Lilah the poophead kitty

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foxxycat

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Let me know if the diffuser seems to help, if not or if you want to try something in addition, I have some other ideas of products :)
I am open to suggestions. Seems Lilah just wants to chase her-not sure why.

Last night Bee was up in her apartment-we let her out for a bit-then went back in the bedroom-stayed closed off for half an hour and then let her out-I was reading in the bedroom and heard screaming about 10 min later. Jon was washing the dishes-once we both ran to find out what's going on-Lilah flew down the tree and into the bedroom by time I walked into the livingroom- so Jon thinks Lilah got spooked because when she ran up there=she didn't expect Bee to be up there-started her screaming-heard Jon's foot steps and flew down=ran under the bed-she wouldn't come out-so we think maybe she was scared Jon would squirt her=so we see now the error of using a squirt bottle. Luckily Bee was fine.

I grabbed the treat bag-and she happily ate some and came out of her cube to eat on the tree-so I think Lilah was more scared than Bee. Bee is slowly standing up for herself-I also noted we need to swap rooms with the cats=I think that will be a failure because every time we swap- Lilah cries and scratches to go back into base camp. But
Sat night we will try the swap. Jon will sleep in the bedroom and I will sleep in the living room....this has been so SLOW! But Lilah is such a sweet cat other than hating other cats...sigh.
 

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Hi!
You know, believe it or not but objectively speaking, I can see/am reading that there's progress happening.

Heres a list of different products for you to consider;
Only Natural Pet has a calming product called Just Relax Calming spray with essential oil (catnip oil).

Richard's Organics Pet Calm-this one is drops that you put on the tip of the tongue. Also, HomeoPet Anxiety Relief, Relaxivet Quiet Moments Cat treats, GNC Calming formula, and there is Calm-o-mile, --Sentry has products, there's Natures Miracle calming spray, Vetri-Science's Composure is another item to look at, as is Essential Pet Pet-eze, Pet Organics No Stress, Only Natural Pet (brand and website) has other calming products, Pet Naturals also has one I believe.

There is also a product called a lickimat which could be helpful, as cats can be calmed by the process of licking. The LickiMat - Food Puzzles for Cats

This post talks about some other products;
Calming Treats For A Very Picky Cat
 
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foxxycat

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Hi!
You know, believe it or not but objectively speaking, I can see/am reading that there's progress happening.

Heres a list of different products for you to consider;
Only Natural Pet has a calming product called Just Relax Calming spray with essential oil (catnip oil).

Richard's Organics Pet Calm-this one is drops that you put on the tip of the tongue. Also, HomeoPet Anxiety Relief, Relaxivet Quiet Moments Cat treats, GNC Calming formula, and there is Calm-o-mile, --Sentry has products, there's Natures Miracle calming spray, Vetri-Science's Composure is another item to look at, as is Essential Pet Pet-eze, Pet Organics No Stress, Only Natural Pet (brand and website) has other calming products, Pet Naturals also has one I believe.

There is also a product called a lickimat which could be helpful, as cats can be calmed by the process of licking. The LickiMat - Food Puzzles for Cats

This post talks about some other products;
Calming Treats For A Very Picky Cat
The voice of reason. Thank you. I feel like we are spinning our wheels. I even reached out to 3 rescues to get on a waiting list, I still think Lilah would do better in being an only pet. The local shelter here last year adopted out 483 cats out of 500 so I am hopeful Lilah would find her forever home-it just doesn't seem fair to lock Bee up for 12 hours a day so Lilah can walk around..it was easier when Bee went outside and nighttime They both have their areas they like to sleep. I of course love Lilah but the fear in Bee is just upsetting to see.

I did buy some Jackson Galaxy calming sprays that we will try. It was a 3 pack on Amazon-3 different ones...so maybe that will help. At least Lilah sleeps most of the night so that's the only time we have peace and quiet.

I bought some wall mounted shelves and posts that we will install this week. I am hoping once we have an elevated space that Lilah can get to and she can see from above that Bee is not going to hurt her, that they may learn to trust each other. Bee seems to be the biggest baby in all of this...I am relieved that the local shelter is NOT a kill shelter.

