!!!!! DESPERATE FOR PROBLEM ACCLIMATION HELP !!!!!

I'm appealing to the wisdom of the group in hopes of finding some
interesting thoughts/suggestions/solutions to
a problem which has been ongoing for about 2 years now.
I had raised my cat from tiny kitten stage on a sailboat I formerly
lived on for approximately 10 years. She grew
up to be a fine mate/friend/etc through the years and is definitely
considered a family member. I've always
considered her to be well adjusted, happy and playful.

Here's the rub:
A couple years ago, after multiple carpal tunnel surgeries and three
successive serious hurricanes, health and
other issues forced us to abandon our original plans of cruising the
world and returning to a life firmly planted
on terra firma.
An old friend offered us (the cat and myself) a place to live and a
family to be a part of, a SERIOUSLY nice
(and much appreciated) gesture for sure and shortly thereafter, we
combined ranks (my friend and his siamese,
myself and my cat) to form the extended family we have now become.
It should be noted that, having been raised on a boat, my cat's
exposure to certain things was less than a
"normal" cat's would have been (little knowledge of things like cars,
trees, houses, etc), but she'd occasionally
been exposed to dogs, other people, etc and never seemed to have any
problems interacting with those
things.
As I said, my friend's cat is a female siamese, approximately 2 years
younger than mine, who'd been given to
him after being found abanded in a drainage ditch, by some friends.
IOW, the house was HER domaine
when my cat and I arrived here.
Some pertinent issues are that both cats are neutered females, with my
cat weighing in about half again larger
than his siamese and the biggest thing being that my cat had been de-
clawed while as kitten (I know, I know ..).
At the time of our arrival at my friend's house (approx two years
ago), there was never an issue of dominance
as to who's "territory" it was. For the most part, my cat's exposure
to having to fight (for anything) has been
limited, at best and the skirmishes began almost immediately with the
siamese always "corraling" my cat
back into "her" bedroom (out of the general living areas).
My cat spends the majority of her time in "our" bedroom, generally
lounging, chilling, doing the things cat do.
She occasionally slithers out into the main parts of the house doing
the "exploring, etc" things cats do with the
the outcomes of the forrays sometimes ending non-eventfully, sometimes
being "ambushed", with the outcome
usually ending back in "her room".

The question:
It's 2 years down the road and we were sure that by now the cats would
have "worked things out" and the two
would be playing together etc in mutual parts of the house and
generally co-existing (at least to the point that
the skirmishes would have been past them). Although the siamese is
barely half of my cat's size, it completely
intimidates my cat from being able to share the socializing stuff we
want them to be able to have.
Is there a shared "general consensus" technique we could use to
"force" (or at least speed up) the process of
the kitties accepting each other?

Any help (especially techniques which have proven successful in
similar situations) would be HUGELY
appreciated and help us create an environment which we've been trying
to provide for what's seemed like an
eternity now.

TIA,
Phil, David, Kali and Elizabeth
_____________________________________________________________________________

I can share my experience. I got Isis about 7 years ago. I didn't realize
until too late that she was urinating all over the place. I had medical
checks, etc., but nothing was organically wrong with her.

I recently moved into a newer house with nice clean carpeting and decided
that I could not and would not tolerate this same behavior again. I was very
fortunate in that I started working with an intelligent caring veterinarian.
She took a psychological approach to the problem of Isis' urinating. When
did it happen? What trigged various behaviors?

What I learned is that Isis has a naturally anxious disposition. That is the
way she is. When she encounters any cats through the window or smells or
hears any cats through the window she goes nuts. She runs all over and gets
very agitated. This, in turn, triggers the urinating behavior which was
always done in a territorial way particularly by my entry door.

My veterinarian suggested Prozac. After only a week or two in my new house I
put Isis on Prozac. I give her 40 milliliters every day with her morning
food. At first she was groggy and drowsy but shortly thereafter she regained
her normal behaviors. One day I left a sliding door open with the screen
closed and she sat there and started sniffing the outside air. Even though
there are no stray cats in this neighborhood (that I know about) she
urinated by that door. At the same time I had began to drop the Prozac
dosage down. Ok. I called my vet and told what was going on. I took her
advice and resumed with the 40 milliliter daily dose and all is well here. I
am not finding any problems with urinating in the house. Isis is calm. I'm
happy.

