MetaChat - I just adopted Smooshie yesterday.

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08 June 2008

I just adopted Smooshie yesterday. He's five years old, and lived with a family until they got a dog that Smooshie hated. They took him to a shelter, and now he's home with me. He's a sweetheart, except for one little thing...→[More:]
I got him home yesterday, and he spent his first five or so hours here hidden under my bed, just popping his head out occasionally and then getting scared and disappearing again. Then towards evening, he came out to explore. I showed him his food and litter, but he didn't seem too interested in either. He just wanted to sit on the sofa with me (awww... that made me so happy). So, we sat on the sofa together and bonded, and when I got up he started following me everywhere. I showed him his food and litter again, since he seemed more relaxed and attentive. Still ignored both. At some point, he decided to go hang out under my bed again and I eventually went to sleep.

Around 1 am, I awoke to the strong smell of cat poop. Thinking that he had finally felt comfortable enough to use the litter box, I checked it out. Just a little bit of pee in there. Not enough to cause the stench. So I flipped on my living room light, and lo and behold, Smooshie had taken a big steaming dump and a piss on my futon/sofa.

He's been hiding under my bed since. I'm not mad, I know he's stressed. I figure that I can get the futon cover dry cleaned, and probably clean the futon mattress with some cat pee cleaner stuff and maybe flip it over. But here's the question: Do you think, since there was a little bit of pee in the litter box, that he just figured it out too late and won't do this again? Or should I expect more accidents?

I read online that I should close him up in a room with the litterbox and his food until he's trained. But I live in an open plan apartment and the only interior door is to the bathroom. It's going to be in the upper 90s today and the bathroom doesn't have it's own air conditioning, so I can't close him up in there. And I'll be out much of the day, so I can't keep an eye on him. Any hints for litter training adopted adult shelter cats who know how to use a litter box already but are stressed out by change?

post by: amro at: 08:41 | 27 comments

Feliway. It comes in a spray (that you can spray on the futon) and a plug-in (whch we use). It's kitty calm hormone in a jar. We have four cats, and we notice much less in-fighting. It's also supposed to prevent stress dumping.

Put vinyl over the futon while you're not home. Futons seem to be especially attractive to kitties who want to dump/pee outside the litterbox. I had a friend who had a futon mattress she had to get rid of because of frequent cat misdemeanors. Alternately, put a vinyl mattress cover on before you put the futon cover on -- at least it won't soak into the futon if he does pee.

Is there an area you can block off with baby gate? Cats can jump up and jump down, but they seem to have more trouble with the concept of jumping over, in my observation. It's worth a try.

posted by lleachie 08 June | 08:46

PS: Smooshie is adorable! Persian cats have that "cuddle with their fave hooman" mentality, and I think you're going to love him!

posted by lleachie 08 June | 08:47

I have no advice since our cats took the box right away, but I wanted to say how damn cute that cat is. Good luck!

posted by Slack-a-gogo 08 June | 08:59

I don't have any answers, amro. I have to say that Smooshie is so cute! I love the name. Enjoy, he is so sweet!

posted by LoriFLA 08 June | 09:08

Cat Attract. Our cats were confused and stressed, and we went through a lot of issues with litter . . . this stuff got them back on track and then we mixed it in with the litter we wanted to use on a regular basis. Good luck. Poor little guy, he's lucky to have you.

posted by Medieval Maven 08 June | 09:08

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. I didn't know about those products. I will go to PetSmart today.

In the meantime, I have to go to a work function, and I'm really hoping that I don't smell like cat pee.

posted by amro 08 June | 09:25

Congratulations!

He just wanted to sit on the sofa with me

Smart cat.

posted by Eideteker 08 June | 09:50

What a bunch of creeps for dumping their kitty for a new dog. People like that really chap my hide. But hooray for you for taking him in! I'm sure he'll be fine in no time.

posted by loiseau 08 June | 09:52

Awww, what a face. I'm sorry he's stressed.

posted by essexjan 08 June | 10:17

Viewing in mobile mode so can't see him- sounds cute though!

don't believe what I say' sice my shelter can is still mostly hiding after a month now(though a bit more approachable) but he does use his box properly. Cats can be really fussy about litter boxes- mine has specified that the litter has to be nice and deep and that it must be scooped each day and fully changed each week. He expresses his disapproval, if any of these criteria are not met, by crapping elsewhere.

posted by altolinguistic 08 June | 10:18

Argh, cat not can, and pls mentally correct my other typos- typing on sofa post-surgery.

posted by altolinguistic 08 June | 10:20

Smooshie is so cute!

My problem was with kittens who were trying to figure out the litter box, but this is what worked for me: double-sided tape or rosemary in their favorite spots. It's too soon to know if they've abandoned those spots for good, but if they haven't, the Feliway and Cat Attract sound promising.

posted by kiripin 08 June | 10:53

What a lucky kitty!

I would have given you the "shut him up with his stuff" advice, too. The trip to PetsMart for products is a good alternative.

PS: More photos!

posted by deborah 08 June | 13:48

Aw! How did I miss this post? Congrats, Amro!

