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Serious feline battle issues


bookmarm

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:lol: I'm ready to perform cat torture! We have three feline girls who came to us at various times over the last decade. Zero arrived first in the form of a tiny sick fluff bit who was left at our house to die rather than risk infecting a neighbor's cat. As a steel magnolia, she did not succomb or lose the infected eye that was the last bit of illness. Next came Mammy, who blessed us with babes temporarily till they were adopted. Then the Demon A, who arrived as a young'un last year. Mammy and the DA cohabitate in an uneasy truce, but manage to be sort of buds mostly. Zero has to be kept separate because of her fear of anything feline...get's along great with Ollie dog (everyone does). There are scheduled times when certain cats get the roam of most of the house, while others are in shut bedrooms. When soeone gets ticked off about something, they pee on counters/furniture/fireplace marble/certain spots of carpet. I've sprayed "keep off" stuff, disciplined (when possible), given extra love, but this morning someone had wet all over the downstairs bathroom counter. Several items of good furniture have been ruined in the past. A few months ago someone wet on an antique chess table my grandfather made. I love them all, but I'm near cat-icidal! Our Vet thought possibly putting Zero (the likely most often culprit) on an antidepressant. For whatever reason is in there dumb little cat brains, the downstairs bathroom sink has become the public urinal. No amount of cleaning seems to help! Has anyone gone through this with multiple cats?? Please HELP with any advice! Just letting them all out to settle the matter once and for all has been tried briefly, but I can't watch them try to kill each other (I had brothers who acted that way all the time as kids, I don't want to relive those memories).

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Wow, this is a tough one. Antidepressants might help but then you would have to keep them drugged all the time. I assume your kitties have all been spayed. If not, that would certainly help. Also, make sure your cat box(s) are always clean. We have 4 cats, 3 boys and 1 girl. The female rules the household even tho she is tiny compared to them. Not sure having more than one female in a household would ever work no matter what you did. Worse comes to worse you might have to find another home for the culprit. She might just prefer to be an only cat. Wish I was more help. Hope all works out for you. You must love them all or you wouldn't still have them with this behavior so that really makes it very tough. I am so sorry and hope you find a good remedy. :lol:

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Sorry, I can't help either. I have four cats, two related females (mother and daughter) and two unrelated males. All are spayed/neutered; all live relatively amiably in the entire house (I say "relatively" as there is the occasional cat-row, but they seem to settle things with more sound-and-fury than actual flying fur..) The only time the litter boxes are missed is if one is ill, and then they're "neat" enough to keep it to a tiled area. No furniture has been peed on, no other surfaces than the floor.

I think there's a lot of tension there with them being isolated at various times. That's hard for critters to figure out..why they're being separated from the rest of the clan. The only time ours get isolated is if certain (very allergic) company comes, and then all four are "confined" to our bedroom where they sleep every night anyway, and hide out in our closet when there are storms and such..so not a big "punishment". It's not clear if everyone is spayed or neutered -- that can make a BIG difference in their ability to cope with each other.

Other than that, as cjack says, there are some cats (and dogs, for that matter) who really don't like to be around other critters, want to be "solo" cat. That might be the case here..and you'd have to find a home for the "outsider". I'm sorry!

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From my past experiences, spayed females usually don't like to share the same home.

I'd had 3 spayed females and one neutered male for 2 1/2 years. As the 3 females got older, our house became a war-zone especially among two of the females. I had to make a decision to find another home for one of them. Even though I loved Duchess very much, she had been the fourth cat to arrive, and she had problems with both of the other female cats and even Dudley (neutered male).

I found her a home where she is an "only" cat to a senior widower. He adores her. Duchess is much happier now. She's been with Dan for nearly 6 years and has blossomed under his care. She is the lady of the house and bosses him around. Every morning he gets up (at exactly the time that she insists he arise), and then he feeds, grooms and massages him.

When Ray and I go over to visit over coffee, Duchess will go to Dan and "scold him" if he's giving the company (Ray and I) too much attention. Dan loves her so much.

Even though I found it really really tough to let one of my cats go, I know that I did the right thing. There's peace in my home, and a much happier Duchess. Some cats do not want to share.

Hope you find a solution. I know how very hard it is to live in a household where the cats do not live in harmony.

Hugs

-Susanne

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Our outside cat baby refused to use the litter. We tried every type of litter and such but to no avail. He went to the bathroom in the bathtub. I couldnt take it anymore so I reluctantly made him an outside/inside cat. Whenever he is forced in the house for long periods of time..(cold weather, rain storms) he would howl like a maniac. He did not want to go in the litter and cried about it like a lil baby the whole time..LOL

Lately he doesnt like to go outside. From some talk on here I think it has to do with the turkey buzzards that are hanging out in the neighborhood. He will go in the litter but he does not want too.

My cats fight sometimes but it never lasts very long and there are only bruised egos...no bodily injuries.

I do not know what I would do if this was happening with my clan.

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Have you tried putting aluminum foil temporarily on the areas where they are doing bad things?

