Sophie is having some problems

[kaylee]

So my youngest cat Sophie has been having some serious problems and I was wondering if anyone here had experienced these problems before and could offer some advice. Sophie has been attacking not only myself but my grandparents as well when they come over by clawing at our faces. My mother(I am a college student living at home) has not yet been swiped at by her. She also managed to sink her claws into my skull yesterday morning and when I told her no and placed her off the bed she jumped at an attempt to swipe at me again. She has also not been letting my oldest cat Millie use the litter box and is attacking her and beating her up. These two girls used to be the best of friends. She has also been attacking her mother and my other cat Mama however not as much as Millie.

 

[carolina]

Is she spayed?
Also, has she been to the vet lately? Sudden changes like that can indicate health problems- she might be in pain....
Another thought, has anything in the household changed? New person, someone moved in? New pet?

 

[kaylee]

Is she spayed?
Also, has she been to the vet lately? Sudden changes like that can indicate health problems- she might be in pain....
Another thought, has anything in the household changed? New person, someone moved in? New pet?

Yes all 3 cats are spayed. She has been in recently and the vet found nothing wrong with her. We did bring her mother Mama into the household a few months ago. That is something I have considered however these are behaviors that have been going on for months and have been getting worse overtime. 

 

[carolina]

When you brought in her momma, did you do a proper intro? How is their relationship? Do they have enough vertical space, cat trees, perches, window sills, etc? Basically, can she get away from the other cats and have her own space in the house, keeping her environment with a low stress level? Do you feel she might be stressed out?

 

[carolina]

How old is she?

 

[kaylee]

When you brought in her momma, did you do a proper intro? How is their relationship? Do they have enough vertical space, cat trees, perches, window sills, etc? Basically, can she get away from the other cats and have her own space in the house, keeping her environment with a low stress level? Do you feel she might be stressed out?

Yes I made sure to do a proper introduction with all 3 cats despite my mothers constant wanting to just throw them together. Sophie and her mother get along quite well and will often play together however there are times where she will beat her up as well. There are enough areas in the house where if she wanted to get away from Millie or Mama she could and same goes for Millie and Mama. However I have considered putting in more and seeing if that would help. I have thought about her being stressed out. I have also considered trying out Feliway Plugs as I have heard they help out with stress but have not gotten around to trying them out. 

 

[kaylee]

How old is she?

Sophie is a year and a half old. Her mother Mama is only 5 months older than her, and Millie is 8 years old. 

 

[carolina]

Was Sophie separated from mom very young? Or she stayed with her for a long time?
Sorry for all the questions - trying to figure this thing out.....
When did you bring Sophie in/separated her from momma Cat?

 

[carolina]

Yes I made sure to do a proper introduction with all 3 cats despite my mothers constant wanting to just throw them together. Sophie and her mother get along quite well and will often play together however there are times where she will beat her up as well. There are enough areas in the house where if she wanted to get away from Millie or Mama she could and same goes for Millie and Mama. However I have considered putting in more and seeing if that would help. I have thought about her being stressed out. I have also considered trying out Feliway Plugs as I have heard they help out with stress but have not gotten around to trying them out. 

Feliway is a great idea, as well as vertical space. Since she is young, you want places she can go up high- tall cat trees, window sills, and if you can, wall shelves work amazingly well.
You also need more litter boxes.... The rule of thumb for a peaceful household is the number of cats, plus one. I know having 4 boxes is too much.. but since Sophie is having issues with the other cat using it, you really need to add another one for her. 2 more would be ideal, but at the very least one more would already help a great deal.

 

[kaylee]

Was Sophie separated from mom very young? Or she stayed with her for a long time?
Sorry for all the questions - trying to figure this thing out.....
When did you bring Sophie in/separated her from momma Cat?

Its okay. Background story on how these girls came to live with me.

I adopted all 3 of my cats from the shelter. Millie from one at 6 1/2 years old as an abused, shy, skittish, left on the streets to die cat. She had been waiting for over a year before I adopted her. Almost a year later adopted Sophie at the age of 9 weeks old who was born at the shelter. Then this year went back and adopted her mother Mama(she was picked up off the streets and had Sophie and her siblings at 5 months old and was at the shelter for over a year). Sophie came to live with me almost a year after I adopted Millie(August of 2010) in May of last year, and her mother came just a few months ago of this year. 

