alpha female

Question
I asked Karen he original question to which she asked me to use Feliway.  I am already using Feliway so what else can be done.  

Norman, here is the full story

Phoebe is five years old.  She came to me as a stray 4 1/2 years ago.  

Owen is not quite 2.  I adopted him last year right after I lost my Nicco. I adopted Olivia a few months after having her and her sister as fosters.  But Oprah was given to another foster because she would chase and attack every cat and when she could not get my cats she would attack Olivia.  I kept Olivia and adopted her because she was so shy.  Unfortunately she would always attack Tiger,(Nicco's actual brother.)   Because Tiger was suffering from CRF, I was told to reduce the stress, so I separated Olivia from the group.  She did not seem to mind except she wanted to be with me.   Any time one of the other cats came near her door she would bop them.  Eventually she and Phoebe learned to tolerate one another, but Olivia did not want either male near her door.  Tiger died two months ago, so I decided to bring Olivia into the group.  Periodically she will attack Phoebe but not very often. Phoebe is laid back and she "yaps" at Olivia which seems to work in keeping Olivia in check.)  But every chance she can she corners and attacks Owen- putting him down and rolling him.  Owen is petrified.  He was a very confident little boy.  He is afraid to play (this especially gets to Olivia.)

When either Owen or Phoebe go to the litter box, Olivia will stalk them both if she is in the area. I have to intervene if she is in the same area.  I have litter boxes in three different locations.   

The entire house is the play area-  and Olivia loves to play but not with the other two-  with me.

For a few weeks I had all three free at night -  and they all slept in my room and on my bed.  Olivia respected that for the most part.  But then she started terrorizing Owen at night, so I started shutting her back into "her" room. The vet told me I should do that, but I am going to honest, Phoebe, Owen, and I all need rest from Olivia's intensity.  

Feeding,  I have two dishes and Owen and Olivia both eat immediately.  Periodically Olivia would get upset and attack Owen. I started setting the second dish in Olivia's room.

This morning has been a typical day-  Olivia has been following Owen everywhere in an attempt to attack him.

I do not know if she knows how to play with other cats.  She and her sister were not bonded and Oprah kept her in line- so much so Olivia spent a great deal of time under the bed.   

I am going to admit I was spoiled rotten by my Nicco and Tiger.  Tiger was an alpha male-  but not every minute of every day.  He generally showed that personalty when it came to his territories.  Before he died, Owen, Phoebe, and he were buddies.  They played etc.

I am using feliway but it does not appear to be working.   

Right now Owen ad Olivia are sleeping under my bed- they can take naps in the same general area.

Answer
Deb,

Yes, alpha females can be real witches when they want to.

My advice always is do not separate cats, do not intervene, just tolerate it as they work out their inter-relationships.  

There are also some cats who just cannot be with other cats!!!!!  These end up doing better as the only cat in the house.

No matter what, you are going to have to make some really hard choices.  Either Olivia will have to be the only cat, or you will have to thicken your skin and ignore the noise of their discussions.  I have found that any human interference in cat matters turns out to be counter productive!

As it stands, there are enough times they get along, they may do fine if they are totally left to their own devices no matter what.  Cats very rarely ever hurt each other in an indoor setting.  So, if you can stand it, just allow them to run the house and sort it all out amongst themselves no matter what.

Truthfully, there is not much else you can do in your situation.  Feliway is not going to help in this instance.  drugging Olivia to make her more amenable could cause her problems in the long term and, if she knows the drug is messing with their head, she might fight it and become totally untenable.

I am afraid I cannot do much more to advise you.

Best regards... Norm.