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Hello! A little backstory: My husband and I recently adopted two cats in O'ahu. We adopted two cats because the feral cat population in Hawaii is absolutely insane and heartbreaking, with a population over 300,000+ kitties roaming the islands. One cat is a Siamese mix (Dovahkiin) and the other an Orange British Shorthair (Anakin). . We picked these two up at our local spca shelter. We were told that these cats were feral, and then brought in by a lady who I believe took in a bunch of cats. For some reason the cats were separated, and Dovahkiin had separation anxiety and began licking the back of her legs until she had no fur left. For unknown reasons, she surrendered the cats at shelter.
Fast forward to today. The cats are both 9 months old, and they do not get along. They do lick each other from time to time and play fight, but Anakin mostly chases/scares her, which causes her to hide under our bed during the day. I'm a bit confused, because the backstory claimed they were inseparable, yet Dovahkiin avoids him at all costs. Anakin is extremely problematic. When we first took him in, he was pooping and peeing on everything, completely ruining pieces of our brand new furniture. We were patient and understood that he needed time to adjust to living a domesticated lifestyle, and he no longer constantly goes to the bathroom everywhere. He meows NONSTOP. He will meow in different tones and lengths constantly throughout the day. I cannot begin to explain how much he meows, especially at night. He is well taken care of -fed multiple meals throughout the day, has his own litterbox, and I spend a lot of time with him.
Our main issue is with him is the constant meowing at night. We tried keeping him locked out of the bedroom, but he ruined our door from scratching it, plus it only makes him meow even louder/longer. So unfortunately we have to keep him in the spare bedroom at night in order to sleep. I hate doing that, and we always try to give him the benefit of the doubt and try to ignore his meowing. Last night he didn't have to be locked away, and we slept through the night with minor interruptions. I'm currently writing this at 2am as I wait for my sheets to be done in the washer, because he just pooped on our bed as we were sleeping. He has done this once before when we were sleeping, he jumped right up and took a very very wet poop right on top of us. He also constantly scratches the furniture. I bought a spray to potentially deter him, but it didn't work. Each time he scratches the furniture I push up on his legs to get him to stop.
Anakin is a very sweet cat when he is not being a jerk. He will lay on top of me for hours, purr endlessly, stare into my eyes, and pet my face with his paws. He is very social and loves attention. I have been reading that he might have gone to the bathroom on our bed because he is angry we were ignoring him. I believe that Anakin does have severe attachment issues with me. He always has to follow me around and be touching me in some aspect.
He is causing so much stress in our lives, but we refuse to give him up. Why does Anakin constantly meow? What can we do? We're on our last limbs. I can't trust him to freely roam the house at night because he will defecate on top of us. I can tell dovahkiin is afraid of him because I hardly see her during the day. When we lock him away at night, Dovahkiin turns into a completely different cat. She hops up in bed with us, purrs immediately, and loves to be scratched. During the day she is antisocial, and wont let you touch, or even look at her (she will run away!).
Edit: I wanted to include some things that I had forgotten. We do try to ignore Anakin every time he meows, but it doesn't provide much of a result. Since he is meowing all day, we do have to eventually acknowledge him while he is meowing in order to interact with him. We have also tried setting up a playtime routine before bed to exhaust him, but it doesn't seem to make a difference.
I'd also like to ask for some recommendations when it comes to feeding the cats. We usually keep dry food out throughout the day, and we give them a big can of cat food to split in both the morning and dinner time. No matter what dry food we purchase, they will always cry for the wet food whenever we walk by where it is stored, which seems normal to me. Should we be feeding them this much? Should I stop keeping dry food out during the day? Anakin seems to calm down a little bit more when he has open access to food.
Here they are pictured on the day we first adopted them, scared and hiding in the bathroom. Anakin is on the left, while Dovahkiin is on the right. These first few days were the only time they were getting along.
Fast forward to today. The cats are both 9 months old, and they do not get along. They do lick each other from time to time and play fight, but Anakin mostly chases/scares her, which causes her to hide under our bed during the day. I'm a bit confused, because the backstory claimed they were inseparable, yet Dovahkiin avoids him at all costs. Anakin is extremely problematic. When we first took him in, he was pooping and peeing on everything, completely ruining pieces of our brand new furniture. We were patient and understood that he needed time to adjust to living a domesticated lifestyle, and he no longer constantly goes to the bathroom everywhere. He meows NONSTOP. He will meow in different tones and lengths constantly throughout the day. I cannot begin to explain how much he meows, especially at night. He is well taken care of -fed multiple meals throughout the day, has his own litterbox, and I spend a lot of time with him.
Our main issue is with him is the constant meowing at night. We tried keeping him locked out of the bedroom, but he ruined our door from scratching it, plus it only makes him meow even louder/longer. So unfortunately we have to keep him in the spare bedroom at night in order to sleep. I hate doing that, and we always try to give him the benefit of the doubt and try to ignore his meowing. Last night he didn't have to be locked away, and we slept through the night with minor interruptions. I'm currently writing this at 2am as I wait for my sheets to be done in the washer, because he just pooped on our bed as we were sleeping. He has done this once before when we were sleeping, he jumped right up and took a very very wet poop right on top of us. He also constantly scratches the furniture. I bought a spray to potentially deter him, but it didn't work. Each time he scratches the furniture I push up on his legs to get him to stop.
Anakin is a very sweet cat when he is not being a jerk. He will lay on top of me for hours, purr endlessly, stare into my eyes, and pet my face with his paws. He is very social and loves attention. I have been reading that he might have gone to the bathroom on our bed because he is angry we were ignoring him. I believe that Anakin does have severe attachment issues with me. He always has to follow me around and be touching me in some aspect.
He is causing so much stress in our lives, but we refuse to give him up. Why does Anakin constantly meow? What can we do? We're on our last limbs. I can't trust him to freely roam the house at night because he will defecate on top of us. I can tell dovahkiin is afraid of him because I hardly see her during the day. When we lock him away at night, Dovahkiin turns into a completely different cat. She hops up in bed with us, purrs immediately, and loves to be scratched. During the day she is antisocial, and wont let you touch, or even look at her (she will run away!).
Edit: I wanted to include some things that I had forgotten. We do try to ignore Anakin every time he meows, but it doesn't provide much of a result. Since he is meowing all day, we do have to eventually acknowledge him while he is meowing in order to interact with him. We have also tried setting up a playtime routine before bed to exhaust him, but it doesn't seem to make a difference.
I'd also like to ask for some recommendations when it comes to feeding the cats. We usually keep dry food out throughout the day, and we give them a big can of cat food to split in both the morning and dinner time. No matter what dry food we purchase, they will always cry for the wet food whenever we walk by where it is stored, which seems normal to me. Should we be feeding them this much? Should I stop keeping dry food out during the day? Anakin seems to calm down a little bit more when he has open access to food.
Here they are pictured on the day we first adopted them, scared and hiding in the bathroom. Anakin is on the left, while Dovahkiin is on the right. These first few days were the only time they were getting along.
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