Oh lovely! It's another post from Isaria about her frickin cats!!!
5 years ago I moved from New York to Texas with one fat cat named George (Professor Chubbington).
Now I have 7.
This is all mostly due to The Shane's fault.
He found Peanut on the side of the road, got a Snibby cat for him to play with, rescued Jeffy from a dangerous home, and then got a Sophie to play with the Jeffy.
Recently, we just moved to East Texas with 5 happy cats.
It's not easy to get that many cats to like each other because cats have tiny, stupid brains and they can be viciously territorial if they feel threatened.
So, I made a post a couple of weeks ago about the new kitten Luna. Luna is kitty number 6 and we can't blame this one on The Shane. The poor, starving, pregnant kitten walked up to me outside and cried. So I had to save her.
The transition wasn't too bad. Snibby was the most upset by it, although Sophie and Luna do have some issues as well.
Side note: Yes, I realize that nobody actually gives a fuck about what I'm rambling about here, but I feel the need to get this out of my system.
It's been interesting to watch the feline colony social structure.
George is perceived by the other cats as the scary Alpha because he is frickin huge so all the cats just steer clear of him.
That's funny to me because George is 18 and an old man who can barely walk anymore, but the other cats are still scared of him.
Peanut is the actual Alpha though.
Snibby and Jeffy are next, and Sophie is the timid girl. So, the problems with Sophie are minimal because there is just a little hiss and then she runs away and hides.
The problem is with Snibby who hisses and growls and stands his ground ready to fight.
The other issue is that we never got Jeffy fixed. All the other cats were spayed/neutered but we kept putting it off with Jeffy which was stupid.
But, overall the issues with bringing in Luna were minimal and manageable.
However, shortly after rescuing Luna, I found another kitten hovering in the stairwell. Like Luna, this kitten was starving and is likely Luna's sister.
I brought the kitten some food and it just kept crying, breaking my heart. So, we rescued it. Again, I can't blame The Shane for this one.
Now the issues begin. I've pushed it too far. Cats do not like change. The anxiety of moving, a new place, a new kitten addition, and 2 weeks later another new kitten.
It was all too much.
This new cat, Jazzy, isn't pregnant like Luna was and it set off Jeffy's hormones.
The build-up of testosterone made him aggressive and he and Snibby got into a massive fight. Peanut tried to break it up being the Alpha. And Luna got involved too because she is a bad-ass street cat. Sophie and Jazzy ran away because they are Betas and George stayed exactly where he was on the floor because he doesn't give a fuck about anything.
We took Jeffy to the vet the next day to get him fixed and Jazzy has her appointment to get fixed tomorrow.
It will take a couple of weeks for the testosterone to leave Jeffy's system though.
So, at this point, Snibby and Jeffy are just hashing it out for the 2nd Alpha spot and I have to keep them separated.
If they get too close to one another Snibby hisses and instead of just walking away, Jeffy stands his ground and starts huffing and growling.
It's a mess.
Also, don't tell the other cats, but this is heartbreaking to me because Snibby and Jeffy are my 2 favorite cats.
They are both the sweetest and loving cats so to see them acting so aggressively toward each other breaks my heart.
We got some Feliway spray which is supposed calm cats down and we ordered the diffusers that can be plugged into the wall.
I'm hoping that Jazzy's spaying procedure will help the situation along with Jeffy's continual depletion of testosterone.
I don't know and I'm depressed.
When I don't have harmony and peace in my own home I become a very sad Isaria.
When I'm feeling better I'll write more about the Jazzy cat because she is so funny, sweet, and cute. This picture here is Jazzy sprawled out on the couch. She passed out after playing like a maniac.
