Hi everyone,
we are a family of 6 humans of different ages and 3 cats. All our cats have been rescued.
The first cat, Misty, 16 y/o, 3 years ago decided to take a long vacation away from us as she thought there were too many proletarian felines in the household and, as she considered herself Royalty (who knows why), she decided to temporarily leave our house and get spoiled by all our neighbours. We miss her dearly, but she doesn't, apparently.
The two other cats are Stella and Sophie. Both females, both 8y/o, have very different temperaments. Stella doesn't have a worry in the world and adores my GrandDaughter (7 years and 10 months). Stella has assumed that she is my GD's babysitter and her guardian angel. Her total devotion is recompensed by my GD's adoration towards her.
Sophie is our serious, clinical case. We adopted her when she was 3 months old, from a family who kept her locked in a room, alone, without anyone getting close to her as, apparently, they were afraid of her.
She is the most harmless cat that anyone can imagine and she is small in size.
She is a very anxious cat and she has periods when she is "sort-of-quiet" and others when she self-harms. After years of trying every spray, tablet, ambience diffuser on the market, I resorted to keeping her sleeping pillow next to me on my bed, next to my head and pillow, to help her relax. From time she used to wear the calming. For over a year, the experiment worked perfectly but now she is again slicing herself open. As she back wearing the calming vest (to stop her from scratching on her shoulder blades/back), she manages to self-harm inside her ear, under her throat and wherever she can reach with her paws.
Our Vet (better say Vets as we tried more than one), have no clue on how to stop her from injuring herself. She is a quiet cat, always with me and she is very happy when she is with me. I work from home so she stays with me most of the time, although sometimes I have to go out for shopping or errands.
Sophie doesn't want to have anything to do with Stella. Or, previously, with Misty. When Stella gets closer to her or tries any friendly approach, Sophie hisses and tries to attack her.
I am extremely worried. In fact, I am scared, that she could cause herself too many injuries and die of a related infection's illness.
Is there anyone who went through the same terrible experience and found a miraculous way out?
Extremely grateful for your help and advice.
Thank you for reading my long message.
MessaCats