Need quick help!

Hey, I just want to open with a sincere thank you, and I hope you read this, even though It's a bit long! It's a problem that I've had for nearly a month now, and IT IS DRIVING ME CRAZY!

Ok, I'll start with the basics. About four years ago, me and my mom rescued an older stray cat. We befriended her, nurtured her, and she became 'Our' cat (Dad/siblings don't like cats..). Anyhow, for these four years, It's been great. Until about five (I think?) months ago we moved to a farm. And farms have alot of cats. Now, I'll cut to the chase.

One of the momma kitties had a beutiful batch of totally die-for kittens. An ebony, sleek black one, Thick and stout tabby, and an amazing Angora (?) striped-something...The black one was the only female, for reference.

Anyhow, we kept them inside for the first 2-3 weeks, since the momma kitteh left the farm (She came back after a few weeks though). So, the cats became used to being outside - But we like having cats outside, since no litterbox or hair problems.

So they have been living outside happily, but my window (I live upstairs, and right outside my window is the other half of the house - Great for sleeping on in summer nights!). Anyhoo, My screen got ripped up one night by the ebony kitty (I call her Tsubahki). And she learnt how to sneak in my room. I was OK with that, It's cool to me, she's an amazingly friendly cat.

Remember the old stray we rescued? Well, she's pretty ancient now, and she's pretty much mine. Mom is to busy to be around an old lazy cat (And that cat is named Puss-Puss (Mom...Yeesh!). And she HATES being outside with a passion...So I let her stay in my room most of the time (She has a...Bladder problem, and can't roam the house).

It's all been good, but since Tsubbies (Eeer, Tsubahki. The ebony kitten) has been coming in, my cat has HATED ME. I feel like one of those horrible people who have a wife and a mistress, and since the wife is old, they turn to the mistress.

It may sound kind of weird, but Puss-Puss will ATTACK me just for having Tsubbers in! Not a dangerous blood-drawing attack, but a "What the hell!" kinda attack (Scuse the language ).

So Tsubahki doesn't know why she can't come in, and my cat is always pulling a hissy fit whenever she sees her..(She's old, jealous maybe)?

I want to have Tsubahki in, but I can't. And I pretty much have to keep my cat inside, because the nights can hit around -2 to -10 (In fall!). Remember, she's pretty dang old now...What do I do?

Option One. I kick Tsubahki out forever (But she STILL tears new screens and scratches my window, AND WILL NEVER STOP MEOWING AT IT!!).

Option Two. Try and get those kittums to co-exist, in some way...Maybe I'll go to an indian burial ground and summon a shakalah spirit...

Option Three. Put my old cat down (She has a bad ear infection, and we can't afford 1200$ to fix it - She scratches her ear bloody, but that's another story). Which I can't do that, I love my cat.

So, what do I do?! Please respond soon, My dad is FREAKING about the screens (Not a big deal for one or two, but we're on the FIFTH one - We had to put up metal chicken wire over it, but urgh does that stuff heat up in even slightly warm weather!)....So please, please help me!!!

Thank you SO MUCH for reading! And, just to tell you, My names Terran, and I am a 15-year old Caucasian male canadian. Not really religious, and hate TV and such (Been 12 years since we had one!). and vegetarian, since I love animals.

Well, this is long, so THANK YOU again (Yeesh!). I'll be off now, and I hope someone can help!

First off, I sugges finding a home for the little one that keeps trying to get into your room. It sounds like the cat is very social and would love nothing more than to have its own human. Secondly, I know money is tight everywhere, but your older cat is in pain from her ear. IMO you need to take her to a vet. Vets are expensive no doubt. I have had a bad month myself with vet bills. But her ear really has to be addressed. She is your old friend and deserves the best care from the human she has loved all these years. She is attacking you because of the other cat. Cats do not adjust very quickly to a newcomer. In some instances, even with the best socialization procedures, it can take months. Sometimes they never learn to live peacefully together. Sometimes they do. I think you need to rehome the youngster and give it the opportunity to have a nice warm house to live in and people to love, and please have your older kitty examined by a vet. It is nice to have barn cats, but please have them spayed and neutered. The cat population is out of control. Good luck to you.