Also, do you have litter pans in several rooms so that if one kitty is frightened it can still use the litter pan in another room.

I have 11 kitties that are all spayed or altered and all live in my home. Fortunately other than an occasional loud indignant

meow from an older female when she doesn't want to be bothered by one of the younger kitties the get along very well.

Years ago, I had two unrelated, unaltered male adult kitties who fought all the time. However they stopped doing that after I had them altered.

I have several litter pans both upstairs and downstairs and scoop them once a day. The kitties have used their pans.(knock on wood)

Good luck

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all our girls have been spayed. Can't put Zero outside because she's been declawed. Can't put Mammy outside because she has only 4 teeth. The Demon A has full equipment. Aluminum foil in the corners might be an interesting experiment.

Can't send them off to new homes. Zero would be a basket case, and... this is a seriously love dependant cat. If I stayed home all day she would find a way to be smushed up next to me purring loudly and staring up at me with rapt eyes the whole time. I suspect that's why she wets everywhere and marks her most admired areas. I know she's lonely, but I wish she could settle with the other girls for comfort. They all come from needy backgrounds. Zero was an orphan and only cat for several years. Mammy lost her daughter (Altoid) to a heart condition. She carries a paper ball around sometimes and sings to it. Son #1 pointed out that this is like a mom carrying a kitten. The Demon A spent her life (9 mos) before us in a crate waiting for adoption. I want to bonk them on their empty butterbean heads and tell them to get over it!

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I have two altered males. Poe came to us in 1997.....he had been in a crate for his first 18 months. He was not a friendly nor particularlly happy or friendly cat. But we took him in out of kindness and a desire to have a furbaby. A furbaby he isn't. Only in the last two years since I've been retired has he shown any kind of affection or attention (except when he wants something) to me or Doug. In 1999 we got Princess and since the day she arrived at 6 weeks of age Poe tried to kill her daily. He didn't succeed. He would play "bowling ball" with her - she was teeny, and he was big. He would run across the room and just run over her. He stopped doing that one day when she woofed at him. Tigger our other male cat came home in in 2000. He's been with us ever since. He also is neutered. I have three litter boxes (no waiting) and neither of them has used anything else but the boxes thankfully! And even if I forget to clean one, they will not soil outside the boxes. They get along pretty good, but they play rough, rolling, bitting, and snarling, then curl up and go to sleep together. I've always had multpile cats, both male and female, and none have done these things. Perhaps you should have your vet examine them for an underlying medical problem? Wish I could help with this, but it stumps me!

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I do realize that with my cats I'm a very large part of the problem. I continually dote on them 24-7. They're my furbabies and I love spending time with them. When I'm home I'm always with them. Missymew and Trinity come from room to room with me. The girls and I talk, play and cuddle. Ray works shifts, and I only work 3 days a week. I'm crazy about my cats, but I know this causes jealously between them as well.

I've got a cat (I call him Ginger) that's been coming around to visit me for about 9 years now. I had him neutered several years ago because I thought he was a stray. I later realized that he did have a home, but I don't know exactly where he lives. He comes over pretty well everyday just to visit with me. He was very close to Dudley, so Ginger is always welcome here. Missymew and Trinity don't like him, but he never bothers them.

I hope things work out at your home. I still miss Duchess and go and visit her often.

Hugs

-Susanne

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Well I spoke too soon! My guys just got into a real battle royal. I'm upstairs. They are down. I hear things crashing, and I look over the balcony and my big basket of pine cones is tipped over, a horse on the floor, and my box of ornaments overturned! All this to the sound of snarling and rolling around. Down the stairs I run to see Tigger on the footstool lyging down washing his paws, and Poe going over in front of the stove......so innocent1 What a mess! Cats! You gotta love em!

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I know,...they just stump us all! Zero has just gotten out on her shift and is happily chewing on a moth under the kitchen table (usually bugs are netted and flung outside, but this one has been a cat toy while we were at work and needs RIP quickly).

We are keeping the downstairs bathroom door closed all the time, since this seems to be the pee-mail central hub of the moment. Lot's of wuv wuv wuv, clean litter pans, nice cool breeze with all the scary storms passing through so the outside screen doors provide plenty of interesting fauna and smells. Everyone should be happy-doodle. Poor little pampered dearies (hurumpf).

It's my best guess, but I think Zero just has no idea how to socialize with cats. Dogs are fine and even if our loud neighbor jack russell terrorist 'Buster Brown', comes calling and occasionally has sleepovers and this doesn't seem to put her into a serious mental state (she hides, but will appear at times on the stairway to glare at im). I guess Ollie has been her closest connection to the animal world for so long that she can't interact with the other feline girls. Still, I'm ready to put them all in rubber training pants if the marking and spraying doesn't stop!! No ,I'm not gonna kill'em (even though they might need it right now). We promised to take care of them till death parts us, but I sure don't want to part with my family treasures as cat toilets/grafkitty forum posts either.

