Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Let's Freak Mom Out

... by sleeping together on the bed.


They grew up together, but there are times when you'd never know it. I have had to physically separate them; Mija comes into my bedroom and Pilchard is shut into the office. I leave them in these rooms for 15 minutes, which, to them is like an eternity, and then I open the bedroom door first. Mija is usually lying on that pillow. She's content to stay there. When I open the door to the office, Pilchard can't wait to leave. I ignore her for another hour or so, in an effort to reinforce that growling, hissing, spitting, attacking your sister is not permitted. We're fine for another 2-3 months and then something sets them off.

I took 2 days on top of the past weekend, to use up vacation days. That is a change to their routine, me home for more than 2 days at a stretch. Sunday evening, all heck broke loose in the kitchen. I don't know if something was on the deck or what but Pilchard cornered Mija under the kitchen table. I had to get the broom to separate them. Things like this make me really upset. I shut Pilchard in the bathroom with the lights off for a half an hour while I checked Mija out thoroughly to make sure she hadn't been bitten or scratched about the face. When I opened the door, all I could hear was growling. A black cat in a black bathroom is not easy to see. I didn't say a word to her and I ignored her for the next 2 hours, even when she hopped up next to me in the chair in the office and gave me that pitiful meow of "Please mom, I want ear scratches". Mija growled and hissed all evening. They settled down but I worried there would be another incident, particularly at 2 in the morning, when these things seem to happen most.

The next day, I see the above. Make my bed? Nope. Can't move the cats.

So, I ask those of you with multiple cats, how do you handle this? My House Panther is something of a diva. She outweighs her sister and is clearly the more dominant in the relationship. It stresses me so to have them growling and hissing and spitting. Plus, I worry there will be a cat fight when I'm not around and someone will be hurt. 3 years ago, Mija reached the end of her rope and bit Pilchard when I was at the office Christmas party. I didn't find the bite, on Pilchard's chin, until it abscessed, even though she likes her chin scratched. There was nothing to indicate there was a problem. Ugh. That was smelly.

I realize that cats are like kids and they won't always get along, but what recommendations do you have for creating more of the above and less of the cornered kitty in the kitchen? I've had cats in my house for 25 years and we've had our ups and downs, but never quite like these two.

See you next week.

Pilchard's mom.

4 comments:

Sasha said...

I am an only cat and am not sure if I would want another. As I am only one year old I need my human to play with me a lot. Maybe you need to play with the cats more. We watched The cat from Hell program and they wore the cats out with a lot of stimulatory exercises. maybe each cat should have his or her own litter and sleeping place.

CatInTheFridge said...

Peabody and Crepes took a year and a half to finally cuddle each other and just last night, crepes went up to peabody on the bed, peabody licked her, and made a sudden movement, and crepes screamed and ran away. two months ago, niles poked rocky in the eye and we had to take him to the emergency vet. They've been together for 14 years and used to be best of friends. I think cats', like people's, relationships change as the years go on. We usually make sure peabody sleeps in a separate room from crepes at night only and if one of them seems particularly feisty, we remove the less feisty one to sleep in our bedroom for a few hours. Even though it's a slight lack of sleep for us, it's better than another trip to the ER. I don' tknow if that helps, but you're definitely not alone. -Alana.

Donna said...

I had my favorite sleep places, on the floor and on the couch. :) I used to jump on the bed; then Mom and Dad said to sleep next to it instead, so I did. Heehee! :)

meowmeowmans said...

It's so tricky with multiple cats. Too bad they can't tell you what really sets them off. :(