Bully Ex-Feral

catnana

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I didn’t have the option of letting my last feral cat come to me on her own terms. It was a cold and snowy winter. We never saw her mother or any other kittens. The vet said this two month old had ringworm. We isolated her from our other cats in the bathroom and twice a day, every day I had to capture her and force horrific tasting medicine down her throat. She was so terrorized, if she could talk she would have confessed “It was me, I was on the grassy knoll!” When the doctor decided it was safe to allow her to join our other cats, they did not receive her well. It’s been 10 years since we rescued her and unfortunately for my older cats, she grew into a big bully almost twice their size. Now my 18 year old cats run from her. There have been no injuries. My bully cat is satisfied if they just acknowledge she is the queen of the castle. I miss having a bed full of cats. When my husband was alive all 5 of our cats would cuddle up with us every night. Now after my bully cat frightens my old cats away, she jumps off the bed and I’m alone. How much Feliway will it take to fix this?

Mod Note: The reference to Feliway is because this post was moved from an older thread, here to it's own thread.
 
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ondine

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Can you give her her own room at night?  I know that might be difficult but it would allow the older ladies to sleep with you again.  It may take her awhile to get used to the idea, so be prepared for some fussiness.  Make sure there's a litter box in there and maybe something yummy just she can enjoy.  Maybe you can hide treats or get one of those treat balls to entice her.

We have a cat with her own room.  She isn't a bully per se but she thinks she's Queen Elizabeth.  We decided to let her have her own room and she's fine.  She gets pets every night from me and every morning from my husband, plus the printer is in there, so she gets attention when we need to use that.
 

shadowsrescue

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I too had a feral with his own room.  He was there for almost a year.  It was the best approach for allowing him to settle into our clan.  Each night he went to bed and was in his room.  He had a cat tree to look outside during the night as well as to sleep in, litter box and snacks.  For awhile I gave him composure to help him stay calm at night.  I began with the treats, but unfortunately he did not like them after awhile.  I then switched to liquid composure max and mixed it into his wet food.  It really helped to calm him down.  I left some catnip toys and other toy mice scattered about the room too.  A feliway plug in might help too.
 
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