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The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

Original poster

Cat owners quick I need help!!!!

244 replies

Mrschocolate · 12/08/2013 19:12

FIL went to his bosses house today with some documents. His boss is on holiday for 3 weeks and asked FIL to take the key from his next door neighbour (a mutual friend) and to leave the documents in the kitchen.

When FIL got their he found a cat. It was yowling and he said it looked very distressed. There was no water in the cats bowl and no food out. FIL called his boss to tell him about the cat because he assumed that whoever was supposed to be watching the cat hadn't turned up. (the neighbour is housebound so wouldn't of been looking after the cat)

His boss said that know one was looking after the cat. He got it two months ago for a girlfriend who then left him. She didn't want the cat and he didn't want one in the first place so he just left it there whilst he went on holiday. He left the cat flap open and assumed that when it got hungry it would leave and not bother coming back. However the cat is a house cat and his boss guess that is why the cat hadn't left yet.
FIL was horrified and told his boss he was taking the cat. His boss said do what you like with it.

The cat is black and white (like Jess the cat off postman pat) it's a female and it doesn't look full grown though it is thin. It has drank a lot of water and FIL fed him some chicken out of a packet that he bought from a local garage on his way home.

The cat is asleep on the sofa cushions. PILs called me around for some advice because they have never owned a pet. However I have only owned dogs so I have no idea either. I have called my vet and they are taking the cat in first thing in the morning.

Could you please give advice on what to do for this cat. FIL is going to go to the supermarket to grab some cat stuff so I am hoping you can give us some advice as to what to get

OP posts:
Fluffycloudland77 · 12/08/2013 20:40

It's illegal yes, but does the fil want to make his job untenable with a cat to spay, vaccinate and microchip? Not to mention the cost of squeaky catnip mice.

Original poster
Mrschocolate · 12/08/2013 20:41

Sparkling - Grin

OP posts:
Fuzzymum1 · 12/08/2013 20:41

It's against the law to leave animals unattended without someone coming to check on them and feed them at least once every 24 hours as an absolute minimum. The boss is a grade A twunt and your FIL is an angel. Little 'Jess' has definitely fallen on her paws there, poor poor thing.

ShipwreckedAndComatose · 12/08/2013 20:43

That's the beauty of the cat poo plan!

Jess would get the blame, FIL keeps his job and we all secretly laugh behind dickwad's back...

ShipwreckedAndComatose · 12/08/2013 20:43

Love the photo Wink

ShipwreckedAndComatose · 12/08/2013 20:44

Awwwwwww! Fluffy that's just adorable!

Tigglettchic · 12/08/2013 20:47

Such a sweet story, so pleased he had documents to drop off!! And a kind heart to take her in!

But I have to know, what is her awful name????

We bought our adopted cat all the lovely things, bed, scratching post etc but in the end he just loved his food, sitting under the radiator and sleeping on our bed!!

Remember to give her lots of water and perhaps some cat milk?

MissStrawberry · 12/08/2013 20:50

Scratching post!!!! I forgot that. Probably because StrawberryBoy likes to use the carpet and StrawberryGirl likes to use a tree in the garden.

Original poster
Mrschocolate · 12/08/2013 20:56

fluffy That is adorable!

OP posts:
Secretswitch · 12/08/2013 20:56

I have raging PMT, and this story plus Fluffycloudlands picture has made
me teary. Mrschocolate, your FIL sounds like a lovely man. It sounds like he and little kitty girl have made mutually agreeable mate Grin
Sparklingbrook, thanks for the unlovely snort I made after viewing your stand in picture..

Secretswitch · 12/08/2013 20:57

Ohhh..Lord...sorry for the garbled post..I. Meant Your FIL and kitty girl have made a mutually agreeable match!

Relaxedandhappyperson · 12/08/2013 21:10

Fuzzymum1 - what law is that? And how on earth is it enforceable?

OP your PILs will need to try out several types of cat food as the cat is likely to have firm ideas about what she does and doesn't like. They're rather opinionated. Grin

You keep saying "she": is it definitely a girl? Worth having a good look :-)

Gruntfuttocks · 12/08/2013 21:12

Suggestion re litter - World's Best Cat Litter (it really is called that!) - I buy it from Pets at Home, you can also get it online. It's great because it clumps together when the cat wees, so you can scoop out just that lump and therefore it lasts for ages. Also flushable, so if you have room for the litter tray in a bathroom you can just chuck it down the loo!
Cat toys - anything attached to a stick and a piece of string that you can dangle for them to chase will go down well. Also anything with catnip in it for amusing daftness from cat...
It's worth getting some sort of scratch post for the cat - might save the furniture a bit, and they do love to scratch! Willow do some excellent boxes with corrugated cardboard that they can scratch.

Original poster
Mrschocolate · 12/08/2013 21:22

FIL has just come back. He has bought:
2 packets of each wet food he could find and three giant bags of biscuits so she can choose what she wants.
A pink litter tray and a pink spotty litter tray one for upstairs and one for down again so the cat has a choice. Plus a giant bag of cat litter.
Some Dreamies and some other cat treats because she deserves them all.
A bottle of cat milk in case that takes her fancy.
Two new cat bowls one pink spotty and one blue for her water.
A fleece pink cat blanket and a cushion that I think is probably more for dogs but I don't think that really matters. These are for her to sit on the sofa.
A pink bed for their bedroom in case she wants to sleep with them.
A lovely pink collar which he has gone to put on her
2 catnip mice and loads of other toys. (they didn't sell scratching posts)

MIL just looked at him and said this is why he doesn't do the weekly food shop. He has bought loads of stuff though if it doesn't get used I think they can give it to the local cat shelter.

OP posts:
Sparklingbrook · 12/08/2013 21:23

Where did he get that lot from at this late hour? Grin

Original poster
Mrschocolate · 12/08/2013 21:25

gruntfuttocks Thank you for the advice they only had one type of litter in the shop FIL is going to Petsathome after they take her to the vets to "find her better toys"

OP posts:
alwaysonmymind · 12/08/2013 21:26

What a lovely man

cozietoesie · 12/08/2013 21:28

I'm still laughing here. She's only been in the house a few hours and your FIL is right under that delicate little paw! He'll likely be out first thing in the morning buying smoked salmon and roast chicken.

Boy - when they fall, they fall hard, eh?

Grin
NorfolkIngWay · 12/08/2013 21:28

I lost it at " Calling her his baby girl"

So glad she is safe - get a vet to check her out though- my DM rescued a sweet little girl that she found and she had 4 kittens 3 weeks later Grin

Sparklingbrook · 12/08/2013 21:29

I was just thinking that Norfolk, it is possible.

Original poster
Mrschocolate · 12/08/2013 21:30

Sparkling He went to the supermarkets they are all open 24 hours around here.
He went to one first but he didn't like the choice so he went across town to the other two.
The cat is definitely a girl FIL checked before he went out so he had a "colour to work with"

OP posts:
cozietoesie · 12/08/2013 21:31

........ a "colour to work with"........

Oh my.

MissStrawberry · 12/08/2013 21:32

Oh my! I really hope he can keep her. He is under her paw 100% Grin

ShipwreckedAndComatose · 12/08/2013 21:33

Oh, he's fallen hard!! Grin