My mother-in-law had a major stroke on 4/25/07 and is now in a nursing home. She has 2 female cats, ages 9 %26 7 that we decided to adopt. We already have 3 cats - ages 10 (male), 6 (female), and 4 (female). My MIL's 9-year-old was a ferrel cat and seemed to ONLY like my mother-in-law. I took her from my MIL's apartment straight to the vet then to my house. I locked her up in my utility room by herself so that my cats wouldn't scare her. My cats are all very sweet and friendly. My MIL's cat let me handle her at the vet; she let the vet %26 vet tech handle and pet her; she was quite sweet that first day. The rest of the evening, she hid %26 wouldn't come out then finally did on the second evening, still sweet. Out of nowhere while we were petting her, she suddenly turned mean, hissing and biting. The other cat was declawed (all of the others are - wanted them all on common ground) and came home Monday. Now, neither will come out from behind my washer %26 keep growling. Any ideas?
Answers:
Bringing new cats into a household can be very stressful, and when there are already cats living in the home, it can be even more difficult. I'm sorry you're having trouble integrating her into your home, but unfortunately, not surprised.
When cats are in 'the wild', i.e. living out of doors without human interaction, they have social groups consisting mostly of females and their respective offspring. Neutered males cats also follow this same social grouping. Now these social groups are very close - that is to say, newcomers are not often welcome, and at times, driven away aggressively. But persistence pays off; if the visiting cat continues to come around, they can be integrated into the group over the course of 3-4 weeks.
We need to keep this tendency in mind when bringing new cats into our home - our resident cats may not be too keen on the addition at first, and even some cats who live together for years are just happier avoiding one another. The presence of resident cats could be causing stress to the new additions, which we hope will subside in time. I saw it mentioned above in another answer, and fully endorse the Feliway product. It's a synthetic replica of feline facial pheromones the mother secretes to calm and reassure kittens. It's fantastic for taking the edge off anxious cats. It can be purchased as an electric diffuser (think Glade Plug-In) or a pump sprayer. My preference is the diffuser, as it lasts 6-8 weeks, and the pump sprayer needs to be re-administered every 24 hours. The diffuser covers about 250 square feet - just plug it in an outlet near the anxious cats' hiding places and let it do it's thing.
The seemingly out-of-nowhere aggressive behaviors are most likely a result of the anxiety and stress the cats are experiencing from the upheaval they're going through. If, after a few weeks, they are still hiding and displaying these aggressive behaviors, it might be time to start them on some medication to lower their threshold for such reactions. Many behavior modification drugs can be used for short term modification (8-12 week courses are usually sufficient) and, by chemically altering the brain for a short time, can give you the time to come to a breakthrough.
If you need anything else, feel free to drop me an email - I work in a practice that specializes in behavior modification. I hope you have some success - it was really great of you to take these cats in.
You will just have to give them awhile to get used to each other. Maybe try some Feliway Behavior Modifier, it helps calm kitties in stressful situtations and I'm sure that this is pretty stressful for all of them right now.
Good luck!! They will come out when they are ready. You can always try winning them over with treats too!
I would say the cats have been through some trauma. Best to just leave them alone. Make sure they have food %26 water %26 litterbox accessible. Do go down and talk to them and continue to try to pet. They will come around.
I'm with everyone else. When i had to take in my mom's cat there were some major adjustment issues between her female and my male. The female hid for about 2 weeks and would hiss and and swat and my male cat completely unprovoked. But after about a month everyone seemed to settle in. One thing that did crop up though was that the female wouldn't eat until after the male ate, and hes a pig and would eat her food, so she'd never eat. I had to end up separating them at feeding times and putting her in a closed off bedroom for about an hour to get her to eat anything. Well, hope that helps, and good luck!
You can go to: http://www.spiritessence.com and read about using flower essences with cats (and other animals). They are inexpensive and easy to use. The Feliway diffusers are also good and they are expensive and you might need several for various areas of your house.
