Cat Hides When Moved to New Home: Friday's Trauma

Dear Greyce,

I am a 10 month old, spayed, female kitten with a mainly black, short-haired coat. I lived happily with my three siblings until two weeks ago. Apparently our purrson was moving into a condominium and was only allowed to take 2 kittens, so the others of us have been placed elsewhere. 

Greyce, if you can believe it we weren't told what would happen to us! One day I was put into a crate, carried into a car and driven to another destination. Before the ride was over, I threw up. Upon arriving at the new destination, I was dropped off into the basement, removed from my crate and left alone.

My new purrsons thought I would have a chance to adjust to my new surroundings by being confined in one area with all of my equipment: I have a litter box with clumping litter. I have a water dish and I have a bowl of my regular kibble.

The basement is large and unfinished. Things are stored there and it is all one big place. There is a machine which sometimes makes noise when a purrson puts clothes into it; they come out wet. The purrsons live upstairs.

Since then I have been hiding out near the ceiling in the rafters beside the air ducts where it is warm. I come down to eat at night when it is very quiet. No one sees me. The purrsons are getting anxious because they understand that I was a friendly kitten in my former home.

I am eating, drinking water, peeing and pooping. But I have yet to play with my catnip mouse. I just hang out in the rafters for most of the day, and come down to eat, drink and use the toilet in the night.

At first my food and water were a distance apart from the litter box. But they have now been moved into another part of the basement in an attempt to get me nearer the stairs, so I can be enticed upstairs. 

I remain terrified. Do I have to live like this for the rest of my nine lives?

Fearfully,
Friday

Design to Prevent Cat Fights

Dear Readers,

I'm working on another PAGE, this time on feline design. But there is such good news that I cannot wait to share it. You MUST check out Olive and Pepper's article about how feline design principles were used to help them end their cat fights. 

They live in a small apartment with narrow corridors, ripe for cat attacks. Olive used to corner Pepper who had no means of escape. But that is a thing of the past.

Thanks to interventions by behaviourist Jackson Galaxy  - shown on the Animal Planet program, My Cat From Hell (Season 3, Episode 1) with the important assistance of Kate Benjamin to design a more appropriate environment, they live in peace.

The article will give you a very good idea of how this was accomplished. And you can always download the actual episode from iTunes if you are curious.

Note the particularly innovative use of cat trees that are well-secured WITHOUT the need to drill into the walls. You MUST have a look to see how compact and well-designed this set up is.

As well the article mentions some very sound design principles you should consider in the renovation of your own interiors:

1. Designated cat-only spaces using existing furnishings and a few, inexpensive materials (like landing mats).

2. Using the revolving door concept so a cornered cat has two different escape routes. In a two-cat household, this means that the victim can always get to safety.

After all, what do your purrsons prefurr: cat fights and vet bills? urine sprayed around the walls? or some anxiety-relieving design that takes the need to monitor, intervene, and clean up completely out of the situation.

So have a look at Kate's website which is called Hauspanther. And if you are looking for more, click on Design Ideas at the top and select Environmental Design. Some of these are so enchanting (and such sound behavioural ideas) that it should be a relatively simple matter to convince your purrsons to implement them. (And just a note: I'm not a fan of all the items shown on this site, even if they are appealing to look at. Not everything shown makes behavioural sense.)

For your consideration,
Greyce

Cat Adjusts to Return of Fellow Feline from Surgery

Dear Greyce,

I wanted to share how we handled Skeeter's surgery. You may recall that Skeeter has an immune virus that has been attacking his gums, causing his teeth to decay. Sometimes, his gums bled. He was scheduled for full extraction surgery. Needless to say, Themselves were very concerned: about his ability to handle it all and about my ability to deal with yet another novel situation - since I don't do that very well. As you know, I wrote you for advice on how to handle his re-entry into the house.

Play Therapy for Anxious, Spraying Cat

Dear Readers,
My advice to Indy the long-term spraying cat continues. So far we've covered the issues of discipline, of medication, and of cleaning and dealing with his most recent pee spots. There will be more cleaning tips later. But today I want to discuss anxiety-reduction measures, starting with play therapy.

Introducing PAGES!

 Dear Readers,

At long last I've taken Herself in paw and insisted that we construct some long-term pages. These entries will be easy to locate and will deal with advice that I seem to give over and over again.

I'm starting with Interactive Play Therapy - some sorely needed advice for Indy, the spraying Siamese - and likely for many others of you with similar issue.

You will find PAGES at the top of my blog. Each topic will be individually labelled (as I construct them). So look for INTERACTIVE PLAY THERAPY beside HOME. Click on it. And read away!

Purrs to all,
Greyce