Daily Kitten Chat Forum » Purrs

1. 

   Hi

   About seven weeks ago, my fiance and I rescued a kitten from the bushes in his apartment complex. Because he already had a cat, Maggie came to live with me at my place until she had all her shots and was deemed healthy. She is about five months old. Everything has been going pretty well with Maggie and I in terms of adjusting. She stopped walking all over me at night and began sleeping with me or in her little bed. I even have two dogs that she's OK with. All's well, that is until the past week. My fiance and his kitty have moved in with me, and Maggie is not adjusting well. She torments the other, bigger cat, Kiki, by chasing her around during the day and cornering her behind the TV or couch. We have begun putting Kiki in a room away from Maggie during the day when we are at work. At night the cats are given free reign of the house, but Maggie chortles and meows all night long. She does not relax at all. I have begun "sleeping" on the couch so that the fiance and Kiki can sleep in peace in the bedroom, but Maggie still won't calm down. She wants to play and pounce and meow all night. I'm assuming that she's stressed because Kiki has invaded her space and Tony, the fiance, has taken her place on the bed. I also realize that she is still a baby and has a lot of energy. She has plenty of water and food, and I play with her about an hour before going to bed. What else do I do? Is there some sort of sleep aid for cats? I am exhausted and out of ideas. Plus, this is going to ruin my marriage before it even begins! Help!

   Posted 2 years ago by twoscompany #

2. 

   hey there TC. welcome...sorry to hear about your situation. i don't have any practice for dealing with introducing cats. you can search the other threads here for information. i have heard good things about the feliway diffuser. it's supposed to calm cats down and promote good feelings. the weekend is usually slow on here, but i'm sure someone with more information will jump in soon and give you some advice. hopefully things work out for u!

   Posted 2 years ago by kaits_mama #

3. 

   Hi TC, welcome to TDK :o)

   Don't get too stressed by this, for one thing the cats will pick up on it, and for another, one week is very little time to give animals time to make such a big adjustment - a new cat AND a new human? That's a lot for one cat to take in!

   Try keeping them separated when neither of you is around for at least another week, and allow them contact only when you're around. Try feeding them together, this is the time to treat them, so tuna or whatever gets them excited is good. Even if they eat a couple of yeards apart, you will soon be able to reduce that distance gradually.

   Do some scent tranfer work - stroke one, and then go straight to the toher and stroke them, and vice versa. Reassure them, make sure you fuss both of them equally. It will take time, but it will happen. When we introduced our Eric into the mix, Pickle hated him, but now they are best buddies!

   We're going through this ourselves right now, having got ourselves a fourth cat (gluttons for punishment!!) just a couple of weeks ago. Our cats are adjusting quite well (even Pickle!) but Harry still isn't too sure. In time he'll be fine, but I do sympathise, it is hard while you're waiting for them to come round! I can vouch for the Feliway difuser, Feliway is a synthetic cat hormone and is very good at calming stressful/anxious situations. I've seen it in the States in Petsmart. One diffuser lasts about 4 weeks, you could do with at least a couple.

   Good luck, and keep us posted! Come and post whenever you feel stressed or worried, there's always an ear around to listen. And join in the daily cafe and nightshift threads where the general chit chat tends to take place, this is a great little community for support, help and downright silliness!!

   Posted 2 years ago by MadcatwomanintheUK #

4. 

   So, today has been difficult with Maggie. She began rolling around on the floor erratically, meowing incessantly, and was carrying her tail off the side. I thought she had a brain tumor or something, but after some research, I think she is in HEAT! She is an inside cat, so I'm just going to be very VERY careful opening the front door this week. She's scheduled to be fixed on Friday. I hope the vet can still do it. Why would anyone want to breed kittens? This is horrible! Any tips on making the next 4 to 10 days more bearable for me?

   Posted 2 years ago by twoscompany #

5. 

   if her tail is moist or wet, she"s in heat...

   Posted 2 years ago by CSBM #

6. 

   Sorry, TC, Maggie's going to be difficult to be around until her vet visit. She will meow, wail, and become very insistent on having attention. ALL your attention. Nothing is going to make her happy until she finds a tom or gets spayed.

   Please be VERY careful and quick with the front door! Female cats who are normally indifferent to the outdoors can become regular Houdinis, in their pursuit of Mr. Tom!+

   Posted 2 years ago by anncetera2 #

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