A Plea For Help

yklepiko

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Hello everyone. I just joined following an advice from a caring person who read my ad on craigslist. I do apologize for a long post, but I feel like I need to explain everything from the beginning.
I currently have 3 cats. One 10 year old female, One 7y.o male and a 1 year old male. The 7 y.o we took in after our neighbors abandoned him when they moved out. He was accepted by our older female cat. But a little over a year ago we saved a newborn kitten, nursed him, raised him. He had many issues when he was a baby, was constantly hospitalized. He grew into a big cat, but became extremely aggressive towards the 7yo cat. We tried everything. Went to vets, neutered him, got calming collars and diffusers. Nothing is working. The poor 7yo cat is afraid to walk around the house. He started loosing fur because of stress. He is scared to even go to his litter box. I literally have to hand feed him and carry him around. Im barely home due to heavy work schedule. I am at the point that I need to give him away. But looking to see if there are any other options. I can not separate them into different rooms.
Please advise.
 

RufusGizmo

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Just from what I watched on "My cat from hell" sometimes having some higher places off the ground that the 7 year old can sit on maybe, or try to really tire the little one out, and then maybe try some treats together. It seems like you don't have a lot of time though, so the tiring the little one out might be difficult. have to try to get the 7 year old confidence back, but not sure how to get that going. Good luck.
 

di and bob

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Can you get a bigger kennel to cage the aggressor up when you are gone? Or you might get him used to a harness and leash and leash him up when the seven year old is around to keep him away. After your tugs and a sharp NO over and over, he will learn. There are also calming treats on Amazon you could try as a last resort, maybe if he was calmer he might act nicer. The young one is still a kitten and obviously hasn't learned his boundaries when playing. You might 'scruff' him and hold him still for a minute when he attacks or is stalking, that is what a mama cat does to teach them. He needs to know what he is doing is not allowed, you have to tell him NO loudly and even give him a 5 minute time out in teh bathroom or some other place he won't like. Only five minutes though, or he'll forget what he did. Post us if you find anything that works!
 

Letta

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Hi,
I am sorry to hear this. I a few ideas:
1. Give tons of places to go up for your 7 year old cat. Height build confidence in cats
2. Do you know what triggers the agression of the youngest ? Does he hiss and growl ? If not it might be play from his side but your cat might not understand it
3. If it is agression, the best thing might be to reintroduce them. I know you said you seperate then but do you mean it's not a long time solution or you don't have a door you can close? Sometimes re introducing 2 cats is the best way to solve it. Do you know when it started?
I would put your 7 year old in a safe room even if small just the time to rebuild his confidence. He needs to feel more secure and for that he needs a time to décompresse.
I would also stop carrying the cat. I know you want to protect him but sometimes this reinforce their fear: if my human is stressed I am right to see him as a danger ect... instead i would give him for the moment a safe room and then reintroduce.If you don't have another room I would add a lot of cat trees, hiding spots and make sure that there is alsway an escape route for him this build confidence

I would also suggest do a bit of detective work and try to see what triggers the attacks. If we understand what triggers it then we can work on that: is it play agression ? Is it redirected agression? Is it territorial?
 
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yklepiko

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Thank you everyone for your input.
Its is definitely aggression. He doesn't just hiss, he jumps him, attacks tears him apart. Fur flying everywhere. Its scary to separate them . What triggers it ? absolutely everything! every time he sees him.
 

Letta

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yklepiko

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Can you separate them for a short while? When did it started ?
I can't recall exactly when. Most likely after we took the little one with us for a weekend with us away. When we brought him back - I guess. As soon as he became bigger in size than the 7 yo, he started terrorizing him. And its only getting worse. I can try to separate them, but it will be very difficult.
 

Letta

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It sounds like their was an incident at that time (maybe because the 7 year old did not recognize him) and that leads him to see your 7 year old cat as a menace hence the attacks. Separating them seems the only way to fix it right now (and it is doable!!). Do you live in a 1 or 2 bedroom appartment?
 
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