- Joined
- Nov 13, 2012
- Messages
- 3
- Purraise
- 0
Here is a little background: We had three cats. In 2007 we rescued a stray and brought her home and from day one, all three cats got along just fine. We then had to move into the old family home after losing my FIL in July 08, and then four months later my MIL passed away from cancer. Needless to say things were a bit of a mess. Around that Dec Tyson (the male) then got sick. He had UTI's twice within 4 months. After that, the three of them got along ok, the odd spat, but nothing major. In 2011 just before we finally moved here, Tyson got a tail abscess and was still recovering when we moved. We had to stay at a pet friendly motel for one night, and all three were fine - let them out of their carriers and they simply ate, pee'd and settled down for the day/night. Within a couple of weeks of moving in, the fighting started after all seeming fine.
We had to separate the youngest Molly ( 6 yrs) from Tyson (12) and LP (10) as she appeared to be the aggressive one. She has spent the last year in her own room and only coming out if the other two were locked away. Rather than give her up we thought that eventually all could have been reintroduced, but then Tyson got very very sick and so that had to be delayed. Sadly we had to put our darling boy to sleep just ten days ago.
There was never an issue of re-homing Molly. Her having her own room with plenty of room, food, water, toys, and cuddles etc means she is still the friendly girl she was prior to hating Tyson. I know there seems to be a connection between aggression and 'sick' cats.
I have followed all the advice about introducing them as if they were strangers - so far the only real contact eye to eye has been through their cat carriers as I still think it might be a bit too soon for physical contact. It feels like over the past 4 years that we've done nothing but have to keep an eye on them all and losing Tyson so recently has been devastating - but at the same time it has made me determined to ensure this next phase works.
When both cats were in their carriers in the living room, Molly simply sat there, while LP (who is a Manx and a bit dog like) simply growled and hissed, although her ears were not all pinned back.. she simply appeared annoyed and probably a bit scared seeing Molly.
I have done the rubbing of towels over both of them, and as I type this, LP is up in Molly's room (quite content) while Molly has her run around - although she keeps going up to her door as I think she's probably miffed that it's shut!
So, sorry to be so long winded, but a couple of questions: Is this room swap a good thing to do? I really want to make sure that when they do finally 'meet again', that the room has both their scents in so that there is no territorial fighting.
How long should I do this before trying to get them physically together? I think I'm nervous simply because of the impact the last huge cat fighting period had.
Any thoughts/ideas would be most appreciated.
Thanks
We had to separate the youngest Molly ( 6 yrs) from Tyson (12) and LP (10) as she appeared to be the aggressive one. She has spent the last year in her own room and only coming out if the other two were locked away. Rather than give her up we thought that eventually all could have been reintroduced, but then Tyson got very very sick and so that had to be delayed. Sadly we had to put our darling boy to sleep just ten days ago.
There was never an issue of re-homing Molly. Her having her own room with plenty of room, food, water, toys, and cuddles etc means she is still the friendly girl she was prior to hating Tyson. I know there seems to be a connection between aggression and 'sick' cats.
I have followed all the advice about introducing them as if they were strangers - so far the only real contact eye to eye has been through their cat carriers as I still think it might be a bit too soon for physical contact. It feels like over the past 4 years that we've done nothing but have to keep an eye on them all and losing Tyson so recently has been devastating - but at the same time it has made me determined to ensure this next phase works.
When both cats were in their carriers in the living room, Molly simply sat there, while LP (who is a Manx and a bit dog like) simply growled and hissed, although her ears were not all pinned back.. she simply appeared annoyed and probably a bit scared seeing Molly.
I have done the rubbing of towels over both of them, and as I type this, LP is up in Molly's room (quite content) while Molly has her run around - although she keeps going up to her door as I think she's probably miffed that it's shut!
So, sorry to be so long winded, but a couple of questions: Is this room swap a good thing to do? I really want to make sure that when they do finally 'meet again', that the room has both their scents in so that there is no territorial fighting.
How long should I do this before trying to get them physically together? I think I'm nervous simply because of the impact the last huge cat fighting period had.
Any thoughts/ideas would be most appreciated.
Thanks
