Hi All.
We brought home our newly adopted 3-5 year old tortoiseshell DLH yesterday. We found her through PetFinder, and contacted one of the local organizations that foster out their kitties. I became friendly with one of the women who run the place, and she felt Elmora (we plan to change the name) would be a good match for us, and our resident cat, Casper. Mora, as she is currently called, has her claws and was recently spayed.
She's a rather shy girl, and we knew she was going to need time to acclimate let alone, we also found out they didn't have her more than a month or so - she was found on the streets, friendly to most, but at the hands of some abusive children.
All things considered she has been very trusting to us, when she comes out from under the furniture in the room we have her in for now. She is a serious lap cat, loves belly rubs, and a purr machine. Today, I managed to finally get her onto the bed with me for a long nap - where she also finally stopped her constant repositioning and nudging for affection long enough to take an honest, relaxed sleep without me having to pet her for reassurance all the time. Small steps at progress!
She has eaten a little bit since here. I brought her up wet food for dinner last night, which she didn't really touch but this morning, we got her to eat about half of a portion of wet, and she has been nibbling on kibble also. Looks like some of her water is gone too, so that's a good sign. However, she still has not used the litter box. We know the last time she went, was right before we took her home. The liason brought her over to one of the local pet stores for us to get her (it was an "adoption day" so it made it easier for her to bring her there and us to come get her). She mentioned to me that she recognized that Mora needed the box, so she brought her to one. That, was approximately 11 am or so Saturday. It's now 6:30 pm Sunday.
We showed her the box when we got her home yesterday afternoon. Of course, it's a new box. But, we got the same litter she's used to. And put the box on the opposite side of the room from her food, a bit hidden from the sight line of the bedroom door, so when you walk in you don't see it, just in case she needed privacy. We think she may have at least been inside it, the litter looks disturbed, but we surely do not see poop in it, and it does not look like any urine is inside it that we can tell either, unless it was so minute? It's a kind of litter we aren't used to (I'm forgetting the name off hand, and the bag is in her room, don't want to go disturb her at the moment, trying not to overwhelm her with too many visits).
I keep hearing everyone say "oh she'll go when she's ready" and "oh, she does know where the box is, don't worry" but, well, I'm concerned. She doesn't seem in any distress that I can tell - and she hasn't gone on the floor either, as far as I can tell lol. There really has only been one place under the furniture she's been hiding (she's a creature of habit apparently) and I think we would have put our hand in the puddle if there was one by now lol.
So, is there a point where we should get really concerned? When we got Casper, he came into our house like he owned it - and we had no problem with him at all using the box right away. Christmas is nearly upon us, and I'd hate to have to be rushing her to an emergency vet on the holiday. Should I call my vet tomorrow before it goes on too long, if she hasn't gone by the morning? I need to bring her in anyway to get her set up with my practice - although I was going to wait a week or so until after she was more settled into a routine before dragging her to the vet - since the organization has recently vetted her.
Thanks in advance for your help.
We brought home our newly adopted 3-5 year old tortoiseshell DLH yesterday. We found her through PetFinder, and contacted one of the local organizations that foster out their kitties. I became friendly with one of the women who run the place, and she felt Elmora (we plan to change the name) would be a good match for us, and our resident cat, Casper. Mora, as she is currently called, has her claws and was recently spayed.
She's a rather shy girl, and we knew she was going to need time to acclimate let alone, we also found out they didn't have her more than a month or so - she was found on the streets, friendly to most, but at the hands of some abusive children.
All things considered she has been very trusting to us, when she comes out from under the furniture in the room we have her in for now. She is a serious lap cat, loves belly rubs, and a purr machine. Today, I managed to finally get her onto the bed with me for a long nap - where she also finally stopped her constant repositioning and nudging for affection long enough to take an honest, relaxed sleep without me having to pet her for reassurance all the time. Small steps at progress!
She has eaten a little bit since here. I brought her up wet food for dinner last night, which she didn't really touch but this morning, we got her to eat about half of a portion of wet, and she has been nibbling on kibble also. Looks like some of her water is gone too, so that's a good sign. However, she still has not used the litter box. We know the last time she went, was right before we took her home. The liason brought her over to one of the local pet stores for us to get her (it was an "adoption day" so it made it easier for her to bring her there and us to come get her). She mentioned to me that she recognized that Mora needed the box, so she brought her to one. That, was approximately 11 am or so Saturday. It's now 6:30 pm Sunday.
We showed her the box when we got her home yesterday afternoon. Of course, it's a new box. But, we got the same litter she's used to. And put the box on the opposite side of the room from her food, a bit hidden from the sight line of the bedroom door, so when you walk in you don't see it, just in case she needed privacy. We think she may have at least been inside it, the litter looks disturbed, but we surely do not see poop in it, and it does not look like any urine is inside it that we can tell either, unless it was so minute? It's a kind of litter we aren't used to (I'm forgetting the name off hand, and the bag is in her room, don't want to go disturb her at the moment, trying not to overwhelm her with too many visits).
I keep hearing everyone say "oh she'll go when she's ready" and "oh, she does know where the box is, don't worry" but, well, I'm concerned. She doesn't seem in any distress that I can tell - and she hasn't gone on the floor either, as far as I can tell lol. There really has only been one place under the furniture she's been hiding (she's a creature of habit apparently) and I think we would have put our hand in the puddle if there was one by now lol.
So, is there a point where we should get really concerned? When we got Casper, he came into our house like he owned it - and we had no problem with him at all using the box right away. Christmas is nearly upon us, and I'd hate to have to be rushing her to an emergency vet on the holiday. Should I call my vet tomorrow before it goes on too long, if she hasn't gone by the morning? I need to bring her in anyway to get her set up with my practice - although I was going to wait a week or so until after she was more settled into a routine before dragging her to the vet - since the organization has recently vetted her.
Thanks in advance for your help.
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