What is wrong with him?

Okay, so, we have twelve cats.
Out of all of them, only one is bad. The rest a pretty good, except for the ocasional mishap.
That one?
Trouble.
Literally, his name is Trouble.
Trouble is ... trouble! He pees everywhere, he gets into the food, he knocks things over and, worst of all, he attack other cats.
Mind you, the other cats beat on him, too, but that doesn't stop him.
Out of the 11 others, there are three he picks on the most; our oldest ones, Miss Kitty, and Samantha, and then .... Runty.
I'm pretty sure you can generally tell what he's like just from the name. He's small, weak, and very intimidated by everything.
Trouble attacks him all the time, for no reason at all, and we don't know why.
it's aweful; poor Runty doesn't even fight back, and he always, ALWAYS pees himself.
He PEES himself in fear.
It's just aweful, and we don't know what to do to stop Trouble from hurting him.
I mean, we can't give him up, bcause we're afraid whoever takes him will hav him put to sleep once he starts peeing on their stuff.
So ... is there anything we can do to stop him?
Not just from beating everyone up, especially Runty, but from spraying everything.
He's fixed, btw.

Please help D;

10 cats here and when you have that many cats, things can get out of balance unless you stay on top of things. Here are some suggestions:

1) Get Trouble to the vet and have a complete exam on him, including blood work. Often if a cat is sick (they don't always show it), they lash out at others. I had a similar problem with one of my OTB cats and he had heart disease. If he's not ill, ask the vet if they will prescribe calming meds for him.
2) Feliway plug ins. This can calm down a cat. It's works positively on about 75% of cats. It's worth a try.
3) More litter boxes. Don't know how many you have now, but with 12 cats, you should have 13 boxes, or their equivalent. I count a double sized box (large tupperware bin) as 2 boxes. If they are all enclosed, open up some of them.
4) Cat Attract Litter additive. The Cat Attract Litter is expensive and with 12 cats, I know how much litter you go thru. The additive can be sprinkled into any litter and the smell draws them into the box. Your vet may carry it or you can buy it online (google it).
5) Separate Trouble from the rest of the cats. Give him his own room for a while, and see if your issues go away. But honestly, you may notice other hostilities amongst the rest that were overshadowed by Trouble's obvious behavior.
6) I assume you free feed. Make sure that you have multiple food and water areas in your house so that they don't have to compete in the same place.
7) If your home is small, give them vertical space - cat trees.

I agree with Amy 100% on all of the above. Do note that while the Cat Attract Litter additive (NOT the cat attract litter - though it is expensive, it's better, I think, in your case to keep the litter you use and add the additive to it) is expensive, we found it helped when used in smaller-than-recommended amounts, so you can stretch it a little beyond the recommendation.

Almost no one on TCS is "pro" meds for calming cats down. But with 12 and committed to all of them, if Trouble's problem is not medical, then for the sake of the rest of the gang, it is probably best to talk to your vet about the best medication to help calm him down. I don't know what that would be, but I do know they have kitty Prozac. We had a cat with a peeing problem. Putting her on Elavil for - I think it was 4 months - and usng the cat attract additive solved the problem. Elavil is supposed to be an anti-depressant. It's not very effective that way, but it did make her really sleepy for the first 3 weeks (giving us time to get the house clean of cat pee). The benefit, as described by our vet, is that it causes cats to retain their pee - the only feel the urge to go like once a day, and for whatever reason, within two days of being on it she was using the box. (It takes 2 weeks to fully cycle into their systems. I think this is true of most behavior meds). We were able to wean her off of it and no more problems.

I don't know if you've been using an enzyme cleaner to clean the pee. Just in case you're not familiar, it is the ONLY thing that removes cat pee smell TO THE KITTIES. But they are not all made equal. For the industrial size it sounds like you may need (and the couch and the mattress required multiple applications), you may want to consider a couple of gallons of this stuff: http://www.nokout.com/odorelim/pets/. It is the best stuff we've found.

We live in an RV with 7 cats. VERTICAL SPACE is the total and complete key to kitty happiness. When we lived in a house - a large house - they still used the vertical space: we had cat trees in the kitchen, the living room and the bedroom. In the RV, we took out the dining room and put in cat trees. We have shelving units on the walls, dedicated only to kitties. They have several of the overhead cabinets - access to them from the cat trees.

With 12 cats, it doesn't sound like you rent. If you own your home, check this out: These would be pretty easy to make on your own http://www.katwallks.com/

We also make an effort to give extra and alone play time with our alpha and with our equivalent of your Runty. For our alpha, we need to work of that energy that he would otherwise want to direct at the "runty." For the "runty, he just needs that extra attention for his health and happiness.

But the more spaces you have for them to escape to - boxes with escape out the back and front and vertical space - the less "scrapping" between the kitties you're likely to have.

Laurie

Originally Posted by LDG

Do note that while the Cat Attract Litter additive (NOT the cat attract litter - though it is expensive, it's better, I think, in your case to keep the litter you use and add the additive to it) is expensive, we found it helped when used in smaller-than-recommended amounts, so you can stretch it a little beyond the recommendation.

Click to expand...

I agree. I use it regularly here and I sprinkle a little bit on the top of each box after I scoop each day. With so many boxes, it would be terribly expensive to use it in the recommended amount.

And another thought: make sure the boxes are scooped at least once a day.