Should I Give Up?

[TheRealAudreyParker]

I took in my grandma's cat last July. He is 7yrs old and had lived with her his whole life. My uncles would visit and tease him. I have three other cats. We introduced slowly and have given equal treats, play time and attention. When he first came he was very scared and hissed at everything. He guards his territory and doesn't want you too close. That all is better. One of my cats is older, but very tiny. She doesn't want to fight or be dominant. The new cat has decided he is going to eat her alive. The odd thing is, he has no claws and she does. She will not defend herself and gets thrown to her back and scratched. Of course I am doing everything I can to keep him away, but his mission is to stalk her and capture her. He hurt her last night and I had to be up late cleaning her wound in case of infection.
It made my grandma so happy she knew I would have her cat. But my tiny cat already had a home where a big dog was chasing her all the time. She deserves safety in her own home.
I did go to the vet and have him checked out, but he isn't sick or in pain and can mostly deal with the other 2 cats. She prescribed a med to calm him, but he won't eat anything but his dry food, if I put the pill onto that, he won't eat that food. What else can I try? First photo is Ed, second is little Elmo.

 

[danteshuman]

Shove the pill down his throat! No really, look up how to give a cat a pill on YouTube and if need be ask your vet to show you how to give him his medication. Some medications take weeks to show improvement. Ask your vet.

What type of medication did your vet prescribe?

Since she has her claws I can recomend a few things.
1)Try to expand their territory with cat shelves & trees.
2) Re-introduce them and for now do not let them see each other. (I would swap sites by locking him in a cat room half a day, then lock your victim cat in another cat room .... and release your bully. Later you can try feeding on opposite sides of a door .... then on opposite sides of a baby gate.)
3)Try to eliminate dead ends where he can trap her.
4) Also building up the victim cat's confidience with 1 on 1 play will help her be attacked less. It worked with my bully/jerk cat. Though if I had to do it again, my punk would have been on Prozac!

 

[danteshuman]

They sell pill poppers to help you get the pill into the back of the cat's mouth.

 

[Summercats]

Poor cat, if he was teased and tormented in the past, no wonder he is suspicious of humans.
Make sure there is enough territory for them to share. At least two littler boxes in seperate locations, food bowls separated, enough space to be away from each other if wanted, cat climbers and cat trees.
If he feels he dosen't need to compete with her for territory and resources, it will likely improve.

 

[ArtNJ]

They sell pill poppers to help you get the pill into the back of the cat's mouth.

+1. Pill poppers are basically a hollow treat. They work, more or less. Worth a try anyway, they are very cheap.

As far as giving the cat up, well, your small cat had a real injury. Since the big cat is declawed, that is probably a bite? It is great that you noticed it and cleaned it, BUT I can tell you from experience that you won't always notice a bite wound until its already infected. I can also tell you from personal experience that if cat A bites cat B once, they will probably do it again. And bite wounds always get infected if not noticed. Bite wounds have tons of bacteria, and it might well get infected even though you noticed it and cleaned it. Vets charge an ungodly amount for the simple procedure to drain an infected abscess, and its unpleasant for everyone. So yeah, your in a situation that cannot continue. My personal take on it is that once there are bite wounds, times up -- if you don't have space in your home for permanently separate lives, then its time to rehome. Cats can really dislike each other and fight often without ever biting -- but once they do bite, that is a different ball game imho.

 

[TheRealAudreyParker]

Hi thank you for the help! I will give that another try. He is difficult to handle without being bitten. They had me try anchovie paste and many different wet food flavors. The pills are clomipramine. He has several thousand square feet to roam, but wants to enter the kitchen where the other cat is hiding. I'll post after we try! I will also work on confidence play. Never heard of that!!

Shove the pill down his throat! No really, look up how to give a cat a pill on YouTube and if need be ask your vet to show you how to give him his medication. Some medications take weeks to show improvement. Ask your vet.

What type of medication did your vet prescribe?

