Problem with a 5 year old indoor kitteh

topic posted Fri, July 17, 2009 - 12:07 PM by  Kashmir
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We have a 5 year old cat, MaryJane. For the first couple of years of her life she was pretty sheltered and kept herself pretty much in our bedroom. At about 1 month old ( I found her and took care of her from 2 days old) she lost her back toes and half her tail. She has no back claws, they are stumps and even her front claws are stunted, but still there, at least 2 on one paw and 3 on the other. The vet said it was because the cord was probably wrapped around her lower feet and tail in the womb. They just turned black and fell off by themselves eventually. No problem since she is an indoor only kitty, that is, until we got another small female, GoGo. The rest of the kitties pretty much leave MaryJane alone, they are males and aside from the youngest hellion, the males leave her be. When we found GoGo last year we knew it would cause problems, but we had no idea to what extent. MaryJane is completely afraid of GoGo, even though GoGo is smaller. GoGo stalks MJ and pounces on her, especially when MJ is using the cat box, this has led to MJ NOT using the cat box at all. She's now made it a habit of using the kitchen table as her personal toilet. We've tried escorting her to and from the cat box, but obviously we are not home 24/7, and she's completely stopped using it on her own. I'm at my wits end. Does anyone have any suggestions? At this point I am honestly thinking she may be better off somewhere else, I hate to say it, but I just can't handle it anymore. Please let me know what you think.
posted by:
Kashmir
Los Angeles
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  • Re: Problem with a 5 year old indoor kitteh

    Fri, July 17, 2009 - 12:44 PM
    First and foremost, MJ was there first. Despite her handicap don't let the influence of the other (cats) feed you to believe that she is inadequate or inferior. Surely, she feels psychologically hurt because of the treatment the other cats give her, don't hurt her anymore by abandoning her. It's my opinion that she should have priority on which cats stay of have to go.

    But let's work on a solution that no cat has to leave...

    If MJ primarily stays in your room, how about setting up her own little sanctuary in there? Set her up with separate food and a litter box that is her own. Make sure the boys don't violate her space (it's tough, but there are preventative measures). This way, it will prevent any unnecessary interaction between her and the rest of the pride.
    • Re: Problem with a 5 year old indoor kitteh

      Fri, July 17, 2009 - 12:55 PM
      "don't hurt her anymore by abandoning her."
      I agree. The ideas D^3 gave are excellent. I had a cat behaviorist once tell me (when I had a similar problem) that cats need to have their own space to retreat to. She told me to create places all around the house where cats can go to be alone. I rearranged some furniture to create little nooks and hidey-holes for them. Plus plenty of nap space for everyone. It helped a lot.

      Something else that helps is a product called Feliway. Cats are territorial by nature and this helped a LOT to calm things down. It's a little pricey but was well worth it.
      www.feliway.com/gb

      I love the idea of giving kitteh her own space in your room - a place where she can be calm and not be afraid of being stalked or pounced. Often litterbox problems are caused because cats are vulnerable in the littlerbox and when there is competition or hostility between cats one may be afraid to use the boxes because they may be attacked there. Sounds like she needs her very own space. :o)

      Another thing that helped me was having treat time with all cats present and I would give them treats ONLY when they were being nice to each other. It taught them to associate being together with GOOD things, like petting and playing and yummy treats.
      • Re: Problem with a 5 year old indoor kitteh

        Fri, July 17, 2009 - 2:07 PM
        Thank you both for your advice! I don't want to give her up, but psychologically I know she's having a really rough time and I thought having her own home would help her a lot. My husband is against giving her away, and so am I, I just want to find a solution, believe me, it would break my heart, I raised her from 2 days old. Our house is really small too, which doesn't help. I think a lot of the trouble may be alleviated when GoGo gets spayed and is able to join the pride outside, MJ will have the entire house to herself then all day until we get home. Until then though, we have to find a solution. I can't have a litter box in the bedroom, I'm 7 months pregnant and besides the smell (I can smell EVERYTHING, it's like I'm turning into a vampire ) our room is tiny and soon it will have a baby in it. We've tried having just her in the room with us, but then she uses our clothes as her toilet, or the floor, our shoes etc. I am not opposed to having her in the room with us when we're there, even when the baby arrives, I just CAN'T have her using our room as her toilet. I will get some Feliway as well as Rescue Remedy and see if that helps.Treat time is also a great idea, we usually have catnip time, but she's never really been into it. We both pick her up and cuddle her every chance we get, but as soon as we put her down, she runs. I can't help but feeling that if she just asserted herself a TINY bit, GoGo would leave her alone, like she's trying to test her, but so far MJ just turns and runs. I've had cats all my life, and definitely want to teach our daughter the joys and responsibilities of living with them. At this point though it's gotten so bad that I dread going into the kitchen, every time I do, there's shit and piss all over my table : ( We're replacing it soon. Thanks again for your advice.
        • Re: Problem with a 5 year old indoor kitteh

          Sat, July 18, 2009 - 4:35 PM
          Basically, MJ is a special needs cat and she has very little chance of getting and keeping another home, plus it would traumatize her. GoGo probably could get and keep another home -- and maybe you might consider this because it is the only solution that has a good chance of success. Too bad it's been going on for so long. MJ might have turned against all litterboxes forever because of it. The fact that she's peeing and pooping everywhere, not a good sign.

