(no subject)

[camwyn]

Update on the kitty jealousy front: two nights ago I picked up Shula and carried him into my bedroom, where he promptly hid behind the window curtains and hissed at Kamella whenever she came near. Eventually he hopped onto my bed and spent the evening kittyloafing against me, purring. Mostly, I think, because in that position he did not have to look at her and I probably blocked her scent.

In the morning, when I woke up and Kamella started asking for food, he bolted for the kitchen and piddled on the floor even though he'd run past the two existing litterboxes to get there. I washed that up immediately, of course.

I bought Nature's Miracle (orange oxy formulation) and another bag of World's Best litter and a new litterbox yesterday. I also got out the old Clevercat box that hasn't been used since Tiki's death. I washed out the Clevercat and one of the litterboxes already in use, then sprayed them both down with Nature's Miracle and wiped them out. Once they dried I loaded them both with the World's Best and deployed them. The old box is in its usual place, the Clevercat is in the next room where Kamella mostly plays. The new box was put in the kitchen near where Shula had piddled and where Kamella's dish had been when he pooped in it, but only after I sprayed the area down with Nature's Miracle and wiped it all up. I've also put Kamella's food dish in the other room and will get her a new water dish soon, or at least replace the old cat fountain I had used for several years, which was developing a distressing tendency to grow algae at the drop of a hat. I've reluctantly started feeding Kamella the same prescription food as Shula again, so she smells more like him and doesn't induce 'I want YOUR food, dammit' jealousy, and I'm putting a bit of vanilla on their heads and rumps so that at least smells the same.

Shula used the new litterbox this morning, which I think is a good sign. Kamella almost took it as an opportunity to play-pounce him, which would not have ended well, but I'll work on that.

Comments

[silveraspen]

Fingers crossed that things continue to improve.

Mentioned your situation to friends of mine tonight who had some difficulty with multicat household integration, and one recommended this book, fwiw.

[sylveraven.livejournal.com]

I wish I had some advice for you. I'm usually all full-up of useless kitty related advice, but in all my years of being owned by cats, I've never really had to deal with jealousy, much. I mean... I have seven cats of my own now, plus I'm usually fostering up to ten kittens for work, and the worst I've had to deal with is Binx's constant peeing on the sofa, which has no apparent medical or behavioural basis other than the fact he's a lazy arse that doesn't like having to walk ten feet across the room to reach a litterbox, and is easily fixed by throwing a shower curtain over the sofa when I'm not at home (I tried putting a litterbox beside the sofa, but if it's not blocked off with a baby gate, even the Clevercat is no longer safe from Ruby's voracious cat poop appetite).

For what it's worth, my philosophy has always been to just let the children fight it out amongst themselves. Once they've established the pecking order (which seems to go Duzell-Emily-Jade-Bastet-Sekhmet-Binx ... and Jinx just gets along with everyone) the only time I have to worry is when it's feeding time, and Bastet tries to eat out of Emily's bowl. Of course, I've never had anyone poo in anyone else's food bowls, either.

So... ummm... good luck! I hope Shula gets over the horrors you have inflicted upon him, by daring to care for his health and well-being.