You do have to get the old cat looked after as bladder problems can be painful and you know the ear issue is very painful for her. I see you are in Sk, and if you are lucky, you are close to Saskatoon - WCVM does have, or at least used to have a low cost walk-in clinic. If you are in the Regina area, call around, some places are cheaper than others. If you are in the boonies, still call around, sometimes you can find a real gem of a vet in a small town.

As to the socialisation issues, go slow as older cats sometimes have a problem adjusting to new cats, young ones in particular. Start with the other cat not in your room, or even close to your room, but in the porch/mud room and no farther, and see how that goes. If it cannot be, do find a home for the kitten or make space in the barn with a heat lamp and comfortable bedding for her and the rest of the outside cats. I have 9 that live in the barn all winter with a heat lamp in an enclosed area but most aren't bothering with the lamp right now; some of the fools sleep in the tractor cab right now or by the basement window - how cold it got at night is illustrated here by how many cats are by the house in the morning

First of all, I want to sincerely thank you guys for replying! I have taken in your suggestions, and they're all great, but I have a few problems...Namely, the money. This will sound kindof wierd, but since my dad was in an accident hauling a crane, his back in in extremely bad shape. Mom has to look after the siblings and such, and my part-time job wouldn't cut the vet fees.

I do live in the boonies, closer around the Swift Current area, about two hours off. So I could find a good vet if I looked, but I still don't have my learners (Too lazy!), and the parents are usually busy doing whatever.

The finding a new home idea is really good, but since I only really know people who live on farms, they have enough cats as it is. She has an amazing temperment, and is really nice. A great house cat, she learnt to use the litter box without any training...

Also, about the slowly adjusting thing, Remember my cat is only really allowed in my room, and Dad doesn't like having cats in the house (I don't really either, but my cat is old, etc etc). I do wish that I could help my cat, but we have to pay 500$ a month for the farmhouse (Which isn't much, but alot for us) and we usually rely on welfare. Sure, dad works off the rent when he can, but acupuncture and such can cost a bit.

And the only way we can S&N all the cats would be through our own methods - Don't be mad, but the rubber band would be all we can do. We have...Let's see...9-10 females and I think 4 males. That's alot of cats, but two of the males are young, and one is just growing up.

Then we have the tomcat, and yeesh, is he a problem. He has a mission - Impregnant every single cat on the farm. We don't know what to do about him, he's extremely skittish. We would hate it, but we might have to shoot him, he hurts and bullies all the other cats...

AAH! I'm off topic again, sorry. Anyhow, We do have a barn and a heat lamp, and the setting works out great, but the Tomcat (As mentioned above) usually kicks 'em all out, even though there's room for 20 or so cats easily. (We cleaned the entire barn out for them...Whew!)

It can get chilly, and the cats usually aren't that smart about holing up somewhere, they like to stay on the porch and freeze...>.<

Maybe I'll post on a website for a free kitteh, but that scares me - I would rather meet the person face-to-face if I was giving her away, but as I said, noone wants a cat that I know of in a 50 or so mile radius. I'll take in your suggestions very gladly, and I guess I'll just have to suffer for a while more...

As I'm typing this, She's at my window, scratch scratch...~Uguu....

Aiight, I'll cut this off Thank you alot Farlyv and Sk_Pacer, I VERY appreciate the help!

Love & Light, Terran

oh, you really ARE in the boonies, pretty deserted in that area and a little out of my range. Depending which way you are from Speedy Creek, there is a vet in Maple Creek, one at Assiniboia (supposed to be good too), maybe one at Fir Mountain, and a couple of other small towns - there are probably a good lot of them since that is cow country and now is the time to catch them as they are mostly doing routine stuff - trust me on this, I use a 'cow' clinic because it has one of the best horse vets in the southern part of the province and I choose to wait until after calving and before castration to get horse work done or leave it to about now. They also do my cat work as they have a decent and reasonable small animal area as well, but they are a long ways from Swift Current.

