Does My Cat Really Need Prozac?

[Kittypet]

Hello, I'm new to posting here, but have definitely been a long time lurker of the Google variety. I figured since I've always looked, might as well join in, so thanks for having me. Recently my family and I have been experiencing some concerning changes in our male's behavior towards our female. A little background regarding these two:

Chip, 1 yr, Male, Black DSH, Fixed, Indoor only: shy, reclusive only with new people, warms up eventually and will cautiously play until he's familiar then he's more likely to "stick around"; huge house panther who doesn't know his own strength, doesn't pull his punches when he plays; is a belly trap kitty sometimes, but mostly only with my husband; likes to play fetch; very neurotic about schedules, where his people are at all times and whether or not a door should be closed, but generally a loving boy who's very attached to me and semi-attached to my husband.

Newton (Newnie), 1 yr, Female, Tabby DSH, Fixed, Indoor only: brave, confident, wants to be everyone's friend but mostly children and babies (no idea why, but she loves small humans); familiar with soft paws and plays very gently when hands are involved; loves food and treats and stealing cheese slices from right out of my hand >:[; loving and affectionate when she wants to be, but acts very 'tsundere', as we've started calling it ("it's not like I want to lay next to you or anything, gosh!"), but, still, not as cuddly as her brother (i.e. can only stand to be held like a baby for so long and will never make eye contact when held, always has to look at the ceiling), she is getting there tho; the most playful of the pair and the most stubborn.

These two cookie cats have been with our family since they were both around 6 months old. Chip wasn't born into the same litter as Newnie, but when we asked for a bonded pair they were offered to us and we fell in love. As such, Chip is technically a few weeks older and a few pounds heavier than his sister who we were told is going to be a petite tabby for the rest of her life (she's like 6 lbs and he's like...10-11 lbs).​

The issues we've been having with these two is that Chip has started to display what I'm perceiving as territorial behavior. It started with the highest perch on the cat tree and has now escalated to feeding times, box ownership, and just general walking past him on the couch. He chases her, tackles her, bites the heck out of her until she yowls and hisses and swats at him to get him to stop...and then they sit next to me and cuddle and groom each other and act like he didn't just try and rip off an ear. I've owned cats my whole life, but I'll admit I've never had two that have interacted with each other openly so I don't know if this behavior is something that's normal or if I'm misunderstanding.

With the perch thing, whenever she'd go to the highest point to groom herself, he'd jump up and pull her down by the scruff, kicking and screaming as they'd go, and take her place- so we removed it and just kept the two level towers. It seemed to help as the behavior regarding the tree stopped, but since then he's just grown more and more "aggressive" in his pursuits of her. To the point where she'll hiss or swat and run with her tail and hackles puffed/raised and her ears flat as if she's fleeing for her life. I've only witnessed this behavior in cats who are scared, so my immediate reaction is to intervene and separate until they both calm down, then it's back to acting like nothing ever happened.

They both get the zoomies, Chip mostly when "the schedule" is not adhered to and Newnie only when she knows breakfast or dinner time is approaching. So they both have their crazy moments and will chase each other, but the feeling between zoomie chases and the pursuit chases is like a night and day difference...everything feels charged with negativity and I don't know if it's just me being too sensitive and worried about my babies or if it's actually something to worry about.

The most concerning thing that's happened is the food situation. They've always been fed together since the day we brought them home. They eat twice a day now, wet mostly, but we add some dry to bulk up the meal. At one point during their first year we had to separate them because Newnie was gulping down her food and then pushing Chip out of the way to get to his food and I didn't like that, so we put Chip in the room to eat, shut the door and solved that problem. Eventually we switched Newnie to a flatter plate so it'd take her longer to eat and Chip came back into the kitchen for meal times. We had no more problems until just a few weeks ago.

Newnie just stopped eating.

Like I don't know if it was a food aversion or if she'd become bored with the recipe, but she stopped and wouldn't even take her favorite canned tuna as a meal replacement. We took her to the vet multiple times and everything came back normal so I started looking at it from a behavioral aspect. That's when I noticed Chip finishing /his food/ first and then rushing to get to her's. It was like the roles had reversed except separating them did nothing. Whenever she'd so much as hear him at the door to the bedroom she'd stop licking whatever was in her bowl and rush under the bed. It got to the point where she refused everything we offered her- and her being such a food motivated kitty, it just worried me immensely to see this change in her.

