i have a confession

[7cozycats]

i have 6 cats. my confession is....one of them lives in my bedroom. sami who is 4 has lived in there about 2 months now. heres the story. sami has got an attitude towards my other cats. she will smack at them when they just walk by her. well sturdy who is a very strong male who is 3 and weighs about 15 would always chase her and try to start something with sami. sami is a 4 year old female who only weighs about 5 pounds. thing is one minute they would cuddle and bathe eachother the next they would fight. minor fights. well about 2 months ago, sturdy attacked sami. it was horrible. my husband had to tackle study and hold him down. he would not stop. sturdy got loose and went after her again. i was able to get sami. were talking SERIOUS cat fight. my other cats were freaking. flared tails, creeping, ect. well we seperated them for a couple of hours. brought sami back out and everything was fine. they cuddled and went to sleep togather. next morning, they were bathing eachother and it happened again. this really upset my 9 year old. she was crying i was shaking. so.. we put sami back up. for weeks we would try and bring sami out. her little body would just shake. she would hiss at any of the cats. we did not put her down. just held her. so that is why sami lives in my bedroom. she seems happy in there. she gets plenty of love in there. the reason we did not put sturdy in there is sami has got attitude . she does not get along with anybody. except humans. she is the most luvy duvy cat. she even gives kisses. i can not get rid of either cat. i love all of them. by the way, my daughter said if sturdy goes, she goes. ha! i would not trust anybody to give sami a good home. theres too many cruel people in this world. i mean, if i knew there was somebody like any of you ready this right now, who would take sami, i'd consider it. but how do you know about these things. so, i guess sami will just live in my bedroom. please give me some honest opinions of my situation. i feel bad she has to stay in there. one more thing. months prior to the big fight we put sami on ovaban for a short time. because i seen this coming with sturdy. sturdy was on it to. i would love to bring sami out but i can't say it would not happen again. i can't put sami threw that again. i guess they had a love hate relationship. am i bad or selfish for keeping sami in there?

 

[valanhb]

I don't think that you are selfish at all. You are trying to do what is best for little Sami. From what you said about her reaction when you took her out I think that she would probably prefer it. Maybe in time she will want to come out again. Maybe not. It sounds like it was a pretty traumatic experience for her. As long as she isn't lacking attention, play time, etc. I think you are fine.

Just my two cents...

 

[katl8e]

As long as Sami is safe and happy, what's the problem? Conflicts between cats are not uncommon. Are these cats intact or, altered? That could be part of the problem. If keeping Sami in the bedroom presents too much difficulty, for you, try a large cage or airline carrier. This gives the other cats a chance to interact, safely, with her and, as they get to know each other, they may learn to get along. Good luck.

 

[7cozycats]

sami and all my other cats are fixed. sami is 4 and sturdy is 3. they have lived togather all their lives. i'd say with in the past 6 to 8 months they started having problems. enough to where i was concerned. she is still very nervous being in there. she will watch the door when she eats and stuff. she is not AS nervous, but she has not forgot what happened to her. poor thing. it was a very traumatic experience for her and me. i don't know what i would have done if i had been home by myself. i did not think a male and female would fight?? sami did not fight back. she just kept trying to get away. the other cats don't try to get in the bedroom either. so thats good.

 

[falling_rain21]

That sounds like it was a terrible fight!! But, like the others have said, if she's happy enough in the bedroom, then I don't see a problem with that at all! I like the suggestion of the cat carrier...maybe try that for a couple hours per day or something to get them all used to her again and become friendly again hopefully. Good luck...

 

[tigger]

7cozycats ,
Hi!

We have the same situation as you, so don't feel bad! We have 5 cats. Cinnamon & Fluffy "live" in our bedroom, too for many different reasons: 1.) When we got Tigger (our bengal), a few months after we had her, Cinnamon bit her tail

And, we knew that Tigger would always be afraid of her after that. She is, but nearly as bad. Cinnamon & Fluffy are also declawed so they have no defense mechanisisms. Cinnamon does have a powerful punch, though!

