HELP!!!

[ekoampeace]

Hi, I'm new to this forum and I'm in need of some serious help... Apologizing in advance for the novel I am about to write.

So to give you some background, my husband and I have 3 cats. Matza and falafel (they are litter mates, both 3yo) and motorboat (13). Our roommate has one cat named trouble (9). I found matza and falafel when they were 8 weeks old, before I moved in with my then boyfriend- now husband. My husband has had motorboat since birth and
I'm not sure about my roommates cat.

Everyone has always gotten along, they've lived together for about 2 years now. Falafel is definitely the more dominant cat, he has bullied the other cats away from the food bowl and given them a hard time when they tried to go someplace that he wanted to go first, but he has never lashed out at another cat. He does occasionally chase matza and bite her neck like he's trying to mount her, hes not viscious but he's not playing either. It kinda reminds me of a dominance thing, they don't get aggressive with each other after and the two are often caught cuddling and grooming each other.

A week or two ago, I was relaxing with matza when something made her run to the other room and suddenly I heard a cat yell. My husband was in the room and he had a squirt bottle in his hand. He said the Cats were fighting, he wasnt sure who started it. There was fur flying everywhere and the cats were all pretty puffed up. We didn't have any major problems after that until about 2 days ago.

It was 3 am and we woke up because of the cats screaming downstairs. We ran downstairs to find falafel and matza attacking motorboat. My husband grabs falafel by his scruff and they start to calm down. We investigate, trying our best to calm the cats down. We don't know who started it but we have think it may have been falafel, because he's always shown dominance. Matza has always been very gentle and motorboat is very submissive.

As They are calming down we notice matza start inching towards motorboat and try to attack him, motorboat runs away when we stop matza from pursuing and falafel chases him downstairs. We are able to stop it from escalating and decide to bring motorboat in our room until we can figure out what's going on.

It was pretty bad falafel had a minor cut on his nose, matza fractured a nail and is missing a small patch of fur and skin from her paw and motorboat has a nasty cut across his nose and head, I think we are lucky he didn't have his eye scratched.

So the next day we decide to leave motorboat in our room and let things calm down for a few days before reintroducing the cats to each other. As I was coming into my room after work falafel got past me and attacked motorboat, I managed to separate them and threw falafel out. Both cats are okay but motorboat was so shaken up he started peeing.

Last night we woke up, because we heard cats fighting again and walked outside to find falafel attacking matza, both cats were puffed up, my husband took a cup of water and poured it on falafel and that calmed things down for a bit.

This morning I came downstairs to find falafel and matza again puffed up and attempting to corner trouble, who didn't seem to be bothered by it. I used the squirt bottle to stop them from pursuing and spent time with each cat to help them calm down. I also decided to put matza and falafel in our spare bedroom, with some water and a litter box for a few hours to let them calm down. This morning it definitely looked like something was spooking matza she was definitely more nervous than she had been the previous fights.

All of our cats are fixed/

Id also like to add, no cat is being aggresive or lashing out at me or My husband, when we reached down to stop them they didn't swipe or hiss at us. We Recently have had two kitty houseguests we were fostering, a few weeks ago we found them homes. We have a stray kitty we feed outside who has moved into our backyard, he likes I watch up trough the back door. He's been around for about a year now. I am also 6 months pregnant and we have moved several pieces of furniture around. There are definitely things that can be stressing them out going on in our house

. I'm not sure how to deal with these issues, I've never had them before, and id like to stop it before it gets worse. All of our cats are usually very very nice and loving, so this behavior is unusual. Any advice on how I handle this?

 

[StefanZ]

The easiest first. The "mounting tries" is a dominance thing, as you suspect. Falafel reminds Matza who is the master here.

They cats are all indoor only?

It seems Falafel was in with all these fighting incidents, as the starter?  A vet check up would be good, to be sure it is no medical reasons causing this.   Cats in pain or distress dont have the same patience as usual, and tend to give free lessons profusely, either there is a need for teaching or not.   And it is mostly cats who do get these lessons, seldom humans.

