Need help with my calico :(

[jenbengen]

I know this is a long post- so sorry, but I wanted to be thorough.


OK fellow cat friends, I really need some help with one of my beautiful calico cats. It's a bit of a long story, but please read-

I took in our first calico, Callie, (we have two) a little over two years ago when she was a baby. She is the most beautiful and sweet cat and has such a playful personality. About 6 months later, we took in another calico, Kitty, from a rescue after discussing with the vet and even some of you on this forum about whether it was a good idea to have two cats together and how to make them tolerate each other.

Callie never quite accepted Kitty but did a fairly good job tolerating her. But in the past year, Callie has become extremely aggressive towards Kitty. We have done EVERYTHING the vet and friends have suggested to help the situation. At a recent visit to the vet here, the vet let me know that Callie had a lot of tender spots on her skin and scabs from getting in fights with Kitty. Since Callie is always the aggressive one, I can only assume poor kitty is covered in them even more. We tried all of the suggestions over and over again to help remedy the situation. But nothing is working. We can't separate our house to divide the cats up and I have to intentions of locking her in one room for the rest of her life- she is just to playful and wants to be with people too much to make that an option.

The vet suggested that maybe Callie should be in a home that is just a "one cat home" if nothing works and that we consider giving her to a loving person who could give her that type of place. It appalled me when she said that because we absolutely adore this cat. She is such a sweetheart and my 10 yr old loves her to death.

So I'm exploring the options for Callie, with a seriously heavy heart. She would never make it as an outside cat and I would never put her outside, so that's not an option. The only possible way I'd let her leave this house is if I knew with absolute certainty that she was going to a home that truly loved cats and would keep her inside. I have to at least explore that option because I want Callie to be happy, too.

I thought I'd ask the cat forum for some help with this. I'm in tears writing this, so please be kind and realize that we are trying so hard to make Callie happy. I haven't been on these forums much for over a year, but some of you might remember me and will hopefully remember how much I love my two cats. So please help a girl out. You've all always been so helpful with questions about my cats (even recently with a few fleas one got when they got outside one night!). I don't want to break my kid's heart and want to find a good solution for Callie. I've added a pic of her so you can see how beautiful she is.

 

[cattitude]

Female cats are very territorial and they will fuss with each other.

There are some things you can do. Do you have a place where you could give one of them some time away from the other? Cat trees...large crate/box thingy one could hide in...a place where they can have their own fun area. You can also do a timeout type of thing for the offender (at the time).

You can also act as the mother cat..I do this with my orphans when they act out. Scruff them..not hard but like a mom cat does..grab them by the scruff and give 'em a little shake and put the offender in time out for a bit.

Another thing you can try is to have an interactive toy that you can divert them to...a long string toy, something they can bat at etc.

You might give Feliway a try..it's a natural pheromone that "can" have a calming effect on cats and there are also some other herbal calming remedies.

Good luck.

 

[jenbengen]

Female cats are very territorial and they will fuss with each other.

There are some things you can do. Do you have a place where you could give one of them some time away from the other? Cat trees...large crate/box thingy one could hide in...a place where they can have their own fun area. You can also do a timeout type of thing for the offender (at the time).

You can also act as the mother cat..I do this with my orphans when they act out. Scruff them..not hard but like a mom cat does..grab them by the scruff and give 'em a little shake and put the offender in time out for a bit.

Another thing you can try is to have an interactive toy that you can divert them to...a long string toy, something they can bat at etc.

You might give Feliway a try..it's a natural pheromone that "can" have a calming effect on cats and there are also some other herbal calming remedies.

Good luck.

Thanks Catt. We have tried giving her an area all her own and it looked like it was helping things for a bit, but then she went back to her old ways. Definitely have tried the discipline thing and toys with little success. Didn't try the pheromone thing because the vet said how expensive they are.

Thanks for the help- I knew Catt would have some suggestions.

 

[ArkRescue]

I used to think my male cat was scratching up my timid female until he was no longer around and she still had scabs on her - then I realized that she was scratching herself and overly ambitious with her claws when she had an itch. Not saying that is the case for your cat, but it sure surprised me to keep finding the scabs when there was no cat around to do that to her.