Since she has her claws I can recomend a few things.
1)Try to expand their territory with cat shelves & trees.
2) Re-introduce them and for now do not let them see each other. (I would swap sites by locking him in a cat room half a day, then lock your victim cat in another cat room .... and release your bully. Later you can try feeding on opposite sides of a door .... then on opposite sides of a baby gate.)
3)Try to eliminate dead ends where he can trap her.
4) Also building up the victim cat's confidience with 1 on 1 play will help her be attacked less. It worked with my bully/jerk cat. Though if I had to do it again, my punk would have been on Prozac!

 

[TheRealAudreyParker]

Hi thank you! Yes I feel bad for him for being teased. He has his own room with food water/ litter box. He has another litter box on that floor, and one on the main floor. Also a bowl of food in the living room. He can also roam the basement if he likes. The other cat hides away in the kitchen with her own food/ litter. So she gets jumped in there. I can add some cat climbers and get him more exercise. Thank you!

Poor cat, if he was teased and tormented in the past, no wonder he is suspicious of humans.
Make sure there is enough territory for them to share. At least two littler boxes in seperate locations, food bowls separated, enough space to be away from each other if wanted, cat climbers and cat trees.
If he feels he dosen't need to compete with her for territory and resources, it will likely improve.

 

[1 bruce 1]

I wouldn't give up, but I wouldn't hang onto the idea that "pets are for keeps no matter what" when both cats run the risk of being miserable, with you (miserable as well) stuck in the middle. There's a good chance this might work out, and there's the chance that you might have to find him another home so you, Elmo, and Ed can all live a happy, peaceful life.
The fact that he zeroed in and targeted the oldest, weakest, and most docile of the cats makes me think he's a bully, someone who is so unsure of themselves they pick on the smallest guys they can find to make themselves feel big and bad.

 

[TheRealAudreyParker]

+1. Pill poppers are basically a hollow treat. They work, more or less. Worth a try anyway, they are very cheap.

As far as giving the cat up, well, your small cat had a real injury. Since the big cat is declawed, that is probably a bite? It is great that you noticed it and cleaned it, BUT I can tell you from experience that you won't always notice a bite wound until its already infected. I can also tell you from personal experience that if cat A bites cat B once, they will probably do it again. And bite wounds always get infected if not noticed. Bite wounds have tons of bacteria, and it might well get infected even though you noticed it and cleaned it. Vets charge an ungodly amount for the simple procedure to drain an infected abscess, and its unpleasant for everyone. So yeah, your in a situation that cannot continue. My personal take on it is that once there are bite wounds, times up -- if you don't have space in your home for permanently separate lives, then its time to rehome. Cats can really dislike each other and fight often without ever biting -- but once they do bite, that is a different ball game imho.

Thanks! I agree on the danger of the bites and I could definitely miss something. I did not think of keeping him in his own room. I guess I was wondering about his quality of life if he only had one room to be in. I tend to spoil animals. Ha! I am trying the pill poppers today and if no serious injury then its looking up. Thank you!!

 

[1 bruce 1]

Thanks! I agree on the danger of the bites and I could definitely miss something. I did not think of keeping him in his own room. I guess I was wondering about his quality of life if he only had one room to be in. I tend to spoil animals. Ha! I am trying the pill poppers today and if no serious injury then its looking up. Thank you!!

You can do swapping out rooms, too, when Elmo is in her safe spot Ed can have free roam of the place (except for Elmo's room), and visa versa, so everyone has plenty of time to be in the main house area without there being conflict!

 

[danteshuman]

I meant the pill dispenser not pill poppers. They make giving a cat a pill easier. I just pry my cat's jaws open by gently squeezing in the right spot, shove the pill to the back of their mouth, hold their mouths gently closed & blow gently across their nose. Then give them a treat when they swallow their pill.

That said some cats are just well jerks or a-holes to other cats. My best bud was unforgently a bully cat. He never completely stopped but he did get much better (& again he would be on Prozac now if I had to do it again/he was alive!) Building up my victim cat's self esteem with 1 on 1 play worked (along with giving him a safe place.) Showing my jerk cat that penny cans would reign down from heaven if he got within 3 feet of the declawed/senior/tail-ess cat when he was in the commen areas during the day; worked from their situation.

