Dear Most Esteemed and Knowledgeable Kitties:

Hello, my name is Koda. I am a beautiful (does that sound vain) three-year-old black domestic shorthair. I live with three dogs, and two of them like to chase me on occasion. It seems that after that happens, I have a foul odor. Seems to be from my back end, but I guess it could be my front. The smell goes away after a half hour or so. What could that terrible odor be?

~ Koda Kitty

Siouxsie: Well, of course it doesn’t sound vain to call yourself beautiful! We cats are all beautiful. Especially black cats like me.

Thomas: Tabby cats are beautiful too, you know!

Dahlia: Anyway, Koda, we suspect that your unfortunate odor issue results from the fact that you get so scared when the dogs chase you, that your anal glands squeeze and some nasty-smelling stuff comes out.

Siouxsie: All cats (and dogs, for that matter) have anal glands. They’re just one of the many kinds of scent glands we have. Your person can see the little openings for them at about 4:00 and 8:00 positions just under your anus.

Thomas: Normally the anal glands empty a tiny bit at a time when you poop, but sometimes when animals get really scared or traumatized, the anal glands squeeze out a little bit all their own because your rectum spasms when you get scared.

Dahlia: But honestly, the real problem here isn’t that your anal glands empty and cause a stink until you clean them. The problem is that the dogs are chasing you, and that shouldn’t happen!

Dogs and cats can be great friends, as long as the dogs are properly trained and the cats are re-introduced to the dog in a safe way. Photo courtesy of ihasahotdog.com

Siouxsie: Some dogs chase because they want to play or they want to “herd” you. Breeds like Border Collies and various types of sheep dogs have a strong herding instinct, and if they don’t have some other way to use it, they’ll use it on cats, people, and even other dogs.

Thomas: But there are some dogs that chase and shake and try to kill — and that’s really dangerous!

Dahlia: Your person needs to see what kind of chasing your dogs are doing and then train them so they stop.

Siouxsie: Basic obedience classes are a good start. If the dogs learn commands like sit, stay, an “emergency drop” command, and leave it (break eye contact), your human can call them off when they start to chase. Your person can also monitor the dogs’ behavior and when it looks like they’re about to start chasing you, she should distract them and/or use a command like “leave it” to get their attention away from you.

Thomas: If the dogs don’t respond properly after an obedience class, your person may need to call in a private trainer to do in-home sessions.

Dahlia: While your dogs are learning how to behave, your person should make a “safe room” for you, where you can get away from the dogs when they chase. If she puts a baby gate across the doorway to one room and leaves you everything you need — a litter box, water and food (if you’re free-fed) and comfortable places to rest — you’ll have a sanctuary from those canine shenanigans.

Siouxsie: If the dogs are chasing with intent to catch and shake you, your person should never leave you alone with them.

Thomas: Once the dogs are trained to behave, your person should introduce you to the dogs while they’re on leashes so she can control them. It’s important to do these kind of careful re-introductions so that you get less scared of your canine housemates.

Dahlia: There’s a good article on Petfinder about how to train a dog to stop chasing cats.Your person may find this helpful as a starting point.

Siouxsie: Your person can find another how-to article on the dog training site Perfect Paws.

Thomas: So, Koda. Bottom line: Your person needs to give you a place to be safe from the dogs, and then she needs to train the dogs so they stop chasing you!

Dahlia: Good luck, Koda. Please let us know how things turn out for you. We’re sure you’ll have the dogs under your paw in no time, as long as your person helps by teaching them how to behave.

Dear Most Esteemed and Knowledgeable Kitties:

I recently moved from my family home to my first apartment (a very small 1-bedroom) with my 3-year-old  declawed (not my choice!) female kitty.  There are lots of nice windows for her to watch the birds, but there’s not much room to run around and she doesn’t have the company she’s used to. I’m a student, and while I’m not gone a lot right now, when the fall comes I won’t be home  much.

She adapted to the move very well, but I can tell she’s a bit lonely. I schedule playtime with her into my day, but I still think she’s not getting enough exercise. I’m considering adopting a kitten in order to keep my cat company. The thing is, my cat has never had other cats around, and I don’t have an extra room where I could keep the kitten for a “proper” introduction. Also, would it be fair to bring a kitten into a small apartment? I’m against declawing cats, so I would NOT have this kitten declawed — but when the kitten got big, would it be dangerous to have one cat with claws and one without?

Basically, do you think I should adopt a kitten or not, and if so, what would be the best possible way to do it for both my current cat and the new kitty?

~Laura

Siouxsie: Well, Laura, it’s hard to tell how your current feline resident will react to another cat. Given the fact that she’s used to having lots of other kinds of company, she may enjoy having a kitty friend. We don’t think it’s a bad idea to try adopting another cat, but you need to be prepared for the fact that it may not turn out quite as well as you’d hoped. We’ll give you some tips to help the adoption go as smoothly as possible.

Thomas: First of all, we don’t think it’s unfair to bring a kitten into a small apartment. No matter how small your place is, it’s bigger and nicer than a cage in an animal shelter!

