I need some help and advice. I apologize if this is long but I need to let you know the exact situation.
My three cats who have always gotten along and seemed close seem to be having some sort of a problem. The mom's name is Hyacinth. Her kittens now almost 2 years old (Hy is 3 yrs old approximately) are named Inky and Willow. Hy is spayed but her offspring are not.
The aggression started out small. The three of them would be on the table by the window which was opened to the screen, and they would be watching the birds. One of the offspring, Inky, at some point, would become overexcited or something and hiss and lash out at whichever other cat was sitting next to her. Mostly a swipe with a paw. I would admonish her and she would run off and that would be that. She would be fine a few min. later.
She's the only cat that ever acted like that. I noticed that there seemed to be a correlation that when she was being aggressive like that she also seemed to be in heat at the time.
Anyway a few days ago something bad happened. I went to bed late and I FORGOT to close the living window. At 3:30am all three of my cats woke me up in a vocal panic. I opened the door and I see all three of them running from the l.r. window into the kitchen and then into the utility room.
When I got there. Hy (the mom) was on her side. I petted her and soothed her. She didn't seem to be hurt. Except that there was little bit of poop, I assume from her. But Inky was scared beyond belief. She ran out of the room hissing and growling. I went over to the l.r. window and the magazines I had on the table had puddles of urine on them. So Inky or Hi (one of them) literally got the pee scared out of her.
Since she seemed the most traumatized it was probably from her.
So who was responsible for this?
It was Bear my stray male cat. I feed him and his normal mate Stumpy (her tail got bit off) every day. He decided to come on my front porch at 3:30am and I noticed a plant that I had right in front of the window on the outside had been tipped over. He most likely came right up to the screen, and that would be enough to scare the cats.
I went outside and saw that he was now on the sidewalk in front of the porch. I scared him away after I yelled at him.
It took awhile but eventually Inky calmed down and seemed to come back to normal. She seemed fine with both her Mom and her sister.
Now this morning another episode. I was sitting right there by the table at the window. I was on my computer. I had the window open and Inky and Hy were there inches away from me. Suddenly they both ran off and were in the middle of my floor rug. I heard a whining noise from Inky. They were facing each other close. I thought they were going to play fight. But I heard Hy hiss. Hissing is not any part of play. I yelled at them both to cut it out. Hy ran over to the d.r. chair and jumped up on it. Inky followed. I heard then that horrid noise a cat makes when they're upset and about to fight coming from Inky.
I jumped up and went around my lazy boy chair so I could see and I saw Inky reaching up to Hi on the chair. Well Hy hissed again. And they snarled and then Hy jumped down and ran with Inky chasing her. The ended up in the front hall where I separated them. They never once got into a full out body wrestle type of fight thank God. But Hy was SO terrified she hissed at me a couple of times something she's never done before. I stroked her and calmed her some.
I locked Inky in another room to calm her down. I let her out 10 minutes later.
BTW Willow the other female and sister to Inky didn't get in the fight. But after I put Hy on my Lazy boy one of her favorite spots and a few min. later Willow tried to reach up to her Mom and Hy still upset and afraid, hissed at her. WHICH MADE WILLOW VERY AFRAID OF HER MOM.
All three of them a little later were sitting on the l.r. floor and seemed calmer at least. I thought maybe everything was returning to normal but not so.
I tried later to put Willow by her Mom who I had placed on the couch and Willow started snarling, growling and hissing. So I immediately removed her.
Not to mention that just a few min. ago. Hy was in the kitchen behind the food bowl and all of a sudden Inky was in the doorway wanting to head that way making that aggressive pre-attack sound again. So I had to remove Inky and this time I put Hy in the front hall and shut the door.
I don't know what to do here. I need answers. Right now I feel like I can't even go outside for a few minutes and leave the three of them in the same room. Actually Willow and Inky the sisters, seem to be okay with each other. The problem is seems to be them toward their Mom Hy.
Also I shut the window if I didn't mention that, since every time an incident starts it's by the window.
So does anyone have suggestions or an opinion? Do they just need time? Is everything going to get back to normal? Should I stop trying to fix things by placing them near each other and just ignore them and let them find their way? I mean Willow who's still a big baby just two days ago was doing the fake nursing thing next to her Mom. They were closer even than Inky and her Mom. And now Willow seems terrified of her?
Please don't suggest that Inky and Willow should by spayed because it's something I already know and wished I could do SO badly. But I cannot afford it. I live on disability due to a serious health condition, I just don't have $115 per cat to do this. You see, I never planned on having four cats.
For those who don't know, Hy and her kittens were strays at one point. Hy was always a friendly stray cat which I fed and one day she came to my back porch and brought her 3 six week old kittens with her. It was starting to get cold. I brought them in. The kittens were still nursing at that point and worse Hy was like malnourished. I hadn't seen her for awhile and apparently she was getting enough nutrition. She almost died on me, seriously.
So I adopted them but my plan was to try to find homes for the kittens. I had an ad running for 2 weeks and not one legitimate phone call. So Now instead of 1 cat which is my oldest cat Sheba (who doesn't like any of them and mostly keeps to herself in my bedroom,) I have four. Turns out one of Hy's kittens (the only male) was adopted by my daughter the day after I took them in.
As a side note, Hy completely recovered from her malnourishment btw and weighs like 14 pounds now.
