New Cat Problems

[gundumgrrl]

Hi I'm new on here and I need some help. My family currently has three cats, the older two litter mates Ringo and Star (both 5) and the newest addition Lady (2) whom I took from a friend who had to move to a non-pet friendly apartment. My family decided to take Lady in, because last summer we lost our 10 year old Annie to feline peritonitis, and my mother and Ringo were both devastated by the loss. Lady came from a home where she was an only cat except for the litter of kittens she had at the beginning of the year, and the day before I picked her up she was spayed, and the day after I took her home she went straight to our vet to be chipped and vaccinated (we had no records on her and my friend was dirt poor, but did the best he could). After that we tried to make life as stress free as possible for her.

Now I've read all the material provided by the ASPCA, Humane Society and the guy who has the TV show "My Cat from Hell." She has her own room in the bathroom with a cat box, scratching post, bed and food. And after a couple weeks of alone time I've let her out, and both of my older cats seem only intrigued by the new cat and are otherwise non-aggressive towards her. Lady on the other hand wants nothing to do with them. She will follow any humans around for attention and is a great cat, but the second she sees one of my other two cats she will hiss and growl at them, and then will run over and hit them (no claws). Now I've read that hissing and growling are normal, and I just talk to her calmly and pet her and if I can the other cat, and try to talk them down. It doesn't work. She will eat within feet of either cat (Ringo is especially enamored with her) but otherwise can barely stand to be in the same room as them. She will even keep them from coming near the nearest human in the room, which is normally me and I'm starting to get afraid that either a huge fight is going to happen or someone is going to start peeing all over the place. And my dad is starting to talk about having her de-clawed before she hurts one of the other cats, both of whom have been de-clawed since they were little (please don't judge me).  And I'm even more afraid that we may have to give her up. I know a couple people who would give her a great home, but I'm in love and I would rather try everything before that even becomes an option. 

What can I do to try and make them get along? Please help?

 

[aqualoon]

I have two male cats between 5-6 and just last month I went and got a kitten.  After the slow introduction of how you're doing the two older guys would hiss and growl and hit (no claws) every now and then.  Eventually as they got more and more use to being around each other the growling and hissing starting to decrease.  They can all be in the same room now and maybe one will start growling and then stop so it's not completely gone.

But basically what I'm saying is that it's normal and it sounds like it just needs more time.  From the sounds of it there isn't any aggression coming from any one of them, just some posturing and vocals.

 

[franksmom]

Hi there and welcome to TCS!

I know you have read a lot but we have a great article on here on introducing cats and it mentions some great additional techniques like scent swapping (http://www.thecatsite.com/a/introducing-cats-to-cats). Getting them to smell the same really works well and you can also try putting vanilla extract behind their necks. The article also talks about the importance of playing with them using interactive toys. 

So far it sounds like it is going relatively well and you all need to have patience. It can take some time for cats to adjust and the poor thing is going through a drastic change being moved to a whole new home and interacting with other cats for the first time

Getting the new cat declawed would be the worst thing you could do because she will only feel more defensive as her safety net of having her claws will be ripped, along with her out with her toes, and she will have more of a propensity to become violent and bite. Here is a great article that both you and your parents should read on the realities of declawing and the high amount of behaviour issues that will arise (http://www.littlebigcat.com.php5-16.dfw1-1.websitetestlink.com/?p=200). She will be much more likely to develop litter box and aggression issues especially because she is an older cat in a new home being exposed to other cats for the first time. 

Jackson Galaxy (the guy from My Cat From Hell) also has a great explanation on why declawing should never be the answer to behaviour problems and what is really does to cats:

I highly doubt she will hurt the other cats but since your parents are threatening to amputate her toes I would say you should get her soft paws which has the same result as a declaw because covers her claws in plastic to prevent her from doing any damage. I would advise you get them put on by a vet or groomer and they will last a month. Here is a video on how well they work to prevent cats from scratching:

If the choice is between declawing and rehoming you need to rehome her because amputating her really would be a terrible thing. It is great there is already a family that wants her so if your parents insist on having her declawed then please send her to them.

