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- Jun 18, 2021
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Well I blew it. I suggested we adopt two gorgeous little kittens. They're wonderful. We love them. They are pair bonded. 15 weeks old. Still babies. We love being pet parents. One of my paired male cats had to be euthanized because of serious kidney issues which the vet couldn't resolve. So stupid me I thought our fairly territorial cat might live longer if we brought in two kittens. I wanted cats we could influence because it had worked so well with Simon. Simon is 12 going on 13.
My poor baby Simon -- the two babies are messing with his tail. He was impatient at first but eventually accepted them. He does hiss a bit (I despise hissing but tolerate it in this situation, formerly our cats hissing behavior was extinguished - no hissing or growling or extremely over mean behavior is allowed in our home by our cats.
Our cat Simon started going downhill. One of my household is a behaviorist by training and a cat maven. He saw the problems and ordered a litter that measures alkalinity in urine. It was very alkaline. He ordered Vitamin C drops which we're now giving to him. We have intelligent feeders that automatically dispense food. But they depend on a chip device they wear on their collar around their neck. When the cat with authorization approaches the bowl the little door opens and they eat. But when they approach a "foreign" feeder belong to the other cat the door closes.
Well the kittens at first were ridiculously curious. And they would walk right up to his bowl while he was eating. He would walk away rather than hiss. This went on for quite some time. We became very, very worried. So now we're hand feeding him a bit at a time. He eats. Licks his chops when he wants more. But the kittens are sometimes inches away. We distract them. It's taking two of us to keep the kittens occupied.
We have three automated litter stations. All three process without human intervention. One is a CatRobot, another a CatGenie, another a Littermaid. There is water around the house in fountains which all cats can reach. No one is cut off from food, water or a littler. But at night we've had to shut the door and leave our kittens out in the main house because they give our older cat no peace.
We've got one of those wonderful collars with a soothing aroma for our older boy. The girl and boy are just oblivious. They have so much energy. They're upstairs, downstairs. We play with them constantly. We interact with them. We see him constantly and spend time with him. But most of our time is at night when we want to sleep. We're all exhausted. And our older cat I think is OK but pretty miserable.
We took all three to the vet last week. The older cat, we were told, is fine. Keep doing what we're doing. They know the situation. The kittens are in perfect health. And are completely normal, the vet says.
The kittens were raised in a communal situation until about two weeks ago. Our cats were raised in a territorial situation under our roof. I really believed what I'd read and what people told me. The older cat, I thought, losing his brother would soon die of loneliness. Now I'm afraid I've made a mess of things. We love them all. Please give your opinion about what we can do to make this a good situation.
My poor baby Simon -- the two babies are messing with his tail. He was impatient at first but eventually accepted them. He does hiss a bit (I despise hissing but tolerate it in this situation, formerly our cats hissing behavior was extinguished - no hissing or growling or extremely over mean behavior is allowed in our home by our cats.
Our cat Simon started going downhill. One of my household is a behaviorist by training and a cat maven. He saw the problems and ordered a litter that measures alkalinity in urine. It was very alkaline. He ordered Vitamin C drops which we're now giving to him. We have intelligent feeders that automatically dispense food. But they depend on a chip device they wear on their collar around their neck. When the cat with authorization approaches the bowl the little door opens and they eat. But when they approach a "foreign" feeder belong to the other cat the door closes.
Well the kittens at first were ridiculously curious. And they would walk right up to his bowl while he was eating. He would walk away rather than hiss. This went on for quite some time. We became very, very worried. So now we're hand feeding him a bit at a time. He eats. Licks his chops when he wants more. But the kittens are sometimes inches away. We distract them. It's taking two of us to keep the kittens occupied.
We have three automated litter stations. All three process without human intervention. One is a CatRobot, another a CatGenie, another a Littermaid. There is water around the house in fountains which all cats can reach. No one is cut off from food, water or a littler. But at night we've had to shut the door and leave our kittens out in the main house because they give our older cat no peace.
We've got one of those wonderful collars with a soothing aroma for our older boy. The girl and boy are just oblivious. They have so much energy. They're upstairs, downstairs. We play with them constantly. We interact with them. We see him constantly and spend time with him. But most of our time is at night when we want to sleep. We're all exhausted. And our older cat I think is OK but pretty miserable.
We took all three to the vet last week. The older cat, we were told, is fine. Keep doing what we're doing. They know the situation. The kittens are in perfect health. And are completely normal, the vet says.
The kittens were raised in a communal situation until about two weeks ago. Our cats were raised in a territorial situation under our roof. I really believed what I'd read and what people told me. The older cat, I thought, losing his brother would soon die of loneliness. Now I'm afraid I've made a mess of things. We love them all. Please give your opinion about what we can do to make this a good situation.
