Hi all and thanks for the welcomes
A quick summary to fill you all in on Charlies history.
Charlie was with me for 6 months up until May last year when, due to personal reasons which I wont go into here, I had to re-home him with his pal Stuey (a tonkinese). In fact, I believe it was Sharon who was instrumental in helping them find their new home when she spotted the post on cat chat and knew of a couple who were waiting for the right cat.
So Charlie and Stuey went to live with Danielle on a fruit farm in Canterbury, the perfect place with no busy roads and loads of fields to play in safely. After some time Stuey started to become a lot more of a dominant cat and would constantly bully Charlie which became a bit of a problem for him. Eventually Stuey, with the help of feliway diffusers, started to calm down a bit but still liked to pick on Charlie somewhat.
Then in January this year, Charlie was attacked in the front garden by a neighbours Jack Russell and quite badly injured. As a result of this Charlie became extremely fearful and kept running away to hide in a barn and would not return until well after everyone had gone to bed. He wet himself a couple of times which Danielle thinks was out of anxiety but he has not done it since.
Danielle posted her concerns on catchat and after some discussion we agreed it may be best if Charlie was removed from the environment which obviously had started to have bad memories for him. I agreed to give Charlie a home back with me.
I also have a British Shorthair male who is pretty laid back but Charlie seems to have become so fearful of other animals or of being attacked that it seems to trigger an aggressive reaction in him. He only has to sense Beau in the next room and he gets quite anxious resulting in Beau disappearing for hours on end. There have been a couple of fights between them, the first when I allowed them to have a sniff of each other and the other when Charlie rushed out of his room when I opened the door to feed him and he quite viciously attacked Beau resulting in a vets visit for Beau.
It is so sad to see him like this with other cats but he cannot be blamed after all he has been through. My main priority is to consider what is best for Charlie and his happiness and I think a home as an only pet is the only way he is going to find true peace and be a happy cat again.
Sorry, bit of a long 'summary' and if you got this far then help yourself to a jaffa cake
His interaction with me is the complete opposite. He loves being around me and within minutes of sitting down he is there on my lap. He purrs for England and never needs an excuse to come and give you a headbut!!
As I live alone and there is nobody here during the day, Charlie has to be kept in a room downstairs until I return home and can then manoeuvre the two of them around so Charlie can have a run around the house. I dont know if this is exacerbating the problem but he certainly does not like it.
I also have to think about Beau who has become extremely nervous and I doubt, even if it were possible, will ever become friends with Charlie after their fight?
Anyway, I have probably waffled on for way too long. Hope this explains the situation a bit better.
Dave
