Was your family pet affected by adoption/did you re-home a pet?

[Italiangreyhound]

Our cat is unwell, he has Cystitis. The vet mentioned a new baby can sometimes make a cat upset and can lead to cystitis. I told the vet we had adopted about 3 months ago. She said it might have impacted into it because they feel less love with a new family member!

I am not sure if we just have the world's most sensitive pet or the world's most sensitive vet! Or something else.

If pet cannot settle down and get well we may end up with him on anti-depressants (my husband thought I was joking!) or worse still needing to re-home our pet. Of course we would do it but I know DD will be very upset and we cannot tell her why in case she resents ds for it.

Feel rather depressed that cat has now been in ill for almost a week and it is all very stressful me me (and cat)?

Was your family pet affected by adoption/did you re-home a pet?

Thank you.

This happened to my cat before my daughters arrival.

Our very good vet said that pets can pick up on feelings of change in the family home. My cat had obviously realised that I had stuff on my mind and that changes were afoot.
She was fine after about a week of medication and use of feliway to calm her down a bit.

Shame Italian, is he still not getting better? Can you make it DD's job to give him lots of TLC? I've never used Feliway, but it is often recommended to calm cats so maybe give it a shot.

FWIW, when we got married I expected my cat who wasn't very social, didn't like men and was scared of kids to integrate into a household with a man, a 3 year old and 2 other cats. It took a long time for him to make peace with all of this but he did eventually. They adapt.

I used Feliway with great success and would definitely recommend. Our cat was old and unwell before LO arrived and just took to his bed (under ours) when she turned up, then he became even more unwell and hardly ever came downstairs but Feliway definitely helped him feel less anxious and integrate with us again before he died (at a ripe old age of 19 so he did very well and had a good long life).

I'd give it a go before making any decisions about re-homing etc.

Hi italian,
Our cat was very stressy when we first got her with cystitis. We were given a short burst of antidepressants for her and we used feliway (still do) I'm sure blue cross have some really good info on there website if I remember rightly.
Since ds has been home our cat has been poorly due to something separate (grandchild next door kicked her so hard it damaged her ligaments) because of this she's very twitchy.
Ds wants to be her best friend but sometimes she freaks out so we've got the feliway again, we have a stair gated area for her to eat in and areas away from him she can escape to. When he's gone yo bed/having a nap we give her huge amounts of fuss. She is finally settling down. I'd definatly reccomend the feliway. I hope things improve for you all.

Our cat is scared of oxygen and Fellway worked wonders for her. She is now a much happier beast.

Generally, cats are solitary creatures and don't share their space easily. I'm sure any new additional body in the house is a source of stress to most cats. I'm sure she will adjust. Does she have a safe space where she can get away from the children?

Thanks for all your help.

I think I was quite naïve when we go the cat, I thought we would have a pet, feed it and they would be happy. He has cost us lots and now does not seem happy so it all seems a bit futile! DD was meant to enjoy the cat and not want another hamster and she keeps going on about another hamster all the bloody time.

Have had the Felliway since Tuesday, assuming I have pugged it in correctly. I can't see it doing much. And it cost £36. I feel a bit like it is a licence to print money! But I am trying it.

DS has been home almost 4 months and we were away on a short holiday when it happened so it doesn't really make sense it would be DS.

Things are very stressy at the moment as DD and DS are not getting on very well and I am just feeling very exhausted by it all.

Thanks for all your support.

Hmm, tend to think your vet is making 2+2=5. I do think with cats that if they are that stressed they will just move out, unlike other animals who have no choice!!

Anyway. We adopted, having had our cat for 2 years. YY to feliway, and keep an eye on groupon as the refills come up cheaply every so often. Make sure he has his own quiet space to get away from the "new" noises etc, and try to keep his routine as similar as you can to before. Our cat was a bit unsettled when DS arrived, he is docile but not keen on small children. We made sure he can get away when he wants to and that he has access to his own areas out of reach (ours liked sitting on top of the wardrobe). He is still a bit wary but tolerates DS and we haven't had any bouts of illness.

If you have to rehome him, take care because that will be another "loss" for your LO so you will need to prepare him if that is the route you feel you need to take.

Thanks Rabbit. Not sure DS will be worried if cat goes, he is not that fond of him and maybe a tiny biut scared of him.