          You're going to have a baby soon and that will be an additional stress on you and the whole family and you just won't have the time and energy to monitor all the cats' interactions when you're home. I don't think having GoGo outside half the time will really fix this. I'd really suggest that you get GoGo spayed and place her elsewhere, and then create a personal litterbox for MJ that's very different from any box she's used before, put it in a different place away from any others, and fill it with something different too. And introduce her to that gently and persistently. Her feet might be sensitive, can you tell? Even though it's an extra expense to get special fill, you won't have to do it forever. Those pine granules are great and extremely good at controlling odor -- I use those when for some reason a cat has to have a litter box in the house (otherwise they're in the garage), and that way I don't smell it. It lasts a long time too. I don't use a full-size box, I use a small dishpan-sized box. Plain sand is also good. Experiment and see what she likes, and I know she'll appreciate the extra attention. Then you gradually mix in your regular litter (unless you discover in this process that the litter hurts her feet, which might be happening on top of everything else). This is a life that you saved, and I know you feel a special responsibility for her as a result. If you act quickly you can hopefully get things back to normal before the baby comes. After that you can forget anything but baby for awhile, lol!
          • Re: Problem with a 5 year old indoor kitteh

            Mon, July 20, 2009 - 10:05 AM
            Thanks again for all the great advice. I've been thinking about this all weekend. We already use the pine litter, MJ grew up on it. I do believe she has pain associated with her toelessness. This weekend we really concentrated on re-introducing her to the litter box, and had some success. We didn't wake up to any unpleasant surprises at all, and every time I or my husband would take her to the box and watch out for her she used it without any problem. This morning I did the same thing and it went well. We've been feeding her separately, giving her special treats as well as much love and praise, and for the most part, she hung out with the rest of the gang and us. This is a huge step, since she's always hiding and staying away, the heat may have had something to do with it. Her attitude lately has changed for the better. She's a lot more friendly and not as skittish around the other cats. Basically GoGo is also from a broken home. We think she was the neighbor's kids cat and when she got out, they just forgot about her and got the daughter a yorkie, who they now keep tied up in the yard : ( We found her clinging to life by the LA River. She could not have weighed more than 3 lbs, she was tiny and extremely dehydrated. It took us all this time to rehabilitate her and get her back to any semblance of health. We don't want to give either one of them up, since we feel that they were both sent to us for special, different reasons. Ideally we will all just learn to get along and live with each other. I've lived with cats and dogs all my life, and have yet to find a situation that was not helped with lots of love and gentle guidance. The fact that there will soon be another small mammal running around doesn't change that. I realize that the baby will take a lot of my time and energy, but I'm confident that we can all pull through this. Thanks again for all your help. I will keep you posted : )
            • Re: Problem with a 5 year old indoor kitteh

              Wed, July 22, 2009 - 1:14 PM
              There are definitely solutions to the litter box problem. I, too suffer from a great sensitivity to dirty litter boxes. I suffered from toxemia years ago as a teen (from being irresponsible in my own kitteh's cleaning) and am now extremely sensitive to the smell. There are covers and surroundings that you can put around the box that filter the smell. They also provide privacy and a sense of security that little MJ needs while she's taking care of business. I suggest the "dome" type. It has a ramp entry and everything.

              Fixing GoGo will also likely bring the territorial fight down as well. But keep in mind as special as GoGo is to you, she still has a better chance in finding a good home than little MJ. There are plenty of Adoption Centers and even the ASPCA has no-kill shelters that profile people with the animal to give them good homes. I'm not at all saying that getting rid of the troublesome cat is the best option. All I'm saying is that you may be forced to have to make a decision and GoGo's chances are much greater than MJ's.
              • Re: Problem with a 5 year old indoor kitteh

                Thu, July 23, 2009 - 5:57 PM
                Thanks again D^3. You brought up some good points. We have one box with a lid on it, the other which is right next to it is open. I will see if we can actually fit in another dome in that space and just replace the open one, that may help as well. So far she's been doing really good. We've been spending time with her alone (which we will be able to do even once the baby comes) and escorting her to the box twice a day at the same time. Having a schedule and sticking to it I think has helped her too. She is more confident, and is sleeping out in the open. GoGo still tries to pounce on her once in a while, but I think with the added attention we are giving MJ she is understanding that MJ is just as important in the family as anyone else. I really don't want anyone to have to find a new home, we've all lived together for a while now and I honestly think we can work it out, with lots of patience. I have 3 months to go until the baby is born, so until then we will all be working on this issue, for everyone's benefit. I'm keeping a positive outlook : )

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