My jerk cat/bud recently died. His brother (victim cat) does not seem to be missing him to much. They were more frenemies. So rehoming him may make your other three cats estatic. I don't know what the right answer is. I wish you luck through this process.

 

[ArtNJ]

Actually danteshuman it was my bad I think; you said "pill popper" and I started discussing a product generally called "pill pockets." Sorry for the confusion! Anyway, pill pockets are basically a soft treat shell -- you just stick the pill in there, and hopefully the cat eats it. Its...iffy; I only tried with one cat, and when it worked it was lovely, but eventually the cat wised up to them. But it might work and they are cheap. I think maybe a big cat especially that wolfs food down might have no problem with them.

 

[1 bruce 1]

I meant the pill dispenser not pill poppers. They make giving a cat a pill easier. I just pry my cat's jaws open by gently squeezing in the right spot, shove the pill to the back of their mouth, hold their mouths gently closed & blow gently across their nose. Then give them a treat when they swallow their pill.

That said some cats are just well jerks or a-holes to other cats. My best bud was unforgently a bully cat. He never completely stopped but he did get much better (& again he would be on Prozac now if I had to do it again/he was alive!) Building up my victim cat's self esteem with 1 on 1 play worked (along with giving him a safe place.) Showing my jerk cat that penny cans would reign down from heaven if he got within 3 feet of the declawed/senior/tail-ess cat when he was in the commen areas during the day; worked from their situation.

My jerk cat/bud recently died. His brother (victim cat) does not seem to be missing him to much. They were more frenemies. So rehoming him may make your other three cats estatic. I don't know what the right answer is. I wish you luck through this process.

Even with similar situations, no two situations are completely the same and we need to take ourselves into account too. If we have the time and the space (and the floor plan) to create multiple Kitty Confinement Homes, it can work out, but if we're living in a studio apartment with 3 cats that want to kill each other, something has to be done before someone is injured or worse and we go nuts.
I'm with you on defending the declawed/senior/tail-less types that have been here and mean no harm when a young buck comes in and decides to stir up trouble. Don't pick on old folks, pick on someone your own size and we need to defend them and their place in the home.
I knew a buddy years ago that had a cat, nice cat. He decided to bring in two litter mate dogs from the shelter (bigger dogs, probably Husky/German Shepherd/Akita mix or something like that) and the dogs spent their life trying to attack the cat, who would panic and hiss, swat (not de clawed.) One day the cat bloodied one of the dogs noses so his solution was drug the cat for life so she wouldn't "act out".
I told him he (and his dogs) were idiots.

 

[inkysmom]

I took care of a cat that had the pill pockets. You put the pill in the treat and the cat ate them no problem. This particular cat was always starving and loved the treats, they were greenies. Worked great.

For my picky eaters I have pill guns from the vet. You put the pill in the hollow area, gold on to car firmly, stick the gun in to back of mouth area, press the end to "shoot" the pill in towards throat and quickly hold mouth shut. Stroking throat and blowing on nose encourages the cat to swallow. So does syringing in some liquid after. While dodging teeth, nails, cuffs, and hanging onto violently fighting drooling cat and trying not to let them sput out the slimy gross pill.
It's easier after a couple of drinks, as is nail cutting lol.
I've read that declawed cats are much more likely to bite to compensate for not having their nails and feeling vulnerable. Makes perfect sense.

My little cat can be a bully to dogs and other cats I always tell him sharoly NO!!! He'll get a light swat and I'll make a noise to redirect him. If he continues I will catch him, no matter how long it takes and put him the bathroom for a time out cooldown period so he learns bullying gets him isolated which he hates.
It works very well with him. Got him to stop attacking my dog and now they're buddies. He'd scratched the dog's cornea previously.

Another cat went suddenly deaf after surgery to remove cancerous ear tumors and became aggressive to the other cats. When I said no it clawed me. Locking him up for short periods also worked with him. I understood his vulnerability and he was adjusting but he'd attack the other cats when they were just curled up sleeping minding their own business. They we're both getting fed up and they'd been pretty bonded. I duddid want them to attack him, nor did I want him to continue hurting me.

