I mentioned in an earlier post that we have taken in a rescue kitty, or so to speak. It's Midnight, the pretty calico from down the street whose owners weren't caring for her and then never came to claim her.
She's a very well-behaved cat, sweet and completely trained. My heart just goes out to her when I think of how scared she must have been, getting out and not being able to get back in, and then being imprisoned in a basement. But herein lies our problem:
She does not like other cats. And we have other cats....many other cats. Our babies are sweet, very affectionate, and also very well-behaved. They exist in complete harmony with each other. The mothers take care of each others' babies, and the babies play together; the other, older cats look after the babies and clean and cuddle them. It is a true cat family in every sense of the word. When Midnight came to be with us, they were curious, but none of them "raised a paw", so to speak. They wanted to know her, and each tried to welcome her. She would have none of it. Morrigan and Fea were still a bit smaller, and she made the mistake of going after each one of them, and that was a big mistake. Lucy, our other rescue cat, sees herself as the protector of the family, and she immediately defended the little ones. The other, older cats were mystified by her behavior; you could tell that they did not understand why she did not want to be friends. Still, every time there was an overture of friendship, she would lash out, and there were plenty of times when she would just go after one of them for no apparent reason. We thought she needed to adjust after not ever being around other cats. We were affectionate with her, and firm when telling her no to her bad behaviors.
Now, the others just don't deal with her at all. When she walks into a room, you can feel the tension. They're all just waiting for her to make a move. And Lucy is always at the ready. Now that there are other kittens in the house, and she has her own little brood, we thought she would calm down. She even tried to mother Chicken's kittens shortly before she had her own. The older ones still don't trust her, but they have behaved. There have been a couple little skirmishes, but it has been hard to tell who was the instigator.
That is, until tonight. She was sitting in the livingroom, and Lucy's 5 week old, Olivia, was sitting on the floor about 3 feet from her. For absolutely no reason, she attacked the baby! Olivia cowered in terror and Lucy came from another room at a dead run for Midnight, who immediately ran off. My daughter grabbed Olivia, who was trembling, and cooed and cuddled her until she calmed.
I do not know what to do. We have tried so hard to integrate her into our family. I don't want to take her and her kittens to the SPCA, but I have to decide what's best for all of my babies. I would love her and keep her forever, but I can't let her go after the babies and scare them so - and even possibly hurt them.
Is there anything I can do?
