Sometime last year, our Sassy
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/cat...ewcat&catid=89
abruptly decided that Pearl
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/cat...ewcat&catid=84
was her archenemy, and began hissing and growling at the very sight of her. As far as we know, Pearl had never been hostile toward Sassy, but of course, growling begets growling, so now it's mutual.
After several violent encounters (but no injuries, thank goodness), and in spite of all the Feliway we can afford, Sassy decided to establish the kitchen/breakfast room as her territory, and rarely leaves it now -- we've had to put a litterbox in there for her, which we hate, and we would dearly love to persuade her to rejoin the household.
In an effort to make having a litterbox in the kitchen a little less objectionable, we recently bought a second Litter Robot
http://litter-robot.com/
and replaced the kitchen box with that. Sassy had been accustomed to our original Litter Robot in the sunroom, and she had still been sneaking out there sometimes at night to use it, so it's not as if it's something new to her.
And for pooping purposes, Sassy uses this new Litter Robot just fine. But for the other purpose, she just steps up into it, paws around a bit, and goes -- with her backside hanging out over the front edge.
On one occasion, I was present when she climbed in, so I went over and tickled her until she turned around. But how can I persuade her to turn around on her own?
As paranoid as she is, you'd think she would turn around just so she could see if any other kitties were sneaking up on her!
But noooo...
We're at wit's end with this... we love Sassy dearly, and she adores my mom and me, and she also loves Dylan,
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/cat...ewcat&catid=86
who joins her in the kitchen to sleep in a cozy tangle every night. She doesn't seem to be fundamentally unhappy -- just incredibly anxious about Pearl (and sometimes Clyde,
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/cat...ewcat&catid=81
when he leaps to Pearl's defense).
Awhile back, a vet gave us some Prozac and herbal calmatives for Sassy, but getting her to take them was simply impossible. We had some almighty battles involving my mother and me and a bathtowel and a syringe full of pulverized pills mixed into a good-tasting liquid -- but even if I was able to shoot the liquid into her mouth, she always flung it right back out... and we just weren't willing to traumatize her that way anymore.
If you've stuck with me this far, thank you so much!
And do you have any idea what we can do about poor Sassy?
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/cat...ewcat&catid=89
abruptly decided that Pearl
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/cat...ewcat&catid=84
was her archenemy, and began hissing and growling at the very sight of her. As far as we know, Pearl had never been hostile toward Sassy, but of course, growling begets growling, so now it's mutual.
After several violent encounters (but no injuries, thank goodness), and in spite of all the Feliway we can afford, Sassy decided to establish the kitchen/breakfast room as her territory, and rarely leaves it now -- we've had to put a litterbox in there for her, which we hate, and we would dearly love to persuade her to rejoin the household.
In an effort to make having a litterbox in the kitchen a little less objectionable, we recently bought a second Litter Robot
http://litter-robot.com/
and replaced the kitchen box with that. Sassy had been accustomed to our original Litter Robot in the sunroom, and she had still been sneaking out there sometimes at night to use it, so it's not as if it's something new to her.
And for pooping purposes, Sassy uses this new Litter Robot just fine. But for the other purpose, she just steps up into it, paws around a bit, and goes -- with her backside hanging out over the front edge.
On one occasion, I was present when she climbed in, so I went over and tickled her until she turned around. But how can I persuade her to turn around on her own?
As paranoid as she is, you'd think she would turn around just so she could see if any other kitties were sneaking up on her!
We're at wit's end with this... we love Sassy dearly, and she adores my mom and me, and she also loves Dylan,
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/cat...ewcat&catid=86
who joins her in the kitchen to sleep in a cozy tangle every night. She doesn't seem to be fundamentally unhappy -- just incredibly anxious about Pearl (and sometimes Clyde,
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/cat...ewcat&catid=81
when he leaps to Pearl's defense).
Awhile back, a vet gave us some Prozac and herbal calmatives for Sassy, but getting her to take them was simply impossible. We had some almighty battles involving my mother and me and a bathtowel and a syringe full of pulverized pills mixed into a good-tasting liquid -- but even if I was able to shoot the liquid into her mouth, she always flung it right back out... and we just weren't willing to traumatize her that way anymore.
If you've stuck with me this far, thank you so much!
