Temporary Living Situation is not Cat Friendly

[nymarie]

My boyfriend and I are in the process of selling our house. We moved into a small apartment above my parents' garage while we paint, redo floors, etc. Once the house sells, we will be moving into a larger house that we plan to make cat-friendly. Unfortunately, we are living in a 600 sq ft apartment with 4 rescue cats. Hopefully for only two more months. The youngest cat is perfectly fine; he adjusts to pretty much anything. The other male has been antagonizing the two females. I think he just doesn't understand their nervous behavior, and his playing turns into aggression. I'm not worried for their safety because he's never that aggressive, but I know he's not helping their stress level. The one I'm really worried about is his sister, Jinx. She hides under the couches most of the time, even when we're on the floor with the others. She has started chewing all the fur off of her hind legs and butt and won't use the litterbox. She goes just outside of it. We took her to the vet just to be sure there were no health issues, and she came back with a clean bill of health, no fleas or bladder issues. I know this situation is not ideal, but it's only for two months. 

I do have their favorite toys out, I put out a cardboard box and a little soft carrier they use as a tunnel. We try to take time to play with them, and I always encourage Jinx to be in my lap when I'm there so I can comfort her. The litterboxes are scooped everyday, and there are several of them in different places around the apartment. She has pooped outside of all of them, so she apparently doesn't have a favorite.

We are using my parents' furniture, and the apartment does make noises when the wind blows. There are dogs downstairs and their smell is probably in the garage.

I was just curious if anybody had any ideas for me to use for the next two months to keep the stress level down. It breaks my heart to see Jinx like this, and I wish she could understand that it's only temporary.

 

[shadowsrescue]

Get a feliway diffuser or two.  Also you can try some liquid composure max.  You can find both on Amazon.  The composure you can mix into wet food and it is  a calming supplement.  The feliway plug in is a scent phermone that also helps to calm the cats.

I might also suggest adding some vertical space.  You can't do anything about the floor space, but you can add more space for the cats by adding some vertical shelving.  The cats could be up and out of the way from each other.  They each need to find their own piece of territory.  Take a look at Jackson Galaxy's site and his ideas on Catification.  You can just get some cheap shelving and add something to it to make it slip proof and voila you have instant cat happiness.

 

[detmut]

did you bring all the cat stuff from the house to the apartment? did the vet suggest any temporary medication for Jinx?

 

[nymarie]

The only thing we did not bring in is their cat tree. There is nowhere to put it. We brought all our own blankets, all of their toys and scratchers, the soft carrier/bed tunnel thing, and of course their water fountains, food bowls and litterboxes. The vet just told us it would be some temporary stress and to find things that would calm her. 

I should have time to get some of that calming stuff tomorrow. I hope it helps, because she's under the couch right now. I'm hoping to possibly get my little sister in here too (she's 12 and loves helping with the cats) to rearrange the furniture and boxes to something that's a bit more inviting. I unfortunately can't add anything to the walls, but I can give them resting spots on windowsills, couch backs and up on the bar.

Any idea how to distract the cats from the noise? When we lived in the city, there was less outside noise, oddly enough. Now there's train tracks behind us, two big, loud dogs at my parents', and this place rattles every time the wind blows. You can imagine how loud storms sound up here.

 

[detmut]

do you have a "white noise" sound machine? my cat likes that. 

 

[riley1]

Great ideas!  They say they didn't take the cat trees for lack of space.  If my cats had to deal with all this going on I would make space because this is very hard on them.  Dogs that close would have put my last baby into a fit! 

Could your parents make an effort to keep them quiet?  Do you have a friend with an animal free, quiet  home they could stay at for the two months.  I know they would not have you but right now they need more territory & quiet. 

I know my solutions may not be doable in your situation. Other than Feliway I can't see anything much that would help if your are so limited in what you can do.

 

[nymarie]

I tried a bunch of your suggestions, and she is out and about. Saw her on the window sills several times last night, she slept in bed with me and has not had an accident for two days (fingers crossed). I don't know what worked, but we have a Feliway diffuser and some lavender spray. We also made some hidey holes around the apartment with boxes and some other carriers, just took off the door and added an old t-shirt, blanket or towel that smelled like us. 

The dogs unfortunately howl at the trains because it hurts their ears. They've done it since I was a kid and I don't think there's much we can do about that. However, I now have soft piano music playing when I'm not there as a distraction.

 

[shadowsrescue]

Such good news.  Hope it continues to get better until you move.