Hey guys n girls

I am calling on your cat wisdom to help me solve a dilemma, this is going to be a long post so i apologise in advance.

this is felix
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=310270&l=78cc4&id=599000652
he is 7 this march, i used to live in a house so he could go out, then we moved to a flat and sadly his out door play days were over. he did become quite aggressive at times even though we made his indoor environment as stimulating as possible. having read all the cat books by vicki hall, he did prefer the furniture. rather than the scratch posts. so 2 year ago in june we decided to introduce a playmate to see if this would calm him down. seeing as no matter how much i sharpened my nails they were not as sharp as claws.
so we got flick
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=57896&l=dc5d2&id=599000652
the plan worked, felix calmed down instantly, she even tought him how to use a scratch post.
we moved house, I wanted to acclimatise them to the new house before i started letting them out, then i saw how much the bus hurtled up our road and I just couldnt bear it. so flick has always been an indoor cat. she too can the quite boisterous and nasty at times, father in law as took a few swipes and she attacked my granddad. we wanted a loving lapcat, not felix the 2nd lol
a year and a couple of months later we had our first baby. random kicking feet are too much of a temptation for our younger moggie. and I have seen her stalking the baby a couple of times. not good. she also likes to attack things on the new tv which other half won (40" samsung lcd) as far as I am aware lcd are not resistant to cat claws!!!
so to try and alleviate the situation I have decided to let them out of the back door. fingers crossed they wont go near the road, but thats the chance I will have to take. felix loves his new found freedom and comes home. flick hates going outside. I think that might be my own fault as I have probably created a negative image of the outside world as every time she has escaped in the past we have chased after her and brought her back inside. When I have forced the issue with her over the last few days (by closing the door) she runs under the patio table and doesnt come out till i open the door to let her back in. (only leave her out for 10 mins or so)

the problem I have is this, how can I calm my nearly 2 yr old moggy down. How can I make good cat/baby relations (baby is now interested in the cats and put her hand out to touch them, but she is still quite jerky and flick has had a swipe at her hand (no blood brought thank god)
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=310266&l=81b6f&id=599000652
she likes the f1 though (although on the old tv she couldnt do any damage to it)
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=310262&id=599000652

we have even talked about finding her a new home, she has turned against felix when he has been out and she has not, probably as he smells different.
I do not know what to do.

:help::help::help:

aww, both your kittys are soo cute.

ok, dont panic about the road with your older cat. me & the OH are buying my mother-in-laws house which is sited very near a busy main road & our cat is very much an out door cat, i just couldnt keep him in the little hudinni.
i was quite worried about the main road but many of the websites i've been reading have said that cats jenerally stay away from the busyest of roads because of the noise & traffic, its the quiter roads that are more dangerous to cats.

the younger one has obviously been an indoor cat for too long to start letting her out, from the sound of it she obviously dosent like been outside & would benefit from staying an indoor cat. i'm unsure on how you can stop her from trying to swipe at people, my mums cat that was ferrel still does this & we havent been able to curb this behavour. but if you do decide to keep the younger one an indoor cat then you have a couple of options, you can purchse "soft paws" for your cat. these are a kind of nail caps that you put on the cats claws, they dont hurt & they come in some funky colours. my mates mum has them pescribed by the vet for her cat as she has some deformitys & slight brain dammage. she was getting frustrated with her scrating everything & not been able to get her to use the post. these have worked well but they do come off eventually & have to be replaced. but the cat must not be let out with these on as they cant defend themselves. the other option is to have the nail clipped.

with regards to the baby, if you choose one of the options above then the cat can swipe but cant halm the baby. i'd focus more on teaching the baby how to interact with the cat rather than keeping the cat away from the baby. spend time with the little one showing her how to pet the cat nicely & not pull on the tail, ears, poke the eyes etc, babys learn by example & will soon learn to treat cats gently with love & respect. my nephews soon did when they were todlers & took to pulling the cats tail, a couple of swipes (with blood) & they never did it again. my sister showed them how to love with out getting hurt or hurting the cat.

the feliway is ment to be very good to calm kittys down, that would be worth a try.

i dont know what to sugest about your last problem. you obviosuly love flick & having to find a new home for her would be very hard to do emotionally.

i've just thought, see if when your out door cat comes in from being out side, if wiping him with a small towel gets some off the outside sent off. or rubbing a bit of the indoor cats sent on him to stop the fighting. other than that i dont really have any sugestions i'm afraid.

i hope everything works out for you

feliway

http://www.feliway.uk.com/feliway_uk.nsf/Page?OpenForm

soft paws

http://www.spuk.com/?gclid=CJjd39bam5ICFQ8rlAodcz1L6A

i tried to move the scents about between the 2 but she just goes mental. she does have a real aversion to the outside world. I think when it gets a little bit warmer i will just leave the doors open and perhaps some nice enticing tuna or something :hihi: to see if that helps.
the other problem I have is that I am looking to becoming a childminder so i need her to be friendly with all children and she just isnt friendly. sadly looking like re-homing may have to be. I simple don't have the time to spend with her as baby takes up all my time
:help: