fur | Bad Cat Chris

As some of my readers know, our Puck has struggled with an over-grooming problem since shortly after we moved into our new home just over a year ago. He licked most of his fur off of his legs and backside.

The first vet we brought him too said he had a flea allergy even though the vet never saw any fleas on Puck and neither did we. Nonetheless, and gave him a steroid and antibiotic along with flea medication. I don’t know what brand it was but I do know we were buying Advantage at Petsmart after that for a ridiculous amount of money.

None of that worked although he did get slightly better for a short time before getting worse again. Off we went to vet number two several months later. He checked the records from the last vet and then did a test for mites. When that came back negative he decided to go the natural route first and put Puck on a special diet to test for food allergies. We tried that for a while but that ended in failure.

I didn’t want to go back to the vet and subject Puck to more useless drugs so I did nothing for a while. Eventually I brought him back to the second vet’s office where Puck was seen by vet number three. This vet was the owner of the clinic.

He examined Puck and saw no fleas but, like the first vet, assumed Puck had a Flea allergy. He gave Puck a Steroid and antibiotic, which all vets love to do, and started him on a flea medication called Activyl. He said Advantage no longer works in Florida even though Petsmart has no problem selling it here.

I hate to admit it but these invisible fleas seem to have been the cause of Puck’s problem because he now has fur again, It hasn’t fully grown back yet but there is a noticeable difference and his skin feels smoother.

Compare these to the one below taken several months ago.

I don’t like that I have to put medication on our cats every months but I am glad Puck is finally doing better.

I worry about my cats sometimes. I worry that one cat is going to seriously injure another, or worse, in a knocked-down, dragged-out, no-holds-barred fight. In some ways though, things are getting better. The fights are less frequent and Chris seems to be making an effort to make friends with Frankie. In other ways, things seem worse. When they do fight it is intense and at least one cat ends up doing the cat equivalent of “screaming like a little girl.” That cat is usually Chris.

I heard them fighting last night after we went to bed and again very early this morning. When I got up and went into the living room I saw something that shocked me.

Let’s back up a little. The problems started when we adopted Frankie. Don’t get me wrong. Frankie is a wonderful cat and I really enjoy having him here, but we failed to consider an important issue before we chose him. We didn’t think about what would happen if we brought an alpha male into a house that already had an alpha male.

We didn’t know what type of cat Frankie was when we spotted him in the Petsmart adoption center. We just knew he was cute and friendly. We didn’t ask about his background or how he interacted with other cats. Frankly, I doubt if anyone knew that since they keep the cats seperated in the shelter. We also assumed that Chris liked everybody and he would accept a new cat just like he accepted Puck. But Puck is a follower, not a leader and the two of them get along well because of that.

Chris and Puck do fight sometimes but it is play fighting. There are also times when we will catch Chris on top of Puck, holding him by the neck and dragging him across the floor. (I have tried to get pictures of that behavior but it is always over before I get my camera.) I have no idea why he does that but Puck just lies there and lets him do it. It doesn’t seem to hurt him except for a little lost fur.

Frankie and Puck fight too, but again, it is play fighting. I often see one chase the other through the house and pounce. Then it repeats with the roles reversed. The fighting is controlled and there are no little girl screams.

I mentioned before that Chris is trying to be friends with Frankie, and that is true, but he will still attack Frankie for no apparent reason. For his part, Frankie is more tolerant of Chris but he is more often than not the instigator of the fights, and these fights are real fights, no playing involved. It starts with both cats waving their paws at each other. Then there is a pounce, a scream, and then the attacker backs away and the process repeats a few seconds later.

So what I saw this morning was more fur than I have ever seen at one time that was not attached to a cat. Below are photos of some, but not all, of the fur I saw in the living room.

Some of the fur was black so poor puck found himself in the middle of the fighting. The rest belonged to Chris or Frankie or Both. I don’t know what happened but I am really starting to worry that someone is going to get hurt. Does anyone know how common injuries are from domestic cats fighting?

If you haven’t read my previous posts on the matter, here is a bit of a chronology, starting with Frankie’s adoption.

Meet Frankie, Our Newest Addition

New Cat Troubles

Did We Make a Mistake?

The Baddest Cat You’ll Ever Love… or Not

Photo Friday: Temporary Cease Fire

A Good Mouse, Spoiled

The Tables Have Turned

Rebuilding Burnt Bridges

Rebuilding Burnt Bridges – Part Two