In need of cat-type advice

[fenchurch]

The integration of Polly and Zoe is not going well... on Polly's part.

Zoe is wonderful, sweet, loving and playful. Polly absolutely cannot stand her. She freaks out completely whenever Zoe is around, and Zoe seems totally perplexed by this... she wants to *play*, and Polly seems to think she's constantly under attack. Polly has been living in the garage for the past week for this very reason... we bring her in the house and she runs from "secure location" to "secure location" looking for all the world like a soldier on an active battlefield, expecting to be ambushed at any moment (which is really silly, because Zoe never initiates contact... just hangs around hoping for a playmate).

The worst part about it is that Polly gets so freaked out she loses sphincter control. She pees and poops all over herself (and whatever surface she happens to be on) hence the now living in the garage, where life is considerably less stressful for her. I really don't want to leave her out there for the rest of her life, because it doesn't seem fair to her and I miss having her around in the house. But I also don't plan on giving up Zoe, who is an absolute delight to have around and loves us both equally. rackham has always gotten the short end of the stick with our pets, as Cymry and Polly would generally only approach him if I wasn't available, and Polly has been avoiding him more and more as she's gotten older (to the point of not eating food if he's the one to give it to her), so this is a very nice change.

I don't know what to do... I'd just assumed that time and gradual exposure would eventually do the trick, but it really doesn't seem to be working. Anyone have any suggestions? Even if it's just for a place to look for a possible solution.

Comments

[spikesleman.livejournal.com]

Have you tried "scent swapping"? You rub each cat with a separate towel then put one cat's towel in with the other cat. It's supposed to help.

For what it's worth, it took our two cats, Spock and Poster, from December 2003 till about a week ago to quit squabbling. :-/

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

The squabbling we don't mind so much, it's the messy part that's really getting on our nerves... and the fact that Polly gets over-the-top freaked out about Zoe.

I haven't tried the scent swapping thing... it's worth giving it a go, since nothing else seems to be working at the moment. Thanks!

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

Maybe your vet can give you a mild tranquilizer for Polly. That might relax her enough that she would adjust to Zoe and then you could wean her off it. Or maybe she'd need to stay on it, which wouldn't be the end of the world, if it came to that.

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

Huh. I'd not thought of that. I think I'll talk to them about it, because that just might work. Get her some Kitty Valium or something to help mellow her out about everything.

[bquinlan.livejournal.com]

I would talk to your veterinarian about it.

Aside from that, is Polly comfortable in the house when Zoe isn't around? If not, try spending some time in isolated sections of the house with Polly while Zoe is temporarily elsewhere.

I suspect that letting Polly in while Zoe is around should be done regularly, but with supervision and for limited periods of time. Try to pet her and interact with her as much as possible during those periods (if she'll let you). Be prepared for some cleaning up and try not to get upset about it.

Above all, be patient. Getting animals used to each other is sometimes trivial and sometimes takes months, but it almost always works eventually.

Rox and I have been working to get Ash, our new dog, integrated with Caspian, our cat. It has been more than six months and we're still not there, but we have made a lot of progress. I'm hopeful that he will be ready in another month or two.

[friday030.livejournal.com]

Hey Fen... I have several, and probably not useful suggestions for you...

First the scent thing. If scent swaping doesn't work, try rubbing them both with baby powder. This is suppose to nutralize their scents to each other... On more long range, we are going to get this to work darn it, lines...

1st you need to calm Polly down when Cymry is around. First let's put about 1 cup of potting soil in Polly's litter box. Yes, I mean it. I have no idea if it works, but it is suppose to help cats center and calm down. My trainer swears by it, although he can't tell me why. I figure it's worth a try. Then take things that have been around Cymry. Like a towl he slept on, his hair from grooming, even used litter. Then, only feen Polly next to, or on something with his scent on it. The idea is to expose her to his scent along with a positive reinforcement. Do this in little steps. Adding things one at a time, and looking for her to respond just a little. Then work with that until she isn't freaking out at it. Then expose her to a little more. When she is used to his scent, try putting her in a travel crate, and in a room with Cymry. Give her positive reinforcement, and ignore Cymry until she doesn't freak out. If she makes a mess she at least will be in a controled area. Clean it up, and put her back in it again. As she figures out that he isn't going to hurt her, hopefully she will calm down.

