First week with our gorgeous new rescue boy: lots of questions

[Archfarchnad]

My second attempt at writing this; I wrote a long ramble quite a lot and it just disappeared. Bah.

We picked up our lovely black and grey tabby on Saturday, so this is Day 6. ArchCat was found wandering on the street in early May (nb, we're in central Europe, not the UK), got taken to the vet, chipped, neutered, jabbed, wormed, de-flead and generally checked over, then spent a few months in the shelter, being overlooked because he's so shy with strangers. He disliked being with the other cats, so the shelter are happy to have him adopted as a single cat - plus I work from home so am there all day for him if he wants yet more scratching under the chin attention. Things are going pretty well under the circs: after a brief spell squashed under the TV cabinet he spent a few days glued to his bed, with brief forays to the food bowl and litter tray. Right now he's sleeping on the sofa - great progress! He rolls over to have his tum scratched and gave me a nose kiss yesterday - that's good, right? Things got better after I plugged in a Feliway. But I'd appreciate some advice nonetheless.

Food: my main concern right now. He's a big-boned chap at 5 kilos, the shelter vet estimates he's 3 years old from his teeth. But I'm worried he's a little underweight and don't know exactly how much to feed him. I don't want to take him to our new vet for a few more days until he settles in better, so can't get an expert opinion until then. Up to last night he was getting 3 x 85g pouches a day (7am, 1pm, 7pm) plus as much dry food as he wants. It all got eaten quite quickly, and the dry food polished off overnight. Last night he begged for food at midnight, so I gave him a fourth pouch, and he was hungry again at 6.30am today. But now he's not eating his lunch at all. Hmm. How can I tell whether 3 or 4 pouches is right for him? Are the back quarters of cats supposed to be sticking out a bit like a chicken? He's that bony. Can you tell by looking what the right weight for a cat is?

Litter: he's been brilliant with using the litter tray so far. But he's only using one open tray right now, set up in his 'safe space'. I have another one which is enclosed, which I'd like to get him using because he kicks litter all over the floor when covering up his poo. But I'm worried about endangering the success we've had this week. And his 'safe space' is in one corner of the living room, because that's all we have. So how do I go from the current tray to the situation I ideally want, which is a tray in each bathroom on the ground floor and first floor? And is it true that rescue cats are less likely to use a covered tray (claims employee in pet supplies shop)?
So far he's been happy with the clumping clay litter, which is what they had in the shelter. I've been scooping it out as soon as I saw it was used, at least three times a day. How often do people actually clean out and disinfect the whole tray for an outside cat? I've googled it and got an incredible range of answers - everything from 'every time the cat uses it' to 'three or four times a year'. I was thinking more of once a week, but I suppose it depends how often he poos/pees outside once he's allowed out.

Behaviour: he's the most gentle, sensitive cat - gorgeous personality. If he's had enough chin-scratching he gently bats us away without claws or just turns the other way. But are there possibly going to be any consequences from him being neutered so late in life? Is he more likely to spray inside because he remembers that behaviour? And he presents his rear end to us, which is, erm, a bit offputting when you have a bumhole six inches from your face (especially because he's still shaved from his op). I read that blowing softly on the back end is a gentle way of discouraging from that - is that true? Is he more likely to be territorial and aggressive with other local cats when they're all outside?

We still have a fair bit to organise: I've had someone in for a quote on getting a SureFlap installed, and the vet has to do a health check for the insurance I want. ArchCat just got terrified when DD2 came back and dared to open the door, and is now hiding under the sofa again, so we still have a long way to go.

I've never attached a photo before so it might go wrong, but this one of him was taken in the shelter - he's not allowed outside yet here.

He's absolutely beautiful - congratulations.
Our cat ate like that when we rescued him, he is also large but he became a bit overweight and has had to go on a diet. I would continue as you are until you think he is settled in enough to talk to the vet on that one.
Re litter trays - again I would wait until he is fully settled before using a covered tray. Our cat uses one but it took at couple of months for him to be brave enough. We used to just put the lid on the floor with some cat treats under so he got used to going in and out. We empty out clumps each day and do a full clean/disinfect weekly, the night before the bins are collected so it's not hanging around in the dustbin for too long.
It sounds like you are doing everything right and that things are going well so far, just be patient and let him get to know you and his new environment in his own time.

Oh, he's lovely! What a fine chap to have rescued; I'm very pleased for him. I'm a bit biased about tabbies and he's gorgeous.

It sounds like he's relaxing gradually - our first cat was shy and scared at the start and now would sit on me all day if he could. Hang on in there with him, he'll become your biggest fan.

