Have you thought about letting them just go at
it....of course with you close by with a handy dandy water bottle, but maybe
they just need to set a boundry and determine the hiearchy. Believe it or not
my cats have different hiearchy's in different rooms, and they pretty much
respect it, I have seen it change and some cats swap some days, but the
majority of the time it is set with them. Even on the stairs they each have a
stair and you can watch them move to their own stair, carefully climbing over
the others. I have tried to get a picture, but my dog always runs up or down
and they scatter.
Not that I'm an expert or have much experience or
anything like that... but just an observation. When I brought Big Boy in (adult
male who I had been feeding outside), he really was wanting to be anywhere but
where I or anyone else was! Circumstances (his + status) forced me to
confine him to a large dog crate in my bedroom (I put the crate on top of some
boxes so he was off the floor & I wasn't towering over him). I do
some computing work at home & my desk is in my bedroom. I had the TV
or radio on at various points. This sort of forced him to look at me for
many hours per day and at night. Once I figured out I wouldn't have to
'fumigate' the house if I let him out, things went very quickly from there.
First, he made his way to the litter box in the bathroom off my bedroom
(slinking the whole way & usually waiting until he thought I was no long!
er in the room). Then he started jumping out of the crate if he knocked
one of the small toys I had put in there to the floor. Then I moved his
food & water dishes to a tray just below the crate. He managed that
OK. The final step was one day I was working away & out of the corner
of my eye, I realized he had jumped up on the bed & had fallen asleep there
(until I moved). That was it--he had discovered the good life! All
this occurred in about 2 weeks. It took a couple more weeks for him to
work up the courage to jump on the bed while I was in it but then we got over
the big hurdles quickly. I think that because of this almost constant
forced contact, he realized he had some 'decisions' to make and that I wasn't
so bad after all.
I had read a lot of info that said isolation and
gradual intros were the way to go. Luckily, circumstances forced me to
take a totally different route and I am ever so grateful. By contrast, a
friend took in one of BB's buddies that I had also been feeding. He was a
lot more friendly but she followed the standard advice. Months later, he
was living in the lap of luxury in her guest room & guest bath.
He ate, played, slepton the bed, etc. but would let NO ONE come near him!
She had to give him up & luckily I found him another home who took a whole
different approach. She put him in her closed off living room where she
& her family & dogs & other cats spent much time. She made
sure he found some good hiding places when he needed him. Its been less
than a week now & when I last talked to her, he was being brushed! by her
husband, had met the dog & other cats and was about to be let out into the
rest of the house. She does a lot of rescue & boards dogs & it is
her belief & experience that 'immersion' into daily life is always better
than slow isolation techniques. In retrospect, it makes sense to
me. Most of the little guys are pretty shrewd if they survived
outside--they are still alive because they knew how to figure out the safest
way to go--Inside, I think if we can force them to realize that we're the safe
way, well--then the rest sort of follows!
Last year, I found a young kitten in the group of
strays (had been dumped I’m sure). I took him to local shelter as I
knew they could get him adopted (he was about 8 weeks). A week later, they
asked if I could put him back as he was too ‘wild’-would retreat to
back of cage if someone tried to pick him up! I fostered him for about 3
weeks & then made a deal with shelter to bring him during the day so
potential adopters could see him & bring him back with me at night.
That lasted 3 days & he was adopted in part because he was such a friendly,
spunky little guy!
Finally, my Prince story. Prince was a 1+ year
old who had been living in my complex his whole life. A neighbor would
leave food out for him but he would let no one come near him. Due to a
really horrendous snow storm, she & I worked to trap him & I also kept
him in my bedroom for a couple of weeks while he got spayed, shots, etc.
End of story is that a friend adopted him. Took him home on the train to
his house with 2 kids, 2 cats, a dog & hamsters. Put him in the
boys’ room that night and Prince was sleeping on their beds within a
week. He managed to get out of the house about a month later and after
making his owners do various song and dances (trying to lure him back in in all
the ways only we humans can think of), he finally sauntered back in when he
figured out they had had enough torture! Prince is happy & thriving
now tha! t he made sure everyone knows who is the real boss!
Again, I don't have that much experience but this sort
of worked for me. The only problem I’ve had is something entirely
different and I’m always looking for advice on that one—one of my
older cats can’t stand BB & is so brutal with him that I have to keep
them seperated. Any ideas on getting her to just let him be is always
more than gratefully accepted!
Chris
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
