Expert: Ali - 9/22/2011

Question
Hi Ali,


I have a couple of questions.  First of all I have 4 cats ranging from 1 to 9 years of age.

I have a 6 year old Balinese and a 9 year old Red and White Tabby.  For whatever reason the Balinese does not like the tabby cat and attacks him.  My tabby has become scared of him and spends most of his time on the bed.  He is literally scared to come out of the bedroom.  I have tried the water gun but to no avail.  As far coins in a can my balinese is deaf that will not work.  Is there a way to stop this.  I have tried a time out and put the balinese either in the bathroom or in the carrier for a while and he just does not care.  This has to stop, any suggestions would greatly be appreciated.

My financial situation is very very tight.  Due to the economy I have been out of work for over 2 years.  I had them on Wellness Wet Food and Wellness Dry Food.  I cannot afford the wet food right now so they are all on dry.  They all like different foods, one likes California Natural, one likes Epigen 90 from Wysong and the other two eat either the Wellness or the California Natural. I have all of the foods down.  I have tried to put them all onto one food but I am afraid they will starve themselves.  Is there a way to do this?  I have been told several times by several people including my vet that healthy cats will not starve themselves.  I have fell into a bad trap and can't seem to get out of it.  

Any help would be appreciated.

Answer
Ellen,

Is your Balinese a recent addition to your family? Sometimes an improper introduction can create issues like this... Jealousy could definitely be a factor in what's going on which can be difficult to address without trying something such as homeopathy to help reduce your tabby's anxiety/stress/fear levels and help your balinese react more positively to other pets within the home/curb jealousy, etc... Bach flower remedies are great for this but they are roughly $20 per bottle of each remedy and I know that finances are tough...I can recommend specific remedies if this approach interests you.

As for the nutritional issue unfortunately your vet has given you the wrong advice - healthy cats who do not like what is put in front of them may simply opt out of eating which can be a serious problem. The tough part of this would be to find a food that everyone likes and given the foods that you are feeding I suspect that considering a homemade raw diet would be cheaper, healthier for your cats and more likely to satisfy everyone... You can check out catinfo.org for more information on how to feed and prepare raw properly - this is a website created by a veterinarian that my vet recommended to me when I expressed an interest in keeping away from commercially prepared foods as much as possible after my eldest kitty nearly died in 2007 as a result of the Menu Foods fiasco. If you have an aversion to feeding/preparing raw food for your cats there is always the option of gradually mixing whichever food you'd like everyone to be on into everyone's food starting with 3/4 old food and 1/4 new food and slowly working upwards on the new food and down on the old til they're eating what you want them to eat...

If you have any further questions or concerns,  please feel free to contact me again at any time - I'm more than happy to help in any way that I can.

Kind regards,

Ali