So I would give the medication a chance to get in his system and really work and either separate them or try timeouts.

 

[jen]

If he is attacking her, she is the one I would get checked out by the vet. Has she been to one lately? Has she had bloodwork? Cats are known to attack or act aggressively towards the cat who is ill. If your cat is older and has not had bloodwork lately I would get her in for a check asap.

Pill poppers are basically a hollow treat. They work, more or less. Worth a try anyway, they are very cheap.

No pill poppers are a long hollow plastic object with a rubber piece at the end that holds the treat and it has a piece inside that you push on and it pops the pill into the cats throat. See image below.

 

[inkysmom]

The vets and veterinary hospitals in my state call these pill guns.
Pill pockets are hollow treats that can hide pills.
There's no such thing as pill poppers in my state with the many vets and hospitals and emergency rooms I've been to with the five cats and one dog that died of cancer or other awful ow diseases between 2015-2017.
Not to mention my current cats who have had an intestinal blockage which needed surgery, benign ear tumors which needed laser surgery to remove, multiple myeloma cancer which is rare in cats, allergies to everything and allergy induced asthma.

I've also dealt with stomatitis, insulin dependent diabetes, ear infections and total ear ablation canal surgeries, kidney failure, liver failure in dogs, spinal disease causing paralysis, sudden onset deafness and related aggression and tamed adult feral cats as well as kittens.
Not to mention a bunch of stuff with horses for over 25 years now.

I've given millions of pills. I give three to my cat with cancer daily. Using two separate pill guns. One for the chemotherapy pills which have to be separate from everything else. And one for the person.

 

[inkysmom]

Lol I was tired when I wrote that. Last daily pill for my cat is for side effects of them, it's an antinausea half pill of cerenia. He hates it but not as much as the two big chemotherapy pills.

 

[Kflowers]

Yes, Jem's fight get your girl checked in case she's ill.

Then

here's my usual suggestion to protect your arms and give your fingers enough control ( put band aids on your fingers joint before the tip)
go to Amazon put this in the search
Kevlar Arm Sleeves, Easylife185 Cut & Heat Proof Sleeve with Thumb Holes, 18 " Inch Long Safety Arm Chaps (Flexible Lighter washable ) Mechanic Sleeves

They are $22. Here's a picture

They are soft, too thick for him to get much claw fang action and not unpleasant for him.

I do the open his mouth, between the small front teeth, thumb - with the band-aid on it between the side teeth, shove the pill as far back as you can. Close the mouth, hold the head in the normal position, it seems to be hard for cats to swallow if their nose is pointed toward the ceiling. Wait until you think he's swallowed then wait a bit longer. For some butter works, but it's hard to hold a pill that's been buttered. Try other things, peanut butter, sour cream (also slippery)

 

[TheRealAudreyParker]

Thanks everyone! You really helped me think through this, get some ideas, and some confidence. I just did the sixth night of medication for the bully! I never thought we could do it. So now, just waiting to see if it helps him. In the meantime, I am keeping separate floors and the several other suggestions. I feel so much better and am really hopeful everyone can be happy.

 

[maggie101]

Yes, Jem's fight get your girl checked in case she's ill.

Then

here's my usual suggestion to protect your arms and give your fingers enough control ( put band aids on your fingers joint before the tip)
go to Amazon put this in the search
Kevlar Arm Sleeves, Easylife185 Cut & Heat Proof Sleeve with Thumb Holes, 18 " Inch Long Safety Arm Chaps (Flexible Lighter washable ) Mechanic Sleeves

They are $22. Here's a picture

They are soft, too thick for him to get much claw fang action and not unpleasant for him.

I do the open his mouth, between the small front teeth, thumb - with the band-aid on it between the side teeth, shove the pill as far back as you can. Close the mouth, hold the head in the normal position, it seems to be hard for cats to swallow if their nose is pointed toward the ceiling. Wait until you think he's swallowed then wait a bit longer. For some butter works, but it's hard to hold a pill that's been buttered. Try other things, peanut butter, sour cream (also slippery)

When my vet does it he tilts her head back,put in,close mouth,then blow on nose to make him swallow