Hi Everyone,
I don’t post her often but I do lurk and I hope you can give me input about a problem a friend is having with a new young cat.
A friend of mine, Kelly, adopted three teenaged female cats from the humane society about 2 ½ weeks ago. The cats were new to each other.
One of the cats is a tripod (missing back leg) because a car hit her. She has been in a cage for the entire recovery period--her leg is completely healed and fur has grown back in. Just before she was sold to my friend, they spayed her and found she had an extremely bad uterine infection. Ok, that's her background prior to my friend adopting her.
When my friend brought her home (btw the cat's name is Lily), the other two cats had not arrived yet. So, Lily had the attention of my friend and her husband for the weekend. She was extremely lovable and wanted to be held and loved up constantly. Once the two other cats arrived, she acted as if she was sick. She wasn't eating anything but an occasional treat and wasn't drinking, had diarrhea, and was dehydrated. (The vet NEVER put her on antibiotic after the surgery--even w/ the life threatening infection she had.) The humane society took her back to rehydrate her and returned her to my friend’s home.
Now my friend has all three cats in her home. Lily is having problems though. She cries all the time if she isn't being held by my friend or her husband. She hides in a bedroom crying continually until they come to pick her up. She cries when they leave their home. She becomes upset, cries, and hisses if another cat is being held (even if one person is holding her and another holding the other cat.) She occasionally will attack one of the other cats (that’s to be expected in my opinion—they have to get use to each other.) Lily doesn't want my friend to lie down to go to bed at night--she wants my friend to sit up and hold/cuddle her like a baby. She cries and carries on if my friend isn’t sitting up holding her. BTW--Lily IS good with the litter box.
My friend has a very limited income, has many medical problems herself, and feels drained by Lily. She doesn't want to take Lily back to the humane society because they are very crowded (at least 200 cats), but she doesn't know what else to do.
My input to her has been that Lily may still be sick and needs to see a different vet. My thought is that Lily may have extreme separation anxiety and/or post traumatic stress.
Any suggestions for how my friend should handle her? I've had cats my entire life, dealt with all kinds of cat behavior problems but I've never seen this severe behavior.
If I didn't have my hands full with six cats, a dog and a husband that would have a horrible fit, I'd take her in a minute. I can't stand the thought of her ending up back in a cage.
Thanks.