Otherwise, it seems something is causing this, something is stressing them, as you suspect.

Smells from outside?

Some  louds from outside, possibly vibrations?

Were any of these cats at vet recently, ie having on funny smells from outside?

Peculiar hospital smells??

Your pregnancy which they surely can feel, including changes in the house...   Im not sure it is enough for a reason, with cats who otherwise are very friendly, but it is more then enough to tip over the scale...

Are you petting and loving them as much as before, or is the baby taking much of your energies from them??

You can try to set up a couple of Feliway adapters.  And or use Feliway spray.  This helps them to feel more calm, and not so stressed.

Calm, soft relaxing music, preferably  Bach and similiar,  is also good. Both for cats and the baby.

Good luck!

ps.  I have asked the mods to move this your question to the Behavior Forum.   Im sure you will get much help and ideas from.

 

[ekoampeace]

Thank you for your reply!

They are all indoors. My house is very close to my neighbors and there is more traffic than I am comfortable with.

I think falafel started all the fights, I think matza followed suit. Why matza followed suit is baffling because she usually is so gentle. she doesn't like being messed with, but she's never aggressive.

I'm actually on moderate bed rest so I no longer work full time, I work less than 15 hours a week and actualy spend more time than I ever have with the cats. With the exception of trouble who usually does his own thing. matza is picky about when you can spend time with her, but I never say no when shes ready for some lovin. Falafel is a very gregarious and jealous cat, he likes being the center of attention and he usually is, motorboat is just content being near one of us.

I think I should also mention, in the 2 years I have lived here we have rescued and fostered several stray cats. There have always been cats coming and going, something we have recently stopped doing as we are now struggling with this pregnancy. (and I guess I'm allergic to cats , but that won't stop me from loving mine!) they always needed to warm up to new cats but they have always been fine with the commotion. I wonder if the lack of commotion is stressing them?

I also thought it may be the stray outside, matza and falafel have a new habit of sitting by the back door and watching the stray through it, the stray also often fights with other days who try to enter our backyard. Im wondering if falafel is picking up on it and trying to assert his territory??


I will def try takin them to the vet. My husband wanted to see if there was something else we could try first as bringing 3 cats to the vet is expensive, but I think it needs to be done

 

[StefanZ]

I also thought it may be the stray outside, matza and falafel have a new habit of sitting by the back door and watching the stray through it, the stray also often fights with other days who try to enter our backyard. Im wondering if falafel is picking up on it and trying to assert his territory??

 

Oh, that is quite possible, even probable. A so called redirected agression.  Not so unusual.

A typical scenario  a cat sees a foreing stray through the window. Gets excited and angry. He cant go through the window, so he attacks the nearest, his own best pal at home...

Sometimes it may even be his beloved Ma who got attacked...

The only to do in this situatiion is to lock it in a side room, where he has a chance to cool down.  Several hours later he should be as good as new.

About the vets.  Try to find a good, but cheap vet....   

ps.  A vet check up now and then is prudent, but here the most important is Falafel, as he is the starter.

You dont need to exam all three yours, if you dont afford.  But if you DO exam att three, try to get a group discount!  

 

[ekoampeace]

Thank you . Yesterday I put matza ad falafel in a room for a few hours when they started getting aggressive and they mellowed out afterward. both were puffed up and yelling this morning but they didn't fight.

I do take them to the vet every so often but we were hoping we could wait till after our baby was born and settled into our new finances before we had to take them back in. I'm taking falafel in Thursday and I may want to take matza in too.

 

[arlyn]

As this started with Motorboat being attacked, that is the cat I'd have in to the vet, as well as Falafel.

In a colony situation, if a cat is ill (which the others can smell) the other cats will often harass the sick cat into leaving, an effort to keep disease away from healthy members.

The escalation to attacking Trouble is possibly redirected aggression, IE: can't get at Motorboat, attack closest feline.
 

