Teenaged kitties attacking new kitty

Hi All!! I am new to this forum and I am so glad I Found it!!!

I am sure that this question has been posted and answered but quite frankly I don't have the time to search the forum for the answer so here is my dilema....I have a new baby kitty named Princess Sophia....no reference to the movie...she was a stray and given to me 12-10-2004. She is the sweetest and cutest thing. I also have a 16 year old Mamma cat and 4 3-1/2 year old siblings. The siblings I rescued from the Animal Shelter when they were about 5 weeks old. Curly Tail is the Alpha male then there's Napoleon, Cleo and Molly...she's the runt of the litter. When Princess first came to live here the babies were fine with her...of course they hissed a little cause they did not know her but they seemed to be on the right track. Well about 3 weeks ago they started to become very aggressive with her and even attacking her to the point she just SHREEEEKKSS in fear and pain. I thought it was because she was coming into season so I had her spayed 1 week ago. Well is hasn't stopped and I am afraid for her. She has found a place to hide in my bedroom under the dresser where they can't get to her, but that hasn't stopped them from trying. The girls Molly and Cleo seem to be the most aggressive with their tails all puffed out, Curly Tail will chase her and swipe her tail and Napoleon could care less, altho if he happens to jump up on the dresser when she is eating he will sort of yyeeaahahah at her. It's not a gutteral meow or growl but more like a little screetch Anyway...
she has peeing the bed and I thought this might be a way of acting out but I am taking her in today to see if she has a UTI. Any help or thoughts would be appreciated!!!

If all your cats aren't fixed, getting them fixed will certainly help.
I would invest in a few feliway comfort zone room diffusers and restart your introductions for the whole bunch slowly. I know you said you don't have time to do a search, but if you do an advanced search you will find countless posts about introducing cats to each other.

There is also an article you should read-

http://www.thecatsite.com/content/view/11/26/

Hi Miss Hissy!!
Thanks for the link to the article. I read a similar article on this same site but the towel technique sound like it should work cause I have been keeping her in my bedroom with the door shut when I am home so the kids can get used to her. Curly Tail has been the most vocal. He keeps walking to the door and meowlking...talking/meowing...to her from under the door. Where can I get those feliway diffusers you were speaking of?

Thanks again!!!

I have one of these feliway difusers and the cheapest way to get them is in EBAY.com . Just look for feliway over there. Cheers, Javier

Originally Posted by javier

I have one of these feliway difusers and the cheapest way to get them is in EBAY.com . Just look for feliway over there. Cheers, Javier

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Great...thanks Javier!!

Hi there, welcome to TCS!

AWE!!! Thanks Wellington!!!

I got my feliway diffusers yesterday and plugged them right in...so far NOTHING!! Anybody know how long it takes to start to take effect. I actually put one up to their noses and they sniffed it and then backed away as if it were stinky stuff~ So far there has been no change. Also...I read the precautions AFTER I plugged everything in and noticed that it said NOT to touch anything. Well I inadvertantly touched the little stick that come out of the top of the bottle. Think that messed it up...if so, what do I need to do to fix it?

Robynn

Originally Posted by WellingtonCats

Hi there, welcome to TCS!

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It should be fine. It doesn't work right away and the cats backed off because all at once the pheremones were probably a bit powerful. When the unit heats up it relases the pheremones in the air. It isn't a miracle cure- it is a relaxer for the stress the cats feel.

OHHH Okay...
Well I tell ya Miss Hissy...It better start working real soon or I'll be needin' my OWN feliway diffuser...

It's sooooo weird...she will sleep on the top of the sofa or on the bed with me and the babies will all be around but the second I get up or someone jumps on the sofa or bed, her ears go back and she skooches down and starts to hiss and that's when they (try) attack. They only attack when I am not close by. Curly Tail....15 pounds...is on top of her (5 pounds) and she is shreeeeking in terror. It just sends chills up my spine and quite frankly infuriates me and I yell for them to stop. I read in an earlier post that you said NOT to intervene or scold...well how do I let them know that what they are doing is not acceptable. Well hopefully I won't need that answer and the feliway difusser will have kicked in.

