Expert: Ali - 5/25/2009

Question
QUESTION: I will do my best to explain my situation.  In September my wonderful Aunt died in a car wreck.She had outside cat she fed everyday,just as a act of kindness to the animal.after my aunt was gone I started feeding the cat everyday and gave her a name Lola.In March I realized she was pregent so I brought her home to 2 cats that hate all other cats. Lola delivered one beautiful kitten on Apr9,09.Kitten is going to a new mommy on May24 but my worries is over Lola.She lives in my 3rd bedrm and I have treated her like the Queen of Sheba,the only thing she will let me do is occasionally pet her for a short period of time.she is in excellent health I have spent already 500.oo on her@vet for blood work&spading.I feel she is depressed because she just lays around and does nothing.But she eats,drinks,and poops in her box great.And how will she handle her baby being gone.I think it will devastate her completely.I am trying with everything with in me to help her want to live her and I would like to introduce her to outside her but Maxwell my Russian Bleu would fight and hurt her he is very terroial.what eles can I do to make Lola at ease,happy cat.Do you think she is sad because she is inside since March09? she has the saddest face on such a sweet cat.This is a special mission to me because of my aunt and she loved this pitiful little cat that came to her house for food.My Aunt always called it my little cat.  Any info would be so greatly appreciated.I have got to do more to help Lola be normal and my cats be nice to her.  Sincerely, Jackii

ANSWER: Jackii,

You may want to try giving your shy girl a homeopathic remedy called Bach's Rescue Remedy which is a blend of flower essences designed to calm and reassure. I've used this with shy, fearful, traumatized, etc cats and kittens for 10+ years with great results and this remedy is very safe. I'd suggest adding 7-10 drops of Rescue Remedy to Lola's fresh bowl of clean water each morning to see if that helps to change anything in terms of her demeanor. You can usually find this remedy in health food stores, naturopathic pharmacies, some mainstream pharmacies stock this remedy in the aisle with nutritional supplements and vitamins and as far as I know you can also purchase this remedy online.

I wouldn't rule out the possibility of Lola missing her kitten and grieving that loss, it's perfectly normal for cats to grieve when they lose a loved one to death or re-homing. If Lola appears unable to function when her kitten isn't around it might be kindest to re-home the two cats together as a pair to minimize the stress levels for both girls.

If Maxwell is just a pet (not being used for breeding) and he's not neutered I'd suggest doing so because that will greatly reduce the chances of serious territorial aggression, certain medical problems and serious behavioral issues. Once neutered it can take several weeks to a couple of months for the hormone levels to drop, once they do you should have a much less aggressive cat in terms of Maxwell.

Seeking out the advice of a holistic veterinarian would be ideal in this case. Holistic vets are trained in conventional medicine as well as one or more alternative therapies which could include homeopathy, acupuncture, herbal medicine or massage to name a few options. My family vet is a holistic practitioner and she's amazing with her patients, I've seen some incredible changes in psychological and medical conditions when she's administered homeopathic remedies meant to treat specific issues.

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

QUESTION: Maxwell,Sassy and Lola have been Neutered or spayed.I will try Bach's Rescue Remedy on Lola.I did not understand this statement in second paragraph, it might be kindest to re-home the two cats together as a pair to minimize the stress levels for both girls? Re-home the two cats?what does that mean? Do you mean max and sassy re-home? I would let lola outside but I know she would run away, she misses being outdoors. she has to get out of that bedroom. my friend said she could live out on land in the country with a large barn,should I try that and she said she would feed her?  I'm desperate!   Sincerely, Jackii

Answer
Jackii,

I really don't think that Lola's a helpless case, helping her might be easier than you think. I suspect that Lola might respond very well to the Rescue Remedy, I've had some pretty amazing results with Bach flower essences and kitties coming from a variety of backgrounds. It's perfectly okay to give Rescue Remedy to all of your cats if you were willing to formally introduce Lola into your household. There are other flower essences that I can recommend for Lola if she needs them. I suspect that if Lola is allowed a chance to play with toys, explore the rest of your home, bask in the sunlight and enjoy the pleasures of being a well loved pet you'll notice a positive change in her overall demeanor. I wouldn't rush to place Lola for adoption without trying a few little tricks, you might find that she perks up nicely with Rescue Remedy and having more entertainment and stimulation in her world. If you're willing to keep Lola in your home and introduce her to Maxwell I'm willing to help you in any way that I can so that everyone is happy. In future it could become necessary to place Lola for adoption for one reason or another - if you haven't placed her kitten by that time it might be good to have the same family adopt both cats since Lola shares a close bond with her baby. It's also quite possible that Lola is still grieving after the loss of your aunt. Many people don't realize just how sensitive cats are and how attached they become to those they love, losing someone can be pretty tough for them.

Sometimes cats confined to a single room for an extended period of time become depressed since there's not much to capture their interest, entertain them and make them happy. I see no reason why you can't try to introduce Lola to your resident cat(s) if she's been isolated from the other cat(s) in your home for 4+ weeks. In most cases 4 weeks is more than enough time for territorial kitties to get over their initial grumpy attitude aimed at a new kitty in the house.

Before starting to introduce Lola to your resident cat(s) it's important to take a few minutes to clear your mind, become relaxed and approach this in a calm, assertive frame of mind. Visualize the outcome you want rather than allowing yourself to become anxious thinking about the worst case scenarios. I can offer you some tips that you might find useful if you're concerned about giving Lola and Maxwell a chance to get to know each other if you'd like.

Cats are territorial animals by nature, but if changes in their household are made gradually and calmly they usually respond quite well. I can't promise that you won't see a bit of hissing, some growling or the cats might even exchanging swats. That's absolutely normal, cats have to figure out their place within the household hierarchy so minor disagreements like this should be watched carefully but it's best not to interfere provided that things stay reasonably calm.

If you want to cheat a bit and make the process of introducing Lola to your cat(s) easier you can share each cat's scent with the other, this can be done by switching beds, litter pans or rubbing the new kitty down with a clean hand towel, moving on to Maxwell and any other resident cats and returning to Lola for the last rub down, 2-5 days of that (provided that Lola has been in your home for at least 3+ weeks) should help get everyone comfortable with the idea that they'll be hanging out together. Cats are usually full of surprises, you never know, Maxwell might take Lola under his wing and enjoy her company.

Just in case something goes wrong it's important to be prepared to break up a fight if it happens. I'd suggest that you have a heavy towel, spray bottle or water pistol and a broom handy in case things go wrong. You can sometimes convince feuding cats to walk away by squirting them with water. If the water doesn't do the trick you can throw a heavy towel over one of the cats and move him/her to a room behind a closed door, a broom can also be used to gently guide an upset cat into a room that you can confine him/her in.

It's safest for Lola if she remains an indoor cat, but there's no reason why she couldn't go outside under controlled circumstances. You can certainly train Lola to accept a harness and a leash, I can offer you some suggestions to help you accomplish that if you'd like. If you own your own home you might want to consider building Lola an outdoor cat run so she can have access to the outside world through a cat door. Maxwell and Sassy might have fun with something like that too. Just having more entertainment and stimulation will most likely help to lift Lola's spirits, especially if she's not able to get much fresh air or time to look out the window while she's confined to your room.