Hey everyone, we have two new furry family members joining us around the beginning of July and I wanted to get some input on a few things.
These cats, both approx. 4yo DLH females, belong to my husband's brother. He adopted them when he was living alone but then he moved back to his parents' house and for the last three years the cats have lived in the detached garage in the backyard. His parents let them out every day but otherwise they live a fairly cramped life and sadly have an extremely dirty litterbox (I am sure they no longer use it and instead go in the yard and at night they probably "go" somewhere in the garage).
Here are my questions:
1. When or how do we become the legal owners of these cats? The brother is fine with us taking them but a few remarks he has made (ex. "I'll give you some money every month") makes me think he might believe we are boarding them, instead of adopting them forever. Should we write something down and sign it? Or if he willingly lets us have them and we become their caretakers (vet records, etc.) is that proof of legal ownership? I am sure everything will be fine but my pessimist brain is imagining my brother-in-law moving to a new house a few years from now and making a claim for the cats at that point. We would like our home to be their forever home and want that to be clear.
2. Per standard integration practices, the cats will be going straight from their current home to the vet and then into our spare bedroom for a period of time. I'm predicting that going from a large garage with several hours of outdoor time every day to a medium size bedroom will be a bit of a struggle for them. Any tips on preventing them from bolting when I open the bedroom door?
3. They were raised in a house with a litterbox until about a year old, is it safe to assume they will readily take that practice up again? We've been very blessed in terms of our cats never peeing on beds, furniture, etc. and so we're a little wary about accidents. I know they've been going outside and/or on object in the garage for awhile, but I would assume instinct would take over when they see a fresh bed of "sand" for their business... just wanted to check on that?
Thanks!!!
These cats, both approx. 4yo DLH females, belong to my husband's brother. He adopted them when he was living alone but then he moved back to his parents' house and for the last three years the cats have lived in the detached garage in the backyard. His parents let them out every day but otherwise they live a fairly cramped life and sadly have an extremely dirty litterbox (I am sure they no longer use it and instead go in the yard and at night they probably "go" somewhere in the garage).
Here are my questions:
1. When or how do we become the legal owners of these cats? The brother is fine with us taking them but a few remarks he has made (ex. "I'll give you some money every month") makes me think he might believe we are boarding them, instead of adopting them forever. Should we write something down and sign it? Or if he willingly lets us have them and we become their caretakers (vet records, etc.) is that proof of legal ownership? I am sure everything will be fine but my pessimist brain is imagining my brother-in-law moving to a new house a few years from now and making a claim for the cats at that point. We would like our home to be their forever home and want that to be clear.
2. Per standard integration practices, the cats will be going straight from their current home to the vet and then into our spare bedroom for a period of time. I'm predicting that going from a large garage with several hours of outdoor time every day to a medium size bedroom will be a bit of a struggle for them. Any tips on preventing them from bolting when I open the bedroom door?
3. They were raised in a house with a litterbox until about a year old, is it safe to assume they will readily take that practice up again? We've been very blessed in terms of our cats never peeing on beds, furniture, etc. and so we're a little wary about accidents. I know they've been going outside and/or on object in the garage for awhile, but I would assume instinct would take over when they see a fresh bed of "sand" for their business... just wanted to check on that?
Thanks!!!
who knows? It could go either way. You may want to put some plastic sheets on the bed until you find out. If the room is carpeted I suggest lots of puppy training pads. And you may want to get some of those screw-in tacks that they use to hold slipcovers to furniture and use them to pin the training pads to the carpet so that they won't fly everywhere when the cats get the zoomies. 
