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- Sep 22, 2015
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I have four cats. The momma was a stray cat in my apartment complex that I took in when she was pregnant. She gave birth to three babies. I fell in love with them and kept all three kittens.
Momma is now 3 1/2 years old, and her kittens are now 2 1/2 years old. They are all female.
Until recently, the four cats (all female and they have been fixed) lived together as peacefully as can be. They would play together, chase each other around the apartment, groom each other, and lie curled up with each other at night. I never saw any friction between them. They didn't seem territorial. They certainly never hissed or growled at each other.
My problems started a little over two weeks ago. I woke up in the middle of the night, and Tigger (one of the kittens) had climbed halfway up a set of shelves. As far as I remember, Momma and the other two kittens were on the floor hissing at Tigger. And Tigger was hissing back at them from her spot of safety on the bookcase. When I woke up, Tigger was still hiding up there and hissing at the other cats, and the other cats were still hissing at her. I picked up Tigger and she didn't hiss or growl at me.
I went out for the day and when I got home, Tigger was hiding in a tiny spot in the bedroom closet. She seemed terrified of the other cats.
I took Tigger to the vet that night to make sure nothing was physically wrong with her. The vet diagnosed Tigger with Cystitis. The vet gave me an antibiotic. I gave her the full dose, and she seems healthy. She has a healthy appetite and drinks water regularly. Her stool and urine clumps in the litter box have been unremarkable.
The vet told me Tigger was hissing at the other cats because she was in pain and didn't want to be sociable, and that the other cats were hissing at Tigger because they could tell she was sick and they were shunning her.
The problem is that it's been over two weeks and I can't get the cats to acclimate with each other. I have to keep Tigger locked in the bedroom with me. She has her own litter box and feeding station in the bedroom. The other three cats stay out in the living room. They have three litter boxes and their own feeding station.
I bought two Feliway diffusers, one for the room the three cats are in and one for the bedroom where Tigger is. They seem to have had no effect.
I put baby gates up between the bedroom and the living room in the hopes that seeing each other would cause them to acclimate to each other again. Mostly Tigger hisses as the other cats if she sees them though the baby gates.
If I let one of the other cats into the bedroom, Tigger will usually hiss or growl at the other cat. My sense is that Tigger is scared of the other cat. Sometimes the other cat will hiss and growl back, and sometimes the other cat is silent.
Tigger has a spot with a cat bed on top of a stack of boxes. That's where she likes to sleep and where she goes to get away from the other cat in the bedroom. I have to watch the two cats to make sure they don't get too close to each other. One time when I wasn't paying enough attention, the Momma cat tried to attack Tigger. Another time, one of the other kittens/cats tried to attack Tigger.
I don't know what to do to get them to live in peace again. Please help!
I don't know whether to keep them separated and try to slowly introduce them to one another again. Or should I just let them interact and hiss and growl at each other until they get it out of their system. My fear with that is the hissing and growling will turn into an actual fight, and it's three against one. They all have claws, so they could do some damage if they were to actually fight,
I hope you have some helpful advice.
THANK YOU!
Momma is now 3 1/2 years old, and her kittens are now 2 1/2 years old. They are all female.
Until recently, the four cats (all female and they have been fixed) lived together as peacefully as can be. They would play together, chase each other around the apartment, groom each other, and lie curled up with each other at night. I never saw any friction between them. They didn't seem territorial. They certainly never hissed or growled at each other.
My problems started a little over two weeks ago. I woke up in the middle of the night, and Tigger (one of the kittens) had climbed halfway up a set of shelves. As far as I remember, Momma and the other two kittens were on the floor hissing at Tigger. And Tigger was hissing back at them from her spot of safety on the bookcase. When I woke up, Tigger was still hiding up there and hissing at the other cats, and the other cats were still hissing at her. I picked up Tigger and she didn't hiss or growl at me.
I went out for the day and when I got home, Tigger was hiding in a tiny spot in the bedroom closet. She seemed terrified of the other cats.
I took Tigger to the vet that night to make sure nothing was physically wrong with her. The vet diagnosed Tigger with Cystitis. The vet gave me an antibiotic. I gave her the full dose, and she seems healthy. She has a healthy appetite and drinks water regularly. Her stool and urine clumps in the litter box have been unremarkable.
The vet told me Tigger was hissing at the other cats because she was in pain and didn't want to be sociable, and that the other cats were hissing at Tigger because they could tell she was sick and they were shunning her.
The problem is that it's been over two weeks and I can't get the cats to acclimate with each other. I have to keep Tigger locked in the bedroom with me. She has her own litter box and feeding station in the bedroom. The other three cats stay out in the living room. They have three litter boxes and their own feeding station.
I bought two Feliway diffusers, one for the room the three cats are in and one for the bedroom where Tigger is. They seem to have had no effect.
I put baby gates up between the bedroom and the living room in the hopes that seeing each other would cause them to acclimate to each other again. Mostly Tigger hisses as the other cats if she sees them though the baby gates.
If I let one of the other cats into the bedroom, Tigger will usually hiss or growl at the other cat. My sense is that Tigger is scared of the other cat. Sometimes the other cat will hiss and growl back, and sometimes the other cat is silent.
Tigger has a spot with a cat bed on top of a stack of boxes. That's where she likes to sleep and where she goes to get away from the other cat in the bedroom. I have to watch the two cats to make sure they don't get too close to each other. One time when I wasn't paying enough attention, the Momma cat tried to attack Tigger. Another time, one of the other kittens/cats tried to attack Tigger.
I don't know what to do to get them to live in peace again. Please help!
I don't know whether to keep them separated and try to slowly introduce them to one another again. Or should I just let them interact and hiss and growl at each other until they get it out of their system. My fear with that is the hissing and growling will turn into an actual fight, and it's three against one. They all have claws, so they could do some damage if they were to actually fight,
I hope you have some helpful advice.
THANK YOU!