Scared for my cat

[Michael]

Ok I am at the end of my rope here. I own a 2 year old male chocolate himalayan who is the most docile animal I have ever met. I have just moved from Virginia to Florida in July which he most definately did not like doing. My problem is that my fiance has a cat as well that is almost three, female,bigger, heavyer, and mean as satan himself. Her cat is named Chickie, and mine is named Mouse. Mouse used to be a very energetic, and attention seeking cat, but now because of Chickie constantly terrorizing him, the only thing he does is hide under my desk in the office. Through the course of a day he will come out from under my desk maybe twice, and he will never leave my office. Mouse wont even use the litter box anymore. I have started scooping out the litter every day, and have tried to change the brand to something I know he aproves of and still he goes all over the office. On top of this all I have an eleven month old daughter, around whom I will not allow fighting cats.

I need help. What do I need to do in order to stop Chickie from keeping my cat so scared that he wont walk far enough from his hiding space to use the litter box that is in the same room with him. How do I get them to stop fighting so much that Mouse spends all day hiding from Chickie.

It has gotten so bad that they wake me up almost every night with their fighting, and the smell of cat mess in my office feels like it is becomming a permenant add on no matter ho much I clean.

[jason]

this resident cat is probably (in addition to playing rough) sticking up for her territory.

the rest that follows is from my own personal expereince in getting a rough and tumble boy and a resident princess to love each other, took a total of 6 months before they were in love, they still raz each other...cant stop that.

i would suggest keeping your kitty confined to the office (door shut) for a while. allow Mouse to get accustomed to one room and become comforatable there, of course you will need to keep litter, fresh food and water there for him. they will no doubt be smelling (and perhaps hissing) through the crack under the door during this time....this is a good thing.

after about a week or so, i would allow the two of them to roam while you are there and put Mouse back in office when you leave. continue for another few days to a week.

eventually, i would allow both to roam freely. if Chickie starts flapping her wings too much (as in terrorizing instead of playing), i would put her in the office where Mouse's scent is heavy, lock her in there for 30mins - 1hour (with litter/food/water). it will be both a time-out and also a time to get more accustomed to Mouse's scent. i wouldnt rush to put her there, otherwise she will be living there (she is the resident kitty). you going to need to allow some of this behavior to fold out on its own, if it seems like too much or simply going on for too long then you take action.

the key is not rush any of those steps, they simply need time and *your* patience, the both of them can read your emotions fairly well and will feed off of it. stress is a killer, give them time and plenty of attention...spend more time in the office

[MA]

I would take mouse in for a vet check. Sometimes moves like this stress out a cat so much they make themselves sick. For peace of mind, I would take him in.

I would also make each cat smell the same and reduce the threat of the new intruder smell. You can do this by using vanilla extract. Put a small dab on each cat in three places twice a day. Under their chin, between their shoulder blades and at the base of their tails.

I would also invest in a Comfort Zone Room mister and plug that in. You can get it from Farnum Pet or at any good pet supply store. But if it were me, mouse would be going to the vet.

I would also provide more litter boxes in other places for awhile to stop any ambushes that occur.

[kate & kobi]

Keep faith; things will definitely improve, but it will take time and patience. Separating them for at least a week is a pain b/c you have to keep doors closed, but I think it's the best way to go for a while.

I would also like to suggest having two litter boxes permanently ... don't know if you do have two boxes or if you've combined into one box, but try getting a new box for Mouse (that doesn't smell like Chickie) or use Mouse's old box if you have it, and leave it in a place where Mouse feels safe.

Good luck and I hope everything works out okay, keep us posted!

[Michael_R_Devitt]

we have tried seperating them we have tried locking one or the other into a room, we have two seperate litter boxes, two seperate food dishes, and all. every time I try to let chickie back into the office or mouse out, she terrorizes him and he becomes so scarred he wont come out from under my desk. even in the office, where we no longer allow chickie at all, he still owers in fear so much that he goes right where he is, most of the time I can't even find where he has gone untill it is so dry it looks almost grey.

I am at my ropes end, I am at the point where I want to throw them both into the bathroom and leave them there untill I feel like putting up with their malarkey again. mouse has never been this skittish, or this stand offish before so I am more than certain that it is out of fear that he will not stop hiding.

I ... rather we are not going to be able to put up with this situation much longer... Mouse going all overthe office is causing rather strong arguments betwen my fiance and I... She is upset because I so strongly place the blame for Mouses abnormal behavior on Chickiebut I don't know what else it could be.

He isn't sick, the stress related problems he had are already healing over..( he lost a bit of hair after the move) this fighting between them has been constant.
he has been to the vet because of the alergic reaction he has to the fleas, different mess all together but that is comming under control.

[MA]

Michael you sound defeated before you even try some of the suggestions. Closing the two cats off from each other with a solid door between them- I have found never works. Buy a baby gate and run it vertically up the doorway, not horizontally. Do this in a room that has two doors (preferably) so you can walk into one door while the other stays fairly open. The two of them need to scent each other out, and they can't do it when they are blocked from each other. The baby gate allows for the mixture of scent.

You can also do the vanilla extract, it really does work.

[jason]

we have tried seperating them we have tried locking one or the other into a room, we have two seperate litter boxes, two seperate food dishes, and all.

what is the time span for this?

it really does take time. for mine, it took nearly 2 months before i could get to the "allowing them to roam with me not there". only after a total of 6 months after the new addition did they develop a loving relationship.

all cats are different, some cats mesh immediatly while others need the patient encouragment only human companions can offer.

to refer to MA's comments on closing a door not working, i think you need to consider you have two things going on for Mouse....a new environment (a move) in addition to dealing with a new cat. Mouse needs to be attached to something other than "under a desk in a room".

[Guest]

I want to thank every one who replied and gave their suggestion. I really do feel defeated in this mostly because all I see is my harmless runt of a cat being terrorized constantly and becomming stand offish and aggressive towards me which he has never done before..... I guess I am as I said panicing and very scared for my cats. However, things have as of yet not gotten any better, but I do thank all of you who tried to help.... at the very least by never mentioning it as a possibility you have assured me that it is highly unlikely that Chickie will actually Kill Mouse.... and in the end that is what I was most affraid of.


Again thankyou all for trying to help

[jason]

at the very least by never mentioning it as a possibility you have assured me that it is highly unlikely that Chickie will actually Kill Mouse.... and in the end that is what I was most affraid of.

never heard of that ever happening with cats, rabbits are a different story (some of the most territorial animals i have ever been around).

please do try some of what i mentioned with as much patience as you can provide and stick with it. they really need the intervention of someone who knows better...you.

and remember, Mouse is probably more confused and stressed than upset with you...they have a limited vocabulary, remember that

[Paulette]

I understand your feelings completely! I had two related female cats and introduced a stray male. He was also very vulnerable as he has only one eye and in addition had been abused. So when my 2 girls started ganging up on him I felt so awful. I found myself having long conversations with him about their behavior!! It sounds crazy but on some level it helped.

Anyway, what I want to tell you is that this kind of situation can take a lot more time than we're sometimes prepared for. Eventually things DO calm down, but you're going to need a lot of patience. It took a good six months for the older female to stop harrassing him. It took another six months for them to become friendly and play together. Miracles of miracles!

The younger cat still refuses to make friends, but she's not quite as hostile any more. It's been about 2 years (!!) since he's come to live with us and she still doesn't like him, but we don't have all that commotion going on.

Try to hang in there. It does get better-- you know Love Conquers ALL!