I took this picture of Ashley this morning. She has been recently showing that she’s been under stress. She’s been pulling her hair out of her chest. You can see the missing hair underneath her head on her neck and chest. She is not pulling it out anywhere else. She really looks hammered.

I’m hoping the change I had to make recently will help her out. While I was cleaning out the enclosure getting it ready for Spring, I noticed several instances where PITA took it upon herself to attack Ashley and Pigeon. After witnessing two of these attacks, I ended up taking PITA out of the clowder. She is now in the Introduction Cage.

PITA Is showing high Alpha behavior. She is pursuing the cats actively. Once she catches them, she exhibits mounting behavior, by biting their neck fairly aggressively and holding them down. She has shown herself to be fairly relentless in this pursuit. My presence didn’t seem to have much effect on her.

In trying to figure out why this new aggression is occurring, I have to wonder how much her and Twist’s constant warring between the wire is playing into this. Twist seems to enjoy  taunting PITA. Twist will run around the outside of the wire, PITA will follow her. They were ram the wire while trying to get to each other. Twist will finally tire of the game and go off and join her brother for other adventures.

To hopefully solve the issue and restore peace back with the group. I have decided to confine PITA to the Introduction Cage for the duration, I am grateful that I took the time late last year to re-design the cage, making it quite a bit larger than before, adding other levels and several hidey holes. There is now room for at least five litter pans, plus I tore down one side that was a bit, can we say; fragrant with cat spray. I replaced the wood with tile that does not soak in the urine making a big difference overall. I was able to get the tiles for free from a home design company in another town. The tiles were broken and they were just going to throw them away.

Do I feel guilty about making this decision? Yes I do. She has lived with these cats for years. She will be 13 years old this year, I’m not sure if Twist is what has flipped the switch in her? But we really do need to have peace within the group. The balance has shifted.

I can tell by looking at Ashley’s eyes just how terrified she is. Because I’m not out there all the time with them, I can’t be sure exactly what’s going on but I am hoping that this will help.I took this picture through the kitchen window, I was not standing next to her and scaring her when I took this. She still hasn’t forgiven me for grooming her a few weeks ago. Despite all I did that day, getting rid of all the mats, she is completely matted once again. Most of it I believe is due to the stress.

Here is a photo of Ashley’s brother taken the same morning. The difference in their body language is pretty apparent.