Due to a variety of circumstances, I now have an age unknown female spayed and all 4 declawed cat. I believe she's young, based on what I've seen of her teeth.
I don't know anything about her first home. 3 weeks ago, she went to her second home. There, she became the housemate of a fully clawed cat who is, easily, 2.5 times her size. He apparently decided he didn't like her and spent 3 weeks terrorizing her. Why they weren't separated, I do not know. So she's in her third home in as many weeks, traumatized, and no doubt terrified.
To make matters worse, she is covered in fleas. She has hair missing behind both ears. She looks miserable. Probably too soon, but I had to try to help her a little so I gave her a Dawn bath. Surprisingly, she didn't freak out. When I put the Dawn on her she almost seemed relieved (poor thing). She didn't like being rinsed, but there was no growling or hissing. Some meowing. (Of course after the bath when I was working on drying her off, she went back to growling, hissing, meowing)
She's spent the past two days in a corner of a closet in my room. I do have her food and water with her, but her litter box is outside of the closet half way across the room. I will eventually move her food and water out of the closet, too, but for now I'm going to accommodate her. She's quite skinny. I can't have her missing meals. She's eating dry food (free fed) and at night I'm giving her wet food mixed with dry. She is using the litter box, only when I'm not in the room or when I'm unconscious (sleeping).
A vet visit is needed to deal with the fleas. I hate that I have to do that to her, but she is MISERABLE. Constantly scratching and unfortunately the Dawn bath seems to have done little good. I can see fleas crawling across her face, and of course she will not allow me to comb her.
For now, these are the things I'm doing to try to help her adjust:
1. I have her food and water dish on one of my worn T-shirts, so that hopefully she will associate my scent with good things.
2. I occasionally play classical music for her; I need to get a CD player because I'm concerned about leaving my phone going.
3. I have the Feliway plug in (I've read it can take 1 week to help), and that is about 8 feet from where she's hiding.
4. I rarely disturb her, only to feed her. When she looks at me, I blink very slowly at her.
5. Whenever I'm in the room (and not sleeping) I will gently talk to myself. (Sometimes I hear her growling even at the sound of my voice :/ )
I've named her Evie.
I feel like I can help this girl, with time and patience. But I want her to feel as comfortable as possible. I admit I am very concerned about integrating her into my multi-cat, all male household. Especially after her most recent experience. I have 5 boys (all neutered, one other boy who came to me fully declawed so she will not be alone in that respect). I'm just not sure how easily she'll integrate. Or how to introduce them. I have another new young cat (Evie was obviously not a part of the equation but now she is), who I'm waiting to integrate. Should be interesting... that's all I have to say.
Any suggestions on all of the above would be greatly appreciated. Also, has anyone found that cats who respond this way to being rehomed are more difficult to integrate into multi-cat households? Being, maybe, more sensitive than other cats?
Thank you
ETA My other cats:
1. Sonny - 15 years old - neutered - Dominant cat of household. Nobody messes with him. In return, he's not a bully. If someone gets too close, he will smack them, but otherwise keeps to himself.
2. Max - 7 years old - neutered / all 4 declawed - Very passive cat. Mostly keeps his distance from the other cats but never fights with them.
3. Roman - almost 4 years old - neutered - Laid back but also can be playful. Cuddles with Sonny, tries to cuddle with Max.
4. Rocco - almost 2 years old - neutered - He's a brat, mostly to Roman. When I first got Rocco, he wasn't neutered, and Roman would chase him. Now that Rocco is neutered, it's the other way around. He sometimes will even challenge Sonny. He's the one I worry about.
5. Chester - about 7 months old - neutered - Not sure how he'll be with other cats. The lady I got him from said he got along well with everyone and was not an "alpha" cat.
Note: Rocco and Roman wear soft paws. Sonny does not. And Chester is too new to bother him with that. They wear soft paws because Rocco literally climbs doorways, and also to put them on semi-level with max.
I don't know anything about her first home. 3 weeks ago, she went to her second home. There, she became the housemate of a fully clawed cat who is, easily, 2.5 times her size. He apparently decided he didn't like her and spent 3 weeks terrorizing her. Why they weren't separated, I do not know. So she's in her third home in as many weeks, traumatized, and no doubt terrified.
To make matters worse, she is covered in fleas. She has hair missing behind both ears. She looks miserable. Probably too soon, but I had to try to help her a little so I gave her a Dawn bath. Surprisingly, she didn't freak out. When I put the Dawn on her she almost seemed relieved (poor thing). She didn't like being rinsed, but there was no growling or hissing. Some meowing. (Of course after the bath when I was working on drying her off, she went back to growling, hissing, meowing)
She's spent the past two days in a corner of a closet in my room. I do have her food and water with her, but her litter box is outside of the closet half way across the room. I will eventually move her food and water out of the closet, too, but for now I'm going to accommodate her. She's quite skinny. I can't have her missing meals. She's eating dry food (free fed) and at night I'm giving her wet food mixed with dry. She is using the litter box, only when I'm not in the room or when I'm unconscious (sleeping).
A vet visit is needed to deal with the fleas. I hate that I have to do that to her, but she is MISERABLE. Constantly scratching and unfortunately the Dawn bath seems to have done little good. I can see fleas crawling across her face, and of course she will not allow me to comb her.
For now, these are the things I'm doing to try to help her adjust:
1. I have her food and water dish on one of my worn T-shirts, so that hopefully she will associate my scent with good things.
2. I occasionally play classical music for her; I need to get a CD player because I'm concerned about leaving my phone going.
3. I have the Feliway plug in (I've read it can take 1 week to help), and that is about 8 feet from where she's hiding.
4. I rarely disturb her, only to feed her. When she looks at me, I blink very slowly at her.
5. Whenever I'm in the room (and not sleeping) I will gently talk to myself. (Sometimes I hear her growling even at the sound of my voice :/ )
I've named her Evie.
I feel like I can help this girl, with time and patience. But I want her to feel as comfortable as possible. I admit I am very concerned about integrating her into my multi-cat, all male household. Especially after her most recent experience. I have 5 boys (all neutered, one other boy who came to me fully declawed so she will not be alone in that respect). I'm just not sure how easily she'll integrate. Or how to introduce them. I have another new young cat (Evie was obviously not a part of the equation but now she is), who I'm waiting to integrate. Should be interesting... that's all I have to say.
Any suggestions on all of the above would be greatly appreciated. Also, has anyone found that cats who respond this way to being rehomed are more difficult to integrate into multi-cat households? Being, maybe, more sensitive than other cats?
Thank you
ETA My other cats:
1. Sonny - 15 years old - neutered - Dominant cat of household. Nobody messes with him. In return, he's not a bully. If someone gets too close, he will smack them, but otherwise keeps to himself.
2. Max - 7 years old - neutered / all 4 declawed - Very passive cat. Mostly keeps his distance from the other cats but never fights with them.
3. Roman - almost 4 years old - neutered - Laid back but also can be playful. Cuddles with Sonny, tries to cuddle with Max.
4. Rocco - almost 2 years old - neutered - He's a brat, mostly to Roman. When I first got Rocco, he wasn't neutered, and Roman would chase him. Now that Rocco is neutered, it's the other way around. He sometimes will even challenge Sonny. He's the one I worry about.
5. Chester - about 7 months old - neutered - Not sure how he'll be with other cats. The lady I got him from said he got along well with everyone and was not an "alpha" cat.
Note: Rocco and Roman wear soft paws. Sonny does not. And Chester is too new to bother him with that. They wear soft paws because Rocco literally climbs doorways, and also to put them on semi-level with max.
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