Spencer is much lower maintenance than most guys out there, so he might just be the right companion for you. He's visiting with me for a while because after several weeks of being locked up in a rather small and noisy cage at the shelter, he really needed a break.
If you are interested in meeting Spencer in person, please check out his contact info on Petfinder. You can contact us by email - look for the little envelope icon on his Petfinder page under the Animal Rescue League link. I would use my own email here, but I will soon have to go on a business trip and might not be able to check my email. Spencer might have to go back to the shelter or to another foster home during that time.
If for whatever reason Spencer is not the cat for you, or if you need a pair of cats, please visit the Animal Rescue League either virtually or in person.
In Action
Cats are a bit unpredictable, so you'll have to suffer through the first verse for cat intervention ... also, if the video is not up yet, please try again
Physical
Spencer is a sleek, fit, brown tabby tomcat with a gorgeous golden belly. His fur is short but dense, a bit longer and even softer on the belly. If he looks poofy on some of these pictures, it's because it's December in Pittsburgh and pretty chilly even indoors.
Pretty cat.
Flexi cat.
Compact cat.
Lapcat.
Temperament
He's about four or five years old and had already been neutered when he came to the shelter, so at his new forever home he'll probably behave the same way as he behaves in his foster home.
Full size cat.
Spencer is pretty independent. When I go to sleep at night he only rarely and briefly complains about being locked out of the bedroom before he goes of to wherever he spends the night. I think he really enjoys some private time once in a while. No guilt trips when I go to work,
no sleepless nights, no scratched doors.
Hiding in the cat tree.
However, he also greets me at the door every day when I come home from work and is happy to spend some quality lap-time whenever offered, kneading as if his life depended on it and purring up a storm.
When I'm sitting with my legs up and my laptop on my lap, he of course tries to jump on the laptop, but if I relocate him, he his contend to stretch out to full length on my legs. Streched out like that, he's amazingly long. No wonder he did not like being in a cage. He also has a funny way of pushing his front paws under the laptop, probably because it's really warm there.
Sharing my lap with the laptop.
Whenever I get out one of his toys, Spencer will also play - not quite like a clueless kitten but more like a mature hunter. Instead of chasing after a wand-toy he'll find a good place to lay in ambush, and if his pray comes by (is dragged by on a string by me), he'll pounce with amazing speed and grace. That's a bit hard to take pictures of though.
Lazy play.
Getting ready to help with chrismas decoration.
Over New Years, we had two dog and another adult cat visiting (while their humans went to New York), so for four days Spencer had to share his living space. Initially Spencer pretty much avoided any of the visitors. After a day or so I found him dozing next to the visiting cat.
Spencer interacting with black cat.
Spencer dozing on cat tree with black cat.
There is no problem with the dogs because they are not too much interested in cats and Spencer is not too much interested in them. If by chance they run into each other turning a corner, Spencer hisses a bit and simply walks of slowly -- smart move because unlike running away this does not trigger a chase instinct in the dogs. I think he'll probably be fine in a household with other pets if he is introduced with a little care and has a place to hide when it gets too much.
This is about as close as Spencer will get to the dogs.
Litterbox Manners
Very daintily using the box.
Spencer always uses the litter box in the basement, so I don't have to keep a litter box on every floor. He's been through two changes in litter brand in 2 weeks without problems. Usually you should not wantonly switch litter on cats, but I had some left from my previous foster, then I got some from the shelter when I picked up Spencer, and finally I went out to buy new litter. I don't like the smell of this new litter, so he'll probably go to yet another switch soon. He tends to dig vigorously and therefore track quite a bit around, so I got out the litterbox with the higher edges and a mat to limit the tracking. That seems to work well enough.
Claws and Spa treatments
Working on his manicure.
I clip his claws one by one, 2 or 3 claws a day, while he's on my lap, and he's pretty cool with that. I find that in general it pays to get cats used to having their paws touched every time while being petted before attempting anything more irritating. Talking about claws: he scratches only his cardboard scratchboard and the doormat, so my couch is safe.
I have not attempted to bathe him - after all he washes himself every day. I did wipe him down with a wet towel on one occasion, and he did not seem to mind. He's not to happy about the Furminator, but if I'm persistant I can get most of him treated. He may yet get used to it.
Transportation
Spencer really objected being transfered from his small cage at the shelter with a tiny kennel cab for transport, so getting some positive associations to a carrier seemed like a good idea. After a few days I started feed him more and more frequently in that carrier, and by now he seems to have gotten to like it.
In the Kennel Cab for dinner.
Nutrition
Spencer is not very picky about food, having rejected only a single brand of cat food so far -- DG Guarantee Kitty Mix 'Gourmet Blend' dry food, possibly because it has relatively big pieces. He's eating 9 lives canned food, Wholefoods canned food, 9 lives dry food and science diet dry food. He also gets the occasional piece of fish when I make some for myself (sardine, tuna, salmon ...). Fortunately he also not very greedy about food.
I only have one kind of cat treats - Pounce moist tuna flavor, but they are greeted with a certain amount of enthusiasm.
Drinking water from the humidifier bowl.
Spencer 'digs' outside of the waterbowl, much preferable to inside the waterbowl. The floor around the waterbowl therefore stays dry and the
contents of the waterbowl stay clean.
As it got cold out I started putting bowls of hot water in front of the
registers after I put fresh cold water out for Spencer. He often drinks the hot water from the humidifier bowls - possibly because it's moving in the airflow. Since there is a filter in the register and because I clean and refill the bowls very frequently, I don't mind. A hydrated cat is a healthy cat. I've seen other people putting a grid over these bowls and getting a fountain with moving water for their cats.
