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- Feb 4, 2022
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Greetings!
I have a problem that I'm eager for people's advice on.
First, a bit of backstory on me. I've always been more of a dog person. I've studied dogs for over a decade, I've been an animal rescue volunteer off and on for several years, and I had an Australian Shepherd as my first dog for 6 years. (I inherited Frida when her owner, my great aunt, died when Frida was 7.) When my Dad, my brother, and I bought kittens shortly after Frida died, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Yet, I had been around cats for most of my life. They always seemed like low-maintenance pets until I got one of my own.
I don't know; maybe I just have one of the world's most difficult cats ever, but I believe I can still learn from other people's experience. My cat was an only kitten for 2 months until my Dad and my brother brought home their kittens. Two months seems like such a short time to us, but to a kitten, that's most of the kitten's childhood. I think those 2 months without another kitten to play with did lasting damage to my cat Boaz. He plays too rough with the other cats. When one of the other cats whacks him on the head, hisses, growls, or bites him, he doesn't stop. He's such a glutton for punishment!
Yes, having more than one cat is helpful in keeping your other cat entertained, but only IF you provide each cat sufficient exercise! I've learned the hard way that buying cat playmates for your cat is NO SUBSTITUTE for you, the human, playing with the cat with its toys or taking it for walks outside. If your cats lack sufficient mental and physical stimulation, they WILL take it out on each other! At least if you have only one cat and the cat is bored, it can't do as much damage as it could if it had another cat to go after.
However, if a bored cat isn't chasing another cat, it will entertain itself in ways that you're NOT going to like, just like a high-energy dog will. I've never seen such a dedicated counter-and-sink-surfing, dumpster-diving cat. We keep our kitchen trash in a cupboard with a childproof latch and Boaz STILL manages to get into the trash if we don't keep the trash can shoved way to the back of the cupboard.
Now, we come to my difficulty. Before you say, "Well, the problem is that you're not exercising your cat enough," please know that I do try to exercise my cat. He's not interested in toys, even when I try to make the toy look like prey. He'll go after a toy for a minute or two, then he'll get tired of it and go off in search of food. This cat LIVES to eat. I take him for leashed walks around our two acres of land, which helps some, but here's the problem: Cats are insanely hard to ever wear out. Why? Because cats are conservationists. They only use the bare minimum of what they need when they need it. They're hunters. Their entire existence is basically eat, sleep, and hunt. They have to conserve energy so that they have what they need to catch their prey at just the right moment, and sometimes they have a long time to wait between kills.
I'm new to the world of cats. I'm used to dealing with high-energy dogs. The nice thing about dogs is that you can take a high-energy dog outside to drain him of his energy all at once when it works for you. You can take your dog for a long walk in the morning, a long walk in the evening, play a couple games of fetch in between times, and they're good to go for the rest of the day while you do your work. Dogs will "let it all out" while on a walk or run with their owners and then in the house, they'll just sleep or lie comfortably while they wait for the owner to be ready to interact again.
I can't get my cat to "let it all out" when we go for a walk or (attempt to) have a play session with toys. (I've tried lots of different toys, too.) Unlike dogs, cats do not AT ALL care about your schedule! They do what they want when they want whether it inconveniences the owner or not.
To top it all off, there's been a DRAMATIC increase in the number of feral cats traipsing through our property over the last couple months and it's making our cats mad. My cat Boaz's relationship with my Dad's cat Posie went south over two years ago, so I have to keep them separated. Now, Boaz's relationship with my brother's cat Asher went south thanks to the increase in feral cats roaming the yard! (I think the problem is redirected aggression, since our cats are mad that they can't get to the invading outdoor cats.) The two boy cats take turns picking fights with each other multiple times per week and they get testy with each other every day, so I have to keep a close watch.
Congratulations for making it to the end of this post! Now that I've just dumped a ton of information, does anybody have any advice of other things I can try to help our cats? And BTW, please DO NOT tell me to "let the cats work it out themselves"! That is the stupidest bit of cat advice I've ever heard. I had to learn the hard way when I tried to "let the cats work it out". Our boy cats have fought nearly every day for months; that's not cats resolving their issues. My Dad's cat hates my cat so much that I can't allow them to see each other; she would attempt to discipline Boaz for being too rough and he paid her no mind. Boaz became so terrified of her hateful displays that he began peeing all over the house. That's not cats resolving their issues on their own.
