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- Jul 20, 2016
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Hello,
We have a five year old kitty named Jade. When we got her, she had an older sister named Precious and it took about a month for Precious to accept her, but in time she did. We lost Precious about four months ago, and about five weeks ago we were adopted by two friendly but stray sister kittens named Wicket and Gizmo that a friend had taken in. We brought them home, set them up in our master bath, and eventually gave them run of the bedroom too in the daytime.
We did some scent swapping and let Jade get a glimpse of the two kittens. On occasion we would bring them out, and she hisses and growls at them, while smacking her mouth. At first, Jade was depressed, wouldn't eat, and wouldn't come out of the room she hangs out in on the other side of the house. I started working with her, giving her extra attention, and continuing to expose her to their scent. She started to do a little better, but would still hiss at the kittens literally every breath. The two kittens have been quarantined too, which doesn't help matters, since we are trying to kick coccidia. We are doing what the vet recommends. A couple of times, I think we rushed her because we let the kittens out just to walk around a bit in the main room where Jade was, and she hissed and growled, and she will run away to the other room. Her hissing is non stop, and she makes weird smacking sounds like right before she throws up. One or two times she swiped at a kitten, but I don't think she used claws. The kittens seem oblivious to her hisses and growls.
I have been taking time to play with the cats, and I have been taking time to sit with Jade, take her outside to hang out supervised, which she likes to do, and to play with her with the fishing pole toy, which she begs for multiple times a day. The past few days though, she has started acting depressed, laying around all the time, not wanting to play, and barely responding when I call her to go outside with me. I don't see, feel, or detect any visible health problems, but while she is an indoor cat, we are having an extreme heat wave here that might explain some of that. We have had the kittens five weeks, I work at home, and I have an anxiety and fatigue disorder, so this is kind of wearing me out mentally and physically. I knew there would be a lot of work when we got the kittens, because I've had cats all my life, but I feel like I got more than I bargained for. I know that cats can pick up on anxiety, so I try to stay calm and upbeat with Jade, using a good tone of voice. With one of our kittens having chronic diarrhea from the coccidia, and us having to change the litterbox every day and clean her up, I feel like my home has become more like a barn. It is constant stress, even though I'm still trying to keep a positive outlook.
I'm not sure what to do to help Jade adapt. I'm not sure if she will ever like the kittens, but I do want to start with getting her to tolerate them. I have hit a plateau and can't seem to make any more progress. I have used scent swapping, giving her extra attention, spraying cat nip around her toys and food, and doing other enhancement and stimulation activities and things. She has always had a skittish and sensitive disposition, and I've always coddled her a bit, because I feel like I can identify with her. When she was a kitten, she was so shy, it took months and months of working with her to get her to even come out and interact. With these new kittens, I'm not sure what to do next. She's still hissing at the kittens' scent after five weeks, and I don't want the kittens in my bedroom forever, esp. after they are in the clear with the coccidia. I get very nervous and stressed about this because of my anxiety, and I just have my hands full right now. Do you have any feedback, advice, or info to help Jade get over this hurdle, and to ease this process? She doesn't eat treats, so we can't get her calming treats, but I have thought about calming products. I guess this post is as much about a stressed kitty mom as much as it is a stressed kitty.
Thanks,
Firejade
We have a five year old kitty named Jade. When we got her, she had an older sister named Precious and it took about a month for Precious to accept her, but in time she did. We lost Precious about four months ago, and about five weeks ago we were adopted by two friendly but stray sister kittens named Wicket and Gizmo that a friend had taken in. We brought them home, set them up in our master bath, and eventually gave them run of the bedroom too in the daytime.
We did some scent swapping and let Jade get a glimpse of the two kittens. On occasion we would bring them out, and she hisses and growls at them, while smacking her mouth. At first, Jade was depressed, wouldn't eat, and wouldn't come out of the room she hangs out in on the other side of the house. I started working with her, giving her extra attention, and continuing to expose her to their scent. She started to do a little better, but would still hiss at the kittens literally every breath. The two kittens have been quarantined too, which doesn't help matters, since we are trying to kick coccidia. We are doing what the vet recommends. A couple of times, I think we rushed her because we let the kittens out just to walk around a bit in the main room where Jade was, and she hissed and growled, and she will run away to the other room. Her hissing is non stop, and she makes weird smacking sounds like right before she throws up. One or two times she swiped at a kitten, but I don't think she used claws. The kittens seem oblivious to her hisses and growls.
I have been taking time to play with the cats, and I have been taking time to sit with Jade, take her outside to hang out supervised, which she likes to do, and to play with her with the fishing pole toy, which she begs for multiple times a day. The past few days though, she has started acting depressed, laying around all the time, not wanting to play, and barely responding when I call her to go outside with me. I don't see, feel, or detect any visible health problems, but while she is an indoor cat, we are having an extreme heat wave here that might explain some of that. We have had the kittens five weeks, I work at home, and I have an anxiety and fatigue disorder, so this is kind of wearing me out mentally and physically. I knew there would be a lot of work when we got the kittens, because I've had cats all my life, but I feel like I got more than I bargained for. I know that cats can pick up on anxiety, so I try to stay calm and upbeat with Jade, using a good tone of voice. With one of our kittens having chronic diarrhea from the coccidia, and us having to change the litterbox every day and clean her up, I feel like my home has become more like a barn. It is constant stress, even though I'm still trying to keep a positive outlook.
I'm not sure what to do to help Jade adapt. I'm not sure if she will ever like the kittens, but I do want to start with getting her to tolerate them. I have hit a plateau and can't seem to make any more progress. I have used scent swapping, giving her extra attention, spraying cat nip around her toys and food, and doing other enhancement and stimulation activities and things. She has always had a skittish and sensitive disposition, and I've always coddled her a bit, because I feel like I can identify with her. When she was a kitten, she was so shy, it took months and months of working with her to get her to even come out and interact. With these new kittens, I'm not sure what to do next. She's still hissing at the kittens' scent after five weeks, and I don't want the kittens in my bedroom forever, esp. after they are in the clear with the coccidia. I get very nervous and stressed about this because of my anxiety, and I just have my hands full right now. Do you have any feedback, advice, or info to help Jade get over this hurdle, and to ease this process? She doesn't eat treats, so we can't get her calming treats, but I have thought about calming products. I guess this post is as much about a stressed kitty mom as much as it is a stressed kitty.
Thanks,
Firejade