- Joined
- Feb 11, 2015
- Messages
- 1
- Purraise
- 2
I plan to move in with my boyfriend, but the issue is, I'm worried for my cat. Loki,
He is a year and a bit now born in mid August of 2014. I keep him as an indoor cat, but will let him play in the back yard and field (we have a school behind our house, and the field gets full of dragonflies in the summer; he loves to chase them. I got him from a friend after my two female cats died, sort of as a rehab cat-I know it was selfish, but I'm more than happy with the decision because he helped me heal and kept my older dog, Kira, from being lonely, and I'd never trade him in for the world. Loki wasn't taken care of my his cat mother very well. It was her first litter, and some of the babies were stillborn. The family smoked weed, which is my assumption for why the cats were born like that, and as a kitten, Loki walked kind of strange, kind of waddling his hind legs and keeping his butt in the air. It seems to have corrected itself though. He also takes much longer to learn what I want from him than other cats I've had, with nothing; not scolding, not positive reinforcement, not ignoring the bad behaviour, and even with Kira more than happy to help scold him when he's doing something she knows he shouldn't such as scratching the carpet; will work without 10x the amount of time and persistence-but, you can't be mad with him because it's easy to see, he is trying... he just forgets what is good and what is bad. The behavioural "issue" that I'm worried about, however, is that he never really learned to be a cat. He meows and purrs and claws stuff up just like every other cat, but I can't help but compare him to my two females I had, and also my female german shepherd, Kira. He was adopted by my dog; when he was first brought home, I could cup him in both my hands, and was not even done weaning-the ignorant owners of his mommy thought that he was old enough to worry about inbreeding, and he was the only surviving male. Yeah, right. I had no idea you could buy kitten milk at the time, so he was forced to quit cold turkey. I put up a baby gate to keep him safe from the dog, because she hadn't gotten along well with either of my females... and he just decided to leap over it and wrap her around his little paw. They're still good buddies, but don't cuddle u with each other anymore-just lay a few feet away from each other in mutual friendship. Anyways, point being, he was raised by this dog (who acts like a cat most of the time because she only had my female cats as comparison.) And now, he speaks dog. It's funny, watching him grow up, seeing what kind of cat behaviours he learned by instinct-cleaning himself, scratching the carpet (which I continue to have to re-direct to the cat tree), hunting bugs he finds in the basement or back yard... vs the learned behaviours, such as chasing the dog toys, meeting you at the door when you come home, getting agitated when the mailman comes, and his play style, where he flops onto his side like a submissive puppy. He and my dog play rough-biting, claws out, it looks like Loki's getting mauled but if you tell Kira to stop, he pounces her face and they start all over again. He is fixed now, and has gotten some chub because of it, but I give him full access to dry food and water at all times anyways because I'm gone all day, sometimes all night, with school and work.
Now that you know a bit about my cat... the problem. I don't care that he destroys everything, pees in the plant pots, scratches the carpet... he's a brat, but he's my brat. The problem is, or problems, to me, is that, as I said, he hasn't learned to be a cat. My dog can't dog, my cat can't cat-maybe I need to look into what the heck I'm doing wrong, but whatever. I'm worried that because he hasn't learned the correct way to socialize with other cats, that even if with of his friendly, laid back attitude, my boyfriend's cats, Monster and Chica will not get along with him. Monster is a fixed male, a couple months older than Loki, and he's a little... special. We think he fell on his head as a kitten... no joke. All his siblings died falling out of a tree, and he was just kind of... dumb from day one. Lovable, snuggly, but dumb. He's a semi-outdoor cat when weather permits, and gets along with the other neighborhood cats as you would expect a cat to-sometimes they're friends, sometimes they're not. He's a super-pushover, sometimes literally-you poke him and he flops over, like "go ahead, do your worst." He's smaller/skinnier than Loki from what I can tell, but he had long black hair so at first glance they look similar in size. He was born on a farm, but his hunting skills suck.
Chica is a fixed female cat about a month younger than Monster. They are not biological siblings as far as we know, but they were born on the same farm. She is an outgoing cat who doesn't like human males very much for reasons unknown. She isn't cuddly, but will beg for pets when she wants them and ignore you like you're just a measly peasant when she wants nothing from you. She's an excellent hunter, much to my annoyance-as a semi-outdoor cat when weather permits, she's constantly bringing birds in the house, in various stages of being killed, and I know that even if I set the bird free it would die because of the injuries and saliva. Not my cats, so I can't keep them in-please don't judge... my cat isn't allowed to hunt the birds, or even go into the tree after an incident where he got stuck and nearly fell out. Anyways, she also gets along with the neighborhood cats from what I can tell, choosing more to ignore them than to become friends like her brother.
Now for the big question. How do I shove all of these cats into one tiny home (Loki is used to a house three times as big all to himself), keep my cat as an indoor cat, prevent my dog from becoming lonely with us gone (she will be staying with my parents and they do not want any more animals), keep the cats from ripping each other apart, prevent my cat from destroying everything in his path once we move into a new place, and most importantly, keep the whole ordeal as stress-free as possible for everyone involved? Also, once things have settled in our new home, can I bring Loki to visit Kira once a week or so, or will my cat's scent change too much and my dog will just think of him as some strange animal in her house? I'd really like to keep their friendship if I could, as my dog is getting older and she doesn't get along with other dogs... because she speaks cat more than dog. Which is why I worry for my cat, who has the same issue. Sorry for the long explanation, but I figure the best way to give a good answer is to know the personalities of each of the kitties, and if you can't answer about my dog it's okay because this is a site for cats anyways. Thanks in advance for any advice anyone can give!