I pay about $40.00 a month for a small bottle of chicken flavored Prozac
(yes, that's right <-:) and it's worth it's weight in gold. The vet has
assured me that it's non-addictive and is metabolized through Isis' healthy
liver. She says there are no long term dangers.

I'm wondering if giving the Siamese (or both of them) Prozac might not help.
Isis used to be skittish when people came over. No more. Now anybody can pet
her to their heart's content (within Isis' normal limits <-:). She's not
'dopey' in anyway.

I'd ask your vet about this approach.

Mike in Illinois



"pirate" <dse1 DeleteThis @tampabay.rr.com> wrote in message
news:1188570607.757045.203860@r29g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
> I'm appealing to the wisdom of the group in hopes of finding some
> interesting thoughts/suggestions/solutions to
> a problem which has been ongoing for about 2 years now.
> I had raised my cat from tiny kitten stage on a sailboat I formerly
> lived on for approximately 10 years. She grew
> up to be a fine mate/friend/etc through the years and is definitely
> considered a family member. I've always
> considered her to be well adjusted, happy and playful.
>
> Here's the rub:
> A couple years ago, after multiple carpal tunnel surgeries and three
> successive serious hurricanes, health and
> other issues forced us to abandon our original plans of cruising the
> world and returning to a life firmly planted
> on terra firma.
> An old friend offered us (the cat and myself) a place to live and a
> family to be a part of, a SERIOUSLY nice
> (and much appreciated) gesture for sure and shortly thereafter, we
> combined ranks (my friend and his siamese,
> myself and my cat) to form the extended family we have now become.
> It should be noted that, having been raised on a boat, my cat's
> exposure to certain things was less than a
> "normal" cat's would have been (little knowledge of things like cars,
> trees, houses, etc), but she'd occasionally
> been exposed to dogs, other people, etc and never seemed to have any
> problems interacting with those
> things.
> As I said, my friend's cat is a female siamese, approximately 2 years
> younger than mine, who'd been given to
> him after being found abanded in a drainage ditch, by some friends.
> IOW, the house was HER domaine
> when my cat and I arrived here.
> Some pertinent issues are that both cats are neutered females, with my
> cat weighing in about half again larger
> than his siamese and the biggest thing being that my cat had been de-
> clawed while as kitten (I know, I know ..).
> At the time of our arrival at my friend's house (approx two years
> ago), there was never an issue of dominance
> as to who's "territory" it was. For the most part, my cat's exposure
> to having to fight (for anything) has been
> limited, at best and the skirmishes began almost immediately with the
> siamese always "corraling" my cat
> back into "her" bedroom (out of the general living areas).
> My cat spends the majority of her time in "our" bedroom, generally
> lounging, chilling, doing the things cat do.
> She occasionally slithers out into the main parts of the house doing
> the "exploring, etc" things cats do with the
> the outcomes of the forrays sometimes ending non-eventfully, sometimes
> being "ambushed", with the outcome
> usually ending back in "her room".
>
> The question:
> It's 2 years down the road and we were sure that by now the cats would
> have "worked things out" and the two
> would be playing together etc in mutual parts of the house and
> generally co-existing (at least to the point that
> the skirmishes would have been past them). Although the siamese is
> barely half of my cat's size, it completely
> intimidates my cat from being able to share the socializing stuff we
> want them to be able to have.
> Is there a shared "general consensus" technique we could use to
> "force" (or at least speed up) the process of
> the kitties accepting each other?
>
> Any help (especially techniques which have proven successful in
> similar situations) would be HUGELY
> appreciated and help us create an environment which we've been trying
> to provide for what's seemed like an
> eternity now.
>
> TIA,
> Phil, David, Kali and Elizabeth
> _____________________________________________________________________________
>