Attacked By Outside Cat

[blumarine916]

@Danglos I only have Feliway Classic but I think it has negative effect on Meimey. She became more nervous than usual until I turned it off. Now she’s back to normal.

I’m still too nervous to keep them in the same room even with supervision. Meffy is lightning fast when she attacks. So I will keep them separated for another week to see if there’s any improvement. The enclosure should help. It’s a foldable cloth/mesh type like the laundry basket with zipper doors and easily foldaway for storage.

 

[Kflowers]

Did you go over the apartment, the apartment building hall and outside your apartment with the black light looking for spray marks? If you found them did you enzyme clean them? You'll need to look on the outside and in the building hall every day. Tom cats are thorough and repetitive.

 

[blumarine916]

Did you go over the apartment, the apartment building hall and outside your apartment with the black light looking for spray marks? If you found them did you enzyme clean them? You'll need to look on the outside and in the building hall every day. Tom cats are thorough and repetitive.

No I didn’t go outside my apartment corridor or the building. It’s common to see 1-2 cats roaming around since people sometimes feed them at the ground floor and they somehow figured out how to get on the elevators and stairs.
Yes I still see that white cat who came into my house. But I have installed a mesh over my grill gate.

 

[blumarine916]

It’s been 11 days since I separated them. 2 days ago I let them see each other. Still no improvement. Meffy is still growling. Puzzles me even more now since Meimey’s scent is already all over the house and on her. I even let them share bowls, cleaned the house, made sure to leave the other litter box in the same area for a few hours, scent swapping, plugged in Feliway...I have done everything as instructed! She smells and hears Meimey from below the door. They can even eat nearby with the door slightly open about 2 occasions. But just no improvement on Meffy’s part.

It is also getting tougher to keep Meimey in the room for long since she will start meowing non-stop to be let out the moment she knows I’m in the house.

Here’s one thing that never changed since the incident 1 month ago. I’ve been locking Meffy in the bedroom with me every night.

Every morning, the first thing Meffy does the moment she comes out of my bedroom is to dart towards the dining chairs where Meimey always sat (at night). Even if I locked Meffy in the room for an hour or 2, she will do the same thing when she comes out. So you can just imagine what would happen if I didn’t keep Meimey when I let Meffy out. She darts out and full speed. Once she sees there’s no one there, she checks out other areas. Not even food can distract her until she’s done with her rounds.

 

[inkysmom]

I mentioned a long time ago that Meffy might have been injured more seriously than you knew which will make her worse until she feels better after she's seen and treated by a good vet
The only other thing is to go everywhere right outside and eliminate all cat odors she goes.

 

[blumarine916]

I mentioned a long time ago that Meffy might have been injured more seriously than you knew which will make her worse until she feels better after she's seen and treated by a good vet
The only other thing is to go everywhere right outside and eliminate all cat odors she goes.

I have already gone to 2 vets about 1 week apart and both of them said she was fine. If she has an abscess it would be painful by now and I would notice if she kept fussing over a particular spot. I watch her very closely ever since she had an abscess issue last year which recurred 3 months later. She hasn’t done anything like that at all.

It’s impossible to eliminate ALL cat odors outside my apartment because sometimes a stray would appear out of nowhere. I have no control over this since there are 180 apartment units in my block alone. There’s even a dog living next door. I can only clean inside my house thoroughly over and over.

 

[Leomc123]

Are you sure that someone didnt break into your house and did something to your cats ? And the stray cat got in ? Usually after a cat fight, my cats act normal afterwards.

 

[Leomc123]

Day 4 - They still can’t stand the sight of one a another. " If it was the other stray cat entering the house, it may have left his/her scent on the cat, so the cat smells differently to eachother.

 

[Leomc123]

i would wash your cats as they may have the stray cats scent on them, and wipe them down with two separate clean towels, and use a good product to make them smell the same, before you bathe them make sure you clean the apartment from the cat pee markings first, if you can put your cats in the bathroom in their crates before you clean up the house, once the house is cleaned up and the balcony if you have one, then bathe your cats. First cat bathe, then put in one room , second cat bath, put in the other room. Then slowly introduce them again with their new smell.

I think they are still smelling the other cat on each other. Melf and Meimey probably have no idea that they have the scent on them, because of the attack, when they see each other, Melf is smelling meimey as the stray cat and goes into attack mode attacking Meimey, and Meimey is smelling Melf as the aggressive stray cat and hides away.

They are both looking at each other as the aggressors because of the scent from the stray cat which was the one who did the attacking in the first place. Unless you can find the owner of the cat that intruded, and try to introduce your cats to him in crates, so they associate the smell with the real cat , rather than each other .

 

[blumarine916]

Are you sure that someone didnt break into your house and did something to your cats ? And the stray cat got in ? Usually after a cat fight, my cats act normal afterwards.

Yes I’m very sure because only the inner door was open. The outer grill door was still locked so a person can not get inside without first opening the grill. A cat can easily pass through the small gaps.

The “Day 4” you mentioned was 31st March. I have tried reintroducing them over and over since then because it seems I rushed it. So after restarting again on 17 April, I’m at Day 11 now.

 

[Hellenww]

Someone else suggested exchanging their sleeping rooms. Those rooms would be more scented than the rest of the house. Each of them would have the chance to intermingle their scents. You've said Meffy is vocal so do it during your work day so Meffy can still be in your room at night.

Have you tried Chamomile tea? The chamomile in pre-made tea bags is safe for cats but the kind grown in most garden is toxic. People suggest 1tsp 2x a day. Giving something orally can cause more stress. I wonder if putting a little cooled tea on your hands and petting the cats would work. I haven't tried it or heard anyone suggest it before.

