No one probably remembers my post, but last fall I found a starving little cat at a coffee shop and brought her home. She was 4 1/2 pounds when I found her and now she weighs well over 10. She is the fattest cat I have ever seen!
That isn’t the problem.
The problem is, is that the other pets pick on her. My other female cat who has always been very sweet is constantly running her off from the catfood, the favorite place on my headboard, the bathroom sink when I am getting ready for work (they both love that). Sometimes she’ll just smack her to let her know who is boss.
The ferret is constantly chasing her and like the other kitty, running her off from the food bowl (I wonder how she got so fat).
We are baby sitting my daughter’s boyfriend’s cat while he moves. When I woke up this morning, the guest cat was sleeping in fat kitty’s spot while she sat there on the floor looking at him with a glum look on her face.
I am always watching out for her to make sure they aren’t mean to her, but she seems like the doofy kid in school that everyone picks on and frankly, it makes me sad.
Any advice on how to make the other animals treat her better or how to make her stick up for herself better?
can you quarentine the visiting cat to an area where it will not disrupt fat cat?
What a bummer… dunno what you might do other than to take time out to go where the other cat & critters can’t see her getting extra attention and then play with her - give her extra attention and treats and see if her behavior changes.
She’s obviously getting food at some point and not wasting away, so that’s a good sign - if she was thin and neurotic, it would be a clear signal that she’s stressed out and bad news for her all around, but at least it sounds like she’s accepted her place as low-girl on the totem pole… I’m going to guess that’s how she ended up being nearly starved out on her own, so if it’s a confidence issue, it’s been a longtime thing. It also sounds like she’s generally doing ok in the current routine, but the new guy has stirred the soup a bit.
Poor kid. ON the bright side, it just might take some more time for things to totally settle down. When we brought home our puppy last winter, the cat (usually a mellow wuss) wouldn’t go within five feet of the dog’s crate without hissing… then she graduated to sitting on the dog’s crate, hissing at her… then moved on to tormenting the dog through the bars of her crate (stick a paw in, yank it out and hiss) - she got the squirt bottle for these antics & eventually they learned to play and settled down. The dog (border collie mix) now herds the cat around and the cat chases the dogs tail and everyone’s happy. It basically comes down to them both being attention hungry and the cat being disgruntled in her share of the pie getting a bit smaller. They adjust, eventually.
If being the low cat on the totem pole bothered her, she’d let you know. Yowling, hissing , fighting, pooping outside the litter box (really, if a cat is cheesed at another cat, they won’t want their poop to touch, it’s a dominance/territory thing), etc. If she was upset about loosing her comfy spot to the guest cat, she’d let you know.
If she’s eating good (10 lbs.- yup.)and behaving herself, she’s just a wimpy cat. Everyone’s worked out the pecking order and she came out on the bottom. You hate to see it, but you can’t do much to change it. (Self-improvement tapes for cats just don’t take.) It wouldn’t hurt to give her a touch more attention, but it probably won’t turn her into a macho, take-charge kinda cat. The other cats and the ferret are just more dominant. (I eat first. I get the pick of seats. Get away, don’t bug me.)
Really, if your problem boils down to: “Help! My pets get along and don’t fight.” How bad is that?
It basically comes down to them both being attention hungry and the cat being disgruntled in her share of the pie getting a bit smaller. They adjust, eventually.