Homeopathic remedies

[Mollysmummy]

Does anyone have any experience with using homeopathic remedies for stress/anxiety in cats? More specifically a cat who doesnt seem to be taking too well to a new kitten? I've found some called spirit essences but typically they don't ship to the UK and I can't really find much on websites over here?

[lilynmitz]

Some people have had success with Bach's rescue remedy, either added to water or rubbed into their ears. But you can also try a Feliway diffuser, which many people have found to be very good for de-stressing these situations.

However, a much better (and cheaper) option is to look at how you can manage the situation from a behavioural view point. How long have you had this kitten? I wonder whether you may have introduced them too quickly. Try following the steps in these links, going back to the beginning if necessary.

http://www.catchat.org/bonding.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.catchat.org/hierarchies.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You do need to bear in mind that some cats simply don't like other cats and would far rather be an only cat. These situations can be managed to some degree, but never really resolve. Do make sure each cat has their own territory, or hiding place that they can retreat to for a bit of solitary time, and give each cat plenty of reassurance and one to one time to help them feel secure. If one appears to be more "aggressive" than the other (eg hissing, swiping or even growling), these are signs of stress, not aggression, ie it's the cat saying "please keep away from me". Never punish this behaviour, but do separate them for a while to give them a chance to calm down.

[Mollysmummy]

Thanks for the reply. We live in a very small, open plan house so complete separation isn't really possible or practical. We bought a huge dog crate for the kitten with all his bits in, and shut him in there at night. Our resident cat sleeps all day and has sole use of the upstairs of the house so daytime isn't really an issue. In the evening we try to give them some time together downstairs, but resident cat is reluctant to come in the room where the kitten is as I presume she now sees this as his territory.

When they get together they do chase each other and resident cat hisses and swipes at him but there hasn't been any severe fighting. It's more a case of her clearly feeling stressed and rejected. I spend as much time as I can with her but when we do separate them in the evenings (while we're eating etc) the kitten is in our living space and resident cat has to be in another part of the house on her own which I feel terrible about. Maybe it's me who needs the bachs not them!!

We've had the kitten for 3 weeks now, and his behaviour is perfectly normal. Oh and we already use 2 feliway diffusers, one upstairs one downstairs as when we first got resident cat she was very nervous and we found it made a huge improvement in her.

[lilynmitz]

It's still very early days, but the fact that they do a bit of play chasing is a good sign, even if there are a few objections from your older puss. Do you feed them together (or at least near to each other at the moment), as this can be a good bonding moment. Otherwise it sounds like you're doing all the right things, so just give them more time to work this out between them, and keep giving your older cat lots of attention.

[Mollysmummy]

Hi, no they're fed seperately as kitten tries to get into older cats food! She doesn't stop him which I find weird. Maybe we should try feeding together again even if it's just giving her treats while he's eating or something?

I'm starting to think it's us being stressed about it rather than them!

[meriad]

have you tried playing with the cats to see how they integrate. Something like DaBird is wonderful for that because you can involve both cats without them having to be too close to each other to start with.

Also treats - anything that will be positive reinforcing. Give your resident cat two or three treats whilst kitten is around, then give kitten one and then another one for resident cat etc - again making resident cat associate kitten with good things.

As for you being stressed about it and not them - you may well have hit the nail on the head on that one. As hard as it is - leave kitten to have a bit more of a run around the house and try and just ignore the two of them (easier said than done I know but... ) Your resident cat will be picking up on your anxieties and associating that negative with the kitten.

So Feliway on the go as you already have, maybe some rescue remedy if you want to try it and then a glass of something or a cuppa for you and then feet up and try and relax and let them all get on with it.

Good luck!

[Mollysmummy]

Fantastic advice thanks!! We have tried them playing at the same time, but with seperate toys should we use the same toy? Molly (older cat) is asleep on our bed now so when she gets up we'll try it. I'll definitely give the treats idea a go, Kevin (kitten) isn't food orientated at all but he's the runt so we need to build him up still, but Molly is a piggy so she'll love it!

[meriad]

I'd use just the one toy for both - that way you can control who has how much interaction.

if Kevin isn't treat oriented then that's also OK - it's mainly Molly you're trying to bribe What you could do is have someone play with Kevin (by rolling a ball around) so Kevin is active but not interested in Molly, whilst someone else sits with Molly and giving her some treats. Also definitely start feeding them closer together. Even if Kevin gets into the adult cat food - it won't do him any harm.

[Mollysmummy]

We had to take Kevin to the vet this evening because he had some blood in his poo this morning, vet wasn't concerned but gave me some zylkene for Molly to see if that calms her down.

[luvmycat]

i hope everything works out for you and your Cat

[Mollysmummy]

Managed to get Kevin eating his dinner (not a problem), and Molly to eat a handful of biscuits about 2 feet away from him (when she'd decided to stop staring at him)!