I took Mouse to the vet today for her annual check-up, and I talked with the vet about how unhappy Mouse has been with Benchley’s persistent attentions: Benchley wants to PLAY! and CUDDLE! and Mouse wants to be LEFT ALONE! and I feel like we ruined her entire old age by getting this dim cat who won’t take a hint, and meanwhile she’s started using the laundry pile as a litter box and that is not going to work for us.
Anyway, get this: the vet told me about Feliway (cat Prozac in air-freshener-diffuser form, which some of you had mentioned too), and said we could put a collar-keyed cat door in an interior door so only Mouse could go to a certain room, and she also said we could put a litter box in those rooms for Mouse—-or, she said, we could GET ANOTHER CAT. AHA HA HA HA HA!! Apparently, although this can backfire (leaving poor Mouse fighting off the affection of TWO cats), it’s QUITE LIKELY to succeed in cases where one cat wants a friend and the other one doesn’t (as opposed to situations where the cats hate each other).
I can’t WAIT to tell Paul!
I did buy the Feliway, too, because Mouse has one favorite spot (on a computer CPU) and there’s an outlet right next to it so the plug-in Cat Happiness might be perfect. And I’m glad I didn’t buy the diffuser at the vet’s office where it was $45, when it is $19 on Amazon. I do truly love Amazon.
Leave me. the frick. ALONE.
We have had good luck with the Feliway. We have noticed that over time though, it seems the cats develop an immunity to it. We’re on our last refill right now, and I don’t think I’ll get another one until the cats reach Level: Crazy. Hope you guys have good results with it. And I agree, I always buy it from Amazon. Always.
Feliway is a God send. I can’t even tell you. We acquired a kitten who sprays and this stuff has fixed everything. Be careful in their placement… if you have windows that are normally open, it’s not a good place for the plug in. We also have a spray bottle on hand.
Just want to say in my case a third cat did work. I know THIRD cat. . .ack!
Maybe you should show her the pictures of Devan’s cats. :) Although frankly, that wouldn’t work with humansas a behavior modification technique, so I am unsure it would work with cats.
I hate to say I told you so, but I did!! Sometimes another cat IS the right answer. Get Benchley a playmate and then they’ll leave Mouse in peace. In theory, of course…
Hold the phone – Feliway is $19 on Amazon? I’ve been getting royally ripped off. Swistle to the rescue, yet again!
Umm…do they have that Feliway stuff for Dogs? Perhaps Caniway? I needs it.
I hope this solves your problems. On the other hand, another cat!
Do they have Feliway for grown ups? Just thinking ahead to my mother’s next visit. No Mom, you have to sit in THAT chair by the outlet….
And this is exactly why we got a pair of kittens when we decided the house needed more cats – because we knew they would keep each other occupied and reduce the amount of harassment the older cats would get, and for the most part it has worked (also because most of the older cats eventually had to give up after months of being faced with a very determined Rupert who is SURE that they will all love him some day).
We’ve used the Feliway diffuser with good results before, so that’s definitely worth a try. Giving Mouse her own Benchley-free space will also likely really help for the short term.
How have I not heard of Feliway? Awesome. (I also would like to know if they have a canine version!)
Poor Mouse – I hope it works for her! Also, I’m on a cat success high, so I say go for #3!
Clarabella- They DO! It’s called D.A.P., and I would have had NO IDEA except that the Feliway paperwork came with a rebate coupon that mentioned D.A.P. too. It comes in a diffuser and also a spray and a COLLAR. Geez, a COLLAR seems IDEAL. I’m going to go see if they have a Feliway collar.
Oh Anne! HA HA HA HA HA!! Invent it and you will make a BEEL-YIN dollars!
An interior cat door sounds… weird to me. And would Benchley be able to follow Mouse in when Mouse’s collar activated the door? And would you have to replace the door if you ever wanted to sell your house, because potential buyers most likely won’t want a hole with a flap in their interior door?
Aw, poor Mouse! And poor Benchley, who just wants to love her! I hope the kitty prozac works.
I can see the logistic issues with an interior cat door, but I bet having her own space would be good for Mouse.
I would totally get another cat…but take that with a grain of salt, as I am ALWAYS trying to find an excuse to get another cat. Luckily, Husband is made of sterner stuff.