Feel free to ask any more questions if needed. I probably should have put some information in the first post. 

 

[kaylee]

Feliway is a great idea, as well as vertical space. Since she is young, you want places she can go up high- tall cat trees, window sills, and if you can, wall shelves work amazingly well.
You also need more litter boxes.... The rule of thumb for a peaceful household is the number of cats, plus one. I know having 4 boxes is too much.. but since Sophie is having issues with the other cat using it, you really need to add another one for her. 2 more would be ideal, but at the very least one more would already help a great deal.

 I actually do have more than one litter box in the house we have two. I am trying to convince my mother to let me add a third box to the mix(I would prefer having 4 as that is ideal but she won't hear of it) but she is not fond of the idea(oh the joys of being a college student living at home but I am working on it). I will try to pick up some Feliway sometime this week. We do have quite a few window sills for her, and a couple cat trees however no wall shelves. 

 

[carolina]

Its okay. Background story on how these girls came to live with me.

I adopted all 3 of my cats from the shelter. Millie from one at 6 1/2 years old as an abused, shy, skittish, left on the streets to die cat. She had been waiting for over a year before I adopted her. Almost a year later adopted Sophie at the age of 9 weeks old who was born at the shelter. Then this year went back and adopted her mother Mama(she was picked up off the streets and had Sophie and her siblings at 5 months old and was at the shelter for over a year). Sophie came to live with me almost a year after I adopted Millie(August of 2010) in May of last year, and her mother came just a few months ago of this year. 

Feel free to ask any more questions if needed. I probably should have put some information in the first post. 

Awwww thank you for rescuing these babies
Ok, I think that the problem might he that she didn't learned enough from her momma.... And yes, with time, things do tend to get worst....
She should stayed until she was about 12 weeks...
She basically doesn't know what is play, what it's to be aggressive, what is wrong.... You need to teach her to keep her claws on the right things.
Do you have a wand toy? Such as Da Bird? You can look it up on Amazon.
You also need to make sure to never, ever play with her with your hands. That should be off-limits. Always play with a wand. Have play sessions with her, twice a day.
Of course you can pet her.... But petting, not playing With hands.
Don't punish her either- that doesn't work with cats.... The only thing that will do, is damage your relationship with her.
A person here on tcs taught me a trick that has worked great for my cat- have a bag of beans handy. When she is aggressive with someone or a kitty, toss it on the wall. NOT at her- it will startle her, and she will soon be scared of that behavior. For my cat it worked very quickly!
I think with lots of love, a new litterbox, more vertical space, play sessions, some wand training, the bean bag trick and the Feliway, you have a good shot at things working out!

 

[kaylee]

Awwww thank you for rescuing these babies

Ok, I think that the problem might he that she didn't learned enough from her momma.... And yes, with time, things do tend to get worst....
She should stayed until she was about 12 weeks...
She basically don't know what is play, what it's to be aggressive, what is wrong.... You need to teach her to keep her claws on the right things.
Do you have a wand toy? Such as Da Bird? You can look it up on Amazon.
You also need to make sure to never, ever play with her with your hands. That should be off-limits. Always play with a wand. Have play sessions with her, twice a day.
Of course you can pet her.... But petting, not playing With hands.
Don't punish her either- that doesn't work with cats.... The only thing that will do, is damage your relationship with her.
A person here on tcs taught me a trick that has worked great for my cat- have a bag of beans handy. When she is aggressive with someone or a kitty, toss it on the wall. NOT at her- it will startle her, and she will soon be scared of that behavior. For my cat it worked very quickly!
I think with lots of love, a new letterbox, more vertical space, play sessions, some wand training, the bean bag trick and the Feliway, you have a good shot at things working out!

I do agree she should have stayed until she was 12 weeks but the rescue puts kittens for adoption once they are 8 weeks old so there wasn't much I could do in terms of her age when I adopted her(even the rescue I work for does the same).

She does have a wand toy that she loves to play with. She has never played with hands before, I made sure to not use my hands during play with her at all when she was a kitten and even now. 

I have never punished one of my cats before(I have had cats before these girls) unless saying no and placing her on the ground when she went at my skull yesterday morning counts as a punishment. I have never considered a bean bag before. The issue is she goes for the face when she attacks you and it is completely random. 