Dahlia: Speaking of animal shelters, we highly recommend that you adopt from a shelter. Most rescues will give you a seven-day grace period so you can find out whether the adoption is going to work out well for you and for the kitten. If for some reason things go badly, you can bring the cat back to the shelter.

Siouxsie: You don’t have to adopt a very young kitten, either. You can try for a kitten that’s between six months and one year old instead. By that point they’ve gone through most of their curtain-climbing, trouble-making “kitten crazies.”

Thomas: Anecdotal evidence suggests that getting a younger cat of the opposite sex tends to work out best. Speaking personally, I just fell in love with Dahlia the minute she popped her head out of her carrier and we’ve been best buddies ever since.

Dahlia: We lived in a very small place at the time — it was just one room, about 12 feet by 30 feet in size — and there were no issues at all. Sometimes adoptions just go really well.

Siouxsie: Speak for yourself!

Thomas: Anyway, Laura, here’s how to prepare for the adoption. Get another litter box and separate food and water dishes for the new kitten. You’ll want to feed the kitten a few feet away from your current resident, and by providing the kitten with her own dishes and toilet you’ll reduce the risk of territorial disputes.

Dahlia: Buy a Feliway plug-in diffuser. The “happy cat” pheromones it releases will reduce stress in both cats and make it easier for them to get used to each other.

Siouxsie: It’ll help if the kitten you adopt has a temperament similar to that of your adult cat. Unfortunately, it’s hard to tell how a kitten’s personality is going to develop. You will have a better sense of that if you try for an older kitten or a young adult (1 year old or so).

Thomas: Let your current cat check out the new cat while he’s still in the carrier. Don’t be surprised if there’s some growling. When your cat completes her investigations and has calmed down a bit, open the door of the carrier and let the kitten out. Show him the litter box right away because he’ll probably need to use it.

Dahlia: Leave the carrier out with the door open in case the kitten feels like he needs a safe space.

Siouxsie: As long as the growling doesn’t escalate into yowling and hissing and (heaven forbid) fur-flying fights, everything will probably work out all right. This is particularly true if the cats have come to some sort of truce, or perhaps even a loving relationship, within that one-week grace period.

Thomas: You can help the cats to develop a positive relationship by playing with both of them at the same time

Dahlia: Keep an eye out for signs of stress by observing the cats’ body language. If you hear growling or you see one of the cats stalking or too-intently observing the other, distract them by playing “separately together” with them (e.g., use two string toys, one for each cat) so they begin to associate fun times and happiness with the other cat.

Siouxsie: Make sure your cats have plenty of vertical space — tall cat trees, window seats, or specially designated shelves — because that will make the territory (your apartment) seem larger and reduce the cats’ stress. And once your cats are getting along well, the fact that the younger cat has claws and the older one doesn’t — won’t be a problem at all.

Thomas: The odds are pretty good that all will go well. But if they don’t, you need to think of your original cat’s needs first. If that means re-homing the kitten, that’s what you’ll have to do.

Dahlia: It’s a good idea to get all this cat introduction business out of the way before you start school; if the cats are going to live together, you want to be sure they’re comfortable with the arrangement before you get buried in your course work and the social life of a student.

Dear Most Esteemed and Knowledgeable Kitties:

My cat and I moved in with my boyfriend in October. My boyfriend has two  male cats, one of whom is obsessive and anxious and doesn’t clean himself very well, so he often has feces stuck to his fur and smears it across the floor. The other cat is territorial and competitive for my boyfriend’s  attention; he also steals food and breaks into closets and drawers and sleeps on the clean laundry.

I recently discovered that I’m pregnant, and we’re very excited about the baby. But I’m concerned about the cats. I won’t have time to wash poop off the floor, clean a ton of litter, chase the cat out of the baby’s things, and constantly sweep up cat food. Today, the competitive cat left a 3-inch gash in my wrist while I was bathing my cat! It seems unfair to rehome the cats, but I’m worried about my safety and the baby’s safety. I grew up with tons of animals and I’ve never encountered behavior like this. I don’t know what to do!

~Jenna

Siouxsie: Jenna, there are things you can do to help to solve problems such as clinging poop and closet/drawer invasion, and even to reduce the aggression. However, we think the first thing you should do is have a heart-to-heart talk with your boyfriend.

Thomas: Tell him about your concerns and talk about your options. It’s especially important that you enlist his aid because it sounds like your boyfriend’s cats are the ones acting out.

Dahlia: It would be unfair to demand that your boyfriend get rid of his cats, but if you talk about what’s going on and tell him that you need his help in working toward a resolution, it could be a great step toward building your relationship. It will give you some tools to help deal with issues that you’re going to face as parents, too.

Siouxsie: If the aggression and acting out started when you and your cat moved in, you may need to reintroduce your cat to his cats. If his cats are being aggressive toward you but not your cat, it’s probably a case of redirected aggression (find some ways to deal with redirected aggression here).

Thomas: You may be able to solve the poopy britches problem by changing the cats’ litter box situation. If the boxes are covered, try removing the covers. Keep all the litter boxes clean so Cling-On Cat doesn’t run the risk of squatting in his or someone else’s poo. Clip the hair around his bottom and his rear legs (or have your vet or a groomer do this).

