Old Cat Anxiety/stress

[TriciaS]

I have two cats that are 10 years old. In July I took in a mom and her 5 kittens, got them all spayed/neutered. Mom took a few months, but eventually I was able to socialize them all. I adopted out three of the kittens and we decided to keep two kittens and the mom. The first three months the mom and kittens were in a separate room. My two cats did not seem stressed at all nor did they seem interested in the cats on the other side of the door.

I adopted out three of the kittens and we decided to keep two kittens and the mom. In October when when the kittens went to their new home and we decided to keep the rest I did slow introductions, including feeding and playing on opposite sides of the door and site swapping. However my 10 year old boy seems to be getting worse. In the beginning he would cry, run up to one of the new cats, bop them on the head then run away crying. He is now still doing that and has now added growling and crying as he runs around the house. I'm sure its just their presence in the house. They don't bother him ever. They only play with each other, and the few times they did try to play with them he cried and they ran. He also likes to stalk the mom cat because she is the most timid.

So far I've been running for months now 4 feliway plug ins - 2 multi cat and 2 classic. I've been giving him at least one calming treat a day. I got the Ultimate Peacemaker set from Spirit Essences. I also started this week giving him cbd oil. There are 6 uncovered letterboxes in the house, 3 water bowls and a fountain and 3 different feeding stations. I also try playing with him alone but sometimes he is so stressed he won't even play.

I was going to ask my vet if the Royal Canin calming food would work...
Any other ideas?

 

[thefiresidecat]

have you tried cat nip? It could be counter productive.. but it also could work. this year after adopting a very large kitten my 12 year old maine coon was exhibiting all sorts of signs of anxiety we spent a lot of money in vet bills. finally I added cat nip which we'd cut out just because at some point and she went back to normal mostly.

 

[di and bob]

Cats hate change and you introduced a big one. It sounds like you are doing everything exactly right. Your boy is actually doing very well if he is not actively trying to hurt the kittens/mom. Intervene only if his activities produce deep bites, blood or any injuries. Growling, hissing, slapping/bopping them on the head and chasing/tussling are all perfectly normal behavior and will lessen in time. He iS stressed so don't try to force him into anything. Pet him if he seems to like it, leave him alone if it bothers him. Try to provide him with a place he can call his own up and easy to defend, like a bed on top the fridge. He needs to get away and have a place to observe from a distance. My Chrissy was there for almost a year, I even fed her up there and had a water bowl. Some cats just take longer, but after what I have had, yours sounds like it is going well. don't stress out yourself about it, he takes his cues from you. Let the kittens entertain him from a distance and he will eventually come around. Like I said mine took almost a year to fully adjust.

 

[Timmer]

it doesn't sound too, too bad, as long as no one is fighting and drawing blood. Stalking the mom cat is bad for her, not for him. You don't want that. Is she spayed now? If she's not, that might be one reason for his behavior but I suspect five cats in the house is too much for him to handle and all the money spent on calming products is not going to help. I wouldn't change his diet with some kind of calming food either. You don't want to mess with a cat's diet.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. Has he been to the vet recently and had a full senior check-up including the related blood work? It may be coincidental between his behavior and the new kittens/cat. Or, the stress of them being there has brought on some health issues.

How does he act otherwise - eating, drinking, litter box, interaction with you, the other resident cat, etc.?

 

[Hellenww]

When he swats at the kittens does he look tense or is it possible he wants to play and is awkward about it?

 

[TriciaS]

He has always been a more anxious cat. He just had his yearly bloodwork and exam last month and he was fine.

I definitely don’t think he wants to play. He looks very stiff and cries they whole time.

He’a pretty good most of the day. It’s when the energy rises in the house, like feeding times, when I come home from work, when the new cats are in full play mode that he gets the most upset. I can see his whole body tense up.

I also worry about him chasing the mom. Although that is getting better because she becomes more confident every day. She runs from him, which is half the problem, but then comes right back. But she has had 2 uti and the vet thinks it might be stress related.

I’m just hoping that i can get him calm enough to have a few more positive interactions with them and maybe that will help. Also hoping time will help, between the kittens and mom getting older and less energetic and him more time to adjust.

 

[di and bob]

That is an important clue there, that he becomes more physically upset when the energy/activity levels are high. It shows he is truly anxious. His crying is the only warning he can give, that and the swatting should set the boundaries for the others and that is good. If he was so upset he couldn't handle it he would be attacking and causing terrible injury. Mama will learn to stand her ground eventually, she is learning where her place is in the household.Chasing something fleeing and sensing the fear is instinct for cats. This will all turn out in time when everyone learns their place. Just make sure your boy is never cornered and has a quiet place to retreat to. All the luck, it WILL get better!

