A spicey chonky ginger boy. A reserved foster cat. Parker has been in our care since late January. He left our care today. I was hoping to help him find his forever home but instead a recent move has cause him some stress and we are no longer able to foster him. This is a letter to his new foster carer.
Table of Contents
Feeding schedule
I feed him half a tin of wet food as soon as I get up. This is a good time to continue his exposure therapy. It took him 3 months before he starting meowing at me in the morning for food. The last week I’ve got a head boop and a leg rub (which is the most amount of affection he’s ever shown so far). I get him to lick the spoon before I put his food down, sometimes I’ll pick up a little in my hand and see if he’ll give it a sniff.
Half a cup of dry food in the evening. He doesn’t have a set dinner time yet. And a treat during the day as part of exposure therapy.
I have tried some raw food as a treat. He loves it. He’ll eat almost anything and it doesn’t seem to impact his poops. He poops really well.
Litter
I’m lazy when it comes to litter. I clean it when it starts to smell (usually every 3 to 4 days). I don’t pick up his poops inbetween cleans, he’s pretty good at burying them. I put a big garbage bag over the whole litter tray and tip it out. Poor in fresh litter. Done.
The Story
When we first got him, he would not leave his carrier for 2 weeks. One morning I was sitting in the laundry with him watching him eat his food. I closed the door to the carrier behind him. He then found a hidey hole under the dish washer for another 2 weeks.
We closed off access to this hidey hole while he was eating food. So it took atleast a month for Parker to get use to the space and us. When we moved him 2 weeks ago he regressed a little but atleast not to the same level.
So expect him to find a quiet hidey hole for a few weeks and to only come out for food/kitty litter (and mostly when no one is around). He is quite fond of under this armchair.
He would start to play on his own, but as soon as someone saw him, he’d stop dead in his tracks. It took him another month before he was comfortable kinda playing in front of a person. But if there were 2 people around he’d get spooked and hide.
He does like the wand toy but it took him a long time to be comfortable playing in front of a person.
He has accepted pats while high on drugs or cornered in a wardrobe. He doesn’t like to be touched much. I’ve approached him with a brush on a stick/or general stick first. I focus on forhead rubs and while he’s enjoying it I’m able to swap out for a hand. Sometimes he freaks out and hisses. Sometimes he enjoys it. Then I’ve been able to get the brush out to help clear up some lose fur.
I reckon he’s got a lot of potential for growth here and I think he would become more affectionate with time. We just don’t have the time to help him further.
There is a self heating mat, I bought this just a few days ago. He loves it. It’s got a layer of insulation and reflects back the body heat of the cat. I’ve popped this in his favourite hidey spot (under the arm chair) and he keeps coming back to it. He’s even able to sit in my bedroom all day with me working from home and not want to hide else where with this.
After a month or two, when he’s warmed up to your space you could experiment with moving this mat around to try and encourage him to sleep in different/more exposed spots. He does like a sunny warm spot.
And he has been observed on chairs, but will hide as soon as someone gets too close.
Treats
Parker is very food motivated. Which is good. But he’s not very active. So you will need to watch out for his waist line.
The liquid tube treats are great for encouraging him to come out of his hidey hole. I had been squeezing it all over my hand from my fingers to my palm and letting him lick it off as part of his exposure therapy. He had been warming up and associating my hand more with food. I do this most afternoons when I’m home.
Meds
Sometimes when Gaba is mixed in with his favourite treat, he just won’t eat it. Which sucks. Means those meds go to waste. I’ve also tried some of the natural relaxant treats from the pet store. Parker won’t touch them either.
I imagine turning them int oa powder and sprinkling on his breakfast might help. But haven’t tried it yet. Anyway you are more then welcome to try some of the relaxant treats I’ve included in his box of stuff.
Toys
He killed his favourite wand toy. Been trying to warm him up to a new one. He also likes small squishy balls but will chuck em everywhere. We’ve lost his two favourite toys somewhere (he’s probably flung them under something). So some repacement soft balls would probably help.
Trapping him
This is a whole adventure. He really doesn’t like to be cornered or put in his carrier. My way around this is to bring in his carrier into the room he is in. Place it in an obvious corner. Close the door and put on my motorbike leather gear to armour up. Close off all of his other hidey hole options and scare him enough until the carrier is his only retreat.
Last time I did this he sprayed everywhere out of fear. He will scratch and bite doing this. He is not a pleasant cat to get in his carrier.
Breathing
He does breath kinda heavily and snores when he’s asleep. It’s cute. Vet says there are no obvious breathing problems/medical issues.
Future
I reckon he’s pretty close to being adoptable. He’s made a lot of progress with us. He needs just needs a bit more stability to help him open up and we can’t provide that.
I reckon he will always be a skittish cat, I don’t think he’ll get along with other pets. I also thing he would hate kids bothering him.