Terrified Cat - Don't know what to do!!!

[greenvillegal]

We have 4 cats. I had 2, and my bf had 2, then we moved in together. We started the scent swapping a couple months in advance to make sure the cats would be good and ready for each other. When we brought my cats over, we let my bf's cats smell through the door, then we let my cats smell their new home while my bf's were outside. When we let them in, all seemed ok. There was a little "who are you?" hissing, but after a day or so, everyone seemed to be fine with each other. I even got a picture of all 4 of them sleeping on the bed one day. Things were fine.

Suddenly, one day Sebastian (boy) started chasing Figgy (girl) a little. She did not like that at all. It slowly got to the point where she wouldn't come out of the bedroom, or out from under the bed, she even pooped and peed in there because she refused to come out. We started letting her go outside more, and then she refused to come inside. We have tried bringing her in, but she just growls and hides in our arms until we let her back out.

It's getting really cold outside, and while we have a little outdoor kitty house with a blanket and it is probably warm in there, it's cold enough at night for her water bowl to freeze. We really want her to come inside, and we've even tried to make her a little habitat up in our loft, but she doesn't like that either.

Anyone have any ideas why they seemed to get along at first but then this happened? All are spayed/neutered. Thanks for your help.

 

[greenvillegal]

Right now she's sitting in my lap but she's trying to hide and she growls from time to time.

 

[greenvillegal]

One other thing I should mention - her ears aren't flattening when she growls. I always thought when the ears flattened they were scared, but hers are staying put. Does this mean she's just mad?

 

[mrblanche]

I've seen our Ella growl continuously at new cats or kittens. I've even seen her wrestling with them, having started it herself, and still growling at them. I no longer take her seriously.

 

[otto]

I suggest you get some feliway plug in diffusers and redo the introductions for Figgy and Sebastian.

Make sure you have enough litter boxes (there should be five, not all in the same place) and enough vertical space for every cat to be up high when they need to be.

I wouldn't let her out at all now. Keep her in, give her a safe place (the bedroom if that suits her), keep them separated except for supervised introductions, and give the feliway time to work.

During introductions you might try the vanilla trick.

If they like to play, try playing with one, while the other is also in the room, entice the other to join the fun.

 

[greenvillegal]

What's the vanilla trick?

Thanks so much. We have a place we can let her have her own space, so we'll try that and get some Feliway diffusers.