Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
The litter tray

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

Original poster

I can fit another cat in, can't I?

91 replies

thecatneuterer · 11/09/2013 14:33

Celia wants me to take another cat as he's going to have trouble getting a home and the centre is of course bursting at the seams. His name is Simon - scroll half way down the page to see him: www.celiahammond.org/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=9&MMN_position=16:16

He's such a sweetie. Come and tell me 21 cats isn't too much ... :)

OP posts:
Original poster
thecatneuterer · 13/09/2013 14:58

cozie and lubey well of course when I take a cat from Celia's it's already been tested to see how it feels about other cats. Any cat that hates or is terrified of other cats doesn't end up with me generally (although I have had a couple like that dumped on me from other sources and they've managed to reach an accommodation eventually).

Then I introduce them by putting the new cat in a dog kennel in the kitchen (with an igloo thing it can hide in) for a couple of weeks so that it can meet all the other cats and the other cats can meet it, but they don't actually come into contact. And then usually it's fine. What often surprises me is the bond that some of them form. A newly introduced one will often become best friends with an existing one and they sleep together and groom each other and all that.

I have a cat flap but most use the litter trays. I have three big ones and just empty them a lot.

Cozie is right about the vets, which I don't pay for. I would need another mortgage otherwise.

And food I reckon costs about £200 to £250 a month, which I don't think is that bad (although I've been aghast to read on here that some people spend less than that on a family of 4 ...)

OP posts:
Original poster
thecatneuterer · 14/09/2013 13:32

Update on Simon the cat. Apparently when they let him out of his hospital basket to roam around one of the treatment room his favourite thing is to instantly jump up to the sink which he then shits into. Oh dear. That means he's definitely going to be coming home with me. Someone might have been prepared to take and old and very decrepit cat, but nobody wants a sink shitter!

Personally I think there are worse places to shit and I'm hoping that when he's in a proper home he won't do it anyway.

OP posts:
ChubbyKitty · 14/09/2013 14:08

Maybe once he's settled he'll be better. He's probably very distressed.

£200 a monthShock mine cost me and extra £20 a month!

Then again you have 10 times as many lol!

I want to visit your house and play with every single catSad

bootsycollins · 14/09/2013 14:41

Simon looks a total sweetheart, they all do. I wish you lived near me catneuterer your house sounds like kitty heaven Smile
I'm going to read the link to the success stories now to cheer myself up. The story about the homeless lady and her cat was so humbling, I hope they both find a new home together soon. It's staggering to think that people just move house and leave their poor cat on the street and there's the homeless lady with fuck all, not a pot to piss in and despite her terrible circumstances she's looked after her cat as best as she can.

Original poster
thecatneuterer · 14/09/2013 15:03

Bootsy I know it is humbling. It reminds me of a young woman I once met who was begging on Tottenham Court Road with a sign that said 'please help - two cats to feed'. So I stopped to talk to her.

She was lovely, Australian, and had come over to England to work. Then she lost her job and they didn't pay her properly, and so she lost her home, and as she wasn't from the EU she couldn't claim benefits. And as she was homeless she couldn't get a job. So she ended up in a squat where she started feeding a stray cat, which then had kittens. She found homes for two but ended up being left with one, also female.

She (wrongly in fact) didn't think she could get any help with the cost of spaying the cats as she wasn't eligible for benefits, so she saved the money she got from begging to have one done privately, and was saving to have the other one done. And she didn't have a pot to piss in!

So I arranged to pick the other cat up from the squat (which was a condemned tower block and didn't even have doors, or running water or electricity) and get her done for her.

And yet there are people with money for flat screen tvs who can't be arsed to find the money to spay their cat.

OP posts:
bootsycollins · 14/09/2013 16:30

My sons good friends with a couple who have 3 cats, 1 boy, 2 girls. Both females have given birth to a litter this year and they still haven't neutered the boy. The cats are well loved and cared for, the owners thought it would be cute to see what the kittens looked like. Every time my son visits I ask him how the cats are doing and I've told him how irresponsible they're being not getting him neutered, gives me the rage. If they love their cats so much why would they put them at so much risk? Argh!.

Fluffycloudland77 · 14/09/2013 16:52

My cat pooed in the sink once, at least a sinks cleanable. maybe a decoy sink in the garden would suit him Wink

Original poster
thecatneuterer · 14/09/2013 17:53

Ooo a decoy sink is a good idea. I could even just leave it lying around the house if necessary. Funnily enough I have one. I was only just lamenting the other day the amount of stuff in my loft and mentally cursing the ex hoarder boyfriend who put most of it there (he didn't even live with me, he just liked to fill my loft with crap). But it does include a decoy sink. He must in fact have had remarkable foresight:)

OP posts:
timtam23 · 14/09/2013 22:06

Shitting in the sink sounds quite ok considering what the other options could be!

My neighbours' cat wees in the bath Grin

citybranch · 14/09/2013 22:11

Hello thecatneuterer, we rehomed a lovely little cat from CHAT Canning Town just last Sunday.. I clicked on your first link and saw her pic was still there..litte Serafina! We didn't see you there, did we?
We met some lovely people at the Canning Town branch, thanks for all you do.
The DCs have renamed our little cat as Matilda (or Mati) and she has settled in superbly this week with our family, including the other two cats. It's very obvious that she hasn't been used to a family home before as she is still puzzled by the washing machine/dishwasher and other noises but she seems more curious than worried. I'm looking forward to letting her outside so she can enjoy the garden.