We have a 5.5 kg cat who eats 200g of wet food a day - 2 x 200g pouches. Often with a small amount of supplemental biscuits as well, and fresh, live food he catches himself. We did accidentally let him get fat by leaving biscuits out all day for our other cat, but we stopped this. If the cat is standing on the floor and you look down on him, he should have a 'waist' - get narrower before his hips - not have straight sides. A bit bony isn't a bad thing, but a bit of bribery to encourage a new cat to like you isn't a bad thing either. An active, tree-climbing cat may work off more biscuits than one who sleeps all day. Ask the vet if he seems underweight when you get him checked out; I think most tins/packs of cat food recommend more food than is required.

I can't help with the litter tray, sorry. But if he starts going out, he may prefer to go outside, or you may prefer him to go outside. (We had a couple of plumbing disasters recently - the old trays are very useful for catching drips...)

Good luck with the blowing! I'd love to hear how that goes. :D

I wish you and your tabby boy all the very best and years of happiness together.

Our rescue kitty kicked litter all over the shower in which his tray was. After a couple of weeks I put the tray in a high sided plastic storage container. He happily jumped in and out to use his tray and it contained the litter.

Our two came from rescue where they'd been all their lives. We are new to cats and just bought initially one covered tray, then another one fairly sharpish.
We took the lids off off the trays initially so they'd know where they were supposed to go, and then popped them on again after two weeks. No problems. I like the covered trays.

Congrats on your lovely new boy!

Initially initially initially lol

Thanks for the answers and for reading the excessively long rant. McSnuff, does your cat eat 200g per day, or 400g? I'm a bit confused about whether each pouch is 100g or 200g (all the pouches I've found here are 85g or 100g). If yours eats 400g per day, that sounds about right. If yours only eats 200g per day, ArchCat is going way over right now. He wanted - and ate - 5 pouches yesterday, that was nearly 500g! He's had 3 already today. Blimey.
"I think most tins/packs of cat food recommend more food than is required." That's one reason I'm so uncertain. I don't want to overfeed him and end up looking like a veryfatcat on YouTube, but he shouldn't be going hungry either. And he was VERY insistent at last night at midnight that he was ravenous.

"Our cat ate like that when we rescued him, he is also large but he became a bit overweight and has had to go on a diet." Yes, I worry whether the time spent on the streets and then sharing an enclosure with other cats gives them the feeling they have to take any food they can get before it disappears.

"If the cat is standing on the floor and you look down on him, he should have a 'waist' - get narrower before his hips - not have straight sides.". He certainly has a waist. But are his hindquarters supposed to be as bony as in the photo (sorry a bit dark)?

"Our cat uses one but it took at couple of months for him to be brave enough." That's what I was thinking, Pointlessfan but we had a surprising breakthrough last night - he was exploring and found the downstairs loo, so I just filled the covered tray there with some litter in case he wanted to use it, and left the open tray where it is already. This morning he had used both of them, so he has at least got in the covered one and tried it out. On your advice I won't move the existing open one for a while, though. Thanks for the tip to do the full disinfect each week just before the bins are due.

"I like the covered trays." Gosh yes, it will be nice to not have to be scrabbling under the sofa picking up bits of litter.

I've actually just made a vet's appointment for next Wednesday now, so he can give an opinion on the weight issue. I think by then ArchCat will be settled enough (but probably very worried, given that the last time he saw a vet he lost his balls).

"our first cat was shy and scared at the start and now would sit on me all day if he could." That's really good to hear - he's definitely happy to be scratched and purrs lots, but is not yet prepared to sit on our laps, so I hope that will come over the next few months if we're patient.

I'm in luurrve with my cat...

Oh, sorry, poor bit of typing there. 200g in total - 2 x 100 g pouches. They're 12 - 13 years old now, not in the first flush and sleeping a lot.

I agree with you and Pointlessfan about rescue cats and just general cat opportunism - your boy now has the chance to get plenty of food in him, "just in case". I can't get our cats to co-operate and sit like yours just now, but they are a bit bony about the back end. Perhaps not quite as bony as your boy though. The vet would be a much better guide though, and you can keep feeding him in the meantime. :D

Our cats didn't sit on Mr McSnuff all summer, he's far too warm for them. But now it's a few degrees cooler, he's in favour again. And keep on trying - you don't have to wait for him to decide he wants to sit on you. Or he may be quite happy sitting beside you or between you.

He is a handsome chap!

My cat eats 400g a day of food, I make sure it's cereal free. He will leave excess food but a rescue does sometimes overeat.

