Ella & Bubba

I was awakened this morning at 4 a.m. by what I think is known as caterwauling. This is the growl-like sound that cats make when encountering a stray cat or another animal that they perceive as an actual threat, as opposed to an everyday spat between familiar cats. I have heard Ella do that before when faced with a stray cat on our (her) property, but I have never heard Bubba do that, so the sound was unfamiliar to me. I knew Ella was involved, but I thought maybe a stray cat had gotten into the house somehow.

But no, Ella and Bubba were facing off like never before. Oh, they get into spats multiple times a day. Ella rarely walks past Bubba without hissing at him, but it never goes further than that. On his part, Bubba never even seemed to recognize that Ella was serious about any of it. He seemed to think she was playing. Even when she made his nose bleed, at least three times, he acted as if she were playing. He would deliberately annoy her, but in the way that an elementary school kid might pull a girl's hair if he liked her. He's trying to get her attention, but it's not the kind of attention that is likely to make her like him.

I don't know who started it this morning or how it came about, but Ella was serious. She was advancing on him. While he was caterwauling back at her, he was under the dresser, backing up against the wall. Bubba was happy about my interference and took the opportunity to escape into another room, while Ella did not want me to interfere.

I was afraid she would attack me; she was so angry. While I tried talking to her, petting her, rubbing her nose, and all the things she usually finds soothing, she kept a low growl, like one that I probably wasn't supposed to be able to hear. She remained stiff and tried to get away, no doubt to get back into whatever was happening between the two. I even tried letting her under the blankets, which she usually wants, but I rarely let her do because cat hair on the sheets is itchy. That didn't help. I held her there in bed for at least a half hour, and she was still not calmed in the least.

Finally, I took her downstairs and offered her the library. She took that offer, and I fed both of them in their respective places. Once safe from Ella, Bubba was back to normal, and I couldn't see that either of them was hurt in any way.

After a few hours, I checked on Ella, and she was ready to come back out of the library, walking past Bubba without even hissing. I gave them both treats in their usual treat place, only a couple of feet from one another, and that went well. They had a brief spat a moment ago, but it was the usual half-hearted vocalization by Ella.

I might need to put out game cameras to see what's going on with these two. Hopefully, it won't happen again. Ella is very much the alpha of the two, which she assumed when Bubba was a tiny little kitten, but Bubba is more than twice her size now and about nine years younger. So far, Bubba acts like he believes she can still kick his ass, and I don't want him to respond in kind to her hostility.

She wants him to leave her the hell alone, but he wants a companion to play with and tries to win her over in all of the wrong ways.

 

When we adopted Ella as a tiny kitten, Cutie and Lydia, both sisters, treated her rudely, not letting her have any of the cat beds or toys. But Ella was a great politician when it came to winning over those two old ladies, finally succeeding in making friends with Cutie, probably not realizing that Lydia didn't even like her own sister. Bubba has none of those attributes. He seems to think that if he annoys her enough, she'll come to like it. Or maybe, on his part, it's any attention is (from her) is better than none.

 

I've had a dog and a cat at the same time, but never 2 cats.

My dog (a small terrier) and cat almost always got along fine. The cat would lay on the arm of the couch, and the dog would stand up and paw at her until the cat licked the dog. But every once in a while it was as though the dog remembered she was a dog, and that the cat was a cat. The dog would look at the cat and whimper as though she knew they were friends, but dammit, you're a cat!!! The poor thing was all knotted up in an utter state of confusion. Then the dog would attack, and there would be the snarling and hissing and rolling around the floor for a minute or two. They they were good for the next month or two.

So retarded.

 

I have had cats most of my life, including a feral adult I introduced to four other related cats. There would be spats, and some of them never accepted one another, but after the first day or so, when they came to realize that they all lived here, I've never had a cat hurt another in any serious way, the worst being the scratches that Ella left on Bubb's nose a few times. Bubba didn't seem even to notice them. I haven't had any severe injuries even in the beginning, but I would keep them in separate rooms for a while, usually only a few days.

 

The Great Anderson Cat Feud has continued. I don't know what happened, who started it, or why it's ongoing, but Ella and Bubba can't be in the same part of the house anymore.

If there's hope for making sense out of feline logic, my best guess would be that Bubba has come to realize that he's bigger than Ella, or maybe she went too far, and he fought back.

Now, Ella is angry with and afraid of Bubba, although he doesn't seem to be threatening her. Ella has always been hostile toward him, but her hostility has never affected Bubba in the past. He didn't realize hissing wasn't an invitation to play, and even when she made his nose bleed, he didn't seem to mind.

Now, if she has to come near Bubba, she not only hisses but goes into the growling and caterwauling. Bubba stands his ground, and both puff up their fur, an instinct designed to make them appear larger when confronted with a threat.

However, I haven't seen Bubba advance on her. On the contrary, he seemed grateful when I have intervened and gave him a chance to walk away without having to back down. While Ella attacked me when I tried moving her away, Bubba softened up and relaxed his fur when I moved him away.

So, we have had to separate the two for the past week or more. Bubba has the downstairs, and we've moved a litter box into our walk-in closet (which I hope will be a temporary measure) so that Ella can have the upstairs. When Ella wants to go into the library instead, she will walk a few steps down the stairs and stop, waiting for me to carry her to the library (an enclosed room downstairs), which has long been her sanctuary.

I tried moving one or the other into the library when there was an altercation since that would have been simpler for us, but Bubba hated being there once he had explored it. While Ella likes being alone sometimes, Bubba hates it, and Ella also hates having Bubba's scent in the library. I had to vacuum and clean after his stint in the library.

This arrangement is not comfortable for anyone. When I go upstairs to hang out with Ella, she always wants to go to bed, where she will sleep on or next to me. Meanwhile, Bubba is downstairs yelling because he's alone, yet he usually ignores me when I come downstairs to hang out with him.

When Michelle's home, it's a little easier because she will be upstairs with Ella, while I can work as usual downstairs, while Bubba ignores me when he's not lying on my keyboard. However, Michelle isn't as much of a cat person as I am, so I don't know if Ella gets the attention she wants

 

That's the first thing I tried.

 

As I carried Ella through the downstairs, since she refused to come down on her own, she growled at Bubba while Bubba was entirely focused on breakfast. Women! They are so unreasonable!

 

We're already planning a trip to the vet for Ella.

 

Things were okay on the cat front yesterday. I gave them both free access to the whole house (except for the library), and there were no horrible confrontations. Ella hissed and growled, but not the caterwauling. Bubba wouldn't back away from her on his own, but he was okay with that when I told him to or moved him aside with my foot. There was no confrontational behavior on Bubba's part except for not moving away from her when she threatened him.

When I went to bed, I closed the bedroom door with Ella on the inside because I didn't want to have to get up and referee any fights during the night. I opened the bedroom door at about 6 a.m. and went back to bed, waking up a couple of hours later to find Ella on one side of me and Bubba on the other. So far today, there have been no problems out of the ordinary. Ella still hisses at Bubba, but she's always done that.

 

I woke up to find Ella and Bubba in bed with me this morning. Bubba was lying on his back with his legs spread out (manspreading) and nearly touching Ella, who was unconcernedly asleep.