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- Jun 1, 2012
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Carly, our almost two year old cat is scared of everything, has almost always had severe separation anxiety, makes distressing calls during the day, looking at things that don't seem to be there, etc.She was found abandoned (no mother showed up in three days; we fed her as we watched) as a month old kitten, and we have raised her ever since. I think a lot of her problems do come from this early abandonment, we've tried Feliway, catnip spray, Rescue Remedy, nothing has worked.
We live in an apartment complex (and no, we can't afford to move) and she hears noises outside and within other apartments and it freaks her out. We thought letting her get up in the front window to see what was going on would help, but that was probably the worst thing we could have done.
There is a cat that is fed by people in the complex, and she comes up and just taunts the heck out of our cats. We forgot to put the blinds down when going to bed one night, and we wake up at about 5 AM to a cat fight between Carly and our 3 year old female, Binky, who was her surrogate mother. Earlier that day had been a little stressful to Carly; a friend dropped some things off at our apartment to store for him until he can get his own place again, and she had been hiding under the bathroom closet for the rest of the day. But as my husband was trying to distract the cat fight he noticed the outdoor cat on our air conditioning unit, so we think that must have been redirected aggression
Things seemed to go along fine for the next couple of weeks, the cat fight seemed forgiven and forgotten, though they were not as affectionate with each other as they had been. Then we again forgot to close the blinds one night, woke up to a cat fight again, saw the outdoor cat slinking off, but this time the fighting did not subside.
I will say that we went on a cleaning fit the previous day because of apartment inspections and pest control, etc. The vacuum monster was on and off frequently that day, and we know it stressed her out. Then the day of this fight the pest control lady came in. Binky had no reaction, and Carly was closed in my husband's room. They did not spray her room.
Carly is more my husband's cat, but I decided I would check on her in his bedroom (we sleep apart), then I went to comfort my poor, bewildered Binky, who likes to cuddle on my bed. Well, in comes Carly, who hisses at her, and the fight is immediately back on. Then Carly comes up onto my bed and hides behind my head. Then Binky comes to try to get even the foot of my bed available to her, and Carly fights her off. We decided to separate the two of them, and Carly was shut into my husband's room, along with food, water and a litter box. This was two days ago. They'll pick at their food but not eat much, they have used their separate boxes though. We're going to get them tuna to see if we can coax them to eat; they ignored the canned food we put out for them, and they usually gobble that right up.
Well, I go to check on Carly the first night, and Binky, looking upset and distraught, slipped between my legs. She appeared concerned for Carly, did not look like she wanted a fight, but Carly hissed at her straight away and the fight was back on. Yesterday we kept them separated all day, letting Carly out into our living room when she felt comfortable enough to leave her cave. But Binky is starting to feel resentful about getting shut in my bedroom at times. Today she sounded like a mother cat calling for a kitten she can't find. When it's Binky's turn in the living room she just sits motionless by Carly's door. It's Carly who seems to be the aggressor, and I think it's because something has seriously spooked her. Carly twitches frequently in her sleep. She is obviously stressed out, and we need to find out what is going on.
Here's some basics:
1. Both are spayed, neither declawed.
2. We can't afford a fully canned diet for them, so they get a can of food to split every other day and otherwise get kibble.
3. Carly turns two in about three months, she appears to have just stopped growing, and now is about the same size and weight as Binky. Perhaps a bit of redirected aggression and power play?
4. They were never best friends, but they got along peaceably enough until recently. The only aggression I'd seen between them was a short bop on the nose during play, then they would just leave each other alone. But there were also times where they would cuddle and groom each other.
Here is our living situation:
1. Our main room is a combination living room/kitchen. There is a wall and a few doors that separate this from the rest of the apartment, which is two bedrooms and a closet. We have no hallways. Our only other closeable room is the bathroom.
2. We live on $720 a month and don't have a ton of money for this improvement, that improvement, whatever.
3. We have limited ability to create vertical space because we are not allowed to put up shelves in our apartment, and a suitable cat tree would be far more than we can afford. We have no ability to modify our apartment in any way, so anything to help with reintroduction must be something that will make no marks and be temporary.
4. We have been given some money from my grandfather to get Carly checked out at the vet (about $200.) We think she might need Prozac. I am sure if we don't use all the money on the vet visit it can be used for other cat necessities.