That said I had a cat from kitten hood who was a total glutton, he'd never been denied food or gone hungry.

What a very handsome boy. My 14 year old was a rescue with very bad teeth. He had to have most of them out when he came to us. He eats like a horse now In fact, I feed him on demand as he was very skinny - it hurt to eat.

I feed him whenever he asks and he's not a greedy cat - just in for a refuel and off out again!

Pleased to hear things are going well with your lovely new cat and good news on the litter tray breakthrough!
I should have said, our cat was much older when we got him (9) and had extremely lazy which is probably why he got fat! We weigh his dry food every day now and he's fine. If your cat is more adventurous he'll probably need more food. Our boy would sleep on my lap all day if I let him!

I fostered a 4kg 18-month female cat. She was very insistent for food ALL the time. She had been found abandoned in a locked room of a house with her brother

The vet reassured us that one wet pouch (100g) at breakfast and one at dinner was sufficient and sure enough she maintained her weight throughout her stay (we kept her indoors, as instructed by the rescue).

We started off leaving Whiskas biscuits out all day with water (the only brand that didn't make her sick) but she had no stop reflex She would eat constantly if you let her, then beg for more. This didn't diminish over time.

We quickly queried it and the vet advised us NOT to leave them out in her case (his opinion was that no cat needed a bowl of biscuits available...) and to stick with the pouches. We could give her very small amounts of biscuits once or twice a day instead.

She had lots of attention and affection from us (she was a lovely character and surprisingly quite confident from the start!). She saw the vet fairly regularly as she was getting the various chips and jabs while she was with us. He was happy with her progress and that there were no other health problems causing her obsession with food.

We rehomed a 3 yr old male cat about the same size as yours 3 weeks ago today. He is constantly asking for food if his bowl is empty but I've made sure to stick to what's recommended for his weight..he has 1x 100g sachet and about 50g of biscuits per day. He was a stray for several months before ending up in a rescue place for 5 months til we took him( made my family bypass all the cute kittens that would get homed easily for a slightly grumpy but utterly gorgeous boy!)

The more recent answers have made it very clear that I've been drastically over-feeding him. He got through 5 pouches again yesterday - that's 450 to 500g. The good news is that he's only eaten one pouch so far today, so perhaps he's just stuffed full and is calming down a bit now, and has also realised that food WILL keep on coming. Good news, too, because 5 pouches was proving financially ruinous.

Haveyouseen, that sounds really difficult with your ex-foster cat, she must have been so traumatised from that locked room. But ArchCat doesn't eat the biscuits non-stop (any more) - he takes over 24 hours to get through a very small bowl. I'll specifically ask our vet about biscuits being left out though. If he agrees of course I'll stick to that advice.

"What a very handsome boy." You have no idea how soppily happy it makes me to read that. I mean, all cats are gorgeous really, but it's nice to get a compliment on his behalf.

"made my family bypass all the cute kittens that would get homed easily for a slightly grumpy but utterly gorgeous boy". Indeed, I actually prefer the look (and personality) of adult cats to kittens. One of the many reasons I chose to look at ArchCat specifically was because it said on his online description that he was shy to start with and was getting ignored in favour of more confident cats. Congratulations on your new rescue boy too, BTW brainwashed.

Anyone got any tips for getting a reluctant cat into a carrying container for Wednesday? The vet assistant told me - very sensibly - to leave the container out all the time near where he sleeps to encourage him to go in without any negative consequences, but he refuses to go near it.

The big trauma for today was the vacuum cleaner. I HAD to put it on, haven't vacuumed the living room for a week and the dustpan and brush just wasn't cutting it - but the moment he heard the noise he shot upstairs and has spent much of the day squashed behind our bed and refusing to go downstairs. Ah, that's probably the real reason he's eaten so little (duh!). Strange, the extractor fan in the kitchen doesn't bother him at all.

We were given a worming tablet by the shelter as the last dose of his treatment. The shelter woman told us to hide it in food, but he refuses to touch it. How do you give tablets - is it best to grind it up?

Start using spot on treatments. Seniorboy regards any sort of pill as an invention of the devil so I wouldn't attempt it myself. (Particularly not if he was in a foul mood.)

He'll be able to taste the ground up pill in his food.

Giving a pill is definitely a 2 man job... One to hold him around his shoulders from behind, in a sort of firm cuddle, then one to open the mouth, pop the pill as far back on the tongue as possible, hold the jaws together whilst gently stroking his throat. When he licks his nose, the pill has been swallowed!

Obviously I've made it sound easy, depends how co-operative he is.

