Cats: Dynamics Still Baffle Us
We still can’t figure out why cats are ganging up on Rossie. Even Dr. Val claims to be baffled at the behavior. Lady is on Reconcile because she tries to beat up everyone — she would probably be best served being in a solitary cat household, because she’s a sweetheart one on one with humans. But Daphne, Tarzan, and Ajax all have their moments with antagonizing Rossie as well. Daphne so much so that she goes into the cage with Lady at night, and Tarzan is close to finding his way in there. Mr. L doesn’t like his sleep disturbed at night. I tell him we can’t put seven cats in the cage at night. The only cats he hasn’t seen bothering Rossie are Ruby and Delta (her siblings) and Natasha (who only wants to be left alone). Ajax and Rossie tend to sleep together at night, but Ajax gets into it with her in the morning.
Rossie’s world is contracting. Mr. L has taken to feeding her under the dresser (her preferred safe place), and we moved a litter box closer to her earlier this week after an incident where we had to change sheets, because there was a large puddle just below Mr. L’s pillow (was it a statement to Mr. L or spite because Lady likes to sleep there during the day?). After two days in a row of having to change the bed, we’ve begun putting plastic on the bed during the day (no incident yesterday). Rossie is the passive aggressive problem, but we’re not sure what to do for this cat to help her fit in better. She likes Mr. L and seems to want to interact with him, but it’s a shaky relationship at best. She seems to be physically healthy, but something isn’t right with her.
We had a few days of feeder jamming and programming problems for the outside cats, but they seem to be resolved. Sneaky and Walter have been visible. I haven’t seen Boomer for a few days (but I suspect he may have somewhere else to go — he might even be Henry, the neighbor’s from two doors over cat, but I’m not certain. I think Henry is skinnier.)
Our cold snap from last week appears to be gone, and we have warmer but wetter weather right now.
I had a cat that peed on my bed, when I was vacation. Some say in cat psychology that is the cat marking the spot, so their person can find their way home. They do this in nature too. Maybe she thought Mr. L was lost and was marking the spot for him.
I was thinking she was telling him the other cats are bullying her, so she can’t get to her litter box. Or, she’s telling Lady, “This is MY place and MY human. Back off!” More likely the latter. I moved the game camera up there to see if we can figure out what’s going on when we’re not there to see.