Need help, a recent behavior problem

[lowongas]

Hi everyone, I am a new member, I'll give a short history and hopefully get some advice. 2 females; Nipper age 9, Cookie age 6
2 female sisters age 2 1/2 born in this house by a stray mother.
found homes for the mother and rest of litter.
So we have 4 cats now. up to 2 weeks ago all got along beautifully.
Then there was some fighting between one of the sisters, (Sleepy) and Nipper. Cookie jumped in with Nipper and now sleepy in scared to death of the 2. By the way, cookie and Nipper are twice the size of the other 2.
Now have to keep Sleepy seperate from the big cats. Sleepy's sister,Dot loves the big cats and has no problem. Now, we have tried to get Cookie and Sleepy together. Only, when Sleepy hisses and showes fear, Cookie will attack. Have tried several times to no avail. Can Sleepy ever lose her fear.
I prefer not to seperate her for life.
I would like some ideas.
Thanks
Mike

 

[lowongas]

Am concidering putting sleepy into a room with Cookie where she can't hide.
Maybe they can reach an accord. What concernes me is that Cookie is twice the size of sleepy. Could hurt her. Will Cookie back off or not?
Sleepy will have to hold her ground, she is fast and athletic.
Cannot overmatch Cookies size. By the way, cookie is not at all mean.
she plays with the other 2 cats
Mike

 

[lowongas]

Talk to me.
There is a lot of viewers with cats out there.
I joined this forem because I need ideas.
I can't think of anything short of forcing sleepy to defend herself.
It still sounds bad to me.
If no one wants to help me work this out one way or another, I"ll go it alone

 

[bastetservant]

Usually, if people don't post responses, they don't know what to say because they don't have any advice.

What would I do? Well I wouldn't put the little scared one in with the big aggressive one. I'd keep the scared one isolated, maybe with her sister, in a separate room. I'd do the introduction routine (can be found on this site), and monitor them. I would be afraid for the safety of the little one and would very slowly try to change things for the better. If that took many months, I'd be willing to do that.

I have had a lot of cats, over the last 50 years, and I'm still dealing with behavior problems with them. I don't have any real answers. I'm just saying what I'd try.

I feel your frustration. They can be hard to understand. Most of the time these things work out in time, but it can take a long, long time.

Maybe some others here will have some suggestions for you.

Welcome to TCS and good luck on solving your problem. Just don't give up on them, please. Cats are not expendable, in my opinion, they are family. They are worth the trouble.

Robin

 

[lowongas]

Thank you very much.
I would like to respond. The big cat isn't aggressive at all. We call her a big duffus. I tried what you said and got some results. She even groomed sleepy for a few seconds. They were ok together for about 20 minuts.
Then for some reason or no reason sleepy hissed, ears back showing fear again even though she was 10 feet away and Cookie was completly ralaxed and accepting. Once she showed the fear, Cookie attacked.
If Sleepy showed no fear, Cookie would groom her and play as of 2 weeks ago. I would get them into a room with no place to hide, get some treats, and stick with string to play. I would stay between them and sleepy for a short time would forget her fear. Play but then remember it.
I think it will take a long time. Do you or anyone think this is a viable path.
My wife said throw them into a room together and walk away, I said NO!
That is why I joined this forem. I would welcome any other ideas so I could put together a routine of sorts. By the way, I think this all started when I saw sleepy attack the other big cat who has been the queen and not aggressive. After a couple battles I think sleepy lost. She needs to get back her confidence.
Thanks again

 

[bastetservant]

I'm not sure what you mean when you say you, "tried what I said." I suggested the cat introduction routine which takes many days, even weeks or months.

Personally, I would not allow the big cat to be with the little scared cat, unsupervised. This may mean that the little cats live in a separate room, at least when they can't be supervised by you, for some time.

These problems can take weeks or months to sort out. Cats are very sensitive and need a lot of patience to help them change.

But it is worth it.

Robin

 

[lowongas]

Never unsupervised. What I ment was that two weeks ago I got the two cats into a room with me between them. Tried to associate their togetherness with treats, play, all good things. Tried this several times, but I believe I was a little impatient, when things were looking good I let it go to the next step too early. Which is more freedom.
I will try this again but take my time and not push it.
Day one, Cookie good, Sleepy afaraid. one half hour in room. I will try this at feeding time. and maybee a snack. I will not allow any fight.
If your interested I will keep you posted on results.
Thanks
Mike

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Just making sure I understand here. Does Sleepy get along ok with Nipper and Dot? Is it Cookie that is the only one she fears?

I am be no means an expert on this type of issue, because I also have 4 cats, and one (Darko) seems to want to be friends with everyone else, but the two oldest ones don't seem to like him at all, and I cannot figure out why. But luckily for Darko, he's the biggest of the lot, so I'm not concerned for his safety.

Have you tried the Vanilla trick, where you put Vanilla Extract on all the cats so they all smell the same? That way I guess they can't tell one from the other. I've never done it, but lots of people swear by it. It may be mentioned in the Integration Procedures elsewhere on this site.

If you don't get more responses to your inquiries, try re-posting using a different thread title. I find that sometimes works.

 

[lowongas]

Sleepy fears Cookie and Nipper.
Dot is her sister, no problem there.
Trying to integrate Sleepy and Cookie in a room together with food and play.
I sit between them and try to get their attention off each other.
Cookie just lays under a small shelf and stares at Sleepy.
Last two times Sleepy hasn't growled. Even got her to play some.
I keep this to about 20 minutes.
When I end it and seperate them, Sleepy just hides for hours even though Cookie hasn't made any move.
The vinella thing seems interesting. Anyone else have a thought on it
Mike