Meet my new
ragdoll cat (above). My very, very beloved favorite cat, Carly, died on February 24th. Her dementia was worsening. She was 16 years, 10 months and 5 days old, my favorite cat of all time. I cried like an hysterical nut when she died.
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| Lovely, sweet Carly. |
She had become a constant source of worry for me. So, I went from three to no cats. The house was unbearably lonely. I had decided to get a dog in a few years when I retired. But one day my sister-in-law texted me a picture of an eight-year-old cat she saw at Pet Smart. She suggested I adopt an older cat who had fewer years left and could be with me until I retired. So I started looking.
I found this beautiful boy at a no-kill shelter in the town where I work. He was raised with another boy the same age. The story goes that an elderly couple had to be cared for by their family, who was allergic. They'd been in the shelter two months.
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| He's very low energy. I may rename him Jeb Bush. |
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| He's a seal point ragdoll. |
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| What are you looking at? |
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| He's ginormous. |
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| So cute! |
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| Look at the size of those paws. |
I'd show you his brother, Dickens, but he's still in hiding . . . after almost three months. Any suggestions? They're living in the basement. They prowl around at night.
Dusty doesn't like to come upstairs. He is the biggest scaredy cat I've ever seen. My friend says he just doesn't want to abandon his brother in hiding. What do you think? Any cat behaviorists out there? I need help!
2 comments:
How wonderful to have cats in the house again!! (Very sorry to hear about Carly.)
Here's an unsolicited suggestion for you. Just like people with overwhelming anxiety, cats can be helped with meds. Our Dorothy is the jumpiest, most anxious cat I have ever had. Not hiding like yours, but she overreacted to every sound, beat the crap out of her sister regularly, and peed in totally inappropriate places. After discussing this with my vet, and trying all sorts of behavioral/environmental changes and supplements, we settled on a human drug. Prozac. Generic is $4.00 at Walmart's pharmacy. Started her dosage at 2.5mg per day, which wasn't enough. Upped her to 5mg per day and now she's a lot better. She's still weird and reactive, but less so, and peeing is now only in her litterbox.
No, I was definitely soliciting comments! I guess I'm hoping they'll come around. I just can't figure out why Dusty won't come upstairs and stay. It's like there's absolutely no connection with me, but he's very affectionate when I'm in the basement with him, or outside. The other poor guy I've had no interaction with due to his hiding. I keep trying to block off his current hiding place, but he has to be outside of it to do that. That means I have to catch him offguard, like at 4 in the morning.
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