Chewy.com and Amazon, among other online sites, like Petco, sell the Feliway and various brands of calming collars. A local pet store would also carry them, and some large groceries might as well.
I located Feliway at my local vet. Never had to use it with my previous cat, and he was also not at all interested in catnip either. I guess cats have drugs of choice.
Everyone is becoming much better friends, even though I had my children over for the weekend and they sort-of understood my suggestions (as recommended above, thanks everyone) cat 2 is still very wary, but not so much that she won’t immediately flee from me. Cat 1 is still being a bully so this week I will separate them briefly for treats.
Cat 1 has also realised, in the way that thousands of years of sitting on cuneiform and hieroglyphic tablets has evolved them into identifying laptop keyboards. And is taking full advantage, so apologies fro any spelling mistakes.
I had forgotten about the cardboard box thing. Maybe I do not do enough internet? But the Christmas season brings in many cardboard boxes and, wow. They are the coolest cat thing ever.
Apparently for the big cats too:
Good to hear things are getting better. Feliway isn’t a cure-all but it does help. You should search online for sellers of refills for the diffuser; you’ll likely save money on them if that’s an option for you.
ETA: That reminded me; time to check and see if I need to put a refill bottle on the diffuser. Yep! Lasts about a month.
One problem is that they are now 5 month old kittens with irrepressible energy. They wake up and play, then sleep, then wake up and play. I need to catch Spot-Dot (cat 2) when she is either just waking up or exhausted from the hour or so play session.
She’s pulled out her claws when I tried to reach out to her, so I have minor lacerations on my hand, but she ran away and then returned within a minute to her seat, 5 times today.
I think she might need to get the idea that she is the boss of me. I mean, all cats are the boss of us, but these two kittens were not taught that by their mum.
In other news they have discovered the great outdoors is full of birds. Sorry, guys, you are indoor cats. You can look but you can’t toich.
She’s saying “You can look but don’t touch!”
Stop trying to touch, for a while. Just let your hand lie slightly held out on the side closer to her, with a treat in it. If she doesn’t come get the treat, maybe she will tomorrow, or next week. If she does come to get the treat – still don’t touch. Not yet. This cat is going to take quite a bit of patience.
However – she keeps coming back to sit close to you. You’re gaining on it.
The most fun part - and, I have been living with these cats in a single room (it is large, bigger than some flats) is that at this age, they have no shame.
They climb the curtains and can’t make it to the top? Just drop down and continue playing. Where an adult cat would pretend that they intentionally climbed half-way up and can we now all forget about this and never mention it again.
I forgot how cool kittens are, my previous cat was 17 when he died, so 16 years of being my boss. But he was a fun kitten too.
I adore kittens, but now that I’m old, I stick to adopting elder felines – I can’t keep up with kitten-level energy any more. So we old folks just dawdle along at our own senior pace together.
Senior cats also need homes!
But two kittens are much easier to deal with than one. Yes, you’ll have twice the chances for things torn up or knocked over or unexpected places squirmed into; but the things that needed to be protected/blocked off would all have needed to be protected/blocked off even if there were only one kitten. And they’ll take most of that energy out on each other.
I’ve reached the point at which I should avoid deliberately acquiring kittens because I might not outlive them, though. However someone may have failed to notify the Young Cats Who Wander Through that no more of them should apply at my door; while those aren’t generally small kittens, a couple of probably-less-than-2-year-old cats applied here over the last few years, and both of them got in. But I probably won’t, again, have two four-month-old kittens literally climbing the walls. I had to bring those two over here.
Yes, that was a major part of my decision to no longer adopt young cats, although my most recent adoption is only ten years old – the rescue called him senior, and he was the oldest cat available when I went to their adoptathon in search of a new oldster when my 19-year-old Stelli had to go over the bridge. My other cat, Sally Forth, is 18 years old; I’ve had her from a kitten. If Freddie Mercury (“Merc”) lives another eight years, he may be my last cat, as I’d be in my 80s by then.
It would help if my lovely daughter did not encourage them to play with toilet paper (they love it) as I now have two rooms filled with shreds and I need to buy a vacuum cleaner.
I lived a super minimalist life until these two arrived, basically living out of a backpack on a camping mattress, albeit in a really large house. A vacuum cleaner is quite a mental leap.
But, yes, these cats are going to live with me for the next 15 to 18 years, it may be time to start thinking about basic household stuff.
