I have had my Persian / Burmese cross since she was three months old. She is spayed and now approaching a year and a half. She was a very dependent cat, would wait for me when I returned home from work, and follow me around the house. I was never able to leave her for longer than a day while I was at work. To remedy this I bought a ragdoll (known for their easy going nature and ability to get on with other cats) who is now seven months old. I have had her since January. She was very timid when I first got her home and my original cat would have nothing to do with her, disappearing out for days at a time and hissing and growling at her when she occasionally returned for food. Her former personality had vanished. The younger ragdoll has settled in and has been spayed and is very confident and happy little kitten. It is their relationship that is worrying and the effect is having on my older cat.I only bought the kitten to keep her company and although I realized it would take time to become accustomed to each other it has now been four months. Her lovely character has been replaced by a cat who is irritated even by my attention now, and she is out so often it is hard to groom her or take any proper care for her. The kitten on the other hand is fine, although I worry how it must feel being hissed and growled at on a daily basis!! Is there anything I can do to smooth relations and get my happy cat back? I care deeply about both of their welfare and the situation is worrying and upsetting me.
Answers:
This situation is very similar to what has been happening in my home with my two cats. The difference is that the younger cat was a stray that was living under our house, so it would have been very cruel to not take him in when winter came.
The formerly happy older cat became jealous and mean, and she would no longer play or even sit on my lap.
We became very concerned and eventually worried that she seemed almost depressed, so I took her to the vet. He has given me a medication called 'Clomicalm'. She takes half a tablet per day and it calms her.
She has gradually started to become more like her old self, she now sits again on my lap, and will play if the new cat is not in the room. Her aggressive attitude toward the new cat has also decreased. She will finish one course of these tablets and then should have learned to behave more calmly. If not, she can have a second course, after which she will have to go it alone!
We have also put a product called 'Feliway' in the lounge room. It comes in a plug in dispenser and it is made of cat pheromones, which give cats a calm, happy feeling in that room. So the lounge room has become a stress free zone for both cats. We purchased this product from EBay fairly cheaply, and it is pretty good.
At night, we take the old cat into our bedroom and close the door so the new cat cannot get in. The old cat therefore has a place where she is free of the new cat, and she has been responding very well to this. The new cat meanwhile has his own blanket on a chair where he can lie and he is very comfortable and happy, he does not try and get in and we think he likes having some time and space of his own, too!
Meanwhile, our little stray is blooming, he has put on weight and although sometimes I think he might be a little unhappy because the other cat does not like him, in reality I know that cats are NOT people and have different feelings and motivations to us.
After four months, I have found that it is unlikely they will ever 'love' each other, but they both seem fairly happy in their own individual lives, and that is fine. We have two happy cats ~ they are just not happy with each other!
Well, this was a bit long, but I hope somehow useful to you. You sound like such a nice, caring cat person, I hope your lucky kittys will soon relax and give some more pleasure for themselves and for you :-)
There Jealous Of One Onther
Sorry to disappoint you but they may NEVER get along.
They may just find a way of living with each other but may never ever be friends.
If you want to get two cats either get them as kittens together or go to a rescue centre where they can home you a pair that will live happily together.
If you can get both cats inside, try to keep them in for a period of maybe 2 months or until they are happy. Ensure they have separate eating and pooping areas away from each other. Gradually bring their food and litter boxes closer over the two months. Try not to discipline a cat for growling/hissing but definitely reward for good behavior. If you have a friend who knows the two cats, try taking it in turns picking up each of the two cats. That way they can get used to the others scent. I hope this helps. It has for me in the past.
I hate to say this, but why are you so surprised? You have had your first cat for over a year and she got your complete attention, then all of a sudden you introduce a kitten, who has taken over! To expect an already established cat to accept another one is a lot to ask, cats are generally loners, I think that with the exception of Lions who live in a pride all cats prefer to be alone unless you buy 2 together they often don't take kindly to interlopers, You may have to decide which one you can keep and which one you may have to re-home.
put them in a microwave they would get on like a house on FIRE then
We had a similar problem once. Our young cat didn't like the new kitten that we got and was always quite aggressive and bullied the poor little thing. They just learned to tollerate each other and years later they would even groom each other when we weren't looking! Give it time and give them equal attention. The older one will soon realise that she hasn't got the run of the house anymore, so just be patient and show her you still love her. If they fight then break them up. Treat them like you would with 2 children squabbling, don't give in to petty behaviour. Show them who's boss and they'll behave out of respect.
