Lots of questions regarding my rescue and older cat.

[newfosterparent]

Ok, so we brought in the female the other day and it's been quite a trip so far.

The female(still haven't figured out a name) wakes us up at all hours of the night meowing. She even climbed up on the windowsill the other night.

She knows where the litter box is, but she doesn't use it. I find poop all over the place. I know it's her and not my boy as he knows better than that. He just pees all over the place.

He wants to mate with her, but she wants nothing to do with him. She'll growl and hiss at him when he tries to get her.

She hides under the bed most of the time, sleeps all day and wanders at night. I'm worried about her trying to get out the windows, the screens are on the inside of some windows, but outside others with no child locks on them to prevent them from being opened wide.

She has free reign of the main floor of the house, isn't allowed downstairs, but doesn't seem to mind that.

She scratches the bed at night while she's under it, but she might be like my boy who never uses a scratching post, he's never liked it.

I really don't know what to do about this, we want to keep the female as the neighbors know about her and I don't want anyone to worry about her.

Any ideas?

 

[ldg]

Are they both sterilized? If not, that's a must. If they are, then this is a dominance thing, and you need to separate them and make proper, slow, introductions.

The peeing and pooping are likely a territorial thing. Cats are all about territory, and they're clearly not happy about sharing it right now.

Do you have a room in which you can separate the female (the new cat)? When bringing a new cat home, it's best to separate them.

In fact - given she's pooping "everywhere," if you have a large bathroom, it'd be a good idea to confine her there for a little while. Give her two litter boxes.

If she's been living outside, she's not used to peeing and pooping in the same place. She needs at least two boxes.

I don't know if you have access to Dr. Elsley's (Precious Cat) Cat Attract litter. But if it's available, I'd invest in it, at least for a few weeks until this gets sorted.

Also, ANY place the cats have peed or pooped must be cleaned with an enzyme cleaner. You might want to consider purchasing a black light so you can go through your home to find all the pee spots.

And if you can afford it, you might want to consider purchasing Feliway. This will help them calm down a bit.

 

[newfosterparent]

I'm using the cat attract in both boxes that we have. She knows where they both are.

Neither are fixed, I had never planned on rescuing, so I never got my boy done as he has always been an only "child" here.

We are limited on space for her to stay as the other rescue has his own room due to being so feral, he can't come out at all.

 

[ldg]

Well, unfortunately, the territory-marking instinct is intact, especially with intact cats. I don't know if there are any low-cost spay/neuter programs available near you, but I'm pretty sure you won't be able to do much about the behavior until they're sterilized.

...and your boy has been intact so long, it may not stop that behavior.

 

[newfosterparent]

Been a little busy lately so haven't been on here much.

However, Braylie(that's the name we finally decided for her), has been using the box, which is a good thing.

We had to shut her in our bedroom starting last week because she would attack Fluffy every time he wanted to mate with her.

I'd gotten the money together to get them both spayed/neutered, but when Fluffy went in for his surgery, they demanded bloodwork, and there went the money I had saved for Braylie.

What a world of difference this has made. While he has been recovering from surgery, I had Braylie locked in the bedroom for yesterday, just so Fluffy could relax out in the living room while I was at work. He was neutered on Wednesday.

Today I don't see any signs of scuffles, I forgot to close the door this morning, but it seems like he left her alone.

Wednesday night as we went to bed, Braylie was on the bed between us, and Fluffy jumped up at the end of the bed. He started coming towards her, she hissed once, and he wandered to the foot of the bed to sleep.

The first thing he did when I brought him home from the vet, after staggering around a bit, was go right for the litterbox to pee.

I have not seen any mess since before he was neutered. Despite his age, this hopefully has curbed his behavior, but it's too soon to tell.

 

[ldg]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so glad you got the money together to get him neutered! I know you're disappointed about having to spend the money for Braylie's spay on the blood work, but it does help ensure he'll tolerate being under anesthesia.

Most vets do this - most low cost clinics do not.

Do keep in mind that even though you already see a big difference in his behavior, it can take 4-6 weeks for those hormones to fully cycle out of his system, so he can still get Braylie pregnant.