I have a problem that I'm eager for people's advice on.
First, a bit of backstory on me. I've always been more of a dog person. I've studied dogs for over a decade, I've been an animal rescue volunteer off and on for several years, and I had an Australian Shepherd as my first dog for 6 years. (I inherited Frida when her owner, my great aunt, died when Frida was 7.) When my Dad, my brother, and I bought kittens shortly after Frida died, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Yet, I had been around cats for most of my life. They always seemed like low-maintenance pets until I got one of my own.
I don't know; maybe I just have one of the world's most difficult cats ever, but I believe I can still learn from other people's experience. My cat was an only kitten for 2 months until my Dad and my brother brought home their kittens. Two months seems like such a short time to us, but to a kitten, that's most of the kitten's childhood. I think those 2 months without another kitten to play with did lasting damage to my cat Boaz. He plays too rough with the other cats. When one of the other cats whacks him on the head, hisses, growls, or bites him, he doesn't stop. He's such a glutton for punishment!
Yes, having more than one cat is helpful in keeping your other cat entertained, but only IF you provide each cat sufficient exercise! I've learned the hard way that buying cat playmates for your cat is NO SUBSTITUTE for you, the human, playing with the cat with its toys or taking it for walks outside. If your cats lack sufficient mental and physical stimulation, they WILL take it out on each other! At least if you have only one cat and the cat is bored, it can't do as much damage as it could if it had another cat to go after.
However, if a bored cat isn't chasing another cat, it will entertain itself in ways that you're NOT going to like, just like a high-energy dog will. I've never seen such a dedicated counter-and-sink-surfing, dumpster-diving cat. We keep our kitchen trash in a cupboard with a childproof latch and Boaz STILL manages to get into the trash if we don't keep the trash can shoved way to the back of the cupboard.
Now, we come to my difficulty. Before you say, "Well, the problem is that you're not exercising your cat enough," please know that I do try to exercise my cat. He's not interested in toys, even when I try to make the toy look like prey. He'll go after a toy for a minute or two, then he'll get tired of it and go off in search of food. This cat LIVES to eat. I take him for leashed walks around our two acres of land, which helps some, but here's the problem: Cats are insanely hard to ever wear out. Why? Because cats are conservationists. They only use the bare minimum of what they need when they need it. They're hunters. Their entire existence is basically eat, sleep, and hunt. They have to conserve energy so that they have what they need to catch their prey at just the right moment, and sometimes they have a long time to wait between kills.
I'm new to the world of cats. I'm used to dealing with high-energy dogs. The nice thing about dogs is that you can take a high-energy dog outside to drain him of his energy all at once when it works for you. You can take your dog for a long walk in the morning, a long walk in the evening, play a couple games of fetch in between times, and they're good to go for the rest of the day while you do your work. Dogs will "let it all out" while on a walk or run with their owners and then in the house, they'll just sleep or lie comfortably while they wait for the owner to be ready to interact again.
I can't get my cat to "let it all out" when we go for a walk or (attempt to) have a play session with toys. (I've tried lots of different toys, too.) Unlike dogs, cats do not AT ALL care about your schedule! They do what they want when they want whether it inconveniences the owner or not.
To top it all off, there's been a DRAMATIC increase in the number of feral cats traipsing through our property over the last couple months and it's making our cats mad. My cat Boaz's relationship with my Dad's cat Posie went south over two years ago, so I have to keep them separated. Now, Boaz's relationship with my brother's cat Asher went south thanks to the increase in feral cats roaming the yard! (I think the problem is redirected aggression, since our cats are mad that they can't get to the invading outdoor cats.) The two boy cats take turns picking fights with each other multiple times per week and they get testy with each other every day, so I have to keep a close watch.
Congratulations for making it to the end of this post! Now that I've just dumped a ton of information, does anybody have any advice of other things I can try to help our cats? And BTW, please DO NOT tell me to "let the cats work it out themselves"! That is the stupidest bit of cat advice I've ever heard. I had to learn the hard way when I tried to "let the cats work it out". Our boy cats have fought nearly every day for months; that's not cats resolving their issues. My Dad's cat hates my cat so much that I can't allow them to see each other; she would attempt to discipline Boaz for being too rough and he paid her no mind. Boaz became so terrified of her hateful displays that he began peeing all over the house. That's not cats resolving their issues on their own.
