I havn't been on TCS forums for so long, but I'm having cat problems and I thought of you all.
First of all, I have a 3 1/2 year old female unspayed (please don't yell at me for this--so many times have I attempted to get her spayed) cat. She was feral when she was a kitten and we took her litter in and found homes for them. She was the first cat we ever got. She was always a little crazy, but, you know, she'e a cat; it kinda comes with the package. She's never liked being snuggled a lot, but she LOVES being around people. She'll follow you from room to room.
Eventually we took on Socks; a nuetered 8 (?) year old former feral cat. Peanuts did not get along with him AT ALL, so Socks lives in a different parts of the house and they're both ok with that.
Over the years we've taken in a few litters of feral kittens, tamed them, and found suitable homes for them. We captured the female cat and got her spayed, then released her. But through all this Peanuts got exposed to more and more cats; she used to hate other cats. She got so indifferent and fine with other cats being in her home that we decided to keep a female kittten (Peekaboo) from the last litter that came through. For a few months they were best friends; often you would walk into the living room and they'd be snuggled up on the couch together.
The Peekaboo is now about 9 months old. I guess the weird behavior started about 3 weeks ago.
Actually, now that I think about it, it started shortly after this strange incident with flea spray about a month ago. The flea epidemic somehow hit my house (again....) and as Advantage is expensive we decided to try something else this time. We had flea killer that you spray on furnature and such but it said that you could also use it on cats, so we sprayed Peekaboo and Peanuts. BIG MISTAKE. Thry started acting weird, walking funny and flicking their paws when there was clearly nothing on them. We took them to the vet and he thinks that a certain chemical in the spray was messing with their nervous system. We had already gave them baths, so there wasn't really much else we could do but wait for it to wear off. Eventually they went back to normal, but I think it was shortly after this that Peanuts stated acting weird. Don't know if this all is relevant but thought that I would include it...
Anyways, like I said, Peanuts used to be good friends with Peekaboo. Then, all of a sudden, she started hissing at her. If Peekaboo walked to close to her, *HISSSSSS*. If Peekaboo was in her spot, *HISSSS*. Peanuts started fighting with her. We shrugged it off as jealousy that would pass (like, maybe Peanuts was feeling threatened that Peekaboo was getting older?) but it's just gotten worse. She's taken to cursing us out, too. Both cats sleep in crates at night, as they run around and wake everyone up. She started giving my dad a hard time when he went to pick her up to put her in. But today was the worst. My mom saw Peanuts getting upset at Peekaboo (and by the way, when Peanuts throws a fit Peekaboo does nothing to retaliate) so she put Peekaboo in the bathroom to give Peanuts alone time with my mom. Peanuts rewarded her by attacking my mom in the face! She's NEVER been like this. Just tonight she growled at me when I picked her up, and then clawed my hand.
So I guess my question is, What's going on? She literally seems like she's CRAZY. All my cats are up to date on their shots, and they don't go outside. Is she literally going mad with jealousy? What do I do? It's not like I'm newly introducing the two cats; they had been friends for a while. Every time that Peanuts acts hateful she gets put in her crate. Is this even the right thing to do? I've never had/heard of this kind of problem.
I guess I should also mention that Peanuts had recently been in heat. I wondered if this was the cause of her behavior at first, but she's been in heat before and NEVER acted this was towards Peekaboo or anyone else.
Please help!!!!
First of all, I have a 3 1/2 year old female unspayed (please don't yell at me for this--so many times have I attempted to get her spayed) cat. She was feral when she was a kitten and we took her litter in and found homes for them. She was the first cat we ever got. She was always a little crazy, but, you know, she'e a cat; it kinda comes with the package. She's never liked being snuggled a lot, but she LOVES being around people. She'll follow you from room to room.
Eventually we took on Socks; a nuetered 8 (?) year old former feral cat. Peanuts did not get along with him AT ALL, so Socks lives in a different parts of the house and they're both ok with that.
Over the years we've taken in a few litters of feral kittens, tamed them, and found suitable homes for them. We captured the female cat and got her spayed, then released her. But through all this Peanuts got exposed to more and more cats; she used to hate other cats. She got so indifferent and fine with other cats being in her home that we decided to keep a female kittten (Peekaboo) from the last litter that came through. For a few months they were best friends; often you would walk into the living room and they'd be snuggled up on the couch together.
The Peekaboo is now about 9 months old. I guess the weird behavior started about 3 weeks ago.
Actually, now that I think about it, it started shortly after this strange incident with flea spray about a month ago. The flea epidemic somehow hit my house (again....) and as Advantage is expensive we decided to try something else this time. We had flea killer that you spray on furnature and such but it said that you could also use it on cats, so we sprayed Peekaboo and Peanuts. BIG MISTAKE. Thry started acting weird, walking funny and flicking their paws when there was clearly nothing on them. We took them to the vet and he thinks that a certain chemical in the spray was messing with their nervous system. We had already gave them baths, so there wasn't really much else we could do but wait for it to wear off. Eventually they went back to normal, but I think it was shortly after this that Peanuts stated acting weird. Don't know if this all is relevant but thought that I would include it...
Anyways, like I said, Peanuts used to be good friends with Peekaboo. Then, all of a sudden, she started hissing at her. If Peekaboo walked to close to her, *HISSSSSS*. If Peekaboo was in her spot, *HISSSS*. Peanuts started fighting with her. We shrugged it off as jealousy that would pass (like, maybe Peanuts was feeling threatened that Peekaboo was getting older?) but it's just gotten worse. She's taken to cursing us out, too. Both cats sleep in crates at night, as they run around and wake everyone up. She started giving my dad a hard time when he went to pick her up to put her in. But today was the worst. My mom saw Peanuts getting upset at Peekaboo (and by the way, when Peanuts throws a fit Peekaboo does nothing to retaliate) so she put Peekaboo in the bathroom to give Peanuts alone time with my mom. Peanuts rewarded her by attacking my mom in the face! She's NEVER been like this. Just tonight she growled at me when I picked her up, and then clawed my hand.
So I guess my question is, What's going on? She literally seems like she's CRAZY. All my cats are up to date on their shots, and they don't go outside. Is she literally going mad with jealousy? What do I do? It's not like I'm newly introducing the two cats; they had been friends for a while. Every time that Peanuts acts hateful she gets put in her crate. Is this even the right thing to do? I've never had/heard of this kind of problem.
I guess I should also mention that Peanuts had recently been in heat. I wondered if this was the cause of her behavior at first, but she's been in heat before and NEVER acted this was towards Peekaboo or anyone else.
Please help!!!!