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Cody is our newest guy and I just got his page up today (9/20/2002), he's been nagging and nagging me to get it done --- so here it is. He adopted us in June of 2002. We were at the car dealer and this guy was laying on a chair, not a care in the world. I asked one of the sales people who's kitty he was, they told me he had wandered in the day before. I asked what they planned on doing with him, he said he didn't know, so as we were leaving I looked at hubby and said, you know that means off to the pound. So as we drove off, he handed me his cell phone and said call them, I did and they said, if you want him he yours, nobody here wants him. We did some chores and went back and got our newest baby Cody. We took him right to the Vets, and he got a clean bill of health, he tested negative for FeLV, and got his vaccinations. He had already been neutered and she didn't find a micro chip on him, so he was officially part of the family. We soon realized Cody either hadn't been around other cats, and had no clue how to interact with them, or he had been around other cats and for some reason was very defensive (most of the time without reason). He acted like he wanted to play, but as soon as someone took him up on it, he'd get defensive and swat them, well, my kitties didn't understand this behaviour and couldn't decide if Cody was OK or not. There were never any major squabbles, a few scaps yes, but nothing serious. Cody decided it was appropriate to let the other kitties know he belonged here by marking the doors (he also really wanted to go out, but our kitties are indoor only, he's figured that out now!). I tried cleaning it thourghly, used Feliway (a feline pheromone), nothing worked to stop him from doing this. So we asked our Vet for help and he is now on buspirone (it's a medication for anxiety), and is doing wonderful, no more *marking ... yaaaaaaaaaa!! He still hasn't figured out how to interact with the other kitties but he's only been on the medication for about 2 weeks, so I'm hoping that will come in time. He's very people oriented and is lovey, dovey with us, but the kitties, well ... maybe in the future, we're hoping! He's a great addition to our family and very handsome, kind of an orange marble tabby, Vet guesses him to be about a year or so old. Another sweet kitty some irresponsible idiot abandoned - people can be such monsters. We'll be adding some more photos of him to the Photo Album in the near future, so be sure to stop in and have a look at those. * by marking I mean spraying to mark his territory, this may well be the reason he was abandoned There are responsible ways to deal with this issue, you should never abandon your pet when they are doing something which to them is very natural. You can work with an animal behaviorist. Or you can do what we are doing, working with our Vet to relieve Cody's anxiety, so he doesn't feel he needs to mark for security. There are several medications that will help with this issue, one is sure to work with your pet, so please don't abandon your pet when he/she has a behavioral problem, any problem can be worked on. | |||
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