Cat 1 is atill being an asshole, but great progress last night, the boy (cat 1) likes to lie on the couch next to my camping mattress. I know he is there because I can reach up and stroke him. Cat 2, the girl, (Spot-Dot) twice came onto my bed and slept briefly between my legs. I could tell it was her without opening my eyes, and I could stroke cat 1, and, well… I only have two cats.
I think I’ll stop posting in this thread so often, it is not at all as interesting for the wider internet as it is for me, but I will be sure to update all of you kind enough to give me advice when I finally coax her onto my lap for a sleep and some love.
Hey, I’m interested!
And that is indeed great progress.
– many years ago, I went to visit my parents, who had recently acquired a kitten. They put me in the bedroom that the kitten was shut into (because he was a new arrival; he got the freedom of the house soon after.)
Kitten hid under the furthest corner of the bed. I looked under the bed at frightened kitten, made some soothing noise or other, and went to bed, having made no attempt to force him out.
I still remember, somewhere in the dark middle of the night, the sensation of Kitten landing on the bed, to curl up by my legs.
(He wound up living about the second half of his life with me; and very often sleeping on my bed.)
Definitely keep us updated. You’re already making good progress.
She was nibbling and licking my fingers this morning, cat love signals. Seems progress is happening. She doesn’t let me approach her, but she is confident to approach me.
I’ve decided to let the both out into part of the rest of the house (most doors and all windows closed) They have access to one new room, and access to my bedroom, which they both know. So three rooms, but only temporarily for short periods while I can supervise.
Cat 1 just managed to get stuck in a toilet room, he did not seem to know how to get 3m back to his home room. Luckily he was vocal about it so I could rescue him.
I have had a pretty even number of male and female cats. I used to really prefer males as they did tend to be more friendly/cuddly and I really like a good lap kitty. But I’ve had three females now and the first one I had was very sweet but had no interest in sleeping with us or being a lap kitty unless you had a choice blanket and then she might deign to cuddle from a six inch distance from actually touching you. She was one of our favorite cats and though she wasn’t like the lovey males, she had a wonderfully sweet and fun personality. The second distant female we have will sleep with me all night but during the day she is just too busy to be bothered with being touched and is a more reserved than our other female who is a constant lap companion, but she is hilarious and fun. I guess my point is that some cats are just quirky and more distant and need a relationship on their own terms.
On the subject of kids- my very boisterous 5 year old niece stayed with us recently and after a day of hiding, the more distant female could often be found shadowing my niece - she was fascinated with her though she did this all from a non-touching distance :).
Lastly, on outdoor cats- I lost one to a really seemingly nice lady who poisoned him to protect her air rats she was feeding (pigeons) . It was a horrible death (I tried to make him an indoor cat and he would not cooperate) that I greatly regret not being more vigilant with him.
Managed to shut the door on himself, I take it? That’s what doorstops are for. Cats just love to creep behind open doors, then manage to swing them shut, unless, of course, they forget how to back up to escape.
Very definitely progress. Lots of progress. Prrrrr!
That is odd, unless as suggested he’d managed to shut the door behind himself. – is it possible that the vocal wasn’t meant to say ‘Help me find my way out of here!’ but instead ‘Come provide backup for me in this strange place!’?
It was totally, “I need backup.”
I have only had them for a little over a month. Their whole lives until now have been in a 2m x 2m cage at the rescue place. So my “great outdoors” plans were totally wrong. They need a bunch more “this is your home” training
He just got lost. And was cowering next to the toilet bowl, and crying for help. He’s a clever enough cat but he is still young and has no map of his world.
I was foolish to even think about them being outdoors cats, their mum never had a chance to teach them and I do not have the skill.
Ah. They have absolutely no idea of how much space there is in the world. A strange room might as well be a strange planet. “Finding one’s way” is a brand new concept, everything in the entire universe used to be in sight!
I’m amazed they came out from under your bed so soon.
You may well be right about letting them outside. They might panic entirely and disappear. If they’re ever to go out at all, it should at least to start, and maybe indefinitely, be in a fully enclosed area, not very large, that they can’t get out of.
Has the house any sort of screened or very-windowed porch? That might at least give them some idea of the existence of Outdoors. But for now you’re right – increase the size of the universe one room at a time (to the extent the layout of the house allows, probably some spaces can’t be opened individually), and don’t add more area until they’re comfortable with the current range.