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And a lot of toys...........balls etc.
If you have men who will exclude any of God's
creatures
from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who
will deal likewise with their fellow
man.
St. Francis
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, January 11, 2006 9:15
PM
Subject: Re: FeLV transmission by
bite
Thank you, I will. I may also
try put catnip out more often also, as it seems to at least distract
them from each other.
Sandy
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, January 11, 2006 8:38
PM
Subject: Re: FeLV transmission by
bite
Try the spray too. It works so much
better for me. Just spray it all over regularly. A number
of people I know have not had good experiences with the plug in while I
understand others have. Everyone I know loves the
spray.
If you have men who will exclude any of God's
creatures
from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who
will deal likewise with their fellow
man.
St. Francis
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, January 11, 2006
8:11 PM
Subject: Re: FeLV transmission by
bite
Hi Deb, very good to know you. I
haven't been on the list long either, and I'm mostly lurking these
days. Thanks for the head's up on neutering. I do keep a spray
bottle handy for Cotton when he stalks Cricket. Now when
he sees the spray bottle come out, he narrows his eyes
and recoils, so he is learning and doesn't want to be sprayed.
But I feel like it's not enough, judging from the missing fur and scabs on
Cricket. I feel like I have failed to keep her safe.
Cricket was already rather
unsure of herself, as she has been bullied in the past by the my big
male tuxedo cat, Myca. Once he cornered her when she was much
younger, and she was so afraid, she lost control of her bladder right
on the spot, poor little girl. And she has had to assert
herself with my other female Miss. When she was tiny, Miss was a
wonderful surrogate mom to her, and they were very cozy. But
when Cricket reached social maturity, they fought. As some might
remember, I shared about how my Miss was so angry after a bad fight
in which she got a nasty bite from Cricket, Miss refused to come out
of the bedroom for almost 6 months!
Before Cotton came, everyone was at
last at peace. Had I any
choice about Cotton's presence, I would not have added a 4th
cat. But after we learned how poorly he was being cared for, and
found out he was FeLV+, finding him another home was out of the
question.
I am using the Feliway spray,
and it has helped, but I can't help feeling anxious when Cricket
and Cotton are in the same room together. And I have to look
around first before I give any love to Cotton, because I don't want
Cricket to see me. I feel guilty. And Cotton really needs
all the handling we can give him, because he was neglected and
was not used to being touched, talked to, or even fed
regularly. He's so much better, but he's still not that comfortable
with being handled. He does seek affection now, but we have to
keep it short and follow with treats or he bites.
I will keep trying different things, the
plug-in diffuser, and hopefully we can work all of this out, and
perhaps everyone will get what they need. Thanks for taking the time to answer.
Sandy
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, January 11, 2006
11:22 AM
Subject: Re: FeLV transmission by
bite
Hi there,I am new here, my name is Deb. I have
10 inside cats and I also have a sweet cat that is at the bottom of the
pecking order. My 2yr old male is the aggressor and neutering him
has not changed him. I have special shelves that I made for
her. She eats and uses a litter pan on her shelf. She is too
timid to fight back with him so, she runs. He loves it when she
runs. I will spray him with water when he goes after
her. I must make sure she does not get wet. I spray water
immediately so that he knows what behavior I want him to stop.
Now, when he sees the water sprayer he knows that he will get wet if, he
misbehaves. This seems to be helping. Good
Luck! Marylyn <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
Try Rescue Remedy. Are they all spayed/neutered? If
not, that might help.
If you have men who will exclude any of God's
creatures
from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who
will deal likewise with their fellow
man.
St. Francis
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, January 09, 2006
10:16 PM
Subject: FeLV transmission by
bite
Hi Everyone!
I haven't been on list in a
while, but I have some real worries I need to share.
In case anyone needs
reminding, we have Cotton, who is a young orange boy,
under a year old FeLV+ who we adopted around 5 months ago
or so, and 3 established older cats in our family, Cricket, Miss and
Myca.
Initially when Cotton first
came he was stalked and terrorized by Cricket, who would slap at him
and hiss and basically do a lot of posturing and chasing, but there
was very little contact between them. Now that Cotton is
older and a little bigger, he has turned into the aggressor,
and he is the one who stalks Cricket and when he catches her by
suprise, he bites her. Cotton and Cricket are
both small cats, but he is much stronger than she is,
and she is a little bit overwt, and much softer than he
is.
I'm so worried about her
because I know he hurts her, and he's been relentless
the last few days for some reason, and she has been hiding, and
she seems a bit depressed. At night I try and
massage her while she lays on my chest kneading my chin. It's our
bonding time. But last night she seemed restless, and I
think some of the places I touched were sore. She
has scabs on her where he's bitten her, but she has also put a few
scratches on Cotton. He's got an ugly but clean one on
his shoulder.
Usually we break up the
fights before they get too nasty by getting the squirt bottle, but I
fear that not only will one of them inflict a nasty wound that might
get infected, I worry that Cricket's stress level and her constant
exposure to his saliva might lead to the transmission of the
FeLV. She was weakly positive on her last ELISA,
but the vet said possibly due to exposure, and i am to take her
back in for another test this weekend. If she tests
positive again, I will have them draw an IFA to
confirm.
The other two older
cats were both negative, and received a booster. I check
everyone over very carefully for new wounds, because I
have dealt with an abscessed wound before, and know they can
become a real problem in a short time.
Needless to say Cotton is
doing quite well, he is a little devil (in the most affectionate
sense of the word). His energy level is great, he
eats well, poops well, plays long and hard and bites and
scratches his way through everyone in his way. I believe he
has lacked the proper socialization, as he has been slow to
trust and is slow learning his limits in the household. He's
constantly testing his limits. We have tried to teach him
manners, but he is stubborn and wily. It's been so long
since we have had a kitten, I have a rather relaxed, very
polite bunch (they sit in line waiting for another to finish at
the food bowl or water), who have worked out their differences long
ago.
I try to make sure Cricket
has a safe place where she can go, which is my bedroom. Cotton
is not allowed in there. We shoo him out whenever he goes
in there. Same for Cotton, when he goes to my son's room
for quiet, the other cats are discouraged from bothering
him. At night he is not allowed free roam, and is confined in
there to sleep with my son. I have also used some Feliway
spray, which did help. I am continuing to use
it.
Any suggestions or thoughts
on how I can deal with this? It's hard to be mad at
Cotton, since he is so well, and he's still very much a kitten,
but I wonder if neutering might help if he's well
enough? I feel so bad for my poor little sweetpea,
Cricket. I don't want her to live in fear, and not safe
in her own home. She is already the littlest, and has had
to work hard to earn her current status in the
household. Cotton has upset the pecking
order.
Please advise.
Sandy
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