This is an interesting situation.
The background for those who don't know. Lazlo and Sheldon came inside shortly after the mom and kittens were discovered living near us. After they were pets, we instituted a trap neuter return program for the ferals living on this property. There were five kittens. As soon as the remaining three were at least 12 weeks old, we had mom spayed. She disappeared. When we had Sheldon and Lazlo neutered, we trapped the other three kittens and had them spayed and neutered. But they were living out back, and we were now feeding a colony of - I don't know - 10 or more older cats at the time. Spooky and Julius were friendly (the other two siblings). By that Winter (2002), we'd trapped and had 20 some cats spayed and neutered.
Tuxedo was VERY aggressive and disruptive to the colony - attacking the other cats (even after being neutered). To the extent that the vet recommended we euthanize him. Gary refused, and simply started feeding him separately, and far away. Tuxedo, even as a little kitten, would actually attack Gary's hand when he was putting down the food - it was not that he would just arch, hiss and spit.
He physically attacked a kitten (one of three) that turned up around Thanksgiving that year. She needed stitches, and we brought her in, fostered her and adopted her out.
That Winter was hard, snowey and really, really, relentlessly cold. One day Tuxedo didn't turn up - and by now, he was coming running any time we went out - even though we still couldn't pet him. Gary dug out the opening in the groundhog hole where they were born - and an hour later, there he was, his little pawprints coming down from that hole.
It was January that year that Tuxie attacked Gary, Gary sat down on the bench (in the snow) crying in frustration - and THEN Tuxie came and headbumped him. We'd already adopted out all the other kittens. From then on, Tuxie and Gary were pals.
The Winter was so severe, we didn't know what to do. We thought he needed to be an alone kitty in someone's home, so we made an agreement with a cat-only boarding facility. (Too little room in here to socialize). We took him there, visited him frequently, and the owner of the facility spent time playing with him and socializing him. He was there three weeks (March of 2003), and developed a UTI. He lost weight rapidly, and of course we took him to the vet as soon as she alerted us. He stayed in the hospital there a week - but wouldn't start eating. When Gary would visit, he would LEAP out of the cage into Gary's arms.
The vet suggested that the only way to save Tuxie was to bring him home. So that's what we did. (April 2003)
The intro wasn't too bad - he didn't like Spooky (his sister that we'd took back from someone we'd adopted her to), who was always very aggressive with new intros (we fostered several small kittens in the meantime). Lazlo was always very good with new intros - that was fine. Sheldon is alpha, and that was fine.
Tuxedo had frequent problems with UTIs until we put him on a diet of c/d (late summer/fall 2003). He was eating fine, gained weight, etc.
Fast-forward from fall of 2003 to March of 2004. Tuxedo was completely listless. Would leave the room if anyone were there. Would turn his back on all of us - not interested in play.
Turns out he was seriously anemic. Eliminated all of the diseases that cause anemia - had biopsies, had to have a blood transfusion. It's an autoimmune disorder. He went on Nupogen and Epogen. The transfusion got his PCV from 12 to 24. The Epogen got his PCV from 21 to 31 before the numbers started falling again. That took - about two months. Then he went on anti-cancer meds to suppress his immune system, as the Epogen kick-started his red blood cell production and his reticulocyte count is good.
His behavior improved each week - more active, more playful, hungry, etc.
He's on Leukeran. Three pills every other week. He started treatment exactly two weeks ago. last week his PCV went from 21 to 31 on the Leukeran. He has been leaping from the floor straight up to the top of the 6' cat tree. He comes out to play - he'll play with the little mice he loves so much by himself! He hasn't done THAT since he was a kitten! He loves brushes, is constantly headbumping Gary, and sleeps next to us.
He plays with Flowerbelle. He challenged Shel for alpha once or twice. He used to tolerate Lazlo - but we've seen Tuxedo attack Lazlo twice for no apparent reason. And Spooky - he always seems to have hated. We thought maybe Spook was doing something to bug him. A couple days ago, Tuxie was on top of the high platform on the cat tree. Spook bounded up to the top of the treehouse. Tuxedo leaned down and grabbed a biteful of hip. He didn't draw blood, but she went streaking into the bedroom - and Tuxedo was left with a large mouthful of hair.
Last night, Spooky was sitting on the window perch, very involved with a squirrel out the window. Tuxedo was on top of the cat tree - jumped directly onto the couch, bounded into Spooky, and didn't tap her on the rump or head to get rid of her - he throttled her. I mean BLAM BLAM BLAM and then a grab with the mouth.
Sometimes he and Spook sit on the back of the couch - a foot apart - peacefully watching birds and mice. But he literally attacks her at least twice a day now - yowling, crying and her fleeing into a corner.
Any thoughts on what to do? He's the smallest of the four siblings (9.5 lbs vs 11 - Spooky, 14 - Lazlo, 16 pounds - Shelly, and teeney deaf non-sibling Flowerbelle at 7 pounds) - but he's built like a football-player of cats - and stands about 2/3 as "tall" as our Basketball player of cats, Shelly. Tuxedo has a wide stance, is stocky and powerful with big huge paws. Spook is stocky - but with these dainty little legs and teeney paws. She used to try to defend herself - now she doesn't bother. She just tries to flee and hide.
The only thing we can think of is to move into a larger space. (We live in an RV, but we've created cat heaven in here with most of the surfaces and space dedicated to them. Overhead cabinets, we took out the dining room and put in cat trees - I'm looking at five separate levels of bed off to my left - plus the back of the couch, the window perch - and there's the other side of the RV and the bedroom, which has three levels for them on each side of the bed).
We already use Feliway.
