Something's changed - help!

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

Originally posted by yorkster
First of all: no spanking! That will not help, and probably just make the situation worse. Try a water squirt-bottle. That works well for me.

I was thinking the same thing about the spanking, but was so frustrated at the time that I couldn't help myself. A squirt bottle is a great idea and will be tested out tonight.

I can understand that you would be upset when he just attacks her for no apparent reason.........that;s not good. But it sounds like it mostly starts with sniffing and has gone from there.

That's the way it seems and that's what made me think maybe there was something wrong with Peanut because Tubby never used to sniff at her like this before. And I know the sniffing starts it at least 1/2 the time. The other times it's because Tubby either just out and out attacks her or he stalks her and won't leave her alone (which he never used to do).

She may also be less tolorant of him if she feels bad.

I thought of that too. and then I also thought that maybe Tubby is feeling better than he has in a long time and he wants to play, or maybe, after all these years, he wants to snuggle with her and she wants nothing to do with it.

If this is something that is fairly new behavior, then it's likely that something is going on with Peanut, and Tubby is just being curious/concerned, etc.

You said it better than I could, yorkster. This was my first thought that Peanut had something wrong with her and Tubby was worried about her.

[QUOTE]I don't remember how old both your kittys are, so there could be an age thing involved too. I have a 8 yr. old cat, and a 1 yr. old. There are times whe the older kitty gets REALLY annoyed with the younger one, because he wants to play, play, play. They then get into it, but that is pretty normal cat stuff. /QUOTE]
I guess I ruled out the age thing because they've been together for so long. Tubby is about to turn 16 and Peanut will turn 14 a little later this spring. They've been together for more than 13 years now, with nothing of this sort of behavior ever in existence and that's why I'm so confused about it.

I do believe Peanut will be making a trip to the vet this weekend. I had already mentioned that to Terry and he thought I was goofy because she's acting so normal otherwise. But I know kitties can hide things very well, so I'm going to take her in just because something has to be done.

Thanks yorkster for your suggestions.