I am still torn on the shelter BUT if they tell me that yes they often find homes for those hard to place cats-it will make it easier-but on the other hand-it may break my heart to let her go. It's something I need to think long and hard. There's some not so nice people out there but I think 85% of us are decent humans and think we can have luck finding her forever home. I also thought about facebook but for now-there's the shelter and rescues I contacted-if nothing works out-then we just have to take it slow. If Lilah was older, I think it would work better. I swear Lilah is younger than 5 years due to her never ending energy and constant playing...

I know I am overthinking things...but that's what I do...
 
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foxxycat

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I have nothing helpful to add, but I always smile at the title of this thread.
Yeah we used another word-or Jon did..he calls her monster and I try telling him don't do that=but no he's very attached to her-and that's the only thing that would make things between us rockier-if I rehomed her-I think he would have some resentment..he says he doesn't care but I don't believe him. CATS! GET ALONG DAM IT!
 

Furballsmom

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You could keep Nextdoor . com in mind too, I think as long as you request a rehoming fee you'll be ok.

Hang in there, it sounds to me that you're doing a lot of good things to help these two, they're very lucky to have you!!
 
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foxxycat

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Furballsmom Furballsmom THANK YOU.

I did call the shelter and they called back-I did some digging-they have a brand new facility and thinking about volunteering there..I don't want her to sit in a cage and get stressed...at least at night she's ok with being shut in the room. Bee needs to get some confidence and every time Lilah looks at her-I need to redirect with play.

Jon won't play with her-even though I showed him how to use the toys. I have one lady who could take her but they have another cat but it's a big house. I told her let me give it another month-I am not ready to give up my bed buddy. She played with her dabird thingy last night-I got her to leap up 4 to 5 feet in the air and she goes strong for about 10 minutes then she was laying down playing with floor toys...I would love to rehome her BUT I also don't want to give her up. I had a good long cry and she came up to see what's going on..she purred and kept kissing me...how can I give her up? If there was a way to keep her from charging=it would be great.

I bought Jackson Galaxy's spray stuff it's a 3 pack of different ones. She's still skittish too. When we walk around her she runs off but always comes back..so maybe this stuff will help calm her down. Right now Bee has been sitting by the corner of the couch and staring at Lilah through the baby gats=this is a slow improvement. Before she didn't even want to stare at her=so her staring Lilah down shows she's gaining confidence. I only let them stare for a minute then I put a blanket on the babygates to block the view.

I got my blow up bed all set up in the office=Bee was sleepign on it this morning and we closed her in there to let Lilah out. I have a cat box, her food and cup of water and she usually just sleeps so not too big of a deal.

My goal would be to have them run around and both sit in the living room. So weird how every cat I have had before=they just ignored each other.
 
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foxxycat

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Lilah was let out of jail yesterday for 4 hours and she was behaving herself-unfortunately Bee is very sick and we have a vet appointment today-she became lethargic overnight yesterday and growling with pain in her stomach-no vomiting but she did a huge poo Tue night-she has IBS and has special food requirements-I figure she has a bad case of gas but the poor girl was lethargic yesterday and not eating other than baby food on my finger and I got Jon giving her syringes of water once an hour to help keep her hydrated.

Lilah is such a loving cat. I had to dog sit last night and came home at 8=Lilah was running around meowing wondering why we weren't in bed yet..so we went to cuddle in the bed with the door closed, she lays down with her head in my right hand and curls around my arm-she stayed there for 30 minutes then got too hot then climbed up to roost in her tree I moved into the bedroom. She loves this tree with the half curved shelves. she curls up and goes to sleep on the 2nd highest shelf.