Eventually we found a food she'd eat: baby food. Just protein and water, no additives or anything. She'd lick it up so fast I didn't even care that it was technically human food as long as she was eating and drinking again, I was happy. Eventually we transitioned her back to cat food, started mixing up the flavors instead of just chicken every day and added a new unique protein with their dry food (limited-ingredient rabbit flavor) and now she eats all of it at every meal time. The only difference is we're now sticking to the separate room feedings and have put Chip in the bedroom again since he knows "go to the room" as a command, better than she does, and is much more comfortable eating in there while I observe Newnie and make sure she's eating in the kitchen.

I know this sounds like a lot for nothing, but everything that's happened over these last few weeks has led me to believe that Chip isn't exactly happy in our household. We live on a first floor apartment complex in NY...there are constantly people walking past our window and scaring the daylights out of him to the point of hiding under the bed until he deems it safe. We've tried everything to calm him down. He has a nutracalm cat collar, they both have a lot of horizontal as well as vertical space to escape to with a bunch of perches and cat trees, but nothing seems to work when he starts getting anxious...and this is where most of his Newnie pursuits happen.

To me it looks like he's taking out his frustration on her.

I've asked for help from both my vet and the foundation we adopted them from and they've both recommended either a pet behaviorist or...Prozac for cats. I'm personally not comfortable giving animals medication that I feel is mind altering- I don't think my boy has any sort of imbalance and that it's just his environment. I keep thinking, maybe he'd be better off in a quiet, one cat household; maybe if we got a third cat (likely a kitten) it'd help him feel more secure and balance out the dynamic between him and his sister; maybe if I learned how to speak cat I'd know how to help him- like there are so many maybes going on, but all anyone around me and my husband wants to do is put him on SSRIs and hope that calms him down enough to be able to stay with us.

I don't want to rehome my boy. He's my son. I've raised him from a baby and taught him everything he knows. I know him better than anyone in the world...but if he'd be happier in a quieter home where he would be the only cat and not have to worry about territory or anything else, then I'd do it even if it broke my heart to do it. I'd do anything to make him feel safe and comfortable...but I don't want to put him on prozac.

Am I being a hypocrite by saying that?

Does anyone have any experience with it and whether or not it's even a good idea?

Sorry for the long post, but I just want to give a good idea as to what we've been dealing with for the last few months or so.

Thanks for reading if you got this far!

 

[basschick]

i could be absolutely wrong, but i feel you may be anthropomorphizing your cats a bit. i do that, too, btw.

it sounds to me like either the vet missed something - and my experience with vets has been pretty poor - or perhaps your cat isn't unhappy - he's being the alpha cat. he wants to be the one eating the food. he wants to be the one on the top level of the cat tree. he wants to constantly prove his dominance. there's nothing in your post that makes me - notably not an expert but someone who has lived with cats since 1967 - make me think your boy is unhappy.

did your vet do all the normal tests for crystals and UTIs? if not, i'd start there. also some fixed males have a little tissue that isn't removed, or so i read here, and they can remain basically unfixed and aggressive.

i, too, hate medicating. side effects are a thing, and there's other stuff, as well.

that being said, some people here have had amazing results with small doses of prozac. some have had cats who were attacking them, drawing blood and leading to stitches. others have had cats who attacked other cats.

it seems that your female cat is the one who needs to be safer. your male sounds like he's pretty safe - there are no threats and he gets to be the king.

so the question is whether you're willing to give away your guy or gal, leave her terrorized or do something about it. and the catch is - and again, i could be wrong - it's natural for cats to have a pecking order and keep the under cat in a state of perpetual submission and some fear. but it's pretty unpleasant for the under cat. a third cat would very possibly become another under cat under the control of the dominant male in the house.

in my situation, first off i'd take more steps to keep the female safer. and i might well try the prozac because i want BOTH cats to be happy, not afraid and live the good life. and that's not happening now.

but i would also research other drugs that might take the edge off the aggression. there may be a better option. ask your vet for options. and hopefully some people here will have tried something and will share about the experience.

btw, i am a person who always gives a quarter dose of any med first. often i found the desired result without the side effects at the lower dose. doctors of all types dislike this, but hey, if my cat or i are the patient, i get input, too.