Take the worming pill to the vets and get them to bung it in him. No need to get your arm shredded for this. Our mogs get a worming pill every time they go to the vets which is about once a year, maybe twice at most. They seem fine on it.

(I have given ground up pills in food and they didn't notice.)

Flea treatment etc is done by a squirty thing on the back of the neck - you still need two people for that, but you will live to tell the tale.

Put the carrier up against a wall, so that when you stuff him into it, it can't go backwards. Lure him into the room with food and grab him firmly. Tell yourself you have one chance to do this and he's not getting away - they become more difficult to catch if you muck about - be firm, you won't hurt him and he'll be strong and agile. Determination is key at the start. After a time or two, you'll be all blasé and able to do it one-handed. And then he will make a fool of you. Both our cats recognise the particular sound the carrier makes if you look at it the wrong way, so I get it out of the cupboard with the door closed, put it against a wall with the carrier door fully open, then get a firm hold on the cat in the neighbouring room and stuff him in.

One of our cats hates the vacuum too, and he was brought up with it. He still heads off outside when it appears. Still, gets him a bit of fresh air.

Don't worry, our cat still reacts like that to the vacuum after nearly 4 years!
Ask the vet to show you how to do tablets, we have it down to a fine art now. A good tip is to lift him onto a high surface e.g. table and put down something that he won't slide about on e.g. rubber bath mat. I agree it's a 2 man job.
Make sure you try to get him in the carrier in a room where he can't run behind anything that's difficult to move or up the stairs or anything. We do it in a bedroom with the door shut. He hates being caught and bundled into it but he's fine once we set off in the car. He just does this pathetic mewing as if to say "how could you?!". Funnily enough he just runs straight back in when the vet has finished! Again, get someone to help you. Good luck!

Also, much easier to get them in the carrier bottom-first than facing forwards!

Great advice here!

For cats prone to violent struggles we used to wrap them firmly in an old towel or blanket to give them tablets or manoeuvre them into the carrier. It certainly saved us from lacerations and meant the cat was less likely to flee. Not enjoyable by any means but the cats were no worse for wear afterwards despite their protests

Re. Cat biscuits - I've never had a cat that didn't self-regulate their intake. Mostly our cats rejected biscuits as long as they were getting their morning and evening wet feed. We gave up putting them out as they were going to waste. I was a bit puzzled by the foster cat as I didn't want to deprive her nor did I want her to overeat! She was happy and relaxed in other respects (still very kittenish!) but her food obsession did not diminish over the months she spent with us. We had to be very strict!

I did take her to the vet specifically to discuss feeding as I was worried something physical was to blame (there were no other GI/ urinary symptoms mind). We were reassured it was psychological and she would calm down over time.

Seniorboy doesn't give two hoots about the vacuum cleaner but it used to drive Oneago demented. My advice on that one would be just to go ahead with the hoovering as you need to but to make sure that you, say, start in a corner of the room away from the cat, leaving it a clear exit to take out of the door. Getting the hoover in-between the cat and 'safety' can have unfortunate consequences: most hoovers have surprisingly hard parts where a fleeing cat can dunt itself quite badly.

I've had to go onto the web version to see ArchCat - he is absolutely splendid. What gorgeous big eyes!

re. the litter tray - we also started with the base only, gradually adding the cover as the cat grew more confident. I actually removed the flap on the entrance (clipped out easily) and never replaced it as the cat disliked being fully enclosed! I guess she liked to visualise her escape route. It wasn't a problem, I simply angled the tray so it wasn't in my line of vision
I've just remembered we used tray liners which meant we didn't have to disinfect the tray all the time. If you want to go down this route ignore the pricey 6-packs they sell in the supermarket (Bob Martin?) as they're too small. Instead buy Wilkinson's 15-pack for £1.25 (I promise I don't work for them!). I couldn't find any comparable product for the price.

These were a revelation - nice and substantial, cheap and they kept our tray nice and clean between washes! The liner will last until you're ready to replace the litter in full if you're careful not to tear it when removing clumps.
I also preferred them as I worried the regular disinfectant scent would interfere with the cat using the tray (this was the first indoor cat I'd ever had, I was trying to avoid accidents!). In this vein we avoided using the scented granules you can add to the litter - we didn't want to confuse the cat (the reviews weren't great either).

No advice on the cat presenting his rear to you

Thanks for more invaluable advice (and lovely compliments from haveyou). OK, I'm going to take the worming table to the vet on Wed and see the expert at work . (Bearing in mind that last time I took our now sadly deceased rabbits to the vet to have their claws clipped, the vet cut open a vein and blood went everywhere...). And he might as well hate the vet rather than me! I'll ask the vet about spot-on treatments too.

