Posted by:
AnnieBaxter
at Wed Apr 15 01:39:55 2009 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by AnnieBaxter ]
Hi Amy. I, too, would like to say how sorry I am for your loss of your cat. This is not only difficult for you, but for your cats as well.
I've been thinking about your situation and wondering about a couple of things. Have there been any changes at home that could be "upsetting" the hierarchy in your cat family? Such as, new or moved furniture, routines, feeding places? Does the agression happen at a particular time of day or place? Does anything specific proceed the agressive attack?
The reason I ask all this is to try and understand "why" the behavior has changed.
Some ideas you might think about would be:
~If you see the tension/stalking beginning, redirect the agressive cat with an interactive toy. Try to catch the behavior before it starts with this and the stalk and attack pattern should fade.
~Try rubbing a towel on each cat to get their scent, then rubbing the others scent on each cat. The transferring of scent/co-mingling will help to establish the "famiy" of cats.
~Also, take the towel with the scent from your oldest cat and place your youngest cats food bowl on it. The scent of the older cat will become associated with something pleasant.
~Finally, you might try keeping the cats separated and follow the steps of introducing cats (as though for the 1st time) If you need tips, here is a link to a page with the "how to's".
~To create a feeling of "happiness" and "well being", the spray called Feliway provides the same pheromone that cats create when they rub/mark a spot with their pleasure glands. When the cats begin to get tense, this can help ease that tension...or can be used when you are "interactive playing" to re-direct agression.
~Oh, probably the 1st thing to try is to get the agressive cat checked out by the vet...just in case this is a "symptom" of a problem.
If nothing works, then medication might be worth talking to your vet about.
Let us know how things go...Oh...I would definitely keep the aggresive kitty's claws as trimmed as I could!
Good luck...Annie
Article on Giving Kittens or Cats as Gifts
[ Hide Replies ]
|
RE: Meds for Aggression? - AnnieBaxter, Wed Apr 15 01:39:55 2009