 

[Kittypet]

Thanks for responding, we have had Chip checked out by the vet and in the past, when we first left them alone with a pet sitter and then again when we were away from home more often than not, Chip had some eliminating complications and had developed the "male equivalent" to a UTI (I was actually told male cat's can't get a UTI by the vet??? Which I looked at them like what...he's still got a urinary tract doesn't he?) where he wasn't using the litter box and was peeing blood everywhere, mainly in the bathtub, but originally it was everywhere.

He got medication for it and hasn't had any issues since, but it was what started us on the cat anxiety route and what led us to getting him the calming collar.

I suppose we can take him back again to see if he's still got some tissue like you said and talk to them about the medication at the same time. I've pretty much sat down since we first started this discussion and wondered myself what would be best for them. He's terrorizing her, but only occasionally, and when he does it she's a different cat. I'm afraid she'll lose that social aspect of her personality as it feels like she started out as the alpha cat when we first brought them home before he got bigger than her.

My question here is "what more can I do to make Newnie feel safer?". I feel as though I've done everything I can to give them space and she has her one spot he won't go (above the fridge in a cabinet where we removed the door, he doesn't go up there because the fridge makes noise and he's afraid of it) to get away from him.

And if I'm anthropomorphizing them...what exactly does that mean? lol

 

[Hellenww]

I did't plan for this to be so long. I've had some similar issue and hope my experiences can help you.

I also have a bonded house panther (Yoshi, 13yr, 14lb) and sweet tabby (Sqeeker 11yr, 9lb). They love each other, snuggle and groom. Until Yoshi was 8yrs old he was awake and expecting play from 4am to 11pm. Sqeeker has regular cat energy levels.

Sqeeker came to us at 7mts but did not have the amount of energy that Yoshi still had. We set up places Sqeeker could fit into that Yoshi was too big for when Sqeeker was done playing. There was never any fear behavior from Sqeeker but their play sessions were often loud and frightening if I hadn't seen them cuddle 2 seconds before and after play. Your Kits are getting mature so there play will also.

If Newnie is still seeking out Chip for cuddles and not fearful outside of play sessions I'd let her set the limits. Your breaking up the play session might confuse her. Set up places she can get away from Chip when she's had enough. Maybe some cardboard boxes with holes too small for Chip. If Newnie uses them you can make something more attractive later.

Food: Chip is bigger and possibly still growing. Is he getting enough food? Our boys get 2 wet meals, treats, and crunchies available at all times. Yoshi does the same thing at meal times. Sqeeker also prefers to nibble rather than finish his wet food in one session. We used to keep the stroller in the kitchen and pop Yoshi in it so Sqeeker could eat in peace. When I moved the stroller to another room Yoshi made noise in it and Sqeeker was too nervous to eat. I now distract Yoshi with the kitchen faucet or held him in the kitchen and Sqeeker is fine. To keep Yoshi away from Sqeekers food between nibblings I put a pot lid over the food and Sqeeker tells us when he wants more. It took Yoshi a few months to figure out how to flip the lid with his nail. Next we used the top of a cake box. Yoshi understood that the handle way the key but took over a month to grab the handle without his weight on it. Now we use the whole cake box. Yoshi watched me latch it and has been pulling it around by the latch.

Your kits are bonded and they love you. I think they'd both prefer to stay. I grew up in the city and know how small most apts are. Can you put another box at the other end of the apt? They say you should have 1 more litter box than cat. So 3 would be ideal but that's probably not realistic.

nothing seems to work when he starts getting anxious...and this is where most of his Newnie pursuits happen.

This sounds like re-directed aggression. You can't do much about the noise. A white noise machine might help a little. You can get privacy film to put on the window. It lets light through, is easily removable, and comes in many lovely designs.

Re-directed Aggression In Cats

https://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=16136296011&tag=&tag=thecatsite

I'd also try some play therapy with Chip. Get him a Chip sized infant safe stuffed animal and teach him to beat that up. Have as many play sessions with him as you can. Get him chasing string toys and lasers and fetch. If he's tired and has his fill of hunting he might be calmer.

There are many calming products. I've heard the most about feliway but haven't used it. Other suggest a teaspoon a of cool chamomile tea a few times a day. Make sure you get the bags not loose. I've had Sqeeker on Bach's Rescue Remedy vet formula for over a month. He sleeps more peacefully, has a bigger appetite, but can't say his awake demeanor is that different.

 

[Hellenww]

anthropomorphizing

attribute human characteristics or behavior to animal. I do this along with seeing cats as the animal they are. It has brought me to solutions that worked.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

Hi Kittypet ! Welcome to The Cat Site!