So that's about it. Any suggestions or help would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.
My three cats who have always gotten along and seemed close seem to be having some sort of a problem. The mom's name is Hyacinth. Her kittens now almost 2 years old (Hy is 3 yrs old approximately) are named Inky and Willow. Hy is spayed but her offspring are not.
The aggression started out small. The three of them would be on the table by the window which was opened to the screen, and they would be watching the birds. One of the offspring, Inky, at some point, would become overexcited or something and hiss and lash out at whichever other cat was sitting next to her. Mostly a swipe with a paw. I would admonish her and she would run off and that would be that. She would be fine a few min. later.
She's the only cat that ever acted like that. I noticed that there seemed to be a correlation that when she was being aggressive like that she also seemed to be in heat at the time.
Anyway a few days ago something bad happened. I went to bed late and I FORGOT to close the living window. At 3:30am all three of my cats woke me up in a vocal panic. I opened the door and I see all three of them running from the l.r. window into the kitchen and then into the utility room.
When I got there. Hy (the mom) was on her side. I petted her and soothed her. She didn't seem to be hurt. Except that there was little bit of poop, I assume from her. But Inky was scared beyond belief. She ran out of the room hissing and growling. I went over to the l.r. window and the magazines I had on the table had puddles of urine on them. So Inky or Hi (one of them) literally got the pee scared out of her.
Since she seemed the most traumatized it was probably from her.
So who was responsible for this?
It was Bear my stray male cat. I feed him and his normal mate Stumpy (her tail got bit off) every day. He decided to come on my front porch at 3:30am and I noticed a plant that I had right in front of the window on the outside had been tipped over. He most likely came right up to the screen, and that would be enough to scare the cats.
I went outside and saw that he was now on the sidewalk in front of the porch. I scared him away after I yelled at him.
It took awhile but eventually Inky calmed down and seemed to come back to normal. She seemed fine with both her Mom and her sister.
Now this morning another episode. I was sitting right there by the table at the window. I was on my computer. I had the window open and Inky and Hy were there inches away from me. Suddenly they both ran off and were in the middle of my floor rug. I heard a whining noise from Inky. They were facing each other close. I thought they were going to play fight. But I heard Hy hiss. Hissing is not any part of play. I yelled at them both to cut it out. Hy ran over to the d.r. chair and jumped up on it. Inky followed. I heard then that horrid noise a cat makes when they're upset and about to fight coming from Inky.
I jumped up and went around my lazy boy chair so I could see and I saw Inky reaching up to Hi on the chair. Well Hy hissed again. And they snarled and then Hy jumped down and ran with Inky chasing her. The ended up in the front hall where I separated them. They never once got into a full out body wrestle type of fight thank God. But Hy was SO terrified she hissed at me a couple of times something she's never done before. I stroked her and calmed her some.
I locked Inky in another room to calm her down. I let her out 10 minutes later.
BTW Willow the other female and sister to Inky didn't get in the fight. But after I put Hy on my Lazy boy one of her favorite spots and a few min. later Willow tried to reach up to her Mom and Hy still upset and afraid, hissed at her. WHICH MADE WILLOW VERY AFRAID OF HER MOM.
All three of them a little later were sitting on the l.r. floor and seemed calmer at least. I thought maybe everything was returning to normal but not so.
I tried later to put Willow by her Mom who I had placed on the couch and Willow started snarling, growling and hissing. So I immediately removed her.
Not to mention that just a few min. ago. Hy was in the kitchen behind the food bowl and all of a sudden Inky was in the doorway wanting to head that way making that aggressive pre-attack sound again. So I had to remove Inky and this time I put Hy in the front hall and shut the door.
I don't know what to do here. I need answers. Right now I feel like I can't even go outside for a few minutes and leave the three of them in the same room. Actually Willow and Inky the sisters, seem to be okay with each other. The problem is seems to be them toward their Mom Hy.
Also I shut the window if I didn't mention that, since every time an incident starts it's by the window.
So does anyone have suggestions or an opinion? Do they just need time? Is everything going to get back to normal? Should I stop trying to fix things by placing them near each other and just ignore them and let them find their way? I mean Willow who's still a big baby just two days ago was doing the fake nursing thing next to her Mom. They were closer even than Inky and her Mom. And now Willow seems terrified of her?
Please don't suggest that Inky and Willow should by spayed because it's something I already know and wished I could do SO badly. But I cannot afford it. I live on disability due to a serious health condition, I just don't have $115 per cat to do this. You see, I never planned on having four cats.
For those who don't know, Hy and her kittens were strays at one point. Hy was always a friendly stray cat which I fed and one day she came to my back porch and brought her 3 six week old kittens with her. It was starting to get cold. I brought them in. The kittens were still nursing at that point and worse Hy was like malnourished. I hadn't seen her for awhile and apparently she was getting enough nutrition. She almost died on me, seriously.
So I adopted them but my plan was to try to find homes for the kittens. I had an ad running for 2 weeks and not one legitimate phone call. So Now instead of 1 cat which is my oldest cat Sheba (who doesn't like any of them and mostly keeps to herself in my bedroom,) I have four. Turns out one of Hy's kittens (the only male) was adopted by my daughter the day after I took them in.
As a side note, Hy completely recovered from her malnourishment btw and weighs like 14 pounds now.
So that's about it. Any suggestions or help would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.
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