Stressful Kitten/cat Introduction, Cat Anxiety And Spraying

detroitcatlady

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It has been a while since I have been on here since I didn't have internet in my house for several months so a few quick updates on my cat household:
In January I took in a pregnant cat named Stormy. She and her kittens stayed with me until the end of May but had their own room and during this time I did not introduce my cats to them as I planned on finding homes for them once they were old enough. My cats were very aware there were other cats in the house they heard them meowing and got used to their scent however I managed to keep them apart until the kittens were over 10 weeks old and I had found a home for Stormy. I ended up deciding to keep 2 of the kittens and since June I have been trying to introduce them gradually to my resident cats.

Everything was going pretty smoothly until mid June during a heatwave when I could not keep the kittens in their own part of the house due to a lack of air conditioning. The kittens had been spending time in the same room as the rest of the cats for part of the day and all seemed to be accepting each other but I only had allowed them to be together while I was able to supervise them and I kept them separate at night and when I was not home. During the heatwave I was unable to keep them separate because the part of the house that I normally had the kittens in was too hot and had to have the cats and kittens together in an 600 sq ft converted attic space/bedroom all day and night for a couple of weeks.

During this time the kittens were spending a lot of time in the bed. My cat Treasure would not go on the bed as long as they were there (this is her favorite place to sleep). She would go hide somewhere or sit up on the cat trees all day and was very withdrawn. Suddenly she began going on the bed again and being more social and acting more "comfortable" around the kittens. As soon as she returned to sleeping in the bed I noticed the bed smelled of urine and saw she was spraying the bed and nightstand and the wall/baseboard next to the bed. She also sprayed on me while I was sleeping and all over my sheets and blankets a couple of times, which was shocking. Many, many times she would spray the bed right in front of me, looking directly at me. She would pace back and forth across the bed while I was sleeping, often waking me up, and start spraying and I would wake up to the smell of urine.

It seemed so bizarre that she was acting as if she was accepting the kittens, playing with them and sharing the space, yet she was spraying. She has never sprayed. After taking her to the vet it was clearly not a case of a UTI or some other medical condition. They said it was probably due to stress and all the changes that happened in my house with the cats and recommended trying calming collars and feliway. They thought she was just spraying as a way of coping with the stress of introducing the kittens suddenly and having them stuck in a small area together which she wasn't used to.

I tried feliway plugins, feliway spray, calming collars, pretty much everything except putting her on Prozac. The strange thing is that her behavior around the kittens doesn't seem like she is stressed but more territorial marking behavior. She now bullies the kittens and does whatever she can to make them uncomfortable around her and is also fighting with my other cats who have bonded with the kittens. She seems to be happy when she is by herself in her own room and as long as the kittens are not in the room she is happy being around my other cats. The biggest thing that she seems to be reacting to is the kittens scent being on things that she thinks belong to her. If the kittens try to sleep in the bed, play with the toys that she thinks are "hers", etc she will actually spray on the cat toys and then the kittens will not use them. She also started spraying directly on their toys.

I have purchased additional cat trees, cat beds, cat toys, etc and none of it seems to be helping. She seems to feel threatened by the kittens being in "her" space even though all they want is to make friends with her and will try to take ownership of anything I introduce into the room. Trying to get the urine smell out of the room has been hard. It seems that no matter how much I clean things still stink. It's horrible. I really just want her to be happy. If I have to throw the bed out and buy a new one I can deal with that, but I feel awful that deciding to keep these 2 kittens has completely turned her world upsidedown. The bedroom was always her safe spot and I have no idea how to give that back to her.
 
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abyeb

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Have Stormy and Treasure been fixed?
 
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detroitcatlady

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Have Stormy and Treasure been fixed?
Stormy is not living with me I found her a home back around Memorial Day. I kept her 2 kittens Luna & Onyx and have been trying to introduce them to my cats Treasure (3 years) Pumpkin (3 years) and Shadow (2 years). My cats are fixed. The kittens Luna & Onyx will be 5 months old next week they have not been fixed yet my vet will not spay/neuter them until they are 6 months. They are the only low cost clinic near me and everywhere else charges $250 /per kitten. The kittens behavior has not been a problem, just Treasure is very upset and uneasy when she is around them and has been spraying since the heatwave when the bedroom which is rather large and adjoins with a converted attic space was the only part of the house that could be used during the hottest part of the summer. Treasure has an anxious personality but never sprayed before. She seems to associate the bedroom with this negative experience and continues to spray in the bedroom. She mostly sprays around the bed which is her favorite place to sleep. I don't know if the mattress smelling like urine and having difficulty finding a cleaner that completely gets rid of the odor is part of the issue, but she seems go back to the same spots over and over again. She will spray a spot on the bed and then lay on top of it as if it is comforting to her. It also seems that every time I wash the sheets and she will immediately spray on the bed. I have been washing the sheets every day since she has been doing it.
 
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hugpooky

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HI there, this situation kind of reminded me of my situation. I have a nervous cat too. He's neutured. He gets jumpy and sprints away when he hears loud or sudden noises. But he was fine with using the litterbox. After we moved, his pee started to spill over the litterbox. After 2 months, I had a baby and she cried a lot at night, my cat started to pee ALL over the g-damn house. I REALLY really thought he was stressed because of his behavior. But the weird thing was that he likes my daughter. He would nap beside her on the couch. My cat still follows me around the house and asks for pets. I thought it was the move and the baby's cry that was stressing him out. We also had a neighbors cat visiting us outside the patio so I thought it was him too. I was so confused. I tried Feliway, anti-stress drops, stress food (it KINDA helped), giving him more attention, bought another cat condo and toys but it was still pretty bad. I was at my wits end. My vet recommended me to put him on medication which is practically anti-depressants. I thought it was so wrong. I swear he doesn't need it but I couldn't pin point what was wrong with him. He had his urine's checked and it was fine. I was so stressed, sad and frustrated because I have clean his pee all day long because he was peeing everywhere and the g-damn house smells like hell. So I finally had to hire a cat behavorist (everyone thought I was crazy) and it turns out..that he just needed 2 litterboxes and it has to be gigantic and it has to be in a specific location. I had to play around with the litterbox sizes and location for awhile before I could fine the magic spots. Oh, my hardwood floor is black now because of his pee. But he doesn't pee there anymore (even though I'm sure it still smells like pee but because he's comfortable using his box now, he doesn't have to go there.)
So anyway...for your situation, try adding more litterboxes around the house. I know it sucks to make your whole house look like a washroom but give it a try.
 