I have always only had single-cat households, so I won't be much help on multi-cat households. However, I would be curious to know how many kcal of food per day each cat is getting (approximately)?

Being one year old, I consider them still pretty young and still going through grow spurts. I let my cat eat a lot of kcal per day when she was a kitten, up until she was about 18-20 months old. Once she was past 18-20 months, I fed less kcal per day (e.g. fed about 60-100kcal less than when she was a kitten or teenager). I also had the lifestyle at home where I could feed her multiple small meals throughout the day, not just 1-2 meal sessions per day. It really seemed to help. That way, you don't put all your eggs in one basket, so to speak, by limiting the potential meal-times to only once or twice per day: they have 4-5 opportunities to obtain food and this makes it less stressful.

The reason I bring up the food thing, is that when my cat got hungry, she was crankier and acted out more ("hangry") -- and I'm only wondering if maybe your two would benefit from several more months of so-called kitten-style feeding. Full tummies in growing kittens can really help their overall mood!

 

[She's a witch]

I've read your story and quite frankly, I don't find it worrisome the way you do when it comes to their behavior; all cats are territorial to certain extent and some are dominant which is completely fine, the most problems between cats come when two cats compete for dominance but it doesn't seem to be your case. Hissing, even growling is totally ok, it's just a message by Newton that she doesn't like what Chip is doing. I absolutely see no need to rehome or medicate any of them - but I'm not a vet. If I were you, I would try to relax as much as possible and continue watching their relationship without interfering - unless there is blood involved. If you're stressed, they may pick it up and stress themselves.

I have two cats a bit older than yours, and one of them is dominant. Luckily the other one doesn't care about his social status and he lets her take the highest places, he doesn't even mind when she eats from his plate even when he didn't finish (I simply make sure there's enough food for both of them in their food area). He's actually bigger than her and if he decided to stand up to her, she'd be in trouble. I just let it be and enjoy watching their dynamic. There is some hissing involved, I noticed that females tend to hiss much more. Despite all of this they really like themselves. Cat World has its own rules and I don't think they translate into human relationships directly.

Having said so, I would certainly make sure their physical health is ok. The only time when my male cat gets aggressive with my "dominant wannabe" female is when she is sicker (she has some chronic conditions so it happens). So if I were you, I'd find a very good cat only vet and check them both, including blood works and urine check, just to be safe and rule out any medical issues that would interfere with their relationship.
I also have a black (male) and tabby (girl) pair
Good luck and fingers and paws crossed!

 

[pearl99]

Hello, I'm new to posting here, but have definitely been a long time lurker of the Google variety. I figured since I've always looked, might as well join in, so thanks for having me. Recently my family and I have been experiencing some concerning changes in our male's behavior towards our female. A little background regarding these two:

Chip, 1 yr, Male, Black DSH, Fixed, Indoor only: shy, reclusive only with new people, warms up eventually and will cautiously play until he's familiar then he's more likely to "stick around"; huge house panther who doesn't know his own strength, doesn't pull his punches when he plays; is a belly trap kitty sometimes, but mostly only with my husband; likes to play fetch; very neurotic about schedules, where his people are at all times and whether or not a door should be closed, but generally a loving boy who's very attached to me and semi-attached to my husband.

Newton (Newnie), 1 yr, Female, Tabby DSH, Fixed, Indoor only: brave, confident, wants to be everyone's friend but mostly children and babies (no idea why, but she loves small humans); familiar with soft paws and plays very gently when hands are involved; loves food and treats and stealing cheese slices from right out of my hand >:[; loving and affectionate when she wants to be, but acts very 'tsundere', as we've started calling it ("it's not like I want to lay next to you or anything, gosh!"), but, still, not as cuddly as her brother (i.e. can only stand to be held like a baby for so long and will never make eye contact when held, always has to look at the ceiling), she is getting there tho; the most playful of the pair and the most stubborn.

