Dora 18mos(agressor) vs Marie 5yrs(timid)

[CarmiesMom]

What's the title says Dora vs Marie

Dora or a Dora bell Is an 18 month old Unfixed female Who has the litter of 5-8 week old kittens. When I 1st got Dora She was about 8-10 weeks old she was dumped outside my home flea Free well cared for and groomed However she was ignorant about the road So I brought her in last year. Okay everything is good for a while until she hit puberty

At the Time I was unemployed So she wasn't spayed at the time. A few months later I noticed that she wasn't using her litter box and that she wasn't drinking much. I have a multi cat household currently we have 6 cats. At the time Dora got sick Marie who is currently 5 years old and fixed and Royal who is unfixed and Male, were attacking her. Anyway they were kept away from her and she was taken to the vet, This was around September or October anyway it took her a couple of months to get well she had I'm not sure what but I think it was some kind of parasites And an illness that came from having it. At the time the vet said he didn't wanna spay her because she was not healthy enough. When she was all well at the time I was just starting a new job and I didn't have the funds to get her fixed. In November just after thanksgiving she gave birth to a litter of 5 kittens and everything for a while nobody attacked anybody Everybody was fine.


Then comes this month Over the last week Dora has become extremely aggressive with her housemates. Most Especially Marie. Marie is the timid sorted we've had her since she was born Marie is what you might call special We think it might be feline version of down syndrome. We do know that she has poor eye sight and it's not quite an adult mentally Still seems like a kitten at times Other time seems like the lights are on but nobody is home. Marie has been fixed for the last couple of years. This past week Dora has taken to attacking Marie every time she sees her and lately seeking her out to attack her.

When she was sick Marie did attack her a few times And when it's 1st started earlier this month we thought it was just pay back at 1st However now it's getting to be a real problem she had Marie so intimidated That she was not coming out to her hiding spot to eat her drink I ended up having to give her food and water and a separate location where she feels safe.

Is there anything We can do to get Dora and Marie to get along Do you think Getting Dora spade will help she is scheduled soon. Or do you think I need to look for Dora a new home along with her kittens. I adorable both Dora and Marie but I cannot have Dora attacking Marie to the point where Marie won't come out to get attention eat drink or use the potty boxes. I just don't know what to do.

And please don't try to refer me to a behaviorist vet there's none in my area I live in rural north Missouri I'm lucky we have 3 vets 2 which are decent 1 which is affordable.

Thanks for listening to my rent and any advice or help you can give would be appreciated.

Marie

Dora

 

[Alldara]

Hi! Yes getting her spade is very important and might help.

I would recommend separating and reintroducing the two cats. Dora needs to be kept separate if she is attacking. I would keep her separate until a few weeks after her spay and then reintroduce her..

Likely, you'll need to reintroduce her after her spay anyway as she will smell very different and you will likely experience non-recognition agression at that time because the household has had hostility lately between cats.

I'll also recommend that you use some cat calming music (any streaming service, preferably with purring) and some Feliway multicat. I've found the multicat works significantly better than the regular formula, but takes about a month to work.

What kind of enrichment do you already do for your cats?

The timid cat will need lots of playtime to build confidence.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Absolutely, give Marie lots of play time. A wand toy, such as "Da Bird" is excellent for this, as the act of "hunt, catch, kill" is very empowering for cats.

But do get that spay done as soon as possible. That's the foundation that every good bit of advice is built on!

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! Are you keeping the kittens? They're an additional part of this equation.

I would keep Marie separated. From what I'm reading in your description of her, she's not a cat who is able to handle being attacked at all, in either the physical or the mental sense.

Although she'll probably love any extra attention, I doubt it will make much difference in how she handles aggressive behaviors from any other cats, including when those kittens reach the little terrorist stage.

 

[CarmiesMom]

Thanks guys separated for now Dora gets spayed on the 3rd, Marie doesn't like teaser toys they scare her I have no idea why she's so timid she was born in our home.


she's also delt with a lot over the last year My grandfather passed in April and he was her person and our Butter passed in August and he was a playmate.

We are keeping one of the kittens along with Spooks who's still isolated due to his illness and we are keeping baby Cinnamon because he is the only one unspoken for and no one seems to want him in our area and besides he's cute and seems to be Dora's favorite (second smallest).

we are most likely loosing our Matriarch later this spring the vet isn't sure why she's loosing weight and withdrawing from the family. She's Marie's mother so this might also be a factor (vet checked for thyroid issues already and removed two teeth is running a few more tests next month.) Caramel is 8.

So thanks guys and Marie is getting extra teats we set up a safe zone for her and found out which cat is the bread monster...Marie..lol

 

[CarmiesMom]

Enrichment is catnip mousies, jingle balls, crinkle and sparkle balls, kicker toys tunnel, cat tree, and three their roller ball toys ohh and this cute multi armed scratching post toy that has a plush ball at the end of each arm she adores I got it from Swiss Colony and it's her favorite especially when I dip the balls in Nip.. she can't fallow a laser I tried when she was 2.

but I think part of it is her solution to grief or fear is hiding so I set up her safe space hopefully she'll feel like coming out of hiding again soon.

 

[Alldara]

C CarmiesMom you're likely right about the grief!

You can play however she likes I'm sure. Magnus likes when we wiggle a mouse under a blanket.