Ok, that was a really long winded concept. It is at least the beginning of what I would atempt to do. You can get my e-mail off the list if you want to write and ask me questions.

Rox

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'll give those ideas a try... although, right now we're dealing with Polly and Zoe. :-) (Cymry is the cat we'd had for 16 years who passed away earlier this year.)

Definitely going to try the soil thing, because if nothing else, it can't hurt! Will work a bit more with the scent idea. And on the plus side, our garage is well insulated, so it isn't getting too cold in
there... and Polly doesn't seem unhappy to live there for the moment. Just isolated.

The crate idea sounds wonderful, and something to try after doing the scent thing for awhile... but I think you're right, and it sounds like it would be a great way to get Polly to relax around Zoe, by knowing that she's safe from her.

rackham just put some towels out on some of Zoe's favorite sitting spots to start collecting her scent in a slightly more concentrated fashion.

[textualdeviance.livejournal.com]

I haven't noticed a specific effect with our brood, but there's this pheromone thingy called Feliway that's supposed to calm them down. There's a spray version and a room diffuser version. It's not cheap -- about $40 -- but it may be worth a try.

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

All of these are excellent suggestions and the only thing I would add is to contact a local rescue group and see if they have any suggestions. Many of their members foster pets which means they often have multiples around the house. Good luck.

[vampry.livejournal.com]

There's also a product called Feliway that is supposed to help; I think it makes everything smell the same and the cats aren't supposed to mind.

[vampry.livejournal.com]

Believe it or not but I hadn't read your comment before adding mine.

*g*

[corellian-sugar.livejournal.com]

I tried the scent swapping thing with Max and my first cat, Kate. Max was very young and energetic - just wanted a playmate. Kate was older and set in her ways. I rubbed them each with a towel and then laid Max's towel under Kate's food dishes and laid Kate's towel under Max's food dishes.

It was semi-successful. Kate never really did like Max too terribly well, but at least we got to a point where she would tolerate him being in the same room with spitting, hissing, or stalking away to find another room.

[wildrider.livejournal.com]

I've always found it harder to get girl cats to get along together, and I don't understand why, since they're supposed to cooperate with each other in the wild. Anyway, everyone else has given up all the ideas I know to share. Good luck!

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

Want to hear something funny? I talked to my vet today and they recommended, essentially, getting her stoned. They asked if she was affected by catnip (because, apparently, about 30% of cats don't react to it) and recommended giving her some before letting her in the house with Zoe... to just sort of mellow her out.

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'd never even heard of the stuff! But now I've had two recommendations for it here and one from my vet. Definitely have to give it a try.

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

Thanks! So far I've had you and Textualdeviance recommend it... and then when I took Zoe into the vet today for her final vaccination, they also suggested it. So, I'm guessing I'll be looking to pick some up in the next day or so!

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

You know, we've noticed that too. We went through two cats as companions for Cymry before we got Polly... they were both male and prone to escaping the house (which is why we eventually ended up with Polly), but Cymry got along great with both Tully and Pixel. It took years for her and Polly to really have much to do with one another... but it was nothing like what we've been dealing with this time. Polly is literally making herself sick out of fear and stress.

I've had some great suggestions though!

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

OK, that's too funny - and basically the natural version of tranquilizing her. Well, once she's done rolling around like a mad thing, LOL!

[rahirah]

What everyone else said. Something we've done on occasion is to swap litter boxes--that gives both cats a chance to get used to one another's scents. If there's a way to let them see and smell each other while remaining separate, that seems to help, too.