Meet the Castaways

Recently, I won a copy of The Cat Whisperer, a book i have hoped to read and apply for a long time now. My husband and i have three rescued, variously traumatized cats.
This was a natural for me. I preferred cats to people most of my life. I would sit in my grandfather's barn for hours observing and making friends with barn cats. I would watch how they interacted. When they blinked, how they approached each other, how they played, how they established who the boss was, etc. I was a statue mostly. The youngest would get curious first and start to use me as a playground. Eventually, i could move and no one would freak out. This took time because the mothers were very skiddish. I learned a lot back then, but that did not prepare me for the sorts of dysfunction that has occurred.

The first of our merry band is Cleo, a lovely black probably maine coon who came to us about 4 years ago. A coworker rescued her from the streets. The story goes that her owners were evicted, the landlord did the 30 day lockout and then opened the doors. Out ran Cleo and a dog. It took 3 days for them to get her into a have a heart trap with food. She came to us underweight and very scared. She vomits when nervous and hates anything that startles her. She developed her kidney problems then, i think. She was thrilled to have a home, but remained a pet bed for a long time. At this point, she is the Queen of the house, However, she remains a pet bed whenever we have company to this day.

Two years later, the very nervous Callie came home from a shelter clearance sale. She is an abandoned tortie who was about 18 months old when we got her from the streets by way of the shelter. There were wars of epic and cosmic proportion as both vied for our affection. And as she figured out that Cleo in her litter box does not assume an invitation to sneak attack. Using information found on the internet, i was able to reduce the aggression with distraction and multiple everythings, so that the fights became occasional swats over the next year. She dislikes being held much. One of the first things she did when i first held her was slice my neck side to side with her back claw. Ouch. She is incredibly insecure and has to be on top of either me or (if i am unavailable) my husband. Preferably on our shoulders or across our chests (while sitting, which makes for interesting acrobatics), just don't actually make her feel trapped or officially held. She is slightly more social with company.

Then Lucie (sometimes called Luciefur) came last Christmas eve. Things went logarithmically bad. She had her own room. We introduced scent. All seemed not bad until the genie was out of the bottle. At first, she observed. Then, not so much. She was on the short list to be euthanized at the shelter. She had already been quarantined once for biting a worker. If she did more, it was curtains. She was declawed (all the girls came that way - part of the sympathy vote, i suppose) and very overweight. She was obviously terrified in the box of her 4 month cage home next to the big sign about biting and nervousness. But, her behavior when moving around was scared, not dominant and definitely not aggressive. Impulse buys can go in unexpected directions, but the other two had worked things to a science with some guidance and lair creation. Why not...
The biting continued whenever touched anywhere but the face and even then when she is done with you. This is not a huge issue and one that we are patient about with her. We just stay calm and move back to a distance where she feels safe again. She almost never bites hard, just a quick strike with her teeth that doesn't leave marks or anything. The exception is if we miss the early warning signs, startle her or pet her from in front of her face. There were a couple of fights, but those are mostly gone. She and Callie chase each other around, but in a tag kind of way. Boxes and bowls are not crime scenes.
I wrote begging for the book when the defiling of the man cave/exercise room got to be too much. At first, she was soiling the carpet in the room she originally was kept in. I figured she didn't like sharing. I deodorized, closed the room off for a few days and did some strategic cat bed and toy placement with treats and catnip placed here and there. Problem went away. Go me. The other room had always been sparse. I figured, since it had been unclaimed by anyone, the lack of cat in one room so the humans could have room to play would be ok. I was so wrong. Lucie started soiling that. I tried what i did before, but it continued. And the biting got worse. Blood was drawn while purring continued. (Even more frustrating because she doesn't groom enough and won't let us help out by petting or brushing, so she is a knotted short hair grease ball). She is getting more bold and controlling of everything, which is stressing out Cleo, exacerbating her vomiting, binge drinking of water, and confining her to the top of her favorite cat perch. The bottom of her chin is red from marking everything repeatedly. We were considering giving up. I work on a psych floor. Living on one was too much even for me.
And here we are. Welcome to kitty rehab. Please book, arrive soon!