In a situation with a gorgeous kitten

Isolt

Hey guys,

Please be nice. I know I have caused this sticky situation.

So I live in an apartment in Dublin City Centre, it's a busy area etc and my lease specifically said 'NO PETS'. Because I am still pretty young and not really settled down or anything, I never got any pets. I had a bird a few years back who had to go live with my mam after I moved into this apartment because my landlord said I could not have any animals. My bird is very happy and cared for but the guilt I carry for not being allowed to keep him is still there.

So of course I didn't plan to have pets right now. However, I have become the mama to a tiny, tiny kitten without ever meaning to. My colleague has a neighbour and the silly woman allowed her adult cat to roam outside and have 3 litters one after the other. By the time this litter was born I think the cat must have been fed up because she stopped feeding this small kitten after 5 weeks. Maybe because he was the smallest. Anyway my boss, feeling sad to see him being rejected, (and with the owners permission) picked him up on the way to work and brought him in his jacket. We checked him over and I went to a pet store close by to find out what we should do.

I got some powdered kitten milk and hand fed him for the last couple of weeks because my housemate is away on extended holidays, I figured I could get away with it the most out of all my colleagues. But now I have fallen for my kitten so badly. In just a few weeks you should see the difference!!!! He eats proper kitten food now, not just powdered milk. He is getting big and he is bright eyed and has lots of energy and everything. I even brought him to the vet after I took him home to make sure he wasn't sick and to make sure I knew what to do for him nutrition wise (because I've never had a cat before) and the vet said he was perfect.

I feel like he's such a little fighter and I am proud of how far he's come and soo fast too. But I think if my housemate finds out he'll be annoyed at me for going behind his back. I know people might think I'm stupid for getting sucked into this and I feel so guilty because I know I shouldn't have a kitten but I don't want to give him up now. I didn't think I'd fall for him so much. Anybody know how I can avoid rehoming him? It feels like I'm his human now without meaning to be.

planetX

move to somewhere that allows pets.
Otherwise start looking for a home for him now. If you have to rehome him when your landlord finds out it'll be much worse.

angeline

I can understand how you feel. I took in a stray kitten years ago, he was quite ill and I decided that once he was better I would find him a home. But of course I fell in love with him and kept him. The only suggestion I can think of is to keep him and find a new place to live asap.

ABajaninCork

Maybe the landlord might allow you to keep him if you offer a pet deposit?

Cussypat1974

First off, well done for saving this little guys life. Unfortunately for you, rescue never comes easy!
I would talk to the flat mate first..... Maybe they won't mind the kitten? I assume he is litter trained and clean in that way.
If that goes well, you have the choice of speaking to your landlord and asking very nicely (I did this once and there was no problem at all and I kept the cat, who as elderly and had been my mother's before she passed away suddenly). That all depends on the landlord and their attitude to cats and your relationship with them. They might prefer to let you and kitty stay if you are a good tenant and pay rent on time etc., rather than have to look for new tenants. Kittens, unlike puppies, are not destructive as they do not chew lumps out of furniture and so on! If you go this route, research cat behaviour as much as you can so you can back up all your claims about how the cat will not pose a problem.
Otherwise, you have the option of simply not telling the landlord..... But that runs the risk of him/her finding out and kicking you out.
Or you can move..... There are plenty of landlords who would not object to a cat.
Ultimately, you have to decide whether kitty is more important than living in this particular property, or not.
Hope it all works out in your favour!

JustAThought

ooo; sounds like you re in the deep with your flatmate!!!! What a lovely kindhearted thing you did for that little kitten ...no matter what happens the georgous little ball of fun will always have you to thank for giving it all that love & a great start to an otherwise tragic & doomed life. Now thats no small thing in life! Good for you : )

I like the suggestion of a cat deposit but I suppose the other item is your flatmate!
How have they not noticed yet!!! Are they away on holidays !? Or have they been at the beach for the past few days!!??

If your current landlord has already rejected a bird which is pretty low impact I guess you may well have a big problem. Is s/he a cat lover? Whose name is the lease in? Will they want to share with a cat; & what if your original kind act rebounds & causes them to be evicted, or the lease not renewed, or to loose their deposit? It wouldn't be really fair on them if your kind deed badly cost them . I suppose this may besomething you have to consider bring prepared to have to let go if they say no : ( unfortunately.

Your mom already has your bird maybe you know someone who would give the kitten a good home if you HAD to. The little kitten fell on it's little feet when you rescued it from death but maybe living with a loving stable family in a long- term house might also work well for it; where there would be a few children to play with it & where it wouldn't have to be waiting for someone to come home or move apparement every year?

