Mom is still cleaning the computer room. There's lots of stuff for me to sniff and new things for me to look at and new (empty) places for me to explore!But I have a request from you. Mom has a friend Julie, who lives with her husband and cat Angel in Memphis Tennessee. Recently, after a brief illness, Julie's MIL passed away, and Julie adopted the two cats, Star and Rufus. It was very sudden.
Star is 18. Angel is 15 and was always an Only Cat. Rufus is 11. All cats are fixed. There is an auto feeder for kibble and an auto feeder for water. Each cat has a Gizzy Quilt. The house is spacious. There are four litter boxes. You can see where this is going.
Star is settling in well, Angel is fine, but Rufus has been peeing all over Julie's house and sewing room. He pee'd on her quilt fabric, so a screen door was installed, and Julie had to wash all the fabric.
Rufus and Angel cannot handle being in the same room together without chasing/snarling/growling/hissing/cornering/stalking/swatting/etc. (no matter WHICH room, no matter who else is there, no matter what time of day)
Julie has bought some Feliway, and is hoping that helps.
We all know that beans put up with our more trivial "bad" habits, like jumping on stuff, leaving our furs all over the place and scratching the furniture (to say nothing of THoE in the middle of the night), but they have no tolerance for a cat that won't use the litterbox, so Rufus is In Big Trouble.
I know I have many faithful readers who live in multi-cat households, and if you have ideas about what can help, would you please visit Julie and leave suggestions on her blog, here. If you feel the need to contact her privately, she has a link to her email address in her profile.
Thank you very much.
Tomorrow I will have more boring details of Mom's shredding frenzy. (PS, now they sell special "shredder lubricant sheets" which quiet squeaky shredders. Ask me how I know this.)
14 comments:
It was nice of Julie to take inthe cat of her MIL but this sometimes happens. we will go visit and see if we can help!
Hey Millie ... thanks for calling on the experience of your intercontinental furry friends!
From Angel (who chases Rufus), Star (who ignores the whole thing), and Rufus (who runs from Angel then turns and howls at her).
No blood spatter yet but we prefer to be a peaceable kingdom!
p.s. Angel has been fully checked out by the vet (she went first since she is the one doing the chasing).
That is a sad situation. I do not have a lot of advice. WE all know advice is sheap but may not be helpful. WE have those smack downs hare and we do not know how to stop them, either.
We wishes we has some advice for your friend, but we have never had to deal with anything like that. ~S,S,C & F
PS: Have you visted Brian's Home. His family seems to adopt adult cats and they may have advice to give.
Well, unless there is a big wind today that blows all those leaves off the tree, we won't be winning the contest either!
We'll go visit your friend.
It is so kind of Julie to do this.
We wonder if another litter box would help. We will visit her and see if we can help with any suggestions.
Sounds like you are having a good time exploring new places.
~ Napoleon and Malachi
Oh dear ~ we hope things settle down for your friend's MIL's cats. We will purr for them 'cos they might be missing their Mom (MIL).
It's always hard for kitties to adjust to a new home, specially when they have to share with a kitty they don't know well. Mom's never gone through that, but she knows others that have. Hope Julie gets some very good suggestions on how to help Rufus adjust and cope.
We have some trees here that still have leaves on them too.
I went over to see your friend's blog and left a big long comment about how we handle our pee cats.
I hope she sticks with it and it all works out.
~Lisa Co9T
P.S. I just emailed Julie (and copied you) and forwarded her $13 worth of Comfort Zone Feliway coupons to get her going.
Please keep us posted!
~Lisa Co9T
Millie I wish I had some good advice for your friends but unfortunately I don't for this one. We have had some outside the box peeing but it was not related to a new kitty, and honestly I just cleaned it every time because it didn't bother me too much - although I did put comfortzone things up everywhere eventually and it did seem to work.
Uh oh, I have never had that problem. He is probably marking his territory. I hopw a solution is found quickly.
Iris
good luck with this one.
I just recently read that two boys are never good with one female.
One always pees, even the mildest personality turns into Mr PeePee.
This is a terrible ordeal for your friend. I am so sorry to hear this.
Most people I know have tried many things and it just never fixes completely. Once the kitty starts peeping it never stops.
I am purrring for your friend to find another solution. This might just be too much, really... we've seen a lot of this and mom's recent discovery on newer information on this validated many problems she has encountered with friends, and at one time we had a boy kitty here when Caesar was still alive, oh, 9 years ago. Peepee city. even after we finally gave the other kitty away, Caesar's peepee troubles remained.
purrrs and get ready for the rain. It has been soooooo rainy here. We're done, here you go.
:-D
How long has it been? It can take up to 6 months for a cat to feel comfortable with another cat, and if you skipped proper introductions, or moved to soon, it can stress a cat. I would actually separate the two cats. Start with exchanging smells. Once hissing or bad reaction stops, than switch rooms with the two cats. Switch cats a few times a day, when reaction is good, than start by introducing cats from far away. Set up so that one person holds one cat, another person holds cat as far away as possible. Use treats. Cat looks at other cat without hissing, treat. No treats for bad behavior. Also set to a cue, such as wheres "other cat", than treat. Slowly move cats together. Use lots of treats. Anytime cats reaction bad, stop for the day (at least a few hours), than start again from a bit before the last good distance. Trick is to get cats to look at each other without getting upset.
Have you used an enzymatic cleaner to clean up the pee stain? Spot will still smell like a litter box to the cat with regular cleaning.
Also, have vet prescribe mild anti-anxiety medicine. It just needs to last long enough to get Rufus used to new place, other cat.
Also, have Rufus checked to make sure the neuter really worked. Sometimes, vets only find one testicle, leaving other testicle behind causing mischief that might have been triggered by move.
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