Jackson Galaxy Could Not Help Us Maybe You Can !!

[jcirillo11]

Hello all! Judging by the title i am pretty sure you think that i am full of it. Well you are right but that is how i feel at this point. My GF and I had just adopted a 3 month all Persian kitten and she is a doll. (Will post pictures). Now we also have 2 resident cats who have lived together for the past 10 years. Never once have they got aggressive with each other besides the usual play fighting. They would cuddle, play and just enjoy tv with us. The day we brought home the new kitten, the 2 resident cats turned on each other within minutes . We did a slow introduction between a gate for them to meet the new kitten. During this process the male cat smelled the female resident cats behind and then all hell broke lose. They got into a huge fight until i broke it up with a loud noise. A few minutes go by and they are hissing and growling and making some weird howling noise at each other until they break out the paws again and go at it. So now we have them all separated, the female resident stays in a bedroom separate litter box and food and water and the same goes for the male resident. The kitten has her own gigantic playpen we keep her in from time to time . She gets along well now with the male resident cat. We have tried the door stop we have tried the towels with there scent we have tried Feliway . Its been 2 weeks and they still hate each other. we are sleeping in separate rooms because we feel bad for the cats. The second I open the door they both try and go at it and start hissing and growling . IF anyone has any tips or has been in this situation before we would really appreciate your help. Giving up is not an option for me with these babies !!

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi-Being able to break up a disagreement with just a loud noise makes me wonder, --this actually doesn't sound that bad. Can you let them work out their differences, snarls growls, possibly some flying fur and hissing notwithstanding? There's a feline hierarchy that they all need to work out and the process (as long as there's no actual blood) isn't necessarily civil by our standards, but most of the time it works for them.

 

[Columbine]

Hi, and welcome to TCS

I'm so sorry you and your cats are going through this. It sounds like you initially had a case of redirected aggression between your adult cats, triggered by the scent of the new kitten in the house. Beacuse they had such an extreme reaction (possibly compounded by your boy spending more time around the kitten), it sounds like it now has elements of non-recognition aggression too.

At this stage, your best bet is to proceed as though your two adults are strangers to each other, and carry out full blown introductions. This will take time....maybe a lot of time. It's typical for introductions to take weeks or months (or even longer). Two weeks is NOTHING! Stay calm, stay patient, and let the cats dictate the pace.

I hope you don't need this, but just in case, here's an article on how to break up cat fights.

Out of interest, did Jackson Galaxy come out for a home consultation, or was it over the phone/via email. What were his thoughts on your situation?

 

[Brian007]

There's a phenomenon with cats sometimes known as 'one cat over the line', which is when any given group of previously friendly cats is thrown out of balance by the appearance of another cat. Now, this can happen in a happy gang of 16 cats as well as a self-contained single cat, for example. It can even happen by the appearance of a new cat outside the household.

It would appear that your initial group of two considers three cats to be one over the line, and that as Columbine suggests, they've reverted to all being strangers. So, going back to basics and reintroducing all three may settle them down again. However, sometimes cats, especially female cats, can cause all kinds of 'one cat over' behaviour that the group never gets used to, and in severe cases the kindest thing to do is to rehouse the problem cat. But hopefully you can reintroduce your three and end up with the cats tolerating each other at worst.

And, two weeks may seem a long time to you but it's the blink of an eye to them. Perseverance is key.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[Furballsmom]

Heh, just a quick comment, that phrase always makes me think of a song

 

[Timmer]

7-8 years ago I brought my Timmer into the house and I had to work with Jackson too. This was before he had his television show. I worked with him via video. I did everything he said and nothing worked. I built a door at the top of my second floor and kept them separated, reintroduced. Timmer was just too aggressive. By then I was in love with him and no way would take either cat to the shelter. Jackson told me Nancy, I can't help you.
For close to 8 years we lived with one cat up, one cat down. Both cats were on and off prozac -- my female sprayed up the house. She became primarily the upstairs cat and was terrified and lived in fear most of the time. Tim would come upstairs with me. He wouldn't pester her after awhile but she still hid under the dresser every morning when he would be let upstairs...nothing worked. Nothing. Oh and then the fighting and meowing in the night because I had to refuse one cat to sleep with me.
I do not regret my life with Timmer. He just passed away last Friday and he was truly my soulmate and love of my life. But there was so much stress in my house for these past years. There is a price you pay for keeping them if they don't get along. And I've had other cats in my life. They mildly hissed when introduced and by 24 hours or so they were OK. There was no building doors and reintroducing and all that nonsense. I haven't had a vacation in 8 years because no one else could deal with what I've dealt with, the switching them around once a day so she could come downstairs for a bit. It's a hard stressful life.

Now that Tim is gone, my female is still hiding off and on. She doesn't understand completely that he is no longer with us. I took that door down the day he passed away. I haven't been able to walk to my second floor without going through a door in almost 8 years. It's...weird not having it there, but i love them both so much.
If you cannot work it out, then you cannot work it out. I hate to say this but rehome this new cat. That is my opinion and something you probably don't want to hear. Sorry.

 

[RufusGizmo]

Hi, I feel for you, we brought two kittens home to two ten year old adult cats (all males) about three and a half months ago, and what I feared most would happen did, the two adults used to totally just love each other, and all of a sudden they were fighting (although yours sounds much worse). no more cuddling together like they used to, it was heartbreaking. We are having not the fastest of integration by any stretch of the imagination, but it gets better every day. what I do with the big guys, is take them together away from the newer cats, and spend some time with just them, like sometimes combing them together on the bed, or just treats. I hope it gets better for you, i'm hopeful that time will help. I really feel like patience is all you can do I am seriously just hoping at the six month mark we are doing better.

 

[Brian007]

I'm very sorry to read about your Timmer, Timmer . Hopefully your girl will come out of her bubble soon and be the shoulder that you need at this sad time.

 

[kissthisangel]

Your title was certainly eye catching.

Two weeks is not a long time in cat - terms. I applaud you and your other half for having the commitment to sleep apart, but I will repeat here what I have said in other introduction threads, this is not a solution. Please go back to sleeping together. I have several reasons to back up this advice. Your residents are not used to you sleeping apart and it's just a change in your routine which may spark up confusion. Your residents will not know why they can't be with you, Your Kitten will think that this is normal, and we know it isn't. So at some point, this will be a change to the kitten down the line, placing you back at Square 1. More importantly the change will affect you and your partner you'll be tired and unhappy and it will make it difficult for you to make decisions about the cats. What you have described, it sounds more like the scent of a new arrival has triggered a new sense of fight for top cat in your house. The cats got on because they knew who was boss between them and they were ok with it. New Kitten has messed up their agreement because there is a perceived threat.


I would introduce all of them again, slowly.

I suggest that you put down plenty of food. Show them that there is no need to argue over this resource. This isn't going to instantly solve the issues but food can be a point of contention the same as space. Introduce a lot more cat furniture and cat beds, rotate the bedding around so they all share scents. Spend play time with each of them individually(each day, it's hard but find a couple of minutes) and in all areas of the house., I think you need to show them that the important resources are not limited. Increase the time they are exposed to one another each day. Hissing and swatting is fairly normal.

 

[ArtNJ]

I always thought "every show he recommends the exact same things, it all seems way too simplistic, think we are being sold a bunch of magic beans here" and here we are. It is incredibly lame that he is throwing up his hands and saying "guess I can't help" rather than presenting the kind of plans discussed above. I dunno how you get so many seasons when all you tell people is to build a cattio.

I think the slow reintroduction plan discussed above is the best shot. Good luck!