All your advice is great, thank you!

To update you all on the situation, Miuccia (my old cat) had lost her appetite and wasn't looking too well. When I came home from work she didn't run out to greet me, and she had watery eyes and the most forlorn expression. She was shivering a little too. When I sat down next to her, she weakly extended a little paw over my hand as if to say "oh, thank you for your kind attention...I apologize for not being so playful but I'm feeling not at all well!"

I immediately took her to the vet. She became quite alert once we got there. Curious. Once we were in the vet's examination room I explained to him the situation, and her symptoms. He suggested that we place her on the floor to see how she was moving about, and she started running around investigating and climbing up my leg! I remarked to the vet that it was the first time in three days that I've ever seen her so lively!

Turns out her temperature was normal, and she was not dehydrated or sick. She was just constipated probably from stress of having Xander around and that made her not want to eat.

The vet advised me that we should not have given Miuccia "special treatment" without Xander around (we had shut Xander up in his own room because we felt he was upsetting Miuccia, and given Miuccia lots of individual attention) because that would just reinforce her dislike of Xander. We should have made sure that positive things happened only when they were together, so they would associate rewards with being together.

Turns out that my cat was putting on an act to get all our undivided attention! Once she got home, she was eating and running around as usual.

However, once my boyfriend got home from work, she immediately went to the corner and pretended to be sick again!

This is not to say that all cats pretend to be sick. I'm a firm believer that if there seems to be anything abnormal about my cat's behavior or habits, and the cat doesn't seem to be eating, drinking or going to the washroom (especially if the cat in question is a kitten), I'd take kitty to the vet right away.

I'm following your advice and the vet's advice and I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that Xander and Miuccia will someday like each other.

[This message has been edited by khoiho (edited February 16, 2001).]