spunkadelic
09-01-2004, 06:04 PM
Alrighty - I adopted a new kitty - but she lives at my boyfriends house (and he and I will be living together in a short time so *is excited*) I named her Hannah and she's five years old, black/white and a front paw declaw. She may be a Manx cross or someone cruel lobbed off her tail when she was little, but the little stump that she has, she wags like a dog. She's incredibly placid and loves to be petted and she's forever licking you :) She is a medium hair cat and is very very gentle.
But my problem(s) are these:
1) I am 99.9% sure she's deaf or at least mostly deaf. Maui (my cat at my parents house) and Dora (my boyfriends cat - which I'll get to) always have their ears in motion, listening to sounds around them. Hannah does not. The only time she will move her ears is if you tap the table she's sitting on, or make the "psssspsssspssss" sound really really loud. It's not that big of a problem, but I want to know what I can do to make her life a little more enjoyable and a little less fearful.
2) Dora is a 11 month old Calico (and in my opinion one of the most beautiful cat's I've ever seen in my life, I'll have to get a photo). She has all her claws and when we brought Hannah home that was one angry kitty! My boyfriend would keep them seperated but everyone told us that they will never get along if they never see each other - so we finally convinced Hannah to come out from under the bed, and stuck her on the window sill. Dora launched at Hannah like a freaking leopard and batted and hissed and growled. That was three weeks ago. We try to keep them in the same room together for at least four hours after we come home from work until we go to bed and Dora will stay in one corner and Hannah will stay in the window and every once and a while Dora will get up and just attack Hannah with no reason, explanation and then in two seconds she's back in the corner and just dozing off like nothing ever happened.
What causes these little spats? Hannah doesn't move very much at all. I think she was severely abused when she was younger and is petrified and if she is deaf then that gives her a bigger reason to be petrified. How can I help them? We're moving into a smaller apartment for a while and there isn't going to be all this extra room for them to hide and not see each other - and I am never going to give Hannah away or take her back, I rescued her because I wanted to and we love Dora and Hannah equally and we want our "children" to at least be able to stay in the same room for more than ten minutes without Dora trying to smack the tar out of Hannah.
3) Hannah is also overweight and has a bad dandruff problem. I've been giving her bath's with some really gentle pet shampoo that's supposed to improve the coat, but two weeks later she's shedding a storm and she literally snows :) How can I safely reduce her weight and how can I help her with her coat problem?
Thanks so much. Dora and Hannah will love you forever for your advice and help!
But my problem(s) are these:
1) I am 99.9% sure she's deaf or at least mostly deaf. Maui (my cat at my parents house) and Dora (my boyfriends cat - which I'll get to) always have their ears in motion, listening to sounds around them. Hannah does not. The only time she will move her ears is if you tap the table she's sitting on, or make the "psssspsssspssss" sound really really loud. It's not that big of a problem, but I want to know what I can do to make her life a little more enjoyable and a little less fearful.
2) Dora is a 11 month old Calico (and in my opinion one of the most beautiful cat's I've ever seen in my life, I'll have to get a photo). She has all her claws and when we brought Hannah home that was one angry kitty! My boyfriend would keep them seperated but everyone told us that they will never get along if they never see each other - so we finally convinced Hannah to come out from under the bed, and stuck her on the window sill. Dora launched at Hannah like a freaking leopard and batted and hissed and growled. That was three weeks ago. We try to keep them in the same room together for at least four hours after we come home from work until we go to bed and Dora will stay in one corner and Hannah will stay in the window and every once and a while Dora will get up and just attack Hannah with no reason, explanation and then in two seconds she's back in the corner and just dozing off like nothing ever happened.
What causes these little spats? Hannah doesn't move very much at all. I think she was severely abused when she was younger and is petrified and if she is deaf then that gives her a bigger reason to be petrified. How can I help them? We're moving into a smaller apartment for a while and there isn't going to be all this extra room for them to hide and not see each other - and I am never going to give Hannah away or take her back, I rescued her because I wanted to and we love Dora and Hannah equally and we want our "children" to at least be able to stay in the same room for more than ten minutes without Dora trying to smack the tar out of Hannah.
3) Hannah is also overweight and has a bad dandruff problem. I've been giving her bath's with some really gentle pet shampoo that's supposed to improve the coat, but two weeks later she's shedding a storm and she literally snows :) How can I safely reduce her weight and how can I help her with her coat problem?
Thanks so much. Dora and Hannah will love you forever for your advice and help!