Hi All - think it's about time I tried to get Rudi to try out indoor life and I have a perfect window coming up. I'll have the house to myself for a couple of weeks starting next Wednesday and my plan is as follows:
* at the moment I try to feed both Rudi and Paddy in the utility room. Depending on how hungry he is, how nice the food is (Rudi in particular loves a v. expensive brand called Encore - 75% meat) and his general demeanour, Rudi shows varying levels of skittishness during this exercise. At best (like this morning) he'll come a few steps in, chow down alongside his sister and then toddle off outside once he's finished. At worst, he'll be ultra-skittish: one or two mouthfuls, then outside and I basically have to take his bowl to him. The general rule of thumb is that he doesn't like anyone to be door-side of him - if they are, he scampers out and sits about 3-4 feet from the house.
* over the next few days, I'm going to tidy up the utility room - basically get rid of all the bits and bobs that utility rooms accumulate (in our case, shoes, boots, recycling etc)
* I'll also prepare two litter trays and hide them craftily in the utility room annexe (where Paddy lived for a couple of weeks)
* hopefully I'll manage to get Rudi on his own for his morning meal or, more likely, supper. I'll set up the food bowl about 5-6 feet inside the door
* whilst he's chowing down on his favourite Encore tin (chicken/ chicken and cheese/ chicken and ham), I will ever so gently push the door closed ... and open up the annexe so his litter tray is available
and then, I suspect, all hell will break loose as he hates being cooped up (he makes unearthly wailing noises on the couple of times I've taken him to the vet). But I'm planning to just leave him be for a few hours at least. Longer term, I want to be at the stage where, as with Mr Jinx in the fabulous thread on this site, I can let him roam around a few rooms, particularly after dark. But in the early days he'll be utility room only. What I'll have to do is make sure that I change my habits: at the moment the utility room is the main thoroughfare to the house so I'll need to prepare Paddy and Cow's food in there but then go out through another door. I'll also have to come in a different door when I come home from work.
It'll certainly be interesting! I don't think he's been himself this past few months: whilst his wanderlust has stopped for the moment (or just been transferred to his sister!) he seems a bit glum. I try and make a few minutes every day for him and he's wonderfully affectionate with me as long as Paddy isn't around. It would be lovely if he could settle down indoors - there would be nothing better than coming home from work to see my big buddy curled up on the couch, safe and warm. There's obviously a long way to go before that happens - need to see how he is with a little tray!
Any and all tips and tricks appreciated. I'm going to see if I can source some Feliway somewhere, as I've read many good things about it. I'm also going to try and make the room as friendly as possible for him....ideally he'd have gone in the upstairs room where Paddy was very initially, but that would involve physical trapping of him and I don't think that's going to be feasible.
wish me luck!
* at the moment I try to feed both Rudi and Paddy in the utility room. Depending on how hungry he is, how nice the food is (Rudi in particular loves a v. expensive brand called Encore - 75% meat) and his general demeanour, Rudi shows varying levels of skittishness during this exercise. At best (like this morning) he'll come a few steps in, chow down alongside his sister and then toddle off outside once he's finished. At worst, he'll be ultra-skittish: one or two mouthfuls, then outside and I basically have to take his bowl to him. The general rule of thumb is that he doesn't like anyone to be door-side of him - if they are, he scampers out and sits about 3-4 feet from the house.
* over the next few days, I'm going to tidy up the utility room - basically get rid of all the bits and bobs that utility rooms accumulate (in our case, shoes, boots, recycling etc)
* I'll also prepare two litter trays and hide them craftily in the utility room annexe (where Paddy lived for a couple of weeks)
* hopefully I'll manage to get Rudi on his own for his morning meal or, more likely, supper. I'll set up the food bowl about 5-6 feet inside the door
* whilst he's chowing down on his favourite Encore tin (chicken/ chicken and cheese/ chicken and ham), I will ever so gently push the door closed ... and open up the annexe so his litter tray is available
and then, I suspect, all hell will break loose as he hates being cooped up (he makes unearthly wailing noises on the couple of times I've taken him to the vet). But I'm planning to just leave him be for a few hours at least. Longer term, I want to be at the stage where, as with Mr Jinx in the fabulous thread on this site, I can let him roam around a few rooms, particularly after dark. But in the early days he'll be utility room only. What I'll have to do is make sure that I change my habits: at the moment the utility room is the main thoroughfare to the house so I'll need to prepare Paddy and Cow's food in there but then go out through another door. I'll also have to come in a different door when I come home from work.
It'll certainly be interesting! I don't think he's been himself this past few months: whilst his wanderlust has stopped for the moment (or just been transferred to his sister!) he seems a bit glum. I try and make a few minutes every day for him and he's wonderfully affectionate with me as long as Paddy isn't around. It would be lovely if he could settle down indoors - there would be nothing better than coming home from work to see my big buddy curled up on the couch, safe and warm. There's obviously a long way to go before that happens - need to see how he is with a little tray!
Any and all tips and tricks appreciated. I'm going to see if I can source some Feliway somewhere, as I've read many good things about it. I'm also going to try and make the room as friendly as possible for him....ideally he'd have gone in the upstairs room where Paddy was very initially, but that would involve physical trapping of him and I don't think that's going to be feasible.
wish me luck!