Dr. Spiegel visit
Jul. 6th, 2005 12:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mikeknSo Dr. Spiegel, the animal behavior vet, visited yesterday. He asked lots and lots of questions. Met the girls but didn't interact with them too much - enough to met and greet but not much more. We went in with Tyree for a while, more questions and some interaction with Tyree. After which he wrote up the plan of action for the next week or so. All told, he was at the house for a little over an hour.
====
Mughi, Gunther, Grimalkin & Tyree 7/5/05:
1. Keep Tyree confined to his room for now. Door closed.
2. Limit your interactions with him to time that the girls are around on the opposite side of the door.
3. 2-3 times daily - routine bonding time on opposite sides of door. Wet meals. You can also randomly include in these times brushing, play,... ok to test catnip especially with Tyree. We want to see that everyone is relaxed at these times.
4. Keep log of any/all hissing/growling/swatting/dilated pupils/pouncing.
5. If all is well with door closed for 2-3 days, then fix door open 1-2".
6. Any questions/problems - call or email.
====
Overall there weren't any big surprises or big changes suggested. He said that we had everything set up correctly, but (and this is my interpretation) we moved too fast introducing them, and now we have some unacceptable behavior. We also didn't give them any reason to get along. So, basically what we are doing is going back to the start with a stricter plan. I guess the only thing I was a little surprise at was that he never asked to see how the cats interacted with each other (by maybe opening the door with the gate up or something). I did explain everything we've seen and describe it the best I could, but I guess I expected him to want to see it for himself.
While we were in with Tyree he brought out a laser pointer to try and get him to chase it. Tyree would keep an eye on it, watching where it went, but wouldn't move from his perch. I did get him to play with the cat fishing pole some. He wants to see some play time for Tyree and the girls (same time, but opposite sides of the door) both to get them associating positive stuff with each other, and to burn off energy which could otherwise be used for aggression. He left us the laser pointer, and the younger girls love it. His suggestions there - only bring it out at a set time (so that the cats don't start looking for it all the time), and stop playing while they are still interested (so they don't get board of it).
Some general comments from him: He's not a fan of Feliway/Comfort Zone - doesn't believe it helps much, if at all. Not a fan of clicker training - especially for this sort of problem (which I can see, but I still think it has its uses as a training tool). By spending time with Tyree alone and by letting him roam the house on his own, we were giving him no reason to get along with the others - he could get attention and play without needing to be friends with them. He mentioned drugs that could be given to Tyree to calm him down if we wanted to go that route, but he wasn't pushing them or suggesting them as the first step (which I liked).
We had our first "bonding time" this morning. We put out three plates of canned food outside the room, and one plate in with Tyree. Unfortunately, Tyree had no interest in the food - in spite of an empty bowl. He heard the others outside, and sniffed and dug a little at the carpet, but no other reaction. Mughi ate hers right away and didn't seem to care about being that close to the door. Gunther had to be brought to the food, but did settle in and eat. Grimalkin had no interest in the canned food. I left the remains out in case one or more of them decided to change their mind, but in the future we won't do that.
Still need to see how Tyree reacts to catnip. We already know that Gunther acts like a junkie looking for a fix (and willing to do anything to get it). Hopefully Tyree has a more mellow reaction (not sure it will help if he's mellowing out on one side of the door while Gunther is trying to dig through it - could be quite a buzz kill...)
I'll probably send him an email today to see if he thinks using the dry food by the door would work, at least for the morning feeding. May even tell him about the LJ, in case he's curious about the previous posts.
====
Mughi, Gunther, Grimalkin & Tyree 7/5/05:
1. Keep Tyree confined to his room for now. Door closed.
2. Limit your interactions with him to time that the girls are around on the opposite side of the door.
3. 2-3 times daily - routine bonding time on opposite sides of door. Wet meals. You can also randomly include in these times brushing, play,... ok to test catnip especially with Tyree. We want to see that everyone is relaxed at these times.
4. Keep log of any/all hissing/growling/swatting/dilated pupils/pouncing.
5. If all is well with door closed for 2-3 days, then fix door open 1-2".
6. Any questions/problems - call or email.
====
Overall there weren't any big surprises or big changes suggested. He said that we had everything set up correctly, but (and this is my interpretation) we moved too fast introducing them, and now we have some unacceptable behavior. We also didn't give them any reason to get along. So, basically what we are doing is going back to the start with a stricter plan. I guess the only thing I was a little surprise at was that he never asked to see how the cats interacted with each other (by maybe opening the door with the gate up or something). I did explain everything we've seen and describe it the best I could, but I guess I expected him to want to see it for himself.
While we were in with Tyree he brought out a laser pointer to try and get him to chase it. Tyree would keep an eye on it, watching where it went, but wouldn't move from his perch. I did get him to play with the cat fishing pole some. He wants to see some play time for Tyree and the girls (same time, but opposite sides of the door) both to get them associating positive stuff with each other, and to burn off energy which could otherwise be used for aggression. He left us the laser pointer, and the younger girls love it. His suggestions there - only bring it out at a set time (so that the cats don't start looking for it all the time), and stop playing while they are still interested (so they don't get board of it).
Some general comments from him: He's not a fan of Feliway/Comfort Zone - doesn't believe it helps much, if at all. Not a fan of clicker training - especially for this sort of problem (which I can see, but I still think it has its uses as a training tool). By spending time with Tyree alone and by letting him roam the house on his own, we were giving him no reason to get along with the others - he could get attention and play without needing to be friends with them. He mentioned drugs that could be given to Tyree to calm him down if we wanted to go that route, but he wasn't pushing them or suggesting them as the first step (which I liked).
We had our first "bonding time" this morning. We put out three plates of canned food outside the room, and one plate in with Tyree. Unfortunately, Tyree had no interest in the food - in spite of an empty bowl. He heard the others outside, and sniffed and dug a little at the carpet, but no other reaction. Mughi ate hers right away and didn't seem to care about being that close to the door. Gunther had to be brought to the food, but did settle in and eat. Grimalkin had no interest in the canned food. I left the remains out in case one or more of them decided to change their mind, but in the future we won't do that.
Still need to see how Tyree reacts to catnip. We already know that Gunther acts like a junkie looking for a fix (and willing to do anything to get it). Hopefully Tyree has a more mellow reaction (not sure it will help if he's mellowing out on one side of the door while Gunther is trying to dig through it - could be quite a buzz kill...)
I'll probably send him an email today to see if he thinks using the dry food by the door would work, at least for the morning feeding. May even tell him about the LJ, in case he's curious about the previous posts.
