# Need advice for my cat family



## jadine (Jun 20, 2011)

Hello all,

I signed up for this forum to see if I could get some advice on my situation. 

I have two female cats who have lived together for twelve years. Two months ago due to family circumstances I adopted a one year old cat and her four week old kitten. For the first two weeks, mom and kitten were isolated in the spare bedroom while my older cats went about their lives as usual. When we started letting the new kitties out of the room, all seemed calm at first but soon afterwards mom started attacking my older cats. Understandably, she is very protective of her baby. 

I tried putting her and the kitten back into the spare bedroom for another week or so but already my older cats were hiding in my bedroom and the younger kitties, being so full of energy, were very restless and mischievous in that room.

Now we have the situation where my beloved cats are holed up in the bedroom all day and night, and even when I lock the other cats away in the room they will not come out because they are afraid of being attacked. They cannot relax with us in the family room any more it seems. Also, I'm sure their own smells have faded from the main rooms and the new cats' smells remain stronger.

I have been spraying Feliway all over everything and it does seem to help a little, but my husband and I are getting frustrated with the situation. My cats have lost their freedom and the 'newbies' have the run of the house.

Anybody have advice on things we can do to bring this situation around? Thanks in advance!


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## tghsmith (Dec 9, 2010)

try some one on one periods with them, cats often pick up on the others state and the more cats there the more problems can start, the mom cat is most likely hyper upset because she has to be alert about two other cats, the kitten will pick up on mom being upset, the older cats have to watch two intruders into their world.. its not going to a quick thing..


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## Jan Rebecca (Oct 14, 2010)

While you had the cat and kitten shut up in the room at first did you do any scent swapping or anything like that? To slowly get the resident cats used to the new one and the new one used to resident cats?


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## jadine (Jun 20, 2011)

Thank you for the thoughtful replies.

tghsmith: What do you mean by one on one periods? Is that like putting one cat from each pair in the same room together or something?

Jan Rebecca: What I did during that period was I took the cat carrier that mom and baby were in and I put it in the middle of my bedroom for my cats to smell. They showed a little interest at first and then ignored it. That's really all I did, I fear I didn't do a good enough job in that area.


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## jadine (Jun 20, 2011)

tghsmith said:


> try some one on one periods with them, cats often pick up on the others state and the more cats there the more problems can start, the mom cat is most likely hyper upset because she has to be alert about two other cats, the kitten will pick up on mom being upset, the older cats have to watch two intruders into their world.. its not going to a quick thing..


Thanks for the reply. What are these one on one periods? Do you mean putting one cat from each pair in the same room together or something?


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## mousenemo (Jun 21, 2011)

I had this problem and tried all kinds of things, the only thing that helped was time and the mom cat not being so protective of her babies anymore


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## jadine (Jun 20, 2011)

mousenemo said:


> I had this problem and tried all kinds of things, the only thing that helped was time and the mom cat not being so protective of her babies anymore


The thing about it, the mom cat has really settled down and is not chasing or attacking any more but my older cats are still too scared to go near her or the kitten. The hissing and growling is slowly decreasing over time, but I'm afraid my cats will never get their house back. 

I was just looking for maybe some techniques to speed up the process.


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## catloverami (Jul 5, 2010)

It seems to me that the kitten is now at an age when it could be adopted or sold? I think if you sell/put up for adoption the kitten, and have the momcat spayed, after the adjustment of her losing the kitten and getting over the spay surgery, you could gradually reintroduce the females. You have two senior cats who are not happy now, and likely won't be with a rambunctious kitten, but may get along with the spayed momacat. I don't see much changing the way things are, and your two old girls may well feel safer isolating themselves in another room.


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## jadine (Jun 20, 2011)

catloverami said:


> It seems to me that the kitten is now at an age when it could be adopted or sold? I think if you sell/put up for adoption the kitten, and have the momcat spayed, after the adjustment of her losing the kitten and getting over the spay surgery, you could gradually reintroduce the females. You have two senior cats who are not happy now, and likely won't be with a rambunctious kitten, but may get along with the spayed momacat. I don't see much changing the way things are, and your two old girls may well feel safer isolating themselves in another room.


Ouch, I was afraid of advice like this. I have considered rehoming both cats but I would not separate them because they are just two peas in a pod. The mom kitty is very young and a kitten herself (about a year). They have each other in this world and I wouldn't dream of taking that away. However, they may very well be happier in a place where they are the only kitties, without the stress. I know my girls would be happier with this arrangement.

By the way, mom is already spayed and has healed up rather nicely. I really don't know how to go about rehoming cats but I think I will look into it. I was hoping to make this work, but now I'm just not sure. Hubby is very much loving the little male kitten but I think I can convince him it's for the best.


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## jadine (Jun 20, 2011)

They are both absolutely adorable and I love them both, but they would probably be better off with a family without older cats.

So can anyone give me some pointers or advice about rehoming cats? What steps should I take?


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

You could post fliers in your vet's office, if they'll allow you to do so. They may even know of a client who has recently lost their beloved pet and may be ready to bring new ones into their heart and home.


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## jadine (Jun 20, 2011)

They will probably allow it, as I have seen other flyers posted there. I may try putting an ad up on pet finder as well.


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