These two cookie cats have been with our family since they were both around 6 months old. Chip wasn't born into the same litter as Newnie, but when we asked for a bonded pair they were offered to us and we fell in love. As such, Chip is technically a few weeks older and a few pounds heavier than his sister who we were told is going to be a petite tabby for the rest of her life (she's like 6 lbs and he's like...10-11 lbs).​

The issues we've been having with these two is that Chip has started to display what I'm perceiving as territorial behavior. It started with the highest perch on the cat tree and has now escalated to feeding times, box ownership, and just general walking past him on the couch. He chases her, tackles her, bites the heck out of her until she yowls and hisses and swats at him to get him to stop...and then they sit next to me and cuddle and groom each other and act like he didn't just try and rip off an ear. I've owned cats my whole life, but I'll admit I've never had two that have interacted with each other openly so I don't know if this behavior is something that's normal or if I'm misunderstanding.

With the perch thing, whenever she'd go to the highest point to groom herself, he'd jump up and pull her down by the scruff, kicking and screaming as they'd go, and take her place- so we removed it and just kept the two level towers. It seemed to help as the behavior regarding the tree stopped, but since then he's just grown more and more "aggressive" in his pursuits of her. To the point where she'll hiss or swat and run with her tail and hackles puffed/raised and her ears flat as if she's fleeing for her life. I've only witnessed this behavior in cats who are scared, so my immediate reaction is to intervene and separate until they both calm down, then it's back to acting like nothing ever happened.

They both get the zoomies, Chip mostly when "the schedule" is not adhered to and Newnie only when she knows breakfast or dinner time is approaching. So they both have their crazy moments and will chase each other, but the feeling between zoomie chases and the pursuit chases is like a night and day difference...everything feels charged with negativity and I don't know if it's just me being too sensitive and worried about my babies or if it's actually something to worry about.

The most concerning thing that's happened is the food situation. They've always been fed together since the day we brought them home. They eat twice a day now, wet mostly, but we add some dry to bulk up the meal. At one point during their first year we had to separate them because Newnie was gulping down her food and then pushing Chip out of the way to get to his food and I didn't like that, so we put Chip in the room to eat, shut the door and solved that problem. Eventually we switched Newnie to a flatter plate so it'd take her longer to eat and Chip came back into the kitchen for meal times. We had no more problems until just a few weeks ago.

Newnie just stopped eating.

Like I don't know if it was a food aversion or if she'd become bored with the recipe, but she stopped and wouldn't even take her favorite canned tuna as a meal replacement. We took her to the vet multiple times and everything came back normal so I started looking at it from a behavioral aspect. That's when I noticed Chip finishing /his food/ first and then rushing to get to her's. It was like the roles had reversed except separating them did nothing. Whenever she'd so much as hear him at the door to the bedroom she'd stop licking whatever was in her bowl and rush under the bed. It got to the point where she refused everything we offered her- and her being such a food motivated kitty, it just worried me immensely to see this change in her.

Eventually we found a food she'd eat: baby food. Just protein and water, no additives or anything. She'd lick it up so fast I didn't even care that it was technically human food as long as she was eating and drinking again, I was happy. Eventually we transitioned her back to cat food, started mixing up the flavors instead of just chicken every day and added a new unique protein with their dry food (limited-ingredient rabbit flavor) and now she eats all of it at every meal time. The only difference is we're now sticking to the separate room feedings and have put Chip in the bedroom again since he knows "go to the room" as a command, better than she does, and is much more comfortable eating in there while I observe Newnie and make sure she's eating in the kitchen.

I know this sounds like a lot for nothing, but everything that's happened over these last few weeks has led me to believe that Chip isn't exactly happy in our household. We live on a first floor apartment complex in NY...there are constantly people walking past our window and scaring the daylights out of him to the point of hiding under the bed until he deems it safe. We've tried everything to calm him down. He has a nutracalm cat collar, they both have a lot of horizontal as well as vertical space to escape to with a bunch of perches and cat trees, but nothing seems to work when he starts getting anxious...and this is where most of his Newnie pursuits happen.

To me it looks like he's taking out his frustration on her.

I've asked for help from both my vet and the foundation we adopted them from and they've both recommended either a pet behaviorist or...Prozac for cats. I'm personally not comfortable giving animals medication that I feel is mind altering- I don't think my boy has any sort of imbalance and that it's just his environment. I keep thinking, maybe he'd be better off in a quiet, one cat household; maybe if we got a third cat (likely a kitten) it'd help him feel more secure and balance out the dynamic between him and his sister; maybe if I learned how to speak cat I'd know how to help him- like there are so many maybes going on, but all anyone around me and my husband wants to do is put him on SSRIs and hope that calms him down enough to be able to stay with us.

