Wee wars

If you've read my previous posts you'll probably know that Bertie has struggled to settle in.

Bertie in his room

He gets on with the humans in the house and he tolerates most of the cats, but he really doesn't seem to like Billy. 

Billy posing

I guess, from his point of view, Billy is the only male likely to challenge him.  George and Harry are over ten now and are quite happy, eating, sleeping and having the odd stroll outside.  Bertie does all of that in addition to his 'patrols'.  He can often be heard (all those extra claws on laminate floors) wandering through from the 'cat room', past the kitchen and over to the cat flap.  I'm not sure if he's defending the house from outsiders or he's just taking an innocent look out.  Billy, who is actually a timid cat, no longer comes in through the cat flap and won't come in the front door either, if Bertie is in view.

In reality it's the girls who rule in this house, but maybe Bertie isn't tough enough to take them on...

Princess Bella rules

Joking aside the situation is bringing out behaviour I'd rather not have and it shows me that two of my cats aren't happy.  Bertie has really gone after Billy on a few occasions and we've had to separate them. When this happens it's a while before Billy comes out of hiding.

We've also got a wee problem, literally. Bertie seems to leave me little patches and puddles and Billy has responded by spraying :(.

We have found wee in, on, or against a variety of places/items; my sons new PC tower, the front door, the back door, the living room door, the garage door, the cat tree, my laundry basket, my daughters laundry basket, the living room fire, the dining room cupboard, corners of various rooms, the bath mat, the downstairs toilet floor, my husbands sock drawer, the tumble dryer, my daughters art work....oh and my handbag.

Not only is it smelly, its damaging. 

I did a bit of online research and many sites suggest a trip to the vets, the idea being that your cat could have an illness which makes them urinate outside the litter tray.  I don't think this is the case for us, I know Bertie uses the trays.  To me this is all about marking to feel comfortable in the house.

During my 'travels' I came across a fab site in the US A house full of Cats  They basically run a sanctuary in their home and have multiple cats.

They give some great advice on multiple cat households and I was particularly interested in the Bach Flower remedies they go through. I'm currently giving Beech and Larch a try in the water bowls.  I'm also trying a plug in Feliway  in the living room.

I've also been trialing a number of cat litters to see if there are any preferences for owners or cats.  I'll be posting my findings shortly.

The great escape

With the help of the vets and encouraging the kittens to eat, my little foster family is back to good health.
I've found that different food containers can make a difference. When the kittens have been reluctant to eat I've used plates and even tried plastic place mats. At times Willow still wouldn't eat, until I put food on the back of my hand! Bizarre.

Princess Willow being served her food

When you open the door to the 'kitten room' it is now rather funny, but very exhausting! Mum has jumped over the hardboard barricade from the start, then William got in on the act. Now Whisper can also make it over and Willow is almost there. This makes opening and closing the door like a scene from a Benny Hill sketch. You catch one as another jumps and as you put one or two back, there is another waiting to take a chance. Nightmare? Yep. Hilarious? Most certainly!

Two local tom cats have been regular visitors to our garden.  They sit waiting patiently by the cat flap. One looks very sorry for himself, possibly a stray, the other looks well fed, but any wounds he has don't look like they get attention. We have no way of knowing if they have homes or not. We've called them 'Ginger' and Boe (As in 'face of' due to his big face...)  Boe has been very interested in waiting for Abbie to come out of the cat flap.

'Boe'

Ginger

Last weekend Abbie started behaving very oddly.  It seemed she was in season.  We've had her and her sister Bella for 18 months and they were thought to have been spayed.  However, with the howling and strange behaviour it seemed that maybe that wasn't the case.  Strange though that she hadn't shown this behaviour before.

Billy and Abbie holding paws...

I couldn't risk her going outside with two toms on the loose.  I spoke to the Vet and made an appointment for her to be spayed.  The Vets explained they would check for a scar first and would perform the op if there was nothing visible.  They were pretty sure from my description, that Abbie couldn't have been spayed.

In the meantime Bertie has turned guard dog.  He sat at the cat flap and grumbled warnings.  This last week his behaviour has definitely improved.  He now joins us in the living room a lot of the time and his problems with the other cats have been less of an issue. This is good news.

Bertie sits with Daddy :)

Abbie went in for her op on Thursday.  They did find a scar, but they felt it was in an unusual place so they opened her up to check.  She had been spayed so there is no chance of kittens.  They did say there could be something left that could produce hormones.  The only way to check this would be to open her fully all the way down her underside.  I don't want to put her through that.  It was bad enough seeing how wobbly she was when we got her home this time.  The Vet did say that having the toms around could have had an effect of her too.  She now has to stay in for 2 weeks, which she is very unhappy about.  Maybe this will be enough time for the tom cats to move on.

I've been trying to give my little foster family more chance to play.  This week they've been spending time in the living room and had great fun on our giant cat tree.  I love this tree and the cats do to.  I'll admit it is pretty huge and people point at it when they walk past my house, but who cares??

The Cat Tree :)

Here are a few photo's of them all having fun

Whisper

Willow

Whisper and William

Sisters

William

Mum watches her babies

Proper little monkeys!

Wendy went in for her op on Friday (its been a busy week!)  Whisper and Willow went along too so they could have their jabs.  In contrast to Abbie, Wendy was as bright as a button when I picked her back up.  You'd hardly know she'd had anything done.  The Vet suggested that the kittens shouldn't be feeding from her anymore as her nipples were sore again.  I think one of them must bite :(  With that advice, the only thing we could do was to put Wendy in the cat room and the kittens have stayed in their room.

Wendy will be going back to the Shelter tomorrow.  I think I will likely shed a tear or two.  She is an absolutely lovely cat, so affectionate.  I really hope she will get adopted quickly.

Bertie boo

Finally I've got to the newest recruit.  Number 7. Bertie was living as a stray for about 12 months before the cat shelter had room to take him in. Fortunately, he was being fed outside by someone so at least he wasn't malnourished.

Again we had the choice of a few cats who might fit into our home. In the end it came down to who we felt might get overlooked.

At the Shelter

Bertie (named Albert by the Shelter) is a very big cat with the biggest feet I have ever seen. We left the shelter and decided to talk it through in the evening.

The next day I returned and pre adopted Bertie. Later that week, when he'd had his second vaccination I filled out his paper work, collected him and moved him into our 'cat room'.

Comfy in the cat room

He has little interest in going outside. I guess when you've had a year on the streets you appreciate being inside and warm. Another one who loves food, he almost knocks you over when you're preparing meat!

Big feet!

He came to us in January and so far his integration with 'the tribe' has been mixed. He mainly stays to the room he was first introduced to but does venture out from time to time.
Lately though he has been chasing the other cats and they have started to be very wary of him. The biggest issue is his unpredictability. One moment he'll sit calmly at the side of another cat but an hour later he's chasing someone.

First time on the cat tree :)

This has obviously been giving us cause for concern and we've had to go back to keeping them separate when there is no one in the house and monitoring him when we are.  I'm still hopeful he will settle, but this is always the danger when introducing another cat.  We will keep working on it.  Interestingly I read an article about putting Bach Flower remedies (alcohol free) into their water to help with behaviour issues .  I'm going to check out if this is safe and perhaps give it a go.

Bertie has his first trip outside (watched by Billy)

Fingers crossed we didn't go a cat too far.