Good luck and keep us posted on how things are going and feel free to ask any follow up questions. 

 

[gundumgrrl]

Thanks I'll definitely try the vanilla extract. I also figured it was a time issue, we've had her less than a month. The claw issue may not change though, she's just managed to claw my dad

I'll try to change his mind. 

In all fairness though I have actually never had a problem with declawing a cat, I know that people say it's cruel and that it makes them defensive, but I've had 5 cats before her and all of them were declawed (mostly my parents choice as I'm pretty young). I definitely want her to keep her claw though. It was one of the things we decided about when getting a new cat was that they should have claws, because our dog is still young a bit of a pain, but thats another story.

 

[franksmom]

It is estamated 30 percent of cats show behavior problems with declawing and 100 percent will expierience pain which humans will not notice because cats are very stoic creatures. Declawing completely changes how a cat walks (http://www.littlebigcat.com/declawing/physical-consequences-of-declawing/) and prevents cats from properly stretching their back (http://www.littlebigcat.com/declawing/declawing-a-physical-therapist-assistants-perspective).

Just because you have not noticed any issues with your cats does not mean that amputating their toes did/does not effect them. I really urge you to watch the video and read the article I posted (which is by a vet) and learn all the details of what declawing is and the consequences to cats.

For your cats who are declawed it is a good idea to massage their feet and backs to prevent pain and arthritis.

 

[gundumgrrl]

I understand all that and I am in no way pro-declawing. However I live at home and have no money to move out. My parents make most of the calls on these things, however I can say this in Lady's favor on not declawing her. We wanted a new cat to have claws, because our dog while terrified of the cats, does not no what personal space is and has never been good and leaving them alone (at least until they chase her off). And our vet mentioned how her cats simply clawed the dog once and the dog learned to leave the cats alone, and while we hardly want the cat to claw the dog to bits and pieces, we all feel she might learn her lesson if it happened just once. Not sure if it'll ever happen, but I don't think she's going to be declawed anytime soon.

 

[franksmom]

Glad you are against declawing you just have to work on your parents now  I suggest you have them watch the jackson galaxy video and read the vet articles I posted. You might also want to mention that declawing is banned in most other countries and has been deemed too cruel to do to dogs so is banned for them but not cats. 

If your parents insist on declawing her I would really recommend you rehoming her to the family that already wants her. This would be a much kinder action because like I said declawing a cat who is already afraid of other cats is the worst thing you can do to her and she will almost certainly develop behaviour problems in this situation. Remember your cats were kittens when they were done and not exhibiting fear towards other cats. If you take her line of defence away now she will have far more potential to be aggressive. Think about it this way if you amputate a baby or even say circumcise them there is of course pain but the potential for problems is a smaller because they are able to adapt better. If you amputate an adult or say circumcise and adult male there is far more potential for long term side effects because adults do not adapt as well as babies do. That is why I think you will be hard pressed to even find a vet to do this surgery, hopefully at least as most vets will only do the surgery on kittens. While I never agree with amputating any animals toes it is really far worse to do in on an adult cat and would be defined as absolute animal cruelty. Even the pro declawing AAHA states that:

It is best to declaw cats at a young age of about five months old. Young cats tend to recover more quickly and adapt better to the loss of their claws. Many veterinarians discourage the declawing of older cats who often experience prolonged and recurrent pain from the procedure. 

 

[gundumgrrl]

Yeah I definitely agree with you on that Franksmom (sorry for the late reply, haven't been on my computer much as of late). It's been a couple of months and Lady is finally starting to fit in. The dog is terrified of her (it's kinda funny), she has gained 2lbs and after dealing with ear mites and a couple other small health concerns she is much better off than when we got her. We've had a couple of peeing instances, but implementing the "Comfort Zone with Feliway" diffusers, that's been dealt with. She and the other two cats still don't like each other much, but that I suppose will only change with time. 

I thank everyone that's helped me on this problem, it's nice to know that I have some people to talk to about this stuff (especially when it doesn't cost me an arm and a leg).