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Having problems with male cat that we got our daughter for her birthday last September.
3/9/2011 12:36:22 PM
My younger daughter has been asking for a cat of her own for a long time. Last year we went ahead and bought a Ragdoll male kitten for her. The cat is very sweet and has an unreal tolerance to children. This is why I chose the Ragdoll breed. He is extremely loving and very social with all of us. We have had two female cats for over a decade. One of the cats is very anti social. She comes out once in a while and is nice when you pet her but runs off and hides if you look at her wrong. The eldest female cat is very loyal and just stays in the master bedroom all day. She enjoys when we are in there with her. However, she rarely leaves our room except to eat.
We have been open feeding the two female cats for years. They were a tad overweight but nothing serious. Vet said they are both healthy. Now bring the male cat into the situation. He is a very large cat, maybe 15+lbs already and he is only 7 months old. My female cats are about 10lbs each, maybe less now. Male cat is fixed and shots. Same as female cats. Each and every time the female cats try and either roam the house or go eat, drink or use the litter box he absolutely terrorizes them. They don't fight, they run from him but he catches them sometimes and he will put his body on top of them like he is trying to mount them and bite their necks and if he gets ahold of them he will drag them around the floor.
So they are absolutely terrified of leaving my room now. They have lost weight because they are not eating as much. The only time they get to eat is in the middle of the night if he is asleep, but he will hear them crunching on the cat food and wait for them outside of the door. Then the whole house is woken up with cat screams as he assaults the female cats. I have tried to swat him with my hand, newspaper, spray him, chase him, lock him in the bathroom etc every time he does it but now he just runs from me when he does this because he knows its wrong and that I will put him in the bathroom or swat him. He isn't affraid of me, he just knows that I don't like him doing that, but he continues to do it. When I see him he feels that I am dominant and he will roll over on his back and start purring.
Also, he has started to guard the food and water supply. He will literally lay down between the food bowl and water bowl for hours on end, which has caused another issue. He is very over weight. He eats non stop and drinks non stop. We go through cat food at an unbelieavable rate. I am in a conundrum. If I take the open feeding away then my female cats will not eat. If I leave it they will barely eat and he will get fatter and fatter. I think we have decided that taking the open food away is probably the best thing. We may end up feeding the girl cats in the bathroom with wet food once a day to keep him away from them while they eat.
Does anyone have a good idea on how to get him to stop harassing the female cats? Do they make electric cat collars with a button so I can press it when I hear my female cats screaming? lol
We have been open feeding the two female cats for years. They were a tad overweight but nothing serious. Vet said they are both healthy. Now bring the male cat into the situation. He is a very large cat, maybe 15+lbs already and he is only 7 months old. My female cats are about 10lbs each, maybe less now. Male cat is fixed and shots. Same as female cats. Each and every time the female cats try and either roam the house or go eat, drink or use the litter box he absolutely terrorizes them. They don't fight, they run from him but he catches them sometimes and he will put his body on top of them like he is trying to mount them and bite their necks and if he gets ahold of them he will drag them around the floor.
So they are absolutely terrified of leaving my room now. They have lost weight because they are not eating as much. The only time they get to eat is in the middle of the night if he is asleep, but he will hear them crunching on the cat food and wait for them outside of the door. Then the whole house is woken up with cat screams as he assaults the female cats. I have tried to swat him with my hand, newspaper, spray him, chase him, lock him in the bathroom etc every time he does it but now he just runs from me when he does this because he knows its wrong and that I will put him in the bathroom or swat him. He isn't affraid of me, he just knows that I don't like him doing that, but he continues to do it. When I see him he feels that I am dominant and he will roll over on his back and start purring.
Also, he has started to guard the food and water supply. He will literally lay down between the food bowl and water bowl for hours on end, which has caused another issue. He is very over weight. He eats non stop and drinks non stop. We go through cat food at an unbelieavable rate. I am in a conundrum. If I take the open feeding away then my female cats will not eat. If I leave it they will barely eat and he will get fatter and fatter. I think we have decided that taking the open food away is probably the best thing. We may end up feeding the girl cats in the bathroom with wet food once a day to keep him away from them while they eat.
Does anyone have a good idea on how to get him to stop harassing the female cats? Do they make electric cat collars with a button so I can press it when I hear my female cats screaming? lol
3/9/2011 1:49:11 PM
SSS and a new kitty.
Some cats just aren't compatible with others. If its only been 7 months, maybe your daughter will transition more smoothly to a new cat after the other one "runs away".
Some cats just aren't compatible with others. If its only been 7 months, maybe your daughter will transition more smoothly to a new cat after the other one "runs away".
3/9/2011 6:14:46 PM
No way. She loves her kitty. He is a great cat other than him being an over eater and assaulting my other cats. We would have a meltdown on a global scale if he went missing.
3/9/2011 7:23:15 PM
Well then you're gonna have to send in the blue helmets. (The U.N.)
Lock fat ass up at night.
Or have two feeding places far apart. he can't guard both (he might try, but that will be funny to watch)
Lock fat ass up at night.
Or have two feeding places far apart. he can't guard both (he might try, but that will be funny to watch)
3/10/2011 11:24:50 AM
You can provide separate living environments for him and the other two so they don't have to interact or consider rehoming the male . He is not going to stop harassing the females and it's not fair to them to live in fear of being bullied.
3/10/2011 12:43:26 PM
The girls have always just stayed in my room so I think I am going to put a litter box in my bathroom and a small amount of food and water and just let them have our room. That way he won't bother them. I may get an electric collar. I read up quite a bit about them and they do modify behavior although they aren't the nicest thing to do to your pet. Gotta learn somehow though. We can't rehome the male. My daughter is extremely attached to him.
3/10/2011 3:03:10 PM
It's great that you are considering all the possible options to allow you to keep all the cats.
3/24/2011 1:03:54 PM
Update. I no longer leave the food out. I have two small bowls. One goes in my room with the girl cats and one with the boy cat. I feed them once a day and split a can of wet food at night. I actually have all of the cats come out and follow me around and the male cat is more worried about the food than chasing the girls. He still does it a bit in the morning. But I think taking away what he was guarding really helped out.
3/25/2011 4:20:56 PM
I've had much the same situation recently with a fixed male rescue we brought home. My white cat, a fixed female, was the "only child" for over nine years before we brought home another cat. The younger male is just like the OPs...eating everyything he can and bullies and attacks the female. She never had to deal with being antagonized before and it makes me mad to hear her squalling when he's tackling her. Besides, he's getting pretty fat too. He has his own area in the basement where he has to go at night for us to get any sleep, but he's out all day, so I have to leave out enough food for both of them and he eats most of it. My boyfriend, who brought home the new cat, "hates" to put him in the basement, but it's the only way to separate them.
