Cheetah and Ohmypay

[silent meowlook]

Cheetah is 14 yrs 6.5lb. Fs previously feral cat I have had indoor only since she was 4 months old. She lived peacefully with Rusty my cat who I had to have euthanized at 17y in 2017.
Cheetah has hyperthyroid, LSA (suspect) an intestinal mass, asthma, very poor lungs with infiltrates shown on radiographs x 14 yr. She also most likely has kidney disease and heart disease as her BNP was high normal last year. She also has chronic constipation. She is treated with Methimazole, Prednisolone, Chlorambucil, Cerenia, VitB12 injections, SQ fluids only 50cc as needed, very rarely Odansetron for breakthrough nausea, but haven’t had to use it for a year. She eats Royal Canin venison canned and that has stopped the vomiting.

probably all that isn’t relevant. Bottom line is, she is ill and sleeps a lot. There isn’t much to her. Her respiratory rate is always elevated. She isn’t miserable. She greets me at the door and talks allot. She loves to hang out on the couch with me.

Omypaw is a stray Mn 12 lbs big solid cat about 3 years old I took in last year. It took around 4 months before I could let them be together.

They were getting along as good as could be expected. When Cheetah would go to the other room he chased her. It would stop as soon as she stopped running.

Around 2 am this morning he chased her and tackled her, she was screaming. She got away and he tackled her again, she was still screaming. By that time I had jumped over the sofa and was able to grab him but not a great hold, he leaped on her again and all I had was his tail. Finally got his scruff and tossed him in a bedroom. He is still there. He has water and litter.

Although Cheetah had no wounds, she was so stressed I thought I might lose her. She seems better today. I don’t know what to do. The room where I used to keep them separated is not there anymore and it’s not my house, so I can’t leave a litter pan out for her and keep him in the bedroom. I am beyond frustrated and very worried about when I have to work a 12 hour shift tomorrow. Any advice appreciated.

 

[silent meowlook]

This was earlier in the day before the fight.

 

[fionasmom]

I am sorry that this happened to your old and ill girl. In the short term, can you confine one or the other to a large dog crate until you work this out. I realize this might not sound appealing, and in the long term it is not, but I have done it in cases like this where you need to go to work and concentrate on your job. A bathroom?

There was a trigger of some sort; do you think it has to do with anything like a smell coming from Cheetah, or a sense of illness that Omypaw senses? I had a very strange thing happen about 6 months ago where my oldest girl Kate (14 soon) had an ear infection and I was cleaning and administering meds. Jamie (5) came over and smelled the Q tip and cotton and all hell broke loose. He chased, scratched, cornered, terrorized Kate and it seemed to be from that. It calmed down and things did go back to normal, so that is the good news, but he is still very interested in any used ear supplies and will come over when I check her ears.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. Not sure I am clear on why you can't leave a litter pan for her in a separate area from where you confine him. I am guessing that must mean the litter pan is in your bedroom and that is where they go when they have to pee/poop? So, as suggested above, is the bathroom an option? Even a temporary litter pan - with some used litter added - would suffice for now. Give it to whichever of the cats that would be more adaptable to a new litter container - which could be something as simple as a cardboard box lid for now. You need to give them both a place to be separate from one another, and if the bathroom is an option, it would be better than a large crate since that doesn't resolve the issue of keeping them apart anyway, without additional blockades being built.

Also, as mentioned above, medical issues can cause attacks like this - and it can be either cat, the one who is sick can be the attacker or the one who is being attacked. It can go either way. But the other thing to consider is some sort of outside force - a stray cat/animal, construction or other unusual noises outside. If there are others who live in the house, new smells from them, or any other sort of changes they may have brough to the home can also affects some cats while other cats will be totally unfazed. So, consider all the possible 'culprits' in case you can resolve the situation by dealing with the problem source.

Sometimes, these things will mysteriously resolve themselves after a day or two of separation.

 

[silent meowlook]

I let him out of the room and they are doing fine now. I played with him for a while to try to get some pent up energy out of him. They have 4 litter pans. The bedroom is actually their bedroom with their litter boxes and cat tree and beds and toys etc. They can see out a window there where another cat tree with beds on it is. He may have seen another cat outside of the window. He is very reactive towards cats outside. He likes to chase her though and most of the time he thinks he is playing but she does not. Right now you would never know anything had happened.

 

[fionasmom]

I do have to wonder if this was a one time thing, or if it was redirected aggression. Hopefully!

 

[silent meowlook]

Hi. I never followed up with this post. I discovered the problem shortly after. My neighbors have n intact large male Tom cat. He lives outside.

I was in the living room and heard the most bizarre almost comical noise from the cat’s room. I heard the walls of the house shake with as loud banging noise. I ran to the bedroom and there was a monster Omypaw. All his hair on end pooped up to twice his size making these horrible noises and slamming the window. He was up on the flat part of the cat tree that looks out the window. Behind him was Cheetah, looking so small in comparison. She is half his size but she looked even smaller compared to the aggressive barbaric poof ball that is Omypaw. Cheetah looked like she didn’t know what to do.

I quickly grabbed Cheetah and took her to the couch in the living room where we hid under a blanket like battered women from a 1980’s burning bed movie. Ok, maybe Cheetah just hid, not me.

I took a second and went back into the demon cat’s den bedroom. On the other side of the window I see Tom. He is short haired, big jowls, and a large muscular cat. He is cleaning his face, his paws, relaxing and looked to be enjoying himself while Omypaw is losing his mind. In his manic fight state, I was not going to touch him. I threw a blanket over him and scooped him up and put him in the back California room with the musical instruments. I close the slider and check on Cheetah. She tells me I look stressed and should nap with her.

The same sound again. I go into the room with demon cat and he is bouncing off the drum set, adding to the noise. I look out the slider that goes to the back yard and there is Tom. Now, Tom has traveled all the way around the house to once again clean himself in front of Omypaw. But, this time he has his Mom cat with him. She is asking for a snack. Very politely I might add.

So, I believe I discovered the inciting factor of what led him to attack Cheetah that day.

There is a thick hedge in front of the cats bedroom window. They can see the tree but not the ground in front. Neither cat has access to the California room with the sliders. I had a long talk with Tom. He sleeps sometimes on the front patio furniture but there is now a big display case blocking that window from the cats.

Both cats still do their cat spats occasionally, but mostly it is the big Omypaw’s crazy playing and Cheetah not being fast enough to get out of the way. She still slaps him upside the head every now and then. They do time share on the prime locations, and will eat out of the same dish without incident if hungry enough.

Anyway, thought I would let everyone know

 

[fionasmom]

It makes perfect sense. A while back an unneutered male that I have never seen before or since same up on the front patio. Jamie, who is a male, but fixed, was sitting next to the open window. When he smelled the male cat, and there was a very strong smell, he became so ballistic and screamed so loud that a neighbor a couple of doors down came to see what had happened to us.

 

[silent meowlook]

Cats are so territorial. They can actually be dangerous in that state.