DD will be very sad I think. She is nearly 10 and was 9 and a half when cat arrived. So cat (who was born into a family with 4 human kids - and 4 cat kids!) has never been in a house without noise or kids.

Sorry 8 and a half when cat came.

Cat will recover in time. They are very sensitive to 'disruption' of any kind. Ours hates it when we have visitors, or when we change the furniture round, or put the Christmas tree up, or decorate a room, or anything. He does calm down after a while but in the mean time needs lots of strokes and reassurance. I think re homing is a bit drastic....your DD will miss him (even if she is going on about a hamster).

Hang in there, it's early days. My DS and cat are partners in crime now, but it never looked like it would be that way at the start. Our cat was a big feature in our intros book, and DS burst over our threshold screeching his name, delighted to see him for the first time. The feeling was not mutual, and took several years to become that way. In the meantime we tried to allow the cat to get space with use of a stairgate, talking to DS about being gentle etc. Rehoming would have been a terrible loss to DS.

Thanks Heather and Museum, the vet was rather no nonsense and gave me the worst case scenario rather quickly.

The sad thing is I have found this all so stressful I am almost tempted by the idea of re-homing not to have to go through all this again (as vet said once they have Cystitis they get it again usually.

I buy adaptil (dog version of feliway) from mr pets website, it's so much cheaper than in the pet shops I've been in. £14 on there for refill where as pets at home is £28 for refill. It does take a few days to a week for it to work I reckon

My furry babies did not cope well. They were very nervous and used to fight constantly. It's taken almost 7 months for them to settle and one is now fine, cuddles up with kids until they start making noise again, the other is still nervous but will sit in the room them so long as they don't touch her. Both of them have become much more friendly and once the kids are in bed they don't leave our sides.

Thanks MrsM2509, could you link to the site for me, please?

mrsballack thanks, yes cat more friendly when kids in bed. DD was 8 and a half and petty noisy when cat came and he was born into a family with lots of kids so he should be used to it!

Hmm, tend to think your vet is making 2+2=5

^ this

My cats were horrified when DS came home - they never loved him and spent their life glaring at me and hiding from him. They were fine in teh evening when I gave them lots of love!

When they died we eventually got two new kittens about a 18 months ago and to be honest they still didn't like DS until about 3 months ago when he really worked out how to bond with them (he feeds them in the mornings as he's the first one down!) and now they love to cuddle up with him.

Don;t over think - just treat the cat and worry about it if it becomes an ongoing problem

I agree with the advice not to worry too much... When we got our puppy, our cat took MONTHS to recover. He used to sit on the table and scream at the dog. Now he just lies there and lets the dog mouth and lick him, but it took over a year to get to that point. Some cats are more nervous than others, but most will adapt to change eventually.

I imagine that having your cat re-homed would be a very difficult mixed-message to handle with your dd, especially if she's having a bit of a rocky ride adjusting to her brother's adoption. Our highly neurotic cat literally moved out for a year into the garden shed when two small noisy humans joined our family (not by adoption). We decided not to try and force the issue and instead put a cat flap in the shed door and made sure it was as comfortable as possible for her. I'd provide your mog with a luxury bolthole in a room or outhouse where the dcs don't go. Or is their a cat-friendly neighbour who can provide a temporary quiet haven? Cats are remarkably stubborn but in the end they get their shit together know which side their bread is buttered and calm down.

Italian, I'm a long time lurker here and not an adopter, but I do have a cat who's suffered from cystitis. It was stress related and our vet prescribed some initial antibiotics, just in case, and then a safe zone for just him with the feliway.

But the biggest change came with changing his food - he'd been exclusively on dry previously but since we changed it to tinned he hasn't relapsed. Apparently you can buy dried food which can help prevent cystitis too.

Hope this helps?

Cat seems better, allowed out tomorrow. Thanks for all your help and concern. No need for anti-depressants or re-homing!

Not an adopter, but thought I would say when we had ds1 my cats were a year old and the girl got stress cystitis (out of hours vet visit, cost a fortune). She calmed down and it went fairly quickly and she is now coming up 10 and has never had it again as far as I know. Fingers crossed now yours has settled down, you will be the same.

DustyCropHopper thanks, that is just what I wanted to hear.