Any suggestions?
The background for those who don't know. Lazlo and Sheldon came inside shortly after the mom and kittens were discovered living near us. After they were pets, we instituted a trap neuter return program for the ferals living on this property. There were five kittens. As soon as the remaining three were at least 12 weeks old, we had mom spayed. She disappeared. When we had Sheldon and Lazlo neutered, we trapped the other three kittens and had them spayed and neutered. But they were living out back, and we were now feeding a colony of - I don't know - 10 or more older cats at the time. Spooky and Julius were friendly (the other two siblings). By that Winter (2002), we'd trapped and had 20 some cats spayed and neutered.
Tuxedo was VERY aggressive and disruptive to the colony - attacking the other cats (even after being neutered). To the extent that the vet recommended we euthanize him. Gary refused, and simply started feeding him separately, and far away. Tuxedo, even as a little kitten, would actually attack Gary's hand when he was putting down the food - it was not that he would just arch, hiss and spit.
He physically attacked a kitten (one of three) that turned up around Thanksgiving that year. She needed stitches, and we brought her in, fostered her and adopted her out.
That Winter was hard, snowey and really, really, relentlessly cold. One day Tuxedo didn't turn up - and by now, he was coming running any time we went out - even though we still couldn't pet him. Gary dug out the opening in the groundhog hole where they were born - and an hour later, there he was, his little pawprints coming down from that hole.
It was January that year that Tuxie attacked Gary, Gary sat down on the bench (in the snow) crying in frustration - and THEN Tuxie came and headbumped him. We'd already adopted out all the other kittens. From then on, Tuxie and Gary were pals.
The Winter was so severe, we didn't know what to do. We thought he needed to be an alone kitty in someone's home, so we made an agreement with a cat-only boarding facility. (Too little room in here to socialize). We took him there, visited him frequently, and the owner of the facility spent time playing with him and socializing him. He was there three weeks (March of 2003), and developed a UTI. He lost weight rapidly, and of course we took him to the vet as soon as she alerted us. He stayed in the hospital there a week - but wouldn't start eating. When Gary would visit, he would LEAP out of the cage into Gary's arms.
The vet suggested that the only way to save Tuxie was to bring him home. So that's what we did. (April 2003)
The intro wasn't too bad - he didn't like Spooky (his sister that we'd took back from someone we'd adopted her to), who was always very aggressive with new intros (we fostered several small kittens in the meantime). Lazlo was always very good with new intros - that was fine. Sheldon is alpha, and that was fine.
Tuxedo had frequent problems with UTIs until we put him on a diet of c/d (late summer/fall 2003). He was eating fine, gained weight, etc.
Fast-forward from fall of 2003 to March of 2004. Tuxedo was completely listless. Would leave the room if anyone were there. Would turn his back on all of us - not interested in play.
Turns out he was seriously anemic. Eliminated all of the diseases that cause anemia - had biopsies, had to have a blood transfusion. It's an autoimmune disorder. He went on Nupogen and Epogen. The transfusion got his PCV from 12 to 24. The Epogen got his PCV from 21 to 31 before the numbers started falling again. That took - about two months. Then he went on anti-cancer meds to suppress his immune system, as the Epogen kick-started his red blood cell production and his reticulocyte count is good.
His behavior improved each week - more active, more playful, hungry, etc.
He's on Leukeran. Three pills every other week. He started treatment exactly two weeks ago. last week his PCV went from 21 to 31 on the Leukeran. He has been leaping from the floor straight up to the top of the 6' cat tree. He comes out to play - he'll play with the little mice he loves so much by himself! He hasn't done THAT since he was a kitten! He loves brushes, is constantly headbumping Gary, and sleeps next to us.
He plays with Flowerbelle. He challenged Shel for alpha once or twice. He used to tolerate Lazlo - but we've seen Tuxedo attack Lazlo twice for no apparent reason. And Spooky - he always seems to have hated. We thought maybe Spook was doing something to bug him. A couple days ago, Tuxie was on top of the high platform on the cat tree. Spook bounded up to the top of the treehouse. Tuxedo leaned down and grabbed a biteful of hip. He didn't draw blood, but she went streaking into the bedroom - and Tuxedo was left with a large mouthful of hair.
Last night, Spooky was sitting on the window perch, very involved with a squirrel out the window. Tuxedo was on top of the cat tree - jumped directly onto the couch, bounded into Spooky, and didn't tap her on the rump or head to get rid of her - he throttled her. I mean BLAM BLAM BLAM and then a grab with the mouth.
Sometimes he and Spook sit on the back of the couch - a foot apart - peacefully watching birds and mice. But he literally attacks her at least twice a day now - yowling, crying and her fleeing into a corner.
Any thoughts on what to do? He's the smallest of the four siblings (9.5 lbs vs 11 - Spooky, 14 - Lazlo, 16 pounds - Shelly, and teeney deaf non-sibling Flowerbelle at 7 pounds) - but he's built like a football-player of cats - and stands about 2/3 as "tall" as our Basketball player of cats, Shelly. Tuxedo has a wide stance, is stocky and powerful with big huge paws. Spook is stocky - but with these dainty little legs and teeney paws. She used to try to defend herself - now she doesn't bother. She just tries to flee and hide.
The only thing we can think of is to move into a larger space. (We live in an RV, but we've created cat heaven in here with most of the surfaces and space dedicated to them. Overhead cabinets, we took out the dining room and put in cat trees - I'm looking at five separate levels of bed off to my left - plus the back of the couch, the window perch - and there's the other side of the RV and the bedroom, which has three levels for them on each side of the bed).
We already use Feliway.
Any suggestions?