So about five weeks ago, my husband calls me in a panic that a stray cat has wandered onto our porch and he thinks it's going to die. Stray ends up spending the night in our garage, and gets a vet visit the next day. Turns out he is at least 11, and was pretty severely dehydrated. He was covered in mats, disgustingly dirty and smelly, and very, very weak. Eyes full of green goo, the works. Blood panel shows that, other than mild anemia, he is healthy as a horse.
Fast forward, and the upper respiratory issue has cleared up, he has gained weight, and we have removed most of his mats. But here's where life starts getting tricky. After treating the respiratory issues, we have moved him into our second bathroom. We have three other cats, all girls, ranging from 6-11. They are not pleased and hiss at him whenever they see him. We've not really been able to do the normal introduction thing, because he doesn't interact with the other cats. No interest in sniffing near the door etc. He sees them and just doesn't have any reaction.
For his part, he is probably closer to 15+ than 11+. His eyes are completely clouded with cataracts and at least one big tear. He is also unsteady on his feet, and so is not particularly mobile. He loses his balance easily and has a lot of twitching issues with his back legs when he lays down. The vet says it could be caused by former strokes, current strokes, previously ingested poison, injury, etc. Based on his condition, he has been outside for a pretty good period of time so it could be anyone's guess what he's been through. By all accounts, he is comfortable, happy, and doesn't seem to be in any kind of pain.
But, he's a little jerk. He is very affectionate, and loves company, until he bites you out of nowhere. He doesn't give any warning most of the time, so you need to rely on fast reflexes. His biting is less vicious than it used to be, but it still makes it harder to interact with him. Compounding the issue, he doesn't do much. At all. Other than lay on his bed (heaven, in his kitty eyes) We are having trouble integrating him into the house because he doesn't seem to want to leave the bathroom, even with the door left open. Each night we pick him up and move him into the front part of the house with us, and he is pretty content to curl up and quasi hide in some of the cubes. But, the last two nights he has had accidents out here. We're thinking he can't get back to where his box is and so he just decides to go? Really, our hearts break for the guy. We're not really sure that our house is a good place for him, but know that the likelihood of someone wanting a quasi disabled cranky senior cat are pretty much none. Now, we are just trying to figure out how to make it work. For his part, he is always very happy to see us, gets out of his bed, rubs our legs, and is very enthusiastic about being petted vigorously, particularly on his head. (vigorously petting the head of a somewhat bitey cat is always a little nerve wracking) He is also starting to respond to his recently acquired name- Grumpus.
Any advice on the biting issue? How do we get him to stop being so darn cranky?
Anyone else with mobility issue kitties? How do we get him to be a little more mobile? He isn't interested in playing, either.
Any advice on integrating him more with our kitties? We're afraid he is intimidated by them (he just ducks his head and avoids eye contact when they hiss at him) and that is further affecting his decision not to leave the bathroom.
Sorry for the long novel- just figured some backstory would be helpful! While we've had our fair share of ups and downs with the girls, none of them have been difficult. Grumpus seems to be his very own kind of special.
Fast forward, and the upper respiratory issue has cleared up, he has gained weight, and we have removed most of his mats. But here's where life starts getting tricky. After treating the respiratory issues, we have moved him into our second bathroom. We have three other cats, all girls, ranging from 6-11. They are not pleased and hiss at him whenever they see him. We've not really been able to do the normal introduction thing, because he doesn't interact with the other cats. No interest in sniffing near the door etc. He sees them and just doesn't have any reaction.
For his part, he is probably closer to 15+ than 11+. His eyes are completely clouded with cataracts and at least one big tear. He is also unsteady on his feet, and so is not particularly mobile. He loses his balance easily and has a lot of twitching issues with his back legs when he lays down. The vet says it could be caused by former strokes, current strokes, previously ingested poison, injury, etc. Based on his condition, he has been outside for a pretty good period of time so it could be anyone's guess what he's been through. By all accounts, he is comfortable, happy, and doesn't seem to be in any kind of pain.
But, he's a little jerk. He is very affectionate, and loves company, until he bites you out of nowhere. He doesn't give any warning most of the time, so you need to rely on fast reflexes. His biting is less vicious than it used to be, but it still makes it harder to interact with him. Compounding the issue, he doesn't do much. At all. Other than lay on his bed (heaven, in his kitty eyes) We are having trouble integrating him into the house because he doesn't seem to want to leave the bathroom, even with the door left open. Each night we pick him up and move him into the front part of the house with us, and he is pretty content to curl up and quasi hide in some of the cubes. But, the last two nights he has had accidents out here. We're thinking he can't get back to where his box is and so he just decides to go? Really, our hearts break for the guy. We're not really sure that our house is a good place for him, but know that the likelihood of someone wanting a quasi disabled cranky senior cat are pretty much none. Now, we are just trying to figure out how to make it work. For his part, he is always very happy to see us, gets out of his bed, rubs our legs, and is very enthusiastic about being petted vigorously, particularly on his head. (vigorously petting the head of a somewhat bitey cat is always a little nerve wracking) He is also starting to respond to his recently acquired name- Grumpus.
Any advice on the biting issue? How do we get him to stop being so darn cranky?
Anyone else with mobility issue kitties? How do we get him to be a little more mobile? He isn't interested in playing, either.
Any advice on integrating him more with our kitties? We're afraid he is intimidated by them (he just ducks his head and avoids eye contact when they hiss at him) and that is further affecting his decision not to leave the bathroom.
Sorry for the long novel- just figured some backstory would be helpful! While we've had our fair share of ups and downs with the girls, none of them have been difficult. Grumpus seems to be his very own kind of special.