Don't know what to do for the best

[Cills77]

Hi,
I'm new on here and having a cat dilemma, well two cat dilemma.
I love my cats, I've grown up always having a cat in the house and followed on the tradition with my children. I moved six years ago with my then cat Lucy who has sadly passed away following an incident in my own back garden with a sharpei that had escaped. Took me a while to get over that but missed my feline companion and decided to take the plunge and visit a cat shelter. Fell in love with sister and brother dsh, she looks identical to felix cat and tom is a beautiful grey and white. Could see how strong their bond was and heard how they became rescue cats and took then straight home.
Three years later I am still having problems with their behaviour, and I am moving again soon, tried family and friends to see if they would take them but sadly they have no room at the inn and cats aren't for everyone. House I am moving to is much closer to a very busy road, used as a port main through way so lots of HGV passing and both my cats don't move for cars. I literally have to get out and pick them up and move them. Also house will be alarmed and room I can keep them in is far too small and unfair to them both. But we are very attached to them.
Toms problems are he's forever hungry, but can only eat one brand and in that brand one type of wet food, no dry food at all, insists on eating whatever he catches and has reflux problems when he eats things he shouldn't. He also has a tendency to get in my kitchen worktops, dining table and eat whether it's raw, defrosting or not cat friendly whatever is there. He is much more suited to indoors and hops like a rabbit when his front paw gets wet. He has taken to not allowing the she to be in the house or garden at all and sprays on anything I buy for her to sleep on so she won't go near it, but then refuses he refuses to use it too. He is much better suited to being a solo pet but loves affection and children. My daughter as a toddler dressed him in a bikini (without my consent or knowledge) and coloured in his nose pink. He sat an let her, so he is child friendly. He needs someone who can watch what he's eating and allow free reign of the house and furniture so he stays inside rather than hunting. My new house doesn't have the capacity for that.
She is an outdoors cat, would benefit from a house with fields around it. Can climb 30ft trees so needless to say has tendency to catch lots and lots and lots of prey. In fact she has caught and killed two very expensive racing pigeons, caused lots of problems obviously.
Again she is affectionate and more a lap cat than the tom, not as patient with children and he is but is happy enough to have them around her and stroke her. She doesn't have reflux or scavenging problems just the hunting and the fact she likes to go on adventures and with main road that isn't really an option.
I can't keep one and not the other, that's too hard a choice, I would love them to be rehomed with someone I know so I could visit them and have them
still close by. My other issue is I haven't kept up to date with vaccinations, not through neglect but through other personal circumstances and so I don't think I can rehome through shelters?
So conflicted and have less than six weeks till my new house is ready. Anyone at all in same boat or been here? Feel I am letting them down and abandoning them but I know I don't really have an option.

[Jacks]

Hi Cills77,

I think you might know what I am going to suggest, although it's not what you ideally want to do - but you're saying that your boy would really be suited to being an indoor solo cat... and having an alarm system in a house is not a problem - you can get an electrician to fit cat-friendly sensors - we have them - and no problem at all.

If friends and family are not willing, the chances of finding a home for a mismatched pair of cats where the boy doesn't like the girl and sprays on her things (presumably where she sits or sleeps) - plus the regurgitating - well it's not going to be easy. She however is definitely an outdoor cat, but friendly and sociable - I would think it would be easier to find a home for her if she was on her own, to be honest - she may well fit in with a family of existing cats, but it's important that she has a safe outdoor environment.

Your option otherwise it to rehome both, but their needs are very different. Do contact some of the shelters in your area - you'll find a good list on this site - but I really would consider taking your boy with you if you possibly can.

