Hi Everyone, we have recently adopted a stray male who was living under our porch, he's in the 2-7 yrs. old range per the vet, and we had him neutered 4 weeks ago. Our reigning Queen of the Household, her royal highness Fiona the Fierce, age 14, is not adapting well, although we tried integrating them slowly according to the tips on this site. She has always been a Jekyll and Hyde type, unbelievably loving and sweet most of the time but a complete wildcat if you try to get her to do something she doesn't like, such as going to the vet, taking a pill, etc. She's so bad that our vet won't treat her unless she's been knocked out with gas first. Other vets have just refused. She screams, growls, hisses, bites, spits, you get the picture. Fortunately until recently she's been healthy and she's 100% indoor kitty, so vet visits have been minimal.
Anyway, since the arrival of Pipkin, her majesty has started behaving agressively toward us even when we're not doing anything to her: last week she was laying on my husband's chest as she has done countless times, when out of the blue she grabbed his upper lip in her teeth and pulled, cutting his lip and causing extreme pain. Then last night I was in bed and she was sitting next to my face when she suddenly lunged at my eye with her teeth and broke the skin under it; I cleaned it out but today it's all red and swollen. She has been to the vet recently and while she does have CRF, it seems to be under control and last visit her creatinine came down by over a unit, which the vet said was good.
I have just ordered a feliway diffuser as they seem to be highly thought of here, and ever since the arrival of the stray we have been taking pains to give her extra attention and playtime, lovin's, etc. She gets the run of almost the whole house during the day while Pipkin is restricted to the basement and kitchen. Pipkin is deathly afraid of her since she hisses, growls and swats at him everytime he crosses her path. He has never challenged her, opting instead to run away (smart boy). I've caught her trying to restrict his access to food and/or his litterbox as well (she has her own food and litterbox away from his).
So besides the feliway does anyone have any advice on how we can put an end to this nasty biting habit she's developed? I've given up on her getting along with the newbie but this face biting business has got to stop. Sorry to ramble on and thanks for reading this far.
Andrea
PS Fiona has in the past lived peaceably with other cats, but they both passed on, with the most recent one leaving us about 3 years ago.
Anyway, since the arrival of Pipkin, her majesty has started behaving agressively toward us even when we're not doing anything to her: last week she was laying on my husband's chest as she has done countless times, when out of the blue she grabbed his upper lip in her teeth and pulled, cutting his lip and causing extreme pain. Then last night I was in bed and she was sitting next to my face when she suddenly lunged at my eye with her teeth and broke the skin under it; I cleaned it out but today it's all red and swollen. She has been to the vet recently and while she does have CRF, it seems to be under control and last visit her creatinine came down by over a unit, which the vet said was good.
I have just ordered a feliway diffuser as they seem to be highly thought of here, and ever since the arrival of the stray we have been taking pains to give her extra attention and playtime, lovin's, etc. She gets the run of almost the whole house during the day while Pipkin is restricted to the basement and kitchen. Pipkin is deathly afraid of her since she hisses, growls and swats at him everytime he crosses her path. He has never challenged her, opting instead to run away (smart boy). I've caught her trying to restrict his access to food and/or his litterbox as well (she has her own food and litterbox away from his).
So besides the feliway does anyone have any advice on how we can put an end to this nasty biting habit she's developed? I've given up on her getting along with the newbie but this face biting business has got to stop. Sorry to ramble on and thanks for reading this far.
Andrea
PS Fiona has in the past lived peaceably with other cats, but they both passed on, with the most recent one leaving us about 3 years ago.
