A plan for Ivan

I spend a lot of time thinking about Ivan and his issues. He’s been on Prozac for about a month with no significant change. He’s not growling quite as much (I think), but still seems very depressed and unhappy. He absolutely HATES taking pills and now avoids me, in case I have a pill, which makes him even more miserable, because sadly, I am the light of his life.

While I was watching Cat from Hell this weekend, I had an epiphany about Ivan. As Jackson was describing the cat’s behavior, he was discussing how much time the cat spent in low, tiny hiding places, which is pathological for a cat. They should be big, in big, high places. It struck me that as Ivan has gotten worse through the years, he has also become very small (emotionally) and seeks out increasingly low, tiny hiding places.

Despite the noise he makes and the posturing he does with humans, he’s not mean or aggressive. He’s a terrified tiny little guy. He’s always been fearful, and it has gotten worse. He absolutely dreads any confrontation with any other cats or non-family humans. He spends most of his time in avoidance mode, but when he can’t avoid, he tries to bluff.

The outdoor cat enclosure has helped with a lot of the cat issues and has made many of the cats infinitely happier. Ivan has not and will not go out there. He has always been terrified of everything outside. When he was a tiny kitten, he would go out with me (safely in a harness), but at around four months old, I noticed that he was afraid of everything—every noise, every shadow—and was increasingly miserable. He has no curiosity about the outdoors and would probably freeze and have heart failure if he had to go out at this point. I would love to see him spend time out in the enclosure, but that’s just not realistic for him.

We have the cat trees and climbers and really can’t fit any more in the house. Those are heavily used by the other cats, so Ivan avoids them. Vertical space and height are SO important to cats, and he needs some vertical space that he can call his own. I found a wonderful solution. I will be ordering and installing wall shelves/climbers on various walls of the house. They won’t take up any of the floor space that is at a premium, and with enough vertical climbers and perching places, Ivan will be able to find one that he can stake out for himself. I feel very encouraged by this hope. The pieces are very nice, though a bit expensive, so I will have to just get a few at a time as finances allow.

I also need to make a priority of playing with him one on one. He loves to play with the various toys that require a human (da bird, etc.), but so do all of the other cats. As soon as I start a play session with one, several others show up and join in. He stops playing the minute another cat enters the room, so he doesn’t get much fun time at all. I’m scheduling a little time every day (or as often as possible) to get him in a room alone, close the door, and let him play with no other cats in site. That will help his state of mind and confidence quite a bit.

One of my favorite things about Ivan is that whenever he is lying within reach of me, he reaches out to hold my hand. He loves to put his front paw pads on my skin. He stretches his little claws out and grasps me. Sometimes his long, sharp claws get stuck in my skin, but that's a price I'm willing to pay for holding hands with my little guy. If he can't reach me, he will grab and hold a piece of blanket or available fabric in his little front paw, making sure that his skin is in contact with the soft material. I know this sounds as if I'm anthropomorphizing him, but I'm not--I don't do that. What I love about animals is their non-human-ness, so I'm more inclined to downplay their similarities to humans than create them.

I am determined to help him become a happy, well-adjusted cat. I think I’ve read every book that remotely addresses issues like this, so I’m glad to have found Jackson Galaxy’s show as another good resource. I don’t know how long it’s been on, but I’ve only watched two or three episodes so far. One of the items on my to-do list is to track down and watch any episodes which I haven’t seen. {** just checked on the show and see that it only started this month, so I think I've seen them all} I actually only became aware of the show because it was on The Soup, which we (M & I) enjoy watching on Friday nights. (We don’t watch most of the shows that appear on The Soup but greatly enjoy watching Joel mock them.)

I noticed when looking at some of the pics of Ivan that I could see the reflection of me taking the picture in his eye. It reminded me that when Dej was little, I would have her look closely in my eyes and see the reflection of herself. I told her it was because I loved her so much, and she was always in my heart, and that's why she was always in my eyes. She believed that for quite a long time. It was so cute.

Tomorrow night I will be starting the epic and extremely frightening task of sanding and refinishing the hardwood floors in L's bedroom and the cat room. I don't really know what I'm doing, but I'm giving it a shot. My dad has volunteered to help, and he has done it before, so that's reassuring. My husband has not volunteered. I think it's going to be very unpleasant but will be awesome when it's done! If it goes well, I'll be doing our bedroom next.