence, or how much impact staying with a mom/litter can have on things like litter box habits. One day I'd love to have another cat, though right now my husband says no more because Gus's whole life start to finish was so difficult. For now, we will keep Ramsay as an only cat, because Ramsay has completely transformed after Gus left. Even though they seemed to get along (they never once had a fight, and they would sleep together, etc.) Ramsay is social, outgoing, playful, and almost unrecognizable in a good way. So I feel, for his sake, that he should get to be an only cat. He's so much happier. But, when his time comes I'm wondering if I wouldn't be better off getting a cat from a breeder who is willing to keep the kitten with the mom/litter longer and help to reinforce good litter box habits, among other things.
Sorry this turned out to be a short novel, but I would really appreciate any advice on the behavioral differences between getting a kitten from a breeder vs. getting a kitten from a shelter. Thanks!
(if you live in the U.S. the registries don't have any rules about it), so it's still something you'd have to ask about.