You can telephone Dr. Hovfe and the behaviorist, Jackson Galaxy in CO and give a brief description on the phone and they may have a remedy to suggest for you to use on the cats.
i am sorry to say this but you might have to get rid of the cat or put her down. having a ferrel cat in the same house as non ferrel cats is not a good mix unless yo intoduce them as kittens. but in you case you did not it is never going to work. i experienced this on two different occasions. my first situation was like yours the only difference is the ferral cat i got came from my moms accerage my cat was 2 and non-ferrel and the ferral cat that came from my moms place was 3 i tried for a month and it did not work so i ended up having to give the cat to a friend of mind who had no cats and now she is very happy. the othe occasion accutallly happened to my brother he took a ferrel kitten from my moms place but you would never think the kitten was ferrel because he never hissed or growled or ran away from you he was the tammest ferrel kitten you have ever seen,but his brothers and sisters were very ferrel you could never get near them but my brother all ready had a 8 week old kitten he got from the pet store and my mother gave my brother the ferral male when he was only 5 weeks old and both males grew up togeather until Ringo my brothers cat that he got from the pet store had to be put down three years ago because he got relly sick and my sister inlaw hatted the tame ferral cat named Sniff (i called him Sniff because i did not know cats were blind for the first few weeks of there lifead he got out from underneith the shead were his mother gave birth,and he was always sniffing the ground so that is how he got his name)but anyway my sister inlaw would put him to sleep in a hart beat because she hatted him so to stop that from happing i had to take care of sniff when my brother and sister inlaw went away and when they came back i refused to give Sniff back to my brother that was three years ago and i had him since. he is 8 years old now he has never once hissed or growled or bit anyone in his life not even my sister inlaw who used to yell at him am and him and push him away. i have 4 cats including him the other three are females Fluffey and him are like two peas in a pod they are always togeather they sleep with each other now my calico Patches and Sniff tollerate each other but they do not sleep togeather,and my other female Jazmine only gets along with Fluffy because they are so close in age Fluffy is 7 monthes older then Jazmine and Jazmine is going to be five in october of this year Patches age is unknowen because i found her. but she is a real needy cat loves to be held and loved she would let you hold her for hours and when you hold her for a while and you put her down she hates it. Sniff loves to be loved but he will only let you hold him for a couple of minutes but lets say Jazmine who hates Sniff and they been togeather for three years and they still dont get along will somethime put a beating onto Sniff and Sniff will not fight back or hiss or growl at her but Jazmine will to him but Sniff is getting better when Jazmine puts a beating onto Sniff, Sniff will fight back but he will still not hiss or growl at her. Sniff and Jazmine have slept next to each other but i am sitting there with them so Jazmine knows to be nice. sorry to have rambled on i hope this answer hels you take care.
The cats are upset. Cats are very attached to their homes %26 the new ones have not only lost there beloved person %26 beloved home, but are now in a strange place, with strange people, %26 animals they don't know %26 fear may attack them. Your cats feel invaded by strangers! AND, they now have lost their defense mechanisms (the claws) %26 are totally freaked out! If possible, try to divide your cats from MIL's into sections of the home. Let them get adjusted to the new place %26 the smell of each other for a week or two from behind closed doors. Try to make it seem more enjoyable by leaving cat treats by the doors where they meet, encourage them to interact %26 play footsie by leaving toys or things like toilet paper slid under the door that they can pull back %26 forth. The semi-feral one needs to adjust to you as the new caretaker - be gently %26 sit %26 talk with her while feeding her, so she knows you are the new "feeder". After a couple of weeks, gradually introduce the cats by bringing one at a time into the other's area. Talk nice, pet both cats 7 let them sniff each other but be alert %26 split them agaim if they begin to lay back their ears, hiss, slap, or otherwise act like they are going to fight. I have lots of cats %26 they usually adjust with time, but it takes awhile. Also know cats have a "hierarchy" - there is a top cat %26 a bottom cat %26 they may have to fight some to establish that - just don't allow it to become viscious - once the pecking order" is decided, the conflict usually subsides.
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