Cat advice needed (long)

[smilingcat]

I've had big trouble with Mama cat. She was the rescue about 2 years ago. At first everything was going fine then it went downhill.

the problem was she wanted to be an alpha but we already had a well established hierarchy of 10 cats. If mama tried to start anything including our lowest cat on the totem pole, the alpha cat Brendon 10yo Main coon mix and the #2 cat Morgan 6yo rag doll would attack mama.

At first we figure on letting the cats sort it out themselves but it wasn't working.

One thing we didn't do is to take a towel and rub against all of our cats then onto mama to transfer the pack smell on her and reverse. I know this works for chicken. It's a crazy idea but it might reduce the tension.

Sometimes, you have to let the cats sort out their hierarchy themselves. And this means to let them fight it out. You have to be there to make sure no one gets seriously injured. It's nerve wracking to let them "have at it" but sometimes this is what it takes for them to sort out the order in the pack.

I think Izzy is being threatened by Matilda or Izzy doesn't want to become the Omega in three cat household and neither does Matilda.

Since Matilda is the newest, she should be on the bottom of the totem pole. You might want to feed your other two in plain sight of Matilda then feed Matilda last to let her know that she is on the bottom. This may also help.

[Koronin]

I agree that it sounds like there needs to be more time and that they need to sort out who is where in hierarchy.

Our three have a more or less truce with each other. Basically we have 3 cats that do not care for each very much. Although the youngest (and lowest on the totempole) actually would be lost without the other two. She really relies on them for reassurance. The other two are truly both Alpha cats. Basically they seem to have come to some arrangement that they basically just ignore each other.

On the other hand, it is a mistake to even think about bringing another cat into this household. We tried with a stray that adopted us before we moved. Basically all three hate him and decided to hiss and growl if he even moved. He now lives very happily with my mom and my mom's cat who doesn't mind him being there. He's a big cat (about 18lbs when healthy) and is actually an Omega cat. But our three wanted him gone.

[Marquise]

Was also going to suggest rubbing towel on cats to get their smells on each other. Good luck!

[owlice]

More time may help, but it doesn't always. We have two states here: Uneasy (Snarling) Detente and War. It's been nearly six years; things have not improved, even with common enemies (the outdoor ferals) available.

[Catrin]

Was also going to suggest rubbing towel on cats to get their smells on each other. Good luck!

This is a good one, it helped me once in a similar situation. Sometimes it simply takes longer than others...hopefully they will eventually reach detente and then get beyond that.

[indysteel]

I think we've made a bit of progress this weekend. Most if our upstairs is off limits to the cats. So we took them both into our master bedroom for some supervised visits in what we hoped was neutral territory. Izzy is still fixated on her, but she mostly just watched her from a distance. The few times she started to chase, Matilda stopped her in her tracks with a few hisses. So, while we don't have detente, we don't have war either. This morning, Matilda chased a ball around the room and Izzy more or less left her alone. Our thought is to continue this process upstairs until there's virtually no real aggression before trying downstairs, where Izzy is more territorial, again. I imagine this is going to take a while.

[Koronin]

Very glad to hear you have some minor progress on what, I agree, should be more neutral territory.

[westtexas]

I wish I could offer you help, but I'm a terrible behaviorist. My cats still fuss and fume - all started by my older boy cat who will randomly walk up to poor Fat Luna and bite her. I just shout at them and they stop, haha. Shows you what a great trainer I am.