 

[blumarine916]

Someone else suggested exchanging their sleeping rooms. Those rooms would be more scented than the rest of the house. Each of them would have the chance to intermingle their scents. You've said Meffy is vocal so do it during your work day so Meffy can still be in your room at night.

Have you tried Chamomile tea? The chamomile in pre-made tea bags is safe for cats but the kind grown in most garden is toxic. People suggest 1tsp 2x a day. Giving something orally can cause more stress. I wonder if putting a little cooled tea on your hands and petting the cats would work. I haven't tried it or heard anyone suggest it before.

I will try it. So far I’ve only let her do her ‘inspection’ until she wants out.

I read your earlier reply about chamomile tea but not sure what you meant by “use”. Do you mean feeding them the tea? How do I feed them?

 

[Hellenww]

Do you mean feeding them the tea? How do I feed them?

Most pharmacy's sell baby medicine droppers that you can use to give it to them. My vet gives them free if I ask but I'm 3 min from them so it's easy for me to go.

 

[blumarine916]

Most pharmacy's sell baby medicine droppers that you can use to give it to them. My vet gives them free if I ask but I'm 3 min from them so it's easy for me to go.

Won’t that stress the cats more? I’ve never had to give Meimey medicine and Meffy is crazy impossible to give medicine. Drove me nuts when I had to give her antibiotics for 6 days.

What will the chamomile do though?

 

[Hellenww]

Won’t that stress the cats more?

This is why I wondered about putting some cooled tea on your hands and petting them. But I've never heard of it being used this way.

What will the chamomile do though?

It's an herbal tea that has calming quality for humans. Some people here also use it for stressed cats.
13 Benefits Of Chamomile Tea For Skin, Hair And Overall Health: Drink Up!

 

[Kflowers]

If you don't search the outside of your apartment with the black light and the hall outside your apartment with it and wash off the spray every blasted day for as long as you live there, your cats will continue to feel under attack. You'll need to do this even after your cats are getting along again. I'm not telling you to do the whole complex, I never said anything like that, just outside your apartment outside your windows and outside your doors and your doors.

But if you don't want to bother, you are setting your cats up for failure and you might as well re-home one now and just plan to only have one cat. With luck that one cat won't start spraying to keep the cat that sprays your doors and under your windows away.

 

[blumarine916]

If you don't search the outside of your apartment with the black light and the hall outside your apartment with it and wash off the spray every blasted day for as long as you live there, your cats will continue to feel under attack. You'll need to do this even after your cats are getting along again. I'm not telling you to do the whole complex, I never said anything like that, just outside your apartment outside your windows and outside your doors and your doors.

But if you don't want to bother, you are setting your cats up for failure and you might as well re-home one now and just plan to only have one cat. With luck that one cat won't start spraying to keep the cat that sprays your doors and under your windows away.

It’s not that I can’t be bothered or don’t want to but I can’t. I live on the 7th floor of a high-rise building. The corridor is a common walkway for other people living on the same floor. Washing it is going get the floors wet and cause dirty footprints all over the rest of the floor. Also there is no drainage if I get the floors wet, the water is going to flow down the stairs. People will complain.

I can only wipe/clean my single door which opens to the outside so that’s what I have been doing. That was how the cat came in.

 

[FeebysOwner]

I have not gone back and re-read this entire thread, so if I am repeating something someone else already said, I apologize.

If your cats are indoor only, then you can try buying or making some cat repellent sprays to use at your door threshold on the outside. It would be especially ideal if you have a welcome mat outside your door, as you could spray it in particular. I don't think this should cause any issues with your neighbors and won't cause the floor to be wet.

How to Make Homemade Cat Repellent

Since Feliway didn't work for you, which is doesn't always work on all cats, you might try some of the other calming products on the market. One is called Bach Rescue Remedy which are drops that you can rub into a cat's ear to help calm them down. Many people use these before they take their cat for a vet visit. But, it is just like Feliway - and all the other related products - not all work on all cats. Do an internet search on "cat calming products" and see if there others you might be interested in trying.

 

[Kflowers]

As Feebysowner said, wiping the door, the welcome mat and the floor around it - damp not soaked mop - dampened with the enzyme cleaner not water. Do it every day until your cats calm down. Do the inside of your door at least to the leaght it opens into your aparment. The other cat's scents can be carried by the underside of the door. You can also dampen a towel with the enzyme cleaner and slide it under the door so you and your Bf are each holding one end and rub it against the bottom of the door.

 

[blumarine916]

I have not gone back and re-read this entire thread, so if I am repeating something someone else already said, I apologize.

If your cats are indoor only, then you can try buying or making some cat repellent sprays to use at your door threshold on the outside. It would be especially ideal if you have a welcome mat outside your door, as you could spray it in particular. I don't think this should cause any issues with your neighbors and won't cause the floor to be wet.

How to Make Homemade Cat Repellent

Since Feliway didn't work for you, which is doesn't always work on all cats, you might try some of the other calming products on the market. One is called Bach Rescue Remedy which are drops that you can rub into a cat's ear to help calm them down. Many people use these before they take their cat for a vet visit. But, it is just like Feliway - and all the other related products - not all work on all cats. Do an internet search on "cat calming products" and see if there others you might be interested in trying.

I put Feliway back on but I don’t know if it’s working or not. Might as well let it run until it’s finished. I couldn’t find Bach Rescue Remedy in any shops so I’ll have to order online.