Sunday 26 January 2020

Hormones Part IV – feline aggression

Sat., Jan. 25 – evening

We were watching Along Came a Spider (2001) .Excellent, Morgan Freeman, kidnapping, suspense all for distraction.

In desperation, JB has been reading the insert on the Feliway package.
"Diffuser is not recommended for overt aggression between cats..."
It's a bloody myth. We've been bashing our heads against the wall. We're done. Annabelle will go back to the vet, where we got her.

Annie slept in the spare room. The kittens were free to play.


Sat., Jan. 25 – morning

 Feliway is in the living room, the spare room, and on Annie's collar. We'll cross our fingers. The deadline is next Friday, Jan. 31st.
Annie was in the spare room overnight. No banging on the door. The kitten had two stints out in the Muskoka room. They quite like it. Cinn came in and had a play, so we brought in Nutmeg, and put Annie back in the room.

The new litter medium, the wood pellets, are working out well. Annabelle stunk up the room with a big poo, but I took them out, and all was well!






Friday, Jan. 24
We brought home Nutmeg, who had her stitches removed. Dr. Brianna gave us Feliway spray. 
We have been putting the collar around Annie's neck since Tuesday, and putting the Feliway on it. It can take up to 7 days, they say.  
JB went out shopping to beat our predicted Saturday ice rain storm. (It ostly snowed!) We put out two Feliway diffusers: one in the living room, another in the spare room. We kept Annie in there overnight.
It's $60 for the two pieces, $30 for a refill. JB bought two refills.

Nutmeg and Cinnamon were encouraged to visit the Muskoka Room. When I checked on them later, they were happily sleeping, curled up around one another in the small cat bed. They moved when I peeked, of course.



I let one kitten in, I thought it was Cinnamon. He went into the kitchen to eat. JB was in there. He said, "You let Nutmeg in!"
"That's Cinnamon," I replied. Annabelle came in the room, roared at the kitten, trapped her in the pantry. I realized I made a mistake. It was Nutmeg. I am so stressed out with this. My stress symptoms are increasing.

They slept together on the couch. At one point, I looked over and they had their paws on their sibling's shoulder making an X!




PART III: Plan D Friday, Jan. 24

We're keeping Nutmeg isolated from Annie. Annabelle is out in the night. Then, when she sits and sleeps, we put her into our bedroom and let Nutmeg out to play. We made a mistake and while I was on a 2-hour conference call for ODPRN, we forgot about Annie in the bedroom. She peed on my cotton t-shirt, which soaked it all up, fortunately.

We have plan D. We will try Feliway on Annabelle's collar. We can't put it in all the rooms of the house, but this could work. It could take 7 days to work, if it is going to work.

Once Nutmeg gets her stitches out on Friday, she is less fragile. Hopefully, the hormones in both kittens will work their way out of their systems, too. Annie hunts Nutmeg down, and just goes for her. Nutmeg is cautious. They are fine early in the morning, when they are hungry, then things go awry.

If this doesn't work, the vet has said they will take Annie back. She was rescued by one of their former employees, and that is where we adopted her from.

How to make a cat collar

Annabelle and her bird collar


Cat tales: 

Kitty Hormones... |   Hormones, cats – part II 

9 comments:

Anvilcloud said...

You are not having much luck with calming your cats lately. I hope you figure it out.

Tom said...

...all this cat stuff is too complex for me!

Yamini MacLean said...

Hari OM
Yes, all rather hard work for you... but those kits are too cute! YAM xx

Nancy J said...

We ,love them so much, but sometimes they need another home. Maybe Annabelle needs to be by herself, some cats are like that. Apart from the stress, too much worry altogether. Hang in there, try the new ways, and be assured, if she goes back to the vet clinic, theyt will find her a new loving home.XXX from a grey morning down here.

Karen said...

I'm really sad about your predicament. My two females have an issue with each other too. One sleeps behind the couch all day unless she is eating. Nights are the problem. I lock Emmy in the spare bedroom at night now. We do get some howling and banging at the door. She has stopped peeing on the bed thankfully. I slept in it a couple of nights so my odor is there, plus there is a shower curtain under an old quilt.

RedPat said...

Who can figure out cats?!

Kay said...

Oh gosh, Jenn. I don’t know how you’re doing this. It’s all so confusing.

Jenn Jilks said...

Thanks for empathising about Annie, and sharing your story, Karen. We keep wondering what we've done wrong. It is comforting to know that we aren't alone. I think we've found a home, though.

William Kendall said...

It might be a good idea down the line not to bring another cat into the house. The dynamic gets upset, and for whatever reasons one of the cats winds up on the outs for it.