 

[StefanZ]

I agree with Arlyn, this is also a possiblility to check out, if you are going to vets. So it cooks down Matza can wait, while Falafel and Motorboat should get a check up, if possible.

 

[ekoampeace]

Thank you both!

I think you're right, I'll see if the vet thinks motorboat should be checked out, but I'm definitely bringing falafel in. motorboat has been vacationing in our bedroom since the incident, and has had no contact with the other cats, him and falafel have been doing very well since the last time I posted.

Also may be taking matza in for other reasons.

 

[ekoampeace]

Update: took falafel to the vet, his bloodwork and urine sample came out fine. The doctor thinks we should feed falafel separately from the other cats, and we should have areas that are designated for motorboat only. Including pet trees or rooms etc, that no other cat is allowed to use but motorboat. If things don't improve he said he may start falafel on anti anxiety medication. The vet is not a fan of feliway. Tomorrow we stop free feeding the kitties and seperate falafel into a seperate room to eat, twice a day.

We are reintroducing motorboat to the household once we have a handle on the food shedule. hope this helps.

 

[white shadow]

Hi ekoampeace!

I was about to reply to a post of yours in the Nutrition forum (because of a major concern it raised with me) when I decided to look through some of your earlier posts - and came across this one:

...If things don't improve he said he may start falafel on anti anxiety medication. The vet is not a fan of feliway..

I can only tell you what I would/wouldn't do - based on my own experience and from what I have read of others' experiences - and I have to say, I really question your Vet's take on all this. Personally, I would use the Feliway before experimenting with any chemo treatments...I have found its calming effects to be profound with my (six) cats and that is in line with most other experiences I have read about. The best I can say about your Vet's comments is that I do not understand them - and, that they raise some suspicions in my mind about his motivations (perhaps unfounded, but certainly untested).

This is the other post that caught my eye and raised concerns, and I'll go over to it now (unless I am diverted by something else!)

Tomorrow we stop free feeding the kitties and seperate falafel into a seperate room to eat, twice a day.

 

[ekoampeace]

Hi white shadow,

I dont think I received the other half of your post, but thank you for voicing your concerns.

My husband and I were actually talking about the vet visit the other day. There were things neither of us were happy about it. The vet was very sure it was falafel who needed to have bloodwork and who may have had a health problem. Both my husband and I expressed our concern for motorboat since he is the cat the aggression is directed at and he seemed to quickly dismiss it. He said if nothing was wrong with falafel we should bring motorboat in. We are looking to take motorboat to another vet, since it cost us over $300 for falafels bloodwork .

Also since motorboat has been hanging out separately in our room, all of our cats have calmed down. I personally think anti-anxiety meds are a bit extreme, falafel has never been aggressive like this before, I don't think he has such a problem that they would be necessary, but I also want to believe and hope that the doctors advice is good, although that may not be the case.

As far as feliway, my only concern is how many would I need to have.

I didn't see your concerns about the food and would love to hear them and see what you think is a good idea. I don't want to unintentionally be hindering or hurting my cats.

I actually havent been seperating falafel from the other cats when i feed them. I tried it the first time and I didn't like the way the cats reacted to it. I've been giving them separate bowls and they have been fine just like that. The doctor recommended leavin the bowls out for about 10- 15 minutes but I wasn't sure about that which is why I made my other thread in nutrition. Im sorry if this makes me sound stupid but i really dont know how to feed them just a few times a day because there have never been big problems with free feeding them None of my cats are over weight they have always done just fine with free feeding with the exception of falafel sometimes bullying the other cats.

 

[fizzgig]

We have used Feliway and other similar products that do the same job, the most expensive is a room diffuser (about $50 here) which covers an entire room and lasts for about a month before you have to buy refills (don't remember the cost), there are also calming collars (about $15 a piece here and what we use for our 4 cats) that also last about a month. There are also calming sprays that you can try if there are spots where you notice fights happening the most, but you have to spray them frequently.