Hello fellow cat lovers!
This is my first post here, and I sincerely need any help or advice you guys can give me. This may take a bit to explain, but I'll try to be brief.
I've had my 3 cats for the last 2 years. Jack (male) and Lilly (female) were adopted together from a rescue shelter about 4 years ago, and may have even been littermates. They got along great together. Almost 2 years ago, I adopted Kasey (male) as a 4 month old kitten. There was some friction at first between the established pair and Kasey, but eventually they all got along great, and everything was nice and peaceful. Jack was the mellowest of my babies, a very affectionate, sweet, loving lap cat. Lilly is the princess, and Kasey is just the most adorable cat I've ever seen. I love them all so much, but Jack is definitely Mama's Boy.
About 3 months ago, my boyfriend and I decided that we couldn't live together anymore, and I moved in with my Mother to help her with the care of my grandfather, who has Alzheimer's. I brought my 3 babies with me, and we moved into my grandfather's house with my mom and her 6 cats. Naturally, there was some kitty friction at first, but we introduced them slowly, and most of the problems worked themselves out naturally. Mom's cats are free to go outside, and until the move my cats were strictly indoor cats. ALL of the cats are spayed and neutered, and all stilll have their claws. After a little consideration, I made the decision that my cats should be allowed outside as well.
I'm getting to my point, I swear. As I said, the friction between the established cats and my new additions died down after a bit, but about 6 weeks ago, Mom and I noticed something a little disturbing between Jack, and one of her female cats, Delilah. It seems that Jack is out to get Delilah, there's just no other way to describe it. Everytime he sees her, he goes into a predator stance, twitching his tail, locking his eyes on her, even 'chittering' at her, as I've seen him do when he sees a bird through the window. She is absolutely terrified of him, running in abject fear whenever she catches so much of a glimpse of him. It's getting dangerous, as we live rather close to a very busy street. About a week ago, Jack was stalking her, and chased her into the street right in front of a speeding car. She turned aside at the last moment, but both of them came far too close to being run over right in front of me. It was horrifying for me to watch, I thought I was going to see one of them die right before my eyes, and I was very, very shaken afterwards.
We have tried everything we could think of. We've separated Jack, keeping him shut in my room, but he is a slinky, sneaky little guy, and he always gets out. We've tried using a squirt bottle, and squirting him when we catch him stalking Delilah, but it hasn't had a noticable effect, plus it's hard to catch him doing it as it usually happens so fast.
Along with the problem with Delilah, Jack's demeanor towards Lilly and Kasey has changed completely. He hisses and swipes at Lilly when she comes near, and he and Kasey have gotten into at least 2 fights. Most worriedly, his demanor towards ME, which before was very, very cuddly, and loving, almost to the point of neediness, has done a similar change. He barely purrs when I hold him, or pet him, and where before he would look at me, and I could SEE the abject love in his eyes, now he looks at me angrily all the time. It's very distressing, and I've cried over it more than a few times.
I've thought that something to do with his health, might be affecting his behavior, but have not had him into a vet yet. He scratches, and obsessively grooms so much that pacthes of his fur are thinning dramatically. I noticed a few fleas on him, though not infestation numbers, so I've given him a flea treatment, (I don't like using the chemical treatments, like Advantage, but I found a similar type treatment that works well and is all-natural) in the form of drops on the back of his neck, and I'm going to try powder next if the vet says he still has fleas. However, after the first treatment, I haven't seen any fleas on him. Last night I noticed that he had what looked like dandruff, very flaky skin, and lots of it.
If anyone has any advice for me, about either the behavior problems, or the skin condition I noticed last night, I would be very, very appreciative if you would share it with me. I'm about at my wits end.
Thank you!
I've had my 3 cats for the last 2 years. Jack (male) and Lilly (female) were adopted together from a rescue shelter about 4 years ago, and may have even been littermates. They got along great together. Almost 2 years ago, I adopted Kasey (male) as a 4 month old kitten. There was some friction at first between the established pair and Kasey, but eventually they all got along great, and everything was nice and peaceful. Jack was the mellowest of my babies, a very affectionate, sweet, loving lap cat. Lilly is the princess, and Kasey is just the most adorable cat I've ever seen. I love them all so much, but Jack is definitely Mama's Boy.
About 3 months ago, my boyfriend and I decided that we couldn't live together anymore, and I moved in with my Mother to help her with the care of my grandfather, who has Alzheimer's. I brought my 3 babies with me, and we moved into my grandfather's house with my mom and her 6 cats. Naturally, there was some kitty friction at first, but we introduced them slowly, and most of the problems worked themselves out naturally. Mom's cats are free to go outside, and until the move my cats were strictly indoor cats. ALL of the cats are spayed and neutered, and all stilll have their claws. After a little consideration, I made the decision that my cats should be allowed outside as well.
I'm getting to my point, I swear. As I said, the friction between the established cats and my new additions died down after a bit, but about 6 weeks ago, Mom and I noticed something a little disturbing between Jack, and one of her female cats, Delilah. It seems that Jack is out to get Delilah, there's just no other way to describe it. Everytime he sees her, he goes into a predator stance, twitching his tail, locking his eyes on her, even 'chittering' at her, as I've seen him do when he sees a bird through the window. She is absolutely terrified of him, running in abject fear whenever she catches so much of a glimpse of him. It's getting dangerous, as we live rather close to a very busy street. About a week ago, Jack was stalking her, and chased her into the street right in front of a speeding car. She turned aside at the last moment, but both of them came far too close to being run over right in front of me. It was horrifying for me to watch, I thought I was going to see one of them die right before my eyes, and I was very, very shaken afterwards.
We have tried everything we could think of. We've separated Jack, keeping him shut in my room, but he is a slinky, sneaky little guy, and he always gets out. We've tried using a squirt bottle, and squirting him when we catch him stalking Delilah, but it hasn't had a noticable effect, plus it's hard to catch him doing it as it usually happens so fast.
Along with the problem with Delilah, Jack's demeanor towards Lilly and Kasey has changed completely. He hisses and swipes at Lilly when she comes near, and he and Kasey have gotten into at least 2 fights. Most worriedly, his demanor towards ME, which before was very, very cuddly, and loving, almost to the point of neediness, has done a similar change. He barely purrs when I hold him, or pet him, and where before he would look at me, and I could SEE the abject love in his eyes, now he looks at me angrily all the time. It's very distressing, and I've cried over it more than a few times.
I've thought that something to do with his health, might be affecting his behavior, but have not had him into a vet yet. He scratches, and obsessively grooms so much that pacthes of his fur are thinning dramatically. I noticed a few fleas on him, though not infestation numbers, so I've given him a flea treatment, (I don't like using the chemical treatments, like Advantage, but I found a similar type treatment that works well and is all-natural) in the form of drops on the back of his neck, and I'm going to try powder next if the vet says he still has fleas. However, after the first treatment, I haven't seen any fleas on him. Last night I noticed that he had what looked like dandruff, very flaky skin, and lots of it.
If anyone has any advice for me, about either the behavior problems, or the skin condition I noticed last night, I would be very, very appreciative if you would share it with me. I'm about at my wits end.