Instead of posting a reply at this time, why don't I toss this request for advice to all you other meankitties out there? Have fun with it!
MK
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Dear Meankitty,
We have a total of 5 cats that tentatively allow us to reside in this house with them. Long story short, all of them are sweethearts, except one. Bug is a black calico and is meaner than anything I have read on your Meankitty website. [MK's note: perhaps the slave has not read everything on the website, eh?] I can deal with the abuse of the human guests in our home, but she is particularily mean to my sweetest baby named Spider. [MK's note: one assumes this 'baby' is in fact a feline, not a human or a canine or anything gross like that.] Poor little Spider will hide on the top of our wardrobe for days, not eating or drinking or going to the bathroom if I don't physically remove her from up top and stay by her side to protect her to eat and drink. It's pitiful. Bug attacks her relentlessly. We do not let them outside because we live on a very busy city street.
Please help me. Bug does not get along with any of the other cats in our house, but they hold their own much better than Spider does. Is there anything I can do to train her to be more agreeable with other living breathing creatures? She has even cornered my husband's aunt in the bathroom, and left bloody scratches on practically everyone that comes into contact with her, including the 4 of us who live with her!!
Any advice will be appreciated.
Loves all my meankitties,
T-Slave
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Dear T-Slave....
Since you said any advice would be appreciated, let's see what the slavenut gallery has to say first!
Sincerely,
Meankitty
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6 comments:
There are 6 of us to two human slaves, and we had the same problem. Moma was trying to eat the littlest, Nadia, at all hours of the day and night, and Nadia thought she was being murdered everytime, so she would scream and cry, and then jump on top of the office furniture, and refuse to come down. Eventually, she wouldn't risk the floor to use the litterbox, so she started using the cuboards as a poop repository, and the top of the office furniture as a urine station. Something had to be done... So Snuggle-slave, and Moma's previous Food-slave took her away one day, and when she came back she was shut in a different room for a few weeks, so that all of us could be re-introduced, and so the ear goo they put on her could soak in and make her more mellow. (Snuggle-slave's note: Due to our severe finger injuries sustained while attempting to pill Moma, she has to get her Buspirone made into a topical ointment.) Now that Moma has all those mood-altering drugs in her, we find it much easier to steal her cat treats and she doesn't hunt Nadia nearly as often, although Nadia is still a bit nervous around her... The rest of us are a bit relieved too, although we still sometimes growl at her, or swat her face for no good reason, just so she gets what she deserves for being so mean to us all before the medication. (Current Food-slave doesn't agree with mood-altering drugs for kitties on principal, but in reality, appreciates a good night's sleep without cat fights and the knowlege that Nadia is relativly safe.)
In our house, anybody who's being unusually mean gets put in kitty timeout, i.e., another room all by him/herself. The miscreant will be allowed to interact with the other kitties on a limited basis, supervised, until the mean behavior disappears. One of our cats was in solitary off and on for a couple of years until she got older and chilled out. I'd recommend separating the mean one from the others until he learns nicer manners. Is he neutered? If not, you might want to consider that.
Good luck! :-)
Lynne's time-out sounds good, but if that doesn't work, drugs are always an alternative.
Reading this makes me appreciate my sweetie. :)
I agree that for most cats, time-out is a fantastic solution. Worked horribly for Moma, cause she blamed the other cats. even after a week in solitary, she'd come out of the room, and proceed to immediately attack whatever cat was nearest... But time-out has worked really well on her son, Ziggy, and his habit of chasing all the other cats around the house. They were both pretty out of control when they first came to live with us, but SS and FS were able to teach him manners without drugs... It took a lot of water... but as soon as he sees snuggle-slave reach for the water-sprayer, he remembers who the boss is and the house rules. She's relentless... a cat could actually get really wet if she's mad... I hate it when she sprays me, i have to regroom ALL my fluff if she gets me wet, and she keeps spraying until i stop trying to shred her papers, or whatever she thinks i'm doing wrong...
One of my cats -- the formerly crazy-mean one, of course -- LIKES being squirted with water. :-)
If you don't like the idea of medications maybe see if they have Dianetics for Cats...:) Maybe Tom Cruise can help..
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