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Well my pet trainer would say shut the door if not. You could always go to a pet trainer and ask them your thoughts. I love pet smart, so does my dog. He goes there when he runs off. They have a pet trainer there and are great. You could see if a pet store near you does pet training sessions. :insane:

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Did the vet check to see if one of the cats has a problem..like crystals, or bladder infection, etc? That may be a reason for the change in potty venue.

Maybe you can try that bitter orange spray stuff on the sink to deter it...or fill a can with coins and seal..then watch and wait. When you see a cat go to the sink..shake the can and scare the you know what out of them. It might keep them from doing it.

But then they might chose another place to go.

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Our vet checked Zero and pronounced her bladder very healthy. It's a mind thing. Of course the other gals make pee-comments back. The sink is weird spot...though guess there could be far worse than hunkering down over the drain. It's the counters/floor vents and furniture that get me livid! Zero is terrified of brooms, so I'll sometimes park a big broom over the last 'comment' area.

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I watched a program the other day where two cats just wouldn't get along. They didn't introduce the cats properly to begin with, just dumping them in a room together. But the pet expert had the owners put them in separate but nearby crates while giving them each a small dish of tasty tuna! They'd do this a couple times a day each time moving the crates closer together - the cats began to make a positive association with being near each other! It was cool to watch.

All my cats get along, but aren't cuddly with one another. They only have one group activity and that's canned cat food - one in the morning and once at night, each with their own metal bowl. Maybe if you can develop some special consistent daily event where they can all be involved but not necessarily have to share anything, it might help. I don't recommend a catnip session though, some cats get violent during catnip play.

Is there a litter box in the proximity of where the accidents are occuring? I had a cat bathroom problem after we went away on vacation. We have 4 cats. Two female, two male, all fixed. One we found in our backyard with her new litter of kittens under our deck. We found homes for the kittens and she stayed with us. She's wonderful but terrified of strangers. When we went on vacation for two weeks my aunt would come over to care for them. Apparently this poor cat hid in my room any time she was there. So when she desperately needed to use the cat box, she used my bathroom and bedroom floor instead of venturing out. I couldn't be mad, I just didn't even think about how she would be... we've cleaned the carpet, but since my bedroom is her safe zone when guests are over, I have to keep one of the four litter boxes in my bathroom. The rest are in the garage downstairs via a cat door... Fortunately I get the impression that she still only uses this box in emergency situations, and the other three aren't interested at all. Have you considered placing a cat box in this bathroom? It may be your cat's safe zone when the other cats are picking on her, or maybe something else is stressing her out, but you haven't made the association yet?

Also, do you have three cat boxes? I've always read you should have one per cat... Also, I notice you mentioned they are shut in bedrooms. Is this a consistent event or random? Are there cat boxes in the bedrooms? The bedroom restrictions might be adding stress instead of helping it.

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I had 3 cats - all fixed - 2 males, 1 female. The female sprayed everywhere. I tried for 3 years to stop her. Large cage with a litterbox. Locking her in a room. A ton of money in tests. I gave up and had her put down. My house reeked. I didn't want her put up for adoption because at the time there wasn't the networking there is now and I didn't want someone to abuse her if she was bad.

You should consider small baby diapers if you can't part with her. Off brands are pretty cheap and you just cut a hole for the tail. If I can put a diaper on a turtle, you should be able to get one on a cat.

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You should consider small baby diapers if you can't part with her. Off brands are pretty cheap and you just cut a hole for the tail. If I can put a diaper on a turtle, you should be able to get one on a cat.

Oh the visuals that conjours up!

I unfortunately have the same problem with one of my (male neutered) fuzzies, but I'm still not sure which one. I have four, and I've narrowed it down to the two older ones. They have been to the vet and pronounced healthy in all aspects. There are four litter boxes and they DEFINITELY get used...my boys like to let me know if they aren't clean enough by pooing right in front of the offending box....but the two places that get peed on are the Persian rug in the dining room (only one corner) and the hardwood floor by the side door. We don't know why...but our suspicions are that the rug feels good on the paws, and the hardwood floor, maybe one of the stray neighborhood cats marked the outside of the door? Hard telling but it is really annoying! I'll have to try the aluminum foil and see what happens. They all seem to get along with each other, the only battles being more playful than anything else, and at times, the four of them will curl up in a heap on the couch! So cute when they do that, but of course, I can never get to the camera in time!

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My cats drive me crazy sometimes because they are always making this musical closed mouth purr/mew sound. It's like they are trying to talk to me. This is not a regular meow. Sometimes twiggy and Cali will really roll around growling and hissing like they hate each other. Twiggy had a scab on her back almost a week where I guess Cali bit her too hard. This is the worst they do. If mine didn't use the litter box I don't know what I would do. That is the worst cat behavior I can think of and I don't think I could deal with it. It must be awful for you to not know how to fix it. Cleaning a litter box is nothing next to cleaning it up from anywhere else. I hope you can find out what the problem is and hopefully find a solution.

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