Oscar - Special Needs

Oscar is a very special cat, looking for a very special home. Please read his profile in full before making contact. Enquiries that demonstrate his profile has not been read and understood, will not receive a reply.

Oscar was surrendered to Squishies for not urinating in his litter tray; instead, he was urinating in the same spot on hardwood floors. We were confident that there was a solution to this issue and set about trying different trays, litter varieties and numbers of trays, to work out what he needed to be a happy toileter. As we suspected, it took little time to find the right toileting set up, to make Oscar happy to use his trays 100% of the time. He requires 3 small trays located together (but not touching!) with 2 kinds of litter and one empty sieve tray. (Diva much?! :P )
Oscar will go to his forever home with his trays and some of his preferred litters and as long as his new people continue to use this combination, we are supremely confident that Oscar’s toileting issues are a thing of the past! This does however mean that although Oscar is cat friendly, he will need to be the only cat in his forever home, as he will not share his ‘bathroom’ with anyone else.

Unfortunately during the course of thoroughly health checking Oscar, we have discovered that he has Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (heart disease). Oscar is not symptomatic and is not currently in heart failure and all his other organs are functioning as normal. At this stage the Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy is not causing any health issues for Oscar, but unfortunately there is no cure or treatment for his condition and absolutely no way of knowing if or when he will become symptomatic. Oscar could remain as he is now for 10 years or more, or he could deteriorate in a few months. If his condition does worsen, again, there is no way to know how his body will cope with this. He may be fine one day and in dire straits the next or it could slowly worsen requiring medication, but unlike dogs, who can live for years on heart meds, the medications generally only buy cats a few extra months.

In order to give Oscar the best chance of a full and long life, there are some specific requirements for his new home. We would ask that you research Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy and read in full the below requirements for his potential forever home, before expressing your interest.
Oscar’s heart needs as little stress placed on it and as little work asked of it as possible. He will need to be an indoor only cat in a single or slightly split level home, to avoid the temptation of racing up and down a full flight of stairs. Oscar isn’t an overly active boy which is good; he’s far more interested in attention and affection from his people.
Oscar’s weight will need to be monitored and his food intake adjusted accordingly. He is currently a lean but good weight and needs to remain at or around this weight. Too much heavier will place more strain on his heart and should he begin to lose weight, this could be an indication that his heart is starting to fail.

Oscar is an incredibly sweet, loving boy who deserves to have a wonderful life for as long as that may be. He is only young and there’s no reason to think he doesn’t have years of love to give, but as with all animals, there is no way to know the future. It’s going to take a truly special person to accept Oscar as he is and to love and care for him despite his heart condition and toilet quirks. We can absolutely guarantee that Oscar is so worth the challenges he presents, he is an amazing, boy who loves to be groomed and fussed over and is so deserving of a wonderful life.

Oscar is in care in The Basin