Bee slept on Jon's couch on her blanket all night-she did flip sides and turned around a couple of times. but she refused treats and kibble-which is NOT like her...so I had one bottle of baby food left in the cabinet=and started feeding it to her-she ate 1/3 of the jar so far which is fine. She ate her breakfast Wed morning and kibble during the night that night-so it's only been 12 hours she wasn't eating. I noticed her belly feels bloated-wondering if she's got a bad case of gas from the fiber food and miralax...it's probably my fault as I upped it slightly because she wasn't poopign enough. Then this week she was pooping daily which seemed a good goal..until yesterday being lethargic for Jon all afternoon. Didn't even go outside or walk around. He said she was in her little house I put under the desk in the office and didn't move all day. She peed once but didn't eat.

So Lilah is calming down more-I made more beds for her around the house and found she loves the top cover of copy paper boxes-so we got some of them all over the house-she loves curling up in them. Jon sat on his couch next to Bee and had the wand toy behind his head and flicks it around to distract Lilah. He said she tried to pull it out of his hands a few times. She only tried to come up to see Bee twice which he said NO.
 
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When I took Bee to vets at 3pm I let Lilah out of her room. Bee was in her carrier and hissed at Lilah when Lilah came up to sniff the cage.

Bee has a fever of 104.they gave her fluids and cerenia. Blood work didn't show anything...this morning she refused to eat...so we just have to let it run it's course. poor girl.

They don't know what it is=probably stress or viral. They tried to get urine from her but she peed on her blanket and said it didn't smell foul so don't think it's a bladder infection. She goes in good sized amounts and her kidneys and liver were healthy...so right now just upset and hope she gets better soon.
 
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well Poophead and Bee got into a punching match Friday night? I forgot to post. She was just walking towards her room, I forgot her door was closed to keep monster from eating all her food, and I just backed up and observed...Bee layed down and punched at Lilah and Lilah layed down and ears were back and she also punched back. I don't remember if there was any noise from them..I noticed that Lilah didn't get any closer than the end of Bee's arms-so that shows Lilah is somewhat respecting Bee's boundaries but Lilah is very assertive and pushy. We still don't allow them to comingle as Lilah sees red and charges at BEe which makes Bee act like prey and RUN. There was another time those two were at full gallop down the length of my home and there was no meows out of either of them. So not sure if Lilah just wants to play or just chasing Bee off...which 2 months ago scared Bee pretty badly.

I admit I baby her way too much so I am trying to back up the introductions and they will just have to live seperately for now. I got the calming spray from Jackson galaxy and it says takes 6 weeks to work...I don't want to bring Lilah to the shelter. I don't want to give up. I just hope they can work it out. If they can just leave each other alone and both have their own food and litter boxes they could cohabit...but for now trying to build up confidence with both of them. All Bee remembers is negative things when she see's Lilah and lilah likewise with the spraying of water.

Jon hasn't used the water since and we just don't let them comingle. I am still working on trying to get them to eat together and play together. Bee was sick so I suspended the forced eating together for the past 6 days, tonight I will try it again.

Last night swapped cats-put Bee in Lilah's room-which ticked her OFF and put her blanket on the bed=she calmed right down..so it's just going to take a few months before they can live together. Both are threatened by the smell of each other so it's just going to take time to get them used to each other. It's only been 8 weeks and I was wrong to not force them to swap scents...tonight will do 2 hours with Bee in Lilah's room. Lilah seems more ok with the smell of Bee than Bee is of Lilah.

Lilah was out in the living room the other night and Bee was locked in her bedroom and Lilah ran up the huge apartment tree to look for Bee=and seemed upset when she didn't find her up in her house...it's very interesting to watch them....cat TV at it's finest!



I ordered a calming collar for Lilah and some more Feliway and see if it helps.
 
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oh when I let Monster out of her room-she immediately runs to use the litter box at the other end of the house-which I think is hilarious. She will purposely pee in all 3 boxes at the other end even though she's got her OWN Catbox in her bathroom.
 
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Got Bee to eat half of her wet food in her dish this morning-she still spooked by Lilah. I sat there and kept petting her. I quietly put the baby gates up before and fed Lilah right there in the doorway blocked the view on the bottom gate cause Bee doesn't like looking at Lilah for some reason. But Bee finally getting into a routine is good. Tonight will resume with canned pumpkin for Bee cause she needs to put a pressie in the box...not concerned because she had quite a bit of soft yucks fri and sat so likely doesn't have much in there since she didn't really eat a lot until late Sunday.