A friend of mine had a very elderly cat and had a similar issue with an overly affectionate young cat. He actually did go ahead and get a third cat and it worked! He ended up with a young cat, a middle-aged cat and an old cat and the two younger ones stuck together and left the old one alone. He told me he will always have three cats from now on. I don’t know if I have that kind of faith but just letting you know that your vet may not be wrong.
We have old lady cats (age 11) who are most irritated by our new dog. I am going to have to go check this out! Thanks Swistle!!
Oh, poor Mouse. I want to hug him & give him treats.
Jess- It sounds weird to me, too. The door replacement would be okay: we’d like to stay in this house for always if that works out, and it’s a cheap hollow-core door if we DID need to replace it. BUT—then we’d have to keep that door closed all the time, and that’s inconvenient at best. Plus, I have a feeling Benchley would just dart in whenever we opened it, which is OFTEN with seven people.
I’m leaning toward the funnest option, which is getting another cat!
Funny, but I am totally intrigued by the interior kitty door. It would be a bit awkward, perhaps. I would buy a cheapy door to cut a hole into to install the door, though, and save the regular door.
Oh please, please, PLEASE let us know how the kitty prozac diffuser works out for Mouse. I’ve been considering a similar purchase for our dog as he has a touch of separation anxiety. When he was a puppy and even a bit older we left him in his crate when we left him home alone and not only did he hate it with a fiery passion , it actually magnified his separation anxiety! Which is ironic given that crating your dog when leaving them home is one of the recommendations of things that often help separation anxiety. Good times! He will be 5 in September-ish (that’s our best estimate, anyway), and while he is usually fine to be left home alone under normal circumstances now (as long as we provide treat-filled kong toys to keep him busy, that is), I am due to return to work soon following an extended medical leave which will most likely increase his separation anxiety briefly. Couple that with his string of recurrent & non-healing injuries over the last 10 months, & it is especially important to keep him mellow right now. I hate to sedate him if I don’t absolutely have to, and I don’t really like the idea of putting him on actual doggie prozac either.
I recommend DAP to any dog owners that aren’t quite ready to make the step to “real drugs” for anxiety issues. It’s not foolproof and the effect isn’t dramatic, but hey! it doesn’t require a trip to see me (the vet) and it’s not harmful in ANY way. It’s marketed in a lot of pet stores and online as “Comfort Zone”.
We have the same problem. The new kitten wants to play, the older one hates the new one. But me and the new cat are moving soon and leaving the old one. I think we might get another kitten when we move
Feliway is supposed to work great. I will say, however, that the Prozac we give our peeing-on-stuff-when-he’s-mad cat only costs $7 every 3 months and requires us to squirt a bit in his mouth each day. Not ideal, but doable to avoid urine soaked clothes. If a 3rd cat would solve my problem, that’s what I would do.
My friends who got a 2nd cat brought the 1st cat to the visiting room at the humane society to let them hang out together. Can you do that with Mouse and Potential New Cat? I assume Benchley will get along with anyone.
I love the name Benchley and I’m glad you chose it. Sorry for the lateness of THAT comment. LOL.
This is a funny post. Feline Prozak, eh? Get a third cat too, and then we can NAME IT AGAIN! Hahaha, fun!
And lastly, Mouse looks super adorable in that picture. Poor old broad.
I wish you could take in this stray kitty we feed in our neighborhood. She’s just the most loving thing ever and I wish she could find a home. Unfortunately, it’s against the law in our city to have more than three cats.
I am SO glad I came across this post. We love our 2 cats, but the older one of the 2 has turned into a wailing at night-peeing on clothes-scatching machine and we just can’t handle it anymore. I am SO going to try this!!
Poor baby. I used to think I was a horrible person for getting Dax – my second cat because he and Kiki (older. Wiser. Much bitchier) were fighting all the time. Then I realized SHE was the one starting it. Hahaha! But I know he loves her because when the apartment door accidently opens, Dax sits in the doorway and protects her from the other cat in the house, while Kiki hides under a chair. It’s adorable.
We have the same problem. (And we have six cats, so ummm… more cats did not help) ;)
I am going to order this stuff. Our cat contentedly stays in a “cat room” with food and litter box because he never wants to come out and face the other cats.
Feliway is AH-mazing! We have three cats, one of which HATES the newest.