If your flatmate says no & the kitten can't melt their heart you might have to consider looking up vets ; maybe in suburban areas & putting up signs? If you are thrown out & your deposit kept by an evil landlord ( within their rights) both you, your flatmate AND the cat will have a big problem then. : (

But maybe your flatmate will fall in love too ; ) & as someone rightly said might let you stay . But what if you both move kn & find new flatmates? Or yiu want to & cant because of thr cat? you may very well have problems for the next 10 years with deposits & flatmates cos of your kindhearted rescue ; which is a big price to pay for saving a kittens life

You were looking for solutions so here's one. If you can't convince your flatmate & choose the kitten over them one of you will be looking for a mew home. Can you afford to buy them out of their share of the deposit & appartment rent? Do you have the financial option of renting by yourself? Can you pay for both rooms/shares if they go? Or will you be moving? Daft.ie has a great flatmate team- up section ; or you could look to rent a new place with others who don't mind cats; or you could put up a sign there ( it's free!) to see what the appetite would be to share with someone with a cat; or if there is someone looking to rent or share who didn't mind pets.

I feel for you with your dilema ; but remember no matter what you saved that little tiny cats life & have it love & a eonderful start to life; and thats no bad thing in all of this.
Let us know how it goes with your flatmate.

Cussypat1974

calm down a secong there Justa thought...... it is NOT within a landlord's right to keep any deposit unless damage has been caused. For a start.

my legal knowledge is not up to scratch, but my cat welfare knowledge certainly is. Isolt..... be VERY careful if you decide to rehome this baby. feel free to PM me, although I only check back once a week or so (am new to boards). I have rehomed many many cats and kittens and it CAN go wrong. above all, do NOT give him as "free to good home" because the dog fighting gangs are scanning those ads for blooding bait for their fighting dogs. even kids on my street in rural galway have set their terriers on my cats. Be VERY careful and do a home check and make damn sure you know these people. I can help with that or get friends nearer to you to help with vetting an potential owner. it would be awful for him to be saved by you to become bait and ripped apart by dogs to make scumbags laugh...... and unfortunately it happens every day. honestly, PM me!

JustAThought

Calm down!!! Calm down yourself!!! Fighting gangs, bloody bait, small children feeding cats to dogs outside your house, cats being ripped apart in the streets... Maybe a little less sugar before you go to bed ?

NORMAL people are out there with NORMAL lives & behaviours ; don't be terrifying the OP.

And a landlord can evict & keep the deposit. Breech of contract; no pets clause; relatively straightforward ; e1000 fir the landlord ; *thanks <pockets deposit>

No doubt what you say can happen in extreme circumstances but to put the frightnrrs up the OP who is trying to do the right thing by everyone is a bit much. Do you think the cat will have s better life hidden from her flatmate in a wardrobe? Or on the streets with the traffic in Dublin city centre ?

Del2005

ABajaninCork wrote: »

Maybe the landlord might allow you to keep him if you offer a pet deposit?

The OPs is in an Apartment block. The landlord, like all owners, has signed a lease banning animals if it's the same house rules as most places I know. The flatmate can't allow an animal either due to house rules.

OP you need to move out or move the cat out, sorry.

Cherry Blossom

Cussypat1974, I suggest you read the forum charter, we do not allow re-homing agencies to post in this forum in a re-homing capacity.

We have had issues in the past on this forum with individuals claiming to be re-homing agencies, when the reality was they were conning people out of their pets and selling them, so I would also urge the OP to exercise extreme caution, especially in any dealings with anonymous posters on internet forums.

JustAThought, my patience is wearing very thin with your personal attacks on this forum, I suggest switching off until you have calmed down when you find yourself typing responses like the one above.

Cussypat1974

i honestly do not know what you mean by a "rehoming agency". I certainly am not an agency, just me! i merely offered advice to a lady who was genuinely seeking a good outcome for a bad situation, and explored possibilities. I have rehomed many dogs and cats (as an individual) and have had both good and bad experiences and outcomes, and learned through my mistakes. I thought that that was what BOARDS.ie was all about? there ARE gangs on the lookout for "free to good home" ads..... would you prefer people were not warned? If there were not a legal issue I could actually provide one address for those who seek those ads and I can PM it to mods no problem! it is a well known fact and is the reason that sites such as donedeal have seriously tightened up in the last year or so.
i am not quite sure what I have done wrong here?

Cussypat1974

where or when did I personally attack anyone?!?!?!?

star-pants

Cussypat1974 wrote: »

where or when did I personally attack anyone?!?!?!?

AJ never said you did. If you read her post clearly again please.
She's quite right to warn other posters as there have been very serious issues with people offering rehoming "help", it's not a slight against you personally.
I also suggest you read our forum charter before posting again. Arguing onthread with a mod decision is not allowed, please do not reply on thread to this post.

JustAThought

Isolt wrote: »

Hey guys,

Please be nice. I know I have caused this sticky situation.

So I live in an apartment in Dublin City Centre, it's a busy area etc and my lease specifically said 'NO PETS'. Because I am still pretty young and not really settled down or anything, I never got any pets. I had a bird a few years back who had to go live with my mam after I moved into this apartment because my landlord said I could not have any animals. My bird is very happy and cared for but the guilt I carry for not being allowed to keep him is still there.

