Pets!

Wizz

I know this is more of a picture thread, but can I ask for some advice?

We’ve wound up with six cats all told because times are tough and all the local vets were charging very high prices for spay/neuturing (almost $400 just for one) and were booked out like three months, unfortunately. Poppa cat Alucard is fixed, and we’re scheduling the momma Oreo next for her health, so we’re not worried about any more showing up, lol…but six cats is just a lot of cats for us in the long term.

My son and I adore these little creatures and he is very, very attached to them, but I have finally been able to help him understand that at least some of them need to find new homes.

The biggest issue, however, is that now that the kittens are weened, Oreo does not tolerate them, like at all. She is very affectionate with us, but has become very standoffish with ALL the other cats and will not accept them in her space, which is aggravated by the fact that they are all very playful and constantly try, which sets her off.

I have been considering finding her a home without other pets, but my son absolutely will not hear it since he’s had her since she was a kitten and they have a very strong bond. I am really worried that she will continue to become more aggressive with the other cats and I feel like it’s only a matter of time until she hurts one of them or gets hurt, though. Any thoughts on how I can approach this with him?

bear_necessities

@Wizz Honestly letting go of the cat that you’ve had since she was a kitten seems unfair. It seems like she’s doing the momma cat thing and establishing her boundaries now that the kittens are weened. It might be overwhelming to her to have that many kittens in her space/face all the time. I would rehome the kittens and give momma her peace back.

Wizz

@bear_necessities

We can start there, but she’s also been very aggressive with Alucard lately as well. Hopefully rehoming the kittens helps, and I don’t have to come back around to it.

Pax

@Wizz This might be a bit above my paygrade and I haven’t had a lot of cats, but to echo @bear_necessities, older dogs “correcting” younger ones is common socializing behavior. Eventually, the little 'uns learn boundaries and what they should and shouldn’t do. It looks crazy and aggressive to us but for them, it’s perfectly normal and completely fine. They don’t have another way of saying “don’t do that, it stresses me out, I don’t like that shit.”

The spillover to Alucard may very well just be stress, and fair cop: suddenly having a bunch of kittens in your space is stressful. Imagine if four toddlers you didn’t ask for showed up right now! You’d be stressin.

*Again, let me emphasize IDK anything about cats, this is just what I’ve observed from a lifetime of doggos.

Wizz

@Pax that makes sense. This is my first time really raising cats on my own, and it was definitely unsettling to see her seem so upset with them, especially since Alucard is so affectionate with them. I will keep that in mind!

GF

@Wizz By a weird coincidence, YouTube has been pushing a lot of “how to socialize cats” videos to me lately, so there seems to be a lot of advice over there if you have the time to watch the vids.

Snackness

@Wizz Cats are very sensitive to changes to their social structure and territories. I can’t guarantee that rehoming the kittens will help her behavior towards the other cats, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it did.

Wizz

@Snackness
Fingers definitely crossed. I love Oreo and especially love how close she is with my kiddo, so I was dreading the prospect of rehoming her too and will just try to be positive about it not coming to that.

Thanks all!

junipersky

@Wizz

As someone who recently had 15 cats in her house, and now has 8, I fully and completely understand!!! It is overwhelming to have that many kitties.

Bless you for doing the work to get them fixed.

I’ve worked in rescue as a foster and adoption counselor for a few years, and I have some ideas for how you can help create some peace in your home now. Most of them involve some investment into litter boxes.

One way is to create spaces for your kitties to feel safe. Your baby who is getting upset at the others needs a space they can go to be alone. You mentioned your son is close, so maybe their room can become the safe space. A closed door is fine, or if you want the kitty to be seen but not interacted with you can buy mesh screens that go over the doorway. There is also a really amazing fill doorway babygate (goes all the way to the ceiling and has bars close enough together big cats can’t slip through) but it is reallllly expensive. One of our fosters got super creative and got two baby gates with the swinging doors. One is on the bottom like normal, and the second they hung upside down over it. The whole doorway is covered. They wanted a little extra security so they used packing tape over some sections so a really skinny cay can’t slip out.

Packrat

@Tez She is a lilac so not going to get super dark, but is unreasonably adorable. She is also being kind of a minx to my adult cat but it seems to be mostly wanting to play a lot more than said four year old is keen on.

She follows me around like a puppy though, being talkative and even sometimes playing fetch. I am not allowed to sleep in on weekends though! She will start dragging toys onto my bed and trilling to tell me it is play time.

junipersky

@Wizz
Sorry to double reply: Are all the kittens the same gender? If not and not fixed an unhappy note is that they can start making/having babies as early as 4 months old. Rare that young, but can happen.

Wizz

@junipersky

Oof, all girls except one. I’ll prioritize finding him a home first, or just try and get him in and fixed if it’s not happening fast enough for sure. Thanks for pointing that out!

Luckily they are all extremely sweet and I know where to start asking first.

Tez

@Packrat Growler (she’s actually quite sweet!!*) was SUCH a pest for like a year after we got her. WILDLY playful. Then we got a younger cat, who gave her a nice vent for her excess energy. So what I’m saying is: have you considered ANOTHER kitten?

As I was typing this, @Yam was looking over my shoulder saying, ‘Tez, she’s not quite sweet. Stop lying to this nice person. All morning she was just bugging me and pawing me for attention and demanding butt scritches.’

She follows me from room to room, but she doesn’t actually like being pet a good 90% of the time. She’s VERY particular. I feel she betrays the ragdoll name.

junipersky

@Wizz

If you need to set up a go-fund-me to help with the costs, I’ll donate in a heartbeat. The more I get into the rescue world (and especially as I help build out the TNR arm of the rescue I work with), the more I learn the best way to care for our cats is to make sure they don’t make more of themselves.

Packrat

@Tez I have considered it but two cats is enough for me, she will calm down as she gets older and in the meantime I have a three year old niece who visits often and loves her.