New kitten is terrifying the whole household

petunia42

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We recently visited Maui and found a starving, weak kitten on a beach. Brought her to the Humane Society but ended up bringing her home to Oregon with us. Her estimated age was 4 months and only weighed 2 lbs. We have three other indoor cats at home and one big lab who are all mellow and get along well. One is just a year old still very playful. I'd hoped eventually she and the new kitten would be playmates.

Kept the new kitten isolated for a month to gain weight and recover from a respiratory infection. She now at 5 months is doing marvelously, filling out, eating wonderfully, but vet wants to wait to spay her until 6 months. We introduced her to the cats and dog, thru French doors, then one at a time and finally short visits. Finally released her to the living area with everyone else.The new kitty (Maui) did some hissing and arching first several hours but generally things went well. Other cats were friendly or indifferent. Then all hell has broken loose in the last 24-48 hours. She is terrorizing the house. She arches, hisses, charges all the 3 other cats and chases after the dog. They are all TERRIFIED of her. She is terribly protective of me- following me around hissing and growling at any of them who come near me. The other cats are suddenly picking at their food. There is generally about 2/3 left. Maui on the other hand is a voracious eater. My husband says just to let it go-she's only 5 months and will outgrow it. I'm terribly worried about the other cats, the dog and the balance of the household.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot.

Nancy
 

StefanZ

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We recently visited Maui and found a starving, weak kitten on a beach. Brought her to the Humane Society but ended up bringing her home to Oregon with us. Her estimated age was 4 months and only weighed 2 lbs. We have three other indoor cats at home and one big lab who are all mellow and get along well. One is just a year old still very playful. I'd hoped eventually she and the new kitten would be playmates.

Kept the new kitten isolated for a month to gain weight and recover from a respiratory infection. She now at 5 months is doing marvelously, filling out, eating wonderfully, but vet wants to wait to spay her until 6 months. We introduced her to the cats and dog, thru French doors, then one at a time and finally short visits. Finally released her to the living area with everyone else.The new kitty (Maui) did some hissing and arching first several hours but generally things went well. Other cats were friendly or indifferent. Then all hell has broken loose in the last 24-48 hours. She is terrorizing the house. She arches, hisses, charges all the 3 other cats and chases after the dog. They are all TERRIFIED of her. She is terribly protective of me- following me around hissing and growling at any of them who come near me. The other cats are suddenly picking at their food. There is generally about 2/3 left. Maui on the other hand is a voracious eater. My husband says just to let it go-she's only 5 months and will outgrow it. I'm terribly worried about the other cats, the dog and the balance of the household.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot.

Nancy
My guess she got early  of age.   Young adults arent very territorial as yet.  BUT as Maui has you as her charge and protegé, she is vigorously defending you.  "Better be pro-active then sorry afterwards!".

So I think a combination of calming - type of  a Feliway diffuser,  calming relaxing music...

AND a spaying asap you can manage it...   Its not entirely sure spaying is the remedy, but you shall spay anyway, so it cant hurt, but may help.

I hope other forumites have ideas too.

Good luck!
 
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petunia42

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Thanks so much Stephan,

Yes, really want to twist my vet's arm with the spaying yet he is reluctant due to her rough start and barely normal weight. If we can get through a couple more weeks he says it will be better, This morning however things are a tiny bit different in the house. Or at least the other cats (who never hiss) are hissing back at the little one, which is new. She's backed down already a few times- so maybe husband is right and they will work it out. Only have had two complete two cats roll in a ball incidents- and separated them after that. If I can just get the other 3 cats to eat I'll feel we are really headed in the right direction. One of them is diabetic so he has to eat or else (have already cut back his insulin to adjust to poor appetite).

I'll get the feliway out right now. Thanks so very much.

Nancy
 

shadowsrescue

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Definitely get a few feliway plug ins.  This will help the entire household.  When she starts to act this way, I would give her a time out.  Not yelling or punishment, but calming tell her that this behavior is not acceptable and if she acts this way, she will get put away for a bit.  Start with 10 minutes or so and do longer if it continues. 

A calming collar might help too, but I prefer Composure liquid max.  You can mix it into food.  I used this on a feral/stray that I brought into my home 2 years ago.  He was extremely territorial aggressive and was attacking my other cat.  It was awful.  My other cat would crouch, yowl and not want to eat.  Composure liquid max helped them both.  You can find it online. 

Is there a chance that you rushed the introductions?  It sounds like the other cats are ok, but may she isn't ready for so many other animals right now.  How did you go about doing introductions and for how long did you do the introductions?  Some cats will take to each other quickly and others may take up to a year.  The feral I brought in took one year to settle himself completely. 