I didn't get home early enough to let Bee out to enjoy the warm weather yesterday but we did walk around the yard for 5 minutes=she was purring and shivering the dingbat. It's our nightly thing to stroll around the yard and check everything out. She likes the one on one time with me.

Getting Jon to play with Lilah more..slowly getting it that if we play with her hard-it will tire her out so she sleeps instead of chasing Honeybee. Lilah likes it when I chase her around the house. This cat loves to run. Next spring definately getting a harness and train her to go outside..if I can get her to run off her energy she probably will be easier to live with. I still doubt she's 9. I am guessing more like 5 years old.

Last night got 4 play sessions in then she climbed up her tree and went into her dog house on top of the bookcase...of course I left the room then-came back 5 minutes later-who has her face pressed into the vent in the door? :flail: :flail: :flail:

Cats!
 
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Well some funny stories= I forgot to post here this week. it's now almost 10 weeks we have had poophead. Jon calls her the S word cause she's a turkey who chases Bee.

Well two things happened...Jon wanted to get a stuffed toy cat and see if she reacts to it...well it has been HILARIOUS to say the least...this cat is so easily fooled.. :flail: :flail: :flail:

So I have this white cat with spots on it-about 2/3 size of Bee, so we rubbed it on Honeybee then held it in our arms, cooing at it and petting it..Lilah's eyes got enormous and she would meow...so then Jon put it on the bed pillows-she howled and stared it down...then he said she was sniffing it for quite awhile touching noses...

The next day we put it on the huge tree where Bee likes to sit-Lilah paced and meowed looking all pissed off, she was then stalking it..she stared for about 10 minutes at it...

The next morning I held it in my arms-rubbed it on Bee of course, then chased her around the house with it, she ran off...LOL. so then we were in the library and Im petting the "kitty" cooing at it..and put the cat in her face-she howled meowed-eyes dialated-then she reached up and smacked it out of my arms...oh and hissed too. Then I let the cat fall to the floor-she looked scared-maybe she thought I was gonna holler at her- (I usually do when she attacks Bee) but this time I just start laughing at her..she looks at me with this confused look, sniffs the cat..looks at me like WTH?! Then ran off..:flail::flail::flail::flail:

Then yesterday-I was holding it in my arms, cooing and petting the "kitty" she didn't meow at it-but ran off...so now I know why she's been attacking Bee. FEAR.

So we have been leaving the "kitty" in her area after rubbing Bee on it...

Yesterday got home from work, Jon says he put both cats on the bed-says Lilah kept meowing at Bee=Bee just gave her a dirty look-so he said he moved the blankets to block Lilah's view of Bee...he said they were on the bed for an hour and half...they both slept...so I felt this was progress-some day maybe Lilah will STOP chasing Bee and just ignore each other...so slowly trust is getting built up.

I thought a lady wanted to adopt Lilah=retired couple with a large beautiful house in the country=but haven't heard boo from them for 5 days...I was really excited to hear someone wanted her=but alas she's stuck with us for now...so I said to Lilah last night-she better cut the S because you have no choice. Unless you want to live in the shelter..I glared at her of course because I would cut off my arm before I put any animal in a shelter. So maybe she understood me??

So far when I take down the babygates=she runs to use the cat box in the other room=then eats some food at the communal dishes=then goes back in her room-climbs her tree and passes out on it. So for now-she doesn't seem to mind being restricted to the bedroom-she loves the bed, loves her house on top of the 6 foot tall book case and her fancy tree of course..

I have been debating buying a third tree for the living room-I found one on facebook for $90 but it's in Waterville maine which is 2+ hours away=I may buy it because it's a larger tree with a house in the middle which I know she LOVES cubbyholes...so if she has her own tree in the Living room-maybe they won't fight over it anymore.
 
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