2 cats "bullying" one

We have two male cats (Sylvester & Teddy) and one female cat (Lucy). All of them have been spayed or neutered. Over the last several months to a year the "boys" have begun "teasing" or "bullying" Lucy. They don't try to hurt her or wrestle with her, they just chase her. She doesn't like it at all, and she growls, hisses, and swats at them. It's becoming more and more frequent, and she gets angry any time either of them come near her.

I may be wrong, but it reminds me of my kids. If my girls would ignore their little brother trying to annoy them, it would take the fun out of it for him and he would leave them alone. I think if Lucy didn't make such a fuss, Sylvester and Teddy would leave her alone. However, there's no way to communicate that to her. Is there a way I could make the boys stop chasing her? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

That sounds like what Coco does with Toby. In general I don't think there is much we can do about it. When Coco starts doing it more often I try to make sure I play with her more so she can vent her energy without bothering Toby. I think that helps some. Also Toby has started to stand his ground more and that seems to help. As with your boys she seems to do it just for fun. She isn't attacking him, she just wants him to run so she can chase him. So when he stands his ground rather than running it isn't fun for her. It's taken Toby several months to figure this out though. Hopefully your girl will eventually realize that she doesn't really need to run from the boys.

Originally Posted by mschauer

That sounds like what Coco does with Toby. In general I don't think there is much we can do about it. When Coco starts doing it more often I try to make sure I play with her more so she can vent her energy without bothering Toby. I think that helps some.

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I too have begun daily "play sessions" to work off some of the excess energy because Moose and Lucy have a tenuous relationship at best, and they will chase each other and it usually turns into a fight. Moose is very sensitive and can misinterpret Lucy's playing for aggression.