Right now we have $86 available on Walmart credit, we have no other cards, and no money in the bank. Part of this needs to be used for litter. We will be getting some cardboard scratchers temporarily and a few toys, though neither have been interested in playing.
Anyway, does anyone have any reintroduction techniques for when there is limited space? Any luck with Prozac?
We live in an apartment complex (and no, we can't afford to move) and she hears noises outside and within other apartments and it freaks her out. We thought letting her get up in the front window to see what was going on would help, but that was probably the worst thing we could have done.
There is a cat that is fed by people in the complex, and she comes up and just taunts the heck out of our cats. We forgot to put the blinds down when going to bed one night, and we wake up at about 5 AM to a cat fight between Carly and our 3 year old female, Binky, who was her surrogate mother. Earlier that day had been a little stressful to Carly; a friend dropped some things off at our apartment to store for him until he can get his own place again, and she had been hiding under the bathroom closet for the rest of the day. But as my husband was trying to distract the cat fight he noticed the outdoor cat on our air conditioning unit, so we think that must have been redirected aggression
Things seemed to go along fine for the next couple of weeks, the cat fight seemed forgiven and forgotten, though they were not as affectionate with each other as they had been. Then we again forgot to close the blinds one night, woke up to a cat fight again, saw the outdoor cat slinking off, but this time the fighting did not subside.
I will say that we went on a cleaning fit the previous day because of apartment inspections and pest control, etc. The vacuum monster was on and off frequently that day, and we know it stressed her out. Then the day of this fight the pest control lady came in. Binky had no reaction, and Carly was closed in my husband's room. They did not spray her room.
Carly is more my husband's cat, but I decided I would check on her in his bedroom (we sleep apart), then I went to comfort my poor, bewildered Binky, who likes to cuddle on my bed. Well, in comes Carly, who hisses at her, and the fight is immediately back on. Then Carly comes up onto my bed and hides behind my head. Then Binky comes to try to get even the foot of my bed available to her, and Carly fights her off. We decided to separate the two of them, and Carly was shut into my husband's room, along with food, water and a litter box. This was two days ago. They'll pick at their food but not eat much, they have used their separate boxes though. We're going to get them tuna to see if we can coax them to eat; they ignored the canned food we put out for them, and they usually gobble that right up.
Well, I go to check on Carly the first night, and Binky, looking upset and distraught, slipped between my legs. She appeared concerned for Carly, did not look like she wanted a fight, but Carly hissed at her straight away and the fight was back on. Yesterday we kept them separated all day, letting Carly out into our living room when she felt comfortable enough to leave her cave. But Binky is starting to feel resentful about getting shut in my bedroom at times. Today she sounded like a mother cat calling for a kitten she can't find. When it's Binky's turn in the living room she just sits motionless by Carly's door. It's Carly who seems to be the aggressor, and I think it's because something has seriously spooked her. Carly twitches frequently in her sleep. She is obviously stressed out, and we need to find out what is going on.
Here's some basics:
1. Both are spayed, neither declawed.
2. We can't afford a fully canned diet for them, so they get a can of food to split every other day and otherwise get kibble.
3. Carly turns two in about three months, she appears to have just stopped growing, and now is about the same size and weight as Binky. Perhaps a bit of redirected aggression and power play?
4. They were never best friends, but they got along peaceably enough until recently. The only aggression I'd seen between them was a short bop on the nose during play, then they would just leave each other alone. But there were also times where they would cuddle and groom each other.
Here is our living situation:
1. Our main room is a combination living room/kitchen. There is a wall and a few doors that separate this from the rest of the apartment, which is two bedrooms and a closet. We have no hallways. Our only other closeable room is the bathroom.
2. We live on $720 a month and don't have a ton of money for this improvement, that improvement, whatever.
3. We have limited ability to create vertical space because we are not allowed to put up shelves in our apartment, and a suitable cat tree would be far more than we can afford. We have no ability to modify our apartment in any way, so anything to help with reintroduction must be something that will make no marks and be temporary.
4. We have been given some money from my grandfather to get Carly checked out at the vet (about $200.) We think she might need Prozac. I am sure if we don't use all the money on the vet visit it can be used for other cat necessities.
Right now we have $86 available on Walmart credit, we have no other cards, and no money in the bank. Part of this needs to be used for litter. We will be getting some cardboard scratchers temporarily and a few toys, though neither have been interested in playing.
Anyway, does anyone have any reintroduction techniques for when there is limited space? Any luck with Prozac?
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