So of course I didn't plan to have pets right now. However, I have become the mama to a tiny, tiny kitten without ever meaning to. My colleague has a neighbour and the silly woman allowed her adult cat to roam outside and have 3 litters one after the other. By the time this litter was born I think the cat must have been fed up because she stopped feeding this small kitten after 5 weeks. Maybe because he was the smallest. Anyway my boss, feeling sad to see him being rejected, (and with the owners permission) picked him up on the way to work and brought him in his jacket. We checked him over and I went to a pet store close by to find out what we should do.

I got some powdered kitten milk and hand fed him for the last couple of weeks because my housemate is away on extended holidays, I figured I could get away with it the most out of all my colleagues. But now I have fallen for my kitten so badly. In just a few weeks you should see the difference!!!! He eats proper kitten food now, not just powdered milk. He is getting big and he is bright eyed and has lots of energy and everything. I even brought him to the vet after I took him home to make sure he wasn't sick and to make sure I knew what to do for him nutrition wise (because I've never had a cat before) and the vet said he was perfect.

I feel like he's such a little fighter and I am proud of how far he's come and soo fast too. But I think if my housemate finds out he'll be annoyed at me for going behind his back. I know people might think I'm stupid for getting sucked into this and I feel so guilty because I know I shouldn't have a kitten but I don't want to give him up now. I didn't think I'd fall for him so much. Anybody know how I can avoid rehoming him? It feels like I'm his human now without meaning to be.

What was the outcome with your cat Isolt?
Any update?

Kash

I found myself the new owner of a fluffy kitten while in college in a strictly 'no pets allowed' apartment. Luckily, I was living with 5 guys who had no issue with the kitten, as long as I kept his litterbox cleaned out etc.

We hid the fact from the landlord for a number of months, and when the lease was up, I moved to a new place. I didn't mention the kitten to the new landlord until I actually had the months rent and deposit in my hand ready to give to him, and then said something like "Oh, before I give you this, I should mention I have a cat - he's fully litter trained and well behaved. I assume that is ok?"

He moved house with me about 6 more times, and the same tactic worked each time - when faced with a fist full of cash, most landlords seem cat friendly.

8 years later, he's purring here beside me as I type, in our own house.

Isolt

Hey everyone,

I'm back to update you all on the situation with Panda. After a stressful month of trying to decide what to do, I finally spoke to my housemate. He doesn't like cats but he likes me so he said he'd rather keep me and the cat there than have me go. However, the condition was that I get permission from the Landlord. My LL is a lovely person but he is very old fashioned and very protective of his property.

So I went and viewed some apartments before I even explained it to my LL because I knew he'd be dead set against it. When I told my LL what had happened and that I would move out with the kitten he said he didn't want me to leave either because I'm a reliable tenant. So after some heated words he agreed that as long as he doesn't damage anything, Panda is welcome to stay.

He's also very healthy now and getting so big very quickly. I do have an issue with him being very rough though. I read that yelping or making a sharp sound when they bite is enough to deter them but seriously, nothing stops him when he gets the crazies. He is not vicious but he is very boisterous. I have cuts from head to toe from him biting and scrawbing when he gets playful and NOTHING seems to teach him 'No!!'. Any advice on how to stop this would be good? If I try push him away when he's biting he just latches on harder and won't let go because he thinks it's a game.

lubie76

I'm afraid he is just just showing kittenish behaviour. When you try and discipline him he thinks its just part of the game. Best thing to do is stop paying him attention as soon as he starts getting rough.

Rest assured he will grow out of it. In the meantime arm yourself with a pair of thick gloves and possibly socks too!

Janedoe10

He Good to know that Panda was left to stay . Enjoy the furr ball

Morf

Kittens are divils for leaving your hands in shreds. My cat who had just gone a year has settled down a lot. Far less rough play from her.

She still has moments when she's bounding around the house at 90 miles an hour when she has too much energy.

I would suggest a scratching post to save any furniture too. My sister's cat ruined a set of leather dining chairs sharpening her claws on it.

Kash

What an excellent outcome! You must be delighted

I second a scratching post... you can make your own with cardboard very easily: one version here: http://www.designsponge.com/2009/01/diy-project-recycled-cardboard-kitty-pad.html

As for scratching and biting you, it is typical kitten behavior, but you can stop it. Watch out for the signs that your kitten/cat is getting too excited - for example, Loki's eyes get very big, he swishes his tail dramatically and makes a low yowl before lauching himself at me viciously! He will still do this occasionally at 8 years old if we let the game get that far. But nowadays the game rarely goes beyond a grip with claws, a bit of mouthing and pretend disembowelling with the back paws.

Once you notice the warning signs, stop playing, in fact - stop all contact. Do not wrench your hand away, as this will make it worse, but disentangle yourself, saying the word No, or Ah-ah, it a low voice. Then ignore the kitten for a few minutes. You're basically teaching the kitten your boundaries, and he'll learn that if he wants to play with you, he needs to respect them.

You can also make sure that you are not always the brunt of the attack - get him something he can bat around and chase (ping pong ball, empty spool of thread - you can even tie this to a string for hours of fun etc). Mine still goes crazy with anything feathery, and I will still find him balled up in my feather boas if they are left out.

Hope that helps!