Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am still trying to find a good new home for my cat. He has some problems at current foster family as follows as noted at my first note.

Now I have to disclose the problem more in detail. Because I would like to be fair to the potential adoptor and to my cat. Can he still have a chance to have a new good home?

Part 1 :
My cat, Tigger, is 5 yrs old, medium size, male, neutered, Japanese bobtail. He is very playful, and still like a baby, loves to be petted, and loves attention.
We adopted him with his brother when they were a few weeks old. We already had one medium size cat which was a few years older than him. We had a baby boy. He grew up with cats. We all had lived together with no problem. Unfortunately, my husband was transferred to Australia October, 2003. The quarantine for Australia is very strict (6 months), and we he got transferred we knew that we would be in Australia for less than a year. We had no intention to give cats away. So, we looked around and found 3 families to look after each of our cats, while we are gone. Tigger went to one of my very good friends, Kathy, who also loves animals. She has 2 cats and one dog, and 3 children. Unfortunately, Kathy says Tigger is not getting along well with her cats. Especially, one of them is 14-15 years old, and she does not like �grough�h play. In an effort to try and deal with the situation, she took him to the vet. The vet felt that Tigger was probably nervous and not happy at her place. Also, I wonder if I had pampered him too much, and that at my friend�fs house he wasn�ft getting enough love and attention.

Part 2:
I hate to disclose these facts, as noboy will take him if the potential adoptors know these....
Kathy says that Tigger has litter problems. He is soiling everywhere in her house. (He never ever had this problem before with us.)
He tears up the curtain. He tears up his blanket when he was put in his cage. (I know he is upset, but I have never seen him that upst before.)
He eats dog food and gets sick.
And, he attacked the dog, which Kathy has adopted form a sheltor just about the same time as Tigger. The size of the dog is bigger than him. (I can not imagine. Plus, we did not have any dogs.)
Tigger has been given antidepressant for 2 weeks, but Kathy says it does not work.

Now, Tigger totally ruined Kathy's welcome. I asked Kathy to put Tigger in a kennel.

Do you think still he has a chance to find a new home?
Is his reaction too agressive to be called normal upset?
Do you still think he can be a playmate with a younger male cat?
What about the home comes with 2 cats not one? Can this be a stress?
Can there be any chance that he goes to a home with a dog?
If so, what breed/sex/size/personality would be possible?

He is very special to me. I would like to find him a good home, with minimum stress as possible.

Thank you very much for putting up with the long story.

Yasuko

These behaviors are due to stress. I believe the house had to much activity and change for him. He misses his family and his brothers. Neither of the other cat sitters will take him? I am sure the behavior will gradually go away once he is removed from the home he is in.
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Jaime owned by
Mya the dog
and the cats:Crash, Moxie, Gabby and sometimes Tucker

Jaime,

Thank you! Your comment made me feel a lot better.

I know it is hard to guess, but what do you think about putting him together with a dog?

Thank you again.

Yasuko

It depends on the dog. How old is the dog a puppy or adult over 3?
Is the dog calm? My dog loves cats and doesn't even bother with them much unless they want to cuddle with her. If the dog is always running around and is hyper that may not be a good situation. What else is in the house? kids? other cats?
It might work if it's just a dog. But when you move him make sure the care taker has a room just for the cat for a while. So the cat can get used to the scent of the dog and the house noises. Gradually they can introduce the two.
Please keep us updated.
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Jaime owned by
Mya the dog
and the cats:Crash, Moxie, Gabby and sometimes Tucker

Hi,

The dog was stray or abused or abandoned dog. He looked like an adult, and he is definitely bigger than my cat. He was adopted just right before my cat got in.
They have 3 kids, 7, 5 and 3 years old. Mom is busy going back to school, taking care of kids.
They have 2 female cats: one is about the same age as my cat, the other is about 12 years old or older.

Thank you.
Yasuko

That house seems like a really busy house hold. Might not be the best place for a stress out cat. What state is the cat located in?
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Jaime owned by
Mya the dog
and the cats:Crash, Moxie, Gabby and sometimes Tucker

The cat is located in Dayton, Ohio.

Your guess about the dog was right. Here, Kathy, whose place my cat has trouble staying at, says:

Tigger (my cat, 5years old male) and Harry (the dog, 3-5 years old, guess) did not get along well. At first it may have just been that Tigger had not been around a dog before. Later on, Harry just wanted to play with tigger. Tigger did not enjoy the dog's attempts to play chase.

Tigger did attack mainly Elly (who is 14 and the dominant cat in the house). We used to refer to it as " Tigger is hunting Elly". If Elly was in bed with me, he would jump on the bed and attack her. Later, he started to attack our other cat(female 5 years old) too. Sometimes it looked as though he wanted to play (very rough) with the other cats, but mine were just unwilling and terrified of Tigger.

Thank you very much for your reply.

Yasuko