 

[Beyond Confused]

Piggybacking off the OP - How do you know when it's just not going to work, and it's too much stress for this kitty?

I'm going through the same thing, and I worry that I will push my 10-year-old past the point of no return. He's an amazing kitty, and he lived with another male kitty until a few months ago, when I had to put my other boy down.

3 months after, I brought a little female in, who is also sweet as punch. Since she's been around, I've seen little things in him that make me worry that I'm pushing the boundaries trying to "force" this relationship to work.

Yes, we can say that it all takes time and that things will work out once they figure out the hierarchy in the house, but at what point do you realize/acknowledge it's just not going to get better?

I have a couple threads going about my situation. I really, REALLY want it to work, and I'm willing to take it slowly. But this morning, for example, I tried feeding the two using the baby gate system. My male barely touched his food, and she hovered over hers while staring at him through the gates. One of them hissed, but I can't be sure which one it was. Duncan cried out a few times. I thought to myself that this is to be expected, and I just let it play out. Eventually, he walked away, and she ate some food. Since I know the idea is that they're supposed to eat together, I gave her just enough food to keep her tummy happy, and I put it away. Short time later, I couldn't find Duncan. He had the run of the house this morning, and I was going to flip flop them later. I couldn't find him. Believe me when I say I have a TINY house, one bedroom. It should've taken me a minute and a half of crawling around on my hands and knees to find him. Instead, I searched and called for 10 minutes. I finally found him hiding behind a bedroom curtain, which he has NEVER done in the 10 years I've had him. When I found him, he let out a little cry and was a bit upset when I picked him up.

Now, to be fair, he's had some ongoing health issues over the past month (just before I got her 5 weeks ago). He had several tests run a couple days ago, which he was terribly upset about, and he's being given 3-4 meds twice daily...so not a happy camper in general, sure...but I can't help but feel like her presence is making him more stressed and worse off.

So not to hijack the thread, but I wanted to add an additional question to the OP, which might be her point as well - When is it all too much, and how do you know it's time to pull the plug on the situation?

 

[di and bob]

I gave it a year. Every cat called a truce but one little female who continued to stalk and truly attack the new cats on HER territory. These were not spats, they were her really trying to kill them with open bite wounds and horrible scratches when she had an opportunity to get at them. That's when I learned to have locks on every barrier because she found a way to get in. But the cats we brought in were actually our original cats at our old home, so there was no question on what had to be. We did rehome her to a nice old couple and she eventually became happy and lived for many years after. We kept in touch. The rest became good friends, but it did take many months. Out of more cats then I can count she was the ONLY failure.

 

[tarasgirl06]

Hello TriciaS and family, and welcome to TCS! You've come to a great place for your "cat matters" and I agree with other posters who have counseled patience, love, and continuing with all of the things you are currently doing. I would also add that having vertical space for anyone who wants it -- cat trees, scratchers, activity centers, ramps and shelves, or a combination of some or all, is very helpful in multicat families. Cat behaviorist extraordinaire, Jackson Galaxy, "The Cat Daddy", talks about this at length in his hit series on Animal Planet called, "My Cat From Hell", and on his videos on YouTube. He and co-author Kate Benjamin have an excellent book called, CATIFICATION, which discusses this at length, and has many photos and illustrations. Kate has a newly designed website augmenting her main site at hauspanther.com called catioshowcase.com which shows and tells about excellent ideas for secured outdoor areas that cats just love. They can also be very helpful in multicat families.
And bear in mind that your 10-year-old is more set in his ways and deserves pride of place, because he has been with you the longest and is the eldest, though he is by no means "old". Cats are living into their twenties with good care.

 

[Kflowers]

Have you gotten him anything for his arthritis? The stiffness you see in his movements. A cat in pain is a grumpy cat. What did the vet say about it? Often the arthritis medicine the vet offers is really expensive and I can understand not being able to buy that. However, cosuquin and dasuquin, which do work aren't that expensive and don't require a prescription. Chewy.com, Petmeds.com have both.

My cat takes the dasuquin and it's made her friendly. She started taking it just before she turned one because she already had arthritis which we saw in a full body x-ray.

 

[tarasgirl06]

Have you gotten him anything for his arthritis? The stiffness you see in his movements. A cat in pain is a grumpy cat. What did the vet say about it? Often the arthritis medicine the vet offers is really expensive and I can understand not being able to buy that. However, cosuquin and dasuquin, which do work aren't that expensive and don't require a prescription. Chewy.com, Petmeds.com have both.

My cat takes the dasuquin and it's made her friendly. She started taking it just before she turned one because she already had arthritis which we saw in a full body x-ray.

Excellent post and suggestions, K Kflowers ! Thanks for sharing this with us!

