Need advice on Cats.

[The Mighty Wolf]

Hey guys thanx for the advice, took down notes. [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img]

The cat is 3 years, spaded female. The kitten is 5 weeks and female as well.

[Genetic Disposition]

Originally posted by Shypappette:
I have read that you put the kitten in a room with the door closed, like your bedroom, and then let the cats get used to eachother's smells. This way you won't have the older cat freaking out and trying to eat the little guy. Once the older cat seems to be alright with the smell, then you can introduce them under supervision.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I tried this when I got my second cat Figment. It didn't really work. Polly, my first cat was mad at me for 2 weeks & didn't even let me get near her.

IMO, the best way to do this is to have someone else bring in the new cat to the home in a box. Then they leave. Let the other cat come & explore the new cat in the box. Then you come in very conspicuously & make a big deal about the box & let the cat out. The old cat percieves that it wasn't your intention to bring the new cat into the home & thus is not angry at you; you are just making the best of the situation.

This whole thing sounds silly, but I have done it this way & it really works.

[Leegeta]

I have 10 cats so i understand exactly what you are thinking. "Will they get along? will they fight? will they act differently towards me? will they destroy more things in the house"

Cats are like humans, sometimes they will get along with the other cat, sometimes they won't. I pretty much trained my cats to get along with each other, not forced, trained.

All of my cats were strays and for some odd reason, they would all just come to my house (i'm tellin ya, cats do talk to each other lol) so whenever a new cat came in, i would seperate from the others (obviously it went to the vet first to get it shots and all)

I'll start off with my recent cat which was 2 years ago, my cat Tippy. Well, this poor thing was starving, skinny as a bone and crying her eyes out. I picked her up with ease and brought her into my room, cause i knew if that cat was out there any longer, she would of died. She would of gotten hit by a car.

All of my cats roam the house so i had to take her into my room. My cats already knew there was another cat in the house, they scents her. Afterh having the cat in my room for 2 days, i introduced her SLOWLY to the other....

I would have her on the floor right next to me as the others sniffed.

I must warn you and don't be afraid, they wil hiss at each other for a while because they are strangers to each other. Keep doing this and they will come to love each other. Tippy gets a long with everybody.

Good luck with the new adoption, let us know what happens!!

[The Mighty Wolf]

Thanx Leegeta and Figment...

OK, update, and a problem which I don't like has come out of it.

First night was ok. I brought the kitten in a box and left it a room for a while. Then I allowed the older cat sniff around the box, but when she looked inside the box, the whole hissing started, though only slapped the kitten once when the kitten pounced on her tail.

However, problem 1 is that the kitten eats, eats and eats, and eats even the older cat (jessi) food.

Problem 2. Jessi doesn't want to eat anymore. I've tried feeding her in a different area away from the kitten, always wash the bowl before giving her food, and nadda... just started to eat small amounts, but only with me present.

Problem 3. Serious, I got injured
The Kitten has developed this horrible habbit that climbs legs, with full claws. No matter how many times I shout at her and even smacked her on the ass, she still does it. Which brings me to my event.

Last night I was working on my pc, and the kitten climb my legs again! I let it go, and che climb onto my shoulder and fell asleep there. Then out of nowhere, she strikes my eye with her claws. My bottom eyelid was pierced her one claw. Luckily my eyeball wasn't, however by just a millimetre. When I tried to remove her she pulled, and with her other claw she scratched a nasty dip cut into my wrist.

Now, I've never had a cat that striked it's claw at me, let alone gone at my face for no reason. And at this moment, I really don't know what to do, and I'm actually pretty wary to allow her near me.

My other cat, Jessi, has never once shown me her claws.

<font color="#cd6600" size="1">[ December 07, 2006 09:05 AM: Message edited by: Chosen One ]</font>

[Andyman]

Some people think it's a cruel thing but I have my cat's front paws declawed. Over time she has taken some random swings at me that would have done major damage had she had claws. We keep her indoors so there's no worry about self defense even though she would probably be fine with her back claws and teeth (we wrestle a lot and she still gets her licks in).

Since yours is still a kitten it should be trainable. Maybe a spray bottle?