I like the wrapping in blanket technique - funnily enough that comes up in the James Herriot books. He used to joke that people would say something like 'eh, that Herriot, by gaw he could wrap a cat!'

"Giving a pill is definitely a 2 man job... One to hold him around his shoulders from behind, in a sort of firm cuddle, then one to open the mouth, pop the pill as far back on the tongue as possible, hold the jaws together whilst gently stroking his throat. When he licks his nose, the pill has been swallowed!" I'm not sure DH is going to volunteer to be the second man here!

Re tray liners Haveyou. I saw them a few days ago and did wonder. Don't they stop you from being able to take the clumps out properly? We're using clay-based litter because that's common in Germany and is what he's used to from the shelter, and it requires some real scraping along the bottom of the try. I also read that putting baking soda along the bottom helps stop smells.

"Re. Cat biscuits - I've never had a cat that didn't self-regulate their intake." Yes, you're right, he's really slowed down on them in the last two days - but the wet food is still fairly extreme, at least 400g per day. Worse than that, we were delighted that he wanted to sleep with us last night, less delighted when he got us up at 5.20 this morning for breakfast. DH has said he's (cat) now got to sleep in the living room (litter tray is also there right now) until he (DH) gets up at 6.30.

"most hoovers have surprisingly hard parts where a fleeing cat can dunt itself quite badly." I really want to avoid dunting the cat - that would be difficult to explain to the vet . No seriously, now he's more mobile and confident I can wait until he's in the bedroom before hoovering downstairs.

"And then he will make a fool of you." If he does that I will put the photo of him on Facebook where's he's lying on his back fast asleep with his hind legs wide apart. THEN who's looking a fool...

My cat gets up at 5am, he sleeps downstairs because of it.

coughs delicately

May I enquire about Archcat's progress? Did he get a cuddle from the vet? And are you all now firmly under the paw?

Hi McSnuff, sorry for not posting, I've been a little down about the setbacks in the last few days. I wouldn't say there's been any progress at all since Tuesday.

Getting him in the carrier was surprisingly easy - no protests there - but plenty of wailing once he was in. But he was clearly unhappy at being held by the vet assistant and struggled like crazy, which made it difficult for the vet to examine him. Vet nevertheless found out within about 10 seconds that he has fleas (combed one out for me), which he presumably has had since the shelter, despite their assurances that all cats had been deflead. And just as the kids have got out of the dangerous age for lice!

The vet also recommended that he get a rabies innoculation, as he will be an outdoors cat in Germany. So on that one visit he got the Frontline treatment plus a rabies innoculation, and he was in a filthy mood when we got back. Of course then I had to spend three hours taking all bedding and soft furnishings off and washing them at 60 degrees and vacuuming and flea-spraying one room at a time here (while moving ArchCat around so he wouldn't inhale flea spray). By the end of all that he was totally freaked out, understandably. We tried to regain his confidence a bit yesterday, but today we absolutely had to get that worming tablet inside him - vet refused to do it on Wed because he said it would have been too much for his system on top of the innoculation and flea treatment. We have now failed miserably to give him the worm tablet: have tried two-person wrapping treatment (one holding, one putting in mouth), hiding in sausage and treats, and now ground up and mixed in with sauce of expensive food. All have failed. He spits out or leaves anything containing the tablet. I'm at my wits end, and so is he. Our honeymoon phase is clearly over, and it's inevitable with any animal (and child!) that there will be complications to deal with.

The only good news is that the vet thinks he's not underweight, and should stay at his current 5.5 kilos. He agreed that 500g for his build is too much and wants us to record his weight and intake over the next month to see if he gains or not.

I'm not thrilled that vet gave Frontline - doesn't it have the reputation of being largely useless now because of resistance? OTOH he had Advocate at the shelter and that clearly didn't work either. He's supposed to do one treatment monthly for the next six months at least, then every three months.

Vet also wants me to decide by next visit whether he should be innoculated against FeLV (leukosis) - right now he's only innoculated against cat flu and panleucopenia, and now rabies. So he'll have to be tested for FeLV and FIV first, right?

I'm also still looking into insurance (complicated) and getting the cat flap installed (also surprisingly complicated). My German is good but insurance policies test it to the limit.

On the lighter side, the German word for rabies is Tollwut, which literally means 'crazy anger'. What a great language. I've honestly never heard of a cat or dog round here getting rabies, but apparently the wild foxes can carry it.