Hello everyone of The Cat Site! I'm coming to you for help with a whole load of problems my boyfriend and I are having with our adopted kittens. We're currently going through extreme stress due to them....
I'm going to refer to them as Cat 1 and Cat 2.
So, about four months ago we decided to finally add two felines to our family (two siamese brothers - 8 weeks old when we got them). We fell in love with them the moment we met them. They were shy at first, but we gave them their space. We didn't overwhelm them, just kinda let them get used to their new home & owners.
They both began to warm up to us, especially Cat 1. Cat 2 was cautious and pretty antisocial, and afraid of EVERYTHING. Eventually they both warmed up to me, but Cat 1 is still cautious around my boyfriend and Cat 2 HATES him. That's problem #1 - they both are extremely tense around my boyfriend and act as though he's an extreme threat. They run from and hiss at him. They meow when he pets or picks them up. We tried two weeks of him ignoring them completely to show that my boyfriend was not threatening. Didn't work. Their behavior got worse towards him. We tried 2 weeks of showering them with affection, making sure to be calm and only petting them when they want to be pet. Kind of worked? They still really don't like his presence and I can tell it's starting to hurt his feelings. We have no idea what to do about this. We're nearing month 5 now and now they're both starting to become a little more cautious around me even. They seem to be really uncomfortable when he's in the room (they sit in one place, put their ears back when he makes movement) - which sucks because him and I spend a lot of time in the same room together. They're just really scared of him. We've tried pheromone spray + diffusers. We've tried calming droplets. We've tried rewarding them for being social and good/less tense around him with treats. It's like every day they hard reset and hate him all over again. When he's at work they LOVE me, though.
TL;DR: cats hate my boyfriend no matter what we do.
Problem #2 - They release whatever is in their anal glands whenever they're scared. I don't know if that's it exactly, but whenever they're frightened they squirt this AWFUL smelling liquid. The bad part? They're almost always scared. Mostly Cat 2. He's afraid of EVERYTHING. STILL. Any little movement and he'll be out the door and before you know it my boyfriend and I are gagging due to this horrible smell. Then we have to locate where he did it and thoroughly clean the carpet. And I have to bathe them. Because it gets ALL over their fur. It's really, really awful. Cat 1 has only done this once, Cat 2 is the one who is constantly in a state of panic and ready to release it at any moment. Their anal glands don't seem to be swollen or in need of expressing. Only happens when the cats are frightened. We've managed to make it through 5 days now with no spraying - I'm really hoping he's stopped but if he hasn't, what do I do about this?!
TL;DR: cats spray anal gland mist whenever they're scared. they're always scared. it's really gross.
Problem #3 - Cat 2 is constantly getting into things. He likes to wait until we go to sleep to get into EVERYTHING. His brother rarely gets into stuff, but he follows Cat 2 around everywhere and I feel like they influence off of each other - it's only a matter of time before Cat 1 also wants to jump all over the kitchen counter. I've tried lining the counters with tape + pots and pans. Doesn't matter. He finds something else to get into. And when he gets into things it makes a lot of noise and it's keeping us up at night. NOT GOOD! My boyfriend has to get up at 6 every morning for a two hour commute. He can't afford to be getting 4 hours of sleep every night due to this... I've tried Keep Off spray but they don't care. I've tried vinegar spray and it also doesn't work for them. We can't lock them up in a closet every night. (well, we can, but I really want them to enjoy freedom + they HATE the closet.)
TL;DR: one cat is constantly getting into mischief.
Problem #4 - They don't let us sleep at night. It doesn't matter how much we deprive them of sleep during the day (not really deprive, we just entertain them every time they try to sleep), 15 minutes after we're laying down and they're both running around, slamming into walls, fighting, meowing, climbing on things, knocking things over. I have no idea what to do about this. We've managed to keep them awake the entire day for the past two days - they got maybe 5-10 minutes of sleep max during the day. All they want to do is sleep - they look EXHAUSTED by 10pm. We get into bed and turn off the lights and bam, they're awake and running around somehow. How do I adjust a cat's sleep schedule?! This is driving both of us INSANE.
TL;DR: cats want to be awake at night despite not sleeping at all during the day, can't seem to get them to sleep on our schedule.
So anyways, we're having some cat troubles and it's become very stressful for us. We had no idea what we were signing up for apparently. We love them and we want them to be happy, but not at the sake of our own...you guys are cat experts so please help!
A little more information: they were strays found on the streets before getting sheltered.
they were weaned too early from their mother - evident from excessive "wool sucking" and Cat 2 is constantly trying to suckle on his brother.
they both tend to overgroom themselves. they'll spend hours licking/grooming.
