You remember the theme song, right? Here's the story of a lovely lady who was bringing up two very lovely cats, and the story of a man named Brady (weirdly enough, that's my boyfriend's name!), who was busy with two cats of his own... And then one day when this lady met this fellow, and they knew that it was much more than a hunch...but four cats living altogether?? That's the way they all became...
Crazy? Pulling out their hair? You guessed correctly. The humans, that is--the cats had their own ways of coping. Peeing on couches and beds was popular. Generally harassing each other, and even one heroic escape attempt (thank heavens for pet insurance) also placed highly. It was not necessarily pretty in the early days of our family co-habitating.
It seemed so perfect when we began dating. You love cats as much as I do? You don't mind my "Hang In There" poster? I love you! Here, scratch behind my ears, please. Purrr... But when we finally decided to move in together, our silver lining showed its cloud.
Anyway, having lived and learned, and hoping we're not the only one insane enough to attempt to combine multiple cat households, we thought we'd share some advice. The more, the merrier! IF you keep these things in mind.
1. My little troupe moved into his place, which meant that we were the "new" ones. Put the "new" cats in a room by themselves with their own food, water and kitty box (door closed) and let the others sniff through the door for several days. (As the "new" person, you just might feel like staying in there with them, too, and letting your partner sniff through the door...)
2. Have patience. Seriously! Patience and pet insurance. It took about 6 months of hissing and growling before we heard much purring. It sucked. But after awhile, the backs stopped arching most of the time, and the snuggling resumed.
3. We tried this calming spray, Feliway. I can't say it worked.
4. Our vet, who got to know us a little too well, prescribed two of our little party kitty Prozac. Fish flavored, but I was still tempted to take it myself on occasion. It seemed to calm the cats, but I was never that comfortable having them on the meds. They seemed a little lethargic, which beat hostile, but was depressing. After awhile, we weaned them off it, and they were still more chill than in the beginning.
5. I'd say wait a few weeks to move the litter boxes and food dishes to the same location (not as each other, I mean basically a litter station and a food station). We rushed it, and those were the sites for stand-offs.
6. I mentioned pet insurance, right? Look for a plan that discounts vet visits, medication, food (they exist!), and also lost pet help. I don't want to get into it, frankly. Suffice it to say, we're all back together and Hercules is fine, although he does spend a lot of time in the window. Thinking of bygone adventures, no doubt.
If you're about to form a big, blended kitty family like ours, we wish you a raging success. Soon enough (or not soon enough, but eventually, we promise!), you'll be a pile of snuggles on the sofa, one big happy, like they say.
Author Resource:-
www.PetAssure.com is the preferred alternative to insurance coverage for your family pet. Unlike pet health insurance, all pets are covered; regardless of age, medical condition or any pre-existing condition. There are no exclusions, no deductibles and no waiting for reimbursement with our pet health plan .
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