moving to one room - will her behaviour get worse?

[jeh]

I recently tried to rehome my beloved cat of 7 years. She wakes me up at 4 am every morning. If I feed her, she'll usually leave me alone - even if she still has food in the dish, she won't eat unless I get up and feed her. If I ignore her, she'll destroy stuff - she's ripped up some textbooks and some of my sheet music. I live in a bachelor apartment so there's no way to shut her in another room.

I'm a university student, so I have to live where I can afford. I will be moving to one room in a house pretty soon, and I feel like making her live in an even tinier space isn't fair to her, and I don't know if her destructive behaviour would get worse. The landlord won't let her roam the house, she has to stay in my room. One of the other people living in the house also keeps a cat in his room.

I tried to rehome her today though, and I'd talked with the guy adopting her and he gave me a reference and let me look at his place and he seemed great, but he'd never had a cat before. I brought her over and left her there, and she hid pretty much immediately. I'd only left her there for half an hour before the guy called me back to say that she was hiding and taking swipes at his dog, so he didn't want her any more. By the time I'd gotten her back to my apartment, she'd urinated on herself and there are a few sticky spots on her fur that I'm not sure what they are. She seems to be ok, she didn't hide when we got back to my apartment, just resumed her usual perch on the windowsill, but I don't know how to get her to wash herself. I wiped her down with a damp cloth, but she needs to wash herself. She's washing her face and paws, but not 'down there'.

So I'm really hesitant to try and find her a new place to live if she reacts like that. I don't know what to do. I don't think she can live in just one room.

 

[darlili]

My opinion is it's definitely worth trying to live in one room - plenty of people have cats in studio apartments no bigger than a bedroom. If you can add shelving, a cat tree, whatever, to add vertical height, that'll add square footage to her livable space. And, while I know it's tough for a student, if you can add interactive play for 10-15 minutes in the morning and evening, or whatever schedule works for you, that may tire her out enough to adjust to your wake up schedule.

With mine, they don't get fed until I'm up and brush my teeth, etc - now, granted five days a week that's at 5:00 am, and I pretty much have to stick to that schedule on the weekends or risk a 'wake up call'.

I suspect your kitty will be happier with you in a smaller space than you suspect. I can imagine how stressed you feel by all this, but try I don't think square footage counts as much as your love for your kitty.

 

[Willowy]

I have a cat who lives alone in the bedroom (she doesn't like the other cats). She has a cat tree and lots of toys, and is very happy. So it is possible for a cat to be happy in one room, especially an older cat (might be tough with a kitten!).

As for her shredding stuff (pretty normal for cats!), keep anything important in a closed desk, a file cabinet, a plastic storage tote, etc.--anything catproof. Also, get a fishing pole toy or a laser light (whichever one you think she'd like best) and play with her for at least half an hour every day (doesn't have to be all at once). This will help her burn energy and be more contented.

As you found out, it's nearly impossible to re-home an adult cat

. The market is flooded with kittens and everybody wants one of them instead. And it is pretty stressful for a cat to get used to new people.

 

[ducman69]

That's pretty normal for a cat to freak out if thrust into a new foreign environment and a nosy dog is all up in her business which can be very threatening when already insecure.

Don't worry about a room being too small for a cat. Cats really don't need that much space, and they are three dimensional creatures so you can add a ton of space for them just by going up with a tree or vertical climber post or shelves if they let you put those up (there are also non-permanent window shelves you can get which cats love and doesn't put holes in the wall).

Petmate makes a great autofeeder that can do the feedings at 11PM and 4AM so your cat will leave you alone and wait there for food:
http://www.amazon.com/Petmate-LeBist...6021239&sr=8-5

That just leaves you with addressing boredom. Cat proofing a bit will be necessary no matter what, so try to leave books in bags and the like if possible, and there are great little toys. Our favorite is the Da Bird wand toy, which has not just feather attachments but their favorite is the little mouse attachment. We play at night before I go to bed, and this gets them so exhausted if you make em chase for it that they pant like dogs, and then pretty much pass out and take a nap. Cheap $3 laser pointers are also often a hit. The kickeroo, little rattle mice, and one giant mouse we have are also favorites they can swat around and entertain themselves with.

 

[parsleysage]

Originally Posted by Ducman69

That's pretty normal for a cat to freak out if thrust into a new foreign environment and a nosy dog is all up in her business which can be very threatening when already insecure.

nodding... sounds like the guy you dropped him off with didn't know much about cats if he was introducing his dog to your sweetheart within minutes!

