Animals and Pets

4006 readers

2 users here now

Pretty self explanatory. Post animals, post pets, post stuff about animals and pets!

(It's not mandatory, but we also encourage providing a description of your image(s) for accessibility purposes! See here for a more detailed explanation and advice on how best to do this.)

This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

Cat likes people but not other cats. How to keep her from being lonely indoors? (self.animals)

submitted 4 months ago by Alice to c/animals

21 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I adopted a stray cat outside my apartment a few years ago. She was originally aggressive both to cats and people, but after I started taking care of her she warmed up to the neighbors, too. Since she'd lived outside for about a decade, I let her out in the yard (supervised) and she came to love lounging and waiting for passers by to give her scritches.

Unfortunately, I've had to move. No more outdoor time for the foreseen future, partially because she's in a completely new town, and partially because there are so many birds around here I don't think I'd be able to keep her from running off.

There isn't even a window facing the walkway where she can interact with people through the window, which was another thing she liked doing in our old place. It's just me to entertain her, and I can be gone ten hours a day.

She has lots of toys and beds and things to climb, but since she loved the neighbors so much, I'm worried she needs a companion. Anyone else been in this situation? How do you help your cat adjust?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] Devi 4 points 4 months ago (4 children)

Most cats do like company if introduced very slowly. Like over a couple of months. If it was me I'd probably try it.

[–] Alice 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (3 children)

I'd like to, I guess I'm concerned about the logistics. I know you're supposed to keep them separate for a while, which means one cat has to be stuck in a single room while I work out of town. And if they never fully warmed up, I'm afraid it would just be a ton of stress on the other cat if I had to send them back to the shelter.

I'll probably save up some PTO before I try it, so I can be home and make neither of the cats are being neglected during the process.

[–] Devi 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

You can add lots of toys and treats to keep them amused. Remember at a rescue place each cat has much less space than a room, sometimes a glorified box. It would be really sad if you have to send them back, but I will say I've adopted a lot of adult cats and it's never happened to me. There's a chance, but I think it's fairly low.

Have you considered fostering for a rescue? That way you can save a cat and you can get a better idea how your cat will react.

[–] Alice 2 points 4 months ago

That's reassuring, thank you. I actually have plenty of extra toys because I learned it's slightly cheaper to add extra cat toys to my order and get free shipping whenever I refill my kitty's flea medication

load more comments (1 replies)