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- Sep 17, 2020
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I'm struggling to figure out what's going on with my cats and am hoping for some suggestions. Trying to keep things short and succinct, because if I ramble it'll just get confusing.
1) Jackie and Julie are constantly are a pair of sisters from the same litter, and they're always vying for dominance. Sometimes Jackie comes out on top for a little while, but mostly it's Julie who is top cat. They are both spayed. They are nine years old.
2) Several months ago, Jackie started spending most of her time in our basement. It's an unfinished basement, it's dark even with the lights on, it smells musty, etc. Theory: Julie is bullying her sister into staying downstairs. We've seen behavior to suggest this, such as Julie standing on the stairs with her body language clearly forbidding Jackie to come upstairs. Never violent, but Jackie never tries to pass her. Jackie has stopped hanging out on her cat tree (where Julie doesn't usually go, but I don't know why Jackie stopped using it) and she's abandoned all of her upstairs sleeping places. If we carry her upstairs, she usually stays, at least for a while.
3) Starting a few weeks ago, Jackie has been very restless. She is usually indifferent to going outside (we take them out on harnesses) and but she's started hanging out by the doors, yelling, etc. She has also become less cuddly. She's usually a cuddlebug, and she doesn't not want cuddles now, but she'll hop up on my lap and sit there for ten minutes instead of four hours. I do not know if this is connected to #2.
She just seems unhappy and I do not know why.
Thoughts:
1) We're keeping a record to discuss with her vet, but I'm not terribly hopeful. Our vet is good for physical stuff but not with behavioral stuff. But if it's a medical thing, she'll likely find it.
2) We have tried to give Jackie a confidence boost by feeding her first. This is problematic because the one area where Jackie is dominant is with food. She will wolf down her food and then go shove Julie away from hers. Julie is a finicky eater and we worry about her weight, so we try not to let Jackie steal Julie's food, but that removes Jackie's one area where she can push back.
3) We cannot try site swapping. Their litter boxes are downstairs and I do not have any control over that (it's not my house) and there's only one entrance to the basement. To isolate one of them from each other would mean that one of them wouldn't have access to a litterbox.
4) Someone suggested that Jackie might spend more time upstairs if I let her sleep in my room at night. She's very attached to me, more than anyone else in the house (it's mutual) but my bed isn't very big and I move around in my sleep. I worry that I could kick her, squish her, or shove her off the bed.
5) Despite it all, Jackie is very attached to Julie. I've thought about moving out and taking Jackie with me, but I honestly think it would hurt her to have her sister suddenly gone from her life.
And that's it. We're kind of at a loss. I do not want Jackie to feel like she's only "allowed" to be in the basement. I miss my cuddlebug and I want to help her (without hurting Julie, obviously). I just don't know how.
1) Jackie and Julie are constantly are a pair of sisters from the same litter, and they're always vying for dominance. Sometimes Jackie comes out on top for a little while, but mostly it's Julie who is top cat. They are both spayed. They are nine years old.
2) Several months ago, Jackie started spending most of her time in our basement. It's an unfinished basement, it's dark even with the lights on, it smells musty, etc. Theory: Julie is bullying her sister into staying downstairs. We've seen behavior to suggest this, such as Julie standing on the stairs with her body language clearly forbidding Jackie to come upstairs. Never violent, but Jackie never tries to pass her. Jackie has stopped hanging out on her cat tree (where Julie doesn't usually go, but I don't know why Jackie stopped using it) and she's abandoned all of her upstairs sleeping places. If we carry her upstairs, she usually stays, at least for a while.
3) Starting a few weeks ago, Jackie has been very restless. She is usually indifferent to going outside (we take them out on harnesses) and but she's started hanging out by the doors, yelling, etc. She has also become less cuddly. She's usually a cuddlebug, and she doesn't not want cuddles now, but she'll hop up on my lap and sit there for ten minutes instead of four hours. I do not know if this is connected to #2.
She just seems unhappy and I do not know why.
Thoughts:
1) We're keeping a record to discuss with her vet, but I'm not terribly hopeful. Our vet is good for physical stuff but not with behavioral stuff. But if it's a medical thing, she'll likely find it.
2) We have tried to give Jackie a confidence boost by feeding her first. This is problematic because the one area where Jackie is dominant is with food. She will wolf down her food and then go shove Julie away from hers. Julie is a finicky eater and we worry about her weight, so we try not to let Jackie steal Julie's food, but that removes Jackie's one area where she can push back.
3) We cannot try site swapping. Their litter boxes are downstairs and I do not have any control over that (it's not my house) and there's only one entrance to the basement. To isolate one of them from each other would mean that one of them wouldn't have access to a litterbox.
4) Someone suggested that Jackie might spend more time upstairs if I let her sleep in my room at night. She's very attached to me, more than anyone else in the house (it's mutual) but my bed isn't very big and I move around in my sleep. I worry that I could kick her, squish her, or shove her off the bed.
5) Despite it all, Jackie is very attached to Julie. I've thought about moving out and taking Jackie with me, but I honestly think it would hurt her to have her sister suddenly gone from her life.
And that's it. We're kind of at a loss. I do not want Jackie to feel like she's only "allowed" to be in the basement. I miss my cuddlebug and I want to help her (without hurting Julie, obviously). I just don't know how.