Automatic Litterbox Central

I just love this cat to pieces, enough to try and find him a really good home since he's miserable in our current situation.

Gabby is the ultimate lap cat. Whenever you sit down to watch TV, he'll sit on your lab or lay beside you for hours, purring. His preference is to sleep next to you almost all night, and will let you hold him like a teddy bear. He often follows you from room to room, just because he likes to be with people. The cat actually likes water -- I give him a bath by picking him up and carrying him into the shower. He doesn't struggle at all. He's very tolerant with the neighborhood kids, placidly allowing them to pick him up, brush him, and pet him.

Gabby is a 10 yr old male tabby, neutered and declawed. He weighs about 9 pounds. He's not much for balls and games, although he does like to chase string. He gets along well with our other cat, and is not frightened by our neighbor's friendly dog, so I believe he would do ok in a household with other pets or kids. He begs shamelessly for treats and loves spicy foods like curry or Lousianna hot sauce.

The problem is my husband's asthma. It took us a long time to discover that it was only the cats that trigger the asthma. We tried everything -- air filters, special vacuums, bathing the cats weekly -- but found the only solution was to restrict the cats to the garage and outdoors. (My husband isn't willing to take the new asthma drugs which can affect the liver, and using an inhaler keeps him up at night.) One cat is very happy with the new arrangement, but Gabby is terribly lonely. Even after several months, he still cries for hours at a time, no matter how much time we spend out in the garage with him.

The local rescue societies will not take him due to his age, and I'm hesitant to take him to a regular shelter. Gabby is very picky about his litter, and will poop just outside the box if there is any amount of stuff in it from himself or the other cat. He's much better about peeing in the box, but has been known to protest pee on occasion when the clumping litter gets old. I'm convinced the Litter Robot is the solution for him -- he'll always use the box if it is empty. He has rejected the LitterFree.

If it weren't for his separation anxiety, I would just buy a LR and be done with it, but I really feel he needs a home where he can be inside with the people. I know the folks on this board love cats and are patient enough to work with the litter problem, so I'm hoping there is someone out there who would be interested in adding Gabby to their family.

Please contact me if you would consider adopting Gabby, or have questions about him. I am willing to fly him to you if you are not within driving distance.

Where are you located?

San Diego, but I have relatives back in the midwest, in Kansas City and Indianapolis.

This cat still needs a good home. Surely someone could use another lap cat

Yes, we're still trying to figure out what to do for poor Gabby. While a new home is probably still the best solution, I'm hoping that getting on a schedule of spending time in the garage at a consistent time each night will give him a feeling of security and help the situation. I've also read where others have had success with valium for the litter issues, so we may give that or kitty prosac a try as well -- we'll see what the vet says.

Obviously this is a difficult situation for you. Thank you for being commited to finding a good home. Maybe you could call your local shelter and find out if you could place the kitty on petfinder.com. Maybe they could work with you to get him the new home he needs. Also i recommend kitty show cat dvd's. If you have and old tv & vcr or dvd to put in the garage, these videos are very entertaining for cats.

http://www.petfinder.com/

http://kittyshow.com/index.html

THANK YOU soooo much for the link to the KittyShow site! I watched and kept hounding the Petsmart people during the holidays bc last year they sold DVD's for cats. Not this year. My boy kitty loves to watch television. Mostly animals. This is so kewl! Thank you! Sage

I'm glad you like the site. My spoiled group got bugs and birds for Christmas. I think the bugs is their favorite, but everyone was immediately drawn to the tv for both dvds. I had bought Video Catnip several years ago, but it isn't as cat friendly as these videos. When we got back on Christmas from our movie (having left their show running) my Karina was a chatterbox. She was trying so hard to tell us about the cool stuff she saw .

If you have not found a home for your cat, I talk to someone from CA and they told me to go to this url... http://www.animalcenter.org/,
This is what they told me....This is the BEST place to take the cat but they need to hrry up and decide before kitten season starts in the Spring.

Hope your found/find a good home for him.
Katt

You might try the purr pals forum.

My husband and I have decided to keep Gabby, at least for now, and see what we can do to work with the litterbox and meowing problems. I will un-sticky the original post. Any suggestions on good websites for cat psychology and behavior modification would be very appreciated!