cat problems galore

Question
hello, my name is sharon. me and my 2 cats (ages about 7 and 3) just moved
in with my boyfriend who has two cats of his own (brother and sister cats). we
tried to mix the cats slowly, but we are still keeping the pairs seperate from
each other months later, which is getting old fast when the "locked up" cats
get angry and start banging on the doors.

my cats are declawed, his are not. when we try to do some supervised
mingling, his end up beating the crap out of my cats. we tried the feline spray
and now we are at our wits end. we know that each of the cats knows the
other is there, they even know each others' scents.

can a vet help us with some medication? is there something that we're not
doing right? i am tired of doing cat shifts...and furthermore locking up
otherwise wonderful cats. please help!

sharon

Answer
Hi, Sharon.  This is a little tricky.  Unfortunately cats are a lot more difficult than dogs when it comes to introducing new members to the household.  The new cats are already upset that they've moved so they're anxious about that and the old cats feel their territory is being encroached upon.  Cats are solitary creatures by nature, but domesticated cats tend to form pair bonds, and adult cats especially can be very reluctant to let new members into their environment.  Sometimes, unfortunately, nothing you do will ever change the fact that cats hate each other, and always will.  First, if they are not all spayed and neutered, then I would definitely recommend getting any intact cats fixed.  That alone can reduce a lot of aggression in both the male and female cats.

I'm assuming by "feline spray" you mean Feliway.  Feliway is great, and can work in these situations but there are three criteria that must be met first - one, the cats need to have been nursed by another cat, as it is similar to the pheromone released by nursing mothers.  Two, you need to make sure you have enough diffusers for the whole house, and three it can take up to six weeks for it to work.  If you haven't tried Feliway, then I would definitely recommend it.  

There are some medications that your vet could prescribe for your cats, but they aren't guaranteed to work.  However, I definitely think it's worth making an appointment for a consultation.  The medications are usually anti-depressants that work by lessening aggression.  I have seen this work with some cats.

One other thing that could be adding to the problem is if any of the cats are getting special treatment.  It is important to level the playing field, so to speak.  As silly as it may sound, they can become jealous of each other and then become aggressive.  Also, if you are keeping them in separate rooms, try switching their rooms occasionally to help them get used to the other cats' scent.

Let me know how things turn out.

Amanda