seriously need some help at the end of my teather

right first of i have 7 cats.
oldest to youngest is , 14 yr old netured male,
5 1/2 yr old netured male,
2 yr old spayed female,
7 1/2 month netured male,
7 1/2 month spayed female,
4 month old female,
4 month old female...
the vets in london will not spay untill 6 months.
right ... this time last year , i only had 14 yr old and 5 1/2 yr old , and also then i had 9 yr old , all males all netured . everything was great they have always been loverball.
january this year , my 9 yr old had to be pts , due to kidney cancer .
my children asked if we could take on another cat , so a month later we was asked to take in a 1 yr old cat lilly , we said ok.. she was pregnant but lost her kittens after a c section , the vets did not spay her and told me to waite 8 weeks before i could do this.... they also said to see if any rescues had kittens who didnt have any mums. we got 2 4 week old kittens . she took fine , would not feed them so we hand feeded while they started weening. anyway 2 weeks after she had her c section she went missing for 6 weeks , found her very thin but fine . took her to the vets for a check over and was told she was 6 weeks pregnant . everything went fine and they are now 4 months old. right get to the point now .
my 5 1/2 yr old for the last 5 months has been getting very aggrisseve towards all the cats in the house hold . he has never been nasty to any animal i have brought in . he has been vet checked and there is no medical reason for this , but its getting to the stage where he will not let any cat come in the same room as him , all he will do is eat with them. and over the last few weeks my female (mum) is going the same way, all night long you can hear growling. she has also been vet checked . also since she has been like this , the 5 1/2 yr old will not bully her and she does not bully him they get on ok, but they gang up on all the others including her own kittens.they will chase them away will attack them, go around the house growling all the time unless there asleep or outside. the 14 yr old does not like confrontation atall so always backs down , and its not so much towards him as it is the 4 kittens. they will run or just try and stay away from them , but they the *bullys* will go to them. my 7 1/2 netured male is starting to get brave towards the 5 1/2 yr old male last night i had to seprate them.
i have tried that plug in feliaway it hasnt helped. someone told me maybe they dont like living in a muliti cat household?? both have always lived in muliti cat households. i really dont want to have to make a dession about rehoming any of my cats , there all part of the family . but at the same time i dont want any of them being bullied or unhappy. please help if you can.

I think you haven't had any response yet because there's no magic answer. He feels overwhelmed, threatened in some way by all the others and either needs to be in a house that's so big he can live 'alone' (not contacting others), or be rehomed, much as I know we all hate the idea of doing it. I think you're lucky so far if he's the only one causing trouble. With so many cats (we've been up to 5 for a very short time long ago - mostly 3-4 the rest of the time and in relatively good sized places) I'd expect more trouble, particularly with the younger males going after anything that moves and trying to dominate!

I think also that YOU are overwhelmed. Sometimes cats can pick up on stress and then they redirect it somewhere else.

Just for the time being, can you separate, I don't know, maybe two or three to a room that get along? I know it will be more work for you, more litter pans and food and water blowls, but if you can break the cycle of unhappiness soon, maybe all will settle down and regain their good attitudes.

thanx for the replys , i never thought about seprating them , i can have the 4 younger ones in the kitchen(its a big kitchen) and when the older ones go outside i can allow them to have free roam and then gradually start to introduce them slowly again ? what do you think ? ok i know having a litter pan in the kitchen isnt good but there always kept clean and i use dettal on the sides before i perpar any food. i have never set out to have 7 cats , most i have taken in has been strays , then i couldnt bare to rehome the kittens as i didnt find anyone good enough to rehome them to except one , but that was to my sister. and i would hate to rehome bergkhamp as we brought him in as a stray at 4 months old , his the biggest baby ever , apart from the last cupple of months , and i feel so guilty knowing i have made him this unhappy. the other thing that made it worse is , we get a stray hanging around unnetured who we have been trying to trap , since he started to hang around is when it started , then the kittens came and it went from bad to worse . at one point i couldnt let him out as he would not come home and you could hear him outside fighting most of the night , was alfull , he still goes outside but never stays out long now. thanx again for the advice

You know, every time he goes outside at night he's getting a new 'dose' of macho-ness - feels he has to keep up the defenses even indoors, but I wonder if he was kept inside indefinitely would he forget about the whole thing (once you got past the whining)? PS - A box in the kitchen is no big deal if there's any room at all. It is on the floor after all, and we know you sweep and clean :-) and at least it's not all over the living room carpet! And better a box than .... no box and a mess!

Originally Posted by XxtashaxX

the other thing that made it worse is , we get a stray hanging around unnetured who we have been trying to trap , since he started to hang around is when it started ,

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Having an unneutered male hanging round outside is almost certainly making everyone feel on edge! It is one of the biggest upsets to cats to have an unfixed male leaving unfixed male scent around in their territory, and often they will take out their stress on others in their household. I wouldn't mind betting that if you can trap and neuter this boy, a lot of the aggression amongst your cats would diminish

he doesnt go outside in the evening now , not for the last few weeks anyway.
im hoping to trap him soon , i can get him in my house to eat , but as soon as that door is shut behind him he goes complety mental, he jumped so high at the door and just fell right on his side , and i was so scared he was going to hurt himself that i had to let him back outside. the trap he will not go anywhere near it. no matter what goodies i put in there. and i cannot leave it out all night to try as we get alot of foxs comming in the back gardens ,1 i dont want to rap a fox , and 2 i dont want him being locked in the cage for the hole night. thanx for all the advise , hopfully it will get better once he has been caught.

just wanted to update on this situation , bregkhamp ( 5 1/2 yr old) is a lot calmer , the stray that was outside is now inside and been neutered they dont get on like mates , but the house is a bit more normal. and the stray does not fight atall anymore. this is great. lilly on the other hand is still a bit hissy fitty

Oh, that's terrific! Was a bit worried that you'd say you'd just gotten rid of them all

Ok IMO I'd find a home for the youngest two kittens - they may becoming "mature" and causing the rest to react. Try separating them totally from the others.

Sometimes cats have their own tolerance in how many should be in the household. Seems some of them are pushed to the limits and are protesting.

If after finding homes for the younger ones, things don't settle down, then you might have to look into other things. But I would seriously reduce the number of cats in the house. Willing to bet when this is done, things will get more back to normal.

I know someone said this earlier, and I want to reiterate.. they might be picking up on your emotions. My domestic is famous for this. She picks up on mine notoriously... if my mood is extreme, all you have to do is look at her to see what it is. She'll attack the other cats if I'm really upset or angry.. She didn't speak to my sister for two months when I was mad at her, literally, she ignored her for two months, complete to the point where she'd turn away from my sister if she talked to her or tried to pet her.

Your cats are probably picking up at least a little bit from you.

thanx for the replys , but i was only updating lol the house is nearly normal now. lilly is a bit grouchy but shes happy , well she loves her cuddles and will cuddle downt with 2 of the cats here. the kittens well there nearly 7 months old now.
both been spayed. so i think we should be ok lol. might all go up in arms again though when the pregnant mamma has her babys , but we wont be keeping them , just looking after them untill the kittens are 12 weeks old , and mum has been spayed (long story in pregnant part of the fourm lol

Awesome! It's good to hear that everything is back to normal!