Two boys bullying one girl

I have a multicat household, There are 3 males..one is a smaller stray kitten, but the other two are rather large males(over 12 pounds each).A 2year old and a 1 year old. There best buddies.
Now I have 5 females..a 4year old Queen , a 15month old , and two littermates that are about 9 months old. plus my new addition a 6 month old gorgeous long haired torte.
Everyone gets along..they run and play all the time BUT the two large males (both neutered) are chasing and picking on only one of the 9 month old females..they corner her and she hisses and spits and screams. The boys are playing but she is not playing..I usually get inbetween and break it up and hold her until she calms down. She has become more of a loner.
When I rescued her and her littermate form a deplorable situation, she was introduced to a multicat household. I foster babies so, I have had 16 at one time. She sleeps with me and she is a cuddler..It seems the boys are stressing her out. They know they are doing wrong to because i call there names and they stop , unless I am to late and she is hiding, and growling.
We go through this daily...what can I do? The boys want to play , i know they mean no harm. She is playing hard to get and they get a kick out of her getting so mad! Typical males! But she is getting truly stressed out.
Any ideas?
I have to add my two newer babies to my signature?
The bad boys are the orange tabby and the grey and white one
The girl is the grey tabby..her littermate is the black and white one.

It sounds like maybe she's the lowest in the pecking order. No idea what would completely stop it from happening, her loner behavior and reactions aren't likely to completely change.

Also it seems like you often have a houseful, maybe the foster cats at times are unsettling the pack(pride? whatever it would be for housecats) and she's being the one they take their anxiety out on. Of course they could just be rowdy boys that know she won't be able to stop them.
It would be a sad choice, but if she can't fit in maybe she'd like to be an only kitty or in a home with a more sedate cat she won't have to defend against? As a last resort of course.

I cannot get rid of her....the boys are not stressed..you should see them they just love to play. I have been watching more closely..and I noticed that the boys do try to play with the other girls and they play back. When they go by Honey she gets mad and hisses and spits. But if i play with them as a group with a toy she will come out and play together. She does not like to rough house like the rest..They can get pretty wild...run all over....jump and climb on there tree house. Honey likes to cuddle and is more laid back. But I will never let her go..we will take it day by day and make adjustments to keep everyone happy. All of these kitties I have, have been either my fosters that i fell in love with..or kitties rescued from bad situations or abandoned. I fostered over 30 kittens thoughout this summer..thank God the majority of them are all adopted out and i am getting ready to take back 3 babies when they reach the 2 pound mark...in about 10 days. I will keep the mom until she dries up and pamper her through the holidays..she deserves it...creeps just tossed her outdoors, she got pregnant and had 4 kittens...1 baby froze to death. I know this is off the subject but I cannot help talking about this poor mama...she breaks my heart. I am taking her in today to get shaved...she is long haired and the mats of hair on her belly are bothering her and i cannot get them off. Makes me sick to my stomach..she is such a pretty and well-behaved cat. She will get spayed after she dries up and hopefully get adopted to a good home.
Posting some of the pictures of the babies i have been taking care of

http://s144.photobucket.com/albums/r...e314/?start=80

There is something similar in my home. Actually 12 cats live with me. The youngest - QuickQuick - is a spayed calico 8 month old. She was adopted by the maid and her family when they found her abandoned at 7 weeks old. My cat crew have tried to befriend her but she will get very stressed, hiss and howl. This behavior somehow causes my cats to be more rough with her. The dominant ones even respond by bullying her maybe thinking that she is asking for a fight.
We tried everything to make QuickQuick socialize with the other cats but she won't. It's like she does not understand feline language. So what I do is encourage my cats to just ignore her. When I see them eyeing QQ, I call them away. QuickQuick now moves about and is rarely bothered by my crew.

I've been trying to pay more attention to what is going on and I have come to the conclusion..that the boys want to play and she doesn't with them? She will run and play with the other girls, but I think the boys intimidate her. I wish I could get her to understand that they are big loveable furballs and are very gentle. They play tag and wrestle but no biting or scratching. Actually I think the girls are rougher at playing.
When I feed them I've been putting Honey with the boys and she eats with them..I stand there to make her feel comfortable....she is just a prissy female that does not want to be bothered by the dumb boys! Playing hard to get and you know boys love that!

