“The Anxious and the Agitated” – A Cat Soap Opera

Most cat owners who have a multi-cat household will deal with some cat drama from time to time. Our cats have different personalities, so it is inevitable that their personalities may clash from time to time. We, as humans, do not always get along with those that we live with. Why should it be any different with our cats? I have been dealing with some major cat drama over the past few months that has really escalated into a full-blown Cat Soap Opera that I am calling “The Anxious and the Agitated”. In today’s episode, we will meet the cast and get a brief explanation of their role in our Cat Soap Opera.

Meet Our Cast:

Prudence: a petite and scared girl who has a HUGE attitude. She is definitely a Drama Queen awaiting her Oscar Nomination.

Prudence was once a Kracken Kitty. I moved her upstairs last October after I noticed that she was being bullied by her bigger siblings. This caused her to stop grooming and lose weight. All of the cats, Residents and Kracken, have introduced to and interact with each other, so I didn’t think I needed to do the slow introductions that you would normally do when bringing in a new cat. What I didn’t think about was that Prudence was on edge from being bullied and she came upstairs with a massive chip on her shoulder. She hissed and growled at everyone. For the most part, the others just let her be. Then, one day, Bodie got too close to her and while hissing and growling, she swatted at him. She caught his nose and that was the end of Nice-Guy Bodie. He has been after her ever since.

Emmet: a handsome mini panther who lacks confidence.

He was originally a Kracken Kitty like Prudence, who made the permanent move to Resident cat a couple of years ago. He had been dealing with symptoms of FIP and his siblings were not being supportive in his care and treatment. Upon reflection, I know that there has always been some tension between him and Bodie. But he was once a happy and playful cat. He would still keep one eye on where Bodie was, but he would run and play. Since the drama has escalated, Emmet has been the affected by it the most. He is not happy and playful. Withdrawn and on-guard are more his ways now. It has also affected his diet and eating. Unfortunately, that was when I really took a step back and noticed exactly what was happening with the cats.

Bodie: a big, furry bear of a cat, who is really just scared and grieving the loss of his best friend

My big “Bodie Bear” that we found on our honeymoon 7 years ago. About a year later, his picked his BFF, Monti, from a litter of kittens that I had. They were inseparable, sleeping and playing together. They were active members of WCW (World Cat Wrestling). Monti passed away last August and since then, my sweet BoBear has been desperately missing him. Occasionally, he will walk around calling for Monti. He tries to play with the other cats in the same way that he would with Monti, but the other cats are not the rough-housing types. This has become very frustrating for him, and he tends to find other ways to exert his built-up energy. This usually takes shape in the form of “attacking” or “bullying” the other cats, mainly Emmet & Prudence.

Supporting Cast:

Hemingway, Franklin & Sloopy: these 3 are often caught in the crossfire of the main drama happening almost daily. They, occasionally, show signs of being affected by the stress in the house right now. Some inappropriate marking or bathrooms habits are the most common. I really needed to get a handle on the drama before the creators of this Cat Soap Opera decides to move them to a more main role.

5 W’s & 1 H

In my efforts to determine what and who are the major causes of this drama, I have been thinking back to when the issues first started to happen. At first, I thought it was when we moved Prudence up from living with her siblings, the Kracken Kitties. That was definitely the proverbial “straw that broke the camel’s back”, but I realized that was not the first of the issues. Last August, when Monti crossed the rainbow bridge, it didn’t seem like Bodie was showing signs of grief and missing his BFF. Now, I realize that he has been grieving and is dealing with this grief by attacking the other cats, especially Emmet & Prudence, and being a “bully”. However, after finding videos from a couple of years ago, I finally realized that issues between Bodie and Emmet were happening way before Monti passed.

Now that I have that figured out, how do I deal with living in my own personal Cat Soap Opera? How do I help restore peace and harmony in our house? The stress that is being brought on by the drama is affecting everyone, cats and humans, and even, starting to affect Emmet’s health. Stress can affect your cat’s health if left untreated. It has been an on-going process to bring harmony back into our house and my cat’s lives. We have been using different methods in our harmonic approach, from Naturally Cats Herb Gardens to Muscle Testing from Purrrfectly Holistic, along with other techniques and tools that I have picked up along the way. But all of that is for the next episode of “The Anxious and the Agitated”.

“The problem with cats is that they get the same exact look whether they see a moth or an ax-murderer.”
― Paula Poundstone