I adopted a stray cat outside my apartment a few years ago. She was originally aggressive both to cats and people, but after I started taking care of her she warmed up to the neighbors, too. Since she’d lived outside for about a decade, I let her out in the yard (supervised) and she came to love lounging and waiting for passers by to give her scritches.
Unfortunately, I’ve had to move. No more outdoor time for the foreseen future, partially because she’s in a completely new town, and partially because there are so many birds around here I don’t think I’d be able to keep her from running off.
There isn’t even a window facing the walkway where she can interact with people through the window, which was another thing she liked doing in our old place. It’s just me to entertain her, and I can be gone ten hours a day.
She has lots of toys and beds and things to climb, but since she loved the neighbors so much, I’m worried she needs a companion. Anyone else been in this situation? How do you help your cat adjust?
Years ago when it was just my cat Maeko and I, I had to travel for work fairly regularly and would be gone for a day or two, sometimes longer. At first, she would wreck up the place and I’d come home to find entire bookcases emptied all over the floor - even with friends coming by to check on her while I was away.
I set up a little shallow window box outside of a window she could perch at and would fill it with water for the birds to use as a bath, and put one of those one-way privacy window clings on it so she could watch the birds without them noticing (unless she batted at the window, which definitely happened with some regularity). After that, she stopped having as much difficulty when I was away.
That’s a great idea, thank you! I just got her comfortable climbing onto her window bed yesterday :)