Making A Hard Decision

[Thestarcatcher]

What to do...?
My foster Amora is a wonderful cat...she is lovable and sweet to everyone she meets. However... my cat peanut is very docile and seldom hisses at her anymore. Today I had my door open to get some ac in my room and peanut came in. At first Amora didn’t react, peanut just sat there, and everything seemed good. Then Amora started hissing and cornered peanut and full on attacked, chasing her around the room. I freaked out and threw a blanket over peanut. They looked like they were about to kill each other. And even then it took food coaxing to get Amora away from peanut.... peanut never hisses at Amora and actually is trying to get to be friendly with her through sniffing, but Amora isn’t having it. Her babies were also in the room but she always hisses at peanut even when she escapes into the living room. I’m worried it will be hard to rehome Amora as she is around 5-6 and we don’t know if she has vaccines. I have no intentions of rehoming peanut , as she is my baby and I’ve had her since she was 8 weeks old.

I do have feliway multi cat diffusers in our living room and my bedroom where this happened. When Amora was pregnant she was very docile towards them but now she is full on attack mode even when peanut wasn’t near her babies or looking at them.

Any tips on how I can find a way to get her to a good home and keep this at bay while she is still in my foster care?

It’s hard because we only have air conditioning in our living room and it’s getting very hot where we are


Amora walked away without any wounds. I do like her as a cat, but I really don’t feel comfortable with this happening on my home anymore.

 

[susanm9006]

Given that her babies were present, I wouldn’t be surprised if she attacked. I would give her more time and introduce the two away from the babies. If hissing is all that happens between the two, that is okay.

 

[Timmer]

She was only trying to protect her babies. It's natural.
You said you were fostering Amora. When people use the term "foster" that usually means you are working with a shelter and taking a cat on while it has kittens, nurses them and they usually all go back to the shelter once they are old enough to be adopted. So...you're not already working with a shelter?

Trust me, there are plenty of people who will only want one cat in their home. There won't be an issue getting her adopted out. But do let the shelter know that possibly she is only good being the only cat in the house. But again, I believe she was trying to protect her kittens.

I never had luck with Feliway products, by the way. A waste of money in my opinion though some people swear they help.

 

[Thestarcatcher]

She was only trying to protect her babies. It's natural.
You said you were fostering Amora. When people use the term "foster" that usually means you are working with a shelter and taking a cat on while it has kittens, nurses them and they usually all go back to the shelter once they are old enough to be adopted. So...you're not already working with a shelter?

Trust me, there are plenty of people who will only want one cat in their home. There won't be an issue getting her adopted out. But do let the shelter know that possibly she is only good being the only cat in the house. But again, I believe she was trying to protect her kittens.

I never had luck with Feliway products, by the way. A waste of money in my opinion though some people swear they help.

You can foster without the help of a shelter. A lot of people do it. The definition of fostering is “encouraging and promoting the development of something”. You don’t need a shelter to foster. If you’re capable to, you can and should foster.

 

[duckpond]

I agree that she was most likely in attack mode because of her babies. Its instinct and most likely not going to change while she has kittens. I would not let the two together in the same room as the babies. Any introductions of the older cats needs to be done in a neutral room, without the babies.

Best of luck to you guys!

 

[Willowy]

I think she'll calm down a lot once the kittens are off to new homes and she's spayed (I hope you planned on spaying her before rehoming!). At that point she may be friendlier to the other cats. If not, I don't think it'll be hard to fine her a decent home if she's friendly.

 

[Thestarcatcher]

I think she'll calm down a lot once the kittens are off to new homes and she's spayed (I hope you planned on spaying her before rehoming!). At that point she may be friendlier to the other cats. If not, I don't think it'll be hard to fine her a decent home if she's friendly.

She is getting spayed. No if ands or buts about it！ Her baby making days are over, it’s time for her to kick back and enjoy her life. She deserves it!

 

[Friend's Friend]

I'm also on the "protecting babies" bandwagon here. <3 I definitely agree that (productive) intros between her and Peanut will have to wait until her kittens are gone and she's been spayed. If they haven't been having issues up until this point--when Amora was pregnant and even post-delivery--then I think she and Peanut will be compatible in the long run.

As for having no AC in other rooms, I don't know if it would work, but they have these cooling mats you can buy (I don't recall the brand name) . . . They're filled with a special gel, and when an animal (cat or dog) lays down on them, they become quite cool to the touch. The effect lasts for something like 4-6 hours, before the animal will need to get up for the gel to "reset". Back when I had a Saint Bernard, I got him one of these in the summer, and he loved it. So if you're worried about keeping the cats separate and therefore cutting one (Peanut?) off from the AC, maybe try getting one or two of those for different rooms? That way she has a cool place to flop if somewhere like the bathroom tile isn't cool enough already.