[Genetic Disposition]

yeah, use a spray bottle or a squirt gun to train them. the only downside to that is that you have to be around the house a lot & on alert most of the time in order for it to be effective.

On the claw issue - there are these things, I forget the name, but they go over a cats trimmed claws. they get sealed by heat & slough off naturally in 3-4 weeks time. they come in all funky colors. ask your vet about them. I personally do not use them.

When I got figment early on, he scratched once or twice at my eye when I was sleeping. I think it's their method of testing you or something.

[Leegeta]

I'll start with issue 1, the cats claws: This is just my opinion since i really do love animals, if you feel the need to declaw the cat, then i'm sorry, get rid of it. I think it is the cruliest thing to do to an animal, you are taking their means of survival, cats need their claws. Would a human like to have someone rip out their nails? and not even have them knocked out? it's just really messed up to me and if you think to do that, i rather see the cat go. If you are going to have ANY animals, you have to except some destroyed funiture, sometimes cuts on your body, nothing will be perfect, it's what you get for having a pet.

Secondly, about the other cat not eatting: It seems to me that the other cat feels intimated, she feels like she's getting replaced with the new kitten, this has happend with my cats, the feel of being 2nd place instead of first. Try to keep the attention level equal, even though the kitten will need a bit more attention then the adult. The reason why the cat climbs your leg is simply attention, a kitten is a like a child, you have to spoil them literally and give them as much attention as possible. This phase will pass with the whole climbing up the leg, it's just a matter of the cat growing up. The water bottle technique is also great, cats learn very quickly so if there is something you don't like the cat doing, just a little squirt will do the trick!

Just try your best to give both cats equal care and attention, don't single one out because then shit will hit the fan. It's just a matter of time before they get used to each other, as long as they are not shedding blood everywhere, they will be ok [img]smile.gif[/img]

<font color="#cd6600" size="1">[ December 07, 2006 10:41 PM: Message edited by: Leegeta ]</font>

[Biomechanoid]

Originally posted by Leegeta:
as long as they are not shedding blood everywhere, they will be ok [img]smile.gif[/img]

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Actually, I was about to recommend pitting them against each other in mortal combat, winner takes all. But you should probably take the advice of someone who has ten cats...ten...cats... over that of someone who kept a blind cat for a while more for sadistic amusement than out of pity...

Ten?! Seriously? [img]confused.gif[/img]

[DemonsAngel]

we have a new kitten that we've had for over a month now and he's the only cat in the house, the other 3 are outside and he drives me nuts sometimes running around, jumping at all of us and getting into things but i do know he will grow out of it and training does help. we are getting his claws taken out asap. actually as soon as he is old enough. even one outside has hers out and she's the meanest one, to other animals that is.
that really sucks about the eating issue, the 3 i have outside don't get along with each other but they still eat at the same time. i would give her some time to get used to things and as long as she's eating something it's ok, but if it gets worse, me personally the kitten would have to go. we have gotten ridden of 2 dogs in the past year because of problems like that, that no training or anything else was doing any good. i hate getting an animal and then wind up getting rid of it but after so long and things only get worse... they have to go.

[The Mighty Wolf]

Cool, thanx for the advice people...

k, I've actually been giving equal attention, maybe a little more to the older cat as I was already informed about this.

My eye is getting better, pain is gone, just a bit wierd everytime I wink.

Not to worry Leegeta, the declaying wasn't on my books.
Although I did call the vet, and told me the best solution is to have the ends of the front claws clipped every 2 months for a year, so it gets use to not to use them even when playing. It will stil have them, but the habit of using them to grab something can disappear. My other cat Jessi, she has claws, but even when she catches lizards, she never uses them. The only time Jessi striked out her claws was when she burtally attacked and chased the nieghbours dog. [img]confused.gif[/img]

Leegeta, I have to ask, you live on your own? Curious to know how you handle 10 cats? You don't by any chance also were a tight black leather outfit with a mask, and prowl the museams for gems at night. [img]wink.gif[/img]

Mort, I'm so sorry to hear about your dogs. [img]frown.gif[/img]