New kitten and house move

[Angiekw76]

Hi everyone,
I'm looking for some advise if possible. I have two cats. Herbie, 2 years old, neutered malevand Lily, 5 month old not yet neutered female. We got lily at 8 weeks old. First couple of weeks, there was lots of hissing and avoidance from Herbie but gradually, they started to spend a lot of time playing and I felt that things were settling well. Over the last 4 weeks or so, Herbie barely comes in the house. Only to eat and that might only be once a day. In fact, he spends the majority of his time in the neighbours house. When he does come in our hour, he, lily wants to play immediately but Herbie will not entertain this at all and he hisses and growls at her. He immediately asks to go out. If we don't open the door quickly enough, he hisses and growls (and bats) at us too. What can I do? The plot does thicken however, we are moving house next week and I am soooooo worried about what to do with the cats. Herbie has never used a litter tray, even as a kitten, he would soil in the house. I know I need to keep him in once we move (we're not moving far and I know he'll most likely attempt to head to his old home) what do I do with this in mind? Also, do I put both cats in a room together for a few days before letting them explore the house or do I put them in separate rooms? I know this all sounds ridiculous but I'm so worried about Herbie and how he's going to react. Any advice would be gratefully received X

[Ruth B]

While I fully admit to no experience in the matter of moving, some thoughts do come to mind reading your post.

Lily is 5 months old, so really needs spaying sooner rather than later. Even though Herbie has been neutered he is still a male cat and it could be that Lily is coming into heat a little and even neutered, she is making advances to him that just don't interest him. It does sound like he is trying to avoid her for some reason. So I would suggest getting her booked in at a vets as soon as possible.

As for the move, my instinct is to let Herbie have the run of the new place as soon as possible and keep Lily confined to a room. This will give Herbie time to mark everywhere as his before Lily gets access to it. It will also give him chance to find hidey holes and safe places to go where she can't get to him. It also means that Lily will have a room to herself where she can recover in peace after her operation. I firmly believe that the first cat in a household has priority and should have the chance to mark the new home as his first.

The litter tray issue is a difficult one. You say he has never used a litter tray, did you have him as a kitten and if so did you try different styles of trays and different types of litter. When he went, did he go beside the litter tray, in a favourite corner or just anywhere in the house. My suggestion would be a nice big uncovered tray, and a fine grain cat litter. One other option might be to buy a bag of top soil from a garden center and use that as cat litter, if it looks and smells like soil he might be willing to use it.

Hope your move goes well and everyone settles in together. Others may be on later to add to or to contradict everything i have said.

[Angiekw76]

Aw thanks so much for the advice! It all makes a lot of sense and I really appreciate it. With regard to Herbie when he was a kitten, he would tend to pee around where curtains meet the floor etc. Usually the same spot. He's a tough nut to crack my Herbie but we'll get there eventually, I'm sure. I'll definitely take your advise. Thanks again!

[Alice]

I agree with Ruth's suggestions, and hope for your sake that you can manage to get Herbie to use a litter tray. The usual advice is to keep a cat indoors for a month in a new home - difficult if he won't use a tray. Will your new home have a garden which could be catproofed? If you could do this (I know there'll be lots of other priorities in a new home) you'd be sure he wouldn't make his way back to his old home and neighbour, and also be able to let him outside sooner.

All the best with the move, and all that goes with it.

[Ruth B]

If he always goes in the same place then maybe you could put puppy pads there as a short term measure and then try and move onto a litter tray in the same place.

I've only know one cat who really would not use a litter tray, but he totally refused to go inside the house. We tried to keep him in when he caught cat flu not long after adopting us, and it didn't matter what we did with the litter tray, he just would not use it, eventually we had to let him have access to outside, I think he was in danger of rupturing bladder or bowels if we hadn't.

[Angiekw76]

Thanks Ruth and Alice. Very good advice. Much appreciated x

[Kay]

might sound a bit drastic, but could you take some of the soil from your garden with you to put into a tray for Herbie

at least if it doesn't work you won't have spent a penny (sorry )

[Angiekw76]

I'll certainly give that a go Kay. Good idea!! X