One thing that occurs to me is to make sure the litter box is not near the feeding area... and if the problem persists you could also try a second box with a different kind of litter, as he might be used to a certain "feel".

Good luck, and keep us updated! And, yes - more photos! I'm blogging about our rescue critter here... also some peepee issues.

posted by taz 08 June | 14:09

Oh, Smooshie is awesome! Persians are high-strung as all get-out, as you no doubt know, so good for you for not being mad at him. Mine comes home from a day at the vet and she's a basket case for the next two days, so a stay at the pound is bound to have freaked him out.

posted by BoringPostcards 08 June | 14:32

That's the photo from the petfinder.com posting, where I first saw him. He hasn't posed for any more photos yet, but I will post when he does.

I bought Cat Attract litter, and so far he nosed around a little at it and scratched at it, so HOPEFULLY it will do the trick...

Persians are high-strung as all get-out, as you no doubt know,

I didn't know! Smooshie is my first Persian. I actually thought they were really laid back.

posted by amro 08 June | 15:18

Well, I've only known two (mine and one that my aunt and uncle had when I was a kid), but both of them were very easily stressed. This is why when we got a second cat (he adopted us during a camping trip last summer) it took us SIX MONTHS to get them both living in the same part of the house.

Can't wait to see more pics as Smooshie settles in! :)

And I can't even abide thinking about people who would get rid of a cat that has been with them for five years in favor of a new pet. That "loyalty" thing with pets is supposed to work both ways.

posted by BoringPostcards 08 June | 15:33

Okay, I'll be the "downer"... be cautious of the reasons he was given to the shelter. They could have been told/or used the story that he was given up in favor of a new pet - it makes him more attractive. No one wants a cat who will not use a litter box, thus he would have been unadoptable. There are cats out there who will have "accidents" on a regular basis. It's one of the reasons so many are kicked out of homes or given up. I have had several friends and family members with cats with this problem. I'm hoping I'm wrong, and it was just stress, but I did want to caution you about the possibility you may be facing.

Sorry to be the doomsayer. He really is cute.

posted by redvixen 08 June | 15:53

Well, the lady at the shelter showed me another cat that was brought there because he kept peeing everywhere. So I figure if she told me about that cat's issue, she would have told me if Smooshie did the same thing.

posted by amro 08 June | 15:58

Okay, whew!

posted by redvixen 08 June | 16:30

He peed in the litter box! Woohoo!

posted by amro 08 June | 19:53

Awesome! I hope it's the beginning of a trend. :)

posted by BoringPostcards 08 June | 22:28

Cute little guy. I hope for you both he keeps peeing in the right place.

posted by arse_hat 08 June | 22:58

Being in a new place is scary. I think peeing on things is how pets react. My dog peed on my bed less than an hour after her old owners dropped her off at my place. Scared, excited, still learning how to hold it as a puppy, who knows. Peed all over my bed. Turned out to be a rare thing; she hasn't peed anywhere but a peeing place in years. I bet your cat will be just fine.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 08 June | 23:38

After reading a whole lot of AskMe and other pet advice over the years, I'm totally convinced that healthy adult dogs and cats that aren't in distress just really, really don't want to soil their living areas - but it's not always easy to figure out the source of distress. In this case, though, as TPS says, it's almost to be expected.

We've had our rescue dog for three weeks, and she has continued to have peeing mishaps despite being taken for multiple walks a day (sometimes just minutes after we returned from a walk), which I think is because she's been punished/traumatized in the past for peeing somewhere she shouldn't - so she has been trying not to pee at all, ever... and then inevitably she can't hold it any more at some point, and goes inside. I was trying to watch her all the time and when she started to go, show her that she could go on the terrace in an emergency, which I think was just making the pre-existing pee stress even more stressful.

So I stopped worrying about it at all, shut off the rooms with the wood floors when we aren't in there with her, and didn't respond at all to the in-house pee events (except for cleaning, of course) while giving her lots of treats and praise whenever she went (pee or poo) on our walks. We are now on the morning of our third day (after a successful walk! yay!) with no accidents, so I think it's working. After she peed this morning on the walk she looked up at me expectantly... did I do good? get treaty? Hee.

Which is all entirely off-subject, but if we can't bore our pet-owning friends with fascinating tales of poop and pee, who can we bore? I'm waiting for your morning report, amro - to see how Smooshie did overnight.

posted by taz 09 June | 02:59

He seemed a thousand times more comfortable yesterday afternoon and evening than he did the day before. When he was first here, he would jump at any noise and run under the bed. But yesterday afternoon when I got home he came out from under the bed and stayed out. In fact, I don't think he got scared and ran under the bed again until this morning when my alarm clock went off and I leaped out of bed, startled myself.

As for the litter box issue, he peed again in the litter box over night. No poop, but I haven't smelled anything so I don't think he went anywhere else either. Maybe he just hasn't had to go again yet!

posted by amro 09 June | 05:53

Crossing fingers on the poop, yay for peeing in the box! He actually sounds like he's adjusting really quickly... and I think I have read somewhere that Persians tend to be especially adaptable, though I could be imagining this.

posted by taz 09 June | 06:10

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