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- Feb 8, 2018
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We began caring for a stray cat who wandered into our yard on Halloween. He's a sweet cat who we named Simba. Couldn't find an owner, we think he was dumped.
We had him fixed and cared for at the vet. They said he is a year old. He was kept in a separate room apart from our two resident cats - Ari and Tootsie (females). He currently has moved to longer supervised time in the main house.
We tried gradual introductions/treats/play through the door. He was initially kept in a finished room in our lower level. We have since graduated, now 3+ months later, to him being in a room upstairs in the hopes that he would learn more the schedule/noises of our home and help integrate him in our home with our other two cats. He gets supervised visits in the main house whenever we can, but at night and while at work he goes in his room, because of the below. He has had 12+ hours in the main house on our days off.
Main issues:
1) He stalks our other cats - I can't quite figure out if it's just play, but Ari doesn't like it and growls at him, but she doesn't leave and hide. He goes after her quite often and tries to bite her in the neck - so I'm not sure if it's sexual aggression instead of play, or some combination of both. We can't get him to stop. The weird thing is that Ari doesn't run to hide, she will often stay and watch him (somewhat hiding under a chair, in a cubby, etc.) and if she runs away, will immediately come back to watch, but she doesn't appear to like playing with him at all. They have also taken naps within a foot of each other. I've witnessed Simba try to curl up next to her (I think he needs/wants a companion, but she wouldn't have anything to do with that - so he returns to sleeping next to her).
2) Tootsie recently went through i131 treatment (end of December - I know, this all came at HORRIBLE timing). She's generally not very social and has always just barely tolerated Ari (they've been together 5+ years - we adopted both of them from another owner). Tootsie is sweet and our lap cat, but only on her terms. She now tends to stay in her favorite room and ventures into the main house once in a while and mostly in the morning and at night for lap time when we go to bed and then early in the morning before we leave for work. When Simba is out, she growls and hisses at him. He also stalks her - he will sit and just stare at her and sometimes prepares to pounce, but we always stop it before he can make a move. He is more hesitant with her because she is more vocal in her unhappiness with him. Tootsie has become even more grumpy and now even less tolerant of Ari. She growls and swats at us more often than usual (but still requests lap time). The weird thing with Tootsie is that she now will immediately go into HIS room when the door is open because she loves his water dish (even though she has her own water dish AND a water fountain to choose from).
We are not sure what to do anymore to make progress. Although we have always wanted another cat, we have never added one because we knew that Tootsie has a lot of catitude and would like not accept. I
We've initially thought of trying to adopt Simba out, but I just can't bring myself to it yet, although in reality it's been just over 3 months. Not sure if it would be better for our cats, but also for him as he is having a hard time going into his room for work days and evenings. My husband thinks that it could be contributing to his high level of hyperactivity (he loves being out in the main house - and other than the issues with our other cats, does pretty well).
Our vet recommended clicker training and trying Prozac. I don't want to medicate him.
I've started clicker training and have charged the clicker with him and it's working; however, when he is in the mood to fixate his attention on one of the other cats, I can't break his attention with treats/clicker training.
Any advice on how we can get him to be less interested in our other cats and leave them alone? Any advice on what we should do? I feel like a horrible cat parent and a complete failure with all three of them at this point.
We had him fixed and cared for at the vet. They said he is a year old. He was kept in a separate room apart from our two resident cats - Ari and Tootsie (females). He currently has moved to longer supervised time in the main house.
We tried gradual introductions/treats/play through the door. He was initially kept in a finished room in our lower level. We have since graduated, now 3+ months later, to him being in a room upstairs in the hopes that he would learn more the schedule/noises of our home and help integrate him in our home with our other two cats. He gets supervised visits in the main house whenever we can, but at night and while at work he goes in his room, because of the below. He has had 12+ hours in the main house on our days off.
Main issues:
1) He stalks our other cats - I can't quite figure out if it's just play, but Ari doesn't like it and growls at him, but she doesn't leave and hide. He goes after her quite often and tries to bite her in the neck - so I'm not sure if it's sexual aggression instead of play, or some combination of both. We can't get him to stop. The weird thing is that Ari doesn't run to hide, she will often stay and watch him (somewhat hiding under a chair, in a cubby, etc.) and if she runs away, will immediately come back to watch, but she doesn't appear to like playing with him at all. They have also taken naps within a foot of each other. I've witnessed Simba try to curl up next to her (I think he needs/wants a companion, but she wouldn't have anything to do with that - so he returns to sleeping next to her).
2) Tootsie recently went through i131 treatment (end of December - I know, this all came at HORRIBLE timing). She's generally not very social and has always just barely tolerated Ari (they've been together 5+ years - we adopted both of them from another owner). Tootsie is sweet and our lap cat, but only on her terms. She now tends to stay in her favorite room and ventures into the main house once in a while and mostly in the morning and at night for lap time when we go to bed and then early in the morning before we leave for work. When Simba is out, she growls and hisses at him. He also stalks her - he will sit and just stare at her and sometimes prepares to pounce, but we always stop it before he can make a move. He is more hesitant with her because she is more vocal in her unhappiness with him. Tootsie has become even more grumpy and now even less tolerant of Ari. She growls and swats at us more often than usual (but still requests lap time). The weird thing with Tootsie is that she now will immediately go into HIS room when the door is open because she loves his water dish (even though she has her own water dish AND a water fountain to choose from).
We are not sure what to do anymore to make progress. Although we have always wanted another cat, we have never added one because we knew that Tootsie has a lot of catitude and would like not accept. I
We've initially thought of trying to adopt Simba out, but I just can't bring myself to it yet, although in reality it's been just over 3 months. Not sure if it would be better for our cats, but also for him as he is having a hard time going into his room for work days and evenings. My husband thinks that it could be contributing to his high level of hyperactivity (he loves being out in the main house - and other than the issues with our other cats, does pretty well).
Our vet recommended clicker training and trying Prozac. I don't want to medicate him.
I've started clicker training and have charged the clicker with him and it's working; however, when he is in the mood to fixate his attention on one of the other cats, I can't break his attention with treats/clicker training.
Any advice on how we can get him to be less interested in our other cats and leave them alone? Any advice on what we should do? I feel like a horrible cat parent and a complete failure with all three of them at this point.