Help - all out warfare and it's getting worse.

[Bodhi]

As you may, or may not know, I recently moved back to my parents, cat and dog in tow.

My parents already had 2 cats - both male.

They are NOT accepting (or even just coping) with my girl.

They HATE each other, and are beginning to fight all the time - 2 against my one

She is getting stressed to the max, and begun to wee everywhere BUT the litter tray.

It is awful at the moment, they are all on edge, none of them are happy.

This has been 3 months of steadily increasing stress, it seems it can never settle down.

Is there ANYTHING we can do to alleviate this?? Just to get them ignoring each other would be a start.

[dinahsmum]

Do any of the cats go outside or all they all confined to the house? It is bound to be a bit stressy for them all if they are all locked together and feel they can't get away.

Some suggestions (don't know if any may work)
A DAP diffuser (here's a link) it pumps out soothing chemicals/pheremones http://www.vetuk.co.uk/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1&gclid=CKuzg9SmzY UCFRBwEAodJhKP2A
Keep your cat shut in one room where the others never go? Maybe?
Provide one litter tray per cat plus one extra. Put your cats tray in as private a place as you can
Get a clean cloth (hankie or similar). Rub it on your cat's face, particularly the temples/eyebrows. Rub the cloth around your house - walls/doorframes/table legs etc etc, at cat's nose height.
Use the same technigue to get each cat's smell and then rub it on the other cats - confuse them/make them feel all those feline smells are natural to the house.

I don't know anything else, sorry.

Good luck in solving this.

[Bodhi]

The cat flap is locked. I can put my cat out whenever, no problems, she is an outsidey cat.

My mums cats don't often go out. Shan (bengal) fights EVERY time he goes out, and comes home covered in wounds. Simba (siamese) just isn't that fussed about going out!

We have just been discussing put my cats bed etc outside (covered and safe and dry), so she will be out all day, as it is just getting to boiling point. Which is a shame.

I will try the rubby smelly thing. And I definately want to get a plug in.

My poor purdy cat, she is so polite and lovely

And my mums cats aren't much happier

[dinahsmum]

There is a cute little 'cat-shelter' on the market. I'll see if I can find a link. Could be her summerhouse!

Edit: Here it is - not cheap! But if it prevents murder/felicide http://www.allsoeze.com/category-11.html

[Elaine]

http://wizz-catz.co.uk/introducing.html

How did you go about introducing the cats to one another? Sometimes this makes all the difference in the world. Some cats are quite accepting of others and some cats need to be gradually introduced to one another before any kind of tolerance is reached. The idea being that the introductions should be so gradual that neither cat really notices whats going on. It may be an idea to start from scratch. Feliway and rescue remedy etc will all help aleviate some of the stress but they wont resolve any issues the cats may have about a sudden new comer. There is no real time scale as to how long an introduction will take. Some sites say anything from 2 weeks to 12 weeks but from my own experience with Eva and Bernie, its taken 6 months but dont be put off by that coz I do think the DIVA is a special case
There are many sites on the internet which offer advice on how to introduce cats but I have only posted one link. This particular link was written by a woman who helped me in the past.
Good luck, I hope it helps xxx

[Sweet]

I hope things work out soon for you all x