I'd like to volunteer for a day per week at Canning Town; I have enquired in the past but I do need to wait until DD has settled at school as she is doing part time reception settling in at the moment. Does Canning Town still need volunteers?

Original poster
thecatneuterer · 15/09/2013 14:33

It's great that you've got one of our cats citybranch and I'm glad she's settling in. No, you won't have seen me on the Sunday. Most of what I do is outside of the clinic - trapping, general driving, collecting money, delivering cats etc.

I'm not sure how we are doing for cleaning/feeding volunteers at the moment, but we certainly have a turn over so please email and put your name down. We also need other sorts of volunteers. People with cars are very useful to do the sort of stuff I do - particularly responding to emergency calls and picking up injured cats or cats that have turned up very ill in someone's garden - that sort of thing. Also people who are prepared to sit in Pets at Home or Tesco for example with a stand collecting money (car very useful for that too though really).

Also anyone with any sort of skill can be useful - accountants, web designers, graphic designers, printers, electricians, car mechanics, carpenters, estate agents, database entry - all sorts of stuff.

OP posts:
lljkk · 15/09/2013 14:46

That Simon is one of the mankiest looking cats I've ever seen.
Glad he's found a good home. :)
(Faints at thought of 21 cats, I thought 3 were a handful!!)

ZebraOwl · 16/09/2013 01:51

Gosh yes, while sink-shitting is not exactly desirable, as you say, there are plenty of worse places! Love the idea of a decoy!sink though hopefully you're right about him settling down once he's in a Home-home Smile

SummerRain · 16/09/2013 09:11

My old girl was a sink shitter when she first got here, and worse... She pooed in my handbag once [vom]

She stopped once she'd settled and is good as gold now for using the tray.

At least the sink is easily cleaned Smile

Original poster
thecatneuterer · 16/09/2013 11:20

Poo in the handbag Grin. Oh dear that's grim. The worst I ever had was when one of my cats vomited in my mum's shoe when she came to stay.

OP posts:
SummerRain · 16/09/2013 11:27

Oh lord, that must have been an awkward moment Grin

cozietoesie · 17/09/2013 11:42

How is Simon doing, TCN?

Original poster
thecatneuterer · 17/09/2013 12:25

OK thanks Cozie. He's scheduled for his second op later this week (but this coud get put back if a lot of emergencies come in) and i'll be bringing him home after that.

OP posts:
cozietoesie · 17/09/2013 12:42

Good lad. Smile

Original poster
thecatneuterer · 24/09/2013 20:00

Update on Simon the manky cat:

Well he hasn't had the op on his wound yet as apparently he has a very bad fungal skin condition and they want to wait it's under control before the op. He is having to be bathed (and blow dried) every other day. They say he tolerates this quite well.

I'm sure I can manage the bathing but I'm thinking maybe I should wait until after my holiday to bring him home. It's bad enough asking my neighbour to feed and clean the litter trays for 20 cats, without asking her to bath one as well!

Or maybe I should take him and then just put him back in the clinic while I'm away. I need to have a think.

OP posts:
cozietoesie · 24/09/2013 20:09

If he's tolerating it pretty well, I'd leave him. Having a strange person start again with it might be too much for him in the circumstances because he won't have developed a grooming relationship with her.

Have a good hol when you get there!

ZebraOwl · 24/09/2013 23:51

I'm with cozie on matter of leaving him in clinic until after your holiday.

To be honest I think he'd find either of the options for covering your absence unsettling.

Asking someone to give a cat - esp one they don't really know - a shampoo & set bath & then blowdry them every other day is a pretty big ask. Your neighbour might also struggle if Simon's condition deteriorated. Neighbour might also feel poos in sinks are a poo-picking-up line they're not up to crossing?

With taking him back to the centre while you're away it's more about him feeling confused by the changes & then maybe not trusting thecatneuterer towers is really truly his home.

Moreover, would I be right in suspecting you'd struggle to relax & enjoy your holiday if you were worrying about how Simon The Manky Cat was coping?

You are very VERY awesome & I hope you are able to have a lovely relaxing holiday - you certainly deserve it Flowers

Original poster
thecatneuterer · 27/09/2013 02:46

Thanks Zebra, and cozie.

In an ideal world I'd agree with you. The problem is the situation at Celia's is far from ideal. As I've mentioned before we have far, far more cats than we really have space for, which means many of them are literally stacked up in hospital baskets (which are basically the size of a large cat carrier with an extension to fit in a food bowl and small litter tray), and Simon is in one of these. And as it's about four weeks until I go away I think he'd rather have four weeks in a proper house than shut up in one of those, even if it meant he'd have to go back in for a week.

Of course it could be that in four weeks time his skin will be much better and he will only need his shampoo and set :) once a week, in which case he can even stay in my house while I'm away.

I'm still thinking ...

OP posts:
cozietoesie · 27/09/2013 07:44

Ah now - that's a bit different. What sort of character is he? A fairly phlegmatic chap might take it all in his stride.

ZebraOwl · 27/09/2013 09:13

I hadn't fully registered the timescales involved - nor, tbh, exactly how bad things were. Am far from unimaginative, but having no frame of reference for it, "overflowing with cats" just prompts a ridiculous mental image rather than how the reality is structured, iyswim?

How close to the date can you make your decision?

(Incidentally, my friend adopted 2 of Lewisham branch's 6-month-olds last weekend. Originally Penny & June they're now April & June - no prizes for guessing what one of the humans in that household is called! - and very happy felines. They've settled in superquickly & are being worshipped as is only right&proper.)