From 2004 to 2009 we were a two cat household. After Finn was born our younger cat, Murray, wasn't happy, and generally demonstrated it by peeing on lots of things outside the litter box (including, on two memorable occasions, Jonathan and me). I wrote about it
here,
here,
here, and
here, among other places. For the last few years we've been supporting his upkeep at
Cat House on the Kings, south of Fresno.
Last month I went to visit Cat House with some friends who wanted to see it. (
It's famous.) They do amazing work there, and I think that if you're a feral cat, or a cat who likes to be surrounded by cats, or a dog who likes to run in a small pack, it must be heaven. But they have hundreds of cats and a limited staff who have a LOT of work to do, so if you're a cat who likes
a lot of human attention, it's a little sad. I found Murray among the hundreds of cats, and held and petted him for about half an hour. Then I found myself hatching a plan to bring him home, now that our living circumstances have changed. Jonathan, after some thought, came around. Last weekend I went and got him (btw, SUPER AWESOME road trips both times, ladies).
Here's the setup, for anyone wondering about how we can keep a cat we can't trust not to pee on stuff:
1)
Kennel in the garage. We built him a fenced in area inside our garage, so he'd have some space that was his alone. It's supposed to be 4x4 feet, but since we were using the garage as one wall, we rearranged the panels to make it 4X6. Unless we're out there with him, the fenced off part is the only part he has access to.
2)
Door to access the kennel in the garage. This fancy schmancy cat door only unlocks for an animal wearing a special tag with an RFID chip. What's more, we can program it so that during the day he can go in or out at will, but at night he can come in, but not get back out. It took him 3 or 4 days to learn how to use it. If you get one, make sure to find the section in the manual on "training mode."
3)
Cat tree for in the kennel. This way he can have a little more space, see out the window, and be more cozy. This one is regularly on sale for under $100. Jonathan's modified it so it fits in the kennel, which is not as tall as the description would lead you to believe.
4)
Heated cat bed/pad. Most heated cat beds are indoor only, but
K&H makes some that are indoor/outdoor. It was really hard to find a cat tree that would accommodate one of these giant things, but the lower "condo" in our cat tree does... once Jonathan sawed some gaps along the floor of it, because that part comes pre-assembled.
5)
Secure cat food storage. I saw this at a friend's house recently, and knew I wanted one. Not only is it cat and dog and raccoon proof, it claims to be ant-proof.
6)
Litter box. Our preferred litter box is still the one recommended by the
cat behavior consultant we dealt with way back when we were early in the process of trying to resolve Murray's issues: a 66 qt giant Sterilite bin.
And there you have it. It's expensive, I don't particularly recommend it if you have other options, but it's working for us. Murray had better access to a fully heated house at Cat House, but here he's got personal space, posh cat food... and his family. There are no current plans to integrate him into the indoor household. Aside from the whole peeing thing, Mona is now ten years old, kinda flipped her lid when she saw him outside, and hisses and runs away when he comes to the back door. Although the novelty may wear off, so far the boys ADORE him. He's much more interested in their attention than Mona has ever been, and they are puzzled and delighted by that.
Plus, I mean, look at him. The guy's adorable.
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