Why does she do that?

 

Cats are, and have always been, a complete mystery! Perhaps that is a huge part of their allure. Our black and white female, Kiki, is a perfect example. Since our sweet little Maine Coon Tabitha has joined our little family, she has been an unbelievable wreck. At first I thought that she was merely upset at the fact that we brought another cat into the mix, and I am sure that that has a lot to do with it. But now, I am beginning to see signs of OCD. Yes, that's right. Animals, cats in particular, can develop this human behavioral disorder.

You see, when we first brought Kiki home to live with us, she was barely 2 months old. Barely old enough to be weaned off of her mother cat although we were told that she was no longer nursing. We noticed much later that she liked to "lick" things ~ rugs, covers, pillows, blankets, faces! Coming from a cat, it seemed a bit odd to us and so I began to do some research on why cats do this and I kept getting the same basic answer: Cats are prone to licking things when they are taken from their mother cat too soon.

And now, with the addition of Tabby we have noticed that this mannerism has gotten much worse. I am now beginnng to wonder if this is because she is so stressed out that she has developed a type of disorder such as OCD? Whereas I was rather unhappy with what seemed to be her unwillingness to adapt to the new cat (and I still haven't ruled that possibilty out), I am actually finding myself beginning to feel a bit sorry for her. I want to help her, but I do not have the first clue what to do. Is she hissing, growling and snarling all of the time because she is afraid of Tabby for some strange reason? Mind you, Tabby has shown absolutely no aggression toward any of our other cats what-so-ever since she has been in the house. In fact, if anything, she took a lot of abuse from them with their hissing and so forth immediately after she was brought in. Or, is she just simply having such a hard time adapting to the changes going on within the hierarchy?

Of course, that "hierarchy" has not changed one bit. Tabby does not chase Kiki or attempt to challenge her in any way. She does not even try to stare her down ever? The truth is that Kiki is still the boss. The alpha cat. If only she would give things a chance she would quickly realize this?

In the meantime though, we will continue to try to work with her by trying to make her feel safe (if that is in fact the problem?), make sure she knows that she is still loved and cared for so that she does not feel so insecure, and, last but not least, keep our paws crossed!