Originally Posted by hissy

It should be fine. It doesn't work right away and the cats backed off because all at once the pheremones were probably a bit powerful. When the unit heats up it relases the pheremones in the air. It isn't a miracle cure- it is a relaxer for the stress the cats feel.

Click to expand...

Hey Kat Lady!
Welcome to the forums. I'm new here too.
I'm having a similar problem here in my home. I have Morris, an older, cool cat who doesn't really involve himself in the drama here.
Pippin is just over 2 and Simple will be turning 2 in April. Everyone was getting along fine until I rescued a sweet little unaltered girly off the street.
I was intending to get her spayed ASAP, but asap will come a little longer now because Pippin ran up a 700 dollar vet bill with an intestinal blockage.
I'm sure that getting her spayed will help, but like I said, money is short right now.
She is having a hard time blending into the family. She likes to be around me, but is scared of Simple especially, and recently, since Pippin is feeling better, he is also chasing her about.
She is very defensive and will growl and hiss when they come near, the continue and end up chasing her. I'm sure it has a lot to do with territory and the fact she isn't spayed. I've tried the vanilla trick, but now I think I need to do the vanilla/towel trick and segregate her until I can do a re-intro.
Problem is, I don't have a lot of room to segregate her. There is my room and the cat's room. When I close the door to the cat room, the others will squawl until I open it.
I also feel bad tucking her away where she can't interact, but she's so miserable and the kitties are starting to scratch and bite each other.
I think Simple and Pippin were intending to play, since they aren't growling or hissing, but they are a lot bigger than her and she's not ready to play with them yet! LOL!
I'm going to reorg everything and get her put in another room until she feels more comfy. Maybe have short visits before putting her back into general population.
I'm also looking into getting some feliway diffusers and saving up to get her spayed.
I'd like to find a new home for her, since my landlord doesn't really want me to have four cats! I'm so picky about an owner for her though, because I want her to be as happy as possible wherever she goes. I don't want her to be declawed or go outside, and I'd prefer her to be in a home with only one other cat at the most.
I hope all works out for your crew. Wish me luck on mine!!

Dev & Crew

If you can find an old fashioned wooden play pen, you can wrap the outside in screen and duct tape the screen down, flip the playpen upside down and put her in with litter pan water, food and they can smell, and sniff and play and fight and she is safe from all of them. It's difficult I know when cats don't get along. There is a book Cat vs Cat that is a real help in reading body language and knowing when you should intercede (or face a big vet bill) and when it is posturing, and figuring out the pecking order-

Hi Dev...Thanks!!
Awe...look at your babies...so cute!!
You know....I did the same thing with Princess. I should have gotten her fixed straight away but waited just a little too long. They got along at first and then she started to come into puberty and they could smell that on her and that's when she started to get attacked. Now whenever any of them try to approach her...she reacts by hissing and growling and backs down. She doesn't act that way around my 16 year old and I guess it's probably because she wasn't chased and attacked by her. She is a very sweet kitty and will play when we are in a closed room and sometimes she will even venture out when the others are in the same room but then when someone gets too close...she starts to hiss and tries to escape. She has found a couple of spots where she can run to that they can't get to her and she feels safe. One of them is my old computer cabinet. I have it snug against the wall with a space only big enough for her to get into (she's only 5 pounds and very petite) so when she is being chased, she can just run into that and feel safe. When I go to work, I leave some food in it so only she can eat it and I put a litter box and some water in the room too. Sometimes I close the door and leave the TV on and sometimes I leave the door open so she can venture out if she decides to. She has also recently found that she can hide behind an antique dresser that I have pushed up against the window! She can see the outside world and also be safe from the inside world. I am going to try Miss Hissy's old play pen idea...if I can find one! I purchased 3 feliway difussers off of eBay, but I have only had them for 2 full days so I am still waiting to see their effect.
....Molly just jumped up here as I was writing and Princess just looked at her as she jumped up on the monitor....SEE!!! But if I leave the room I'm afraid all he]] will break loose! OMG....just walked away for about 2 minutes and she is still sitting here at the computer and Molly's on the Monitor, Cleo is sitting on the printer table. Now she has jumped down and run to her spot...oh well, baby steps!! LOL!