I'm going to refer to them as Cat 1 and Cat 2.
So, about four months ago we decided to finally add two felines to our family (two siamese brothers - 8 weeks old when we got them). We fell in love with them the moment we met them. They were shy at first, but we gave them their space. We didn't overwhelm them, just kinda let them get used to their new home & owners.
They both began to warm up to us, especially Cat 1. Cat 2 was cautious and pretty antisocial, and afraid of EVERYTHING. Eventually they both warmed up to me, but Cat 1 is still cautious around my boyfriend and Cat 2 HATES him. That's problem #1 - they both are extremely tense around my boyfriend and act as though he's an extreme threat. They run from and hiss at him. They meow when he pets or picks them up. We tried two weeks of him ignoring them completely to show that my boyfriend was not threatening. Didn't work. Their behavior got worse towards him. We tried 2 weeks of showering them with affection, making sure to be calm and only petting them when they want to be pet. Kind of worked? They still really don't like his presence and I can tell it's starting to hurt his feelings. We have no idea what to do about this. We're nearing month 5 now and now they're both starting to become a little more cautious around me even. They seem to be really uncomfortable when he's in the room (they sit in one place, put their ears back when he makes movement) - which sucks because him and I spend a lot of time in the same room together. They're just really scared of him. We've tried pheromone spray + diffusers. We've tried calming droplets. We've tried rewarding them for being social and good/less tense around him with treats. It's like every day they hard reset and hate him all over again. When he's at work they LOVE me, though.
TL;DR: cats hate my boyfriend no matter what we do.
Problem #2 - They release whatever is in their anal glands whenever they're scared. I don't know if that's it exactly, but whenever they're frightened they squirt this AWFUL smelling liquid. The bad part? They're almost always scared. Mostly Cat 2. He's afraid of EVERYTHING. STILL. Any little movement and he'll be out the door and before you know it my boyfriend and I are gagging due to this horrible smell. Then we have to locate where he did it and thoroughly clean the carpet. And I have to bathe them. Because it gets ALL over their fur. It's really, really awful. Cat 1 has only done this once, Cat 2 is the one who is constantly in a state of panic and ready to release it at any moment. Their anal glands don't seem to be swollen or in need of expressing. Only happens when the cats are frightened. We've managed to make it through 5 days now with no spraying - I'm really hoping he's stopped but if he hasn't, what do I do about this?!
TL;DR: cats spray anal gland mist whenever they're scared. they're always scared. it's really gross.
Problem #3 - Cat 2 is constantly getting into things. He likes to wait until we go to sleep to get into EVERYTHING. His brother rarely gets into stuff, but he follows Cat 2 around everywhere and I feel like they influence off of each other - it's only a matter of time before Cat 1 also wants to jump all over the kitchen counter. I've tried lining the counters with tape + pots and pans. Doesn't matter. He finds something else to get into. And when he gets into things it makes a lot of noise and it's keeping us up at night. NOT GOOD! My boyfriend has to get up at 6 every morning for a two hour commute. He can't afford to be getting 4 hours of sleep every night due to this... I've tried Keep Off spray but they don't care. I've tried vinegar spray and it also doesn't work for them. We can't lock them up in a closet every night. (well, we can, but I really want them to enjoy freedom + they HATE the closet.)
TL;DR: one cat is constantly getting into mischief.
Problem #4 - They don't let us sleep at night. It doesn't matter how much we deprive them of sleep during the day (not really deprive, we just entertain them every time they try to sleep), 15 minutes after we're laying down and they're both running around, slamming into walls, fighting, meowing, climbing on things, knocking things over. I have no idea what to do about this. We've managed to keep them awake the entire day for the past two days - they got maybe 5-10 minutes of sleep max during the day. All they want to do is sleep - they look EXHAUSTED by 10pm. We get into bed and turn off the lights and bam, they're awake and running around somehow. How do I adjust a cat's sleep schedule?! This is driving both of us INSANE.
TL;DR: cats want to be awake at night despite not sleeping at all during the day, can't seem to get them to sleep on our schedule.
So anyways, we're having some cat troubles and it's become very stressful for us. We had no idea what we were signing up for apparently. We love them and we want them to be happy, but not at the sake of our own...you guys are cat experts so please help!
A little more information: they were strays found on the streets before getting sheltered.
they were weaned too early from their mother - evident from excessive "wool sucking" and Cat 2 is constantly trying to suckle on his brother.
they both tend to overgroom themselves. they'll spend hours licking/grooming.