Hello all!
This is my first time posting so forgive me if I mess up but I've gotten so much good advice reading this site I'm hoping someone can help.
I have 3 cats. Pretzel is a 4 year old neutered male DSH (alpha). Bobble is almost 2, neutered DSH (so not alpha). Cheddar is around 1, neutered DSH (wants to be alpha) and he's blind.
Here's my issue:
I've owned cats all my life and I have never done the proper introductions - I've put cats together and within a few days they got along. It worked with Pretzel and Bobble. It has not worked with Cheddar. They hate him and he hates them. It's not play fighting - there's fur flying. I set Cheddar up in a room, closed it off with a baby gate and I'm trying the re-intros based on a lot of what I've read here.
When I adopted Cheddar from the rescue, just before Christmas, they never told me he sprayed. He sprayed as soon as I brought him home so I took him to the vet and found out he had a UTI. I gave him meds for that but the spraying continues. The vet put him on Buspirone (5mg - 1/2 pill am, 1/2 pill pm). He gets really aggressive right after the pill so I make sure I put him away in his room. I know I messed up with the intros and I've tried Feliway, calming sprays, multiple cat boxes, multiple feeding stations, plenty of toys and playtime. I'm hoping with time things will improve but currently nothing seems to be working and Cheddar attacks when the other cats use any litter box or food dishes. This is what seems really strange to me though. I can be petting Cheddar and he'll rub on me and everything will be fine and all of a sudden he gives me a hands off meow and then rears back and swats at me. And he'll keep swatting until I go away. Whenever I pet him Pretzel comes around so I'm thinking maybe he's confusing me with Pretzel since he's blind. Even if I put my hand to him so he can smell that it's me all he does is scratch me. He's done this several times. I'm taking him to the vet Monday but in the meantime has anyone else experienced anything like this?
This is my first time posting so forgive me if I mess up but I've gotten so much good advice reading this site I'm hoping someone can help.
I have 3 cats. Pretzel is a 4 year old neutered male DSH (alpha). Bobble is almost 2, neutered DSH (so not alpha). Cheddar is around 1, neutered DSH (wants to be alpha) and he's blind.
Here's my issue:
I've owned cats all my life and I have never done the proper introductions - I've put cats together and within a few days they got along. It worked with Pretzel and Bobble. It has not worked with Cheddar. They hate him and he hates them. It's not play fighting - there's fur flying. I set Cheddar up in a room, closed it off with a baby gate and I'm trying the re-intros based on a lot of what I've read here.
When I adopted Cheddar from the rescue, just before Christmas, they never told me he sprayed. He sprayed as soon as I brought him home so I took him to the vet and found out he had a UTI. I gave him meds for that but the spraying continues. The vet put him on Buspirone (5mg - 1/2 pill am, 1/2 pill pm). He gets really aggressive right after the pill so I make sure I put him away in his room. I know I messed up with the intros and I've tried Feliway, calming sprays, multiple cat boxes, multiple feeding stations, plenty of toys and playtime. I'm hoping with time things will improve but currently nothing seems to be working and Cheddar attacks when the other cats use any litter box or food dishes. This is what seems really strange to me though. I can be petting Cheddar and he'll rub on me and everything will be fine and all of a sudden he gives me a hands off meow and then rears back and swats at me. And he'll keep swatting until I go away. Whenever I pet him Pretzel comes around so I'm thinking maybe he's confusing me with Pretzel since he's blind. Even if I put my hand to him so he can smell that it's me all he does is scratch me. He's done this several times. I'm taking him to the vet Monday but in the meantime has anyone else experienced anything like this?