Pile O'Cats (photo)

Status
Not open for further replies.
Big time pile envy here too. Molly will let Harley snuggle with her but only when she's asleep so it really doesn't count. You have such lovely kitties!
 
Oh, sorry, I forgot to say that is Ariel on the left. The one missing is Leanne. Ariel and Leanne are both 4 (just). They are the two I got from my vet as kittens (found on a building site nearby).

Marcy, give them time. Beau and Jeddie only started snuggling a little over a year after I got Jeddie. They acted so guilty about it too! I'd walk into the bedroom and they'd be grooming each other, but look like I caught two teenagers making out or something. It was so funny. Now they are totally shameless about it.

I'm up waiting for a +3 on J, who was 78 at PS tonight :roll: and because I am up and lights are on, Beau and the two girls are racing around up and down the hall chasing each other bcatrun_gif bcatrun_gif bcatrun_gif

- which I wouldn't mind if I didn't have someone living below me.
 
I really do marvelous at how wonderful your cats get along. I have only occasionally had a calm household. Even between Sammie & Leahpold 'cause Leahpold is mean and doesn't play nice, Sammie gets upset. Tigget used to attack Gandalf when we lived in an apartment after a few years, now she & Leahpold fight.

I wonder if it has something to do with Leanne and Ariel being younger. Tigget & Gandalf eventually became playmates when I first introduced him. When Sammie & Leahpold were younger they didn't bother Tigget and she left them alone too. They never played together either though. Gandalf played with them so that's probably why Leahpold loved him so much. He was like big brother.

I'm not saying that will happen in your household, but there might be changes. Appreciate the calm and the fun. Especially 'cause it's so darn adorable. I love the story of Jeddie & Beau "making out." Do you think the Prozac helped Jeddie be a love bug? I asked my vet about Prozac for Leahpold but she would rather I try Feliway first and I should do that.

Thanks for sharing the picture. Did you realize someone not knowing how you got your cats might think Beau & Jeddie were mom & dad???
 
Vicky & Gandalf (GA) said:
Did you realize someone not knowing how you got your cats might think Beau & Jeddie were mom & dad???
Click to expand...
You mean because of the coloring? I am assuming you mean they would think Jeddie is dad, Beau is mom and Ariel (and Leanne - also a dilute tortie) are the kids? I have never thought Beau looked like a female cat. He's skinny now, but he was a hunky cat up til 4 years ago and has the bigger facial features of a male - but I have lived with cats all my life so I am rarely mistaken about the gender of a cat :mrgreen:

As for things getting less amicable as they age, I think there is an instinctual "need" to run-off the old, weak, and sick members of the pride so they don't attract predators. Leanne, and Beau sometimes, were really mean to Charlotte (and Leanne JUST ran after Jeddie and swatted him :roll:). I was going to say she is fine with all the others now that Charlotte is gone..... but they all get along, play, cuddle, etc. and there is definitely less tension in the house since Charlotte died. I've had other cats where the oldest one got picked on. The morning of, or the day before, I had to PTS one of my cats who was 16 and had cancer, I was making coffee and heard her scream (if you have never heard that before it is bone chilling) and ran out to find my 1 year old with her mouth around her throat! Makes me wonder what would have happened if I hadn't been there. Yet, that 1 year old ended up being the sweetest cat and took Beau under her wing, socialized him to other cats and was his best buddy.

So, is there anything you can do about it? I think you can get to where the offending cat knows you don't like the behavior, but it won't totally stop. Prozac might help, but I doubt feliway will. This is my experience. Feliway, and other products like it, did not help at all with Jeddie's inappropriate peeing or OCD behavior - or with the harassment of Charlotte. I use a water sprayer when one of the cats is doing something "bad" like chewing on a plant or chasing the elderly (after telling them "no!"). That usually works and, yes, I have heard people say that you should never do that, but I don't think my cats would consider themselves abused by it.

The only thing that worked for Jeddie was the prozac. Yes, I think it helped him to become a "love-bug" because to dampened his anxiety enough to let that part of him be expressed. I think it was there all along, and it was one thing his former owner said about him, "he is very loving". I did not try giving prozac to Leanne or even to Charlotte, who was always a bit on the high-strung side. The night I brought her home as a kitten, every time she saw Murphy, she freaked out and just hissed and spat and literally flipped out. One time she ended up upside down in the corner of the litter box - and Murphy was only sitting outside the door, 5 feet away, looking at her. I think giving prozac to Leapold is worth the try, but it might not work. Tigget is old and sick (hyperT) and that isn't going to change.
 
Yes, I meant because of the coloring only. Ariel would be the daughter 'cause she's a mix of both their colors and hair type.

Those are very insightful comments about elderly cats being picked on. I think you may be on to something. So yeah, I suspect you might be right about the Feliway. I will try it anyway, especially because of my trip next week (already!) where I have to have Tigget in a hotel room for a week. That might help her there at least.
 
maybe that is why Sneakers doesn't like it when I try to introduce another cat to the house. the longest was 3 years and they NEVER got along. they were all younger than she was.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top