I have a similar situation - - my little pariah (Annie) gets picked on a lot. My alpha male and his sister (one of the more dominant females) and Anne's two brothers pick on her quite a bit. They have been in the household together since the alpha male and his sister were 6 months old and Annie and her brothers were 5 weeks. All are were ferals who were born in my back yard under my deck. I thought that they were just picking on her and that it was just kitten fun, but it's not stopped - - they still pick on her and she's just as skittish as she's always been. Unfortunately, whenever she'd get stressed, she'd pee all over my world. She's the only one I haven't been able to break through with and it's made me feel much like a failure from time to time. When we were having serious peeing issues, I thought about trying to find a home for her, but the best I could come up with was a barn. I didn't want to just take her to a shelter as I was sure that she would not be placed - - too many cute little docile pet shop type kitties out there for someone to take a chance on a reclusive adult who spits and sputters.

It's gotten much better since I've moved to a bigger house. I have a screened in porch and although it has a pet door and most of them come and go, I have 3 (annie is one of them) that just stay out there.

However, my alpha still goes out there and terrorizes her sometimes just for kicks.

Good luck to you.

I wish I had an answer to give. I'm having the same problem with Geronimo & Gabriel: they just do not like each other: Geronimo is the "bully", and Gabriel is the laid-back kitty who just won't fight back.. I've tried everything!

In order to keep Gabriel safe & secure, and to make sure that he eats & drinks and is also able to use the litterbox, I set up a litterbox and food & water in the bedroom, where he pretty much hangs out now. At least that way, he won't go thirsty or hungry if he can't sneak past Geronimo...

I wish you luck in getting your furbabies to get along..

~KK~

Laurie you have a good heart - I can't even go to anywhere there are kittens are I would take them home and keep them. Those kitties are lucky to have you.

My boy chasing my girl - he is a bully sometimes and I hate but I as they are approaching three he is the same. I may have caused it by not letting him be the alpha cat. Funny thing is when Finn is sleeping Darci will come up and hit him or when she wants brushed she will nudge him away so I guess she gets back at him.

I had 3 budgies (parakeets). Whitey Ford is an English budgie and 2x the size of a normal budgie. When we got Yogi Berra, Whitey immediately adopted him. He fed him, preened him and they were in constant contact with each other. Then Yogi died and it was just Sandy and Whitey who did not get along. Well, they finally get along now because they are the only 2 but they still are not close.

Hi, you're not going to change the boys' behaviour any time soon... it's one of those things, but you must arrange for her to have a safe place at least when you're not around. I know it might be hard with so many cats, but if it's impossible, you might even think about rehoming her (though what happens to the next oldest, or smallest, or weakest female then is a question), or them. If she can't live a decent life, mostly free of aggression, that's not right.

Originally Posted by yayi

There is something similar in my home. Actually 12 cats live with me. The youngest - QuickQuick - is a spayed calico 8 month old. She was adopted by the maid and her family when they found her abandoned at 7 weeks old. My cat crew have tried to befriend her but she will get very stressed, hiss and howl. This behavior somehow causes my cats to be more rough with her. The dominant ones even respond by bullying her maybe thinking that she is asking for a fight.
We tried everything to make QuickQuick socialize with the other cats but she won't. It's like she does not understand feline language. So what I do is encourage my cats to just ignore her. When I see them eyeing QQ, I call them away. QuickQuick now moves about and is rarely bothered by my crew.

Click to expand...

That is the same issue I have here with Zagnut. She was never raised around other cats and at five years old she is pretty set in her ways. Things are getting better but she still has issues with two of the other cats in the house.

Beastie (male) wants to play with everyone. He has pretty much learned who will and won't put up with his pushy nature. He seems to take pleasure in bothering Zagnut. She hisses and growls at him but he does not back off. I usually have to intervene so she can escape to a safe spot. She is learning to swat at him though which will make him back off. Normally just calling his name distracts him enough for Zag to make her get away.

Uno (female) also has an issue with Zagnut. She gets along with all of the other eight cats, even Beastie, but she just does not like Zagnut. She does not bother her all that much but once in a while she gets a bug up her butt and decides Zagnut needs swiped at.

Zagnut can pretty much walk and sleep anywhere now with out being bothered but there is still the occasional up roar.

I have had her since I think July, so it does take time.

Zagnut is very affectionate with the people in the house so she gets plenty of attention and she loves to snuggle in bed. I doubt she will ever cosey up to the other cats or they to her but I think in another six months or so that the events will be far and few between.

ETA: There was a time I thought about re-homing her because I was worried about her quality of life. I know that a single cat household would be the best for her but I adopted her and told the people that gave her to me that I would take care of her and I am bound to that promise. She is also a wonderful cat and the thought of her not here would break my heart. She is my crochet buddy.

Things are getting better so I am glad I stuck it out instead of giving up on the situation.