He is a year and a bit now born in mid August of 2014. I keep him as an indoor cat, but will let him play in the back yard and field (we have a school behind our house, and the field gets full of dragonflies in the summer; he loves to chase them. I got him from a friend after my two female cats died, sort of as a rehab cat-I know it was selfish, but I'm more than happy with the decision because he helped me heal and kept my older dog, Kira, from being lonely, and I'd never trade him in for the world. Loki wasn't taken care of my his cat mother very well. It was her first litter, and some of the babies were stillborn. The family smoked weed, which is my assumption for why the cats were born like that, and as a kitten, Loki walked kind of strange, kind of waddling his hind legs and keeping his butt in the air. It seems to have corrected itself though. He also takes much longer to learn what I want from him than other cats I've had, with nothing; not scolding, not positive reinforcement, not ignoring the bad behaviour, and even with Kira more than happy to help scold him when he's doing something she knows he shouldn't such as scratching the carpet; will work without 10x the amount of time and persistence-but, you can't be mad with him because it's easy to see, he is trying... he just forgets what is good and what is bad. The behavioural "issue" that I'm worried about, however, is that he never really learned to be a cat. He meows and purrs and claws stuff up just like every other cat, but I can't help but compare him to my two females I had, and also my female german shepherd, Kira. He was adopted by my dog; when he was first brought home, I could cup him in both my hands, and was not even done weaning-the ignorant owners of his mommy thought that he was old enough to worry about inbreeding, and he was the only surviving male. Yeah, right. I had no idea you could buy kitten milk at the time, so he was forced to quit cold turkey. I put up a baby gate to keep him safe from the dog, because she hadn't gotten along well with either of my females... and he just decided to leap over it and wrap her around his little paw. They're still good buddies, but don't cuddle u with each other anymore-just lay a few feet away from each other in mutual friendship. Anyways, point being, he was raised by this dog (who acts like a cat most of the time because she only had my female cats as comparison.) And now, he speaks dog. It's funny, watching him grow up, seeing what kind of cat behaviours he learned by instinct-cleaning himself, scratching the carpet (which I continue to have to re-direct to the cat tree), hunting bugs he finds in the basement or back yard... vs the learned behaviours, such as chasing the dog toys, meeting you at the door when you come home, getting agitated when the mailman comes, and his play style, where he flops onto his side like a submissive puppy. He and my dog play rough-biting, claws out, it looks like Loki's getting mauled but if you tell Kira to stop, he pounces her face and they start all over again. He is fixed now, and has gotten some chub because of it, but I give him full access to dry food and water at all times anyways because I'm gone all day, sometimes all night, with school and work.
Now that you know a bit about my cat... the problem. I don't care that he destroys everything, pees in the plant pots, scratches the carpet... he's a brat, but he's my brat. The problem is, or problems, to me, is that, as I said, he hasn't learned to be a cat. My dog can't dog, my cat can't cat-maybe I need to look into what the heck I'm doing wrong, but whatever. I'm worried that because he hasn't learned the correct way to socialize with other cats, that even if with of his friendly, laid back attitude, my boyfriend's cats, Monster and Chica will not get along with him. Monster is a fixed male, a couple months older than Loki, and he's a little... special. We think he fell on his head as a kitten... no joke. All his siblings died falling out of a tree, and he was just kind of... dumb from day one. Lovable, snuggly, but dumb. He's a semi-outdoor cat when weather permits, and gets along with the other neighborhood cats as you would expect a cat to-sometimes they're friends, sometimes they're not. He's a super-pushover, sometimes literally-you poke him and he flops over, like "go ahead, do your worst." He's smaller/skinnier than Loki from what I can tell, but he had long black hair so at first glance they look similar in size. He was born on a farm, but his hunting skills suck.
Chica is a fixed female cat about a month younger than Monster. They are not biological siblings as far as we know, but they were born on the same farm. She is an outgoing cat who doesn't like human males very much for reasons unknown. She isn't cuddly, but will beg for pets when she wants them and ignore you like you're just a measly peasant when she wants nothing from you. She's an excellent hunter, much to my annoyance-as a semi-outdoor cat when weather permits, she's constantly bringing birds in the house, in various stages of being killed, and I know that even if I set the bird free it would die because of the injuries and saliva. Not my cats, so I can't keep them in-please don't judge... my cat isn't allowed to hunt the birds, or even go into the tree after an incident where he got stuck and nearly fell out. Anyways, she also gets along with the neighborhood cats from what I can tell, choosing more to ignore them than to become friends like her brother.
Now for the big question. How do I shove all of these cats into one tiny home (Loki is used to a house three times as big all to himself), keep my cat as an indoor cat, prevent my dog from becoming lonely with us gone (she will be staying with my parents and they do not want any more animals), keep the cats from ripping each other apart, prevent my cat from destroying everything in his path once we move into a new place, and most importantly, keep the whole ordeal as stress-free as possible for everyone involved? Also, once things have settled in our new home, can I bring Loki to visit Kira once a week or so, or will my cat's scent change too much and my dog will just think of him as some strange animal in her house? I'd really like to keep their friendship if I could, as my dog is getting older and she doesn't get along with other dogs... because she speaks cat more than dog. Which is why I worry for my cat, who has the same issue. Sorry for the long explanation, but I figure the best way to give a good answer is to know the personalities of each of the kitties, and if you can't answer about my dog it's okay because this is a site for cats anyways. Thanks in advance for any advice anyone can give!
Lots of cats actually wait by the door for you to come home and will chase toys and are scared of the mailman 