 

[Cowgirl]

Thanks Catt. We have tried giving her an area all her own and it looked like it was helping things for a bit, but then she went back to her old ways. Definitely have tried the discipline thing and toys with little success. Didn't try the pheromone thing because the vet said how expensive they are.

Thanks for the help- I knew Catt would have some suggestions.

I tried Feliway once with my pee'er-in-the-houser. I think I still have the plug in if you want to try it. You'd just have to get the refills. I can mail it to ya if you want it.

 

[jenbengen]

I tried Feliway once with my pee'er-in-the-houser. I think I still have the plug in if you want to try it. You'd just have to get the refills. I can mail it to ya if you want it.

Hey CG- did it seem to work? If so, I'd definitely like to give it a shot. That is the only suggestion remaining that we haven't tried.

 

[cattitude]

Hey CG- did it seem to work? If so, I'd definitely like to give it a shot. That is the only suggestion remaining that we haven't tried.

There are also some other things like that that you could try. Give Google a shot and see if they have suggestions other than those posted here.

 

[Cowgirl]

Hey CG- did it seem to work? If so, I'd definitely like to give it a shot. That is the only suggestion remaining that we haven't tried.

Nothing worked for this cat, so I can't really say. I'd guess that Feliway would work more with your cat's issue than my cat's.

 

[ArkRescue]

PS - I use to SEE the male cat chasing the female cat so I just KNEW he was the one scratching her and causing the scabs - I felt pretty puzzled when she still had more scabs popping up after he was gone.

I used to think my male cat was scratching up my timid female until he was no longer around and she still had scabs on her - then I realized that she was scratching herself and overly ambitious with her claws when she had an itch. Not saying that is the case for your cat, but it sure surprised me to keep finding the scabs when there was no cat around to do that to her.

 

[rabbithead]

I don't mean to sound "uncaring" but why don't you just ignore them and let them sort it out? I have 2 neutered male cats who have had an attitude issue for the last 8 years. About once a year one of them has to go to the vet for a skin abscess. As long as they don't roll around the house scratching and biting each other non-stop and involve me in their fracas, I ignore them. I will occasionally stick a broom between them if I see a scuffle coming on. I refuse to get rid of either one, as 99% of the time they tolerate each other. Cats- are catty.

 

[jenbengen]

I don't mean to sound "uncaring" but why don't you just ignore them and let them sort it out? I have 2 neutered male cats who have had an attitude issue for the last 8 years. About once a year one of them has to go to the vet for a skin abscess. As long as they don't roll around the house scratching and biting each other non-stop and involve me in their fracas, I ignore them. I will occasionally stick a broom between them if I see a scuffle coming on. I refuse to get rid of either one, as 99% of the time they tolerate each other. Cats- are catty.

I guess I forgot to mention that since we got the second cat, Callie has been peeing outside of her litter box. We ran all sorts of tests on two occassions to make sure it wasn't health related. Combined with the constant major fur flying in this house and everything else, the vet was certain it was behavioral. As much as I love the cat, I can't have her ruining our house.

 

[onelove6366]

My calico has the scabs mostly around her neck area as well. We can clearly see it's becuase she is grooming herself and itching ALL the time. She has a nervous condition that may be brought on by the inability to get along with the interloper cat we have now had for 2 years (the interloper is an indoor/outdoor and she is strictly indoor so she gets breaks from him). I have had her on meds for her irrational behavior in the past but getting her to take the teeny pills is an exercise in frustration so I gave up a long time ago. I have had some small success with Desitin that contains Zinc Oxide on her sores but as soon as she sees the tube in my hand she runs away.

They also chase each other around from time to time and I scold the interloper cat but I would chase her too the way she acts so cagey!

So, my vote is to keep her and let it ride itself out as long as her scabs/injuries arent' life threatening. Calico's have attitude issues anyway you know and mine is worse due to being a feral rescue at a very young age (3 weeks) she doesnt' know she's a cat!

Good Luck!