Any advice for helping an aggressive female?

[luckyfuzz]

Hello everyone. I am new to this site and am looking for some useful cat advice. I have 6 cats and while 5 of them get along my one called Bundles seems to be on the outside.  She was a stray I found on my property and it was obvious she had been someone's house cat.  She is spayed but sprays where ever she can. Bundles is a wonderful cat with me and my husband but she has aggressive issues with almost all the other cats. Two of them in particular don't take her crap but the others live in fear of her ambushing them. She corals them where she wants them and I do not want them to live like this.   She patrols constantly to where we will have to go pick her up to stop her from pacing.  I will continue to explore the possible medical side of things with my vet but any advice would be appreciated. At this point I feel it would be best to put her in a separate room and eventually reintroduce them. Like I said she is a great cat and is very sociable. This is something that has happened slowly over the past year. Thank you for reading.

 

[calicosrspecial]

The fact she is spraying and aggressive tells me that she is feeling insecure and she doesn't feel like she owns the place.

Was she is the last cat addition? How long did the initial introduction process last?

I would like you to really step up play with her in all areas of the house. After a good play session feed either a meal or a snack. Try to get her up on cat trees if possible. Height helps build confidence. If possible you may want to add cat trees or if possible cat shelving especially in areas where confrontations might occur.  Finally, try to give her as much love as possible in all areas of the house but please do not put yourself at risk of being injured in anyway.

Also use food to build her confidence. I use warm chicken. Feed her in all areas of the house. Also, if you can get her to eat with some of the others that would be helpful. We want to associate the other cats with good things (food especially and play but also height and love).

If she starts focusing on another cat try to distract her with food or play.

We want her to be confident and that she owns the place. We want her to walk around with her tail high as we want all of them to do. And to be up in the cat trees not low to the ground.

A confident cat is less likely to attack or be attacked so we really want to build the confidence of all the cats but work on the least confident cats first starting with Bundles.

I am happy to help and please feel free to ask anything anytime.  We can see what progress is being made and build on what is working and what isn't.

 

[luckyfuzz]

That is all sound advice and it makes complete sense! I am guilty of thinking too much like a human and less like a cat, assuming overconfidence was the issue. Bundles is what I would call the middle child and has 3 others that follow after her. (Strangely enough it is the oldest and youngest cats that don't take her abuse and er kinda inflict their own and yet she loves them the most) Playing definitely does help and I have seen it first hand. When the laser pointer comes out they all crowd together to get it so we will continue with this to improve friendly relations. I think my husband is going to have fun designing a shelf layout for them. He's been wanting to do this for awhile but we have even more reason to now. Thank you again for your advice. I just needed a place to start and you have given me that :^)

 

[calicosrspecial]

Terrific. I think your commitment and your game plan will help lead to success. 

Please ask anything anytime as I am happy to help. There will be ups and downs but I am confident that you and your husband can achieve success. I will be here if you need me.