Also, Gizmo and Scooter (our 2 boy bengals) are kind of aggressive when they play, and Cinnamon & Fluffy don't like that.

I can tell you that Cinnamon & Fluffy are happiest when they are in the bedroom.... Cinnamon will come out of the bedroom when we open the door, when she wants to, just like Fluffy. Fluffy we have to watch though because of the boys. It makes me kind of sad that we have to do it this way, but they are happy in the bedroom, and they get lots of attention when we are home! When we get a new house (not for a while, though), I want to have a 2-story house and a BIG master bedroom so Fluffy & Cinnamon can have the run! But, for now, it has to be the way it is. Do I think they will ever be able to co-exist with the other 3? Maybe, maybe not .... It's something we've been trying to work on for the last year and a half, and we keep making progress, but then it gets pushed back. As long as they are happy, that's all that matters!

 

[7cozycats]

tigger

can you tell me the diiference between your bengal cats and regular cats? i'm curious.

 

[tigger]

7cozycats:

The Bengals are playful, have lots of energy & vocal. They are curious cats, too

Scooter gets into the side door of the refridgerator and will jump onto the platforms, too. They like to play with their water.....
As for aggressiveness, it's just the boys who are that way. Tigger is active, but they tend to pick on her a lot.

We've seen them get on her back and bite the back of her neck, too

Like, if Scooter sees Cinnamon or Fluffy out, he will stop what he's doing and focus on them and chase them. He chases them when they see him & run, and that's what gets him going. Gizmo will do it to a point, but if you shout at him, he will stop .. most of the time.

I've noticed that bengal cats aseem to accept each other, whereas Cinnamon & Fluffy, who are plain ol' domesticated cats, don't like changes. However, it might be that's the way the 2 are??

 

[safron]

I keep my cats separated b/c of fighting. Lucy stays in my bedroom for most of the day and then I switch cats at night. As long as she has food, water, and a litterbox your kitty should be fine.

Maybe you could try some herbal therapy like nature's rescue remedy. You can buy it at any vitamin shop just put a couple of drops in their water everyday. It might help with the fighting.

 

[krazy kat2]

That is not bad! My little Pearl came to me at 5 months old after being horribly abused. She is coming out of her shell lately, but she still spends most of her time hiding. The others are still too lively for her, and she is easily intimidated. She will never come out if anyone but me or my SO are in the house. If Sami is content to be in the bedroom, you should not feel bad about it. You obviously care about all your kitties, and that is what is important.

 

[adymarie]

I found this site after having probs with Sugarly. She was being beat up by the others and was peeing and pooping all over the house (peed on hubby). We ended up having to put her on anti-depressents and gave her a room to herself for 1 month. After that she was fine. She is actually more playful now then she ever was!

 

[alexnell]

I'd say that it's better to have the cat in the bedroom than to risk injury or have to take the cat to a shelter or give her to someone.

I have a cat who doesn't get along well with others and is very high-strung. 2 of my other cats kept trying to get him to play, then discovered that even though he wouldn't play with them, it was still fun to harrasss him in order to get a rise out of him.

Alex was sick and tired of getting chased by Prince and Nell and woken up from his naps, so he decided to move onto the pool table in the basement a few months ago. I put his food and water up there, and the litterboxes are just a few feet away. His siblings occasionally go up on the table to bug him, but he just kicks them off again. I've carried him upstairs to see if he'll stay, but he just runs back downstairs to guard his big green-felted cat bed. aranoid2

He seems happier this way...kinda overly possessive, though...but what the heck, he's always done things his own way.

I'll be glad when he's done with this "phase" though, I miss having him sit on my chest at night and drool on my neck while he purrs.

I also want my pool table back. Ever since Alex assumed ownership, Greg and I haven't been able to play a single game.

I live in hope...