War and peace in a multi-pet household
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Is Wan-Wan suffering from health problems or just hating the attention the felines are receiving?
OF ALL MY HERD, Wan-Wan, my poodle pup, seems to be showing the most stress after the arrival of our latest cat, Phantom, the six-kilo hulk.
In a few short weeks, the lives of almost everyone have turned into a series of disagreements, fights and lots of bad language!
Wan, meanwhile, seems to have slowed down. No longer does she race up stairs; she waits for me to carry her up. When we go out for a walk, she doesn’t run about happily. Instead, she moves sedately.
She is, after all, nearly seven years old, heading for middle age. Perhaps, I think, she’s simply showing her age.
Poodles, though, are known for being envious creatures. While the cats receive a great deal of my attention, Wan might be feeling left out.
Actually, we’re now in a war zone. Phantom is neutered, but neutering doesn’t necessarily make an animal peace loving.
At first, he attacks only cats who growl and hiss at him, mainly Manohra. She sees Phantom and begins moaning, as in “Watch out! I’m going to kill you!”
She’s only three kilos and not even fully mature, but she’s a fighter. If she’d only keep quiet, Phantom would ignore her, and we wouldn’t have any problems, but like teenagers everywhere, the wild child can’t shut up. She has an opinion, and she wants the world to hear it.
Like many seniors, Phantom doesn’t like the impolite teenager. Aiming to shut her up, he jumps on her. The much smaller cat fights back, but even though he’s elderly and suffering from arthritis, the hulk has the advantage of weight.
Manohra eventually breaks away, with Phantom racing after her.
Phantom’s previous owner told the vet how the boy moved around with difficulty. When he joined us, I thought that he could live out the rest of his life in peace and quiet, in a safe home for elderly cats.
Well, dreams of opening a home for senior felines are gone: there’s still a lot of life in the old boy yet. Call him a “Grey Panther”.
One evening, when Thep, one of the soi boys, is relaxing on the floor after his meal, Phantom comes down the stairs and decides to attack Manohra again.
Manohra still hasn’t learned to keep quiet. As she begins moaning, Phantom advances, but Thep is in the way. Phantom attacks him first. I guess he doesn’t distinguish between friend and enemy.
Nothing upsets my dog more than to hear cats screaming and yelling. While the two cats roll around the floor, with Manohra as cheerleader, the dog jumps into the fight.
Wan isn’t stupid. At three kilos, she could never pull Phantom off Thep. Instead, she nips Phantom’s backside, at first gently, then increasingly violently.
Wan’s decided, I think: Phantom is now her enemy, at least where her friends the cats are concerned.
I pull the combatants apart. The cats are willing to stop the fight, but Wan keeps returning for another bite, although she hasn’t injured Phantom at all.
When I take her to the vet the next day just to find out if her general slow-down is due to health problems and not envy, and the vet finds what may be some bladder stones, infections and teeth problems.
As I write, we’re in the middle of Songkran, and we have to wait for everybody to come back to work before we can find out if surgery is in Wan’s future.
The vet assures me that Wan’s problems aren’t urgent, but I worry. Our household is so much like a TV drama right now that it’s a priority to ensure that everyone is as healthy as possible.