I couldn't help but think as I was reading the post that I was kind of glad that situation didn't work out...

Originally Posted by Ducman69

Cheap $3 laser pointers are also often a hit.

I can definitely attest to that - my kittens have played with the laser pointer for more than half an hour without getting bored. The elusive "red dot" ... drives them wild!

 

[bastetservant]

All really good advice here. This can work.

Best wishes to you and your dear kitty.

Robin

 

[jcat]

Originally Posted by darlili

If you can add shelving, a cat tree, whatever, to add vertical height, that'll add square footage to her livable space. And, while I know it's tough for a student, if you can add interactive play for 10-15 minutes in the morning and evening, or whatever schedule works for you, that may tire her out enough to adjust to your wake up schedule.

You don't have to buy expensive cat trees to add vertical space. Solid DIY shelves are inexpensive and versatile. One of our members, Carolina, has posted photos of hers: Kitty wall! Even leaving some space on top of a high bookcase or wardrobe will help, and a soft bath towel on top will give her a nice observation platform.

Jamie wants breakfast by 5 a.m. at the latest, so he's got an automatic feeder which I fill and set the night before. He's too busy listening for it to open to wake us up.

 

[ligwa]

Jeh,
I think she will be just fine. Put something she can sit on in front of your window. It can be anything. She'll love it. Get yourself a Feliway plug in. You should only need one. Transition is always tough to begin with but you never know, she may just feel even more secure in a smaller space.

I love "Da Bird" toy. It's the best cat toy I've ever had. It really does tucker them out. Cat's just love that thing.

I really hope you take her with you. The two of you could be very happy in your new place. As far as the 4 a.m wake up call; if you figure that one out please let me know. My cats wake me up at 4 every morning.

 

[ldg]

We live in an RV with eight cats. Cats really don't need a lot of space, but they do need stimulation IN what space they have.

If you can afford the autofeeder, great idea. If you can't, keep some kibble in a baggie under your pillow. When she wakes you up, give her a little bit. It took me a few weeks, but I barely wake up now and I fall right back to sleep (we had to move to fixed feeding times because we have an overweight cat, a cat with allergies, and several boys on prescription food the cat with allergies can't have).

She's destructo kitty because she's bored. Make sure to adjust your schedule to incorporate interactive play time both in the morning and at night. da Bird wand toys are GREAT. I don't know how large your room is - the wands and string are a little long where we live, so I just break the wand in half and wrap the string up a little bit and tape it to the end of the rod to make it a little shorter. You can use the other broken half of the wand to make your own. Ours LOVE leather boot laces. (Get them not dyed). I tape them on with duct tape, and just tie a large knot at the end with a bit of "tail" left. It's like a fat little mouse.

But find what she responds to... bird feather ends? A mouse end? A rabbit tail? We have one kitty that ignores all of those - but he LOVES "bugs." For him, we have the Neko toys - the Kragonfly and the Karantula REALLY get him going! He also ignores the "red dot," but the others LOVE it (the laser toy). If she doesn't like playing for 20 minutes to half an hour at a time, play with her for five or 10 minutes here and there as often as possible throughout the day - and definitely before bed.

The kitty wall is GREAT - but if you don't feel handy enough or aren't allowed to put shelves like that directly on the wall, you can buy those REALLY cheap plastic shelves to help create vertical space - and fold up cheap small throw blankets for bedding.

Even easier? Buy cheap sterlite/plastic large storage containers - stack them in a pyramid, and cut holes so she can go through them, up through some of them, and look out at the room from some of them.

Use duct tape to tape them together if they don't seem stable.

Depending on your window set up, consider getting a bird feeder that sticks on the outside with suction cups. Droll Yankees make GREAT ones that stick on really well. In the summer ours doesn't attract so many birds - but squirrels are amazing acrobats and figure out how to get to it - and they're just as much fun for your kitty as are the birds. It's total cat TV.

 

[feralvr]

That guy did not know about cats, your poor kitty being thrust into a new place and then within minutes meeting a dog YIKES!!!! I am glad you are able to keep your cat now and you have great advice from the posters above

. She will be JUST fine living in one room, no problem. Again, like others said, the vertical space will be just all she will need. And just try to make some playtime with her, wand toys or lasers are a fav for kitties and she will burn off more energy that way. OH, you can also pick up on of those treat balls and fill it with kibble and keep it in your nightstand, when she bother's you at 4 a.m., you can give that to her. This is just a suggestion and her knocking around the treat ball might keep you up, but it is worth trying

.... Much luck to you and your kitty, this can work