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Aggressive kitty - need help please
I'll try to be brief, but any help you can suggest would be great.
I have three cats. Spam is the oldest, a 13 year old cat with hind leg problems. He doesn't play much anymore but has some special sleepy spots he stays in, and he's in good spirits. Our youngest cat Simon occasionally harasses Spam, I think because Spam is "handicapped". It's to the point that Spam hisses at Simon if Simon gets near his sleepy spots. About 6 weeks ago I woke up and found a few drops of blood on the floor. Spam had a small scratch on his nose, and Simon had a scratch on his ear. They both healed quickly but I was shocked that blood was drawn. Three weeks ago our middle cat Reggie got a cold, and an eye infection. When we took him to the vet we found out the eye was not infected from the cold, it had been scratched. It had to have been from Simon and it's a serious scratch. To top it off, my mother is extremely ill so we have her cat now, too. Simon hasn't fought with the new cat, but he's now fighting seriously with Reggie. Reggie and Simon have gotten along for three years since we got Simon, snuggling together and playing. But now they're chasing each other, hissing, scratching, howling, growling at each other, and Simon always starts it, even though Reggie isn't doing anything. My hubby can take Simon to the vet soon just in case he's got some pain we don't know about, but he doesn't have any other symptoms of illness. I am really worried that Simon is hurting the other cats when we're not around and I don't know why he's suddenly so violent. Any thoughts? Stacia |
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Glitter Ninja wrote: I'll try to be brief, but any help you can suggest would be great. snip He's throwing a tizzy because you have your Mom's cat now. Any time you bring a new cat into the house, there will be fights to establish a new pecking order. Protect your disabled cat if he can't defend himself. Trim all of the cat's claws short. Buy a feliway diffuser or a couple of them, and place them around the house. In a couple of weeks they *should be* over the fighting, because the new order will have been worked out. -L. |
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"-L." writes:
Glitter Ninja wrote: I'll try to be brief, but any help you can suggest would be great. snip He's throwing a tizzy because you have your Mom's cat now. Except this started before we got mom's cat. I probably didn't make that clear -- sorry. This attacking started to get worse about 6 weeks ago and we didn't get the new cat until 2 weeks ago. They didn't ever fight when mom's cat came to visit before. I don't know if that matters or not, but mom's cat has been here twice for a few weeks each time. Thanks, Stacia |
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Glitter Ninja wrote: Except this started before we got mom's cat. I probably didn't make that clear -- sorry. This attacking started to get worse about 6 weeks ago and we didn't get the new cat until 2 weeks ago. They didn't ever fight when mom's cat came to visit before. I don't know if that matters or not, but mom's cat has been here twice for a few weeks each time. Thanks, Stacia It could be triggered by your other cat being disabled/ill. I'm sure the new cat didn't help. Try the feliaway diffusers and trimming his nails. If it continues, you might want to have him evaluated to rule out medical issues with him, and possibly try some elavil. -L. |
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Glitter Ninja wrote:
My hubby can take Simon to the vet soon just in case he's got some pain we don't know about, but he doesn't have any other symptoms of illness. I am really worried that Simon is hurting the other cats when we're not around and I don't know why he's suddenly so violent. Any thoughts? I agree with what Lyn said about Feliway. It helps many cats, however not all. I have a different situation where I intorduced a new adult male cat to my 2 existing adult cats, one male, one female. That was almost 10 months ago and they still have to be separated despite Feliway diffusers, spray, correctly introducing them, putting up a screen door inside the house so they can get used to each other, and having the aggressive cat on Elavil. Generally, it works out and I even have faith that someday my cats will be able to be in the same room and tolerate each other but you may have to separate them, at least when you're not home. You especially need to keep Spam safe. Maybe your vet will have some suggestions although they usually don't seem to be all that up on behavioral problems. I would definitely give the Feliway a try, though, and you may just have to reintroduce all of them all over again, even the original 3 cats. Candace |
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#8
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To top it off, my mother is extremely ill so we have her cat now, too. Simon hasn't fought with the new cat, but he's now fighting seriously with Reggie. Reggie and Simon have gotten along for three years since we got Simon, snuggling together and playing. But now they're chasing each other, hissing, scratching, howling, growling at each other, and Simon always starts it, even though Reggie isn't doing anything. =A0=A0=A0=A0My hubby can take Simon to the vet soon just in case he's got some pain we don't know about, but he doesn't have any other symptoms of illness. I am really worried that Simon is hurting the other cats when we're not around and I don't know why he's suddenly so violent. Any thoughts? Your cat definitely should be seen by a vet to rule out a medical cause for this behavior, but this could also have been caused by his seeing a cat outside and exhibiting redirected aggression, or stress caused by some sort of upheaval in the home (construction, etc.) It IMPERATIVE that you separate Simon from the other cats *immediately* and allow *no* contact for at least a week or two. Allowing the fighting to go on is seriously escalating your problem and if you continue to let it go on it could permanently damage the relationships between the cats to the point where you can't undo it. Separate Simon for awhile and then try gradually reintroducing him to the other cats. You can start that after the isolation period by temporarily replacing the door to the room he is in with a screen door so he can start out by seeing the other cats without being able to get to them. At that point you can work on developing positive associations with the other cats by feeding them together on either side of the door, giving treats the same way and playing using a feather wand that they can bat at on either side of the door. After some time of doing this (probably at least another week after his initial isolation period) and seeing that Simon seems calm when the other cats are near, you can start letting him out, closely supervised, for very short periods of time. NEVER allow the cats to fight, and if you see something start to happen DO NOT yell at them. Yelling only causes the aggressor to think that he is getting yelled at because of the other cat and will blame him, making things worse. Instead be gentle, quietly separate them while talking sweetly to both and remove Simon from the situation and take him back to his room. As things improve, you can allow Simon more freedom, but don't allow him free run of the house again until you've been home for a weekend and have had a full day or two to observe him out and about with the other cats. You have to be very consistent in doing this and don't expect overnight miracles. Undoing bad behaviors that have been allowed to develop takes a lot of time and patience. Megan "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." -Edmund Burke Learn The TRUTH About Declawing http://www.stopdeclaw.com Zuzu's Cats Photo Album: http://www.PictureTrail.com/zuzu22 "Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way." - W.H. Murray |
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