Odd that tomcat is that agressive, my most aggressive barn cats are neutered and they run off anything aggressive or they bully them into submission like they did with Gimpy - he eats after everyone else and just keeps to himself mostly and looks content to leave it that way, going about his business hunting, wandering or staying warm, depending on the season. Usually, the females in a situation like yours will keep aggressive toms under control by driving them from the sleeping/feeding areas.

All I can say is keep trying with introductions, and one more thing, make a 'house' for them besides the designated area - a box insulated with flax straw if you can get it, and you probably can just for the effort of picking it up. It's clean, warm and doesn't rot and get stinky over winter like other straw, making it ideal for temporary shelters for any small animal outside. And they will go to the heat lamp when it gets cold enough....trust me on this one....The Stooges stay by the house all spring and summer, and way into the fall. First nasty day, they move back to the barn for a while, and when it gets really cold, they about live under the heat lamp, or buried in bales, or sleep on the horses.

Well, glad to see you understand the boonies...I've been half-heartedly looking for a vet (Been bust lately,) but we will be going to Maple Creek in a month or so, and I'll ask around, since one of my old friends used to live there. I think he still does...

Well, we'd do the chop to the tomcat, but you can't get ten feet close to him, he's gone. We tried everything nicely, heck we like cats, but It's really bad. I saw him push one of the kittens out of the barn loft and stole their mousy. Cat was OK though, and I took a pot shot at him*. Missed by a mile...

There's only one adult female besides my old cat, The (lol) Mamma kitty. Two others, about 1-1/2 years old are Loveage and Tuxedo, but their both just...Excuse me, but...Uhh...Let's say lovers? (More like the forced-kind...)

And I'll talk to my mom about that. We did have a nice little 'Cat house', about 3 feet high and 6x8 feet large w/ an extra heat lamp, but we liked them safe in the barn, since they always went into the box...

Oh, and for the little *: Was hunting skunks. They were killing the chickens!!

Our horses, five of them, don't have a horse house (?) really. Just trees and the latter. (I don't like horses!).

Hmm...Flax straw, eh? The problem in the barn was that the cats kept using the straw up there (Normal straw?) as a litterbox, and we had to clean it out. Ahh, well, thank you yet again for the tips - I have to go bring my cat in, dang thing is probably under the porch...Jeesh!

Hope you do well,

Terran

Originally Posted by Dave1004

Well, glad to see you understand the boonies...I've been half-heartedly looking for a vet (Been bust lately,) but we will be going to Maple Creek in a month or so, and I'll ask around, since one of my old friends used to live there. I think he still does...

Well, we'd do the chop to the tomcat, but you can't get ten feet close to him, he's gone. We tried everything nicely, heck we like cats, but It's really bad. I saw him push one of the kittens out of the barn loft and stole their mousy. Cat was OK though, and I took a pot shot at him*. Missed by a mile...

There's only one adult female besides my old cat, The (lol) Mamma kitty. Two others, about 1-1/2 years old are Loveage and Tuxedo, but their both just...Excuse me, but...Uhh...Let's say lovers? (More like the forced-kind...)

And I'll talk to my mom about that. We did have a nice little 'Cat house', about 3 feet high and 6x8 feet large w/ an extra heat lamp, but we liked them safe in the barn, since they always went into the box...

Oh, and for the little *: Was hunting skunks. They were killing the chickens!!

Our horses, five of them, don't have a horse house (?) really. Just trees and the latter. (I don't like horses!).

Hmm...Flax straw, eh? The problem in the barn was that the cats kept using the straw up there (Normal straw?) as a litterbox, and we had to clean it out. Ahh, well, thank you yet again for the tips - I have to go bring my cat in, dang thing is probably under the porch...Jeesh!

Hope you do well,

Terran

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What happened to the cat with the ear infection and UTI?