Hi everyone! Struggling to get online but having a bit of a problem with the Archienator.
First though, an update! Link has been rehomed - our home just wasn't suitable for him. He needed more space to run around and his excessive affection with everyone was causing high stress levels with the older ones. They just can't cope with that much love! He is much happier in his new home and our lot are significantly happier. It was a hard decision but best for all involved.
Another difficult and utterly heartbreaking decision was that Humph was returned to his breeder. He was losing a lot, and I mean a lot, of weight, he was refusing to leave the cat tree unless it was for food or the toilet and he was very obviously unhappy. His relationship with Jerry had consistently worsened despite his and our best efforts. We suspect this is down to Jerry - as our top cat he dislikes anyone bigger than him. He has taken Zelda under his wing but refused to accept Humph, so we have concluded that as long as they're kittens when he meets them, he deems them ok. In light of this, Humph's breeder has kindly offered us a kitten from a future litter. This will likely be around Christmas at the earliest, which gives us plenty of time to work on our current problem.
That problem is Archie's behaviour. He has become food aggressive again, so we will have to do separate meals for him again. No huge issue really. The bigger problems are his peeing on the bed to mark territory and his constant screeching.
We have shut the bedroom door now, primarily to stop him weeing on the bed but also to keep them all used to the fact that, when the new baby arrives, that room will be shut off when baby is in it. We are emptying litter trays daily and he's still going on the bed even when they've just been done. He has also hissed and growled at Ben when he tried to enter the bedroom as Archie was leaving. Is there anything we can do to help encourage him to feel like this is his territory alongside the other cats?
His screeching is also a big issue - he has always been a bit of a talker but it's going to a whole new level. He will sit in the bathroom and wail over apparently nothing. The bathroom is right next to our son's bedroom and he's being woken up daily, either during his daytime naps or at nighttime. My son is a nightmare to get to sleep, it took an hour to get him to sleep this afternoon and within 10 minutes of him going, Archie was outside his door screeching. Cue my son waking up, refusing to go back to sleep and me having an extremely miserable, grizzly baby all afternoon. I'm at the end of my tether with him, his shouts and wails don't stop. He used to sit with us on the sofa but now he will moan, get on the sofa for a cuddle, get down after 5 minutes and then wail again for cuddles.
I think he has feline ADHD, everything I've read suggests he has it but I'm unsure of how to go about getting a diagnosis if indeed we can get one. Any thoughts? Is there anything we can do to discourage the amount of noise he makes? It really can't continue, it's making me so stressed and my son constantly exhausted.
Thanks in advance guys
