I am the owner of 7 kitties. 5 are sister and brothers who we adopted/rescued from being indiscriminantly given away or left behind at the county fair in 2004. 2 were adopted rescues from a local no kill animal compassion network of foster homes.
The 5 kittens were very very slowly introduced and accepted by the first 2 over a year ago. All have gotten along wonderfully -- until all of a sudden. My fiance and I went away for 2nights/3 days to visit his family. We travel semi-frequently for work, so we hired the same kitty sitter to check on them 2 times a day. This same length of trip has occurred many times in the year we've all been together. This time, however, my sitter called to say there was hostility occurring and she was going to separate the "victim" of it all. I was shocked and very disappointed. We came home a few hours sooner than planned that day. Sure enough, 2 of the kittens--one male, one female are stalking one of their brothers. The other 4 are primarily bystanders.
We have tried to find a cause. I know when they mature this can happen, but it's just too sudden, as they were all getting along just as well as always the morning we left. We do occassionaly see stray kitties outside our home (all our cats are indoor)--and my fiance saw one the day we returned. Also, the visiting times of our sitter were different than normal due to a busy holiday schedule. Finally, one of our kitties is overweight, and our sitter took it upon herself to skip a breakfast wet food feeding to spend more time playing and see if it might be a way to get her to loose weight. (I really like my sitter very very much,, but worry this added to the stress). Also, the overwieght cat was put in a different room than normal for the feeding because she was trying to much to get the other's food (typically feeding time is a 2 person job when we do it!). aGAIN, I really truly trust and like my sitter very very much, and figure those things added to a stressor that triggered the problem, but don't think it could have caused it?
Okay, enough story/info. Currently the two agressors are separate from the other 5, and it's like Paradise and very harmonious right now. But, I don't want this to go on forever.
Advice, experiences, etc. Please. Thanks!
The 5 kittens were very very slowly introduced and accepted by the first 2 over a year ago. All have gotten along wonderfully -- until all of a sudden. My fiance and I went away for 2nights/3 days to visit his family. We travel semi-frequently for work, so we hired the same kitty sitter to check on them 2 times a day. This same length of trip has occurred many times in the year we've all been together. This time, however, my sitter called to say there was hostility occurring and she was going to separate the "victim" of it all. I was shocked and very disappointed. We came home a few hours sooner than planned that day. Sure enough, 2 of the kittens--one male, one female are stalking one of their brothers. The other 4 are primarily bystanders.
We have tried to find a cause. I know when they mature this can happen, but it's just too sudden, as they were all getting along just as well as always the morning we left. We do occassionaly see stray kitties outside our home (all our cats are indoor)--and my fiance saw one the day we returned. Also, the visiting times of our sitter were different than normal due to a busy holiday schedule. Finally, one of our kitties is overweight, and our sitter took it upon herself to skip a breakfast wet food feeding to spend more time playing and see if it might be a way to get her to loose weight. (I really like my sitter very very much,, but worry this added to the stress). Also, the overwieght cat was put in a different room than normal for the feeding because she was trying to much to get the other's food (typically feeding time is a 2 person job when we do it!). aGAIN, I really truly trust and like my sitter very very much, and figure those things added to a stressor that triggered the problem, but don't think it could have caused it?
Okay, enough story/info. Currently the two agressors are separate from the other 5, and it's like Paradise and very harmonious right now. But, I don't want this to go on forever.
Advice, experiences, etc. Please. Thanks!