Try Rescue Remedy. Are they all spayed/neutered? If not,
that might help.
If you have men who will exclude any of God's
creatures
from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who
will deal likewise with their fellow
man.
St. Francis
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, January 09, 2006
10:16 PM
Subject: FeLV transmission by
bite
Hi Everyone!
I haven't been on list in a
while, but I have some real worries I need to share.
In case anyone needs
reminding, we have Cotton, who is a young orange boy, under a
year old FeLV+ who we adopted around 5 months ago or so, and 3
established older cats in our family, Cricket, Miss and Myca.
Initially when Cotton first came
he was stalked and terrorized by Cricket, who would slap at him and hiss
and basically do a lot of posturing and chasing, but there was very
little contact between them. Now that Cotton is older and a
little bigger, he has turned into the aggressor, and he is the one
who stalks Cricket and when he catches her by suprise, he bites
her. Cotton and Cricket are both small cats, but he
is much stronger than she is, and she is a little bit overwt, and
much softer than he is.
I'm so worried about her
because I know he hurts her, and he's been relentless the
last few days for some reason, and she has been hiding, and she
seems a bit depressed. At night I try and massage her
while she lays on my chest kneading my chin. It's our bonding time. But
last night she seemed restless, and I think some of the
places I touched were sore. She has scabs on her where he's
bitten her, but she has also put a few scratches on Cotton.
He's got an ugly but clean one on his shoulder.
Usually we break up the fights
before they get too nasty by getting the squirt bottle, but I fear that
not only will one of them inflict a nasty wound that might get infected,
I worry that Cricket's stress level and her constant exposure to his
saliva might lead to the transmission of the FeLV. She was
weakly positive on her last ELISA, but the vet said possibly
due to exposure, and i am to take her back in for another test this
weekend. If she tests positive again, I will have them draw an IFA
to confirm.
The other two older
cats were both negative, and received a booster. I check
everyone over very carefully for new wounds, because I
have dealt with an abscessed wound before, and know they can become
a real problem in a short time.
Needless to say Cotton is doing
quite well, he is a little devil (in the most affectionate sense of the
word). His energy level is great, he eats well, poops
well, plays long and hard and bites and scratches his way through
everyone in his way. I believe he has lacked the proper
socialization, as he has been slow to trust and is slow learning his
limits in the household. He's constantly testing his limits.
We have tried to teach him manners, but he is stubborn and
wily. It's been so long since we have had a kitten, I have a
rather relaxed, very polite bunch (they sit in line waiting
for another to finish at the food bowl or water), who have worked
out their differences long ago.
I try to make sure Cricket has a
safe place where she can go, which is my bedroom. Cotton is not
allowed in there. We shoo him out whenever he goes in
there. Same for Cotton, when he goes to my son's room for
quiet, the other cats are discouraged from bothering him. At
night he is not allowed free roam, and is confined in there to sleep
with my son. I have also used some Feliway spray, which did
help. I am continuing to use it.
Any suggestions or thoughts on
how I can deal with this? It's hard to be mad at Cotton,
since he is so well, and he's still very much a kitten, but I
wonder if neutering might help if he's well enough? I feel so
bad for my poor little sweetpea, Cricket. I don't want her to
live in fear, and not safe in her own home. She is already the
littlest, and has had to work hard to earn
her current status in the household. Cotton has
upset the pecking order.
Please advise.
Sandy
