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Does anyone know of a reliable, not-too-strong drug that will take the edge off the anxiety of a paranoid, scared cat, so she can relax & realize that she’s not in danger every second? I don’t want her unconscious, just a bit buzzed.
I have a 3-yr-old cat who moved in & had kittens under my porch this past spring (…which is a totally different problem…)
Anyway. Greta was an outdoor mouser cat across the street who never lived inside. I think she was the low cat in the clowder, & was probably a lousy mouser. She left home & moved into my yard & had a litter of 3 girls under my porch in May. But July 4, I got her & the kittens inside.
We’re trying to domesticate her – she was half-wild when we got her. She has a nice personality, but is very easy to scare. She’s always on edge, she always runs away, & we can only pet her when she’s in heat. But she does show up for food & hovers about 3 or 4 feet away waiting for the cat food.
She WANTS to be a loved house cat, but she just doesn’t know how. I think she can learn if she’d just calm down some & stop worrying. She has NEVER made a break for the door since she moved in – she LIKES living inside with good food, soft beds, AC & heat, & no ospreys considering her for dinner. Even the dog doesn’t bother her.
I put flea-&-tick on her this morning, & she just went bonkers over it. She hissed, swore, tried to climb the walls, & I have a lovely deep scratch on my arm to indicate how unhappy she was about that process – which lasted all of 60 seconds, & would have been over in 30 seconds if she’d stopped being crazy. (I haven’t clipped her claws since she arrived…)
Essentially, she needs Valium for cats. I just want to take the edge off, buzz her a bit. I think she’s too tense for the botanicals to work – so is anyone familiar with cat tranquilizers? Can anyone suggest one?Click on any picture to see full size:
Dizepam is kitty Valium and is less depressive than Promace so most vets prefer it.
However, it has been shown to cause serious liver problems in cats and should not be used routinely.
It is not recommended for long term use (so if a cat has elimination problems this is not the answer) but in your case I think it would be appropriate.
Any of the progesterones could also be an option. They have fallen out of favor due to the side effects of long term use but could be used in the short term.
May I say what a lovely girl she is and how lucky she is to have found you.
Good luck.Thanks for the lead. I’ll do some research before I go to the vet (when I have some extra money…)
I think if she calms down some, her almost-equally-nervous daughter will relax a little, too.You’re welcome and I think you are correct; if the mother calms down, the daughter could very well follow suit.
Hope it all works out for you.
It’s always something, isn’t it?Tell me about it! And yesterday I discovered that one of the demon children has been trying to poop in a potted plant for, likely, days. The poop ended up on the floor under a rolling table, & she dug the dirt out to "cover it". I have 2 litter boxes, but I guess that’s not enough for 6 cats… I have a suspect, but I haven’t caught her at it.
Thank heavens it was a snake plant – they can take abuse and survive.
I’m starting to mutter about cages. My husband is muttering about heavy blows to the head (he’s not serious, but that shows how mad he is) – and that doesn’t include the scratched leather chairs.Oh dear, what a bother!
As well you know, the problem with multiple cats is that when one ceases to use the box it is difficult to determine who the guilty party is.
I don’t know if this helps but many years ago I lived in a house with many cats and our rule of thumb was to always have the ‘cat-to-box’ ratio at 2 to 1, meaning we had one box for every two cats in the home.
I did notice time that while some cats did use the same box no matter what, others would use the one that seemed the cleanest at any given moment (not that I spent hours watching the litter boxes, mind you, it was just something that manifested itself over time).
In the early going we did have an ‘outside the box eliminater’ but once we added a extra box, she fell in line and began to use them (she was obviously in the ‘uses the cleanest box’ category).
So hopefully adding the box will resolve the ‘plant pooping’ issue for you.
Good luck.
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