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detroitcatlady

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HI there, this situation kind of reminded me of my situation. I have a nervous cat too. He's neutured. He gets jumpy and sprints away when he hears loud or sudden noises. But he was fine with using the litterbox. After we moved, his pee started to spill over the litterbox. After 2 months, I had a baby and she cried a lot at night, my cat started to pee ALL over the g-damn house. I REALLY really thought he was stressed because of his behavior. But the weird thing was that he likes my daughter. He would nap beside her on the couch. My cat still follows me around the house and asks for pets. I thought it was the move and the baby's cry that was stressing him out. We also had a neighbors cat visiting us outside the patio so I thought it was him too. I was so confused. I tried Feliway, stress food (it KINDA helped), giving him more attention, bought another cat condo and toys but it was still pretty bad. I was at my wits end. My vet recommended me to put him on medication which is practically anti-depressants. I thought it was so wrong. I swear he doesn't need it but I couldn't pin point what was wrong with him. He had his urine's checked and it was fine. I was so stressed, sad and frustrated because I have clean his pee all day long because he was peeing everywhere and the g-damn house smells like hell. So I finally had to hire a cat behavorist (everyone thought I was crazy) and it turns out..that he just needed 2 litterboxes and it has to be gigantic and it has to be in a specific location. I had to play around with the litter box sizes and location for awhile before I could fine the magic spots. Oh, my hardwood floor is black now because of his pee. But he doesn't pee there anymore (even though I'm sure it still smells like pee but because he's comfortable using his box now, he doesn't have to go there.)
So anyway...for your situation, try adding more litter boxes around the house. I know it sucks to make your whole house look like a washroom but give it a try.
It is interesting that you mention the litter boxes because even though I have so many litter boxes one of the things that has been an issue with the kittens is that they like to play in the litter. When I first clean the boxes and put fresh litter in them, sometimes the kittens will even try to sleep in the litter box. But mostly they play in it. I know that sometimes they do bother my cats when they are using the boxes and it doesn't seem to matter how many there are, they still will sit outside the litter boxes and hang around when my cats are using them. I don't know if this is contributing to the behavior, but I see why it could be. I have been using the same kind of litter boxes and litter for 3 years and never had any issue until now, perhaps I should try to find some litter boxes that offer my cats more privacy. I have at least one litter box in every room of the house. Upstairs in the space where she is spraying I have 6 litter boxes but due to the lack of space the litter boxes are only in 2 areas and ironically these 2 areas she has never sprayed. I never really wanted a litter box next to the bed, but maybe this would help.
 

hugpooky

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Oh yes, try using different litter materials. I used to use "crushed walnut" and/or Arm and Hammer brand. Now I strictly use Cat Attract. Btw, do you think your kittens used to play with litter before you got them? If not, do you know which material it was? Yes, try changing it up. Some suggests not using a cover in the litterbox but my friend uses it and her cats are fine. I don't know...for your situation, I don't know if it's a privacy issue. Maybe it just needs to look less appealing to play with. What I use for my cat is a huge clear plastic storage containers with handles on the side. I do not use a lid. I just cut a huge entrance on the long side.
 
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detroitcatlady

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Oh yes, try using different litter materials. I used to use "crushed walnut" and/or Arm and Hammer brand. Now I strictly use Cat Attract. Btw, do you think your kittens used to play with litter before you got them? If not, do you know which material it was? Yes, try changing it up. Some suggests not using a cover in the litterbox but my friend uses it and her cats are fine. I don't know...for your situation, I don't know if it's a privacy issue. Maybe it just needs to look less appealing to play with. What I use for my cat is a huge clear plastic storage containers with handles on the side. I do not use a lid. I just cut a huge entrance on the long side.
I use clay litter and plastic totes. They are all solid colors. The totes have sides about 8" high and are all about the same size, not very large they are about 16x16" and 14x16" Two of my cats will not use anything but the clay litter. When Treasure was a kitten I used to use fine litter that was more of the consistency of sand rather than the big clay chunks but I stopped using it because it always seemed to end up all over the floor. I know she did like that better.

The kittens were born in my house ( I took in a stray cat who I later found out was pregnant and she gave birth in my house about 1 1/2 months later). They have always had clay litter in their boxes. I noticed the behavior when the kittens were about 10 weeks old after I had found a home for their mom and 2 of the other kittens. Until then the kittens were in their own room with their mom and had no interaction with any other cats.
 
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detroitcatlady

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Hugpooky, thanks so much for the helpful advice. I never thought that all would be resolved so easily by relocating the litterboxes but Treasure has not sprayed my bed since I have put a litterbox next to it. Also interesting to see that since moving the litterboxes and spreading them out throughout the room better, my cats seem to have a obvious preference to where they want to use the box. It seems that none of my cats really like using the box in the adjoining room and prefer the boxes next to the bed or across from the bed. I am not really sure why this is but at least now I know so I can keep boxes in a more preferred location.
 
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