I don't want to rehome my boy. He's my son. I've raised him from a baby and taught him everything he knows. I know him better than anyone in the world...but if he'd be happier in a quieter home where he would be the only cat and not have to worry about territory or anything else, then I'd do it even if it broke my heart to do it. I'd do anything to make him feel safe and comfortable...but I don't want to put him on prozac.

Am I being a hypocrite by saying that?

Does anyone have any experience with it and whether or not it's even a good idea?

Sorry for the long post, but I just want to give a good idea as to what we've been dealing with for the last few months or so.

Thanks for reading if you got this far!

Hello, welcome!
I have some experience with a 2 cat household and I agree I'm not sure it's super serious. Not to minimize your concern.
Chip is dominant and is letting Newnie know in the way cats do. I see it in my 2 cats. I think the hissing, growling is normal cat communication, in the way 2 human siblings squabble.
To me the ears rolling back, tail puffing, back fur standing is letting the other cat know something. My girl Mooshoo sometimes gets a little hissy and puffy when she's playing with her toys, like she's overexcited- it's kind of funny. Or maybe she's just pretending her toy is an adversary like we'd play cowboys and indians when we were little (my generation anyway.)
And one cat claiming territory over another is normal too. Example in my house- Waffles, neutered male 4 years old is the dominant one. There is a chair in my living room that he won't allow Mooshoo to sit in- even if he doesn't want to sit there. If he sees her he will come over and swat and smack her, she will be ears back and hiss and won't move, till Waffles keeps swatting her and he may give her a nip, then she will give in and move. I let that happen. She basically accepts he's in charge. If she's sitting in "his" spot next to me, same thing. At night in the bed same thing- he has "his" spot.
Then later they will lay next to each other, play tag and pounce and chase taking turns, get the zoomies and have a blast, and have started grooming each other a bit.
I think the dominant one needs to show dominance, as long as no wounds or blood- it's the cat genetic makeup.
I had a previous cat with serious aggression toward Waffles and tried Prozac, and it did calm and even sedate his some-(much sleepier) but it didn't change the underlying aggression, it works in some situations and not others. But I too am not sure Chip needs that.

 

[Kittypet]

I really want to thank everyone for replying! All of your input has given me another perspective to this situation and I'm starting to feel a whole lot better about what's going on. I'll address a few different points that were brought up, but I think ya'll are right in saying this isn't that big a deal and Chip doesn't need to be rehomed or put on prozac- which makes me feel loads better.

Health: So when it comes to their health, both Chip and Newnie see a cat specialized vet in our neighborhood's clinic. She's very good with the both of them and has been seeing them since they were itty bitties, so I'm not 100% sure we need to switch their provider. The whole medication thing was brought up once when Chip first started showing signs of separation anxiety and we got him on the collar and even then she was hesitant to suggest it bc he didn't seem as bad as all that, but we can always take him in for another check up if things get worse. I think for now they're gonna be okay though. I was over analyzing, which is something I do a lot of anyways, so that's on me lol

Their most recent visit showed 100% health on all fronts so that's covered and fine, so there shouldn't be any health issues causing problems- especially with Chip, he's eating, drinking and using the litter box fine just anxious with the loud neighbors.

Food: They eat Nutro Max wet food, various flavors (though we've discovered that Newnie hates lamb and liver, so she mainly sticks to feathered formulas and seafood) and Instinct limited-ingredient dry, rabbit only. Two 3oz cans per day along with 1/2 cup of dry split between both meals...that'd put them at 382.5 kcal per day. I'm pretty sure this is within range for Chip and Newnie, especially Newnie since she's a little underweight for her age, but let me know if I should increase the feedings. We originally had them on three meals per day when they were less than a year old, but then switched to two due to work restrictions- but now that I'm home all the time I can likely fit another meal time in there if need be.

Litter Boxes: They have three spread throughout the house...one in the bedroom and two in the dining and living room area so that's covered.

And yeah, I think that was it. Thanks again for the advice everyone! It really has helped a lot~

 

[pearl99]

Glad you're feeling better! My Waffles is anxious too- he's afraid of a lot of things except me- oh man when the snow plow or garbage truck comes by he bolts as quick as he can for behind the couch. Even when someone walks up the driveway, same thing- mailman or someone sticking solicitations on the door, or when the doorbell rings.
And, lo and behold, Waffles has for the first time this morning let Mooshoo in to one of his spots he "owns"- the front window table! Things progress.