Hi, I've posted on this forum before. This summer I trapped, fixed, and adopted two feral kittens. I took Harry into my home when he was between 3-4 months old, and then 5 weeks later, I took in Mia, who was 10 months old. Harry has been with me for 15 weeks, and Mia for 10.
Mia had a bad reaction to the anesthesia during the spay and suffered liver damage (which was temporary, thankfully), got an infection, wouldn’t eat for several days, and I nearly lost her. I syringe fed her, did a round of antibiotics, and during the course of her veterinary care, learned that she had been shot and has a bullet lodged in her pelvic area. It had broken her leg, which healed, but the leg healed funny. There’s nothing they can do about the bullet, but it poses no danger. Mia has made a full recovery and can run well and jump about two feet, but she walks with a gait, and she’s mentally a bit slow. At first Harry and Mia seemed to like each other, and although Harry played kind of rough with her, I thought they acted like brother and sister (and there’s a good chance they are brother and sister). However, for the past 3 weeks, Harry will not allow Mia to go downstairs, and will only let her go into 2 of the 3 upstairs rooms. He gets very aggressive towards her and has scratched her on the face a few times. She is scared of him. I would really like Mia to be able to go downstairs, but even when I put Harry in a room by herself, she’s scared to be downstairs.
I have two other elderly cats. One bullied her but no longer does so, the other one sleeps all the time. They ALL get LOTS of love and attention from me.
Feliway has NOT been effective.
Anyone have any behavioral strategies for how I can deal with this? Will Harry eventually mellow out and allow her to go downstairs?
Mia had a bad reaction to the anesthesia during the spay and suffered liver damage (which was temporary, thankfully), got an infection, wouldn’t eat for several days, and I nearly lost her. I syringe fed her, did a round of antibiotics, and during the course of her veterinary care, learned that she had been shot and has a bullet lodged in her pelvic area. It had broken her leg, which healed, but the leg healed funny. There’s nothing they can do about the bullet, but it poses no danger. Mia has made a full recovery and can run well and jump about two feet, but she walks with a gait, and she’s mentally a bit slow. At first Harry and Mia seemed to like each other, and although Harry played kind of rough with her, I thought they acted like brother and sister (and there’s a good chance they are brother and sister). However, for the past 3 weeks, Harry will not allow Mia to go downstairs, and will only let her go into 2 of the 3 upstairs rooms. He gets very aggressive towards her and has scratched her on the face a few times. She is scared of him. I would really like Mia to be able to go downstairs, but even when I put Harry in a room by herself, she’s scared to be downstairs.
I have two other elderly cats. One bullied her but no longer does so, the other one sleeps all the time. They ALL get LOTS of love and attention from me.
Feliway has NOT been effective.
Anyone have any behavioral strategies for how I can deal with this? Will Harry eventually mellow out and allow her to go downstairs?