Expert: Karen Craft - 1/4/2008

Question
When my partner and I moved in together a year and a half ago, we both had two cats.  We followed the whole kitty-introduction-protocol by keeping each couple separate from the other for about a week or so, while rubbing their scents around each other.  For some reason, though, two of the cats, one of mine and one of my partner's are still having problems around each other.  Gretel, my female cat, has taken over the loft, hissing and growling whenever either of my partner's cats (one male and one female) comes up - which they do frequently, seemingly to taunt her!  We have put them all in a routine where the other three cats have reign of the house during the day and are put in the basement for the night so Gretel can come down from the loft for a few hours.

My partner's male cat, Queue, is an older cat who she got off the street about 4 years ago.  He gets along fine with the others, but will sit under the loft watching Gretel above him and make sad moaning sounds.  We also have problems with him peeing in several different areas of the home.  He's been checked for a urinary tract infection - it came back negative.  We keep the litter boxes clean and have four different boxes around the home.  We have tried Feli-way, Nature's Miracle and several other cleaning agents to deter him from returning to the same spots, but nothing has helped.  We even put aluminum foil down on those spots for over a month.  But as soon as we removed it, he went right back to peeing in the same spots.

So, we already have some problems we're not sure how to address.  But now, on top of everything else, we need to move again.  This time, we will be to a much smaller apartment with practically no way of separating the feuding cats.  Is there ANYTHING we can do to make this work???  I can't imagine getting rid of any of our cats - we both love them all so much.  But I don't know if it's the best thing for them to all stay together.

I don't think I mentioned: They are two male cats and two female cats.  All are spayed/neutered.  Queue, though, was neutered very late in life.  We are guessing that Queue is about 8 years old, Gretel is 4, Qwerty (female) is 3, and Puck (male) is 2.

Sorry for the long post. Thanks so much for any help you can provide!

Answer
Hi Andrea,

You do have your hands full. I'll try to help you. Queue sounds like he is very territorial. You might talk with your vet about using an antihistamine called cyproheptadine (Periactin). It has a prozac like affect on cats. This might help calm him down so he won't be stalking. I think that this will be your best bet with him.

The move will also present a problem for all the cats. But this also may help you out. They are all going to be a little put out about the move so they might not be looking to go after each other.

The most likely reason for Q to be urinating in the same spot is his smell is still there. You need to really clean the spots. Here's what I do. First I clean the spot with a really good detergent type cleaner. I use a product called Fabulosal. I then clean the area with an enzymatic cat urine cleaner. I then use a light bleach wash. And then I wash the area with the detergent again. And give it a final spray of the cat urine cleaner. It sounds like a lot of work but if there is any of his scent there he will go right back there and use the area again.

I hope some of this will help you. I made a move to a smaller place and I had a problem similar to yours. I had to make safe area in my bathroom for the cat that was being picked on. There were 5 of my cats that would go after her. She had a bed under the sink cabinet and a litter box by the toilet. She was happy there. It was the best solution until we moved again and she had her own room. Good luck.

Ciao, Karen