Harold

Today, I am asking for your advice.  I rescued Harold, around two years old, over two weeks ago from Central Park in the city of Rochester.  I had been feeding Harold for quite some time, he would run to me every morning when I pulled up to the vacant house.  I wasn't sure what I was going to do with Harold, but I knew he had to get him off the street because he was a very sweet cat, and you could tell he didn't want to live outside anymore.  None of them do actually, but a lot of them have lost that trust in humans, so it makes it difficult to rescue them all.  Once home, he hid for about a minute, and then came out and was the most loveable kitty.   After spending the night in the basement room (man cave) with the television on, all the food he could eat, chairs and futon and plenty of warm blankets to sleep on,  the very next day, a wonderful family - mom and dad, and 10 (?) year old son came over to look at my adoptables (Daisy, Paddy, Earl), and chose Harold, who I wasn't going to show because of his age, and because I had just rescued him the previous morning, and hadn't gotten to know him yet.  The first week did not go so well with him due to him escaping to their attached garage and hiding in the rafters, and doing some loud howling.  After giving her a little advice on getting him down and into the house into a small bathroom, where he should have gone in the first place to get to know the scents, etc., I gave her advice on introducing her cat Cloe to him.  I hadn't heard since last Thursday, thinking no news is good news.  I got the following note from her this morning, and here is how his past weekend went.  I could (THEY could) use some advice.  I don't know what I will do with Harold if they return him - I cannot keep him, I won't put him back on the street, I won't put him in a barn situation, so my only other alternative would be Lollipop, where I would pray he would get adopted out and quickly.  So, as you can see, WE are DESPERATE for any and all advice.  Here is what the mom has to report.

"We kept Harold in the bathroom until Friday evening. We did the thing where their dishes were close together, and they had been sniffing under the door at each other. He actually got out a little sooner than I had planned... he kind of made a break for the door, and lets just say he is very quick! He seems to have adjusted to the house just fine. He wanders all over the place, but has certain places he prefers. Unfortunately, one of them is the crawl space which is unable to be completely blocked off, and since he is a Houdini, he manages to squeeze in no matter what we would do to try to barricade it. He spends most of his day in there... comes out to eat and check things out, then goes back in... he comes out for good anywhere between 7 and 9, and then he is in the main part of the house for the night and all the way thru till morning. He follows us around and likes attention, but has not figured out the concept of sitting on laps yet. We just sit on the floor and he comes to us. He does not like being up on the bed or couch at all... jumps up and then right back off. Starting around 10 or 11, he wanders around the house meowing... it's not the crying, lost yowling he did that first night... it's just a little chirp or meow every 2 or 3 minutes, like he is looking for us. But even when he finds us, or we go to him, he doesn't settle down. It's like he can't stand or sit still. Unfortunately, this goes on all night... and I mean, literally - ALL NIGHT. He comes up to the bedroom, and I dangle my hand over to scratch him, and he lets me, and then he's off downstairs to do a lap... then he's back in my bedroom... then he goes downstairs... and so on. The first night, I got up and put him in the bathroom at 1:00... he was fine with that and happy to come out in the AM. The second night, I had to put him in the bathroom at 4:00... last night, I went and slept on the couch at around 1:00... I thought maybe he was lonely and would settle down if I was down there (and I figured at least Billy could get some sleep). Nope. Same deal... he would peep at me, come over for a scratch, go toss a toy mouse around or grab a bite to eat, and then start they cycle all over again. Around 4:00, I couldn't take it anymore, so I put him back in the bathroom. NO DICE. He scratched and picked at the door, but did not cry or meow. I let him out around 6:00 and he did his usual morning routine. I do not know what this is all about, or what to do about it, but I am getting a little twitchy from the sleep deprivation!!! It's like he's got his days and nights totally backwards... any thoughts or suggestions? I am at a complete loss. He still seems perfectly happy... purrs all the time, loves attention, eats and uses litterbox, could care less about Chloe and her attitude... I just don't know what to do next.

Chloe has actually gotten better... less growling and hissing, and she's not mad at us anymore. But right now I am not worried about her; I don't know what to do about Harold and his nighttime antics (which makes perfect sense if he's been living on the streets, but I need to get him to settle down at night now that he is in a nice warm house). So... help...?"

PLEASE COMMENT HERE, or shoot me an e-mail at janinethebean10@yahoo.com - thanks!

"One joy scatters a hundred griefs."