[Cills77]

Thank you for replying. I really can't keep one without the other.
Didn't know about the alarms, thank you for that. But his regurgitating is one of the reasons I can't take him with me, that and no food is safe, if I'm
Cooking and leave the room he gets up and takes it. He's literally taken food out of my daughters hands as she's putting in her mouth. He can't eat biscuits and can only eat felix and plain normal type felix he's a healthy cat and right weight, but he has no stop I'm
Full button, so he scavenges then is sick and so can't let him be an indoor roam
the house cat, the new house is carpeted cream, all the furniture is brand new so sadly and as cruel as it sounds he would destroy it and my other half is less than happy about the prospect. He loves them too, he's not mean to them at all.
I'm not 100% sure if she likes to be out or it's more because he bullies her, he literally guards the cat flap inside and outisde so she can't gain access. I have to call
Her in through a window.
To stop the excessive hunting they both sound like Santana reindeers, covered on bells but she's still lightening fast and has brought me up to 7 'presents' in one day.
I agree she is more suited to a more rural environment, both can happily live with children but he needs to be the only pet in the house. Both need to be away from main roads and racing pigeons
I just couldn't take him and let her go and vice versa.
Will shelters still help me even though vaccinations aren't up to date?

[booktigger]

Honestly, I think they need to be homed separately, you might find his eating habits change. A rescue will take a cat that isn't up to date on vaccinations, but finding one with space will be very hard.

[Ed]

The cat rescue places are probably full because they don't want to give their cats away to be rehomed. I have spent a week and maybe 100 or more phone calls yet nobody ever answers the phone, or when they do they say a local home visitor will call back, but they never do.

Had that with the CPL in Woking today - yest again, sally or daphne or whatever her name was hasnt called to arrange a visit.

I am now having to get a cat from a breeder

[Hunnybunny]

Ed. You do realise that all these rescues are voluntary run and work round families. jobs and life in general plus dealing with god knows how many cats!!!

I'm sorry but are you in that much of a hurry that you need to get a cat immediately that you have to line the pockets of a breeder!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe if you are contacting rescues with the attitude that you have towards them on here they just don't want to deal with you!! If you came through to my rescue with an attitude like this I would ignore you as well!!!!

[canterbury-cats]

From what the original post has said in a rescue opinion you want be doing these cats any favours keeping them together. Their needs are so very different. They will be much happier in homes on their own.

From a rescue point of view I have had six emails this wk & twelve calls all of which I have replied to & left messages with more then once. All looking to adopt cats or kittens from us, but not one of those people has come back to me.. So please do be aware it works both ways. We are volunteers.. If you ring our cp branch I will always call you back, but so much of out time is taken up with trying to make contact with people who never answer their voicemail or emails.. So please don't assume we are all the same..

[Cills77]

I really do think they need to be separated, I love them
Both very much but I can't keep up with the vomit, corpses and fighting as well as trying to jeep them in a new environment confined with each other.
Having a bad day today with them, each gets 400-500g a day food, neither overweight but I have found dead half devoured birds four times today, have to bleach the path then wait till he vomits and bleach again. I have to put my children first and at the minute I can't allow them in the garden to enjoy the weather because of what they may stand on or find and as my youngest is only toddling maybe touch.
Really thought after 3 yrs, they will be 4 in August and the amount of bells around their necks it would of calmed down
Where do I look to have them rehomed? Moving date is fast approaching.
Anyone who can offer me help with any of the mentioned problems please do so

[Jacks]

Cills,

Do look at the guide to regional cat rescues on this site and start ringing and leaving messages - be prepared that these people are volunteers and things are very busy... The other thing is that you may have to concentrate on homing one in the first instance as you may not find places with space for two initially, and it's clear they are not happy in close proximity with each other. You will have to decide which one to prioritise if this is the case - if it's the dead bodies and fighting then it sounds like the girl needs a challenging outdoor environment, and as others have said the boy's behaviour may change dramatically when she's not around - the sickness and inappropriate weeing. This might in turn make him more easy to rehome, if indeed you need to. They are both unhappy being together, so just locking her inside with him is not going to help...

[Cills77]

Thank you, will get straight into that in the morning.
I imagine the she will be easier to rehome, I just wish there was a different way and could sort out all the issues they have with each other.
Had a cat all my life but never have I seen so many dead birds in my life.
So do you think it's not a sensitive stomach? Tried several different types of foods and different brands but there's only one he seems to tolerate best. Or could it be something psychological like distress or neglect? Not that I neglect or mistreat them but who knows what he's thinking

On a more positive note, I found a solution to the not allowing her a bed scenario.
I put his food bowl in his basket, he jumped in happily, licked the bowl clean and curled up.
Done that yesterday morning and seems to be working. Both of them have spent 12hrs in the same room, her in her bed, him in his and haven't fought