Expert: Ali - 11/2/2008

Question
QUESTION: I am having an impossible time integrating my 4 year old female cat with my husband's two 6 year old female sibling cats. All are spayed. We got off to a rough start, and have never recovered. We tried to keep them separated initially with access only through the cracks underneath doors. They hissed and growled so we did things like try to get them to play with toys at the same time, fed them within sight of each other, maintaining physical separation. Unfortunately, my cat one day escaped her enclosure and honed in on his larger cat. She chased his cat and tangled with her, screaming and hissing. When his cat ran off, my cat pursued intently and tried to corner her before we were able to separate them. That was two years ago. We have moved to a larger house and my cat lives upstairs and his live downstairs, with baby gates and doors preventing accidental meetings. On the occasion that they see each other through the gate, usually my cat will charge the gate growling and bounce off and his cats run away. Over the years there have been a few more mishaps when the gate was displaced and they fought. Sometimes my cat seems to win, other times one of his cats does. We tried more playing with the gates up, but that just makes them tense when they see each other and they stop playing. I tried Feliway, but it seemed to make my cat more aggressive. I would love to be able to have the cats spend time in the same area for supervised visits. Is there any hope? What else can we do?

Thank you in advance,
Leah

ANSWER: Leah,

I have a few questions for you and your husband so that I can get a clearer picture of what exactly is going on....I will be better able to offer possible solutions if I know where you've been with the aggression and where you would consider going with this issue to get everyone to play nice together and get along. How long did you manage to keep the cats separated during the initial introductions? Have you considered consulting with a holistic vet (a vet trained in conventional medicine as well as one or more alternative disciplines such as acupuncture, homeopathy, massage and more)? Besides the Feliway synthetic pheromones what else has been tried beyond the mediated play sesssions? How do you and your husband react when the cats manage to get together and start something on a grand scale? How did you and your husband react earlier on when you saw the fighting initially? Have you had all of the cats tested for medical issues including blood and urine work ups to be sure that nobody has a medical issue? Have you approached your family vet about possible treatments and/or referral to an applied animal behaviorist?

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: We were able to keep them separated for 1 - 2 weeks. The main contact was underneath the doors. Even then there was panting, hissing, growling and my cat would often scratch as though trying to dig to get in. We shooed her away to get her to quit so as not to scare his cats, who have never met another animal. My cat used to live with another cat and loved her dearly. She has reacted very strongly in the past when other cats come up to the window, screaming and losing her balance and composure.
I hadn't heard of a holistic vet before.
Besides the Feliway we were doing the following:
Allowing contact through the crack under the door. Feeding within sight of each other, trying to bring them inches closer every day. Swapping scents using a cloth and petting.  Room swapping.
We unfortunately were loudly trying to break up the first fight and ran after them (they move very fast). Eventually he caught my cat in a towel and put her in a safe room to calm down. On subsequent occasions we were able to make a noise or use movement to break up the fights, causing my cat to flee back to her area. The most recent incident was avoided when I sort of hissed at her and she gave up instead of pursuing.
The cats all see a vet, but we never mentioned this behavior as it doesn't seem like a medical issue. I asked my vet-tech friend about animal behaviorists, but she hasn't given me the number yet.
Thank you for your time and thoughts,
Leah

Answer
Leah,

For now I would strongly suggest that you keep these kitties separated from one another and avoid all contact for the next 2-3 weeks. During that time I would suggest that you consider trying out a homeopathic remedy called Bach's Rescue Remedy which is a blend of flower essences designed to calm and reassure. I have used this and other Bach flower remedies with great success, they are very safe and in many cases used worldwide by some pet parents and veterinarians to treat a myriad of psychological conditions in pets. I would recommend that you try a dose of around 5-7 drops per cat in fresh water each morning for at least a week. You can generally find Rescue Remedy and other Bach remedies in health food/natural health stores and homeopathic pharmacies for around $15 CAN. You can usually get ahold of a chart that matches Bach remedies to specific behavioral issues, this may help you to match appropriate remedies to specific cats in a way that may help to get things under control again.  

For now I would strongly suggest that you forget about the scent swapping, I suspect that it may have been introduced too early and I do think that this may be why things went so badly with the contact under a door. Right now it's extremely important to get things back on an even playing field and get the cats calmed down. Cats in high states of alertness or arousal will be far more likely to become aggressive with minimal stimuli so this is a key part of my recommendation in this case. Concentrate on getting all of the cats back on a straight and narrow path and then you can consider re-introducing them very slowly. A holistic vet trained in acupuncture and homeopathy would be ideal - these disciplines work amazingly well in cats based on my experience. Once the cats are settled down some it will be a good plan to have them be introduced to one another very slowly, very calmly and on a limited basis. There are a few important things to think about when it comes to situations like this:

- Are the cats responding with aggression and hostility because they can sense the anxiety that you and your husband are experiencing?

- Have the cats been allowed to become over stimulated with the scent swapping and contact underneath the doors?

- Are you realistically able to calmly, assertively and confidently reintroduce these cats over time?

- Are you prepared to have someone come into your home such as an applied animal behaviorist or someone with a good knowledge base and practical experience? Are you comfortable with the fact that these professionals would likely make suggestions that you may not entirely be comfortable with and they may also point out things that have been done wrong, in their opinion of course....in order to get things back on track?

The fact that your kitty responded favorably to a basic feline cue (the hissing that you did recently) suggests that she is willing to get the point and behave in a socially acceptable manner within the household. The one thing that leaves me wondering though is that I'm not entirely sure that you and your husband trust each others' cats enough to introduce them to each other - that leaves me wondering if the cats are picking up on your reluctance and uncertainty which could be why things have gone awry in this case. I am certainly willing to offer guidance, support and suggestions if you would like them.