Minky has been neutered. My parents got him done as soon as we decided that he didnt belong to anyone else, and he was ours.
My parents also think that $850 is a big incentive to keep him indoors. At night time especially, I'm not sure about daytime.
Please dont think that my parents are irresponsible pet owners... they have always desexed their animals, kept them up to date with vaccinations. have microchipped and registered them.
They are just the kind of people that think cats should be able to wander outside and sleep in the grass and play with insects.
I dont know if i would have the heart to keep Minky inside either
Thanks for all your well wishes. I will pass them on.
Mink has been kept inside since his operation and still has the cone on his head. My family takes it off him for a little bit every day and gives him some cuddles, but the cheeky boy tricks them into it and then hides under the table and chairs so they cant get back to him to put it back on.
My sister said that he also tried to groom himself, but just ends up licking the inside of the cone. awww
I'm glad to hear that he's doing ok. It really is tough having a cat that is used to the outdoors and trying to keep them indoors. As I said in the post on Smoke's foot, when I kept him confined, he had no idea what a litterbox was for -- I don't think he would ever be happy indoor cat, and I couldn't survive his lack of litterbox manners. But like your parents and Minky - I love him dearly and take as good of care of him as possible.
Thanks for the update. I'd been wondering how he was doing. I'm glad to hear he seems to be healing.
I agree that there are some cats you just can't force inside. It took us a long time to find a home for a cat who was so feral that she was almost made inside. A couple finally took her in and she taught them she can stand a bit of human companionship as long as she is allowed to sleep in the basement where she feels she is safe and wander the house at night when human activity is minimal. Teresa's Smoke is the best example. He is sweet and loving to them, but has to get outside to maintain his sanity.
I guess some guys are just fighters, no matter what. Neutering usually takes the urge to fight away.
I didn't mean to insinuate your parents are irresponsible. They wouldn't be going through the expense and stress of caregiving to someone who isn't used to being restricted. And, they certainly wouldn't be able to make him wear the cone if they didn't love him. That's a hard thing to do. I was lucky Kintu only had to wear his a couple of days before we found wearing a t-shirt would keep him from scratching at his incision on his back.
(05-16-2010 08:30 PM)janilee Wrote: [ -> ]Thanks for the update. I'd been wondering how he was doing. I'm glad to hear he seems to be healing.
I agree that there are some cats you just can't force inside. It took us a long time to find a home for a cat who was so feral that she was almost made inside. A couple finally took her in and she taught them she can stand a bit of human companionship as long as she is allowed to sleep in the basement where she feels she is safe and wander the house at night when human activity is minimal. Teresa's Smoke is the best example. He is sweet and loving to them, but has to get outside to maintain his sanity.
I guess some guys are just fighters, no matter what. Neutering usually takes the urge to fight away.
I didn't mean to insinuate your parents are irresponsible. They wouldn't be going through the expense and stress of caregiving to someone who isn't used to being restricted. And, they certainly wouldn't be able to make him wear the cone if they didn't love him. That's a hard thing to do. I was lucky Kintu only had to wear his a couple of days before we found wearing a t-shirt would keep him from scratching at his incision on his back.
Hey Jan
i know you didnt mean to insituate anything.
I actually think that anyone that lets their whole-male cat outdoors freely is irresponsible, so i just thought i would clear that up.
Minky loves the outdoors, just like Teresa's smoke does. In some situations like this, i think its more cruel to contain them indoors when they love the outdoors so much.
I'm so happy that we have been able to convert Pussa into an indoor-only cat. However, i still feel bad when i see her staring out the screen door longing to go outside and sleep in the grass
Thanks so much for your thoughts
I might suggest a t-shirt to my parents. I wonder how long it would take to tear it off himself though.
Well, actually, I used the term "t-shirt" for simplicity. What Kintu actually wore was something the vet fixed up for him because she didn't want to close his wound after removing a sarcoma. She used the stretchy sleeve used to put on a human arm before adding a cast. She just cut little arm holes in it. It was perfect. Tight enough to stay put and stretchy enough for him to bend easily. And, the material is sort of open weave, so the wound got plent of air. He'd gone nuts with the collar and still managed to scratch his wound on furniture. After the shirt, he acted like he was fine. I had two of them and washed and air dried one each day.
as jane and t will know, my cats have the choice of indoor and outdoor, but the outdoors is an enormous run some 48 feet long by 8 feet wide. i have had the majority of it put on the grass so they have the best of both worlds. this way i havent got to worry about them being out