My new senior cat

Question
Hello! I adopted an eight year old cat about eight days ago. His name is Drexel. He was an inside cat who was given away to a girl with two large dogs. Drexel and the dogs did not get along so Drexel was sent outside. I am unsure of how long he lived outside. He now lives with me as an indoor cat. The owner says I can take him back if things don't work out. However, I want to try everything first before that option. I am new to pets and cats in general. I have already fallen in love with them but some of his behavior, I think, is telling me he is unhappy.
Presently, he makes a lot of noise. He seems to be begging for attention a lot through crying and rubbing. I give him as much as I can, of course. He does use his litter and had only one accident. He will scratch at the carpet/rugs in front of me. He does not like to play with toys and runs from me when I try to engage him in play with toys. He still seems frightened by me moving around the house. He will mostly cry when I am moving around the house. He stands at the front door and cries, too. I suppose wanting to go outside. He seems to be constantly "meowing" or crying when he is not asleep or being rubbed. I have a large screened in back porch where I do let him out to play and watch the squirrels and birds. I live in a city so that is the best I can do. We have not gone to the vet, yet. I am hoping for him to trust me more before the next big shock.
Do you have any advice for me? I am scared I have an unhappy cat.

Answer
Jason,

Congratulations on your new friend, Drexel. Based on your description it sounds as though Drexel has some sort of a medical issue happening or he's had a traumatic life so far and may have even been abused or abandoned at some stage. Obviously there's no real way to know that for sure, Drexel sounds fairly needy and that's sometimes associated with cats that have been victims of neglect/abandonment or in some cases even physical abuse. I think that I can offer you some tips that should help to calm Drexel down and hopefully begin to settle into his new home with you. I think that taking Drexel back to his previous caregiver would be a mistake, especially if he had to live outdoors again just because this kitty's getting older and there are many dangers in the outside world that can hurt or even kill cats. There are a few basics to help you learn a bit more about kitty psychology and basic husbandry.

Firstly, just like a person cats need to feel safe, secure and loved in order to be happy. The way that this happens best is to set appropriate limits as to what Drexel is and is not allowed to do as well as humane consequences for breaking the rules. Most people don't want their cats on kitchen counters or tables so that's something that you NEVER allow, your new little buddy may decide that these places are fair game when you aren't home so I would recommend disinfecting counters and kitchen tables prior to preparing food on them. Not all cats like to play with all types of toys, everyone has a favorite. Most of my resident and foster cats are fond of laser lights, but do be careful not to shine these lights into anyone's eyes including the cat's because they can damage the eye. The screened in porch is a great way to entertain a former outdoor kitty, he can still smell the air and see the sights without the risk of being injured or killed by cars, predators, poison or people. The constant meowing is probably due to insecurity, cats are quite territorial and they tend not to like changes very much so a little patience will go a long way during this adjustment period for both of you. Keep calm because if you start feeling anxious your new buddy will sense it and he may become more anxious. If you don't want him to scratch furniture or carpeting then you should invest in several high quality, sturdy cat scratch posts or even a cat tree. The money spent on higher quality scratch posts will pay for itself when it comes to keeping carpeting and furniture in decent condition. I don't think that Drexel is unhappy, he is probably not sure what to make of his new home just yet. I've had some great results with homeopathy and cats. I use a homeopathic remedy called Bach's Rescue Remedy which is a blend of flower essences designed to calm and reassure pets (and people) who are anxious, fearful, traumatized or any combination of those negative states of mind. I would recommend that you consider adding 7-9 drops of Rescue Remedy to a fresh bowl of water each morning, you will likely see a fair improvement fairly shortly. You can find Rescue Remedy in health food stores, naturopathic pharmacies, some mainstream pharmacies in the area with vitamins and nutritional supplements and I believe that this remedy can also be purchased online.

