Really need some advice,please

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Andy0209
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Joined: Mon May 01, 2017 7:28 pm

Really need some advice,please

Post by Andy0209 »

Hi, I am finding myself in a terrible situation and I really need some advice in what would be the best option for my lovely Ragdoll Holly. She has been with us for ten years now, had her since she was a kitten, full pedigree. She has been around our other pets her entire life and seemed to be absolutely fine till 2 yrs ago when my nightmare started. We always allowed our cats to go outside (as we wanted them to be happy and content, and we believed that they would really enjoy it, sooo many things to explore and discover). We had no problems, they always came back, sometimes with far too many presents for us as well. But 2 yrs ago she stopped coming back, we could see her almost everyday but she would not allow us to get near her. So we put up posts about our situation and asked our neighbors to help us, we managed to catch her, poor little soul, took her to the vets, did lots of blood tests and scans, had her groomed as her fur was fully knotted, but they couldn't find anything wrong with her. We were advised to keep her indoors for a while, bought quite a lot of calming products, to reduce her anxiety and stress and after a while she seemed herself again, so we thought it was safe for her to be out again, and of course that was a mistake, it took us 6 months to catch her again, we even went around our neighbors to ask if she was living with someone but found nothing. Now she is back with us, she is been kept inside but my husband think we need to rehome her as she is clearly unhappy but that is really difficult for me because I love her sooo much and don't want to give her up. But because I love her I know I have to do the best thing for her, and I really need your help, please. Is it cruel if I keep her inside from now on without ever letting her out again?
Thank you soo much for listening and sorry for the long post, tried to give u as much info as I can and I would really like to hear your advice.
Kind regards, Andreea
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Ruth B
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Re: Really need some advice,please

Post by Ruth B »

Welcome to the forum, and I hope someone can come up with an answer as it does sound a very odd situation.

I do know a lot of people say that Ragdolls should be kept as indoor only cats, but I, personally disagree, we had a rescued Ragdoll for about 13 years, he was about 3 when we got him and lived to about 16, and during those 13 years he was allowed out, and loved it. However it might be a problem if you do go down the rehoming route, most of the Ragdoll rehoming charities i have seen only rehome as indoor only cats, so her situation might not really improve a lot.

how did she behave when you did catch her, did she seem scared of people, is there any chance that someone had hurt her and it had healed in the time it took you to get her back the first time. You say she is stressed as being kept in, is she stressed by not being able to get out, or does she seem fearful of the house and it's occupants. Did she slowly become more reluctant to return home or was it a sudden change.

Sorry for all the questions, but I am just trying to think of what might have caused such a change in behaviour. The only thing I can think that might help, is there any way you could cat proof your garden or build a large out door run for her so while she could have access to outside you would know she was safely contained.

Hopefully someone else will come along soon and come up with some other ideas as well.
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