Cat problems

I am an animal lover. We have 3 cats and a dog. That being said...

Does anyone have any advice... 2 of the 3 cats are making my life miserable. The newest kitty, Violet, spends 99% of her time hiding from the oldest kitty, Annie, who is a psychotic *****. The last time I tried to pet Annie, she scratched my hand badly to where it was bleeding. I do not try to pet her any more.

Annie stalks Violet and when she finds her, corners her & won't leave her alone until they fight. When they fight, Violet pees & poos everywhere, plus clumps of fluffy weightless fur is everywhere. So I am constantly cleaning, and there is a smell I cannot get rid of. Violet is litter trained, but Annie will not allow her near the litter box.

Plus, all 3 of them are guilty of getting onto counters & on the dining table. I am at my wit's end. How do I put a stop to this? I am probably damaging the table right now, because I keep squirting it with water, thinking that the next kitty that jumps up there will get her paws wet & won't like it.

The dog & the other cat have no issues & are sweet, gentle, and obedient. Violet & the dog are best friends!

I haven't read the other comments so I may be repeating... for one, get at least one more cat litter box... yeah it will be a pain to clean up after, but at least you won't have a cat going on the floor because another one is goose gaurding. Also, I would try a pheramone (sp?) defuser for Annie, put them near the litter boxes and where they tend to sleep/hang out... it should calm them down a bit... you can usually find them either at Petsmart or the Vet's office.

As far as the counters and tables are concerned... try tin foil or sticky tape (sticky side up)... generally they will hate the noise or the feeling.

One trick that I found to work is when introducing new cats, get the smell of each other on them somehow... I rub a towel on one cat, than the other and back again.

Another trick for getting them to leave certain spaces alone is orange-scented room spray, find it in Walgreens or Walmart. Cats HATE the smell of citrus and all you need to do is spray it a little in the air of the area you don't want them in and they will avoid it. I started doing this when my 3 cats were jumping on furniture and getting in to things and now, after 3 years, I don't even need to spray it. I pick up the can and pop off the lid and they leave. Less mess than tape and more humane (I believe) than using a spray bottle of water on them.

rule of thumb is usually 1 litter box per cat +1. Example: 3 cats + 1 = 4 littler boxes.

Also, put the litter boxes in different locations. That why if Annie is guarding 1 Violet has an alternative. Also, uncovered litter boxes will help Violet feel more comfortable about not getting cornered.

^^ I tried that with these two and maybe out of spite, they would use both, seemingly to piss the other off. lol... which sucked because the older cat (female) tends to just spray everywhere. So my bathroom was constantly covered in cat wee because I didnt have a covered litter box for the little rescue I have.

Exact opposite situation for me... just rescued a kitten in December... and he's a little bully to the older cat that I have. She's always been afraid of her own shadow though. She was rescued FROM my older sister and niece. So I'm sure my niece tortured her (she's like Elmira from Animaniacs).

I agree with the acrylic nails vs declawing. And definitely getting them fixed if they aren't already. Hopefully as the kitten matures, things will calm down. But fixing them should help, as well as help them live longer.

As for getting them off the counter... I'd say get a squirtgun or electric squirtgun (preferably that makes sounds). After getting blasted with streams of water every time they misbehave, they will eventually learn not to do it.

I also have 3 cats (2 female & 1 male). One cat will turn 2 in April and the other two will turn 1 in April. All 3 were basically feral cats living "in the wild" and were found in WV. And I admit, they have their moments where it sounds like they are killing each other, but then you turn around and they are all curled up in bed together. Now when I first brought the 2 home last year, it was a living nightmare, but we ALL got through it (well except for my husband because he is NOT a cat person).

I have 2 litter boxes for the 3 cats and haven't had a problem with just having the 2.

I am having a problem with the 2 females getting on the countertops & kitchen table and will have to try the vinegar trick that someone posted earlier. I do have a cat tree for them to climb, and an entire play area in front of a window, but they don't seem to be interested. Actually they have an entire room to themselves....cat tree, food/water and litter boxes are all in this room. Have to use a baby gate on the door, which has been modified so they can fit through, but the dog can't...otherwise dog would be helping herself to the cat food.......

