Thread: Problem with rescue cat

Sorry guys, this is a bit of a long post, please bear with me, I would really appreciate your advice. We have a new rescue cat, Humphrey. As you can see from these pictures, he's gorgeous!



He was in the local shelter, in a room with 8 other cats, and he was stressed out. He threw himself at us when we walked in and with his big mournful eyes he said 'Please get me out of here!'. Apparently he had been a stray. When I went back to collect him, a new cat had just been put in the room, and Humph had completely lost it, growling and hiding. They had to tip him out of his hiding place and put him in my carrier by the scruff of his neck. A volunteer said 'Crikey are you sure you still want him?' Of course I did, I could see he was just stressed out of his mind.

As soon as I got him home he relaxed. It took 2 weeks for him to stop swearing at and hiding from our old moggy Barney, but one evening we had a bit of a 'Look here Humph, this has GOT to stop, we're all going to GET ON! and after that they were fine together. Humph is not a lap cat and hardly ever purrs, but he would sleep on the bed for a bit at night, have his tummy stroked, be pleased to see you, play wonderful games with his toys in his box, hop in the bath for a drink, etc.

Then a week later, we got Larry. A week after that, we got Monty. Humph by now was allowed outside and he was totally ecstatic about it, climbing trees, killing pigeons and making friends with all the neighbours. He would come in twice a day to eat A LOT of food, and then he was off out again. Whenever he encountered a kitten, he would swear. It was disappointing for us, because the kittens are so nice natured and just want to be friends. They are great mates with Barney. We thought the swearing would ease off after a couple of weeks, but the problem is it's getting worse. Humph is actually becoming more hostile to the kittens and to us. I used to be able to brush him and pick him up (to bring him indoors for the night). He would submit to this kind of close contact without complaint. Now I get warning growls and lots of tail flicking - at a push he will try to bite.

Things came to a head last week when Humph was on the bed upstairs, my OH sat next to him to fuss him for a bit, but then Monty got on the bed and Humph just snapped and lashed out towards Monty. OH had a stern word with Humph and Humph flew away and hid in the cellar. I went to get him out and he had 'gone feral'. I put thick gloves on but he was a ball of fury and I didn't dare pick him up. It was just like the episode in the shelter. In the end I chased him (gently) outside, making sure the doors were open.

I thought, that's it, he'll run away and we won't see him again for days (or ever). But the amazing thing is, that 10 minutes later I went outside, and Humph came running up to me, tail waving, rubbed around me, lots of licks and friendly nibbles! Talk about a Jekyll and Hyde cat!

Humph is clearly a cat who needs lots of personal space and gets very upset if he's not sure of his escape route. We are learning to read his signs and we're very careful not to stress him out. We have reigned our expectations right in. He's around (outside) most of the time and eats like a horse. When he comes in, I sometimes shut the kittens away so that he can relax and eat his dinner. When I meet him outside, he's a joy, he runs down the road with me, leaps in front of me, shows off, rolls over...

Do you have any advice for the best way forward for us with Humph? Should we carry on what we're doing? When the weather gets colder he may want to be inside more, and maybe by then the kittens will have calmed down a bit. Perhaps I should get him an outside shelter? If we had fewer cats and a cat flap I think it would suit him better, so should we rehome him? I believe he's a very nice natured creature underneath, but he just has these issues. We don't know what he's been through, after all. Thanks for reading my post, I'm quite worried about him!