How To Play Jumpstart?

How can one encourage young cats to play & get along with each other?

• Hello, In July my vet had an 8mo old cat who was hit by a car & needed a foster. I agreed, our personalities 'clicked' and I decided kept him. The problem is 2 of my other cats do not agree with my decision. Yes, this is a long letter, but I am hoping there is a behaviorist out there who may be able give me some pointers/figure out what is going on in my “pride” with the introduction of a new youngster, and maybe some ideas I have tried can help others out :).  First some background: *Setup: I am a cognitive research psychologist and have used behavior techniques to train dogs. I live in a moderate sized 2 story house with lots of kitty sleeping spots at different levels.I currently have 4 cats. *Granite is the eldest. The last of the first generation of cats, he is an old, grumpy and antisocial 16 year old (and sprays, and is a few cards shot of a full deck - but that is nothing new). He has several medical ills and is a hospice cat at this point. Though he will curl up and sleep with the 'new' cats, he overall ignores them. *Sirocco was born in May 2008. I got her at around 4 months after the death of my beloved cat Peaches. She is sweet and cuddly but skitty around people (her nickname is Roach). Around the older cats, she fawns on them. She is very playful and enjoys cat toys. She and my (now deceased) senior cat Jade played well together *Winter, a Siamese was born in September 2008. I got her at 8 weeks old to be a play companion to Sirocco, knowing that Jade's days were limited. Winter is also playful preferring stalk & chase games – though she is doing this much less since the new cat came along. The two girls get along OK. They can get a little heavy handed with each other sometimes (hissing) but one is not dominating another. Most of the time they just stalk and chase each other. Occasionally they will curl up together, but that usually turns into bickering. Most of the time they are in their own space or curled up with Granite *Chindi is a snowshoe who was born in November 2010. As mentioned above I acquired him in July. He is a balanced cat who loves to be around people. While not a lap cat, he is snuggly and playful. Overall for a kitten I think he is pretty mellow.  He too will snuggle with Granite, but his attempts at snuggling with the girls have been mostly rebuffed (unless I am there to facilitate). He is similar to Winter in the way he likes playing. I was hoping since he has such a similar temperament to the girls, and that he was a male, that he might become a 3rd play member that could reduce the bickering between them. No luck. The problem: though Granite ignores him, the girls hate him. I attempted slow introductions, but being a former outdoor cat, the bugger has at one time or another escaped all of my barriers sans a closed door. They at first somewhat tolerated him until he tried to play with them. Originally he would ask nicely, air boxing, chasing & pouncing at them. After a good month or so of this and being rebuffed, he just started pouncing in them and harassing them with stares. Sirocco is terrified of him, hisses and runs away (of course he takes up the chase which doesn’t help). Winter just gets annoyed with him and has now started screaming at and whapping him. Things I have tried: *Letting them work it out. Sirocco went from pushing him around a bit to being terrified of him. Winter went from ignoring him to being irritated with him to getting into fights with him *Feeding them in the same room. They eat, lick at each other’s empty bowls, then the scenarios start. *Feliway – nothing *Rescue Remedy – nothing *Using a leash on Chindi - Kept him from trying to play with him for a while, but did not help the girls acclimate to him *Trying to encourage them to play under the door – usually nothing. Sometimes hissing. Sometimes Sirocco will play a bit, but not helping long term. *Play with them separately to tire them out – they still go into old patterns when they see each other *Squirt bottles & food for distraction – Squirt bottle just seemed to cause more stress. For both methods the timing was impossible as I don’t always have food./water on me at the exact time I need it. Besides it seemed stupid to punish/distract a kitten from playing.  *Putting him in a room for a while when he chases them – so far it hasn't help.  *Putting a bell on Chindi so they knew where he was at: Winter heard the bell and would come running thinking I had her toys out. Then find him. I think this also contributed to her wanting to play less *Separating them for a few weeks and reintroducing them behind child gates - Helped the girls stress levels temporarily, but for Chindi, this is when he quit trying and just started being a snot. He is going thru teenager-hood right now, so that doesn’t help (i.e. testing the limits on everything) Now days I am still feeding them together, then I have a screen door I have set up to keep them apart during the active times. At night I swap off who is on what side of the screen. I try to get them sleeping near each other during the day. That sometimes works; it depends on everyone’s mood. Every once in a blue moon they will sleep with each other (usually with my encouragement) once or twice Sirocco has played 'footsie” under the door with him. Just about the time when I think there is no hope they do something like that. The way I see it both sides are guilty. The girls overact period. One day Chindi curled up and went to sleep in a scratching post below Sirocco. She hissed and growled at him for 20 mins before moving. There are times they will react and he will ignore them. There are times they will react and he will respond.  There are times they are doing nothing and he will go after them. He does know 'no' (and both he and Winter are trained to sit on command. It is *really* easy to do with some basic shaping techniques) but he mostly ignores me when I tell him to leave them alone. What doesn’t make sense though is why the girls won't play with him. He would be doing everything he could to get them to play and the girls growl & hiss. As soon as I separate them, the girls will start chasing and pouncing on each other. Their temperaments are so similar it is silly. My big picture goal is to get them to play with each other. I think if that barrier was broken they would all get along fine. Right now I have to keep him thru December, when I go back home (Long story but I reside in two different states, and I am currently in the state my other vet is not in. There may be a home already available for him there. But I really like the bugger & would love to see things work out.) Sooo long letter, but does anyone have any ideas I have not tried? I am out of behavior modification ideas. Should I try a 'happy med' such as Oxycontin or Prozac, or an anti-stress such as Buspar or amitriptyline? Something holistic? Thank you in advance. Things are way too complicated around here right now!