I would advise that you consider taking Drexel to a holistic veterinarian as soon as possible to check his health status because older cats can have health issues that if caught early are fairly treatable. A holistic veterinarian is trained in conventional medicine as well as one or more alternative therapies including things like acupuncture, homeopathy or even massage. My family vet is a holistic practitioner and she's absolutely fabulous, she is gentle with my cats and she makes an effort to make pet parents that entrust her with the care of their pets as comfortable as possible. I think that it's very important to find a vet that you and your kitty are comfortable with because a vet is your cat's ticket to a long and healthy life provided that you can communicate effectively with him/her and you aren't intimidated by loads of medical terms. There's nothing wrong with taking Drexel to the vet now, in fact it may help him to learn how to trust you a bit more because you took him for a trip outside of the house and you brought him back. If Drexel is insecure a quiet, low key vet and a quiet, low key caregiver are important, if you show him that he's got nothing to be anxious about he should settle into life in your home. Routines are very important for cats so try to keep a schedule when it comes to feeding, grooming and taking care of the litter boxes.

If you only have one litter pan you may want to consider picking up another one, I generally recommend that kitty caregivers have one litter box per cat plus one and if house soiling is an issue then I expand that recommendation to one litter box per cat plus one per level of your home. It's generally best to use an unscented clumping kitty litter and keep the air fresheners away from the litter box because some cats are sensitive to perfumes and scents in and around their litter box. My oldest resident cat is very clean, however if I use a scented kitty litter she will actually pee on the floor beside the litter box. Cats have a very sensitive sense of smell so if something smells fairly strong to us it's absolutely overpowering to a cat. Litter boxes should be kept away from food and water dishes because cats don't like to eat where they go to the toilet. It's also important to scoop the litter boxes at least one daily to remove waste, the first reason for this is hygiene, keeping things clean is healthier, the second reason is that some cats are quite picky when it comes to how clean their litter boxes are which can sometimes lead to house soiling (after all, no human likes to use a dirty public washroom, it's kind of the same idea). Most cats like to do their business in private so the litter boxes should be kept in lower traffic areas of the house. It's also a good idea to introduce Drexel to each of the litter boxes so that he knows where to find them when he needs to use them.

Nutrition is very important to the health of your cat. If you skimp on food and buy lower quality foods that will show up in vet bills later on. I generally recommend that people with questions about cat nutrition check out the same website that my vet recommended I check into, catinfo.org. This website describes issues with the majority of commercially produced foods. I generally recommend that pet parents try to feed high quality, holistic pet foods made from human grade ingredients because these offer high quality nutrition which helps to keep your pet healthy and happy. If you aren't comfortable with feeding the diet described at catinfo.org you can try out foods like Wellness which is meant to be fed as a canned/dry food combination. Personally I feed Spot's Stew by Halo and my cats enjoy the dry food, they get the canned as an occasional treat.

Cats enjoy having a high place to watch the world from. Some cats will pick places like the top of the fridge or a high shelf. I generally recommend purchasing a fair sized cat tree, it allows the kitty to go up to a height that he feels safe at and he can watch the world go by. Generally decent quality cat trees range in price from about $200-500+ depending on the level of customization you want, this is one area that you don't want to compromise on because if Drexel climbs on the cat tree or sharpens his claws on it and the whole thing comes tumbling down he'll never use it again. Right now concentrating on letting Drexel settle into his new home and making sure that he has a clean bill of health are priorities. Don't put too much stress on yourself, Drexel isn't unhappy, he just needs some time to figure life out and get used to life's daily routines. I would recommend that you not pay too much attention to Drexel when he's crying or you might set yourself up for a constantly vocal cat which can be difficult to cope with. Offering affection to a crying cat is equivalent to cuddling a child having a temper tantrum, affection is a reward in itself. Before trying out a bit of tough love it's important to ensure that the crying that you describe isn't part of a health problem which is why medically assessing this guy is important. Cats can become more vocal for a variety of reasons some behavioral and some medical so it's important to rule out medical causes prior to treating the issue as a behavioral issue. Your vet can prescribe medications to treat anxiety, however I would recommend trying more natural remedies before resorting to powerful psychotropic drugs like prozac and amitriptyline among others. If it comes down to a point where it's absolutely necessary to treat Drexel with anti-depressant/anti-anxiety drugs I would recommend that you take the time to do your research and ask your vet about potential risks and side effects of the drug chosen to treat your little guy. A vet can also recommend an animal behaviorist that specializes in cat behavior if Drexel doesn't have any medical reason to be as vocal as he is. I do think that given the appropriate amount of time and patience Drexel will settle in with minimal need for behavioral intervention, provided of course that there isn't anything medical going on.