I think you'll definitely see a change of personality too. Our little kitten became such a strong character and it was definitely because she had to fight back a bully! They'll be fine.
Good luck :)
Cats are solitary animals - they do not need a friend to keep them company, nor do they care whether you are home much or not, as long as they are regularly fed and watered. They have their own social group, which generally consist of just themselves, unless they have been brought up with another cat from an early age (eg with a brother or sister). In this instance it sounds like you had a happy cat, and then brought a rival into her territory - a situation which few animals would be happy with.
Some ideas to try and help remedy this would be to give them separate feeding stations, perhaps having one up high (maybe on your kitchen work surfaces) so that they feel like they are a little more separated). Also, if they have litter trays, make sure you have more than one so that they don't have to encroach on each others personal space too much. If none of this works however I'm afraid you may have to take drastic action and get rid of the ragdoll.
Another option may be to call in a pet psychologist who would be able to look at your home, and the behaviour of the cats together, and give you some more options and ideas.Hope you can sort this out. Best of luck
Persians are funny creatures to start with and unfortunatel you bringing in another cat has put her nose out big style! Unfortunately there is not a lot you can do now, taking the rag doll away will probably upset her aswell so you are in a no win situation really, my advice would be when the persian is in ignore the rag doll and make a huge fuss of the persian, make sure she sees you are giving her more attention than the younger one that will make her feel good. Try and feed her away from the rag doll and try if you can feed her high up above the rag doll so she is in the domineering position, have a little patience give them time it will work out honest if she goes out and you think she is sulking for whatever reason follow her and fuss her let her know you dont want her to leave you . She will *** round to the rag doll honest her nose has just been pushed out once she realises the rag doll knows she is boss she will feel more secure.
Hello there, I know how distressing this is especially as I have six five get on very well, but the latest which is a Birman just wants my attention and nothing else, like you I have had spits claws going nine to the dozen and growls, alas this is to be expected. The big mistake was having your first cat for a year first then introduced another so much later a big no no with our furry friends, they will never be friendly but will learn to get along but can take a long time. Two of my loved moggies were enemies until one died I swear the other had a grin as if to say that's got rid of her, the grin was short lived as I introduced another cat and the same thing happened right up until she died, she would not tolerate another cat and only wanted me, some cats are like that.
Anyway I wish you luck and just give them time to work it out themselves...they will
Your original cat is jealous - which is perfectly normal, although inconvenient and difficult. This may ,or may not, settle down - sorry - there are no easy answers here. However, there are one or two things you might try to help the situation.
Firstly, each time you groom them, groom the cats with the same brushes / combs, or wipe one with a tissue, all over its coat and then using the same tissue, do the same to the other one. The idea is to mingle their individual smells - but you will have to continue doing this for quite some time - months!
Secondly, if you use a particular perfume, spray some on each of their collars, so that they both definitely smell like you and your home. Renew the perfume on a regular basis.
When feeding them, try to ensure that you put both their dishes down at the same time, so that neither feels that they are having to compete for the food. This is, after all, about the threat of competition for resources: food; attention.
Things may never completely resolve, but they should eventually learn to rub along together. Good Luck!
We had a fairly similar situation. The vet recommended a pheromone diffuser, it seems to have calmed them down to the point where they only have the odd scrap as opposed to every five minutes.
some people's answer to your question is to get rid of one of them..
if you had to do this your choice would be unfair if you kept the kitten and got rid of you cat you have had longest.
i have 2 females, 1 is almost 2 years old and the other is 9weeks old, they play fight hiss and growl this is normal as i have placed another female kitten into my females territory!
its something that was worrying at first but its fine now! you just have to be patient and if it is still the same in a month i think you would then need to speak with a vet and see what hey can advise as it is purely down to a territory thing! they might start getting on then again they might not,
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment