I was wondering if someone could please help me with my kitties:
My two cats are biological brother and sister and for the first 3-4 years of their lives they got along relatively peacefully. When they were about 4-5 years old, I noticed they started getting into an increasing number of quarrels with my bigger cat (Linus) becoming more dominant over my smaller cat (Sally). I know it was a period of some change and stress for them as one of those years I went to college and had to live in a dorm (no cats allowed) before moving with them to an apartment and then moving back home after getting sick and needing surgery.
Now they are 7 years old, and Linus attacks Sally at least twice a day. She'll run away and he will always chase, oftentimes standing on top of her biting the back of her neck. Luckily this hasn't resulted in any behavior problems in Sally, but Linus is definitely trying to dominate her.
One problem which has really spurred on this behavior has been Linus' morning routine. I live with my mother, who gets up at 4 in the morning, has breakfast and feeds all the animals at once (so they associate her getting up with breakfast time). My cats hear her alarm go off and Linus (the aggressive one) will start pacing my bedroom, exhaling loudly, and actively seeking out Sally to attack her. To stop this, as soon as he starts this ritual, I get up and put him in the kennel in the living room. I don't mind waking up at 4 every morning, but now even in the afternoon when I bring them in my room together, Linus will immediately attack Sally. Sometimes I'll squirt him with a squirt bottle or clap really loudly and he'll stop for a second but then attack Sally anyways a few minutes later. I'll put him in a kennel for an hour when he does this, then let him out again and he will immediately attack her.
Feliway didn't work and the vet suggested Prozac, but I would rather do that only after I've exhausted all other options as I'm concerned about side effects. I would really love to keep them together in my room at night as they both are the biggest snuggle-bugs and get upset if they can't sleep next to me (they're very vocal). I'm trying to feed them both at night now to see if that will help. Is there something else I'm missing?
My two cats are biological brother and sister and for the first 3-4 years of their lives they got along relatively peacefully. When they were about 4-5 years old, I noticed they started getting into an increasing number of quarrels with my bigger cat (Linus) becoming more dominant over my smaller cat (Sally). I know it was a period of some change and stress for them as one of those years I went to college and had to live in a dorm (no cats allowed) before moving with them to an apartment and then moving back home after getting sick and needing surgery.
Now they are 7 years old, and Linus attacks Sally at least twice a day. She'll run away and he will always chase, oftentimes standing on top of her biting the back of her neck. Luckily this hasn't resulted in any behavior problems in Sally, but Linus is definitely trying to dominate her.
One problem which has really spurred on this behavior has been Linus' morning routine. I live with my mother, who gets up at 4 in the morning, has breakfast and feeds all the animals at once (so they associate her getting up with breakfast time). My cats hear her alarm go off and Linus (the aggressive one) will start pacing my bedroom, exhaling loudly, and actively seeking out Sally to attack her. To stop this, as soon as he starts this ritual, I get up and put him in the kennel in the living room. I don't mind waking up at 4 every morning, but now even in the afternoon when I bring them in my room together, Linus will immediately attack Sally. Sometimes I'll squirt him with a squirt bottle or clap really loudly and he'll stop for a second but then attack Sally anyways a few minutes later. I'll put him in a kennel for an hour when he does this, then let him out again and he will immediately attack her.
Feliway didn't work and the vet suggested Prozac, but I would rather do that only after I've exhausted all other options as I'm concerned about side effects. I would really love to keep them together in my room at night as they both are the biggest snuggle-bugs and get upset if they can't sleep next to me (they're very vocal). I'm trying to feed them both at night now to see if that will help. Is there something else I'm missing?
