Hello all-
My name is Bethany and I have 3 cats. I am sorry that my first post is out of desperation! This seems like a really great forum! I have had cats my whole life and so has my husband.
I have a problem/question that I need help with. Our two original cats are named Moose (10 yrs) and Beast (2 yrs) (both females). We adopted both 2 years ago from the local animal shelter. They get along fantastically. Two weeks ago we adopted a 10 mo old cat from the animal shelter and named her Boca (Spanish for mouth, because she cries a lot). She brought a mild URI to our house, but other than that no other medical problems. However, she has brought some social problems. I am going to try to explain them as well and clearly as I can.
First, she does not bother or pay any attention to our oldest cat, Moose. Moose will growl at her when she comes to close, but otherwise they could care less about each other. There is no problem here.
The problem is with our 2 yr old, Beast. Beast is a very skiddish and twitchy cat and can get spooked easily. She has been very spooked by Boca. During the first couple of days, Boca would go after Beast, but I could not tell whether she was trying to play or actually go after her. Oh, and I didn't separate them. I just put the new cat with my original cats with no introduction phase. I know, BIG mistake, and now I am paying the price. So on the 3rd night I could hear the cats running around downstairs while I was trying to sleep. I went down and Boca was chasing Beast around the house and Beast was on the counter to get away from her. The next morning Beast was in the basement, as high as she could get. Boca was upstairs and I found urine on a window sill that Boca frequented. I thought maybe she was afraid to use the litter box, so I didn't think anything of it. The chasing continued, so I decided to isolate Boca in another room. I separated the cats with a screen door so they could still see each other but not be pestering each other. For the last week or so I have been bringing the cats together at feeding time and also bringing them together to play. I've tried to make all of their interactions positive, and it seems to be working. Beast and Boca still growl at each other, but they also play near each other and are not as on alert as they were. However, today while Boca was out for a few minutes, Beast wandered into Boca's room to check it out. Boca did not like this and went after Beast and had a little mini cat fight. They worked it out, and I'm not sure it was an actual cat fight as it was more of Beast being skiddish and scared of Boca and spazzing out. However, I went in later and noticed that the box that Boca sleeps in nightly had been marked on the top and around the top of the opening. I am not sure when the urination occured. I am thinking it happened within the first few days of Boca being here, and since she slept only in that box, she was trying to make a spot of her own. I searched the rest of the room and did not find anything else. I would think that if she wanted to mark her territory while she was in that room, she would have marked the actual door to the room or something else, not just her sleeping spot. I am not sure what to do now. I am seriously considering taking her back to the shelter because I do not want to deal with a cat marking her territory, but I also hate bringing any cat to a shelter, especially one that I rescued from there. Do you have any thoughts??? The cats are getting along very well now, except for the occasional growl or hiss when they get too close (which is to be expected in the first few weeks). But I'm not sure that these two cats can live together since they are vying for the same spot. And how do I discourage the peeing? Since I found the marked box, she has been wandering around the house for 3 hours with our other cats and has not marked, and they have been acting fine. What should I do? I have read about feliway, does it work, and would it work in a situation like this? I have no places to put it that have been marked, as I cleaned the windowsill and threw away the box. Is it still worth trying? Are there other options? I don't want to keep her in a separate room all the time, and I actually think this is not a good thing for her since she seems to claim that as her territory. How can I give her some "territory" without giving her a whole room?
Thank you so much for all of your help and again, I am sorry that my first post has to be such a desperate one!
Thank you again!
Bethany
My name is Bethany and I have 3 cats. I am sorry that my first post is out of desperation! This seems like a really great forum! I have had cats my whole life and so has my husband.
I have a problem/question that I need help with. Our two original cats are named Moose (10 yrs) and Beast (2 yrs) (both females). We adopted both 2 years ago from the local animal shelter. They get along fantastically. Two weeks ago we adopted a 10 mo old cat from the animal shelter and named her Boca (Spanish for mouth, because she cries a lot). She brought a mild URI to our house, but other than that no other medical problems. However, she has brought some social problems. I am going to try to explain them as well and clearly as I can.
First, she does not bother or pay any attention to our oldest cat, Moose. Moose will growl at her when she comes to close, but otherwise they could care less about each other. There is no problem here.
The problem is with our 2 yr old, Beast. Beast is a very skiddish and twitchy cat and can get spooked easily. She has been very spooked by Boca. During the first couple of days, Boca would go after Beast, but I could not tell whether she was trying to play or actually go after her. Oh, and I didn't separate them. I just put the new cat with my original cats with no introduction phase. I know, BIG mistake, and now I am paying the price. So on the 3rd night I could hear the cats running around downstairs while I was trying to sleep. I went down and Boca was chasing Beast around the house and Beast was on the counter to get away from her. The next morning Beast was in the basement, as high as she could get. Boca was upstairs and I found urine on a window sill that Boca frequented. I thought maybe she was afraid to use the litter box, so I didn't think anything of it. The chasing continued, so I decided to isolate Boca in another room. I separated the cats with a screen door so they could still see each other but not be pestering each other. For the last week or so I have been bringing the cats together at feeding time and also bringing them together to play. I've tried to make all of their interactions positive, and it seems to be working. Beast and Boca still growl at each other, but they also play near each other and are not as on alert as they were. However, today while Boca was out for a few minutes, Beast wandered into Boca's room to check it out. Boca did not like this and went after Beast and had a little mini cat fight. They worked it out, and I'm not sure it was an actual cat fight as it was more of Beast being skiddish and scared of Boca and spazzing out. However, I went in later and noticed that the box that Boca sleeps in nightly had been marked on the top and around the top of the opening. I am not sure when the urination occured. I am thinking it happened within the first few days of Boca being here, and since she slept only in that box, she was trying to make a spot of her own. I searched the rest of the room and did not find anything else. I would think that if she wanted to mark her territory while she was in that room, she would have marked the actual door to the room or something else, not just her sleeping spot. I am not sure what to do now. I am seriously considering taking her back to the shelter because I do not want to deal with a cat marking her territory, but I also hate bringing any cat to a shelter, especially one that I rescued from there. Do you have any thoughts??? The cats are getting along very well now, except for the occasional growl or hiss when they get too close (which is to be expected in the first few weeks). But I'm not sure that these two cats can live together since they are vying for the same spot. And how do I discourage the peeing? Since I found the marked box, she has been wandering around the house for 3 hours with our other cats and has not marked, and they have been acting fine. What should I do? I have read about feliway, does it work, and would it work in a situation like this? I have no places to put it that have been marked, as I cleaned the windowsill and threw away the box. Is it still worth trying? Are there other options? I don't want to keep her in a separate room all the time, and I actually think this is not a good thing for her since she seems to claim that as her territory. How can I give her some "territory" without giving her a whole room?
Thank you so much for all of your help and again, I am sorry that my first post has to be such a desperate one!
Thank you again!
Bethany