I have an Annie, too. Sounds like you need some Jackson Galaxy in your life. Do you get Animal Planet? :bigsmile:

Sadly some cats prefer the one-cat-per household method. A friend of mine could have written your post. She had 5 cats, and two dogs. When the two dogs and one of the cats passed away (due to age), two of the remaining cats began to fight viciously. Same story as yours, crazy cat violence, pee and poo everywhere. The other cats didn't seem too fussed about the fighting, but the owners sure couldn't stand it.
She spoke to her vet, she spoke to other cat owners, she spoke to local shelters (who deal with this problem a lot!), she even contacted the "Cat Whisperer" (no really, look it up!), and she followed ALL of the advice given to them, in turn. Nothing worked. I watched her fight this battle for 3 years (until I moved away), and nothing changed.

Eventually she resolved to keep the cats on two separate floors, sadly, the aggressor now lives, mostly alone, in the owners bedroom. It's the only solution that worked for them.

I have a couple of things here for you that might help.I just got another cat to have as a "girlfriend" for the one that I've had for 3 years. At first, it was horrible, Sprinkles (the new one, female) would hiss everytime she would see Patches (old one, male), and she would want to fight Patches all the time. Patches is just a big ole teddy bear that wanted a campanion. I ended up having to separate them for 3 weeks, and they would just sniff each other under the door, and they would try to "play" with each other too under the door. The only time I would let them see each other is when my hubby and I could supervise and have control of both of them. Then I would feed them treats when they would just see each other (it's very important that they associate each other with positive, happy things). The hubby and I would play with each one individually but we would do it when they were like 5 feet apart.

After about 2 months, they finally started to get along. But she would still freak out when he would try to smell her bootie!! It was kind of funny..lol! It's been 14 months since they've been together, and they LOVE each other. They cuddle, play, and sometimes just ignore me entirely, but I'm just happy their happy.

They say that it can take 6 months for cats to warm up to each other. I would recommend separating them. I know it sounds mean to cut them off to parts of the house, but it's for both their own good. Then have "supervised" meetings with the 2 of them just to make sure they don't hurt each other. Then give them treats when they are together and play with them...lots of attention is the key. It'll take time and patience. With separating them, would also include separate litter boxes too.

As far as the counter thing, the vinegar and water thing in the face when they just up there, does the trick. Also I know that double sided tape, cats hate the feeling of it on their paws. You can use it on your furniture if they scratch that, but if you put a few strips on your counter. It might be a pain at first, but after a week or so, they'll get the hint.

I hope this helps. Just remember, patience, patience, and patience. Cats take so much more time than dogs to like each other sometimes. GOOD LUCK!! You'll need it.

Just wanted to address a couple suggestions that were mentioned...

It is not too late to reintroduce them. As I said previously, cats can "forget" each other and their scents very quickly. By separating them now and then slowly re introducing them to each other, you CAN fix the issues. (take note from the show "my cat from hell". He has done it and it works. Also, our vet recommended this to us specifically. You can't just throw 2 or 3 cats together and expect them to get along, but you CAN reintroduce them, no matter how long they've been together already.

Also, the feliway spray doesn't work for all cats - keep that in mind. We tried it for our cats and it did absolutely nothing and was a waste of money (it is expensive for a tiny bottle).

Yes, we use a spray bottle sometimes, but realistically you cannot really "train" a cat to do or not do something. Yes, they will get off the table if you spray them, but that's not going to "teach" them not to do it again. They are going up on tables, counters, etc because they need a HIGH place to hang out. I guarantee you don't have places like this available for them in your house. Get a cat tree or two, or give them other high places that they are allowed to go on and I guarantee they won't go up on the counters or table as much.

As Melb2003 said above, you can successfully reintroduce them if you do it right. They might not end up as best friends, but they should eventually at least tolerate each other. I don't really believe there is such a thing as a 'bad" cat (unless maybe it is feral), that should require medication or worse, getting rid of it. I'd say 99% of the time, it is an issue caused by the owners.