EricaM0817
Lairian
- Joined
- May 13, 2013
- Messages
- 2
- Points
- 2
Good evening,
It breaks my heart to have to say this, but I need to do what's best for all of my kitties, and I think finding my sphynx Martha a new home would be best for everyone.
Here's our story...
I love Martha and this is tearing my heart out. Martha is the SWEETEST cat to me and craves human attention. She is over-the-top loving. Even as I type this, Martha is purring her heart out and rubbing all over me, nuzzling my chin and my cheeks and my hands.
I have four cats - 2 sphynx, and 2 domestic shorthairs. I adopted Mia, a tiny little sphynx, last June from a lady on Craigslist. She's a wonderful addition to our household, and all three of my cats got along fantastically. At the beginning of December, the lady from Craigslist again contacted me to see if I would be interested in adopting Martha, her last sphynx. The Craigslist lady had sent a picture of Mia and Martha together last June when I adopted Mia, and I thought I could reunite these best buddies and we'd live in harmony.
I was wrong. Martha bullies all three of my other cats, but especially Mia. I've had to wipe blood dripping off of Mia from her scratches and put Neosporin on her. All three of my cats are terrified of Martha, and Martha starts fights with all of them, but Mia seems to take the brunt of it. It's worse with Mia, because she has no fur to protect herself.
I put kitty nail caps on Martha to try to stop Mia's skin from being shredded. There were still new scratches. One of the nail caps took forever to fall off, and the oils from Martha's paws built up around the nail caps. Another vet recommended against them, saying they have a tendency to trap germs and lead to nail bed infections. I bought a Thundershirt for Martha, but that wasn't practical and couldn't be left on all the time. I tried pheromone Nurturecalm collars for Mia and Martha. Mia had an allergic reaction to it, with a skin rash and scabs and chronic diarrhea, so I had to rush her to the vet's. She had to get an injection for the allergy and also medication for the diarrhea. The vet said Mia's reaction seemed to be exacerbated by the extreme stress she was under from Martha. The collar didn't seem to affect Martha either way, but the oils from her skin made a brown line across her neck where the collar was. I took both collars off and threw them away. The Feliway diffusers have no effect on Martha. I went to the vet, and filled out a huge behavioral packet and had a consultation with the vet about Martha. Based on my vet's plan, I started Martha on half a pill a day of amitriptyline and began a process to slowly reintroduce her to the other cats. I keep Martha in her own room most of the time, and then I let her out to socialize with the other kitties at meal times, and then I increased the amount of time she was out. Martha still attacked all the cats, especially Mia. I called the vet and told her it's not working. We doubled the dosage. It still didn't work. Now we're on a three week process of weaning Martha off the amitriptyline. In about a week, she should be completely weaned off the amitriptyline. Our next step was going to be try Martha on Prozac, but that doesn't seem fair to anyone. My vet said that even after Martha's on the Prozac, my other cats will still hate her and feel anxious when she's around them. Martha doesn't deserve to be in a drugged stupor on Prozac or kept confined in her room.
Mia doesn't fight back, she just runs and hides. After I catch Martha and put her back in her room, I have to coax a whimpering Mia out of her hiding spot and comfort her. My other kitties have all been attacked by Martha too, and take cover up high whenever she is out. But Martha still gets them. Martha is so over the top friendly to me. It's other cats she hates. Martha is so lonely in this room by herself. She craves attention and wants to be out with me, and I hate that she spends most of her days locked up in this room, separated from me and the other cats. She cries because she wants out so much, and then she follows me around when she is let out of the room.
Martha's a perfect cat, if she were an only cat. I am VEHEMENTLY opposed to declawing cats since it removes part of their toes. And I was told that if I did decide to declaw Martha, she might start biting the other cats. I'm not going to remove her teeth! And obviously, Martha is an indoor-only cat.
On one hand, I wonder if I should proceed with the Prozac after Martha's weened off of the amitriptyline and see if that works. But on the other hand, being on Prozac for the rest of her life can't be good for her, and if she were an only cat, she wouldn't even need it. I don't want her to be in a drugged stupor. And my vet said my other cats will always remember Martha as the bully. So if I do keep Martha around, that wouldn't be doing them right. My other cats are getting older (my oldest just turned nine), and Martha really has them stressed out. It doesn't sound like they'll ever really like or enjoy each other.
Martha is so friendly to humans and just wants love and affection and to be the only cat. She's sitting on my lap right now, as happy as can be. She is spayed and microchipped. She has a tooth in the front which may eventually need to be removed, but we're watching it for now to see if the higher quality food she's been on since I got her in December may reverse the damage. The vet guesstimated Martha's age to be around 6, but she could be older. She is up to date on all her vaccinations. She did get her anal glands expressed about two months ago at the vet's after she developed an odor. Martha is perfectly healthy and craving love and attention. Martha will have a rehoming fee of $250.00 Please let me know if you think you might be able to provide Martha with the loving, single cat home she deserves. She is such a sweetheart, she doesn't deserve to live a life drugged up and kept by herself in a room, or have her toenails removed.
