What?

tallyollyopia

TCS Member
Thread starter
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 27, 2015
Messages
1,827
Purraise
1,032
Pardon me for a moment while I rant before getting to the main issue at hand.

Last September one of my brother's brought home a cat. (I now know, from watching her kittens grow, that she was about fifteen weeks old when he got her.) She had kittens. (Not my fault; I tried to get her fixed before she ever went into heat.) He recently moved out taking the mother cat with him, and two of her kittens. (She had five.) He left one of the girls, the runt of the litter, because she is my favorite of the litter. He left the two boys because, and I quote, "they would be inconvenient."

Inconvenient? INCONVENIENT?! Their mother gave birth IN MY ROOM, I was the one who figured out why their mother was losing weight despite eating more than her weight in food a day when she first began nursing, I was the one responsible for making sure we got more litterboxes as they began venturing out into the rest of the house, I was the one who figured out how to train them to USE the litterbox, I was the one who cleaned the messes they made around the house, it was MY stuff they destroyed as their claws were coming in, it was MY sleep they disturbed as newborns when they cried at night, and they're inconvenient for HIM????!!!!

All right, rant over, and now back to the main issue. The mother cat is not doing well in her new home. According to my brother she's hiding in corners, randomly attacking people, hissing at everyone (even the kittens that went with her), and his roommate has said he either needs to fix the issue or get rid of the cat, so she's coming back here.

What should I expect to happen, and how should I deal with it?
 

Ms. Freya

Advisor
Veteran
Joined
Sep 19, 2008
Messages
3,348
Purraise
123
Location
Ontario, Canada
Poor girl has been through a lot of changes and will likely be upset when she gets back. I'm glad she'll be back with someone who's willing to work with her.

I would start by not presuming she'll remember anything (she might, but she's also had a lot of upheaval and many cats don't deal well with change) and start as though she was an entirely new cat. Give her a room to herself to get settled, get her used to you again and to a routine. Just help her calmly settle back in before re-introducing her to the kittens, then do introductions slowly, as though she's never met them before - some mother cats don't recognize their babies once they've been weaned, and you don't know if she'll be one of those yet. I don't remember if you saw these when you first got her, but here's a list of steps for helping her settle in and introducing her to the others again: http://www.thecatsite.com/a/bringing-home-a-new-cat and http://www.thecatsite.com/a/introducing-cats-to-cats.

Good Luck! It's likely she was acting out with your brother because it was all too much change, too quickly for her to adjust. If you take things slow and careful, she should be alright. Some cats just find change (any change) hard, so we have to make sure we move at their pace.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #3

tallyollyopia

TCS Member
Thread starter
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 27, 2015
Messages
1,827
Purraise
1,032
Slight problem; the house has only two doors that close all the way--my other brother's room (where cats can't go; he builds computers for a living and can't risk fur, hair, or static interfering with his builds) and the bathroom. Do you have any suggestions that might make this easier on all of us?
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #4

tallyollyopia

TCS Member
Thread starter
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 27, 2015
Messages
1,827
Purraise
1,032
Okay, I talked to the other members of my family and the house, and we think we have something worked out. We can't keep the mother cat isolated until she's been re-introduced to the kits, but we can rig up a place that only she can get into. (We would have to show her how, but when she left she was bigger than the kittens and I'm hoping that will still be so when she returns.) Should I feed her separately as well?
 

kerri21

TCS Member
Young Cat
Joined
May 13, 2015
Messages
23
Purraise
7
Location
Johannesburg, South Africa
I think keeping her separate and feeding her separate is probably best until she is settled. Sometimes feeding the mom and the kittens in the same room but divided (so they cannot see or get to each other) can also help with the introduction processes. This way they can smell each other and get used to the idea that there are other kitties in the house.

You have quite a challenge as it seems she has gone through ALOT of change in such a small amount of time but I am glad you are willing to be patient and work with her 


Good luck!!
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #6

tallyollyopia

TCS Member
Thread starter
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 27, 2015
Messages
1,827
Purraise
1,032
Okay--here's the good news. She remembers me (if only as the person who fed her while she lived here), she remembers her kittens (but is still a little wary around them) and the kittens have fallen back into their old habit of following her around everywhere (not sure why).

Here's the bad news--her fur is rough and brittle, she shies at the sound of human voices, she's lost weight (her collar fit perfectly when she left and now it hangs down like a cowbell), and I have to put antibiotic ointment on a deep scratch on her face that separated part of her septum from her lower lip. (And wasn't that  fun!  
 At least he took her to a vet to get  the antibiotic ointment.)

How did she get the scratch? you ask. Well, so did I. He doesn't know. Apparently, he was "away from home" for about a week and when he got back she had it. Wonderful. I was almost relieved to hear that the two kittens he did  take have gone feral--at least they seem to have a better chance at surviving!

Rant over--back to business. Is there anyway to apply the ointment (it's a cream and looks a lot like Neosporin) that isn't traumatic to her, considering everything else that's going on? 

Oh, yeah--before I forget. She also has fleas. Do you--does anyone--know if it's safe to use Bayer Multi-advantage for cats with an antibiotic cream (the bottle was in his pocket and the label got worn to the point that I can't read it) that looks just like Neosporin?
 
Top