I would suggest separating the Maui again and taking a look at your introduction process.  It is common that most people rush the process.  I rushed it with my two and it set me back quite a bit.  I thought all was well and the cats were out and about with each other for about a week.  Then all h*ll broke loose and each day was worse than the day before.  Once I went back and redid introductions things began to progress again.

So tell me how you did intros and for how long and then I might be able to make some suggestions.
 
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petunia42

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Thanks so much for your in depth reply and much needed help.

Intros...we kept the kitty in a bedroom where she was behind 2 closed doors for about a week and a half. Then another of same with just one door between all 4 kitties for again about 10 days. Then moved to a bedroom where everyone could see and smell each other thru french doors for the remainder of this first month. For last week brought each cat into bedroom individually- husband sat with one cat and me with Maui comforting/petting. Each cat was alone with Maui for 30-60 min at least once a day. Then last day we tried all 4 kitties in same bedroom. No problems at all thru all of this- just sniffing. Two cats ignored her, younger cat wanted to play. Maui mostly raced around playfully. For this last week we also had Maui explore the rest of the house alone a few times a day.

The dog: bout midway thru this last month Maui met the dog and was very aggressive, chasing and snarling. She ran up and bit him a few times. Sam shrinks with any hostility from cats so as long as he stayed out of the way she left him alone. There has been no difficulty in the last week as he stays as far as he can from her. :(

This last Saturday (1 month) we mixed everyone- fine for about 2 hours, then Maui started to pounce, charge, growl at everyone. We separated and let her out a few more times. Things were good/bad. Same Sunday. Yesterday had her out all day- she climbed to the highest perch, hissed growled at any cat who came near. 99% time she played happily- only aggressive when she came near them accidentally. They mostly ignored her. It was Maui who went after them when they were minding their own business 20 feet away. Then other cats stopped eating.

This morning, when she acted aggressively towards the other cats, each of them hissed at her in individual encounters, hadn't previously...the youngest engaged with her. From that point on Maui has retreated to her bedroom sanctuary- she's lying in the middle of a kingsize bed. The doors are open/other cats have access to her but there's been no visiting. Everyone's been sleeping.

Thought I'd see how the rest of the day goes. If any more fighting will do as you say and isolate Maui again- and listen to your further recommendations!. Maui's eating great.

Never heard of Composure but will order on Amazon as soon as I finish here. Thank you so much!

Thanks once again for your help. I did this wrong obviously- thought we were on the right track but obviously too fast.

Nancy

PS. Sibling cats are still eating poorly. I may decide to make Maui disappear in her room anyway to encourage meals back on track esp for diabetic.
 
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shadowsrescue

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You did a lot of things right!!!  We just need to fine tune a few things!!  The process of introducing cats is step by step.  I will have some links and a video with some advice.  The key is to not move to the next step until there is no growling or hissing.  Sometimes you need to introduce one cat at a time and then try the two cat together with Maui.  As far as the dog, that is the last step.  I have a large dog as well.  I did the cats first then kept her harnessed to me.  I put her on a leash and used a carabiner to attach her to the belt loops on my pants.  My dog is pretty good with cats, but does want to get a good sniff in!!  I waited until the new cat (Marvin) was more comfortable.  My guess is that Maui knows little about dogs or had a bad encounter with one. 

The composure should be given to all cats.  I give double the dose to the aggressive cat in the mornings and a regular dose in the evening.  I would  give only  a regular dose 2x a day to the other cat(s).  It takes about 3-5 days to work. 

Here are the articles.  Start back at step one ( scent swapping).  The early stages should move quickly ( a day or two) but when you get to feeding outside a closed door, make sure the cats are all eating and there is no hissing or growling before moving forward.  You want the cats butt up against a closed door eating their food.  Next you want them eating with the door cracked and then with the door open and a baby gate inbetween.  I also used a large dog crate.  I would put one cat inside and cover it with a sheet or towel on 3 sides.  I would allow the other cat to sniff around.  I then would feed a yummy treat to both such as chicken or tuna.  Food is a good association for all cats.  Keep it to one cat inside the crate/carrier and one cat outside.  Alternate who is inside and outside. 

This should give you a good start!!

http://www.catbehaviorassociates.com/a-simple-little-trick-to-use-during-new-cat-introductions/

http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/cat-behavior/introducing-your-cat-new-cat

http://jacksongalaxy.com/2010/10/01/cat-to-cat-introductions/

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/the-ultimate-yet-simplified-guide-to-introducing-cats

 
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petunia42

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One really nice thing- was just petting Maui and she was happily purring while on bed. 1 y/o kitty Jane came in, and they touched noses peaceably. Infact Maui never stopped purring.

Off to look at videos you sent.
 
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