 

[TriciaS]

I don’t think his stiffness is arthritis. I believe he is tensing up because he is stressed. My vet feels that it is personality and that he would do best spending most of the time separated from the other cats. He’s just an anxious cat. And very jealous. One of the kittens is a super mush and loves to sit on our laps. He flips when he sees that.

I’m just hoping he can calm down. But he’s been growling more at them instead of less. I would never rehome him so if it ends up not working I would have to rehome the new three which I would hate to do. Hoping with time and the little ones getting older it will all calm down.

 

[tarasgirl06]

I don’t think his stiffness is arthritis. I believe he is tensing up because he is stressed. My vet feels that it is personality and that he would do best spending most of the time separated from the other cats. He’s just an anxious cat. And very jealous. One of the kittens is a super mush and loves to sit on our laps. He flips when he sees that.

I’m just hoping he can calm down. But he’s been growling more at them instead of less. I would never rehome him so if it ends up not working I would have to rehome the new three which I would hate to do. Hoping with time and the little ones getting older it will all calm down.

THANK YOU for your loyalty to and love for your elder guy. *PRAYERS* for all to be well with time.

 

[TriciaS]

Also he had a very large polyp in his ear when I adopted him 9 years ago. I took him to a specialty hospital to have a bulla osteotomy to remove it. He suffered vestibular complications and Horner’s syndrome afterward. Today he still has a head tilt from the surgery. I sometimes wonder if that is why he is so anxious and defensive. When I adopted him they said he loves other cats.

 

[tarasgirl06]

Also he had a very large polyp in his ear when I adopted him 9 years ago. I took him to a specialty hospital to have a bulla osteotomy to remove it. He suffered vestibular complications and Horner’s syndrome afterward. Today he still has a head tilt from the surgery. I sometimes wonder if that is why he is so anxious and defensive. When I adopted him they said he loves other cats.

You could very well be onto something there, TriciaS . Putting oneself in his shoes, so to speak, that would be very understandable. Poor guy! So glad he has you to love him and stand by him. That's how it should be for every cat.

 

[TriciaS]

have you tried cat nip? It could be counter productive.. but it also could work. this year after adopting a very large kitten my 12 year old maine coon was exhibiting all sorts of signs of anxiety we spent a lot of money in vet bills. finally I added cat nip which we'd cut out just because at some point and she went back to normal mostly.

My vet also suggested catnip, but I'm not sure how to use it to reduce his stress. How are you using it? We have a TON of toys all over the house, most of which have catnip in them. I also have a spray that I was using to train the kittens to use the scratcher that I can start using again on stuff.

 

[Kflowers]

I'm sure you're right TriciaS Still, at his age, next time he gets a physical you might want to consider a full body x-ray, it only takes one to cover most cats, just in case there's something joint wise going on.

I'm a little pushy on the one x-ray because my last vet diagnosed my dog has having anxiety when she actually had arthritis. Vet treated her for anxiety, which not surprisingly never got better, instead of arthritis. We got a correct diagnose 3 weeks before she died, so she had 3 relatively pain free weeks.

That was when I had the cat x-rayed, she was less than a year old and it turned out she had arthritis on several vertebra.

 

[nunnc84]

I have two cats that are 10 years old. In July I took in a mom and her 5 kittens, got them all spayed/neutered. Mom took a few months, but eventually I was able to socialize them all. I adopted out three of the kittens and we decided to keep two kittens and the mom. The first three months the mom and kittens were in a separate room. My two cats did not seem stressed at all nor did they seem interested in the cats on the other side of the door.

I adopted out three of the kittens and we decided to keep two kittens and the mom. In October when when the kittens went to their new home and we decided to keep the rest I did slow introductions, including feeding and playing on opposite sides of the door and site swapping. However my 10 year old boy seems to be getting worse. In the beginning he would cry, run up to one of the new cats, bop them on the head then run away crying. He is now still doing that and has now added growling and crying as he runs around the house. I'm sure its just their presence in the house. They don't bother him ever. They only play with each other, and the few times they did try to play with them he cried and they ran. He also likes to stalk the mom cat because she is the most timid.

So far I've been running for months now 4 feliway plug ins - 2 multi cat and 2 classic. I've been giving him at least one calming treat a day. I got the Ultimate Peacemaker set from Spirit Essences. I also started this week giving him cbd oil. There are 6 uncovered letterboxes in the house, 3 water bowls and a fountain and 3 different feeding stations. I also try playing with him alone but sometimes he is so stressed he won't even play.

I was going to ask my vet if the Royal Canin calming food would work...
Any other ideas?

Rescue Remedy
Jackson Galaxy also has Bully and Self Esteem.
Do you want to put your boy 10yr in your room? And keep him there alone?