Background: My wife and I bought our first house 6 months ago and the previous owner had occasionally fed a stray. My wife is an avid cat lover, and she quickly adopted the practice of feeding the stray cat who would come around every morning and evening for food and eat while we watched. Last Friday, we noticed he was limping badly and by Saturday he could barely walk 20 feet without stopping to rest. My wife was moved to nervous tears by the plight of our stray (we are calling him 'Fitz' now). We agreed to get him care, and contacted a local shelter for a trap. Baited by smelly sardines, we caught our stray the first night (Sunday Feb, 3, 2013). Monday morning, we took him to our vet and found out that he had several puncture wounds in the leg and neck and the wounds were swollen and infected. The vet gave him a strong antibiotic, cleaned and closed the wounds, and neutered him. Last evening, I bought a large dog crate (4ftx3ftx3ft), outfitted it with a small litterbox with a liter/soil mix,food, water, a soft bed, many pee pads, and a couple toys. We picked him up from the vet, put this setup in a spare room and coaxed him out of the trap into the larger crate and that ended last nights adventure.
Where we are now:
Fitz has stopped growling at us when we feed him and has not made any attempt to get out of the crate.
Fitz is completely apathetic (understandable given his vet trip). He does love his new cat bed, however.
Ftiz used his litter box last night, so I think he knows whats going on with that.
Fitz has made the spare room smell like an unholy pee palace. He isn't peeing on the floor of the crate, but I think he smells our other cat in the house and is marking teritory by spraying out the sides of his crate. ( i haven't seen this, but man it smells)
My Questions:
1. What is the best way forward in socializing him from this point? From what I have read, I should basically be avoiding him for the next few days, except to feed him. Should I build in a few more days to recover from surgery before spending time in the room with him?
2.We have an old sheet covering the top of the crate, but not the sides. Does the crate need full coverage on all sides to give the sense of security? Should we be covering the whole thing up?
3. I hadn't read the advice about putting smelly personal items into the crate before this adventure started. Is it too late? Should I put some gym socks in the cage near his bed tonight?
4. I've seen a lot of people suggest classical harp music for socialization. Is this the point I would start using it?
4. What advice do you have about ending / handling spraying?
5. In general, do you guys see anything wrong with the path we are taking so far?
Lastly, thank you for the advice!
David
Where we are now:
Fitz has stopped growling at us when we feed him and has not made any attempt to get out of the crate.
Fitz is completely apathetic (understandable given his vet trip). He does love his new cat bed, however.
Ftiz used his litter box last night, so I think he knows whats going on with that.
Fitz has made the spare room smell like an unholy pee palace. He isn't peeing on the floor of the crate, but I think he smells our other cat in the house and is marking teritory by spraying out the sides of his crate. ( i haven't seen this, but man it smells)
My Questions:
1. What is the best way forward in socializing him from this point? From what I have read, I should basically be avoiding him for the next few days, except to feed him. Should I build in a few more days to recover from surgery before spending time in the room with him?
2.We have an old sheet covering the top of the crate, but not the sides. Does the crate need full coverage on all sides to give the sense of security? Should we be covering the whole thing up?
3. I hadn't read the advice about putting smelly personal items into the crate before this adventure started. Is it too late? Should I put some gym socks in the cage near his bed tonight?
4. I've seen a lot of people suggest classical harp music for socialization. Is this the point I would start using it?
4. What advice do you have about ending / handling spraying?
5. In general, do you guys see anything wrong with the path we are taking so far?
Lastly, thank you for the advice!
David