Thanks for reading our story,
Erica
It breaks my heart to have to say this, but I need to do what's best for all of my kitties, and I think finding my sphynx Martha a new home would be best for everyone.
Here's our story...
I love Martha and this is tearing my heart out. Martha is the SWEETEST cat to me and craves human attention. She is over-the-top loving. Even as I type this, Martha is purring her heart out and rubbing all over me, nuzzling my chin and my cheeks and my hands.
I have four cats - 2 sphynx, and 2 domestic shorthairs. I adopted Mia, a tiny little sphynx, last June from a lady on Craigslist. She's a wonderful addition to our household, and all three of my cats got along fantastically. At the beginning of December, the lady from Craigslist again contacted me to see if I would be interested in adopting Martha, her last sphynx. The Craigslist lady had sent a picture of Mia and Martha together last June when I adopted Mia, and I thought I could reunite these best buddies and we'd live in harmony.
I was wrong. Martha bullies all three of my other cats, but especially Mia. I've had to wipe blood dripping off of Mia from her scratches and put Neosporin on her. All three of my cats are terrified of Martha, and Martha starts fights with all of them, but Mia seems to take the brunt of it. It's worse with Mia, because she has no fur to protect herself.
I put kitty nail caps on Martha to try to stop Mia's skin from being shredded. There were still new scratches. One of the nail caps took forever to fall off, and the oils from Martha's paws built up around the nail caps. Another vet recommended against them, saying they have a tendency to trap germs and lead to nail bed infections. I bought a Thundershirt for Martha, but that wasn't practical and couldn't be left on all the time. I tried pheromone Nurturecalm collars for Mia and Martha. Mia had an allergic reaction to it, with a skin rash and scabs and chronic diarrhea, so I had to rush her to the vet's. She had to get an injection for the allergy and also medication for the diarrhea. The vet said Mia's reaction seemed to be exacerbated by the extreme stress she was under from Martha. The collar didn't seem to affect Martha either way, but the oils from her skin made a brown line across her neck where the collar was. I took both collars off and threw them away. The Feliway diffusers have no effect on Martha. I went to the vet, and filled out a huge behavioral packet and had a consultation with the vet about Martha. Based on my vet's plan, I started Martha on half a pill a day of amitriptyline and began a process to slowly reintroduce her to the other cats. I keep Martha in her own room most of the time, and then I let her out to socialize with the other kitties at meal times, and then I increased the amount of time she was out. Martha still attacked all the cats, especially Mia. I called the vet and told her it's not working. We doubled the dosage. It still didn't work. Now we're on a three week process of weaning Martha off the amitriptyline. In about a week, she should be completely weaned off the amitriptyline. Our next step was going to be try Martha on Prozac, but that doesn't seem fair to anyone. My vet said that even after Martha's on the Prozac, my other cats will still hate her and feel anxious when she's around them. Martha doesn't deserve to be in a drugged stupor on Prozac or kept confined in her room.
Mia doesn't fight back, she just runs and hides. After I catch Martha and put her back in her room, I have to coax a whimpering Mia out of her hiding spot and comfort her. My other kitties have all been attacked by Martha too, and take cover up high whenever she is out. But Martha still gets them. Martha is so over the top friendly to me. It's other cats she hates. Martha is so lonely in this room by herself. She craves attention and wants to be out with me, and I hate that she spends most of her days locked up in this room, separated from me and the other cats. She cries because she wants out so much, and then she follows me around when she is let out of the room.
Martha's a perfect cat, if she were an only cat. I am VEHEMENTLY opposed to declawing cats since it removes part of their toes. And I was told that if I did decide to declaw Martha, she might start biting the other cats. I'm not going to remove her teeth! And obviously, Martha is an indoor-only cat.
On one hand, I wonder if I should proceed with the Prozac after Martha's weened off of the amitriptyline and see if that works. But on the other hand, being on Prozac for the rest of her life can't be good for her, and if she were an only cat, she wouldn't even need it. I don't want her to be in a drugged stupor. And my vet said my other cats will always remember Martha as the bully. So if I do keep Martha around, that wouldn't be doing them right. My other cats are getting older (my oldest just turned nine), and Martha really has them stressed out. It doesn't sound like they'll ever really like or enjoy each other.
Martha is so friendly to humans and just wants love and affection and to be the only cat. She's sitting on my lap right now, as happy as can be. She is spayed and microchipped. She has a tooth in the front which may eventually need to be removed, but we're watching it for now to see if the higher quality food she's been on since I got her in December may reverse the damage. The vet guesstimated Martha's age to be around 6, but she could be older. She is up to date on all her vaccinations. She did get her anal glands expressed about two months ago at the vet's after she developed an odor. Martha is perfectly healthy and craving love and attention. Martha will have a rehoming fee of $250.00 Please let me know if you think you might be able to provide Martha with the loving, single cat home she deserves. She is such a sweetheart, she doesn't deserve to live a life drugged up and kept by herself in a room, or have her toenails removed.
Thanks for reading our story,
Erica
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