Comments on: Feline Friday: Once a softie

By: Mog

Mog — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 06:55:19 +0000

I had a similar problem with a couple of cats, solved by having the cats live away from me, kid took one. Nice couple took other one. They wanted to be only cat. One of them got quite terrortorial (spelling intentional) and would mark out his territory and defend it which territory happened to be the kitchen. I was not amused. Obviously, my solution wouldn’t work for everyone but I had eight cats in too little a house so I had to do something.

I was surprised amitriptyline doesn’t make them lethargic. It’s highly sedating in humans, is an antidepressant.

Oh, despite Sasha’s aggressive streak, cat makes lovely desktop wallpaper, thankies much.

By: karen

karen — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 04:31:45 +0000

Don’t hesitate to ask your vet about anti-anxiety drugs such as buspar. We’ve used them with great success. However, think about which cat you want to use them on; we found using them on the aggressor cat made that cat even less inhibited. Using them on the victim cat was what worked in our case; she stood up for herself and the bully stopped bullying. (The bully needed a mild sedative, it turned out.) We only used the drugs for 5 days; once normal behavior was re-established, it stuck without drugs.

By: vicki

vicki — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 14:18:46 +0000

At first pass I just looked at Sasha’s picture and smiled so I’m only now reading this in detail. This is pretty distressing to have a behavior change like this. Abby’s big sweet cat, Grey, that I took her last fall had a brief period much as you describe- not towards other cats because he’s on only cat- but just a marked aggressiveness. That one was clearly triggered by a trip to the vet where he got frightened by a larger still, more dominant cat. But, I’ll tell you- his fear turned wild was enough to get the vet and us to back off quick from a cat who is consistently sweet. After a couple weeks of cutting him a wide berth at home- basically just putting down his food and quietly cleaning his box- he settled right back down and has been fine since. The one thing that Abby did do was leave a small lower cupboard open in the kitchen where they store bags- and he spent a lot of time in there for those couple weeks. So maybe, hopefully, Sasha will settle with some safe havens. Poor Lyra and Sergei- this must be when cats whisper to each other, “Do you think he could benefit from medication??” Good luck with this one.

By: Lesly

Lesly — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 11:46:59 +0000

We have 7 (yes, 7) indoor cats, and found that when cats seem to be suffering from anxiety the drug amitryptilene (not sure of the spelling) seemed to help a lot. And the effects seem to last even after stopping the medication. It’s an inexpensive drug and doesn’t seem to have any side effects such as lethargy.

One caveat – the stuff must taste terrible, so make sure you get the pill down on the first try or forget it for a few hours.

By: A Byootaful Life » » WCB: Welcome to Puddy’s Corner!

A Byootaful Life » » WCB: Welcome to Puddy’s Corner! — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 09:58:18 +0000

[...] of Music and Cats is a big softie, but lately he’s been a little more aggressive and it’s worrying his [...]

By: Bufalogirl

Bufalogirl — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 19:53:07 +0000

Any connection between the CO2 tank recently acquired and the cat’s behavior? Any other physical changes in your house recently? Just a thought.

By: Lindy

Lindy — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 17:57:28 +0000

Oh dear, how upsetting. You can’t help but feel there must have been some trigger, but what could it have been? I hope there will be an equally swift return to the gentleman cat of the past. It is so hard to guess what’s up with them sometimes. Ever since I returned from my 5 day holiday,Anyanka, my offbeat, touchy little female, has been following me around and meowing at me.It is as if she is trying to tell me something, and I am being stupid.
And she is usually so quiet…..she even woke me up in the middle of the night, standing on my tummy and scolding. Not nearly so upsetting as your situation, but very confusing- so unlike her.