Originally Posted by hissy

If you can find an old fashioned wooden play pen, you can wrap the outside in screen and duct tape the screen down, flip the playpen upside down and put her in with litter pan water, food and they can smell, and sniff and play and fight and she is safe from all of them. It's difficult I know when cats don't get along. There is a book Cat vs Cat that is a real help in reading body language and knowing when you should intercede (or face a big vet bill) and when it is posturing, and figuring out the pecking order-

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Thanks Miss Hissy!! If I can only find an old play pen!!

Oh MY Devlyn...I just went to your homepage and noticed your ebay site!!! I've seen your work on ebay. As a matter of fact, I get regular emails for new ren items on ebay.....talk about a small world!!

LOL! It is a small world!! How fun.
Or maybe, it's that eBay is JUST THAT BIG!
I do hope everything works out with your kitties. Arwen is segregated today and we'll see how that works out. Maybe in a week or so we can try to re-introduce her to the crew.

Dev & Crew

Oh hey.. which faires do you go to? I worked at TRF for about 6-7 years ending two years ago. Maybe we've even met. LOL!

Dev

Originally Posted by Devlyn

Oh hey.. which faires do you go to? I worked at TRF for about 6-7 years ending two years ago. Maybe we've even met. LOL!

Dev

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Hi Dev...I've only been to the one down here. Scarborough Faire in Waxahachi Texas. http://scarboroughrenfest.com/index.html
It's about a 45 minute drive from where I live. Took my 3 neices, Alex 12, Hunter 8 and Tori 7, last year and it cost me about $175 but they had a BLAST!!! It was well worth it!! The girls were talking about the costumes and I came straight home and went right to ebay and have not stopped looking. I am going to have my mom make the girls some costumes for this year. I already purchased the fabric and pattern for our cloaks, all I need is the fabric and patterns for the girls. It's been difficult cause I don't really know where to start, so I cruise the ebay ren faire stuff to get some ideas. My mom is the seamstress in the family. She used to make all our clothes when we were growing up and makes the girls x-mas dresses every year.
Wouldn't it be really cool if we HAD met...LOL!!!

Thanks Miss Hissy....that's a great idea! Only problem IS finding an old-fashion wooden play pen! My brother has a booth out at the local flea market...I'll ask him to do a search for me.

Robynn

Originally Posted by hissy

If you can find an old fashioned wooden play pen, you can wrap the outside in screen and duct tape the screen down, flip the playpen upside down and put her in with litter pan water, food and they can smell, and sniff and play and fight and she is safe from all of them. It's difficult I know when cats don't get along. There is a book Cat vs Cat that is a real help in reading body language and knowing when you should intercede (or face a big vet bill) and when it is posturing, and figuring out the pecking order-

Click to expand...

Hey Miss Hissy....
Feliway seems to be working a little bit now. It's been almost 2 weeks and Princess DOES seem to be a little more relaxed but she still freaks out when one of the kids come near her. She has slept with me and the babies for the past several nights and there hasn't been any problems till last night. She sleeps at my head and sometime in the middle of the night someone frightened her and she scratched the beeswax out of my scalp!!!
Moments later she peed right there on the pillow!!
MAN I am having the roughest time with this gal!!! Haven't tried the vanilla yet but I plan on getting some tonight.
This is the first time in about 2 weeks that she has wet the bed. Do you think she just got scared. I think I may just have to keep her secluded for a longer period of time...but I hate that I have to do that!!! Any suggestions!

Originally Posted by hissy

It should be fine. It doesn't work right away and the cats backed off because all at once the pheremones were probably a bit powerful. When the unit heats up it relases the pheremones in the air. It isn't a miracle cure- it is a relaxer for the stress the cats feel.

Click to expand...