 

[carolina]

Oh, another thing: watch her signals... Ears back, tail flickering, don't pick her up, she will attack.... Try to learn how/where you can pet her so she is not over stimulated.... Some cats just don't take petting in some parts of their bodies, while others hate being picked up.
If she attacks when you pick her up, then don't.
My cat can only be pet for so long, and on her head and cheeks, or else she WILL bite me. I have learned that, and I know her limits...

 

[carolina]

I do agree she should have stayed until she was 12 weeks but the rescue puts kittens for adoption once they are 8 weeks old so there wasn't much I could do in terms of her age when I adopted her(even the rescue I work for does the same).
She does have a wand toy that she loves to play with. She has never played with hands before, I made sure to not use my hands during play with her at all when she was a kitten and even now. 
I have never punished one of my cats before(I have had cats before these girls) unless saying no and placing her on the ground when she went at my skull yesterday morning counts as a punishment. I have never considered a bean bag before. The issue is she goes for the face when she attacks you and it is completely random. 

yep, many rescues will do that so they can help more kitties :heart3:
No.... What you did was not punishment and yep, bean bag worked here like a charm!

 

[kaylee]

Oh, another thing: watch her signals... Ears back, tail flickering, don't pick her up, she will attack.... Try to learn how/where you can pet her so she is not over stimulated.... Some cats just don't take petting in some parts of their bodies, while others hate being picked up.
If she attacks when Ui pick her up, then don't.
My cat can only be pet for so long, and on her head and cheeks, or else she WILL bite me. I have learned that, and I know her limits...

She never gives any signals before she attacks I wish she did. My mother when she was a kitten constantly picked her up and almost never put her down(because she was too cute is her reason). I just let her come to me when she wants attention because I don't want to over stimulate her with too many pets, and being picked up(she is a very cuddly cat and loves being picked up). The attacks are when she is just siting by you and you are doing nothing at all, she lunges for your face. 

 

[kaylee]

yep, many rescues will do that so they can help more kitties

No.... What you did was not punishment

and yep, bean bag worked here like a charm!

Yup, its a shame how many we have at the one I work at. We are over flowing with cats while dogs are leaving left and right. 

Some people consider it as punishment which is why I asked you what you thought of that. I will have to try that out. 

 

[carolina]

She never gives any signals before she attacks I wish she did. My mother when she was a kitten constantly picked her up and almost never put her down(because she was too cute is her reason). I just let her come to me when she wants attention because I don't want to over stimulate her with too many pets, and being picked up(she is a very cuddly cat and loves being picked up). The attacks are when she is just siting by you and you are doing nothing at all, she lunges for your face. 

The unprovoked attack is very strange.... Like redirected aggression.... I need to look this further before getting back to you.... I know there were threads here about it, but I am on my phone and it is hard to search now..... I will revisit this later tomorrow..... Hopefully other members will post to help you out too!
Stick around!

 

[kaylee]

The unprovoked attack is very strange.... Like redirected aggression.... I need to look this further before getting back to you.... I know there were threads here about it, but I am on my phone and it is hard to search now..... I will revisit this later tomorrow..... Hopefully other members will post to help you out too!
Stick around!

Thats exactly what I thought shes not being provoked at all to attack me she just does it. I feel like this is more of an aggression issue than anything. I have also considered a cat behaviorist(my mother suggested we email the cat behaviorist from My Cat From Hell for some advice actually). I will be sticking around the forums for a while. No problem, no rush. 

 

[carolina]

Ok, here are some TCS threads about redirected aggression and similar cases:
http://www.thecatsite.com/a/cat-aggression-toward-people
http://www.thecatsite.com/t/244256/re-directed-aggression
http://www.thecatsite.com/t/153481/re-directed-aggression
http://www.thecatsite.com/t/45533/aggressive-cat
http://www.thecatsite.com/t/142141/alpha-cat-aggression-towards-me

There are more, if you search redirected aggression....

Here are some links as well, on the subject: http://consciouscat.net/2012/03/12/redirected-aggression-when-good-cats-attack/

http://www.cathospitalofchicago.com/online-cat-health-library/feline-redirected-aggression/

http://www.petfinder.com/pet-training/cat-aggression-part-2.html

http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/pe.../aggression-in-cats-redirected-aggression/200

http://www.ehow.com/video_4976365_cat-behavior-redirected-aggression.html

Hope this helps a bit......