Dahlia: Use baby-proof cabinet latches to keep Space Invader Cat out of the drawers and linen closets. You’ll need them once your baby starts crawling, so just consider it (very) advance preparation.

Siouxsie: Ease the territorial stress by creating more vertical space for your cats. Tall cat towers, window perches, and assorted cat shelves can help each cat feel like he has enough territory that he doesn’t have to fight with his feline roommates over some prime real estate.

Thomas: You might try investing in feline pheromone diffusers to help the cats feel calmer.

Dahlia: Ultimately, however, you and your boyfriend might end up deciding that three cats is too much to deal with when having your first child. If you have to make that choice, it will feel bad — but you need to do what’s right for all of you. Odd as it may seem, it may be right for the cats, too.

Siouxsie: If you can’t keep them, try asking your friends and family if they can adopt them.  If you have to take them to a shelter, try to find a well-managed no-kill facility. Be honest about the behavior issues because that will give them the best chance of being rehabilitated and finding a wonderful forever home.

Dahlia: If you decide to keep one or more of the cats, be sure to prepare them for the arrival of the baby. This column from the Paws and Effect archives will provide you with the information you need on introducing cats to a baby.

Dear Most Esteemed and Knowledgeable Kitties:

I have two cats adopted from a shelter a year ago when they were kittens, and as kittens do, they used to play fight a lot and cuddle. They’re brother and sister (fixed very early on), and the staff at the shelter were so glad I took them both because as they put it, they’re ‘inseparable.’ Unfortunately, things have changed. Now they each get all of their affection from me, separately. They respect each other and seem to genuinely care about each other, but keep their distance from each other when sleeping or lounging. However they’re usually in the same room — wherever I happen to be. They investigate things together. He lets her finish his plate whenever I give them tuna and shrimp as a treat, because he’s just not as gluttonous and probably also just to be nice (even though he’s stronger). But when I’m petting one and the other jumps next to us, invariably the first one wants to leave. Why can’t they cuddle sometimes? Most importantly, what can I do to encourage closeness between them?

I’m thinking of getting a third cat in the hope that at least one of them can make a new best friend and cuddle time with their own species. Is that a good idea? How would I go about introducing a new cat in our home?

~Caroline

Siouxsie: Caroline, this gradual moving apart is perfectly normal behavior for cats as they grow out of kittenhood and into adolescence.

Thomas: Since they still like each other, even if they don’t snuggle together constantly, we’d say it would be a bad idea to add another cat into the equation.

Dahlia: It can be tricky to add a third cat, and it could result in a disruption that makes all the cats unhappy.

Siouxsie: Cats don’t need to snuggle with other cats to feel at peace with their world. Sure, some cats enjoy it more than others …

Thomas: Like Dahlia and me! We love to snuggle together and groom each other.

Dahlia: Yeah. And Thomas is such an excellent cheek and ear groomer. He knows all the right spots …

Siouxsie: Can it, Shrimpy.

Dahlia: I’m not shrimpy anymore! I’m only a quarter-pound smaller than you! And I’ve got really sharp claws, and I know how to use them!

Thomas: Come on, you two …

Siouxsie: Fine! Anyway, as I was saying, not all adult cats find pleasure in snuggling with other cats. When I was a tiny baby kitten, I used to snuggle with my late sister Sinéad (may she frolic forever in the mouse-filled catnip fields beyond the Bridge), but as we got bigger, we just found that we enjoyed snuggling with Mama more. It wasn’t because we hated each other, and neither of us was unhappy about not being snuggle-buddies anymore. It’s just the way things went.

Thomas: It’s true. Even though they didn’t cuddle together anymore, they loved each other right to the end. Siouxsie spent a lot of time mourning when Sinéad crossed the Bridge. After all, they were littermates and they’d spent 10 years together.

Dahlia: If you want to try introducing a new cat, you’ll need to take it slow and find out how your current residents feel about having a friend in the house. We’d recommend that if you bring home a new cat, you might want to try adopting one that’s a little younger than the cats you have right now. Make sure your new cat is similar in temperament to your current cats, too. Mellow cats don’t tend to enjoy the company of outgoing, rambunctious cats.

Siouxsie: Shelters usually offer a one-week foster period so that if the current residents don’t get along with your adoptee, you can bring the new kitty back to the shelter.

Thomas: Some time ago, we wrote a column on how to introduce a new cat. Our booklet, The Paws and Effect Guide to Introducing a New Cat, also has detailed instructions on how to add a cat to your household in a way that works well for all the cats involved.

Dahlia: Keep in mind, too, that your cats are in the adolescent phase of their lives. They’ve still got a year or two before they reach social maturity — by which we mean, they’ve developed their full adult personalities. As time passes, they might come to enjoy snuggling together again.

Siouxsie: And as we said, it’s really okay if that doesn’t happen. Some cats are lifelong snugglers — like Thomas and Dahlia — and some just don’t snuggle with other cats once they grow up — like me.

Thomas: Good luck, Caroline. Please let us know how things turn out, whether or not you choose to adopt another cat.