• Answer:

  This is a common problem in households with multiple cats, particularly when there are more than three. Cats are very different from dogs in their society and rather than having a pack type structure, they form social groups that do not have a hierarchy. It sounds like you have multiple social groups in your household.  From what you describe, there are probably three. The biggest clue to whether cats are in a shared social group is if they groom each other. If they don't, then they aren't in the same group. To address the problems you are seeing, you will have to have a core area for each of the social groups. This means that each group needs an area to eat, sleep and rest on raised surfaces, play, and drink. Water and food should be separated, as cats tend to consider water that is next to food to be contaminated (prey is messy). Litter boxes should be close to the core area, but not in it. Cats will share areas with cats outside their social groups, like feeding or sleeping, but it causes stress. Watch to see if your cats' ears are in a relaxed position while they are eating and sleeping. If they aren't, then the situation is causing stress. It would make sense that your girls started to play after removal of the other cat because their core area was free of threat. You are doing the types of things that work to help with harmony in your household. Be absolutely sure that the cat that is getting the time out in the less desirable space is the aggressor.  This training takes at least six weeks to be effective in most cases and behavior gets worse before stopping (extinction). If you aren't very consistent, it may never work as intermittent positive feedback is a very strong conditioner. Aggression can be very subtle in cats. It can be as simple as a look. Most people mistake the reaction to aggression as the initial aggression in cats because the reaction tends to be much less subtle with vocalization and actual violent behavior, but this is defensive rather than offensive in many cases. Watch ear position, facial expression and tail position to see who is doing what. Squirting with water is usually a bad idea in these situations as it is aggressive and can escalate the problem and further upset the cats. The same is true of yelling or commanding. Time out is best done by saying nothing, just picking up the cat (if it is safe to do so) without saying anything, and placing the cat in the time out area. If you need to separate cats without putting yourself in harms' way an object such as a large piece of cardboard can be held between them until you can remove one cat safely. I would also recommend giving a treat (food, attention or toy/play) to redirect the attention of the aggressor to a different object when the non-aggressor enters a room. It is also good to say the non-aggressor's name to complete the behavior conditioning. I tend to say something like "look here is Felix" and then give the treat. This redirects attention to a positive event and conditions a positive response to the individual. This can take 6-12 weeks to be effective. Playing under the door with toys that have a toy and stick design is a great way to encourage play between your cats.  It is non-threatening and fun.  A small stick with feathers on each end is a great type of toy.  The trick is to get one that will move under the door, but not get pulled all the way out from under the door. This type of play can lead to better play pin general. Using "time-out" for bad behavior and positive redirection together has been the most successful in my experience for stopping issues between cats, but you can't make cats be friends. If they aren't in the same social group, they are unlikely to become play buddies, and cats generally don't change social groups once the group is established. I look at it as being like a roommate lottery in a dormatory for the cats.  Sometimes they get lucky and love the new roommate, but they might be equally unlucky and get someone they can't stand the sight of.  No matter how hard we try, we can't really control these sorts of reactions. So it might be best for everyone to re-home your youngster if you don't have a peaceful household by the time you go back to your other home.This answer is not a substitute for professional medical advic...