In my last article Look What the Cat Drug in, the vet had diagnosed our cat Sid with either a bacterial or viral infection from our outside Tom Cat Tabby. Well, were we all wrong. Sid was sick no doubt, but it now appears he just had a virus. Tabby had a small wound at the time of Sid's illness. It appeared to just be a clean, ½ inch cut from a fence or something of the sort. How wrong we were. Within a few weeks that first wound became an "angry" deep ulcer. Within a few days he had another one about the same size on his tail. I examined him and saw at least two more developing under his tail. These were ugly, in the medical sense and terminology, ulcerative sores. We frantically searched on line for causes for sores on a cat, for ulcers on a cat. We found a few possibilities, but of course it took a visit to the vet to get a definitive diagnosis.
Off to the vet Tabby went, sad looking as his wounds were very sore and he was guarding them and whining when one got near touching them.
CAT DECLAWING
Now, we live in a suburb of Kansas City, in a housing development right between two schools, and there is not a lot of woods etc., near us and it is a clean neighborhood. The forthcoming diagnosis shocked us. He had been bitten by raccoons, yes, raccoons. We were shocked. We would have never thought that we had any raccoons in our neighborhood and just could not believe that poor little Tabby had to fend off and took some good deep bites or scratches from a raccoon. The vet kept him all night and cleaned up his wounds, and it was quickly decided that Tabby would henceforth be an indoor cat. We could not risk letting him out anymore and having to fend off these raccoons. (So he got neutered during that vet visit as well).
So how do you transition and outdoor cat into becoming an indoor cat. This has only been a week so we are still learning but thus far it is going fairly well. I believe that because we have Sid, he has an indoor playmate to help entertain his time and just to pal around with. They are becoming closer and closer to each other every day. One day Tabby was licking Sid on the face so gently as if he were kissing him, too cute. So they play a lot during the day. We have a large house and there are a lot of nooks and crannies that Tabby can explore and play in and I believe that helps his curiosity. We also have lots of windows that he can look out at and dream he is out with the birds etc.
Time will tell how well he does, but if this first week is any sign, I trust that with the help of his buddy Sid he will do just fine. It will be interesting to see the change in Cat Behaviors [http://sidcitykitty.com] that we experience. We will keep you posted on how to transition and outdoor cat to an indoor cat as the adventure goes on. For now, we will watch and wait, and listen to meows and chatter on the days he wants to go outside.
Changing Cat Behaviors From an Outdoor to an Indoor Cat
Janet is new to cat ownership and has written several articles on Cat Behaviors. Visit her site to learn more about Cat Behaviors.
[http://sidcitykitty.com]
CAT DECLAWING
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